Leadership Studies Commons^™

Psychological Safety And Belonging In High-Risk Search And Rescue Teams: A Mixed-Methods Study, Sarah Seiler

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Wilderness search and rescue (SAR) volunteers and teams are essential for the safety of outdoor adventurers, and yet, organizational culture has not been studied closely within this population. While extensive research is available regarding psychological safety in corporate and healthcare environments, the role of psychological safety in high reliability teams, like wilderness SAR, is limited. Organizational belonging is a burgeoning research area that has yet to be explored in wilderness SAR. This mixed methods phenomenological study increased the understanding of the experience of psychological safety and organizational belonging in wilderness SAR volunteers. Initial quantitative statistical analysis that utilized t-tests, correlation …

Reassessing Criminogenic Risk: How Trauma-Informed Assessment More Accurately Predicts In-Prison Behavior Than Traditional Models, Bree E. Derrick

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Criminogenic risk-needs assessment is the cornerstone of recidivism reduction models in the correctional sector. Despite decades of using criminogenic risk-need tools, recidivism outcomes remain stubbornly high in the U.S. This non-traditional dissertation explored how traditional criminogenic assessments could be improved with the addition of measures of childhood adversity and maltreatment. This study found that the prevalence of ACEs was significantly greater in an adult prison population of 1,522 in a rural, western state than in the general public. Utilizing logistic regression, this research also found that ACEs were better predictors of in-prison misconduct than traditional criminogenic risk-needs assessments, although traditional …

Beyond Strong: A Phenomenology Of Women Executives And The Connection Between Leadership And Fitness, Nozomi Bullock

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Senior-level executive leaders’ work in a dynamic, competitive, 24/7 business environment can be physically rigorous, mentally demanding, and emotionally isolating. The same holds true for women pursuing senior-level leadership roles in corporate America. Women who achieve and succeed in such roles remain the minority: Outsiders in elite spaces who are held to higher standards and overly scrutinized. Among senior-level executive women leaders, those committed to a fitness and training regimen including weightlifting constitute an even smaller minority. Senior-level executive roles require stamina, resilience, and courage—qualities that make up the foundation of the mindset of fitness and strength training (Foyster et …

Advancing Accessibility In Higher Education: A Community-Based Approach To Addressing Rising Student Accommodation Needs Requests In The Post-Covid-19 Era, Mariah Lossing

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Accommodation requests for students with disabilities have increased in higher education over the past decade, with the sharpest rise occurring in the post-COVID environment. Most requests over the past five years have been related to mental health. Faculty, especially adjunct instructors, often lack access to training and resources that address the growing challenges efficiently and effectively. Faculty are balancing academic rigor with flexibility and accessibility while universities experience increasing pressure to retain both students and faculty amidst rising demands and resource limitations. This study explored a community-based approach to addressing accessibility and professional development in the changing landscape of post-COVID-19 …

From Rural Roads To College Credits: Understanding Dual Enrollment In New Hampshire's Rural High Schools, Sarah Chase

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Dual enrollment programs vary significantly across states, schools, and districts, leading to inconsistent college readiness outcomes. While previous research primarily examines differences at the state level, little is known about how these programs operate within rural high schools in the same region. This study examines dual enrollment in four rural high schools in New Hampshire using a multiple-case study approach and thematic analysis. Data was collected through interviews with administrators, faculty, counselors, and alumni, along with reviews of public documents. Six key themes emerged: (1) Barriers to Dual Enrollment, (2) Conflicting Perspectives of Key Players, (3) Benefits of Dual Enrollment, …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Lived Experience Of Gay White Men In Mid-Level Student Affairs Leadership Roles, S. Craig Mourton

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the lived experience of mid-level student affairs leaders who identify as cisgender, gay, White, and male in order to further understand the multidimensionality of embodying both privileged as well as marginalized identities. Four participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide and the resulting transcripts were analyzed utilizing the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) perspective. Experiential themes that emerged from the analysis of the individual cases as well as across the cases include unintended pathways into the field of student affairs, experiences of challenging heterosexual male supervisors and the preference for women supervisors, …

The Survival Of An American Theater: An Intrinsic And Historical Case Study Of The Success Of Arena Stage, Kay Oliver

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Arena Stage was founded in 1950 in Washington, DC, by Zelda Fichandler, Tom Fichandler, and Edward Mangum. Today, Arena Stage serves a diverse annual audience of more than 300,000 people. It is the largest theater company dedicated to American plays and playwrights in the country. This study presents a single intrinsic historical case study of Arena Stage to examine the internal organizational structure and leadership dynamics that guided the theater through seven decades of turbulent American history. Arena Stage has provided world-class programming while the nation was grappling with the Vietnam War (1950–1975), Brown v. Board of Education (1954), political …

Embracing The Both/And: Learning From The Lived Experiences Of White Facilitators Of Racial Equity Workshops, Alicia M. Wargo

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study focuses on the lived experiences of seasoned White facilitators of racial equity workshops to understand how they navigate the complexity of occupying a White racial identity while working to challenge the belief systems of white supremacy ingrained in themselves and others. Through applying Critical Race Theory as a framework to grounded theory methodology, this study examined whiteness as a sensitizing concept in micro, meso, and macro levels of analysis, situating this dissertation in the theoretical exploration of the multifaceted and pervasive nature of whiteness. Much of the research on racial equity work examines White participants in nascent stages …

Journey To Well-Being: An Exploration Of Thrivership Post-Domestic Violence, Kader Gumus

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Domestic violence profoundly affects multiple facets of a survivor’s life. While most existing literature on survivorship addresses the immediate aftermath of domestic violence, this study delves into the extended process following the trauma of abuse to attain “thrivership,” a new concept in the scholarly and practice literature that emphasizes enduring well-being and flourishing. This dissertation examines the journeys from surviving to thriving for 13 women who transformed themselves and their lives to achieve well-being after traumatic domestic violence. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory was applied to examine the multiple layers of environmental influences on an individual’s development, including the micro, meso, …

Inner Life, Spiritual Leadership, And Spiritual Well-Being As Predictors Of The Organizational Performance Of Employees At A Seventh-Day Adventist University In Latin America, Patricio Ordoñez

Dissertations

Problem

While traditional leadership models, such as transactional and transformational leadership, have shown success, recent research highlights the need for leadership approaches that address the spiritual and ethical dimensions of individuals in the workplace. Leaders who fail to integrate spiritual leadership risk negatively impacting employee satisfaction, creativity, and overall organizational performance. Despite the well-established concepts of inner life and spiritual well-being, more research is needed to understand their effects on employee performance in faith-based institutions. This study sought to fill that gap by examining the relationship among inner life, spiritual leadership, and spiritual well-being as predictors of organizational performance among …

Thoughts On Servant-Leadership In The Modern Era, Larry C. Spears

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Compiled by Larry Spears

The Nature Of Grace: An Introduction, Shann Ray Ferch, Jiying Song

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

The International Journal of Servant-Leadership, a humble refraction of the nations of the world, is a staging ground for the most ultimate notions of human love and loss. That a scholarly journal, touched by art, is a proving ground for the question of love in the context of the human and the divine is still a surprising and serendipitous gift to us personally. The binary between art and science has been brought to greater oneness and now social scientists and artists can ask together: Why does love exist? What is the nature of such love, and how might it help …

Stars Maker, Ashley Davis

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Poem by Ashley Davis

On Servant-Leadership And Quaker Influences, Paul W. Davis, Larry C. Spears

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

One important aspect of the Religious Society of Friends has to do with the nurturance of seekers. The very origins of the Religious Society of Friends had much to do with the fact that 17th-century English seekers were already present and listening when the prophetic visionary leadership of George Fox spoke to their hearts. Out of that union of seekers and prophet grew a powerful spiritual tradition that continues today

A Journey In Servant-Leadership, Larry C. Spears

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Welcome to our 2024 edition of The International Journal of Servant-Leadership. I would like to offer my special thanks to all of our contributing authors and readers of this journal. Each edition of IJSL contains a wonderful array of articles and papers, poetry and research, film reviews and reflections from around the world that demonstrate many remarkable journeys in servant-leadership

Preface To Song’S “Persuasion Vs. Coercion Or Persuasion And Coercion”, Shann Ray Ferch

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Song has taken the original work of Greenleaf, specifically his work on seeking to understand the sacred scripture ‘Overcome evil with good,’ and rendered a stunning analysis of great force and vital interrogative essence. Worldwide, fascism is on the rise. Her article does much to ground the human community in the difference between persuasion and coercion, and helps lead us through her own voice that weaves a very fine tapestry with the voices of Greenleaf, Ghandi, Woolman, and Whittier, among others.

Interview With Executive President Fr. Peter Balleis, Sj, Shann Ray Ferch

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Fr. Peter Balleis, SJ, a leading advocate of refugee and forcibly displaced persons’ rights, has been fighting for human rights and social justice for more than 20 years. As executive president of Jesuit Worldwide Learning (JWL), Fr. Peter works toward a more peaceful world using the power of education.

The Role And Promise Of Governing Boards, John P. Bohley, Jr., Larry C. Spears

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

This article is an adaptation of chapter 2 of Better Boards for a Better World: An Integrated Practice of Policy Governance® and Servant-Leadership. Bohley & Spears. BookBaby. 2023.

Interview With Co-Founder Mary Mcfarland, Shann Ray Ferch

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Dr. McFarland is co-founder of McFarland Consulting where she is engaged in a number of projects serving higher education at the margins, and teaching graduate courses for Georgetown University. She served as the first International Director (President) for Jesuit Worldwide Learning (JWL) Higher Education at the Margins from 2010 to 2016. Prior to that she was Dean of the School of Professional Studies at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA, and she has held a number of leadership positions in higher education including department chair, chair of faculty senate, and full professor.

Devoted To Healing The Heart Of The World, Shann Ray Ferch

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

In receiving the following narratives of the work of Jesuit Worldwide Learning (JWL) from around the globe, I noticed a deep sense of hunger for the health and well-being of all humanity. This hunger, a seeking and restorative sense of hope and gladness at the heart of people, was pervasive, elegant, incisive, and beautiful in each interview. By setting out to listen to the lives of those working on the front lines of refugee, poverty-ridden, and displaced populations globally, the gift they gave to me personally, to the world of ideas, and the more important world of action is both …

Serendipity In Non-Profit Founding And The Healing Response Of Two Servant-Leaders To Crises Of Migration, Michael T. Von Behren

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

This article explores the intersection of non-profit founding with elements of servant-leadership. Drawing upon current research in social entrepreneurship and non-profit founding, the article reflects on these in light of the stories of two selfless individuals, Varian Fry and Enrique Morones, whose lives of servanthood spawned the founding of two influential organizations: the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC) and the Border Angels. While sharing the stories of these organizations, and of their founding, this article highlights issues of immigration offering a healing perspective through five themes of servant-leadership articulated by Robert K. Greenleaf revealed in the lives of these non-profit founders. …

Colloquium Servant-Leadership Interviews, Shann Ray Ferch

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

The Jesuit Worldwide Learning (JWL) Colloquium is a group of PhD candidates and others united in providing equitable high quality tertiary learning to people and communities at the margins of societies. These margins, indicated by poverty, location, lack of opportunity, conflict, or forced displacement, define the nature of our shared sense of sisterhood and brotherhood worldwide. The JWL mission and works of mission, enacted daily throughout the world, fulfill Greenleaf’s best test of servant-leadership, bringing greater wisdom, health, autonomy, freedom and service to others, and helps bring about Greenleaf’s notion that the least privileged of society are benefitted and not …

A Collection Of Works Related To Greenleaf’S Distinction Between Persuasion And Coercion, Jiying Song

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Compiled by Jiying Song

Liberal Studies And Servant Leadership: Inspiring Ignatian Values At The Margins, Isabella Rega, Mélodie Honen-Delmar

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

This paper aims to unpack how the concept of servant leadership is perceived from Liberal Studies graduates living at the margins of society. Anchoring this research in the work of Jesuit Worldwide Learning (JWL), a faith-based organization providing higher education to displaced and poor communities, this paper seeks to deconstruct the assumption present in the literature of an ‘already-in-power’ servant leader by focusing on servant leaders in vulnerable and marginalized places, where they would be most needed. This article synthesizes the voices of more than 100 graduates from the Diploma in Liberal Studies program and looks at how graduates define …

Servant-Leadership As A Pathway To Success For Foreign-Born Leaders, Ashley Davis

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Immigrants have consistently been recognized as significant contributors to the United States economy, science, and innovation (Vandor & Franke, 2016). However, there remains a noticeable gap in the literature regarding the experiences and leadership development process of foreign-born leaders (FBLs). This article addresses this gap by highlighting the positive contributions of FBLs while noting the relatively small pool of effective FBLs in comparison to the large immigrant population in the United States, suggesting substantial untapped potential. The author explores common challenges faced by FBLs and emphasizes that overcoming these obstacles is integral to FBLs’ leadership development journey. The central argument …

Listening To The Soul’S Whisper: Embracing Silence In Coaching, Carolyn S. Roark, Chaya S. Abelsky

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

While writings have centered on the role of silence in the coach–client relationship, the practice of listening to one’s soul is a topic that has been scantily covered in the literature. Building on a foundation of servant–leadership, emotional intelligence, and the Johari Window along with coaching techniques, this article focuses on the importance of listening to one’s soul to uncover one’s life blueprint. It is imperative for both professional coaches and clients to make a commitment to take the time to incorporate the daily practice of listening to one’s soul to unearth the wisdom and uncover the buried values found …

Servant-Leadership Practices Of Nelson Mandela, African Culture And A Thriving Future For Africa, Jeremiah Ole Koshal

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

This paper examines the African cultural values and the virtues of servant-leadership as impetus of the successful leadership of Nelson Mandela, and how all these can be tapped by other African leaders in order to transition the continent into a more prosperous and promising future. Previously, authors have viewed Africa from the lenses of hopelessness due to its corrupt, self-centered and inept leadership that has led to sluggish economic growth and social disharmony. Yet since time immemorial, the African culture has had no dichotomy between service and leadership, as evidence in some of Africa’s cultural philosophies like ubuntu, which focuses …

Humility And Servant-Leadership: Toward A Solution Of Pastoral Narcissism, Luke W. R. Bryant

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

The world contains healthy and toxic leaders, and these leaders make an impact—for better or worse—on their followers. While healthy Christian pastors may exude humility and positively affect congregants, the issue of narcissism among pastors is more prevalent than one may expect. This article explores the literature related to humility, servant-leadership, and narcissism—painting the ideal of humble pastors, linking the ideal with servant-leadership, presenting the problem of narcissistic pastors, and moving toward the beginning stages of proposed solutions. Depending on the severity level, churches may opt for a period of renewed growth from the pastor or outright replacement of the …

Servant-Leadership, Self-Reflection, And Self-Transcendence, Ryan Schmidt

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Whether it be income, gender, or race inequity, the gap between the haves and have-nots in the United States continues to increase, yet most people remain only concerned with themselves (Singh, 2012). Even without intention, injustice can fester. Following Robert Greenleaf’s (1977/2002) premise that caring for others is the foundation of a good society, servant-leadership provides a vision for doing the necessary inner work to achieve self-awareness before engaging with the outer work of the world. When individuals better understand the conditions governing their thoughts, feelings, and actions, the potential exists to achieve self-transcendence, re-orienting their lives outward in the …

The Church’S Failure To Embrace All Of God’S Beloved Creation, Kalif Crutcher

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

The primary aim of this article was to describe how the policies regarding same-sex marriage and unions in the Christian Methodist Episcopal church are exclusionary and oppressive. There are studies that reference the psychological and spiritual harm that the church causes when queer individuals are not embraced. Nevertheless, a secondary goal of this article is share how the church, through servant-leadership principles can explore forgiveness seeking and an affirmative theological position of inclusion whereby queer congregants are cared for and supported.