Organization Development Commons^™

Reduce, Replace, Reframe: How Civil Society Organizations Build Resilience In The Face Of Financial And Political Pressures, Merrill Sovner

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In order for civil society organizations (CSOs) to perform essential functions to support democracy and prevent democratic erosion, they must operate sustainably, maintaining resources and legitimacy to carry out their missions. CSOs experience financial and political pressures when resources and legitimacy are withdrawn. CSOs facing both pressures may reduce their activities, replace lost funding, or reframe their work to engage new audiences. How CSOs respond in the face of financial and political pressures has implications for their role in hindering democratic erosion. Yet civil society organizations weather these pressures in ways that are not straightforward; the most targeted organizations may …

The Dual Impact Of Ict Use On Work Autonomy, Workload, Work Engagement, And Work-Family Conflict: Moderating Effects Of Perceived Organizational Support And Conscientiousness, Shenghui Han

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This study investigates the dual impact of information and communication technology (ICT) use intensity on employee outcomes in the workplace, with a particular focus on work autonomy, workload, work engagement, and work–family conflict (WFC). Drawing upon the job demands-resources (JD-R) model and conservation of resources (COR) theory, I propose a dual-pathway framework in which ICT use intensity acts as both a job resource and a job demand. The study also examines the moderating roles of perceived organizational support (POS) and conscientiousness.

Data were collected from 414 full-time employees across six companies in China through a three-wave survey with two-week intervals …

Career Advising Utilization: A Quantitative Archival Analysis Of Student Engagement Across Academic Levels And Colleges At A Southeast University, Edward Raimundi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative ex-post facto study examined patterns of career advising utilization at a large, R1 public university in the southeastern region of the United States. Institutional advising data from the 2023–24 advising year was utilized to identify usage patterns across different demographics such as college affiliation and academic level. The descriptive stats from the archival data were used to measure topic distributions, undergraduate–graduate usage by college, and contact engagement. The sample size included over 35,000 students with 10 different college affiliation labels. Significant differences across advising usage in the different colleges were found during the study. Undergraduate students had higher …

A Convergent Parallel Mixed Method Design Analysis Of Sponsorship And The Advancement Of Women In The Workplace, Shaparak Malek-Morvai

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Sponsorship is vital for advancing women's careers but is often inconsistently applied. Limited programs for women seeking leadership roles and a lack of sponsors can hinder progress. This study used a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative survey data from 73 participants with qualitative insights. Sponsors advocate for protégés, emphasizing visibility, promotion, and networking, while mentorship offers guidance and coaching. Many leadership roles confuse sponsorship with mentorship, as noted by Helms et al. (2016). However, the key difference lies in influence. The study had four objectives: to explore women's perceptions of sponsorship, analyze how roles and tenure influence these perceptions, enhance discussions …

Empowerment Through The Sisters Lifting As We Climb Network: Examining The Organization’S Impact On Black Women, Sharnay Hearn Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological case study examines the role of empowerment within the “Sisters Lifting as We Climb Network” through the experiences of Black women participants in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Utilizing in-depth semi-structured interviews, the research investigates the organization's origins, evolution, and social support mechanisms that foster empowerment, as well as participants' experiences with programs and activities over the past nine years. Additionally, the study identifies areas for organizational improvement to further enhance participant empowerment.

The findings of this research support the empowerment theory framework by clarifying the preconditions, processes, and outcomes of empowerment within the Network, which fosters sisterhood and enhances participants' …

Effects Of Emotional Intelligence In Enhancing Team Collaboration And Conflict Resolution In Agile Project Management, Shaikh Muhammad Sinan

Harrisburg University Dissertations and Theses

In this study, I explored the use of emotional intelligence (EI) in enhancing team collaboration and conflict resolution within agile project management environments. Though agile methodologies have gained more popularity, most projects still suffer from interpersonal conflicts and communication failures that detract from project performance. Though the literature is particular to the dynamics of agile project management, little is known about the emotional and interpersonal dynamics that influence team effectiveness. I examined how EI skills such as self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and social skills influence team dynamics and project success. Guided by Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence Framework, in this qualitative study, …

Flipping The Script?: The Development And Validation Of A Qualitative Framework For Identifying Key Cognitive And Attitudinal Components Of Conflict-Based Problem Representations, Kyle Christenson

All Dissertations

When people work together, disagreements are inevitable. How someone understands a given conflict, specifically whether they see it as a shared problem or not, can shape how they respond and whether they look to resolve it collaboratively. Researchers have studied many aspects of conflict, like what causes it and the strategies people use to manage it. But we know much less about how people think about conflict in the first place and how those thoughts affect efforts to manage conflict. This research developed a tool to study how people describe conflicts in writing. It identifies key ideas and attitudes that …

Perceived Leadership Behaviors And Workplace Motivation: The Predictive Role Of Generational Cohorts In The U.S. Construction Industry, Leslie D. Klinegardner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which perceived leadership behaviors predicted workplace motivation among construction workers across generational cohorts in the Greater Houston, Texas area. Grounded in self-determination theory, the research explored how transformational, transactional, and passive-avoidant leadership behaviors predicted the satisfaction and frustration of psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The analysis also considered whether leadership behaviors and generational cohort served as significant predictors of workplace motivation outcomes. The study followed a quantitative, predictive, cross-sectional design using survey methodology. Data were collected using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) and the Basic Psychological Need …

“Try, Start, Do It”: Phil Zimbardo And The Heroes’ Square Foundation, Györgyi Orosz

Heroism Science

This article pays tribute to the life and legacy of Philip Zimbardo, emphasizing his transformative influence in Hungary through education, social engagement, and the science of heroism. The journey began with a 2012 invitation that brought Zimbardo to Budapest, ultimately leading to the foundation of the Heroes’ Square (Hősök Tere) initiative. His message—that heroism is not reserved for the exceptional but is accessible and teachable—became the core of nationwide programs focused on mindset, intervention behavior, and social responsibility. Zimbardo’s influence went beyond academia; he inspired personal and institutional change. The foundation’s programs, such as teacher trainings, the Hero School, and …

Crafting Ethical Problem-Solving Cultures: A Leader’S Role In Complex Adaptive Systems, Elizabeth A. Luckman

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

In today’s complex and interconnected world, leaders play a critical role in fostering ethical problem-solving cultures within organizations. To enable leaders to succeed in this evolving landscape, this paper advocates for a necessary paradigm shift: a transition in mental models about how organizations function. Historically, organizations have been viewed as mechanistic systems, but there is a substantial opportunity to improve our work by viewing organizations as complex adaptive systems. This shift alters fundamental assumptions about organizational operations and redefines leadership as the creation of conditions for effective and ethical problem-solving. In this paper, I examine the changing mental models that …

Institutional Agility And Its Role In The Excellence Of Security Institutions, Hassan Ali Al Ali

Journal of Police and Legal Sciences

Institutions today need to change to keep pace with the dynamics that have struck the world, namely the events of Corona (COVID-19), to become more powerful to face the changing environment. The need for institutional agility has emerged due to intense competition, and a desire to mobilize the needs of beneficiaries and response to rapid changes. Institutional agility is one of the methods, also effective and successful modern management is another significant method. Institutional agility achieves institutional excellence if applied correctly and effectively. The study reached the most important results, the most important of which are: that national agility can …

The Proactive Approach Of Artificial Intelligence In Monitoring And Analyzing Illegal Money Laundering Operations In The Virtual World, Ammar Yasser El-Bably

Journal of Police and Legal Sciences

The research dealt with the proactive method of artificial intelligence in monitoring and analyzing non-suspicious operations of money laundering in the virtual world, especially the Internet and dark web, where it dealt with the risks created for those networks and their exploitation for the benefit of terrorist and criminal organizations, money laundering, the purchase of weapons and drugs, human trafficking and financial fraud, where Internet users around the world reached 5 billion users, and the volume of money laundering crimes became 2.8 Trillion dollars, according to United Nations and International Monetary Fund statistics 2023 AI applications where algorithms, machine learning, …

The Impact Of Artificial Intelligence As An Intervening Variable Between The Digital Government Strategy And Competency Development "An Applied Study At Sharjah Police Sciences Academy ", Elsayed Kamal Risha, Abd Al-Rahman Al-Naqbi

Journal of Police and Legal Sciences

The study aimed to determine the impact of the digital government strategy on competencies development, through artificial intelligence as an intervening variable, and to achieve the objectives, the study relied on the quantitative approach and the questionnaire was used as the main tool for collecting data. The study community represented officers, non-commissioned officers and individuals at the Sharjah Academy for Police Sciences, and the study sample amounted to 30 affiliates, i.e. the total number of employees in the Competency Development Department at the Academy. The study reached a set of results, the most prominent of which are:

- The existence …

The Interactive Effects Of Stereotype Activation And Minority Group Belonging On Identity Mobilization Tactics, Career Identity, And Leader Identity For Black Women In The Workplace, Corai E. Jackson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand when and how Black women can achieve positive identity outcomes in the workplace when they experience stereotype activation. Despite Black women's increasing presence in the workforce, they continue to face unique challenges at the intersection of race and gender, including negative stereotypes that undermine their credibility and limit career advancement opportunities. This research explored how Black women's sense of belongingness to their minority group influences their use of identity mobilization tactics when stereotypes are activated, and how these factors collectively influence their career and leader identities.

Using a 2 × 2 between-groups …

Fostering Innovation At Work: Leadership Strategies For Motivating Innovative Work Behavior Across Generations Within The Christian Higher Education Environment, Sarah Clark

Doctor of Strategic Leadership (DSL) Capstone Abstracts

Project Type

Organizational Consulting Project, Organizational Design or Change, Seminar or Workshop

Project Overview

This capstone project involved the design, facilitation, and evaluation of a strategic leadership workshop developed for mid to senior-level enrollment leaders at Southeastern University. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT), Innovative Work Behavior (IWB), and Transformational Leadership, the workshop offered a diagnostic and developmental experience designed to motivate innovation across generational teams within a Christian higher education setting. The workshop was structured to transition from research-based theory to data-informed strategy, helping leaders translate organizational insights into actionable plans.

Project Themes

Core themes included intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, …

Entropy In Leadership: Reframing Performance Decline As A Failure Of Internal Growth, Joshua M. K. Simmons

M.S. in Leadership

This project explored leadership degradation among mid-to-senior enlisted members (E5–E9) of the United States Air Force using the concept of leadership entropy, the gradual decline of psychological and relational capacity in the absence of sustained support. The topic was selected to address a gap in understanding how internal leadership resilience erodes despite continued performance. A convergent mixed methods design was used, integrating quantitative survey constructs such as burnout, psychological capital, and perceived organizational support with open-ended narrative responses. Twenty-four participants contributed data. Results showed that while leaders remain outwardly effective, internal motivation and connection often deteriorate over time, especially at …

Understanding The Persistence And Retention Factors Among First-Generation Online College Students: A Comprehensive Study, Lakeeta Q. Prunty, Tana Palafox

Tapestry: Journal of Research in Education

This qualitative descriptive study examined the impact of internal institutional support on retention, as perceived by first-generation Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) online undergraduate students at a private Christian university. Institutional support encompasses academic advising, tutoring services, mental health counseling, career guidance, financial aid, diversity and inclusion programs, faculty support, and technological resources for online learning. The virtual learning environment presented unique challenges, particularly for first-generation BIPOC students, who navigate multiple layers of identity requiring specialized institutional support. Factors influencing online student attrition, including school policies, instructional methods, and personal circumstances, warrant collaboration among administrators, advisors, and faculty …

Online Learning And Private Christian Hispanic Serving Institutions: A Narrative Review Of The Literature, Daniela A. Hernandez, Brandi R. Munoz, Stephanie Ferrell

Tapestry: Journal of Research in Education

This narrative literature review explores the intersection of Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), online education, and the role of private Christian universities in addressing educational disparities for Hispanic students. It synthesizes existing research on the challenges Hispanic students face in higher education, including financial barriers, limited digital access, underutilization of student support services, and institutional identity issues. Drawing on social capital theory and student engagement theory, this review highlights how HSIs, particularly private Christian institutions, can develop culturally responsive initiatives and leverage federal Title V funding to support Hispanic learners. The paper also examines emerging efforts such as the “Seal of …

Marketing De Moda Predictivo E Inclusivo: Estrategias De Segmentación Avanzada Para Audiencias Diversas Con Inteligencia Artificial, Oscar Barroso Huertas

GDI. Revista de investigación de Género, Diseño e Innovación

Introducción: El marketing predictivo, impulsado por la inteligencia artificial (IA), está transformando cómo las marcas anticipan las necesidades de sus audiencias. En Moda, la personalización es clave para conectar emocionalmente con los consumidores, pero también es esencial que las marcas sean inclusivas, respetando la diversidad y la privacidad. Este artículo explora cómo las marcas de moda usan el marketing predictivo para segmentar audiencias diversas, garantizando campañas personalizadas e inclusivas. Metodología: Este estudio adopta un enfoque mixto, combinando revisión documental y análisis cualitativo. Se revisan fuentes académicas y casos de marcas que aplican marketing predictivo inclusivo, utilizando tecnologías como machine learning …

Enhancing Team Effectiveness: A Study On The Efficacy Of Servant Leadership Experiential Training As An Intervention, Jason R. Weber

Servant Leadership: Theory & Practice

Purpose: This paper aims to identify the impact of servant-leadership training on team effectiveness. It proposes using a perceptive behavior assessment tool (team effectiveness questionnaire (TEQ)), along with six servant leadership themes will increase a team’s effectiveness. This study aims to expand the literature on methods used when seeking to improve operational effectiveness of work teams.

Design/methodology/approach: This intervention study followed the two-group pre-test-post-test design. 18 teams were randomly assigned to either a control or experimental group. Each team completed the TEQ and identified one to two domains to focus their development on over an 8-week period. Experimental group teams …