Organizational Communication Commons^™

Legacy Traditions, Abigail Schreiner

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This paper discusses and examines how I planned and executed a new fall program for Girl Scouts of North East Ohio entitled, “Legacy Traditions.” This program took place in October 2019 at Camp Timberlane in Wakeman, Ohio. The attendance of the camp consisted of girls between the ages of 6 to 11 years old. After seeing there was a need for a program that discussed Girl Scout Traditions while teaching leadership and other core values of Girl Scouts, the program was created in partnership with Girl Scouts of North East Ohio. Girl Scouts is an organization where girls of all …

Social Media In Baptist Churches, Robin Rogers

Dissertations

The integration of social media into Chicago Baptist Churches congregants recently increased over the last few years. This research study allowed church leaders to determine if social media was an effective media outlet in Baptist churches on the Southside of Chicago. The evaluation research approach was to assess the effectiveness of social media, in particular Facebook and Instagram. Within this conceptual framework, the researcher was able to produced flexible, fixed, and multi-design strategies to abstract a full spectrum of evaluation. The subsequent methodology focused on the dual use of social media and themes that coincide, specifically, marketing, politics, communication awareness, …

Crafting The Message: The Complex Process Behind Presidential Communication In Higher Education, Jon Mcnaughtan, Patricia Ryan Pal

Journal of Research on the College President

University presidents engage in formal and informal communicationthrough multiple modes of communication. While scholars have studied the content and motivations behind presidential communication, this study provides insight into the process that university presidents engage in when crafting public statements. Utilizing interviews with presidents (8) and vice-presidents of communication (4) at U.S. flagship universities, we employ the cognitive process writing theory to develop a process model of presidential communication,while highlighting how presidents describe their experiences crafting communication. Results highlight thepresident’sperception of theirroleas instigator of communication, the involvementof other senior leaders (e.g., legal counsel, chief of staff, etc.), andinsight into thecomplex process …

Applying Social Network Analysis To Identify How Chief Resilience Officers Promote Community Resilience Through Boundary Spanning, Interorganizational Collaboration, And Leadership, Kasey Couvillion Sisson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this paper is to explore, in some depth, the functions of interorganizational collaboration (IOC) by analyzing the Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) role in 5 US cities. The CRO can act as a key network collaborator or boundary spanner – managing relationships, communication and strategic responses within and across organizations. This study researches the IOC and leadership functions of CROs operating in the social network of 100 Resilient Cities to better understand their boundary spanning roles. This study explores how CROs create and maintain IOC, characterizes their leadership functions and role, and examines the boundary spanning role as …

Incivility And Beyond At The Top Management Team Level, Joanne O. Martinez, Julia Eisenberg

Organization Management Journal

Although incivility has been gaining increasing attention in the literature as well as in the industry, academic studies have not examined the effects on top management team (TMT) members. TMT members are different from employees at other levels because they are officers of their organizations who are held to a much higher level of responsibility than those in lower echelons. They are crucial in setting the norms of an organization and have far-reaching influence. This article seeks to uncover the mechanisms that explain what happens when TMT members are targets of uncivil leadership behavior. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 15 …

Quiet: The Power Of Introverts In A World That Can't Stop Talking: A Book Analysis, Molly Goaley

The Hilltop Review

The topics addressed in Quiet are important to nonscholarly and academic audiences because introversion is a universal personality trait that affects us all in some way. If we are not introverts ourselves, we have colleagues, supervisors, family members, friends or children who are. Studies of extroversion and introversion in organizational teamwork (Zanin & Bisel, 2018), office environments (McElroy & Morrow, 2010), and leadership (Grant et al., 2011) therefore have practical implications regardless of personality type. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast Cain’s work with the existing scholarly research in order to gain a deeper understanding of …

Leading In The Real World: Operationalizing A Power-Based Model Of Collaboration For Leadership Experiential Learning, Mariana J. Lebron, Filiz Tabak

Organization Management Journal

Using a power-based conceptual framework, we present a collaboration model to guide faculty and student affairs (SA) staff in working together to develop experiential learning assignments that help students apply leadership concepts to on-campus organizational problems. The PowerBased Student-Centered Collaboration Model (PSCM) consists of four stages through which faculty, SA staff, leadership course students, and student organization leaders operationalize their legitimate, coercive, expert, reward, and informational power in sharing resources for mutually beneficial student-centered learning experiences. Power structures provide coordinating mechanisms for information-exchange, decision-making, and role clarification in team-based collaborations. Using the PSCM, we developed a 6-week assignment Leading in …

Exemplary Middle School Principals Leading Through Conversation, John Ashby

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to describe the behaviors that exemplary middle school principals practice to lead their organization through conversations using Groysberg and Slind’s (2012) four elements of conversational leadership: intimacy, interactivity, inclusion, and intentionality.

Methodology: This phenomenological qualitative study described the lived experiences of exemplary middle school principals in Orange County, California. The researcher was part of a thematic research team of 12 peer researchers and 4 faculty advisors. Through purposeful sampling, the researcher selected 10 exemplary middle school principals who met at least 4 of 6 criteria identifying someone as exemplary. Data collection …

Leveraging Positive Psychological Capital (Psycap) In Crisis: A Multiphase Framework, Ivana Milosevic, A. Erin Bass, Djordje Milosevic

Organization Management Journal

Despite recent advancements in understanding of leadership in context, there is surprisingly little insight into leadership in crisis. To provide insight into how leaders navigate crisis, we utilize historical sources of Sir Winston Churchill’s leadership during World War II to analyze which resources are used by leaders during a crisis and how they leverage these resources to lead through and out of the crisis. We discover that psychological capital (PsyCap) is a core individual resource that leaders leverage in crisis. Our findings suggest that leaders leverage PsyCap in varying ways based on the phase of the crisis. That is, different …

The Relationship Between Just Culture, Trust And Patient Safety, Linda Ann Paradiso, Nancy Sweeney

Publications and Research

PROBLEM: Medical errors are now considered to be the third leading cause of death in the United States, estimated at more than 250,000 deaths per year. The Institute of Medicine’s landmark report, To Err is Human, identified that errors are not the fault of individuals, but systems, processes, and various conditions. In healthcare, the cornerstone of the process by which we learn from errors has been voluntary reporting. The primary barrier to reporting errors is the negative response from administrators, and the potential risk of disciplinary action. An environment of trust and fairness is known as “Just Culture” and …

The Emergence Of Efficacy: Effects Of An Orientation Leader Training Program On Participant Self-Efficacy, Hayley Marisa Walker

Communication Studies

This study examined the effects of California Polytechnic State University’s Spring Training Program for student Orientation Leaders on participants. Specifically, the present research explored the impact of the programming on participant levels of self-efficacy over the course of ten weeks. Data were collected from individuals who volunteered to partake in the research by responding to two questionnaires throughout the program. The results show that participants’ reported higher perceptions of self-efficacy at the end of the program than they did at the beginning. Further, such increases are significantly influenced by the performance of, and relationships with, prominent leaders within the program. …

A Grounded Theory Approach To Healthy Work Environment: Its Impact On Nurses, Patient Safety, And Significance In Healthcare Settings, Nicole Sevilla-Zeigen

Dissertations

A healthy working environment has been an area of interest for occupation health providers. There is anticipation that a safe working environment improves patient safety, which is associated with reduction in clinical nurse errors. Issues with medication errors and poor working environment pose a greater risk to patient safety. The aim of this qualitative study was to provide a broad understanding on nurses’ perceptions on the processes that influence a healthy working environment and the impacts of a healthy working environment on patient safety. An interpretive grounded theory methodology was used in this study to evaluate nurses’ perceptions in acute …

White Paper On Mentoring Research And Best Practices, Elina Erzikova, Diana Martinelli

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Sponsored by the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations, this white paper draws upon mentorship research literature and summarizes 12 key insights and eight best practices gleaned from that work. Key insights include: mentoring as a bi-directional and multiple relationship process, mentors as co-learners, long-term benefits for protégés, mentorship’s long-term value, the roles of involvement and similarity, the power of both formal and informal mentorship, mentorship as leadership development, and the promise of e-mentoring. The paper also includes sections on mentoring college students and ways to evaluate mentoring programs.

Talk Matters At Work: The Effects Of Leader Member Conversational Quality And Communication Frequency On Work Role Stressors, Guowei Jian, Francis Dalisay

Communication Faculty Publications

Although it is clear that leadership plays a significant role in followers’ psychological health, the specific mechanisms by which leadership effects may take place await further theorizing and investigation. We argue that communication practices may constitute such specific mechanisms. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine how leader-member conversational quality (LMCQ) and communication frequency are associated with members’ perception of work role stressors. Through an online survey, the study found that LMCQ has a significant predictive effect on work role ambiguity and role overload. However, LMCQ interacts with communication frequency in their effects on role conflict. These findings …

7 Tips To Grow Your Rural Business With Purpose And Meaning, Connie I. Reimers-Hild, Alyssa Dye

Community Vitality Initiative

No one can predict the future; however, rural entrepreneurs and business owners can use a future-focused leadership approach, which includes examining megatrends, to shape the future of their businesses. Megatrends are global shifts that influence society, the economy and the environment. The purpose of this article is to help rural entrepreneurs discover ways to grow their businesses with Living with Purpose and Meaning Megatrend.

Organizational Change In Volunteer-Based Organizations: Communication Change Strategies In Church Congregations, Daniela Viviana Fuentes Riffo

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The current study fills a gap in the communication and management literature by providing additional insight regarding the effective communication strategies used by church leaders during organizational change. The researcher sought to find out how beliefs held by church members predicted their receptivity to change and their intent to leave their organization. Participants from diverse church denominations (N = 208) completed an online survey questionnaire asking them to think about a particular change they had experienced in their current or former church. The results of statistical analysis showed: (a) Church members´ beliefs regarding discrepancy, efficacy, principal support, and valence, positively …

Vocational Narratives Of Senior Executive Retirees In A Technical Agency And Their Sense Of Safety In The Workplace, Sarah Bender

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

While research has been conducted on safety and risk management in technical agencies as well as vocational histories of senior executives, little research has been done to determine how a senior executive's vocational narrative helps him or her develop a safety mindset. The goal of this study is guided by the following research question: How does the vocational history of a senior government executive in a technical agency help contribute to his or her sense of safety and risk management? Through the use of in-depth, vocational narrative interviews with retired nuclear executives and thematic analysis, this study found reoccurring themes …

Leaders Who Care: Exploring Empathy As An Essential Trait In 21st Century Corporate Leadership, Elizabeth Mary Terrasi

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In a field dominated by eclectic leadership styles, leaders have the capacity to influence worker experiences and organizational outcomes. This study examines particular leadership traits that may influence the overall organizational environment. Specifically, the study proposes that empathy is significant for effective leadership. Eighteen leaders in various industries participated in semi-structured interviews regarding their practices and perspectives. The results delineate a compilation of emergent themes as well as data findings regarding specific areas of inquiry. Five major categories were found regarding empathy as an aspect of 21st century leadership: industry-based perspectives, generational demographics, technology, employees as people first and workers …

Most Admired Leader/Most Admired Follower, Susan D. Baker, Erica L. Anthony, Susan A. Stites-Doe

Organization Management Journal

In introducing concepts of leadership and followership to students, this experiential exercise highlights qualities associated with the leader and follower roles. Various learning objectives guide the development of the exercise. They focus on identification of behavioral qualities possessed by both leaders and followers and on the importance of the leader-follower relationship to the organization’s achievement of goals. Theoretical underpinnings are stressed throughout. In the exercise, students individually develop a list of characteristics associated with their own most admired leader or follower and then share their lists in small groups. In plenary discussion, groups share all characteristics identified, and the instructor …

Conversation At Work: The Effects Of Leader-Member Conversational Quality, Guowei Jian, Francis Dalisay

Communication Faculty Publications

Although research has made significant gains in understanding the constitutive nature of conversation in the process of organizing, its predictive effects on organizational outcomes are still uncertain. To contribute in this direction, based on social exchange theory and leader-member exchange (LMX) research, this study examined the predictive effects of leader-member conversational quality (LMCQ) on employee organizational commitment (OC), and the potential interaction effects of LMCQ with LMX quality. Using data from an online survey, this study found that above and beyond communication frequency and other control variables, LMCQ is significantly associated with employee OC. More interestingly, the effects of LMCQ …

Lessons From Lived Experience: From Fresh Insights To Effective Action, Lisa Deangelis, Maureen A. Scully, Andrea Wight

Emerging Leaders Program Team Projects

The 34 fellows in the 2014 Emerging Leaders Program worked with community partners to generate the theme, “Learning from Lived Experience: From fresh insights to effective action." Each year, the projects draw upon a theme or lesson from the prior year. Last year and this year, fellows saw how the lived experiences of both their stakeholders and themselves generated nuanced and appropriate approaches to problem-solving. The fellows worked with six community partners, giving their time and professional skills to understand how to frame complex social challenges, engage new partners and resources, and sharpen strategic plans. They conducted surveys, interviews, open …

Leader–Member Conversational Quality Scale Development And Validation Through Three Studies, Guowei Jian, Xiaowei Shi, Francis Dalisay

Communication Faculty Publications

The continuing development of leadership research calls for measurement instruments that can tap into the communication process between leaders and members. The purpose of this present research is to develop and validate a Leader–Member Conversational Quality (LMCQ) scale—an instrument that measures the quality of conversations between leaders and members in the workplace. A series of three studies were conducted. Study I involved item generation and content validity assessment. Study II undertook the task of scale construction and reliability assessment. Study III tested the convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validity of the scale. These studies resulted in a nine-item instrument with sufficient …

Staff Perceptions Of Work-Environment Factors Affecting Morale In Southeastern Registrar's Offices, Rheanna Plemons

Dissertations

Studies on morale are prevalent in industry, healthcare, and public educational systems. However, morale studies are limited within higher education and focusing on the support staff at universities. This qualitative study used focus groups to identify themes among support staff in selected Registrar’s Offices in the Southeastern region of the United States. Institutions were chosen based on comparable enrollments and similar organizational structure. The researcher asked participants to discuss their perceptions on current morale levels in the office and how different work responsibilities affect morale. In addition, participants were asked to discuss motivators used by leaders and whether those motivators …

Gender And Corporate Sustainability: On Values, Vision, And Voice, Joan L. Slepian, Gwen E. Jones

Organization Management Journal

This article presents an exploratory empirical study of the role of gender in sustainability initiatives and practices in a sample of 925 men and women from American companies. We explore gender differences and their implications for sustainability values, priorities, and perceptions of sustainability-related activities in the workplace. Drawing from studies of sustainability, gender, and environmental values and action, our study finds that corporate women hold sustainability-related concerns and values to be significantly more important to them personally than do their male colleagues, and they view and evaluate their companies’ sustainability-related value priorities, initiatives, and activities from these foundational ethical and …

Indian Aviation Leadership Engagement: Case Study In Leadership Development Using The Cynevin Framework, Daryl Watkins, Kees Rietsema

Publications

The paper presents a case study of a leadership development workshop facilitated by two American educators for a group of Indian aviation executives. The Indian aviation environment is quite complex and at times chaotic. The leadership development workshop was conducted as a sense-making exercise using Snowden’s Cynevin Framework. Pre-seminar and post-seminar survey comparisons indicated that the executives experienced significant shifts in attitude during the three-day workshop. Pre-seminar attitudes demonstrated little differentiation between sense-making and leadership action within complex and chaotic contexts. Post-seminar attitudes demonstrated a broader contextual understanding of sense-making and leadership in complex and chaotic environments. The executives left …

Harnessing Charisma For Leadership Training, Meagan Roper

Masters Theses

Effective leadership develops followers toward objectives that focus a group's energy to engage in its task and accomplish its goals. The following study sought to understand charismatic leadership and its role in creating transformational change. Through a mixed methods case study using surveys and interviews, this researcher sought to explain the essence of charismatic leadership. Within the organization this study investigated, this meant first establishing organizational vision for a family atmosphere and guiding members on the path to achieving that vision, generating motivation and dedication to the task goals. The researcher discovered practical communicative strategies for incorporating charismatic leadership in …

Relational Aesthetics And Emotional Relations: Leadership On Board Merchant Marine Ships, Nana Gharibyan-Kefalloniti, David Sims

Organization Management Journal

Life on board merchant marine ships is very tough, very male, and isolated from much of the rest of the world by language, culture, and usually a large expanse of sea. This article presents data that show that leadership in this environment is full of aesthetic appreciation that is often relational, arising in interaction with others’ appreciation, and also full of strongly felt emotion. Those who exercise leadership on merchant marine ships (captains, chief engineers, first officers) turn out to have strong views on the importance of understanding aesthetics and emotions in discharging their responsibilities. We illuminate these leaders’ aesthetics …

Eat More Chicken And Lead More People: Perceived Measures Of Servant Leadership At Chick-Fil-A, Michael Mishler

Masters Theses

This present study used survey data from 31 employees working at 2 Chick-fil-A locations to assess the supervisor's perceived level of supervisor's level of servant leadership and how the level (a) affects coworker's perceptions of performance, (b) job satisfaction, and (c) relational trust amongst coworkers. The participants ranged in ages from 18-50. The average age for the participants was 26. The data for the study was collected through the distribution of surveys to individuals who currently work at Chick-fil-A. The two selected locations were approximately 300 miles apart in Virginia. The study employed quantitative research methods in order to collect …

Leadership, Complex Adaptive Systems, And Equivocality: The Role Of Managers In Emergent Change, Robert J. Blomme

Organization Management Journal

When managers are confronted with the necessity to change their organization owing to a turbulent and unpredictable environment, their change efforts are often not very successful. As managers are part of the change context itself, they have to act in a way that is different from the traditional role of the administrative leader to become successful change leaders. This article attempts to redefine organizational change using complexity theory and the work of Karl Weick and Ralph Stacey as a basis. Organizational change can be defined as emergent change in complex adaptive systems and is based on self-organizational principles. One important …

Leadership And The Psychology Of Awareness: Three Theoretical Approaches To Information Security Management, Robert Holmberg, Mikael Sundstrom

Organization Management Journal

The authors argue that information security management (ISM) would benefit from studies that examine the social and psychological mechanisms that, when in evidence, generate employee awareness of information security (IS)-related issues. Properly instilled, IS awareness has the power to engender a proactive wariness beyond mechanical guidelines, however detailed. To study how awareness travels in complex organizations, the authors devise a framework to catch mechanisms grounded in psychological and sociological theories. To illustrate the framework, the authors then turn to an empirical study of a medium-sized company where they sound out managers for definitions of IS and ISM; for initiatives intended …