Leadership Studies Commons^™

The Management Development Legacy Of Robert Greenleaf, Jeff Mccollum, Joel Moses

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Robert Greenleaf's writings have inspired considerable thought and have been well documented. Robert Greenleaf's name will forever, and appropriately so, be linked with "servant-leadership"-something he wrote extensively about in his second career as author and consultant. Greenleaf's first career, the 38 years he spent with AT&T, left a legacy of rich innovation. At that time, the official name of the company was American Telephone and Telegraph. We will use AT & T, the contemporary identification, throughout this article. In Greenleaf's work there, we can find the antecedents to contemporary development endeavors such as coaching, "action learning," and assessment centers. Although …

An Inward Journey, Robert Greenleaf

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

It was my privilege to see a bit of Robert Frost in his last years and, having a feeling for the man as a person, his poetry has a special meaning for me. Philip Booth, in a review, said: "Poems like 'The Demiurge's Laugh,' 'The Road Not Taken,' 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,' 'On a Tree Fallen Across the Road,' 'Desert Places,' 'Come In,' and 'Directive' map, in sequence, the road Robert Frost took into the dark woods, and record the serial ordeal he survived by surrendering himself to the conflicts such poems dramatize." Earlier in Chapter IX, …

The Three C’S Of Servant-Leadership, Mohan Nair

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Recently, my contemplation has resulted in only one phrase: Choose yourself correctly. Leadership is sometimes viewed as an endless journey, a state of mind, or a method. Servant-leadership is about mission, practice and persuasion. To me, it is all these frameworks and more. The "more" is that it is a journey of endless choices - not merely of decisions, but of choices about who you want to become. The meantime between deciding who you choose to be is between every breath taken in some ways. Because only between breaths do we actually think and feel our choices. You see, the …

Storm Warnings: The Obvious And Latent Disorder Approaching From Changes In The Environment, Addiction, And Family Structure, Charles W. Kinman

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

He said to the crowd: "When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'It's going to rain,' and it does. And when the south wind blows you say, 'It's going to be hot,' and it is." Luke 12:54-55 As the crowd looks to the expanding global horizon, they see complex social change approaching like brewing storms. These storms threaten to introduce powerful winds of disconnection, disorder, and chaos that will generate great challenges for leaders in the next decade. The first storm is the environment's irreparable changes in nature and population. The second storm is society's …

Email Overload: The Implications Of Virtual Communication At The Office, Matthew John Hearne

Theses and Graduate Projects

This investigation focuses on the implications of email overload on worker productivity, stress, and privacy in the workplace. This research attempts to confirm the affects of email overload at the office by comparing case study results with the review of related literature and subsequently offering a conclusion based upon this comparison.

Leadership Communication Skills: Role In The Institutionalization Of Organizational Vision, Strategy And Culture, Pamela A. Peter

Theses and Graduate Projects

There is a generally accepted expectation that leaders should play a significant role in integrating an organization's vision statement and strategic direction with its culture. Depending upon the organization the author of the vision statement could be the owner, the board of directors or CEO, or other senior leaders or consultants. In any case, because the vision statement is typically disseminated top down, the distance from the statement's author to those who actually do the work is great. This can be especially true in large organizations with hierarchical structures. To bridge that gap, senior leaders depend upon leaders at the …

Limits And Challenges Of E-Mail Use In The Business World, Joanne L. Johnson

Theses and Graduate Projects

Miscommunication can cost time, money and even relationships. Facts surrounding e-mail's speed, convenience, and cost-effectiveness have been established; however, through my research and experience I have discovered there are limits to the effectiveness of e-mail. I will discuss the limitations of e-mail as a medium for effective business communication from the perspective of its effectiveness as a medium,, effects on productivity, and possible risks. E-mail poses limits and challenges as a communication medium in the business world versus basic face-to-face communication. The absence of non-verbal and verbal cues and the ability in standard e-mail for immediate feedback are weaknesses. As …

Reducing The Negative Attidudes Of Religious Fundamentalists Toward Homosexuals, John A. Frank

Honors Theses

In this study, participants who vary in their level of religious fundamentalism were exposed to different interventions designed to change their attitudes toward homosexuals. The interventions involved writing a few paragraphs about positive gay figures in society or thinking about a passage from the Bible about acceptance. Their attitudes toward homosexuals were measured using the Implicit Association Test and Herek's Attitudes toward Gay and Lesbian scale. They also completed some behavioral intention measures that examined how their attitudes relate to their behaviors. It was hypothesized that short- term contact with an admired outgroup member would change the negative attitudes or …

Treating Animals Right : Introducing A New Fairness Approach, Xenia Corali Schneider

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis, thus, is to provide a convincing account of the proper ethical treatment of animals. I will discuss some of the most popular theoretical frameworks, utilitarianism, Kantianism, and contractarianism, and see how they apply to animals. After explaining and critiquing these theories I will provide an alternative theory for the ethical treatment of animals, which should serve as the basis for our actions and guide our behavior towards animals, especially the eating of meat.

The argument I will be defending is neither abolitionist-granting animals the same rights as human beings and therefore rejecting all institutions involving …

Servant-Leadership As A Cornerstone For Restoration Of Human Dignity, Jose Hernandez

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Human beings are experiencing a loss of dignity that diminishes us as a community of people. Many times the consequences of losing our dignity are not severe, allowing us to recover in a short time; other times, they can be so dramatic that they end up scarring us for a lifetime. Those who lose their dignity ultimately have the choice to find resiliency and recover from their loss. Likewise, those who violate the dignity of others bear the responsibility to choose to live with morality and justice toward others. As Greenleaf (1977) explained, "Because we have a natural authority resulting …

Can I Be Fearless?, Margaret Wheatley

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions. -Hafiz Human history is filled with stories of countless people who have been fearless. If we look at our own families, perhaps going back several generations, we'll find among our own ancestors those who also have been fearless. They may have been immigrants who bravely left the safety of home, veterans who courageously fought in wars, families who endured economic hardships, war, persecution, slavery, oppression, dislocation. We all carry within us this lineage of fearlessness. But what is fearlessness? It's not being …

Developing A Model For An Incarnational Ministry At The Webb Chapel Church Of Christ, L. Bert Alexander

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This doctor of ministry thesis presents the results of a project to promote the development of an incarnational ministry at the Webb Chapel Church of Christ. This intervention employed a team of Webb Chapel opinion leaders representative of various subgroups of the congregation. In the fall of 2008, this group met for eight sessions to discuss the self-emptying practices of Jesus and the need for his followers to emulate those self-emptying practices in their individual lives. Through interaction in the eight sessions, the group developed a model by which self-emptying practices could be implemented at Webb Chapel. Evaluation of the …

Making The Leap To Management: Tips For The Aspiring And New Manager, Femi Cadmus

Faculty Scholarship

As the result of innate ability, a fortunate few are able to effortlessly transition from line positions. However, most of us need to plot the path to management astutely and with deliberation. Library professionals might also become "accidental" managers, finding themselves thrust into an unplanned and perhaps unwanted managerial position for which they were not prepared. This is particularly true in the current climate of constrained budgets characterized by restructuring, job freezes, and layoffs.

The Successful Expatriate Leader In China, Matthew P. Earnhardt

Publications

With cheap labor, the world's largest work force, and the United States as one of its principal trading partners, China offers boundless opportunities to global corporations. The economic advantages of operating in China are great; however, the foreign business community faces unique challenges there, as qualified Chinese business leaders are virtually non-existent within the country's corporate world.

Leadership: Facing The Fairytale, D. S. Penner

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

No abstract provided.

Transforming Initiatives: Leadership Ethics From The Sermon On The Mount, D. Lawson

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

No abstract provided.

Burst The Bystander Effect: Making A Discipling Difference With Young Adults, A. Allen Martin

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Failure On Personal And Social Transformation, J. Boyd

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

No abstract provided.

Can She Ever Be "The Man"? : The Effect Of Gender On Implicit Perceptions Of Leadership Ability In An Applied Hiring Task, Rebecca S. Frazier

Honors Theses

Despite numerous advances in the eld of women's rights and a general decline in explicit discrimination, there still exists a dramatic lack of women in leadership positions across America. This research seeks to expand upon past studies suggesting that there is a basic cognitive incongruency between traditional male and leadership roles which leads ordinarily "unbiased" individuals to perceive women as less suited r leadership positions than men. Thus, this experiment investigates the implicit biases against women leaders by asking if the subtle addition of gender information alters individuals' initial impressions of leadership capability in an applied hiring task involving resumes, …

Power And The Rejection Of The Competent Attitudinal Deviant, William Stanton

Honors Theses

This thesis describes an empirical investigation of the rejection of the deviant and operates under the hypothesis that a powerful leader will be more tolerant of those who disagree with him or her than would a low power leader. Before presenting the results of the study, this chapter will provide an overview of previous work on this topic. In the next few pages I will present a review of the available research concerning group reactions to deviancy, namely that groups reject deviants. Then, I will review available research concerning the psychological effects of power. By the end, this thesis will …

Political Socialization And The Youth Vote : A Study Of Political Engagement During The 2008 Election, Meredith Hull

Honors Theses

I began my research on political socialization struck about the political apathy I was observing among my friends. Through studying those very same peers here at the University of Richmond in both a survey and interviews, I am even more determined to find ways to encourage high levels of knowledgeable engagement and volunteerism among college aged students. The United States will have to continue to compete in a global market in the future and citizens of other democracies understand and care enough to vote about the changes in that government-what is the problem here?

The results of the survey and …

Deliberative Democracy At The Local Level, Tony Derosa

Honors Theses

This thesis addresses the role that deliberative democracy can play in local politics. Deliberative democracy is a theory that posits discourse among free and equal citizens as a route to better public policy outcomes, a more just society, the fostering of social capital, and the cultivation of civic virtues. While both liberals and civic republicans have endorsed the theory, it stands in direct contrast to the economic theory of democracy. This view equates citizens to consumers, whose private preferences are to be aggregated by the political system. Votes are the equivalent of capital in the market, according to the economic …

Empathy, Group-Level Guilt And Identification : Measuring Their Relationship Through Past American-Cambodian Relations, Laura Musser

Honors Theses

A collective approach to emotions suggests that, in some cases, members of groups may experience collective guilt when they consider the negative actions performed by other members of their group, even when they were not personally involved themselves. Social identity theory suggests that such group-level reactions are more likely when individuals strongly identify with their group, and less likely when their sense of identity is not linked as strongly to their group membership.

This hypothesis was examined by directly manipulating the salience of individuals' collective identities through priming through an identification manipulation. The identification manipulation primed participants to feel more …

Group Dynamics, Donelson R. Forsyth

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

No abstract provided.

How Effective Leaders Learn From Life: A Grounded Theory Study Of The Impact Of Significant Life Experiences Upon Leadership Development, Ryan P. Meers

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Fifteen effective leaders from diverse organizational backgrounds described their significant life experiences and the impact upon their development as leaders. Using grounded theory methodology, a theoretical model emerged for assisting leaders absorb greater learning from their various life experiences. Related to the central phenomenon of how effective leaders learn from significant life experiences, four causal conditions of types of experiences were identified as influencing how leaders learn: (1) experiences of adversity or loss; (2) experiences of “stretch assignments”; (3) inspirational experiences; and (4) experiences with conflict. Strategies used by the leaders to absorb learning from their significant experiences were active …

Expanding Horizons For Community College Students: A Travel And Transfer Initiative On The Road To A Baccalaureate Degree, Pauline Moreau Ma

All Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Voice Of Silence, David E. Wilkins

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

What is silence? Is it the mere absence of words or sound? Or is it a sound itself? Simon and Garfunkel in their early 1960s hit, "The Sound of Silence," focused on a meaning that seems to predominate in our society—that silence implies apathy, or a lack of communication. They sang: "Silence like a cancer grows. Hear my words that I might teach you, Take my arms that I might reach you. But my words like silent raindrops fell, and echoed in the wells of silence."

For Native peoples, silence historically was understood as a means to convey often profound …

Leader-Member Exchange (Lmx) Theory, Crystal L. Hoyt, George R. Goethals

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

Leader-member exchange (LMX) theory is rooted in the idea that leaders and followers exchange benefits, and that their relationships are at the heart of the leadership process. Social scientists have long attempted to understand how people relate to each other, beginning with explorations of costs and rewards, interpersonal behavior, and human relationship. A number of theories have used the lens of interpersonal relationships to understand leadership, including Edwin Hollander's focus on idiosyncrasy credits, Tom Tuyler's notion of procedural justice, Dave Messick's delineation of psychological exchanges, and James MacGregor Burns's conceptualization of transforming and transactional leadership. Most notably, George Graen and …

Socioemotional And Task Behavior, George R. Goethals

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

In problem-solving groups, individual members engage in different types of behavior, including task behavior, which focuses on the external problem to be addressed, and socioemotional behavior, which addresses the feelings that arise as a result of group interaction. This entry describes these two types of behavior and examines the leadership styles of group leaders who focus on each one.

Ralph D. Winter, 1924-2009: Innovative And Inspiring Missions Leader, R. L. Staples

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

No abstract provided.