Leadership Studies Commons^™

Boundaries In The Workplace: A Study To Explore The Role Of Boundaries And Team Cohesion In A Predominantly Female Setting, Cynthia A. Check

Theses and Graduate Projects

This qualitative study explores the potential connection of gender, team cohesion and relational boundaries in the workplace. Information gathered through in-depth interviews was analyzed for patterns of connection between the three themes and compared to current research literature. Existing findings of factors that contribute to team cohesion were supported such as development of trust, respect, commitment to task and unified goals. Further research including gender specific studies and further definition and study of relational boundaries in the workplace would be beneficial.

A Step Toward Authentic Leadership Through The Kaleidoscopic Lens Of Self-Awareness, Melodie Lane

Theses and Graduate Projects

During the past 15 years, corporate scandals such as Enron, significant failures in the mortgage and banking industries, and the more recent economic crisis have resulted in skepticism and distrust for many of today's leaders (Erickson, 1995, Northouse,2010; May, Hodges, Chan & Avolio,2003). Numerous leadership authors have "called for a new type of genuine and values-based leadership" - Authentic leadership (Gardner, Cogliser, Davis, & Dickens, 2A11). Society wants "leaders who do not deny responsibility, hide information, and deceive others, but rather lead with authenticity and integrity" (Peus, Wesche, Streicher, Braun & Frey , 2011 , p. 331). Self-awareness is an …

Leadership In Voluntourism, Heidi Jolivette Satre

Theses and Graduate Projects

This paper explores the opportunities for leadership development in the evolving field of VolunTourism. VolunTourism, a relatively new term within the tourism industry used to describe travelers paying to take a trip in which they spend their time volunteering, has been growing in populariry without any universally established guidelines or a program model for leaders to follow. Currently, there is a lack of research regarding the sustainability of projects and the impact of leadership sfyles on the success of VolunTourism programs. This paper also explores the opportunities for leadership development within the evolving field of VolunTourism, based on the experiences …

Internship Program Development: Developing An Effective Internship Program For Faith Based Organizations, Kelly R. Black

Theses and Graduate Projects

This paper presents the process, methods, and findings of action research on lhe topic af internship program development within organizations. Organized and well-designed programs can improve a sludent's ability to integrate academic knowledge with practical applications, as well as improve career opportunities after graduation, while developing work place communication and problem solving skills. lnternship programs also offer non-profit organizations opportunities to develop future leaders while gaining extra support within the working environment. Information gathered from an online survey taken by past and present internship students, data from a staff focus group, along with responses from one-on-one interviews has provided important …

Strategies To Enable Young Adults To Be Financially Literate, Stephanie Ruckel

Theses and Graduate Projects

The purpose of this research is to identify factors that parent(s) both intentionally and unintentionally impart on their children that enable young adults to be more financially literate. I administered a three question financial literacy test to 344 students at a private, not-for-profit liberal arts institution in a Midwestern city. Each result, a score of zero to three was compared to each student's socio-demographic characteristics, family characteristics, and parental education techniques to determine potential correlation and causation for financial literacy scores. I determined factors to be studied through relevant literature and personal experience.

Application Of Situational Leadership Theory To Gender-Based Pay Inequality, Joseph N. Maro

Theses and Graduate Projects

Women have made significant progress eliminating the equality gap with men in many areas. The one area with a persistent gap is pay. The gender wage ratio is about 81.2%. The median weekly earnings for women is about $669, compared with $824 per week for men (Hegewisch, Williams, & Henderson, 2011). The gender wage gap has an impact on women, families, and employers. It is important for leaders to understand some of the reasons for the wage gap and the impacts and be equipped to address them. The Situational Leadership theory is one tool that is available to leaders to …

Learning From Leadership Students' Experiences: An Evaluation Of The Mal Program, Mariana Gallo Llorente

Theses and Graduate Projects

The current independent project was developed to strengthen the Master of Arts in Leadership and build on its effectiveness. A program evaluation was conducted utilizing the perspectives and experiences of current leadership students. To accomplish this, a focus group was intentionally designed to gain insights into how students perceived the program. The resulting dialogue provided an opportunity for students to discuss issues that mattered to them, as well as, identify challenges and opportunities for improvement. The analysis concludes with a set of recommendations, including a template for periodic program review.

Employee Satisfaction And Employee Productivity: Finding The Link, Diane Slyman

Theses and Graduate Projects

In this era of economic challenges corporate leadership struggles to do more with less, while maintaining the delicate balance between employee productivity and employee satisfaction. The focus of this research paper is to determine the degree to which employee job satisfaction truly impacts employee productivity. Can it really be as simple as to increase employee satisfaction in order to get them to produce more? The study further examines satisfaction and proiductivity measurements for a department within a healthcare administration department. While a limited sample size, the department's survey results are compared to the literature review relative to top satisfaction drivers …

Best Practices For Loinc Mapping And Maintenance, Tawni M. Reller

Theses and Graduate Projects

The purpose of this action research project was to assess the current clinical laboratory industry perception of Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC) and if best practices exist for the mapping and maintenance of them. A literature review was conducted, beginning with the creation of the LOINC nomenclature in 1994 through the current studies detailing recommended best practices and standards that are necessary to ensure success of clinical laboratory result interoperability. An original, qualitative survey was created emailed to 7,303 Iaboratorians, of whom 206 responded. The results of the survey reinforce the researcher's perception of the implementation and maintenance …

Transformational Leadership And Profitability In A Retail Setting, Barbara Koziol

Theses and Graduate Projects

Creative Kidstuff, a privately owned company with five retail locations in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and a sixth location in West Des Moines, Iowa, experienced rapid growth in its first 15 years of business, Sales started to decline due to vendor mergers, consolidations, and bankruptcies along with increased competition from other toy retailers and the advent of on-line shopping. Transformational leadership has been shown to be effective in organizations undergoing change. My hypothesis was that there are significant leadership differences between stores which are highly profitable and those that are not. The Creative Kidstuff Employee Survey was designed with questions …

Perceived Needs: Small Nonprofit Boards And Leadership Development Efforts, Luisa K. Gerasimo

Theses and Graduate Projects

Nonprofits have become more important in recent decades: almost two million American charities provide important and diverse services. How they function under the leadership of nonprofit boards of directors has not been studied to the extent that corporate boards have. Some nonprofit boards do not offer new member training or an orientation to board service, which may leave some board members underprepared to lead. Do nonprofit boards that get training improve themselves and the functioning of their associated nonprofit agency? Using a review of academic literafure, personal experience working for nonprofits and serving on nonprofit boards, interviews with a board …

Leadership Strategies That Foster Innovation And Creattvity In 21st Century Organizations, Patricia Dianne Carlson

Theses and Graduate Projects

In an increasingly change-driven world, leaders are called upon to evolve their mindsets and skill-sets to reflect and serve the demands for innovation that characterize the 2Ist century. In this research, I examined the leadership strategies that foster innovation and creativity as a stimulus for sustained competitive advantage in organizations. Creativity without innovation in an organization is a wasted effort. However, without creative ideas there is nothing to promote, feed and develop the innovation process. I focus on three critical questions: What type of organizational climate fosters innovation and creativity? What is leadership's role in fostering innovation and creativity? What …

Communication Satisfaction And Part-Time Employees In A Park And Recreation Organization, Debra Lynn Derosa

Theses and Graduate Projects

The purpose of this study was to investigate levels of communication satisfaction depending on work status (whether employees work on a full-time or part-time basis) in a single municipal park and recreation organization. Part-time and full-time employees were surveyed using the Down and Hazen's Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire, resulting in 40 usable responses. The results showed that both part-time and full-time employees surveyed had low levels of communication satisfaction in the researched organization. Part-time employees had slightly higher levels of communication satisfaction than the full-time employees in each of the eight communication dimensions researched. This study draws attention for organizational need …

Relationship Between Leader Behavior And Subordinate Organizational Commitment In Higher Education Administrators, Christy L. Leduc

Theses and Graduate Projects

Organizational commitment (OC) is the psychological link betrveen employees and their organizations that reduces the likelihood that ernployees rvill voluntarily leave. OC is an important dimension of organization effectiveness; it has been shown to impact productivity, work performance. and rurnover. It is instructive to recognize how a leader's behavior impacts the overall stress and the organizational commitment of employees. Fifty-five administrators at a private college in the Midwest completed a 56-question electlonic survey to explore the relationship arnong leaders' behavioral scores for (1a) structure-initiation and (1b) consideration as assigned by their employees and the (2) self-reported organizational commitment levels of …

Our Shared Table: The Emerging Future Of Food, Seed And Biodiversity, Marita Bujold

Theses and Graduate Projects

Until recent decades, food was produced entirely by organic methods by farming communities who depended on adapting seeds within specific ecosystems and local ecological knowledge. This traditional approach to agriculture generated a wealth of vital genetically diverse seeds and plants. Since 1960, peasant communities have contributed 1.9 million varieties of plants to the world's seed banks. In today's food economy, one and half billion peasant farmers continue to rely on seed saving, local ecological knowledge and produce 70% of the world's food. The remaining thirty per cent of food produced by the agribusiness approach to farming that emerged in the …

The Identification Of Leadership Strategies Among Leaders Of Successful Mergers Or Acquisitions, Andrew F. Luce

Theses and Graduate Projects

This project investigates the leadership strategies used by leaders of successful mergers or acquisitions. Fifteen current or former Augsburg MAL students who have participated in a merger or acquisition were interviewed for this report. A significant cross section of Upper Midwest industries was represented as well as diverse segments of management among the interviewees.

Key techniques used by leaders include town-hall style meetings, integration or transition teams, employee panels and internal social media. Leader behaviors using these mediums govern the successful dissemination of vital information and the integration or creation of new corporate cultures. Effective leaders understand mergers or acquisitions …

A Case Study Examining Gender And Self-Efficacy In A Newsroom, Kathryn Eileen Parry

Theses and Graduate Projects

The challenging work atmosphere that is the newspaper industry in the early part of this century requires employees, and in particular those who serve in leadership roles, to exhibit a high sense of perceived self-efficacy if they are to survive and thrive. By analyzing in depth the groundbreaking research in self-efficacy by Albert Bandura, this paper seeks to apply Bandura's research and survey tools to examine self-efficacy in a large newsroom and whether there is a difference in the perceived level of self-efficacy depending on gender. In a case study of middle managers in the newsroom, a survey was developed, …

Collaborative Leadership Strategies: A Look Into The Funding Models Of Alternative Service And Nonprofit Organizations, Charles H. Pratt

Theses and Graduate Projects

This project will address the current issues of the funding environments of Alternative Service and Nonprofit Organizations. The material highlights major components of a healthy organization. This includes, but is not limited to, attracting and maintaining the interest of donors, volunteers, and staff as well as collaborating through knowledge, expertise, and resources and sharing successes that both organizational types may cooperatively lead their respective missions into the future. The overall approach was to discover organizational problems and enable both organizational types to develop and sustain through organizational tips that strengthen vital processes inside and outside of the workplace. The findings …

Staff Retention In Small Non-Profit Organizations, Michelle A. Redding

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study is an exploratory analysis of employee perceptions affecting staff recruitment, staff retention and job satisfaction in the small, human service non-profit organization. The study uses a human resource framework to address staff retention and provides conceptual guidance for advancing understanding about staff retention in the non-profit human services sector. The statistical findings are, however, inconclusive without further rigorous examination. A three category typology based on job recruitment factors, job retention factors, and job satisfaction is initially presented to define the strategies. Select dimensions of both intrinsic and extrinsic factors are explored in the recruitment stage of employee decision-making …

Strengths-Based Leadership And Its Effect On Intrinsic Motivation And Employee Performance Within A Corporate Setting, Kimberly A. Jatko

Theses and Graduate Projects

This paper examines the relationship between Strengths-Based Leadership and the way that style of leadership affects intrinsic motivation and, in turn, performance within a corporate setting. I center my research utilizing several works done by one of the principal researchers of intrinsic motivation, Edward Deci, and the Father of Strengths Psychology, Donald Clifton. Also, included is supporting literature authored by a variety of scholars. Through a concentrated and thorough analysis of this existing work concerning each topic, a conclusion will be reached regarding the relationship these ideas have with one another as well as their effect on performance when understood …

Study Of Leadership Characteristics During Transformational Change In Health Care Organizations, Susan Long

Theses and Graduate Projects

This qualitative research study explores the behavior of leaders during transformational change in health care organizations. For this study, health care workers, who had experienced transformational change within their organization in the previous three years, were interviewed about the behaviors of their leader. Findings of this study suggest leaders who regularly communication and support of team members; build organizational culture that supports collaboration and team work; and effectively plan for change initiatives, including providing adequate resources for the change, have more positive change initiatives than leaders who not demonstrate these behaviors

A Study Of The Crisis Leadership Model At Marshall University, Michele Kidwell

Theses and Graduate Projects

This research addresses the question: what factors contribute to a group successfully navigating times of crisis and what roles does the leader play in this navigation. Given recent events such as the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, the tsunami that devastated Indonesia in 2004, the catastrophic force of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the most recent earthquake in 2010 that decimated Haiti, coupled with the current tenuous international political climate, the need to understand how groups move through crisis and what role leadership plays is vitally important.

To study this question, the crisis of Marshall University will be analyzed. …

"Build From The Inside Out": Integrating Difference Into Feminist Coalition Leadership, Erin E. Parrish

Theses and Graduate Projects

This research discusses the challenge of integrating difference into feminist coalition leadership. Based on qualitative interviews with thirteen leaders of feminist or woman-centered organizations and coalitions, I propose criteria and a model for evaluating an organization's difference competency as viewed through a feminist lens. Using the model to measure each organization's effectiveness at integrating difference into their leadership structure and programming, I describe challenges that have prevented the full integration of difference as well as the successes that have moved them toward a more holistic organizational model. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the implications a larger social system …

Current Reading Methodologies Used In Classrooms: Grades K-6, Brett Ott

Theses and Graduate Projects

The purpose of my research is to examine what reading strategies k-6 general education teachers use in their classrooms to support balanced literacy instruction. In its relevancy to leadership, this research is specific to the current body of knowledge on how to teach children to read. I surveyed 35 k-6 teachers' literacy practices and compared their choices with the methods promoted by leading advocates in the field of literacy.

Image And Ability: The Role Of Image In Female Leadership, Emily Loiacano

Theses and Graduate Projects

In a world where image is a pervasive part of society, research shows that the presentation of a personal image plays a critical role in the psychological and social contexts of leaders. The hypothesis of this study is that the image a leader projects can have significant influence over the perception of their capabilities, and the role that image plays is even more critical in female leaders. By being aware of image as a projection of their leadership qualities, a leader can make best use of the impression that they present.

Driving Employee Engagement: Contemporary Trends In Engagement, Sarah A. Nelson

Theses and Graduate Projects

Employee engagement is an important concept in today's workforce. Engaged employees work harder and more efficiently, while disengaged workers may in fact work against the company's mission. Employee engagement can be increased with a number of different interventions and initiatives. Internal social media platforms promote communication and collaboration among employees. Employees who have had additional training and development are more engaged, as well as employees who receive feedback from managers. Promoting a balance between work and life also leads to more engaged employees, as well as recognizing employees for the work they do. Managers can also learn ways to increase …

Father Angel Torrellas And Leadership Through Music At Batahola Norte Center In Managua, Nicaragua, Carolyn Spargo

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study examines the leadership style Father Angel Torellas used through music education at the Batahola Norte Center in Managuo, Nicaragua. The Center was established in 1983 by Father Angel Torellas and Sister Margarite and built on donated property and private donations to teach music fundamentals through voice and instruments. Twenty-one former students of the Batahola Norte Center were invited to participate in an interview at the Center to give their input of how music education had an impact on their adult lives. Research questions were gathered and based on an earlier Doctoral Dissertation written by Robert Stacke, "The Emergence …

The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act And Medicaid Expansion: Leadership Strategies For Effective Change Management In Managed Care Organizations, Emily Aurand

Theses and Graduate Projects

As a result of tlie 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), eligibility requirements for the Medicaid program were revised resulting in a greater number of people eligible to enroll in tlie government healthcare program. These circumstances require numerous organizational changes for Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) that administer the Medicaid program in order to accommodate the healthcare needs of the growing Medicaid population and comply with applicable regulatory requirements. This case study sought to identify effective leadership strategies employed by Minnesota Medicaid MCO change leaders guiding organizational change processes and seeking quality change outcomes, resulting from the externally …

The Influence Of Resonant Leadership Styles On Employee Engagement Within A Financial Services Organization, Ryan D. Maddux

Theses and Graduate Projects

Researchers suggest that job dissatisfaction in the United States is escalating rapidly. This is due in part to current economic issues but also to a growing disconnect between managers and employees. A recent study found that less than half of all employees are happy at work--the lowest satisfaction ratings in 22 years (Neal, 2010). This action research project focuses on one business line within a large international financial services organization and examines the relationship between resonant leadership styles and employee engagement. Internal surveys and interviews were conducted to establish a baseline understanding of organizational concepts including: Emotional intelligence, Resonant Leadership, …

A Personal Inventory Of Transformative Experiences Resulting In The Development Of An Authentic Leadership Style, Trudy Hochradel

Theses and Graduate Projects

An analysis of personal experience triggers a transformative process for the leader, which results in the recognition of one 's authentic leadership style. This analysis is a three stage journey- taking inventory of oneself, recognizing transformative experiences, and embracing one's authentic leadership skills. This project includes a model for a personal inventory.