Leadership Studies Commons^™

Examining Organizational Factors Contributing To Burnout In Community College Employees: An Anthropological Perspective, Jesse N. Blue

Leadership Education Capstones

Organizational culture and systemic inequities remain under-researched factors driving the mental and physical deterioration of community college employees. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe and interpret the lived experiences of job-related burnout among community college employees. This qualitative short-term ethnography was conducted at Big Rock College, a rural community college in central Arkansas. The sample consisted of six volunteer participants across administrative, faculty, and staff roles. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews conducted via Zoom®. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and triangulated with institutional document analysis. Findings indicated that 84% of participants experienced varying degrees of burnout, driven by …

Crafting Ethical Problem-Solving Cultures: A Leader’S Role In Complex Adaptive Systems, Elizabeth A. Luckman

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

In today’s complex and interconnected world, leaders play a critical role in fostering ethical problem-solving cultures within organizations. To enable leaders to succeed in this evolving landscape, this paper advocates for a necessary paradigm shift: a transition in mental models about how organizations function. Historically, organizations have been viewed as mechanistic systems, but there is a substantial opportunity to improve our work by viewing organizations as complex adaptive systems. This shift alters fundamental assumptions about organizational operations and redefines leadership as the creation of conditions for effective and ethical problem-solving. In this paper, I examine the changing mental models that …

Collaborative Leadership Approaches’ Impact On Student Athlete Participation, Jacob Ledger

Leadership Education Capstones

The purpose of this study is to identify reasons for the decline in student athletes participating in high school football within the Big Nine Conference. The research is intended to identify several key reasons for the decline in youth sports, which contributes to high school sports, and ultimately football programs in the conference. The study also identifies two specific coaching and leadership styles and how they impact sports participation. Collaborative leadership and coaching styles compared to authoritative leadership and coaching styles. Using a qualitative research method using surveys and document review themes of sport specialization, Technology, burnout, Culture, and Feedback …

A Role Discovered: Exploring Northwell Health's Patient Experience Structure And Leadership Characteristics, Agnes Barden, Nicole Giammarinaro, Natalie Rousseau, Carolyne Burgess

Patient Experience Journal

Examining the evolution of healthcare, leaders in patient experience (PX) have played a pivotal role in shaping a more compassionate and human-centered landscape. This three-part multi-modal descriptive study aimed to investigate shared traits, skills, and characteristics among PX leaders in hospital settings. Employing a transformational leadership self-assessment tool and a guided interview process, recurring themes surfaced. The majority of participants reported employing a transformational leadership style. PX leaders emphasized the significance of communication, empathy, adaptability, teamwork, presence, and relationship-building in their roles. While hospital executive leaders had a slightly varied perspective on essential PX leader skillsets, they underscored the importance …

Missional Leadership: An Instructional Program To Cultivate Leaders Of A Missional Church, Conner Mathias Brew

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this action research project is to design, execute, and evaluate a small group instructional framework that cultivates a missional culture focused on communal discipleship at MVMNT Church, a local church in the Association of Related Churches network, while also addressing a gap in scholarship surrounding the interrelation of discipleship and the missional church. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study leveraged inductive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with survey data to validate the lack of discipleship activity at MVMNT Church and moderate-to-low comprehension of topics related to mission, discipleship, and leadership in the church. This project recommended and …

Book Review: Credible: The Power Of Expert Leaders, Carl L. Tolbert

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

Amanda Goodall’s (2023) book Credible: The Power of Expert Leaders argues why expert leaders are needed more now than ever across all organizational domains. Goodall describes the book as a chronicle of the “natural experiment” showcasing failures of nonexperts leading various sized groups and organizations, also citing parallel success by expert leaders (p. 1). The book is divided into eight chapters, starting with the introduction and examining the need for experts, the recruitment and development of experts, and finally, the organizational environment to sustain experts. The introduction begins as a corollary to Nichols’ (2024) work regarding how society no longer …

Social Identity Theory In Emergency Response Organizations, Erik J. Litzenberg

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

Emergency response organizations operate in an increasingly complex environment and could benefit from further understanding of culture. While there is not a single measure of culture, Social Identity Theory (SIT) examines the effect of group informed identities on individual perceptions and group participation. The purpose of this study was to explore SIT as it relates to emergency response organizations. A survey was shared with responders across the United States; a total of 397 responses were collected and analyzed. Social identification and groupness scores were relatively high (Mean = 5.40 on a scale of 1-7; Mean = 7.29 on a scale …

Building Resilience, Navigating Crises Since 2019: A Phenomenological Study Of Leadership Factors Influencing Retail Business Owners In Lebanon, Mira Fadel

Theses and Dissertations

The Lebanese population and culture are recognized for their resilience when facing adversity withstanding events such as the Lebanese Civil War, and multiple country invasions. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of retail business owners from different geographical regions and retail types in Lebanon and to identify the leadership factors that kept them resilient while navigating the compounding crises since 2019. The leadership factors included leadership styles, strategies, and agility. The conceptual framework encompassed all leadership factors, the retail industry, cultural context, and resilience. Data for this hermeneutic phenomenology was collected through semi-structured interviews followed …

'I’M A Pilot First, Female Second': Why Flight Deck Gender Imbalance Persists And The Case For Allyship, Kimberly Perkins, Rachael H. Merola, Sourojit Ghosh, Cecilia Aragon

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

Why is there greater gender parity for long-haul truck drivers, astronauts, and paleontologists than for women airline captains? This study uses a mixed-methods approach to examine the underlying causes of the gender imbalance in the United States aviation industry, in which only 3.6% of airline captains are women. Two polls and one survey gather data from professional pilots (N=1093) on their experience with stereotyping, gender bias, and allyship. Direct comments were analyzed to shed light on the results of the survey. Results suggest that, contrary to prevailing perceptions, the persistent gender imbalance in the flight deck can largely be attributed …

Indigenous Culture And The Path To Democracy: An In-Depth Case Study Of Ghana's Democratization Process, 1992 – Present, Nana Quame Owusu-Nti

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The study sought to ascertain whether introducing democracy has adversely impacted Indigenous cultural practices in Ghana or whether the path to democracy has enhanced, shaped, or strengthened aspects of the country’s Indigenous culture. The study sheds some light on the realistic, symbolic, and pervasive threat(s) that transitional or Indigenous societies like Ghana undergoing the process of democratization face and must deal with. More specifically, the study provides some insights into how traditional societies, where Indigenous values and practices are held with some reverence and esteem, can be integrated into liberal democratic institutions to potentially ameliorate cultural tension and political discord …

Breaking The Transactional Mindset: A New Path For Healthcare Leadership Built On A Commitment To Human Experience, Kirsten Krull, Jerry Mansfield, Jennifer Gentry, Karen Grimley, Barbara Jacobs, Jason Wolf

Patient Experience Journal

Numerous health care publications have focused on the compelling need to improve patient experience and the associated improvements necessary to address workforce well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated and illuminated long-standing problems in health care including workforce shortages, inequity in health care delivery outcomes, care provider burnout, and overall societal structural racism.^1,2 The Beryl Institute’s Nursing Executive Council (NEC) manuscript Rebuilding a Foundation of Trust: A Call to Action in Creating a Safe Environment for Everyone³ focused on actions and behaviours to heal relationships and build trust between care providers and leaders with commitments to safety, empathy, shared decision …

Effective Leader Development Within A Church-Planting Organization For A Changing And Chaotic World, Jeremy Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A challenge in cross-cultural church planting is developing leaders. Cross-cultural church-planting organizations like Latin American Mission (LAM; pseudonym) that lack a leadership development strategy struggle to form lasting leaders, sending missionaries with Biblical training but not leader development training. Additionally, developing leaders in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environment creates specific challenges that missionaries must address. The purpose of this qualitative, Delphi method study was to investigate the leadership development perceptions and experiences among existing LAM missionaries in the regions of Latin America (Colombia, Cuba, Mexico City, Peru, Brazil, and Ecuador) to provide suggestions for improving effective leadership …

Sticky Situations: Understanding The Law And Life, Krystal Banks

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Law and life go hand in hand. Understanding the law and how it connects to life can be an effective tool in teaching youth and adults the value of making good decisions when it comes to life and the law. Sticky Situations places real-world situations in the context of learning how to apply the law and effectively respond to life's sticky situations.

Gratitude At Work, Ginger H. Williams

Library Faculty Publications

Guest columnist Ginger H. Williams is a new dean at Fort Hays State University, a regional comprehensive university in western Kansas. Ginger reflects on aspects of her work she is grateful for, such as a challenging renovation project and other new-to-her duties that help expand her skills. She also considers the many people whose support she relies upon. Readers are encouraged to consider what they are grateful for in their own professional lives and to find ways to express gratitude in a professional setting.

E Pluribus Unum: Increasing A Shared Understanding Of Mission At Marine Corps University, Edward Greiner, Kirstin Pantazis, Christopher Reid, Dominick White

Doctor of Education Capstones

E PLURIBUS UNUM: INCREASING A SHARED UNDERSTANDING OF MISSION AT MARINE CORPS UNIVERSITY

By Edward Greiner, Kirstin Pantazis, Christopher Reid, and Dominick White

A capstone project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Department of Educational Leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University

Virginia Commonwealth University, 2023.

Capstone Chair: Beth E. Bukoski, Ph.D., Department of Educational Leadership

Mergers between higher education institutions present unique challenges to creating and maintaining a shared understanding of mission. Additionally, professional military education institutions with civilian faculty and staff must blend military and civilian cultures in the workplace. …

The Lived Experience Of Personnel Adversely Impacted By Toxic Leadership: A Phenomenological Study, Jeremy B. Piasecki

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to understand the lived experience of personnel adversely impacted by toxic leadership. This topic is important to study because the harassment, bullying, and narcissistic behavior exhibited by toxic leaders and negative environments have severe adverse implications for personnel, such as reduced accomplishments, mental health, lack of trust, and overall wellbeing. In order to further understand the phenomenon, the following research questions guided the study: (a) What is the lived experience of personnel adversely impacted by toxic leadership? (b) How were the personnel impacted by the change in the culture and environment? (c) …

Teamwork That Affects Outcomes: A Method To Enhance Team Ownership, Brian Carlson, Richelle Graham, Brad Stinson, Jordan Larocca

Patient Experience Journal

Healthcare is the ultimate team sport, and this case study explores how to build teamwork across teams. The ability for nursing, environmental services and food and nutrition services to work collaboratively to benefit patients is paramount to a patients experience and outcomes. The case study describes how the work was done to build teams and then improved outcomes in both patient and employee experiences. The learnings are applicable to any team setting not just those described in this case study.

Experience Framework

This article is associated with the Staff & Provider Engagement lens of The Beryl Institute Experience Framework ( …

Exploration Into The Graduate International Student Narratives, Diana Budoff

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

Multiple researchers have conveyed an abundance of problems international students face when choosing to study abroad in the United States. A range of emotional, psychological, and physical issues prevent students from fully succeeding. Every international student faces different challenges, and every educational institution has its own prominent issues. In my study, I examined the challenges graduate international students at the University of San Diego (USD) face that might impede them from fully transitioning and adapting to their new environment. I used a mixed-methods approach (interviews and focus groups) to understand the issues impacting the transition and adaptation of international students …

A Whole New World: Understanding The International Student Experience In The United States Through Acculturation, Identity, And Support, Maria W. Nessim

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

This study explores the feelings and opportunities that international students experience while they are studying abroad. Specifically, it investigates acculturation and adaptation to the host country, the students’ cultural identity and sense of belonging, as well as implications for support provided by the host institution.

In order to evaluate these components, an online survey, compiled of 24 open-ended and multiple-choice questions, was distributed to international students at the University of San Diego, asking them to describe their experiences and any indications of challenge and support from the institution in relation to their sense of belonging. The outcomes of this research …

A Phenomenological Study Of Multi-Ethnic Churches That Have Effectively Managed Ethnocentric Biases And Cultivated Imago Dei-Centered Relationships, Shirley Ann Vazquez

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Much research has been conducted in recent years concerning implicit bias. Banaji and Greenwald (2016) tell readers that even good people can have some form and level of implicit bias, including implicit ethnic bias (Banaji & Greenwald, 2016). While ethnically based implicit bias has been studied in education and business, the effects of ethnically based implicit bias in churches have only recently come to the forefront. Christian pastors need a good understanding of these implicit biases and how these phenomena may have been, and may still be, operating in their local multi-ethnic church body, preventing them from becoming a successful …

Servant Leadership Impact On Organizational Performance, John W. Wesevich

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Leadership matters because individuals desire to improve their personal, social, and professional lives; corporations seek individuals with specific leadership qualities to improve organizational and financial performance and gain a competitive advantage; and universities provide programs in leadership studies. Leadership encompasses influence over others to accomplish a specific or common goal (Northouse, 2019). This qualitative research study focused on a contemporary leadership approach, servant leadership, and its influence on organizational performance. Researchers have acknowledged a positive relationship between servant leadership and organizational performance (Chiniara & Bentein, 2016; Saleem et al., 2020; A. Wong et al., 2018). This qualitative case study corroborates …

When "First, Do No Harm" Fails: A Restorative Justice Approach To Workgroup Harms In Healthcare, Pedro L. Flores

Dissertations

In healthcare, workgroup mistreatment is a pervasive problem that begins during medical education (medical and nursing school) and becomes embedded in the “hidden curriculum of professionalism,” which dissuades and even punishes learners for talking about abuse they witness. Furthermore, the mistreatment of healthcare providers (HCPs) pervades all disciplines in the healthcare delivery chain due to a combination of cultural factors, systemic pressures, dysfunctional hierarchies, and leadership’s tolerance of intimidating and disruptive behaviors. Not surprisingly, 18% of U.S. HCPs have left the medical field since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and burnout, stress, anxiety, and increased workloads have been identified …

A Framework Of Leadership Cultural Dimensions In Outsourced Projects, Donnette Noble Ph.D., Ganesh Vaidyanathan

Leadership Faculty Publications

Outsourced projects are implemented often in environments that are impacted by factors that are internal and external to a firm. One key factor that impacts the success of outsourced projects is corporate culture. This paper explores how corporate culture impacts outsourced projects and what factors of corporate culture influence outsourced projects. We formulate a framework of key cultural dimensions in outsourced projects to help business and Information Technology leaders understand and mitigate cultural issues in outsourced projects.

Reframing Leadership Narratives Through The African American Lens, Marion Missy Mcgee

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Reframing Leadership Narratives through the African American Lens explores the context-rich experiences of Black Museum executives to challenge dominant cultural perspectives of what constitutes a leader. Using critical narrative discourse analysis, this research foregrounds under-told narratives and reveals the leadership practices used to proliferate Black Museums to contrast the lack of racially diverse perspectives in the pedagogy of leadership studies. This was accomplished by investigating the origin stories of African American executives using organizational leadership and social movement theories as analytical lenses for making sense of leaders’ tactics and strategies. Commentary from Black Museum leaders were interspersed with sentiments of …

Locating Uncertainty In Hospital Leader Sensemaking And Sensegiving Of Organizational Change: A Single Case Study, Sara E. Barry

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Leaders planning strategic change face significant ambiguity and uncertainty due to the complex, fast-paced, and volatile nature of organizational life. What one leader sees as an opportunity, another may view as a threat depending on their past experiences, their existing mental models, and their perceptions of uncertainty. Sensemaking and sensegiving theories provide a framework for how leaders retrospectively make sense of new and disorienting information through recursive cycles of interpretation, action, and learning, and seek to influence the meaning-making of others towards a shared vision of the strategic change. Despite decades of research using these theories, studies have yet to …

Consumer Representative Experiences Of Partnership With Health Workers In Australia, Coralie R. Wales, Judith A. Lababedi, Alison Coles, Philip Lee, Emma Clarke

Patient Experience Journal

We examine the experiences of Consumer Representatives participating in consumer engagement activities across a public health service in NSW, Australia. A team of Consumer Representatives and staff members use a participatory, constructivist paradigm and a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to analyse ten interviews with Consumer Representatives over three years 2017-2019, and three focus groups in 2020. We explore these experiences and identify the linked contextual factors from their points of view. Consumer Representatives were prepared to invest their time, but they needed respect. “Respect” from a consumer perspective was being meaningfully included, supported and heard, and activities needed to be purposeful …

In Divided Times, A Focus On Human Experience Connects Us, Jason A. Wolf

Patient Experience Journal

The realities of the time in which we find ourselves, not only in healthcare, but in society overall, have exposed so much of what was simmering beneath the surface of our humanity. Issues of equity and inclusion, of stress and burnout, of division and misconception and even the existence of alternative “truths” have caused rifts in our connection, weakened our societal foundations and pulled on the seams of the healthcare system itself. We close our eighth volume of Patient Experience Journal (PXJ) under this veil, yet I believe we have an opportunity to use this moment as a place from …

Unlocking The Creativity Potential Of Dialectical Thinking: Field Investigations Of The Comparative Effects Of Transformational And Transactional Leadership Styles, Roy Y. J. Chua, Jia Hui Lim, Wannwiruch (Fon) Wiruchnipawan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In a digital economy characterized by high volumes of information and ideas, many of which could be contradictory to one another, employees high in dialectical thinking should be well poised to connect disparate ideas to generate creative solutions for business problems. Yet, it is unclear whether dialectical thinking as a creativity-relevant skill can be realized in naturalistic workplace settings, given past mixed findings and the lack of field studies. We propose that supervisors’ leadership styles are important moderators that can unlock employees’ creativity potential in dialectical thinking. Additionally, we compare the activating effect of transformational leadership and the inhibiting effect …

Empowering Action Against Femicide: A Case Study Of Turkey An Integrated Literature Review, Ashley Simon

Thinking Matters Symposium

The primary purpose of this integrative literature review is to explore the relationship between culture and femicide within Turkey to empower action against femicide. Femicides within Turkey are on the rise, as a study done by Sage Journals in 2009 reported that 42% of Turkish women between the ages of 15 and 60 experienced some form of physical or sexual abuse from their husband or partner. Currently, there has been an onslaught of articles released that more and more women are being abused throughout the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research will explore cultural aspects that allow for women’s …

Opportunities For Interaction: Natural Observations Of Children’S Social Behavior In Five Societies., Tanya Broesch, Patrick L. Carolan, Senay Cebioğlu, Christopher Von Rueden, Adam Boyette, Cristina Moya, Barry Hewlett, Michelle A. Kline

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

We examine the opportunities children have for interacting with others and the extent to which they are the focus of others’ visual attention in five societies where extended family communities are the norm. We compiled six video-recorded datasets (two from one society) collected by a team of anthropologists and psychologists conducting long-term research in each society. The six datasets include video observations of children among the Yasawas (Fiji), Tanna (Vanuatu), Tsimane (Bolivia), Huatasani (Peru), and Aka (infants and children 4–12 years old; Central African Republic). Each dataset consists of a series of videos of children ranging in age from 2 …