Leadership Studies Commons^™

The Interpretation Of Online Identity On Facebook And Social Networking Sites, Margaret D. Denninger

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This study explored the interpretation of identity as it relates to the construction of self-identity on Facebook. Academic scholarship of online identity development on Facebook and other Social Networking Sites (SNS) revealed recent research that juxtaposed online identity makeup within communication and psychological frameworks. The expansion of Facebook and its design elements drew academic analyses that questioned the authenticity and fluidity of online identities. In this meta-analysis, three studies were discussed in depth, approximately 50 studies on Facebook identity construction were reviewed, and professional critiques on the Facebook effect were included. Research questions query: the prospect of true identity online; …

Perceived Confirmation And Disconfirmation In Community College Online Distance-Learning Courses, Carissa Michelle Simmons

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This qualitative study sought to discover how interpersonal confirmation and disconfirmation are perceived in online distance learning courses at the community college level by determining the specific communication teacher behaviors that cause confirmation and disconfirmation to be perceived by their students. The philosophical framework for this study stemmed from Martin Buber’s (1965) concept of the “interhuman.” The particular theories that grounded this study are the symbolic interactionism theory and two theories of interpersonal confirmation by Sieburg (1973) and Larson (1976). The data for this study was obtained through focus groups, individual interviews, and open-ended surveys. The results show that confirmation …

How Communication And Leadership Affect Collaboration In A Partnership: An Exploratory Study, Joseph Carrasco

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Homelessness is a persistent and pervasive issue in the United States. The complexity of the problem has produced federal policies that make collaboration a requirement for homeless advocacy organizations to receive federal funding. In turn, cities, towns, and other entities have created partnerships in order to receive funding as well as combine resources and share information to help reduce if not remedy the homeless problem in their areas. This thesis explores how communication and leadership affect collaboration in a partnership. The study is grounded in the theories of dialogical ethics and transformational leadership to examine two collaborative partnerships serving the …

The Effectiveness Of A Personalized School-Wide Crisis And Trauma Management Training Program On Sense Of Preparedness For School Counselors-In-Training, Elizabeth Keller-Dupree

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of a personalized school-wide crisis and trauma management training program for master's-level school counselors-in-training. The study began with Pilot Study 1: Crisis Training Need Assessment which sought to best identify the crisis training needs for a specific geographic region. Results from Pilot Study 1 supported that unexpected student and teacher death was the crisis category which affects students the most and is in need of further training at the master's level. Next, Pilot Study 2: Crisis Training Feedback sought to obtain comments and suggestions from masters- and doctoral-level counselors-intraining regarding …

Redemptive Leadership, C. William Pollard

C. William Pollard Papers

Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary hosted its "Salting the Workplace - How?" seminar in 2011. For his speech at the workshop, Pollard chose the topic of redemptive leadership, which he understands as being fundamentally concerned with the development of the human person. This type of leadership can never be divorced from the ultimate questions, i.e. those pertaining to God and faith.

The Virtue Of Profit (Boston), C. William Pollard

C. William Pollard Papers

Speaking at a ministry conference hosted by Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Boston, MA), Pollard contends that profit can be considered virtuous when it allows servant leaders to invest in employees, thereby contributing to the moral and spiritual formation of human beings.

Crafting A Congregational Narrative For The College Church Of Christ In Fresno, California, Jason W. Locke

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes a ministry project in the College Church of Christ in Fresno, California. In this project I led the congregation through a narrative crafting process in order to clarify the church’s identity and increase its capacity for mission. In recent decades, the College Church moved away from some of its founding characteristics yet failed to clarify a new sense of identity. It subsequently had difficulty acting with a unified sense of purpose and instead moved increasingly toward fragmentation.

Data for crafting the new narrative came from three weeks of group interviews. My research team conducted these interviews in …

Discerning A Vocational Theology Of Marriage For The Smyrna Church Of Christ, Daniel F. Camp

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this project was to discern a vocational theology of marriage for the Smyrna Church of Christ in Smyrna, Tennessee. Through a group discernment process, the participants studied Genesis 1-3 and 2 Corinthians 5 as a basis for understanding God’s design for marriage at creation, the effects of sin on the vocational aspect of the marriage relationship, and the call of Christ for husbands and wives to participate in the resurrection life through the ministry of reconciliation. At the end of the discernment process, the participants articulated a theology statement for the church that examined our current context …

Texting: The Ecology Of Adolescent Life, Charlotte Louise Saucedo

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the impact that instant communication has on the social development of adolescents (12-18 years). While most studies have either focused on this medium as either entirely good or bad, this study aimed at the middle ground in understanding both the benefits and pitfalls. A qualitative research design was employed to measure the abstract concepts of „well-being‟ and „group belonging‟ in relation to the role that instant messaging plays into those concepts. This study utilized the theoretical lenses of Vygotsky‟s Social Development Theory, Erikson‟s Social Development Theory and Walther‟s Hyperpersonal Perspective. Employing the use of both focus groups …

Innovation Through Social Networking In Communities Of Practice, Patricia K. Brill

Theses and Graduate Projects

Innovation helps bring competitive advantage to organizations. Without competitive advantage organizations are in danger of not surviving. Two initiatives have recently emerged to support innovation: Communities of Practice (CoPs) and Social Networking. Communities of Practice provide an opportunity to organizations where innovation is created through the knowledge-sharing and informed ways of working. Social Networking is being utilized in organizations to foster collaboration and expose expertise for employees to tap into.

The purpose of this study is to determine the value of combining CoPs with social networks. This will be done by studying communities in the MIX (Medtronic Information Exchange) social …

Leadership Criteria Under Maximum Performance Conditions, Aaron J. Pauli

Theses and Dissertations

Since the seminal work investigating the relationship between typical and maximum performance by Sackett, Zedeck, and Fogli in 1988, there has been a marked increase in research in this area. Although much research has furthered the relationship between typical and maximum performance, none have attempted to identify which leadership effectiveness criteria are considered most important to an individual’s maximum performance, or assessment of one’s potential. Thus, this empirical study seeks to identify the leadership effectiveness criteria under maximum performance conditions as it relates to entry and middle level managers. Using an exploratory factor analysis, the results suggest an interesting comparison …

Female Leaders: Injurious Or Inspiring Role Models For Women?, Crystal L. Hoyt, Stefanie Simon

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

The impact of female role models on women’s leadership aspirations and self-perceptions after a leadership task were assessed across two laboratory studies. These studies tested the prediction that upward social comparisons to high-level female leaders will have a relatively detrimental impact on women’s self-perceptions and leadership aspirations compared to male and less elite female leaders. In Study 1 (N = 60), women were presented with both female and male leaders before serving as leaders of ostensible three-person groups in an immersive virtual environment. This study established the relatively deflating impact of high-level female leaders, compared to high-level male leaders and …

Revitalization Of The Christian Leader: A Model For Building Learning Environments Conducive To Personal Change [Dissertation Notice], Randyl David Brown

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

No abstract provided.

A Journey In Servant-Leadership, Larry C. Spears

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

As usual, I would like to start by commending all of our contributing authors in this year's journal. The articles contained within this issue offer a compelling deep vision for the future of servant-leadership. The articles in this volume also represent the diverse thinking of people from many countries, and a powerful landscape of human insight that inspires me.

Leadership And Foresight In A Changing And Challenging World: A Call For Servant-Leadership, David Whitfield

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

The greatest leader forgets himself and attends to the development of others. -Lao Tzu (600 BCE) This paper addresses four global leadership challenges that demand different leadership theories, models, and philosophies because of how these challenges affect and will continue to affect what the future portends for a changing world. They are persistent, potentially destructive, life-changing, and have been for many decades; they are also opportunities for corporate leaders to use their power to create possibilities throughout the world to minimize poverty, facilitate the acquisition of clean drinking water, decrease illiteracy, and diminish greed. What is the role of corporations …

Beyond The Paradoxical Shadow Of A Doubt: A Powerful Bond That Sustains Servant-Leaders In Their Struggle For Truth And Justice, Dung Q. Tran

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

The comprehensive study of leadership phenomena matters. Reasons abound for the need of both formal and informal leadership research in various contexts. Spears (1998) recognized the emergence of a significant "leadership and management paradigm for the 21st century" (p. xix). Jackson and Parry (2008) claimed that "leadership is widely seen as both the problem and solution to all manner of contemporary issues" (p. 9). A key buzzword in our modern times, leadership has "become a major issue in all forms of organizations" (Doohan, 2007, p. I). In the world of higher education, Greenleaf (1998) identified a "serious crisis of leadership …

One Woman’S Struggle: A Reflection Of Servant-Leadership, Margaret Muchiri

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Kenya is a free democracy now. The British colonizers left Kenya in 1963 but they left a land devastated both in terms of a ruined ecosystem and an uprooted culture (Kemble, 2003, p. 206). In terms of an ecosystem, Kenya was reduced to a mere shell of its former self. Kenyan land had been deforested and its fertility exhausted by the colonial masters (Kenyatta, 1989; Maathai, 2006, pp. 3-8). Wangari Maathai, upon seeing the devastation, decided to do what she could to combat environmental and poverty issues arising from deforestation ("Wangari Muta Maathai," n.d., para. 2). Because of her, some …

Servant Leadership And Transformational Leadership In Church Organizations [Dissertation Notice], Noelle F. Scuderi

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

No abstract provided.

Who Is The Servant-Leader?, Robert K. Greenleaf

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

EDITOR'S NOTE In each new volume of the journal, we are honored to present a reprint of Robert K. Greenleaf's work that previously appeared in the journal. In this installment, Greenleaf's essay "Who Is the Servant-Leader?" considers the nature of leadership juxtaposed against the nature of people who are natural servants and those who are natural leaders. His call to develop the inner life of humility, love, and service remains a clarion of true leadership for past, present, and future generations.

The Courage To Dismiss: An Act Of Stewardship, Carole J. Kitamura

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

A good teacher is critical to the academic success of students. Although we might prefer to hold onto the myth that a student's socioeconomic status or home life is the primary reason for success or failure in school (Haycock, Jerald, & Huang, 2001, p. 3), "the most important factor affecting student learning is the teacher" (Wright, Horn, & Sanders, 1997, p. 63). Schmoker (2006) added: "The single greatest determinant of learning is not socioeconomic factors or funding levels. It is instruction" (p. 7). The truth of these simple statements about the importance of effective instruction from a quality teacher should …