Business Commons^™

Mindful Leadership, Lyn Hopper

Georgia Library Quarterly

The author proposes mindful leadership for library officers and staff. She says that such leadership may be difficult to practice amid declining budgets but it is essential for effective leadership. She adds that psychologist Ellen Langer noted that job mindfulness boosts productivity, flexibility, leadership, innovation and job satisfaction. She claims that mindfulness originated from Buddhism by Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh to reduce stress and encourage healing.

Testing The Impact Of Global Mindset On Positive Organizational Outcomes: A Multi-Level Analysis, Joana S. Story

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This multi-level study examined the relationship between leaders’ global mindset with followers’ rating of trust in leader, quality of the leader-member relationship (LMX), and organizational commitment. Complexity of global role and leader distance were also examined as moderating variables. Data were collected from 78 leader participants and 240 raters from one Fortune 100 multinational organization. A multilevel data analysis was conducted using Hierarchical Linear Modeling. No significant relationships were found between global mindset and ratings of follower trust in leader and quality of the leader-member-relationship. A significant negative relationship was found between global mindset of leaders and follower organizational commitment. …

Integrated Conflict Management Systems As Cure And Cause: How Leaders Address Cultural Change And Conflict In Their Organizations, Brian S. Beck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Organizations experience the bottom line impact of internal conflicts daily. Conflicts between employees simply drain organizational resources. The idea of Integrated Conflict Management Systems (ICMS) has been introduced to help minimize the impact of these conflicts. ICMS, through the development of policies and procedures to address conflicts, are actually attempting to change the organization's culture, and when organizations attempt cultural changes, conflicts are likely to occur. The primary component of cultural change is the organizational leader.

The study interviews organizational leaders about the conflicts that occur when organizations change cultures and the methods that leaders use to work through those …

Strategic Transformation Process: Toward Purpose, People, Process And Power, Elizabeth B. Davis, James Kee, Kathryn Newcomer

Organization Management Journal

Across the world, public and non-profit sector leaders face an extremely turbulent socio-political-economic environment. This environment creates additional risks and uncertainties for organizations and may hinder a leader’s ability to act strategically. Addressing these complex, constantly evolving conditions requires leaders to develop processes that involve the organization’s stakeholders and that create organizational conditions for self-generation, creativity, resilience and action planning. In this paper we provide an organizational-level, integrative framework for the strategic transformation of public and non-profit organizations to assist leaders who are committed to effective stewardship of their organizations. The Strategic Transformation Process involves an intense dialogue among organizational …

Business As A Calling Of God (Seattle), C. William Pollard

C. William Pollard Papers

In his keynote address at Seattle Pacific University's 2010 Day of Common Learning, Pollard considers the issues surrounding the 2008-2009 financial crisis and calls for a transformation of business leaders and business education.

The Virtue Of Profit (Seattle), C. William Pollard

C. William Pollard Papers

In this speech at Seattle Pacific University, Pollard contends that profit can be considered virtuous when it allows servant leaders to invest in employees, thereby contributing to the moral and spiritual formation of human beings.

Leadership On Trial: A Manifesto For Leadership Development, Mary Crossan, Gerard Seijts, Jeffrey Gandz, Carol Stephenson, Richard Ivey School Of Business

Business Publications

Recent books and articles have analyzed the causes of the global financial and economic crisis of 2007-09. Yet little attention has been paid to the quality of leadership in organizations that were at the epicentre of the storm, were victims of it, avoided it or even prospered from it. In the summer of 2009 a multi-disciplinary group of Ivey faculty decided to look at the leadership dimensions of the recent financial and economic crisis. We started by writing a working paper that laid out our preliminary views. We then engaged more than 300 business, public sector and not-for-profit leaders in …

Accidents Will Happen. Do Safety Systems Improve Warehouse Safety Performance?, Rene B. M. De Koster, B. M. Balk, I Davelaar, M. Martens

11th IMHRC Proceedings (Milwaukee, Wisconsin. USA – 2010)

Safety is becoming more and more an issue in warehouses. In the literature, effective measures leading to increased occupational health and safety have hardly been researched. Most research focuses on the impact of perceived safety-related leadership of managers and worker safety consciousness on ‘safety climate’ and workers’ safe behavior. We have carried out exploratory research into which measures really improve the safety performance of a warehouse. We particularly focus on the effects of (1) safety-related work procedures, (2) safety leadership, and (3) workers’ safety consciousness. Based on a survey we show that safety leadership and safety-related work procedures significantly drive …

Applying Trait And Situational Leadership Approaches To Assess Theoretical Antecedents Of Managers' Work-Life Supportive Behaviors, Sue A. Epstein

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Managers' work-life supportive behaviors positively impact the usage of work-life programs, help reduce work-life conflict, and improve additional organizational and individual outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction, turnover intentions) (Foley, Linnehan, Greenhaus, & Weer, 2006). These behaviors include helping their subordinates rearrange their work schedules and encouraging subordinates' use of organizational work-life policies (e.g., flextime, job sharing, leave programs) (Mesmer-Magnus & Viswesvaran, 2006). While the benefits of such targeted leadership have been well studied, the predictors of managerial work-life supportive behaviors have received little attention. In this research, the trait and situational approaches to effective leadership are used as the basis for …

How Management Level And Environmental Dynamism Are Related To Change Behavior And Unit Performance, Eric C. T. E. Larsen

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

A survey study was conducted to determine how management level and environmental dynamism affect change leadership by managers and its impact on work unit performance. An on-line survey was used to obtain data from subordinates of the managers in many different organizations. The results showed that change-oriented behavior was used more by high level managers than by low level managers, and when the environment was dynamic rather than relatively stable. Management level enhanced the effects of a manager's change behavior on unit performance, and the enhancing effect of dynamism was marginally significant. The results are consistent with theories about the …

Emotional Intelligence And Transformational And Transactional Leadership: A Meta-Analysis, Peter D. Harms, Marcus Credé

Leadership Institute: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to evaluate claims that emotional intelligence is significantly related to transformational and other leadership behaviors. Results (based on 62 independent samples) indicated a validity estimate of .59 when ratings of both emotional intelligence and leadership behaviors were provided by the same source (self, subordinates, peers, or superiors). However, when ratings of the constructs were derived from different sources, the validity estimate was .12. Lower validity estimates were found for transactional and laissez-faire leadership behaviors. Separate analyses were performed for each measure of emotional intelligence. Trait measures of emotional intelligence tended to show higher validities …

Giving Voice To Values: How To Speak Your Mind When You Know What's Right (Book Review), Andra Gumbus

WCBT Faculty Publications

Book review by Andra Gumbus.

Gentile, Mary. Giving Voice to Values: How to Speak Your Mind When You Know What's Right. New Haven: Yale University Press, c2010.

ISBN 9780300161182

Achieving High Organization Performance Through Servant Leadership, David E. Melchar, Susan M. Bosco

Business Faculty Publications

This empirical paper investigates whether a servant leader can develop a corporate culture that attracts or develops other servant leaders. Using the survey developed by Barbuto and Wheeler (2006), servant leader characteristics in managers were measured at three high-performing organizations. Results indicate that servant leaders can develop a culture of followers who are servant leaders themselves. This is one of the few studies to empirically test the model of servant leadership in an organizational environment. The success these servant leaders have achieved in a for-profit, demanding environment suggests this leadership style is viable for adoption by other firms.

The Impact Of Participation In Oncology Nursing Society Leadership Development Institute On Sustainable Leadership, Christine Guidry Gatlin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) realized many years ago that it would take skilled, qualified leaders in oncology nursing to sustain the specialty of oncology care for years to come. With the nursing shortage and shortage in leadership, it is imperative to examine the impact of attending a leadership program on the future of oncology nursing. The control group and study group of identified oncology nurses were sent the Oncology Nurses Sustainable Leadership Survey Instrument via email from the Oncology Nursing Society. The control group of oncology registered nurses had not yet started the ONS Leadership Development Institute fellowship program. …

Narrative Vs. Powerpoint: For Leaders, It May Not Be A Matter Of Fact, Michael S. Carriger

WCBT Faculty Publications

This paper aims to argue that narratives, skillfully deployed by senior leaders in an organization, can be a very effective tool for creating, disseminating and executing corporate strategy. The paper presents a model for narrative use by leaders and a practical guide to implementing the model. Preliminary and anecdotal data are presented to substantiation a case for leaders' use of narrative as an alternative means for conveying corporate strategy. Implications for the practical use of narratives by leaders are explored by this paper.

Leadership Characteristics And Team Outcomes In The Development Of A Marketing Web Page, Garry L. White, Karen H. Smith

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Team structures are changing under the pressures of e-commerce and globalization. Today teams have to manage the challenges of working across functional boundaries, such as marketing and web development. In such an environment, research in the disciplines of management and psychology have found that shared leadership among team members may be superior to traditional leadership by a single team member, but this notion has not been tested in the contexts of marketing and web development. This paper presents the results of an empirical study showing that teams with shared leadership exhibited better performance and greater member satisfaction than teams with …

The Impact Of Women Leaders Upon Organizational Performance, Humair Hashmi

Business Review

The aim of this research was to target television professionals in the state, and the private sector to develop their professional capabilities to address gender issues, and to portray women in an affirmative manner in the media. Research literature of the past indicated that women were paid 30% less than men: That they experienced an invisible barrier, the “glass ceiling effect": That organizations headed by women were less corrupt and more efficient. The present research focused on these issues in Pakistani organizations. Imperial College of Business Studies Lahore was assigned the research by United Nation Development Programme, to see if …

The Glass Ceiling Effect: A Pakistani Perspective, Shandana Shoaib, Romy Sajjad Khan, Sajjad Ahmad Khan

Business Review

The Glass Ceiling commonly refers to impediments to career growth and upward mobility in organizations owing to racial and gender biases. The study undertaken on this phenomenon has reflected different behavior patterns for different factors leading to the glass ceiling effect. This paper focuses specifically on gender and analyzes the behavior pattern of women in Pakistani society. We have also analyzed the impediments and pressures that have resulted in creating a Glass Ceiling for women in higher management.

Eutopiagraphies: Narratives Of Preferred Future Selves With Implications For Developmental Coaching, Florence Anne Diehl

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Eutopiagraphy is a narrative of a preferred future self that extends the research tradition of biography and autobiography. Taking place at the intersection of adult development, futures studies, and the practice of developmental coaching, this research asked the question, “what can eutopiagraphy reveal about a client’s meaning-making that may inform a coaching relationship, goals, and outcomes?” Using an adapted form of the subject-object interview, and subsequent thematic analysis, the eutopiagraphies of eight participants were collected and studied. Structures of constructive-developmental theory (values, view of others, range of perspective, control, and responsibility) were identified and constructive-developmental stages were estimated. This work …

Expanding Leader Capability: An Exploratory Study Of The Effect Of Daily Practices For Leader Development, Simon Rakoff

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Leadership is, at its essence, an influence relationship between people. Leaders are often thought of as those who are able to influence people to take actions oriented toward achieving specific goals and objectives. While many books have been written, and myriad scholarly research studies conducted enumerating countless personal characteristics, qualities, and skills of the exemplary leader, little has been done to understand and convey the ways in which an individual might go about cultivating these virtues; which are often said to include charisma, empathy, communication skills, and others. Through a multiple single-subject design, this research examines the individual-level effect of …

Strategic Asymmetric Multicultural Alliances In Business, Anthony James Scriffignano

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Global economics and other factors make it increasingly difficult for organizations to operate within the boundaries of one country in a rational way (e.g., leveraging best practices, profitable, achieving goals). In this study, I looked at strategic business alliances, transcending simple quid pro quo relationships to deliver ongoing partner value. I refined my study to multicultural relationships, having differing cultural identities (i.e., ideas, heritage, language, or demographics from differing geographies). Finally, I considered asymmetry (i.e., inequity in working relationship). Using a mixed-methodology design, I surveyed alliance participants and interviewed participants from selected alliances. A multi-case study addresses emergent themes of …

The 'Where' And 'How' Of Exploration And Exploitation: Balancing Leadership Styles To Drive Innovation And Performance, Ann Kowal Smith

Student Scholarship

Using a global sample of public companies, we explored the relationships among transformational and transactional leadership, exploration and exploitation and performance. First, balanced leadership styles drive more innovative learning outcomes than either single style. Second, elements of an expanded framework of innovative learning, including “where” ideas are sourced and “how” they are shared, fully mediate the relationship between leadership and performance. Specifically, “how” drives earnings growth and “where” drives revenue growth. We propose a nuanced ambidexterity, whereby leaders balance not only exploration and exploitation, but also idea sourcing and idea sharing to unleash their organization’s collective wisdom and drive performance.

Board Level Strategic Decision-Making: Process Characteristics And Context, Bernard C. Bailey

Student Scholarship

How do boards make strategic decisions? Semi-structured interviews with twenty eight directors of small to medium size publicly traded U.S. companies in the high technology sector were conducted in order to gain insights into strategic decision-making at the board level. We identified six characteristics that distinguish two divergent views about strategic decision-making. These characteristics include the role of the board chair, the boardroom climate, the board's shared vision and goals, the board's agency primacy, the board's process for decision closure and the board's level of involvement in the strategic planning process.

Board Level Strategic Decision-Making: Process Characteristics And Context, Bernard C. Bailey

Student Scholarship

How do boards make strategic decisions? Semi-structured interviews with twenty eight directors of small to medium size publicly traded U.S. companies in the high technology sector were conducted in order to gain insights into strategic decision-making at the board level. We identified six characteristics that distinguish two divergent views about strategic decision-making. These characteristics include the role of the board chair, the boardroom climate, the board's shared vision and goals, the board's agency primacy, the board's process for decision closure and the board's level of involvement in the strategic planning process.

Government Leadership-Business Voice: An Interaction And Mediation Analysis Of Business Environment Reform In Indonesia, Jaime Chua

Student Scholarship

Moving beyond the competing theories on public leadership and citizen voice, the study investigates whether local public executives' influence on reform depends on business voice; and whether leadership or voice is mediated by public-private sector dialogue before either can influence reform. Extending Hirschman's Exit-Voice-Loyalty theory, the conditional effects of leadership and voice are tested to assess if quasi-exit (collusion), association membership, or dissatisfaction with government services moderate reform. Multi-group invariance tests are conducted for each moderating condition to assess if key findings are robust across business firms. Based on structural equation analysis of survey data from over 12,000 small, medium-sized, …

Spirituality At Work In A Changing World: Managerial And Research Implications, Eugene Geh, Gilbert Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper identifies the seminal works of key theorists in the field of spirituality and traces the development of the key ideas of spirituality at the workplace in relation to their relevance in today's organizational context. We examine how having a healthy orientation towards spirituality at work can lead to desirable individual and organizational outcomes. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding the rapidly changing workplace and its future directions by first uncovering the rationale behind the evolution of management thought since the introduction of Taylor's scientific management and then, by examining the various stages of economic development and as well …

From Esteem To Stigma: The Effect Of The Financial Crisis On Banker Engagement, Glen Weaver

Student Scholarship

Absent from a quickly accumulating literature on job engagement is a focus on professionals in the financial industry. There is, in particular, little research on the organization or industry identity of bankers as a discrete group. Nor has the literature explored the relationship of these identities with job engagement or environmental duress. We seized an opportunity to study the effects of the 2007-2009 financial crisis on bankers' identities and passion for their jobs. Semi-structured interviews with 28 mid-level bankers at five prominent US banks that accepted Toxic Asset Relief Program funding (TARP) captured insights about "normal state" (pre-crisis) versus mid-crisis …

Managing The Mission Through Times Of Adversity: What Leads To Reliable Nonprofit Performance?, Kathleen Roche

Student Scholarship

During times of severe economic adversity, nonprofit organizations must carry out their charitable missions to ever-growing and needier constituencies despite endowment erosion, dwindling contributions, reduced staff, and severe funding cuts. The literature tells us little about what nonprofit organizations and managers actually do to survive economic crises. In depth interviews with leaders of a wide range of U.S. nonprofit organizations compared and contrasted crisis management experiences, revealing that, regardless of size and operation tenure, those best situated to emerge from severe and sudden revenue loss had energized, outwardly focused leaders and actively engaged boards, many volunteers, greatly extended hours of …

The Experiences Of Arab Women Leaders In Learning To Lead, Susan R. Madsen

Marketing and Strategy Faculty Publications

To consider designing and developing leadership programs for women in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), it is important to understand how current leaders have learned to lead throughout their lives. In-depth, qualitative interviews were conducted with Arab women leaders (government and business) to investigate their lifetime experiences in developing leadership.

Innovative Reflection Tools For Developing Leadership For Transformation, Susan R. Madsen, Katherine A. Tunheim

Marketing and Strategy Faculty Publications

Since developing leadership is seeded in learning, there is a continuous effort to understand the most effective methods and techniques to assist individuals in becoming leaders. The purpose of this engaging workshop is to offer a variety of innovative tools that both academics and practitioners can use with adult learners in various settings to help them further develop leadership knowledge, competencies, and skills through enhanced reflection experiences.

We cannot help create leaders who transform without helping them first be transformed by their own learning experiences. Learning that transforms individuals is learning that changes individuals. Since developing leadership is a transforming …