Leadership Studies Commons^™

A Study Of The Impact Of The Workplace Learning Function On Organizational Excellence By Examining The Workplace Learning Practices Of Six Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Recipients, Cynthia J. Lewis Edd

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role the learning function plays in the pursuit of organizational excellence with the goal of identifying key factors, models and descriptions of successful workplace learning practices. A total of six Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Recipients, one from each Baldrige sector participated in this study. Data was collected through in depth, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with the person responsible for workplace learning or their representative in each organization. The findings indicated that workplace learning professionals should be part of the strategic planning process within an organization and that workplace learning benefits strongly …

Colloquium Brief: American Society And Its Profession Of Arms, Leonard Wong

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

No abstract provided.

Tapping The Hidden Job Market Through Informational Interviews: A Qualitative Examination Of Students' And Professionals' Perspectives, Kimberly S. Hogelucht Phd

Dissertations

A growing body of literature suggests that networking promotes not only learning about one's field of interest but also employment opportunities, without requiring a formal job search. Considering three-fourths of job openings are never advertised (Koss-Feder, 1999), it appears networking is a powerful strategy in successful job attainment. This study focuses on a less-than-obvious networking strategy, the informational interview. An informational interview is an interview with a professional that is conducted by a student or job seeker with the intention of finding out more about the professional's occupation or career field. In this study, informational interviews were examined, not only …

Parental Support Of Latinos In Higher Education, Maria Lorena Meza Phd

Dissertations

Many universities grapple with Latino student retention issues. Latinos are the largest and fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States, yet they also are the group that has the least amount of formal education. The literature suggests that parental support helps Latinos succeed academically in elementary, middle, and high schools. However, there has been little research on how or even whether Latino parental support influences academic success at the postsecondary level. Consequently, there is a lack of knowledge about (a) Latino parental behavior and attitudes during the years their children attend college and (b) the relationship between parents' behavior and …

What Do They Say? Students From A Private, Faith-Based, Four-Year University Share Their Perspectives On College As A Mentoring Environment, Jeffrey Andrew Bolster Edd

Dissertations

Research indicates that the term mentor in the context of higher education currently has multiple definitions and is used to describe a variety of programs, efforts, and formal as well as informal activities. In recent years, interdisciplinary perspectives on traditional undergraduate students have been converging around the idea that the functions and characteristics of mentoring students could be shared across the institution, creating what Daloz Parks (2000) has called a mentoring environment. This sharing of responsibility has the possibility to address what Baxter Magolda (2009) has recently identified as missing in higher education, a "holistic, theoretical perspective to promote the …

Exploration Of The Impostor Phenomenon In Law School Students, Owen Glenn Smith Phd

Dissertations

Law schools compel students to think like lawyers by using intensive Socratic dialogue built around voluminous case readings. This method sometimes pushes students to feel overwhelmed, to lose self-confidence, and even to wonder whether law school was the right choice for them. To some extent, such outcomes are intended because the articulated goal of law school pedagogy is to tear law students down so they can be rebuilt to think like lawyers. Unfortunately, this demanding and competitive atmosphere prompts some law students to develop the impostor phenomenon (IP). The IP hampers students' leadership abilities because the students persistently feel like …

Exploring The Growth Of Text-Reading Fluency In Upper-Elementary English Language Learners During Instruction Based On Repeated Reading, Katharine Staub Harrison Edd

Dissertations

For the large population of school-age English language learners in California and the United States, the challenge of learning a second language while learning academic content is formidable. Learning to read English skillfully is key to their success. Reading instruction focused on development of oral text-reading fluency has shown strong potential for accelerating the general reading achievement of native-English-speaking children, but there is a lack of concomitant research on English language learners. This dissertation describes a formative experiment with the goal to improve, in 9 weeks, the general reading achievement of 17 English language learners in Grades 3, 4, 5, …

A Comparative Content Analysis Of Five Spelling Programs In The 1st, 3rd, And 5th Grade, Katherine N. Davis Edd

Dissertations

This study investigated the content of five widely used spelling programs at three grade levels. Five spelling programs, Houghton Mifflin, Scholastic Spelling, Sitton Spelling, Words Their Way, and Treasures were analyzed. The following questions guided the study: To what extent do current spelling series reflect research-based practices and what underlying theoretical framework is stated or implied in each series? What types of spelling strategies, activities, and techniques are represented in student workbooks and teacher edition books? Two sub questions included: Do they reflect current research and/or the theoretical frameworks stated or implied in each series and do spelling programs provide …

Experiential Education Approaches In Nonprofit Management And Leadership Education: An Examination Of Master's Degree Programs Associated With The Nonprofit Academic Centers Council, Heather L. Carpenter Phd

Dissertations

University programs that prepare students to assume professional positions must be concerned with helping students link their work in university classrooms to their work in organizations outside of the academy. This concern often translates into incorporating experiential education into application-oriented university programs. Professional preparation is a central concern of nonprofit leadership and management programs. Prior to this study, however, there was no systematic attempt to document the various experiential education strategies employed in nonprofit leadership and management master's-degree programs in the United States. Documentation was not even available for master's degree programs associated with the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council (NACC), …

Allowing A Lie: A Study Of The Impact Of Soft Lies On The Leader-Follower Relationship, Kashmere Alicia-Ann Fitch

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Soft lies—including white lies, creative rephrasing, and withholding information—are common in personal life but also affect workplace relationships. Drawing on uncertainty reduction theory and cognitive dissonance, this thesis examines how soft lies influence trust and the leader-follower relationship, including when followers may consider them acceptable. Survey results from students in Gonzaga University's Organizational Leadership and Communication and Leadership master's programs indicate that soft lies generally damage leader-follower relationships, although followers were more accepting when the lie did not affect them personally or when they understood the leader's reasoning. Leaders who used soft lies to encourage, protect, or preserve a follower's …

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 …

Implementing A Discernment Phase For Those Nominated In The Shepherd Selection Process At The Cinco Ranch Church Of Christ, Aaron Walling

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This doctor of ministry thesis presents the results of a project that implemented a discernment phase for those nominated in the shepherd selection process at the Cinco Ranch Church of Christ. Occurring in the fall of 2010, this project involved nominees in a series of six one-hour, thirty-minute sessions designed to establish the theological foundations for shepherding and to explore its practical expression at Cinco Ranch. For the theological component, this project primarily utilized Ephesians 4:11-16, and for the practical side, it incorporated group interactions with those serving as shepherds along with the review of guiding leadership documents. The project‟s …

Perceptions Of Leadership: An Analysis Of College Students' Understandings Of The Concept Of Leadership, Paige Haber Phd

Dissertations

Colleges and universities increasingly have embraced the goal of developing students' leadership capacity. Diverse curricular and co-curricular leadership programs currently exist and continue to be developed to address leadership development outcomes. There is, however, limited understanding of how college students think about and define leadership. This study sought to fill this gap in the research by examining the ways in which college students understand the concept of leadership. In this mixed methods study the researcher analyzed data from the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership (MSL) project, a national research study on college student leadership and the college experience. Data for the …

How Working Mothers Negotiate Work-Family Conflict: An Exploration Of Work Satisfaction, Home Life Satisfaction, And Partner Supportiveness, Karen Kramer Horning Phd

Dissertations

The demographics of the American workforce and family structures have shifted dramatically over the past 60 years, but traditional work and domestic roles have evolved only slightly. Women are more impacted than men by fixed interpretations of gender roles due to their assumption of professional positions in the workplace without relief from domestic responsibilities. For many women who are engaged in the professional realm while raising a family, the result is often a work-family conflict. Despite significant research and some governmental policy and organizational policy changes, limited progress has been made in resolving the conflict. Some dimensions of work-family conflict …

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 …