Leadership Studies Commons^™

Using Internet Videoconferencing To Connect Fashion Students With Apparel Industry Professionals, Vera Bruce Ashley Edd

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the efficacy, benefits and student perceptions of using Internet videoconferencing and a web camera to connect college and university fashion students with apparel industry professionals. A total of 70 college and university fashion students, three instructors, and three apparel industry professionals participated in this introductory study. Data was collected through pre and post surveys from all three groups. Industry professionals were invited as guest speakers into the classroom via Internet videoconferencing using Skype and a web camera. The findings in the study indicated that students, instructors, and apparel industry professionals overwhelmingly benefited …

The Role Of Higher Education In Advancing Nurse Practitioners: A Look At The Institutional Decision Calculus Of A Health Sciences University, Debra Jo Johnson Phd

Dissertations

In 2004, professional nursing joined the ranks of other health professions by altering accreditation standards for nurse practitioners, which now mandate that their terminal degree advance beyond the master's degree currently required for the doctor of nursing practice (DNP). This research examines the decision-making process involved in implementing a web-based DNP program in 2008 at a college of graduate nursing embedded in a health sciences university. Findings from two case studies, one of faculty and one of administrators, provide a narrative description of the institution, the decision process, and then describe how institutional and external factors influenced the process. Institutional …

Extending Our Understanding Of Social Belonging: College Students' Use Of Technology, Psychosocial Well-Being, And Sense Of Community In University Life, Sara Kathleen Henry Phd

Dissertations

Postsecondary education marks a transitional time in the lives of young adults. During this time, traditional-aged college students confront a substantial number of developmental challenges that are extraordinarily diverse and complex (Evans, Forney, & Guido-DiBrito, 1998). Erikson's (1968) theory of psychosocial development posited that the major developmental task of early adulthood is to establish close intimate relationships. The development of mature interpersonal relationships (Chickering & Reisser, 1993) is a critical priority if students are to successfully integrate into their social worlds and persist to graduation. Early theoretical models proposed by both Spady (1970) and Tinto (1975, 1993) linked institutional commitment …

Revitalization, Reinvigoration And Motivation Of Survivors In Changed, Restructured And Downsized Organizations: A Study Of Leadership Challenges In Local Government, Ronald L. Baza Edd

Dissertations

Over the past two-plus decades, corporate mergers, government consolidations, workforce downsizings and plant closures have increased dramatically; as a consequence, millions of workers around the nation have lost their jobs. Not surprisingly, researchers have begun to focus considerable attention on downsizing, restructuring and revitalization efforts as a means for understanding organizations undergoing major transformation. Although the studies that have been conducted have dealt with a wide range of issues associated with organizational downsizing and restructuring, there is an absence of research examining mid and upper level managers' perceptions of the efficacy of their efforts to revitalize their downsized organizations and, …

The Lost-Boys Phenomenon: Case Studies Of San Diego High School Males, Richard Stakelum Edd

Dissertations

By most measures of success—e.g., academic Grade Point Average (GPA), graduation rates, participation in extracurricular and civic activities, and college enrollment—adolescent males are less successful than females. Young males are falling behind in reading and writing and are more likely to be involved in truancy, violence, crime, suicide, and substance abuse. While the nation mobilized to address historical gender discrimination issues for females since the 1970s, there has not been a similar effort mounted to assist adolescent males. The trends alluded to in the previous paragraph have begun to be recognized by popular-press authors. Some have begun to refer to …

The Relationship Between Reading Fluency, Writing Fluency, And Reading Comprehension In Suburban Third-Grade Students, Mary Leonard Palmer Edd

Dissertations

The topic of reading fluency is of great importance in education today. Research has shown a significant positive relationship between reading fluency and reading comprehension. However, little is known about writing fluency and its connection with reading comprehension. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between reading fluency, writing fluency, and reading comprehension. First, using the principles of assessing reading fluency, I designed a writing assessment and measured the writing fluency of 54 3rd graders. I examined the writing assessments as they related to the students' reading fluency and reading comprehension scores. Secondly, I performed a quasi-experimental …

Balancing Act: A Study Of International School Heads' Efforts To Manage The Professional And Personal Aspects Of Their Lives, Christiane Pj Sorenson Edd

Dissertations

Interest in the topic of professional and personal life balance has increased exponentially over the past several decades. The topic even is listed by the current First Lady of the United States as a priority item to be addressed during her husband's first four years in office. While studies have been conducted about the professional/personal balance of corporate executives and other professionals, including government employees, there has been almost no direct study of balance in educational professionals' lives. This study investigated school heads' perceptions about the factors that impact their ability to achieve balance between their professional and personal lives. …

Understanding Charter School Governance: A Case Study Of A Conversion Charter School Board Of Directors, David Mark Silver Phd

Dissertations

The charter school movement has been at the forefront of educational reform since the 1990s. The majority of charter school research has focused on academic achievement and issues of access, equity, and funding. Less attention has focused on charter school governance, yet evidence suggests that governance challenges represent a significant impediment to the long-term sustainability of this movement. This qualitative case study examined the operations of a board of directors in a conversion charter school. The study included observations of monthly board of directors meetings over a 16-month period (February 2008–June 2009), interviews with members of the board of directors …

Latina First Year Experience: Factors That Contribute To Persistence From The First To The Second Year In Higher Education, Guadalupe Rodriguez Corona Edd

Dissertations

There is limited research that identifies the university, familial and community factors that support the persistence of Latinas in higher education from the first to second year. The research that does exist has tended to focus on how institutional programs and activities have failed to work for first-generation students. Therefore, there is a need to study the persistence of Latinas in higher education that is as focused on discovering what works as it is with documenting what is ineffective. Research that focuses on Catholic universities is especially needed since many Latinas come from Roman Catholic families and, consequently, Catholic universities …

Indigenous Leadership: A Talking-Circle Dialogue With Cree Leaders, Julia L. Buchanan Phd

Dissertations

The study of leadership is gaining popularity as evidenced by the increasing number of leadership development programs in both corporate and academic environments. Therefore, the way that leadership is defined becomes important. Unfortunately, the majority of literature on leadership emphasizes a Eurocentric or Western perspective. This study explored the leadership-related thinking and practices embraced by a First Nations population in Canada: nehiyawak or the Cree people. As the research evolved, the study also ended up exploring both cultural differences with respect to knowledge and knowing and the ethical issues involved with permitting non-native researchers to study native groups. The latter …

Strategic Planning: Contextual Factors That Facilitated And/Or Challenged The Implementation Of Strategic Planning In Two Nonprofit Organizations, Devadhasan Masilamony Phd

Dissertations

As the nonprofit sector continues to grow in size and importance in American society, successful organizations proactively initiate strategic planning so they can be more responsive to changing circumstances, underlying trends, and shifting demands. At times, however, organizations develop elaborate plans that are never implemented. Unfortunately, there is less systematic research about strategic planning in the nonprofit sector than in the for-profit sector and even less research documenting whether or not the plans that get developed in nonprofit organizations actually get implemented. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how strategic planning improves the effectiveness of two nonprofit …

Social Capital And Economic Empowerment: A Longitudinal Analysis Of The Relationship Between Changes In The Value Of Accumulated Assets And Measures Of Social Capital Among Rural South African Women, Robert Charles Gailey Phd

Dissertations

This longitudinal study explored the relationship between household asset accumulation over time and measures of social capital among impoverished rural South African women. The study re-analyzed an existing data set from a 2001–2005 study done in eight villages in South Africa. The original study investigated the impact of a microfinance and education intervention on the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and intimate partner violence. This study re-analyzed interview responses from 739 households in the original data set and used multiple regression analysis to explore the relationship between measures of cognitive social capital (CSC) and structural social capital (SSC) and household economic welfare …

Postconflict Community Development In Sierra Leone: Western, Cultural, And National Influences, Whitney Mclntyre Miller Phd

Dissertations

Sierra Leone was torn apart by a terrible eleven-year civil war. Rebel forces raped and murdered civilians, burned down crops and villages, and looted homes and community structures in a quest to overturn the long-corrupt government. Since 2002 communities have begun the process of developing toward a sustainable peace. Using grounded theory and inductive analysis, this qualitative research study conducted during the summer of 2009 examines the development efforts of two communities in the Northern provinces of Sierra Leone, Lungi and Makeni. Findings reveal that there are three influences playing a role in their development: western, cultural, and national. This …

Ethnography Of Communication: A Case Study Of The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, “Air Command South”, Gregory B. Long

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This study is an ethnography of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization‟s (NATO), “Air Command South” (ACS). Using components from Dell Hymes‟ (1964) Ethnography of Communication, this five month ethnography describes the organization and the communication that occurs within ACS, a multinational and multicultural military extension of NATO. Made up of members from seventeen nations, ACS fosters a uniquely diverse environment where a mix of cultures collide within the organization to create a new organizational culture complete with communication codes, practices, norms, and routines. The review of literature covers subjects and issues that assist in understanding the issues involved in such …

Transformative Pedagogy In Conversation: The Role Of Instructor Interventions In Peer Feedback For Speech Outline Development, Michael J. Stasio

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This study investigated the efficacy of written and oral peer feedback used as an instructional strategy to support student learning in speech outline development. One hundred seven students from a California Community College participated in a mixed-methods evaluative quasi-experimental study conducted in a two-fold process with both quantitative and qualitative measures. Existing literature on peer-centered learning has various gaps. These include four areas of uncertainty: implementation interventions, trust, self-perceived benefits, and contexts. Overall perceived learning benefits and four specific instructor intervention variables were measured in this study: (1) creation of a safe space for collaboration, (2) student training on the …

Examining The Text Messaging Habits Of Middle And High School Students And Their Perceived Impact On Language And Writing, Sally J. Mildren

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Middle and high school students’ text messaging habits and the perceived impact on the performance in English classes at school are examined. Parents and teachers were also surveyed. Utilizing the Communication Accommodation Theory, this study also examines whether students are able to accommodate their language between the “texting” (informal) and school (formal) settings.

This study found a positive correlation between students who use text language in their school work and their ability to spell and write proper English, indicating that higher text use can have an impact on their performance at school. It was also discovered that a student’s ability …

Public Opinion In The Social Media Era: Toward A New Understanding Of The Spiral Of Silence, Daniel Lemin

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This thesis explores the intersection of a long-standing public opinion theory – the spiral of silence – and the recent explosion in social publishing tools such as Tumblr and Twitter. It uses real-world discussion settings (including face-to-face focus groups and synchronous online discussions) in tandem with a pre-test/post-test methodology to measure opinion shifts on the topic of corn syrup and childhood nutrition/obesity. This research design is based on well-established criticisms challenging that the spiral of silence may not be fully explained by a national climate of opinion on a topic, suggesting that there are other influences on individual beliefs than …

Emotion Management In Radical Change: A Preliminary Study Of Earthquake Power Restoration, Taieb Hafsi, Xu Liang, Wenjing Lin, Kangxiong Yu, Li Yan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper studies leaders’ emotion capacity as a strategic response to unexpected radical changes, forced by a social and natural crisis. We propose that empathy is a critical strategic management tool enhancing management effectiveness. We also provide insights of the dynamics between decision making process and emotion management.

Leadership And The Theory Of Metacommunication, Regina M. Brown

Theses and Graduate Projects

Effective leadership communication goes beyond the study and process of organizational communication. The purpose of this research is to conceptualize effective leadership communication as a multifaceted concept that is best understood from its diverse perspectives concurrently. In order to illuminate this concept, the term metacommunication will be coined, borrowing from Freud's metapsychology theory. The metacommunication theory informs the study of leadership emergence, development, and effectiveness by looking at the phenomenon in a holistic manner. The leader as CAS along with the environmental factors effecting leadership is better viewed and understood by acknowledging and respecting the complexity of the human condition. …

The Contributions Of The Unwanted, Claudia Estela Chavez Mckay Phd

Dissertations

According to the U.S. Constitution as construed by the Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982) Supreme Court Case, all children in the United States - from kindergarten through grade twelve - have a right to a free public education regardless of citizenship; however, undocumented students seeking to continue their education beyond high school face multiple barriers. Little is known about the actual experiences of undocumented students who have acquired a university degree. The purpose of this study was to understand the collegiate experiences of undocumented students, specifically the process of persisting through college graduation and their contributions to society …

Migrant Workers Remittances: Building Futures And Forging Leadership Back Home, Mohamed Abdinur

Theses and Graduate Projects

For many developing countries, remittances from migrant workers are larger, more stable and outpace foreign direct investments and overseas development aid as a source of development funds. In many developing countries, external sources of finance, particularly remittances, are imperative to carry out poverty alleviation strategies as well as local economic development, given the low rate of domestic savings and high government expenditures. Remittances appear to be very promising as developing countries continue the search for additional sources of income to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. With the benefits of the remittances that migrant workers send back home, overseas …

An Empirical Look At The Relationship Between Personality Type And The Challenges Of Telecommuting, Jacquelyn E. Brown Phd

Dissertations

The concept of telecommuting dates to the early 1970s when Dr. Jack Nilles, who coined the phrase telecommuting, realized that many of the commuters contributing to rush-hour traffic congestion simply went to an office, sat at a desk and used a phone to conduct their business. Since then, telecommuting has become a viable alternative work arrangement for approximately 45 million individuals in the United States. Despite the popularity of this arrangement, there has been little empirical work done to investigate the advantages and challenges associated with telecommuters; to address this issue this dissertation used two survey instruments to electronically gather …

Agenda Setting And Framing In Hurricane Ike News, Sophie Harbert

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

News media have considerable ability to influence the public agenda. This thesis explores media agenda setting and framing in Hurricane Ike in order to infer whether the way disasters are covered in the news is a contributing factor in the lack of public attention on hurricane loss mitigation. The frequency and intensity of Atlantic hurricanes is increasing, placing residents along the U.S. Gulf Coast at greater risk, yet little has been done to try to reduce the impact from hurricanes. This study is grounded in agenda setting theory and utilized content analysis to examine newspaper coverage of Hurricane Ike in …

Women's Indirect Intra-Gender Aggression: A Study Of Workplace Relationships, Deborah Friedman

Theses and Graduate Projects

In the 21st century, there are more women in the workforce than ever before. These women work in places and positions across the professional spectrum, and to their positions they bring higher degrees and they compete for higher-paying positions that bring added responsibility. Research has demonstrated that these women and many women have been taught that relationships are important-and that relationships are maintained by avoiding confrontation. Women in the workforce, then, strive to be friends and coworkers at once, and when conflict, disagreement, and/or hurt feelings arise, they often resort to indirect and covertly aggressive behaviors such as gossip, rumors, …

The Development Of A Leadership Self-Efficacy Measure, Seth D. Platt

Theses and Dissertations

The construct of self-efficacy has been used extensively to analyze and predict what motivates human behavior, to include leadership behaviors. The connection between self-efficacy and leader effectiveness may be critical to finding new ways of selecting and developing leadership in organizations. The efficacy of individuals at the general and specific levels was studied with data collected from officer training school graduates and their post-training supervisors. With this data a new leadership self-efficacy (LSE) framework was created and validated, and this framework was used to compare the predictability of the previously validated general self-efficacy (GSE) measure to distal performance measures. GSE …

The Development Of A Tactical-Level Full Range Leadership Measurement Instrument, Rebecca Thurrell

Theses and Dissertations

Since the emergence of transformational and charismatic leadership models in the mid-1980s, full range leadership theory has become established as the predominant and most widely researched theory on leadership. The most commonly used survey instrument to assess full range leadership theory is the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, originally developed by Bass in 1985. Although much research has supported the strength of the psychometric properties of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, some researchers have suggested that contextual factors such as a leader’s hierarchical level can lead to conflicting results. This research effort involved an extensive review of existing literature to develop a new …

The Effects Of Instructor-Avatar Immediacy In Second Life, An Immersive And Interactive 3d Virtual Environment, Sabine Karine Lawless-Reljic Edd

Dissertations

Growing interest of educational institutions in desktop 3D graphic virtual environments for hybrid and distance education prompts questions on the efficacy of such tools. Virtual worlds, such as Second Life®, enable computer-mediated immersion and interactions encompassing multimodal communication channels including audio, video, and text-. These are enriched by avatar-mediated body language and physical manipulation of the environment. In this para-physical world, instructors and students alike employ avatars to establish their social presence in a wide variety of curricular and extra-curricular contexts. As a proxy for the human body in synthetic 3D environments, an avatar represents a 'real' human computer user …

Investigating The Self-Assessment Of Adult Literacy Learners With Dyslexia Across Several Cognitive Domains, Kelli Sandman-Hurley Edd

Dissertations

The dissertation evaluated the ability of adult literacy learners with dyslexia to assess their cognitive abilities in two separate domains: reading and memory. This study also evaluated the effect that one-on-one tutoring had on the learner's ability to accurately self-assess these cognitive abilities. Twenty adult literacy learners (n = 20) with dyslexia were tested in both domains. This study also included a control group of 10 good readers (n = 10) who were administered the same three standardized tests. This data was collected by administering three standardized assessments. This was a quantitative study that used analysis of variance (ANOVA), repeated …

Examining Professional Development At The Organizational Level Through The Lens Of Teachers And Administrators, Lori Kelsey Edd

Dissertations

The purpose of this evaluative case study was to explore teachers' and administrators' perceptions of the organizational capacity during an initial implementation of a systemic change in professional development at a K-8 school. Educational reform acts such as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 pressure public school systems to increase student achievement. School district personnel abide by making systemic changes in professional development. For organizations to make such systemic changes, first the culture must change. In an era of ongoing educational reform, it remains important to continually build upon the evidentiary body of literature so that the nation's …

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.