Leadership Commons^™

A Behavior Analytic Blueprint For Rapport-Building: Investigating The Key Elements For Success, Nelmar Jacinto Cruz

Theses and Dissertations

Rapport can be defined as a positive relationship between people built through specific actions. Building rapport can benefit organizations by improving performance and increasing work satisfaction. Despite these benefits, research on rapport remains scarce. Curry et al. (2019) completed the most recent rapport study and found that rapport-building led to increased productivity and discretionary effort. The present study replicated and extended Curry et al. (2019) and addressed three limitations of their research: the lack of a control group, the large disparity in time spent with the experimenter, and the rigidity of their rapport conversation script. The study was completed in …

What Happens When Leaders Don’T Live Up To The Ideal? How The Leadership Perception Gap Can Undermine Leader Development And Intentions, Julia Macgregor-Peralta

Theses and Dissertations

Despite decades of research on leadership development, we know surprisingly little about why capable, confident people choose not to pursue leadership. This study introduces the Leadership Perception Gap (LPG), a construct that captures discrepancies between ideal leader views and the leaders people actually observe, and tests whether those discrepancies reduce the desirability of leadership roles. LPG was assessed using latent congruence modeling (LCM) to compare ideal leader ratings with vignette-based leader evaluations. The vignettes manipulated leadership style (agentic, communal, balanced) and team composition (all-male, all-female, balanced). Participants were randomly assigned to one condition and evaluated their interest in joining the …

Exploring Childcare Leaders’ Perspectives On Program Philosophies At The Intersection Of Care, Education, And Business: A Multi-Method (Qual + Qual) Study Using Simon Sinek’S Golden Circle, Megan Kybartas

Theses and Dissertations

This multi-method (QUAL + qual) study explores childcare leaders’ perspectives on program philosophies at the intersection of care, education, and business, which I call The Childcare Tripartite. Recognizing the significant dependency on high-quality childcare services and the foundational role of program philosophies in achieving this quality, this research addresses a notable gap in the literature regarding how early childhood leaders communicate and prioritize their program philosophies within the complex American childcare landscape. Employing semi-structured interviews, documentary materials, and demographic forms, and analyzed through both thematic and deductive content analysis, drawing on Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle, the study uncovers how philosophical …

Organizational Cultural Entrenchment: Exploring Cultural Antecedents Of Actively Destructive Employee Behaviors As A Manifestation Of Voice In Mergers And Acquisitions, Keith Dellano Holloway

Theses and Dissertations

Mergers and acquisitions are frequently leveraged as a vehicle for company growth. However, many of these transactions fail to yield a positive result and often cause a net loss of shareholder value.

There are many interrelated factors at work within a merger or acquisition. Structure, leadership, finances, strategic fit, market, and price are just a few variables to consider. However, the factor of culture, and the failure of cultural integration, has surfaced in literature as a significant contributor to losses within mergers and acquisitions.

This study built on the work of Harris, Hirschman, Kotter, and Schlesinger and examined the deleterious …

Midwest Midlevel Professionals' Perspective On Their Entry-Level Experience: Supervisor Leadership And Its Effect On Employee Retention, Joseph Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

For the past three decades, new professionals have been leaving the student affairs field at alarming rates, with around 50% departing within five years of completing their master’s degrees. While numerous studies have explored the reasons behind this exodus, few have examined why the other 50% remain. Moreover, limited research has investigated how servant leadership impacts the retention of these professionals. This basic interpretive qualitative study aimed to understand how leadership’s focus on employee needs influences retention, using the lived experiences of eight mid-level student affairs professionals from large public institutions in the Midwest, each 5-7 years post-master’s degree. Thematic …

Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Post George Floyd And Covid-19: Reflections From Global Business Leaders On A Changing Paradigm, Charles Edward Bray Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

This global study of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), encompassing the lenses of sixteen corporate executives with multi-country influence, examines efforts to address marginalization in the workplace based on identity characteristics such as race, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or ability. Othering is a global phenomenon. Corporations were awakened to the magnitude of othering, shocked into reality by the murder of George Floyd and other acts of political and social violence, including femicide, globally. The COVID-19 global pandemic further exposed the impact of marginalization seen through wide health disparities across communities. The Russian invasion of Ukraine further augmented the corporate …

An Examination Of Leading Through Change Using Snyder’S Hope Theory And Lewin’S 3-Step Model, Scott E. Sorensen

Theses and Dissertations

Never has the world experienced such rapid change, and the environment in which organizations operate necessitates increased change capability and organizational agility (Argyris, 1991). Strebel (1996) found success rates for change initiatives in Fortune 1000 companies ranged from a low of 20% to a high of 50%. Later studies would substantiate Strebel’s (1996) findings, claiming that, on average, failure rates of transformational change initiatives approach 70% (Beer & Nohria, 2000; Sirkin et al., 2005). Suppose this is so, and companies wish to thrive in such a dynamic environment. A fundamental understanding of why change efforts fail and how to drive …

The Development Of An Instrument To Measure Fourteen Theoretical Factors For The Attribution Of Charisma, Tyler J. Bach, Michael J. Labosky

Theses and Dissertations

This study attempted to validate Hicks' (1991) findings of 11 factors which could be used to measure the attribution of charisma. Three new factors were added and their validity measured. The instrument measured whether followers differentiated between charismatic and non-charismatic leaders in terms of these factors. We tested if the subjects responded differently to the attribution of charisma based on gender or whether or not they had someone in mind as they completed the instrument. Cronbach's Alpha was used to measure the validity of the 14 factors land to compare them to previous findings. All 14 factors were validated, some …

Evaluation Of Corrective Action Team (Cat) Leader Training In Aeronautical Systems Division, Kirk J. Streitmater

Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluated corrective action team (CAT) leader training, a team dynamics and group problem solving course provided by an Air Force product division. A pre/post knowledge test, using developed behavioral objectives, was administered to 61 participants as part of an internal evaluation while 373 past participants were provided a questionnaire for a field evaluation. Results from the internal evaluation indicated that students learned the majority of training material presented in the course. Self-efficacy increased in most cases showing an improved self-perception regarding the ability to perform training related tasks. Predictors for a pre-test score model were identified, but overall …

The Development Of An Instrument To Measure The Theoretical Parameters Of Charisma Within Organizations, Daniel K. Hicks

Theses and Dissertations

This study set out to identify the parameters in the existing leadership theories that lead to the attribution of charisma in organizational leaders. Once these parameters were identified, the goal was to develop and validate the means to measure the parameters. Organizational scientists began to wrestle with the operation of charismatic authority within organizations in 1961. A review of the literature uncovered eight theories that describe the operation of charisma with organizations. From these eight theories, 37 distinct behaviors or qualities were extracted. Each of these was theorized to lead to the attribution of charisma either singly or in combination …

Leadership Self-Efficacy: Measuring The Effects Of Leadership Training At Squadron Officer School, Gilbert W. Jennings

Theses and Dissertations

This study used a measure of change in perceived self-efficacy as a method for evaluating the effectiveness of the leadership training conducted at the Air Force's Squadron Officer School (SOS), Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. A self-assessment survey was developed to measure the change in perceived self- efficacy related to leadership behaviors of the students when they compare themselves to their idea of an ideal leader/manager. Dr. Gary A Yukl's (1989) taxonomy of leadership skills was used as the leadership model in the development of the survey instrument. A statistical analysis was done to determine which of Yukl's skills showed …