Leadership Studies Commons^™

Women Mentoring Women: A Phenomenological Study, Jacqueline Jachym Fitzpatrick Edd

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experience of ten business and professional women who have experienced a mentoring relationship as a mentor or protegee with another woman, to understand the essence of their mentoring experience, and to know more about their participation as mentors. This study began with the assumption that women who experienced mentoring whether from women or men would be active mentors themselves. However, the data reveal an important contradiction.

Since women are entering the business and professional ranks of the work force at an increasing pace, there are greater numbers of women who …

School Reform: Leadership Through Shared Decision-Making, Mary Juliet Martel Edd

Dissertations

Educational reform has a long history and schools have gone through cycles of change. This study, however, focuses on the last ten years of reform, often referred to as the restructuring movement. Shared decision making is one of the fundamental changes promoted by this current reform effort. Restructuring the decision-making process to include teachers and parents is a significant change from the hierarchical process that has been in place in most of today's schools. It is time to recognize that schools are complex social institutions that experience change only through its people. By giving those closest to children a stronger …

Voices Of Midlife Tomboys: A Narrative Study, Jan Secrist Edd

Dissertations

Women's lives have been increasingly researched in the last thirty years, offering greater understanding of their roles and relationships within our patriarchal culture. It is now readily understood that adolescence tends to mute the positive sense of self and authentic voice of young girls in our current culture, and midlife tends to relax these restrictions, allowing self and voice to emerge once again. Many women in their middle years rediscover the spirited, independent, and competent identity left behind when they accepted cultural restrictions to conform to a world that was not of their own making. In spite of the increased …

The Phenomenon Of Flow As Experienced By Classroom Teachers: Implications For Leadership Practice, Alyson B. Caouette Edd

Dissertations

The purposes of this qualitative study were to investigate the phenomenon of flow as experienced by classroom teachers and to determine the implications of the understanding of flow for leadership practice. The phenomenon of flow, as described by Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, is reported to be experienced when individuals are engaged in activities that have (a) a balance of challenge and skills that can be varied and controlled, (b) a structure with clear goals, and (c) a structure that provides immediate and relevant feedback. The questions addressed within the study involved determining the specific experiences of classroom teachers of the phenomenon of …

The Secondary School Assistant Principal, Victoria W. Halsey Edd

Dissertations

School leadership research typically centers around the high profile roles of the site level principal and the district superintendent. The resulting scarcity of information in regard to the role of the assistant principal is contributing to ineffective training, fewer initial guidelines and an overall lack of clear conceptualization of the position. The purpose of this study was to construct a realistic portrayal of the assistant principal's daily professional life in the educational arena. This qualitative, ethnographic study stressed depth, richness and accuracy to depict the singular and collective voices of the participants. Eight practicing Junior and Senior High School assistant …

Development Of A Participative Approach To Guide Organizational Change: Reviewing The Sawtooth Technique, Port Robert Martin Edd

Dissertations

In a world economy that bears scant resemblance to the one dominated by the United States following World War II, many American companies have found it increasingly difficult to keep pace with their foreign competitors. The public sector, too, has found itself under significant pressure to provide needed services but with significantly reduced resources. In each individual case leaders have been seeking new solutions to both old and new problems, and organizations have been faced with change and its impacts. The purpose of this study was to design a methodology that could be used to structure organizational changes in such …

Historical Case Study: San Diego And Tijuana Border Region Relationship With The San Diego Police Department, 1957-1994, Adolfo Gonzales Edd

Dissertations

Large numbers of undocumented persons cross through the hills and canyons along the San Ysidro/Tijuana border region, on a nightly basis. As these helpless victims cross, border bandits and other criminals stalk these people and prey on them like predatory animals. The San Diego Police Department is charged with the responsibility of providing public safety along the United States/México international border. The purpose of this research was to investigate the circumstances which led to the establishment of the San Diego/Tijuana international border (1846-1848), the role and policy of the San Diego Police Department along the international border, and the relationship …

Awakening Intuition: A Delphi Study, Verna Veronica Schmidt Edd

Dissertations

This study was framed by three key questions: How is intuition characterized, how is intuition in adults best developed, and what influence might the development of intuition have on individuals, organizations, and society. The data for the study was collected using the Delphi method. The panel included twenty females and twenty-three males from three Canadian provinces and eighteen American states. Eighty-three percent of the panel had post secondary degrees in over twenty different disciplines. Twenty-three percent of the panel held doctorate level degrees. Thirty-one different occupations were represented. All forty-three participants who started the study completed all three rounds. Data …

Women And Men In Collaborative Working Partnerships: Connecting Two Disparate Modes Of Experience, Steven Blue Robbins Edd

Dissertations

This study provides an in-depth description of mixed gender working partnerships in a collaborative effort over a one year period. The research identified differences between men and women in mutually collaborative working partnerships at the undergraduate level in order to also discover what was productive or problematic between those women and men in the partnerships. The research studied twenty-two UCSD undergraduate women and men who worked together in partnerships with mutual goals. The research utilized phenomenological interviewing techniques. The focus was the perceptions and experiences of the participants. The interviews were designed to address two primary research questions: 1) What …

Experiences Of Moral Commitment: A Phenomenological Study, Suzanne West Macrenato Edd

Dissertations

This study's purpose was to increase understanding and meaning of the lived experience of moral commitment as practiced by participants at the time of the study, not in retrospective. Phenomenology was the research methodology selected to elicit participants' understanding of moral commitment through in-depth interviews. Study participants were referred using selection criteria which included: demonstration of sustained selfless service to others outside of one's work life and a demonstrated tendency to inspire others to engage in similar service. The four women and six men in the study, ranging from 33 to 78 years of age, represented blue-collar and professional occupations. …

The Impact Of Community Service-Learning On Student Development, As Perceived By Student Leaders, Judith Starr Rauner Edd

Dissertations

Since the mid-1980s, leaders in higher education have promoted the resurgence of student service linked with learning, but limited research exists on expectations or outcomes for these students or for the communities they serve. The literature review revealed that students' experiences of community service leadership had been a previously unexplored phenomenon. This study investigated the experiences of college students as community service leaders over a two-year period at two universities. According to data generated by four case studies, these leaders perceived significant personal changes in themselves as being different from changes they experienced when they volunteered. They grappled with their …

The Identification Of Behavioral Indicators Of A Superintendent's Leadership Success: A Delphi Study, Douglas George Player Edd

Dissertations

In British Columbia, as well as other Canadian provinces, an annual report is produced by every school district. The report informs the citizens using a variety of indicators that demonstrate the level of success of the district. These reports do not include specific indicators on the level of success of the superintendent or other administrators in the district. This study sought to identify and describe behaviors that could serve as indicators of a superintendent's leadership success. It also sought to ensure that the indicators were aligned with the leadership behaviors applicable to a Total Quality Management model. The research methodology …

Leadership: Personal Narratives Of Practitioners, R. Daniel Israel Edd

Dissertations

Leadership scholars and researchers have still not come to an agreement as to what the nature of leadership is. Most research within leadership studies has been grounded in preconceived or stated definitions of leadership. However, very little information exists about people's experiences of leadership. This project addresses the lack of experiential clarification of the leadership relationship. It utilizes a new leadership research method grounded in the experience of people. Leadership narrative research uses the stories people tell about their leadership experiences as a form of data collection This study is designed to discover if Rost's (1991) definition: "Leadership is an …

Spirituality And Leadership, Dana M. Walling Edd

Dissertations

The language of leadership is becoming increasingly spiritualized. Terms more often found in the sanctuary are now being applied to the leadership domain. Without a clear understanding of each, confusion results. This research explored the common boundaries between spirituality and leadership. Ten persons with leadership experiences were interviewed with regard to what relationships existed between their leadership and their spirituality. There were five women and five men in the study who also reflected diverse ethnic and spiritual perspectives. The researcher used a qualitative interview methodology. Each person was given the chance to review and edit the transcript of the interview. …

Implementing Total Quality Management In A College Of Business, Jeffrey William Glazer Edd

Dissertations

Today, a wide range of organizations are involved in what is commonly referred to as total quality management (TQM). Implementation and associated research have primarily been focused in the business community; however, over the past decade, faced with dwindling enrollment and increased competition, the educational community has also started to embrace TQM at differing levels in a wide variety of settings across the nation, ranging from doctoral granting institutions to community colleges to elementary schools. This descriptive case study examined the implementation of a TQM process at a College of Business in a large state university on the west coast. …

The Leadership Of A Superintendent: Putting The California School Reform Movement To Work, Jennifer L. Jeffries Edd

Dissertations

Public education has been engulfed in a dramatic and turbulent time. In California, the drive for improvement in public education was codified in Senate Bill 813, passed in 1983. Each school district wrestled with the intent and the mandates of this massive reform document. During the implementation stage of this legislation, the organizational climate in school districts was ripe for leaders and followers to engage each other in dialogue and debate about the direction and form the legislation would take. This dialogue and debate rendered policies in response to the legislative mandates. Senate Bill 813 provided opportunities to promote and …

Leadership In A Quality School, Peter J. Bray Edd

Dissertations

Education in Western countries has been under attack in recent years. Numerous individuals and groups have made attempts to reform or restructure the system in which students are schooled. Such change is difficult and on many occasions the attempts at reform resulted in very superficial modifications. Significant change can come from a complex interaction of people where leaders and collaborators work interactively to achieve common purposes. This research examined one school, which is part of William Glasser's consortium of Quality Schools, where significant changes took place. Glasser's control theory has played an important role in the change process. The challenge …

Barriers To Community: The Development Of An Instrument To Assess Components Of Prejudice, Anita M. Rogers Edd

Dissertations

Contemporary theory and practice defines leadership as a collaborative effort, based in community, and purposefully guided by a mutual vision of freedom, justice and equality. Prejudice, as a preset of negative beliefs and behaviors toward a person or a group is a primary barrier to the transformational process of team-building and formation of community. The purpose of this study was to contribute to the effectiveness of training and educational interventions through further understanding of the origins and aspects of prejudice which act as barriers to community. The Retroductive Triangulation process served as a guiding methodology for the development of a …

Transforming Leadership In The California Literature Project: Ethnographic Narrative As True Fiction, Jon S. Davies Edd

Dissertations

With rare exception leadership scholars and practitioners focus on individuals as leaders. However, to investigate leadership only through the activities of individual leaders is to miss its essential feature, namely, that leadership is a particular kind of relationship in which leaders and followers create changes. Relationships are difficult to describe because researchers cannot observe them directly; instead, they must infer them indirectly. This study investigated leadership relationships in the California Literature Project. An exploration of leadership relationships required that I implement research methods that would support the construction of detailed descriptions of transforming leadership processes. These methods developed in part …

The Influence Of Glasser's Control Theory And Reality Therapy On Educators: A Case Study, Debra Cullinane Edd

Dissertations

The influence of Glasser's control theory and reality therapy on educators' perceptions of change, relationships and self reflection has to date not been researched. The purpose of this study was to investigate and describe the influence that control theory and reality therapy training had on educators in one school district. A case study method was chosen because of its descriptive and evaluative strength in educational settings, its qualitative character and its flexibility. All educators currently employed who had participated in one week of training or more were sent a fifteen item survey. From the group of 100 who received the …

Leadership Training Of Ministerial Students In Evangelical Institutions Of Higher Education, Alan E. Nelson Edd

Dissertations

There exists a growing sense within evangelicalism in the United States, that more and better leaders are needed in local congregations. Traditionally, seminaries, graduate and undergraduate schools have prepared pastors to fulfill these roles and satisfy church expectations. The majority of pastoral preparation is theological in nature, augmented by ministerial skill courses. The hypothesis of this research was that little has been done in the area of leadership development and that an optimum program is needed to serve as a model. The intent of this research was twofold. First, the researcher needed to determine to what extent pastoral preparation programs …

A Model Part-Time Bachelor's Degree Program For Adults At California Public Research Institutions, Karen Jil Warn Edd

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to assess the opportunities available to adults for continuing their education part-time to complete a Bachelor's degree and to assess a California research institution's perception of part-time study. Adult student enrollments in postsecondary education have increased 114 percent between 1970 and 1985. Part-time student enrollments rose nearly 87 percent during the same time frame and part-time students now comprise approximately 42 percent of the enrollment in postsecondary education. California research institutions are typically still providing services for the traditional day-time student. There is a persistent resistance to change by faculty. Changing the way the …

Affecting Change Synergistically: An Interpretative Case Study Of Leadership Relationships At Southwest Airlines, Jacquelyn A. Freiberg Edd

Dissertations

As we move into the 21st century it becomes increasingly more important to move beyond what we have come to know as leadership--great man and position/authority-based, excellent management. Instead, what organizations are in need of is a postindustrial model of leadership. Rost defined 21st century leadership as "an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes" (p. 102). This study sought to operationalize 21st century leadership in Southwest Airlines Co., a Texas-based corporation that is recognized as one of America's most successful airlines. This company has a 22 year history, over 10,000 employees, …

District Elections, Redistricting And Recall: A Study Of The Fifth District Of The City Of San Diego, 1988-1991, Linell Blair Fromm Edd

Dissertations

In 1988, voters in San Diego approved a switch from an at-large to a district-only election system. In 1989, Linda Bernhardt, a 30-year-old political neophyte, ran an anti-developer, grassroots campaign in San Diego's Fifth Council District. She unseated well-financed, two-term, pro-development incumbent Ed Struiksma. Within 17 months, Bernhardt was recalled from office. It was the first successful recall election in the City of San Diego in the twentieth century. This study documented significant events that bore on Bernhardt's recall to gain an understanding and appreciation of how events necessitated the recall. The researcher analyzed contributing factors, using an historical case-study …

An Evaluation Study Of The Effects Of The Pirk Reading Program On Reading And Learning Development In Learning-Disabled Students, Ethelyn Elliott Shippey Edd

Dissertations

An emerging view on learning disabilities is that failure in learning to read in the early grades results in continuing failure in school, along with cognitive and social/emotional dysfunctions: Educational leaders have called for reading programs that are maximally effective and minimally time-consuming, and are suited to the needs of our particular students. Leaders in the field of special education stressed a need for the prevention of failure. This evaluation study examined how the PIRK reading program components fit with the current literature on teaching reading and language arts to all children and to LD children. This study investigated the …

The Development Of An Instrument To Measure Global-Mindedness, E. Jane Hett Edd

Dissertations

The leaders of the twenty-first century will need remarkable insight into other cultures and peoples and unprecedented concern for the well-being of the world community. The generally stated goal of global education in the United States is to foster a sense of global belonging through lessening ethnocentrism, increasing knowledge of other cultures, and promoting a concern for the global ecosystem. Despite the resources dedicated to this end, only limited research has been done to assess the effectiveness of programs designed to foster global-mindedness. Global-Mindedness, as the definition emerged through the qualitative component of this research, is a worldview in which …

A Framework Of Transformational Leadership Concepts Proposed For Undergraduate College And University Student Development And Student Affairs Leadership Programs, Stanley D. Fasci Edd

Dissertations

Educating undergraduate students in the area of leadership has long been part of the educational mission of many public and private institutions of higher education in the United States. At many of these colleges and universities, leadership education and training has been accomplished by programs directed by student development or student affairs divisions of the institution. The purpose of this study was to identify a framework of transformational leadership concepts that could be integrated into existing student development/affairs leadership programs. The study's objectives were: (1) to obtain expert opinion regarding transformational leadership concepts to be used; (2) to verify whether …

Bicultural Women In Monocultural Organizations: Professional Hispanic Women's Experiences Of Diversity And Their Recommendations For Organizations, Carmen Mestas Bárcena Edd

Dissertations

The composition of the work force in this country is changing from one in which the White male was dominant to one in which by the year 2000 women and ethnic minorities will be dominant. Work force diversity will impact organizations at all levels, including top management, which has been closed to women and minorities, and in particular, minority women. The diverse work force's expectation for advancement into top levels of management will present challenges to organizations. Some organizations have recognized that to remain competitive they need to manage a more diverse work force. The purpose of this study is …

Organizations Of The Future: An Analysis Of Current Literature And A New Model, Barbara E. Gilliss Edd

Dissertations

This study confronts the following problem: Western society and its organizations are experiencing the stresses of turbulent times about which there is little clear understanding. The study addresses the need for organizations, their leaders, and their members to understand these times and to determine how to engage themselves in moving toward more enlightened futures. The study questions whether current literature provides a basis for comprehending today's turmoil and its effect on organizations and whether the literature provides a theoretical basis for constructing a model of organizations of the future with which to help them proceed through a transition period. The …

Leadership Relationships And The Superintendency, Theresa M. Peterson Edd

Dissertations

Leadership in the 1990s is perceived as the primary solution to the political, social, economic and educational problems encountered today by our western society. The solutions that have worked in the industrialized society of the past are being re-evaluated and questioned by our technocratic society of today. The concept of leadership is undergoing a change. The old industrial view of leadership is making way for the emerging postindustrial view--a view that regards leadership as an inter-relational process among people who intend real, substantive changes berthed from a mutuality of purpose. This research focused on the leadership relationships forged in the …