Leadership Studies Commons^™

The Reconciliation Of Personal-Corporate Identity Conflicts By Evangelical Christian Workers, Michael E. Anderson

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Communication can be viewed as a negotiation of identity. In that negotiation it is inevitable that conflicts in identity will occur (Lederach, as cited in Stewart, 2006). When that conflict is between one’s personal identity and the corporate identity an organization asks, or even requires of that person, what processes are used to reconcile those differences? This question becomes even more salient in an organization utilizing a cultural style of organizational structure (Conrad & Poole, 2005). Cultural organizational structures are rooted in a belief that people, as emotional beings, need to feel connected to their work community. Understanding identity reconciliation …

The Corporate Social Network As An Internal Communication Medium: Employees' Perceptions Of Its Usefulness, Jeffrey Brady

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Social media have become important tools in the workplace, allowing employees to share ideas and participate in running the business. Most large corporations currently use a corporate social network for internal communication, with over 80% of Fortune 500 companies using the Yammer platform alone (Yammer, 2012). Deetz (1992, 2003) theorizes that this return to the ancient Greek concept of participation has the potential to improve corporate productivity—and ultimately, profitability.

This pilot study set out to better understand employees’ perceptions of social networks, and how they influence productivity and engagement. Twenty-one participants responded to an online survey on these topics. The …

The Role Of Communication And Listening In Leadership, Elinor Kay Van Engen

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

In our world today, leadership is important in many organizations. Leaders create the opportunity to develop relationships based on listening. Listening is a multidimensional construct that requires further integration within leadership studies. This study aimed to seek the validity of focusing on listening within the study of leadership. The research promotes the understanding of the verbal and nonverbal characteristics of the listening process that have the greatest ability to influence a person’s leadership potential, as well as examining what leadership characteristics can influence a person’s listening. Understanding these characteristics presents evidence that listening deserves the recognition to be studied as …

Communication In Engineering: Developing A Targeted Course, Krysta Nicole Kirsch

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

In many technical undergraduate programs, specifically engineering, focus is placed on developing the technical abilities of students. Little emphasis is placed on communication, to include verbal, written, and presentation skills. In a dynamic corporate world, technical students can be put at a disadvantage if they are not taught the importance of being able to communicate with a variety of demographics in varying contexts. Companies are looking for engineering graduates who have strengths in both arenas. To address this issue, a semester-long communication course for engineering majors has been developed. The foundation is in current research on communication apprehension, the communication …

The Impact Of Technology And Teachers' Perceptions Of Changes In Student Learning, Sandra Marie Aggen

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Today’s cell phones are small computers in their own right, many having the capability of Internet searching and downloading information, exchanging data, taking and storing pictures, and its most popular function with the current generation of young people: text messaging. While on the surface it appears that text messaging has brought users together and improved communication, its effects on learning and social relationships are cause for concern. Personal interviews and online surveys conducted with over 100 educators present a real and sometimes disturbing look at new challenges in teaching and communicating with today’s students. Reading and writing ability is declining, …

Depopulation In Indian Country, 21st Century Style, David E. Wilkins

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

A strange thing is happening in and across Indian country: the number of federally recognized tribal nations continues to increase—the Tejon people of California were readmitted to the ranks in early January of this year, bringing the number of such groups to 566—while the population figures for existing federally recognized native peoples continues to decline because of the ongoing number of disenrollments of tribal members.

Ethics Effectiveness: The Nature Of Good Leadership, Joanne B. Ciulla

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

No abstract provided.

Gender Bias In Employment Contexts: A Closer Examination Of The Role Incongruity Principle, Crystal L. Hoyt

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

This research extends the role incongruity analysis of employment-related gender bias by investigating the role of dispositional and situational antecedents, specifically political ideology and the salience of cues to the traditional female gender role. The prediction that conservatives would show an anti-female candidate bias and liberals would show a pro-female bias when the traditional female gender role is salient was tested across three experimental studies. In Study 1, 126 participants evaluated a male or a female job applicant with thoughts of the traditional female gender role activated or not. Results showed that when the gender role is salient, political ideology …

African American Male Student Leaders And Matriculation: A Qualitative Evaluation, Alexandra Leann Finley

Masters Theses

The current study was designed to identify the correlations between leadership, academic success, and matriculation within the African American male community at a predominantly White institution. Within separate one-on-one interviews, six participants were asked a set of pre-determined questions regarding their involvement and educational experiences at their university. Through coding and analyzing participant responses, five themes emerged, including: 1) academic success as an African American male student leader, (2) leadership skills learned and developed, (3) skills obtained for general success as an African American male student leader at a PWI, (4) the importance of mentoring on shaping an African American …

Assessing The Relationship Between Intercultural Competence And Leadership Styles: An Empirical Study Of International Fulbright Students In The U.S., Chris Taylor Cartwright

Dissertations and Theses

As U.S. higher education institutions strive to educate students to meet the needs of an increasingly complex world, there is great importance in studying the interplay between leadership and culture to enhance preparation of global-ready graduates. This inquiry examines the relationship between intercultural competence and leadership styles. The construct of intercultural competence focuses on effectiveness in engaging people across cultural differences, while the construct of leadership style or "connective leadership" focuses on the achieving styles employed to engage diverse followers. The Fulbright International Student Program offers an unparalleled opportunity to examine the dynamic interplay of intercultural and leadership development. More …

Role Of Foundations In The Changing World Of Philanthropy: A Houston Perspective, Ronnie Hagerty

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

From the earliest days of the American nation, philanthropy has had a defining role in leading change. Philanthropy has provided vision and voice for nascent social movements ranging from civil rights and the women’s movement to AIDS research and environmentalism. As the 21st century has moved into its second decade, philanthropy finds itself facing significant pressures that threaten to compromise its ability to innovate and advocate for issues and individuals whose voices cannot be heard over the public rhetoric of the day. Once perceived as the purview of the rich and well connected, modern philanthropy cuts across social, economic, and …

Downsized Survivors: Areas Of Loss And Work Behaviors, Cyndi J. Schaeffer

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This research design used factor analysis to develop subscales related to areas of loss, and subscales related to work behaviors of survivors following a downsizing. Five loss subscales were revealed as a result of factor analysis. They were loss of sense of justice and supervisory support; loss of security and support; loss of positive outlook; loss of territory; and loss of control and identity. There were two work behavior components identified through factor analysis. They were lack of productivity and sabotage; and intention for flight. The loss components, sense of justice and supervisory support; security and competence; and territory, were …

A Search For Home: Navigating Change In Battlestar Galactica, Kimberly S. Yost

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation explores the various ways in which the multiple leaders portrayed in the science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica (2003-2009) navigate extreme conditions of continual change. In addition, the dissertation contains a discussion of the larger narrative themes of love, forgiveness, redemption, and embracing the Other as principles effective leaders must cultivate. Through an interpretation of this specific popular media text, a deeper emotional sensitivity to and understanding of leadership, positive and negative, during extreme crises is gained. Furthermore, the series serves as a vehicle through which viewers can reflect on and engage in their own self-awareness about issues …

Homeless Mothers As Parent Leaders, Dorothy Ann Milligan

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Presents a qualitative study examining the general conditions that lead to single mother homelessness and the impact of being homeless on their ability to parent effectively, based on interviews with mothers who are clients of First Place, a Seattle, Washington, social service agency. The purpose of the study is to identify different paths of life stabilizing strategies and parenting of women who have been in touch with the same agency. The research attempts to determine how the mothers achieved stability amid daily stress through examination of how the stories reflect decisions, initiatives, and commitments that helped them reach a level …

Women's Leadership In Philanthropy: An Analysis Of Six Giving Circles, Deborah A. Witte

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Women have played an essential role in the development of philanthropy in the United States. While their giving behavior and financial contributions have been studied extensively, other aspects of their philanthropy-namely leadership-have not been documented as completely. The giving circle-a new trend within philanthropy where groups of individuals pool their money, and through educating themselves about issues in their community, decide together where to award their funds-provides an ideal case for this study, as the majority of giving circle members are women. In order to gain a better understanding of women's leadership, focus groups were conducted with more than 35 …

The Tangled Web: How Nonprofit Board Members Experience Organizational Crisis, Elizabeth A. Valicenti

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to develop an understanding of what board members experience during a time of organizational crisis. Major corporate and nonprofit failures of previously successful organizations in recent years have raised questions and led to speculation about the role of boards of directors through the crises. In this study twenty board members of nonprofit organizations who had experienced an organizational crisis during their board service were interviewed. Participants were asked to share their perceptions and explore how they identified and made meaning of the events and board processes that went on as the crisis …

Facilitating Emergence: Complex, Adaptive Systems Theory And The Shape Of Change, Peter Martin Dickens

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study used Principal Component Analysis to examine factors that facilitate emergent change in an organization. As organizational life becomes more complex, today’s dominant management paradigms no longer suffice. This is particularly true in a health care setting where multiple sources of disease interacting with each other meet with often-competing organizational priorities and accountabilities in a highly complex world. This study identifies new ways of approaching complexity by embracing the capacity of complex systems to find their own form of order and coherence. Based on a review of the literature, interviews with hospital CEOs, and my organization development practice experience …

Getting Back To My Life: Exploring Adaptation To Change Through The Experiences Of Breast Cancer Survivors, Charles A. Foster

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The holding environment concept, developed by Donald Winnicott, has been used to represent the type of support that encourages adaptive change during psychosocial transitions. The leadership and change literature posited that the holding environment had the ability to shape the trajectory of the transition, yet did not test this empirically. The psychosocial breast cancer literature empirically researched support during and after treatments ended, but did not incorporate the holding environment concept. This presented the opportunity to inform both the leadership and breast cancer fields by studying holding environments in the breast cancer setting. This study had a twofold purpose: 1) …

Faculty Work: Moving Beyond The Paradox Of Autonomy And Collaboration, Mark A. Hower

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Freedom to pursue one's intellectual interests, known as professional autonomy, is a valued and longstanding faculty tradition. Profound changes in society and the academy, however, suggest new values may be emerging. Collaboration, for example, is increasingly vital to success outside of the academy, and faculty culture, long an individualistic domain, may be shifting in response. This multiple case study explores how faculty members experience the relationship between professional autonomy and collaboration within the context of their department work. Faculty members in four departments were interviewed and both qualitative and simple quantitative data collected. The study found faculty members satisfied with …

Leading Deeply: A Heroic Journey Toward Wisdom And Transformation, Richard Warm

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation will explore leadership as a mytho-poetic transformational journey toward self-knowledge, authenticity, and ultimately wisdom; the power to make meaning and give something back to the world in which we live; and the necessity of transformation. I view leadership as a transformative process and a transformational responsibility. As leaders we must undergo our own transformation in order to lead change on a larger scale. The dissertation will be both philosophical and theoretical, exploring how the threads of the hero’s journey, transformation, wisdom, and leadership intertwine. It will also examine the role of education in this process. Education does not …

Millennial Integration: Challenges Millennials Face In The Workplace And What They Can Do About Them, Chip Espinoza

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

There is a monumental changing of the guard that is currently taking place in organizations due to demographic metabolism. One of the largest birth cohorts or generations in history (Baby Boomer) is beginning to retire while their predecessor (Builder) is almost completely out of the workforce. Gen X is hitting stride and on the cusp of inheriting the proverbial organizational mantle. The three aforementioned age cohorts have learned to play in the organizational sandbox together. However, a new age cohort (Millennial, a.k.a. Gen Y), equal or greater in size to the Baby Boomer cohort started entering the playground approximately ten …

Emancipation From Affluenza: Leading Social Change In The Classroom, Merri Mattison

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to determine if one's level of affluenza could be reduced through education and awareness. In particular, this study measured whether or not exposure to the benefits of community involvement, and the harm of overconsumption could alter the intentions that college students have regarding their behavior, as it pertains to materialism, consumption, and civic responsibility. The data were collected from college students in the form of pre-tests and post-tests utilizing an affluenza scale created for this research. Over the course of a semester, information and activities that elucidated the benefits of community involvement and …

Cross-Cultural Servant-Leadership For The Seventh-Day Adventist Church In Papua New Guinea, Loren Kekes Poli

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Providing leadership for a diverse Papua New Guinea (PNG) remains a challenge for the Seventh-day Adventist church. There are more than 750 languages in current use and yet very little is being done to provide representation or give consideration to the cultural differences.

Method

A mixed-method research, both qualitative and quantitative, that included a review of literature, interviews, case studies, and a survey designed for use in PNG was used to conduct this research designed to explore and identify the knowledge of leadership from the context of PNG and how that understanding influences the support, perceptions, and practices of …

A Sailor Looks At Leadership [Review] / Deering, Randy, Garth Woodruff

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

No abstract provided.