Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Leadership: Personal Narratives Of Practitioners, R. Daniel Israel Edd

Dissertations

Leadership scholars and researchers have still not come to an agreement as to what the nature of leadership is. Most research within leadership studies has been grounded in preconceived or stated definitions of leadership. However, very little information exists about people's experiences of leadership. This project addresses the lack of experiential clarification of the leadership relationship. It utilizes a new leadership research method grounded in the experience of people. Leadership narrative research uses the stories people tell about their leadership experiences as a form of data collection This study is designed to discover if Rost's (1991) definition: "Leadership is an …

The Unprepossessing Mr. Ryan: Understanding Exemplary Legislative Leadership, Barbara A. K. Adams

Dissertations

This study focuses on the character attributes, philosophy, political skills, policy agenda, and administrative activities of William A. Ryan, Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives from 1969 through 1974 and a House member from 1958 through 1982. The case study is embedded in a history of Michigan’s political culture, which is characterized by moralistic and individualistic strands often in conflict with one another.

The research hypothesis was that administrative virtue in legislative leadership is best described in terms of utilitarian ethics, the ability to control and manage factionalism in the interest of incremental change. The rival hypothesis was that …

Spirituality And Leadership, Dana M. Walling Edd

Dissertations

The language of leadership is becoming increasingly spiritualized. Terms more often found in the sanctuary are now being applied to the leadership domain. Without a clear understanding of each, confusion results. This research explored the common boundaries between spirituality and leadership. Ten persons with leadership experiences were interviewed with regard to what relationships existed between their leadership and their spirituality. There were five women and five men in the study who also reflected diverse ethnic and spiritual perspectives. The researcher used a qualitative interview methodology. Each person was given the chance to review and edit the transcript of the interview. …

My Experiences With The Community Foundation, Jennifer L. Vest

Honors Theses

Founded in 1968, the Community Foundation is a philanthropic endowment serving the Greater Richmond and Central Virginia community. ...in the Foundation's 1992 Annual Report they write, "We exist to help individuals, corporations, and other foundations achieve their own unique ideas about community philanthropy. We provide permanent stewardship, efficient administration, and the opportunity for our benefactors to remain active in their giving." ...over 400 localities across the nation have created similar foundations that cumulatively manage $8 billion in assets. In 1992, The Community Foundation made grant commitments totalling $1,352,232 to 193 agencies in Greater Richmond and Central Virginia and has approximately …

Leadership Development Learning In Community Settings, Anne C. Shepherd

Honors Theses

The Learning in Community Settings (LINCS) program at the University of Richmond is nearly two years old, and has been a catalyst for integrating community service into the University of Richmond curriculum. The program has grown exponentially, and now serves over 300 students, 15 faculty, and 50 community agencies. The program continues to expand and currently is planning programs of dissemination with the Bonner Scholar network and possibly with the Pew Partnership for Civic Change. This rapid growth and expansion has been both exciting and challenging. One of the challenges has been staying abreast of the program's growth. Assuring that …

My Life At The Arts Council Of Richmond Or An Analysis Of A Senior Project On Advocacy, Laura Yeatts

Honors Theses

Advocacy entails different activities, dependent on the issue, but all types of advocacy have certain characteristics in common. Advocacy is promoting one's chosen cause by creating publicity, calling and writing legislators or others in power, developing programs to show off your cause, etc. The goal of all advocacy is to garner support from a wide range of people, especially those who can influence the success of your efforts. Most often that means influencing legislators who control public funding and business leaders who make up the bulk of private funding. Advocacy takes place at the grass roots level with community canvassing …

Nine Articles For Leadership For Student Activities, William Richard Volp

Honors Theses

The purpose of this Senior Project is to compile a series of nine articles for a magazine entitled Leadership for Student Activities. These articles will be printed in the nine 1994-1995 issues as a column. Each of the articles deals with a certain aspect of leadership studies. The main focus of each article is, in the order in which they will be submitted to the editor of Leadership for Student Activities: the future of leadership; decision making; leaders and followers; leadership guidelines; leadership and management; creative thinking; motivation; the role of a leader; and, empowerment. These nine articles …

Leadership : Can It Be Taught?, Edward R. Schreiber Iii

Honors Theses

This paper attempts to support the assertion that leadership can be taught. To accomplish this task I must first determine what leadership is. To assert that something can be taught I must first ascertain what the subject is. This is an issue of particular sensitivity and complexity, and will be discussed in length in this paper. From there I will attack the question of whether this thing called leadership can be taught. How can an educational curriculum actually teach people leadership? This question is actually the culmination of a number of underlying issues which must first be confronted.

Summer Leadership Seminar, Matthew Whitbeck

Honors Theses

The leadership program for rising seniors in the Hanover School District is, at this moment, tentative. The project itself is a joint program between Hanover County School District and the Jepson School of Leadership Studies. ... The program has three parts; one, a summer leadership seminar preceding the senior school year; two, a senior project during the school year; and three, a mentorship program during the senior school year. It is hoped that the students will receive an experience that will stress the importance of moral courage, empathy for diverse opinions, and an understanding of the responsibilities of citizenship. While …

Leadership And Home Based Family Support Services, Nancy A. Moore Smith

Theses and Graduate Projects

Leadership and Home Based Family Support Services" focused on leadership in relation to o comprehensive program for families of children with special needs, This project hod as its goal the demonstration of leadership needed to sustain and promote these services. A study element of this project focused on the collection of data necessary to understand the services and develop information critical influencing policymakers about the future of home based family support services. A demonstration focus of the project identified critical steps in the development of program evaluation tools in the social service field, The tools themselves were used to determine …

Transforming Leadership In The California Literature Project: Ethnographic Narrative As True Fiction, Jon S. Davies Edd

Dissertations

With rare exception leadership scholars and practitioners focus on individuals as leaders. However, to investigate leadership only through the activities of individual leaders is to miss its essential feature, namely, that leadership is a particular kind of relationship in which leaders and followers create changes. Relationships are difficult to describe because researchers cannot observe them directly; instead, they must infer them indirectly. This study investigated leadership relationships in the California Literature Project. An exploration of leadership relationships required that I implement research methods that would support the construction of detailed descriptions of transforming leadership processes. These methods developed in part …

Leadership Training Of Ministerial Students In Evangelical Institutions Of Higher Education, Alan E. Nelson Edd

Dissertations

There exists a growing sense within evangelicalism in the United States, that more and better leaders are needed in local congregations. Traditionally, seminaries, graduate and undergraduate schools have prepared pastors to fulfill these roles and satisfy church expectations. The majority of pastoral preparation is theological in nature, augmented by ministerial skill courses. The hypothesis of this research was that little has been done in the area of leadership development and that an optimum program is needed to serve as a model. The intent of this research was twofold. First, the researcher needed to determine to what extent pastoral preparation programs …

Barriers To Community: The Development Of An Instrument To Assess Components Of Prejudice, Anita M. Rogers Edd

Dissertations

Contemporary theory and practice defines leadership as a collaborative effort, based in community, and purposefully guided by a mutual vision of freedom, justice and equality. Prejudice, as a preset of negative beliefs and behaviors toward a person or a group is a primary barrier to the transformational process of team-building and formation of community. The purpose of this study was to contribute to the effectiveness of training and educational interventions through further understanding of the origins and aspects of prejudice which act as barriers to community. The Retroductive Triangulation process served as a guiding methodology for the development of a …

Implementing Total Quality Management In A College Of Business, Jeffrey William Glazer Edd

Dissertations

Today, a wide range of organizations are involved in what is commonly referred to as total quality management (TQM). Implementation and associated research have primarily been focused in the business community; however, over the past decade, faced with dwindling enrollment and increased competition, the educational community has also started to embrace TQM at differing levels in a wide variety of settings across the nation, ranging from doctoral granting institutions to community colleges to elementary schools. This descriptive case study examined the implementation of a TQM process at a College of Business in a large state university on the west coast. …

The Influence Of Glasser's Control Theory And Reality Therapy On Educators: A Case Study, Debra Cullinane Edd

Dissertations

The influence of Glasser's control theory and reality therapy on educators' perceptions of change, relationships and self reflection has to date not been researched. The purpose of this study was to investigate and describe the influence that control theory and reality therapy training had on educators in one school district. A case study method was chosen because of its descriptive and evaluative strength in educational settings, its qualitative character and its flexibility. All educators currently employed who had participated in one week of training or more were sent a fifteen item survey. From the group of 100 who received the …

A Model Part-Time Bachelor's Degree Program For Adults At California Public Research Institutions, Karen Jil Warn Edd

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to assess the opportunities available to adults for continuing their education part-time to complete a Bachelor's degree and to assess a California research institution's perception of part-time study. Adult student enrollments in postsecondary education have increased 114 percent between 1970 and 1985. Part-time student enrollments rose nearly 87 percent during the same time frame and part-time students now comprise approximately 42 percent of the enrollment in postsecondary education. California research institutions are typically still providing services for the traditional day-time student. There is a persistent resistance to change by faculty. Changing the way the …

Creating Campus Climates That Are Free From Sexual Harassment: Implications For Leaders In Higher Education, Susan E. Mitchell Edd

Dissertations

Based upon the preponderance of research which strongly indicates that sexual harassment is a serious problem for females in academia, the purpose of this study was to identify effective strategies for creating campus climates that are free from sexual harassment. In order to realistically bound the project, the study focused specifically upon the issue as it relates to undergraduate and graduate female students. The Delphi method, designed to generate solutions to complex problems, was the method of choice. Eighteen identified experts from thirteen campuses of The California State University participated as panelists and completed three rounds of surveys. The surveys …

Leadership In A Quality School, Peter J. Bray Edd

Dissertations

Education in Western countries has been under attack in recent years. Numerous individuals and groups have made attempts to reform or restructure the system in which students are schooled. Such change is difficult and on many occasions the attempts at reform resulted in very superficial modifications. Significant change can come from a complex interaction of people where leaders and collaborators work interactively to achieve common purposes. This research examined one school, which is part of William Glasser's consortium of Quality Schools, where significant changes took place. Glasser's control theory has played an important role in the change process. The challenge …

Affecting Change Synergistically: An Interpretative Case Study Of Leadership Relationships At Southwest Airlines, Jacquelyn A. Freiberg Edd

Dissertations

As we move into the 21st century it becomes increasingly more important to move beyond what we have come to know as leadership--great man and position/authority-based, excellent management. Instead, what organizations are in need of is a postindustrial model of leadership. Rost defined 21st century leadership as "an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes" (p. 102). This study sought to operationalize 21st century leadership in Southwest Airlines Co., a Texas-based corporation that is recognized as one of America's most successful airlines. This company has a 22 year history, over 10,000 employees, …

The Leadership Of A Superintendent: Putting The California School Reform Movement To Work, Jennifer L. Jeffries Edd

Dissertations

Public education has been engulfed in a dramatic and turbulent time. In California, the drive for improvement in public education was codified in Senate Bill 813, passed in 1983. Each school district wrestled with the intent and the mandates of this massive reform document. During the implementation stage of this legislation, the organizational climate in school districts was ripe for leaders and followers to engage each other in dialogue and debate about the direction and form the legislation would take. This dialogue and debate rendered policies in response to the legislative mandates. Senate Bill 813 provided opportunities to promote and …

Meeting Graduate Student Needs Through Alternative Programs: An Analysis Of The Impact Of Factors Related To Student Choice, Debra Jill Wright Edd

Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to explore the design and initiation of alternative graduate programs and their impact on student needs, to examine the university organizational structure and environment that fosters the development of alternative graduate programs, and to identify the factors graduate students see as important in their choice to attend and participate in an alternative graduate program. The intent of the research was to rank the factors significant in the design of a graduate program to meet the factors meaningful to the student in meeting their needs related to graduate programs. The content of the survey instrument …

Self-Esteem: A Descriptive Study Of Students Of San Diego Unified School District At Grades 4, 6, 8, 10, And 12 Related To Components Of Self-Esteem, Kathryn Dorothy Skube Edd

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to assess the self-esteem of students in a large, multicultural, urban, public school system on overall self-esteem and components of self-esteem across various ages. This was a descriptive study in which the researcher attempted to discern changes in levels of self-esteem as the students moved through the school system (grades 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12). Utilizing the Coopersmith Inventory, the researcher compared students' overall level of self-esteem, as well as the individual components of self-esteem: general self, social self/peers, home/parents, and school/academic. Selected teachers also completed a behavioral-observational rating scale on their students. …

An Analysis Of The Business Banking Team Of Nationsbank : Where It's Been, Where It Is, Where It's Going, Kathryn Hansen

Honors Theses

I conducted informal interviews with the team members and those who work with them. Using this information, as well as my personal experiences and observations, I have created a document that may be used by NationsBank to improve its current situation or used as a prototype for similar future endeavors.

Leadership In Literature, Linda M. Ghers

Honors Theses

The purpose of this paper is to explore a controversial topic -- the utility of the arts and the function of aesthetics in society. Because the very nature of art is essentially an abstract representation of reality, to explore its function seems to be outside the realm of possibility. Yet many still consider art to have a didactic function, and the study of any of the arts is based on the premise that the appreciation and creation of art can be useful for instructing humanity about the world beyond the artwork itself. How and what art actually teaches are questions …

The William Byrd Community House : Developing Youngsters Into Future Leaders, William Gill, Tanya M. Tyree

Honors Theses

Youth face several issues including neglect, abuse, poverty, crime, teenage pregnancy, drugs, and mental disorders among many others. All of these problems result in a greater lack of self esteem for those children involved. Who is responsible? In reality, it is a combination of factors. To make a difference, we researched the leadership opportunities of elementary aged students in the community, and little was found. In hopes of facilitating change we chose one of these areas, the community, to focus on and began to pioneer our own leadership program at the William Byrd Community House.

Looking Past The Surface : A Look At The Office Of Senate And Its Environment And The Implications Of Public Versus Private Morality, Jennifer A. Chaippetta

Honors Theses

By interning at the State Headquarters of Senator Robb's office, I was able to learn the nature of the leader/ constituent relationship first hand. I witnessed first hand how the government can be responsive to its constituency. Daily, I witnessed the business of constituent services that Senator Robb's office offered, be it through special projects such as the Salem VA hospital investigation, the constant concentration on the constituent through casework, and the direct interaction with the constituent. Without this leadership experience I would never have realized the essentially service related aspect of the Senator's work, and the transactional relationship that …

Is A Graduate Program In Leadership Studies Feasible?, Bill Sakkab

Honors Theses

It is the philosophy of the Graduate program in Leadership Studies that effective leadership education is built on two pillars: an interdisciplinary education and experience in leadership positions. Through an interdisciplinary degree program, students will enhance their base of knowledge about leadership and another chosen discipline of the student's interest. The Leadership Studies program is intended to be integrated with a solid grounding in another discipline of study that will include the following choices: education, history, organizational behavior, philosophy, political science, psychology, and sociology.

Teaching Leadership For A Diverse Society, Brooke Douglas Taylor

Honors Theses

According to Workforce 2000, a survey report on corporate responses to demographic and labor force trends, traditional minorities (defined as people of color, immigrants, and women) will compose up to 80 percent of the United States corporate workforce by the year 2000. This displays a significant change from earlier years, where the workforce was dominated by white American males. Because of this changing ethnic and racial mix of employees, companies are becoming more concerned with ethnic diversity and the changing needs of both individuals and companies. Though these companies are concerned, not much has been done to address the growing …

Ywca Domestic Violence Emergency Shelter Children's Playroom : From Wallpaper To Monopoly, Amy S. Dellamora

Honors Theses

Recognizing the tremendous need for immediate attention, my senior project was designed to help domestic violence victims. More specifically, I chose to target the project to benefit the children involved in domestic violence relationships. These children have frequently been abused themselves, and have witnessed the abuse against their mothers. The children need support directed toward their interests.

Does Participation In Athletics Imbue Leadership, Scott E. Zimmer

Honors Theses

It is the opinion of this researcher that the debate over sport as a builder of leadership has not been settled with this study. While this is somewhat disappointing, I hope that the research presented in this paper will serve to create an awareness as to the study of leadership qualities and abilities of those physically participating in the sport, the athletes themselves. They are the largely-ignored majority in sport and leadership study, a condition which must be addressed in the literature if sport leadership investigation is to become indeed holistic.

While the purpose of this research was to determine …