Approved Dissertations
The Role of Passion, Calling, and Destiny in Leadership: A Phenomenological Study
By Michael D. Comer
Exploring Transformational Leadership Characteristics Among African American Church Leaders in the San Francisco Bay Area
By Denys Ita Crain-Gully, Sr.
Modern Virtual Project Management: The Effects of a Centralized and Decentralized Project Management Office
By Wanda L. Curlee
Who's Watching the Store? The Great American Teamwork and Creativity Giveaway
By Dave Dzurick
Intuition, The Hidden Intelligence: Factors That Influence Intuition in Decision Making of Leaders from Nigeria and the United States
By Olajumoke Josephine Familoni
The Relationships Among the Mixture of Task Types, Performance, Satisfaction, and the Implications for Flow
By Kevin D. Gazzara
High-Technology Employee Values in Organizational Culture: The Impact on Retention
By Timothy Keith Glaid
High-Technology Organizational Culture and Emotional Intelligence
By Olivia S. Herriford
Student Constructions: The Relationship Between Classroom Project Management and Student Perceived Teacher Caring
By Gregory Robert Howes
The Relationship of Personal Values and Leadership Behavior Among First Level Supervisors
By Stephen, E. Johnson
Online Educational Technologies: Presidential Views from New England's Liberal Arts Colleges
By Ellen J. Keohane
Identifying Strategic Leadership Practice Motivators of Nonprofit Employee Retention
By Denise Lynn Land
An Exploration and Discovery of Compassionate Leadership in Western Postmodern Society
By Stephanie Lyncheski
Music at Work: A Transdisciplinary Model for Individual and Organizational Renewal
By Jeffrey Robert Mueller
Personality Traits of Middle and Upper-Level Management
By Geraldine L. Paulison
North American Brake Supplier Industry Trends
By Laura A. Pogue
Understanding the Three Dimensions of Decision-Making as a Means of Transforming the Organization
By Barbara Ann Turner
Michael D. Comer
Title: The Role of Passion, Calling, and Destiny in Leadership: A Phenomenological Study
The purpose of this phenomenological research study is to describe how publicly adulated leaders, who believe they have a unique calling, determine that calling (identification), heed the calling (sense making), and act on it (behavior influence).
Leaders in this study described their work as a calling, as opposed to a job or career, generally discovered the calling through a process of conscious decision-making and did not view calling as a one-time event. For many there is also a spiritual aspect to calling, often manifested through a sense of destiny and illumination of a path to follow, and is discovered through prayer and other spiritual practices. Four behavioral themes revealed were; great sense of self-confidence as a result of being called versus having a job or position; a great preoccupation with responsibility or obligation of remaining true to the calling and using the calling for the greater good; a strong emphasis on results often described in helping more people or making a greater personal impact as opposed to financial numbers or market shares; and a strong propensity to takes risks or leaps of faith that give results while accelerating the momentum of implementing one's calling during the process journey.
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Denys Ita Crain-Gully, Sr.
Title: Exploring Transformational Leadership Characteristics Among African American Church Leaders in the San Francisco Bay Area
The purpose of this study was to identify transformational leadership characteristics: (a) idealized influence (charisma), (b) individualized consideration, (c) intellectual stimulation, and (d) inspirational motivation, as defined by Bass and Stogdill (1990) and Bass and Avolio (1990) and to explore the relationship of those transformational leadership characteristics to the leaders of African American churches in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The study found the major tenets of transformational leadership to be idealized influence (charisma), individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, and inspirational motivation. These tenets are central to the construct of transformational leadership for this group of African American church leaders. Charisma is present when a leader acts as a role model, demands the respect and trust of the led, demonstrates high moral standards, and inspires followers to emulate and identify with the leader. Individualized consideration, is present when a leader takes a personal interest in each individual follower. Intellectually stimulating leadership encourages autonomy and unquestioning engagement in the leader-led interaction. Inspiration means the creation of a participative climate in an organization where the led are more empowered. The recommendations to theorists and practitioners about the future of transformational leadership require explorations of corporate America. The research will also need to address transformation and its leadership characteristics through a look at non-profit, profit, and government leaders to determine if differing variables will yield different outcomes.
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Wanda L. Curlee
Title: Modern Virtual Project Management: The Effects of a Centralized and Decentralized Project Management Office
The purpose of this quantitative study is to determine whether a centralized project management organization or a decentralized project management organization provides better support for the virtual project manager.
The findings clearly demonstrated that a centralized project management organization, as a whole, was more beneficial to the virtual project manager in the areas of training, standard processes, electronic communication and collaboration, leadership, and leader/team competencies and experience. However, this study cannot conclusively state that this resulted in virtual projects being more successful. The virtual project manager in a centralized project management organization was more satisfied with access to formal and on-the-job training; standard processes were more common and were followed; and technology was accessible by all team members. These three areas, training, standard processes, and electronic communication and collaboration had only one or two statements that were strongly favored by the centralized project manager.
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Dave Dzurick
Title: Who's Watching the Store? The Great American Teamwork and Creativity Giveaway
The purpose of this content analysis research is to determine the degree to which the nature of face-to-face communication and technological communication affects team performance with first-line management and team leaders of technical organizations.
This research arrives at five basic conclusions, first, the Baby Boomer generation and Generation-X are causing elevated levels of conflict in the workplace. The results of this conflict is less communication. Second, technology has produced communication devices allowing workers to take their work with them almost anywhere and anytime. The effects of this include a workforce that is isolating itself from human contact and at the same time forfeiting the relaxation needed. Third, society is using technology to work and play in more ways than previous generations, forsaking social ties. In the process, their social lives are becoming centered on electronic devices and the long-term effect is the erosion of social skills, conflict handling, and acceptance of diversity. Fourth, teamwork remains vital to high levels of productivity, and teamwork is abetted by positive relationships and face-to-face communications. Fifth, virtual work arrangements promise improved working conditions, but evidence established that virtual work arrangements also have negative effects on relationships, teamwork, and team productivity.
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Olajumoke Josephine Familoni
Title: Intuition, The Hidden Intelligence: Factors That Influence Intuition in Decision Making of Leaders from Nigeria and the United States
The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the factors that influence intuition as a decision-making tool for leaders in Nigeria and in the United States.
The results of the regression analysis showed that the leadership style and business culture are not highly correlated with the use of decision making. However, since it appeared that leaders in both countries utilize intuition in decision making to a large extent, it is important that this skill be developed and recognized as viable to leaders in postmodern businesses. Organizations should encourage their leaders to think outside the box and learn to hone their intuitive skills as a decision-making tool in the U.S. culture. Accurate intuition could enable leaders to gain vital and valuable insight into themselves, their followers, their business associates, and the world. Business schools should provide guidance and be certain that sufficient emphasis is placed on enabling students to develop and perfect their intuitive skills. Intuition should be viewed as an acceptable management skill.
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Kevin D. Gazzara
Title: The Relationships Among the Mixture of Task Types, Performance, Satisfaction, and the Implications for Flow
The purpose of this research project was to determine the degree to which the total mixture of routine, troubleshooting and project tasks, or Task Quotient (TQ), affects performance and satisfaction and the implications for flow among professionals in a high-tech organization.
The study found leaders of organizations should be providing the tools to managers to create structured autonomy creating a competitive organizational edge. There is an advantage to supplying employees the tools to allow them to do what provides them the highest level of satisfaction. This creates an environment in which they can self-monitor their own satisfaction and performance, and independently make any necessary changes. This allows managers to focus on more strategic long-term leadership activities for the organization. It is recommended that the systems, which need to be in place be not rigid, but nurturing to support an open and continually improving environment, in which all levels of an organization share assumed responsibility.
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Timothy Keith Glaid
Title: High-Technology Employee Values in Organizational Culture: The Impact on Retention
The purpose of this case study was to identify the degree to which personal values align with the organizational culture in high technology companies among valued employees.
The study found three factors for influencing employee attraction and retention to the high technology industry; rewards, leadership, and the organizational structure and environment. Monetary rewards were less important than other recognition or rewards of PDA's or laptops, for instance. Employees also wanted to have successful leaders that were open, honest and communicative, and that allowed their employees to be creative. The employees want an organization that has integrity, employs technology, supports teamwork, and that is fair and equitable. The employees seek a challenge of the work, work and personal life balance, and an alignment with the core goals and values of the organization. Retention strategies must be mutually beneficial to employee and company, and be comprised of attributes that have meaning and value to the employee.
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Olivia S. Herriford
Title: High-Technology Organizational Culture and Emotional Intelligence
This study identifies relationships between individual emotional intelligence and cultural characteristics of high-technology organizations.
The most significant conclusion drawn from this study is that the high-tech work environment is heavily populated by individuals with strong self-oriented skills but limited in the ability and/or desire to engage others. High tech's basic cultural assumption that values intellectual contribution and undervalues human engagement and social responsibility. It comes at a cost that continues to affect the occupational community as an ongoing debit to the social evolution of the workplace in general. It is a debilitating assumption because it encourages the belief that innovation is the result of the human intellect and gives little credit to the role of human spirit. Like the majority of organizations, high-tech work environments remain stuck in the mechanistic model that views people as resources (machines) in spite of a growing interest in alternative, more holistic views, of working and living. Because of this disconnect, the social evolution of the workplace is falling out of synch with that of society, creating a gap that is contributing to the phenomena observed in this study.
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Gregory Robert Howes
Title: Student Constructions: The Relationship Between Classroom Project Management and Student Perceived Teacher Caring
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the use of project management techniques and students' perceptions of caring teachers in a public middle school in central Florida.
The study found that students' perceptions and performances are affected by the classroom management activities of teachers. Classroom management is important to students' constructions and, ultimately, the education system's performance. Also, project management is a dynamic and growing field of leadership, although the holistic manner has received little exploration or adaptation applicable to classroom management activities. The results of this study showed a direct correlation between classroom project management and students' perceptions of caring leadership. The principal and school district may wish to implement project management training for teachers. As part of a continuing professional development program, the middle school principal and teachers may wish to join the Project Management Institute, read professional literature on business project management theory, and attend project management seminars. The principal of the school may wish to establish a committee to study project management processes and develop project management techniques that teachers could adapt to their individual classrooms.
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Stephen, E. Johnson
Title: The Relationship of Personal Values and Leadership Behavior Among First Level Supervisors
The purpose of this quantitative descriptive study research was to determine the degree to which personal value patterns affect leadership behavior patterns among first-level supervisors at a manufacturing facility in the Pacific Northwest.
The study suggested consideration of a systems perspective to the understanding of the relationship between the personal values of first-level supervisors and their leadership behavior. First, the strength of the relationship, emphasized that the interrelationship was more than the interaction between independent and dependent variables. Second, the results showed that more than one independent variable (personal values) was associated with a given leadership behavior (dependent variable). In summary, the research concluded that there was a strong relationship between the personal value clusters and leadership behavior models of first-level supervisors at a manufacturing facility located in the Pacific Northwest. As a result, these conclusions had significance in understanding the nature of the relationship and realizing that personal values, by themselves, are insufficient to explain leadership behavior; seeing that many paths are possible to explain leadership behavior; and accepting multivariate analysis as a viable method for understanding the dynamics of relationships.
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Ellen J. Keohane
Title: Online Educational Technologies: Presidential Views from New England's Liberal Arts Colleges
The purpose of this case study research was to explore the issues, concerns, and assertions about online educational technologies among presidents at liberal arts colleges in New England.
Liberal arts college presidents in this study recognize the importance of online educational technologies as a force for [potential] change of their institutions. The respondents described varied degrees of involvement, with significant delegation, in the area of online educational technologies. These institutions are not ignoring online educational technologies-there is much going on in this area at the respondents' institutions. They have concerns and questions about its applicability to the mission of the traditional, residential, liberal arts college, however. Much of the questioning centers on the distinction between online educational technology as a content delivery mechanism versus a tool for inquiry and interactive learning. The recommendations to the presidents are continue to explore the role of online educational technologies, and do not delegate too much of the decision-making in regards to educational technology.
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Denise Lynn Land
Title: Identifying Strategic Leadership Practice Motivators of Nonprofit Employee Retention
Given the identified concerns of the changing American workplace, limited nonprofit organization focus on employee retention strategies and the integral value of employees to organization success, the purpose of this combined quantitative and qualitative study was to explore and determine how nonprofit organization leadership practice can best motivate retention of employees within organizations in the Sacramento, California metropolitan region.
This study found, employees' and leadership's perspectives do not agree regarding leadership behaviors and employee performance motivators. Organization leadership should assess and understand employee perceptions of leadership behavior, and employee understanding of what best motivates them to perform at high levels of effectiveness and efficiency. The functional attributes of servant leadership include: vision, modeling, pioneering, appreciation of others, and employee empowerment. In the study, leaders and employees had different perspectives regarding demonstration of leadership practices and employee motivational factors. Most significantly, organization employees identified the following practices as those most in need of leadership practice improvement: finding external ways to improve, creatively reward for contributions, describing and sharing the dream and trends of the future. In addition, pay/compensation, praise and recognition appeared to be the primary motivational factors. Surprisingly, respondents reported overall job satisfaction, but lacked potential job satisfaction regarding implementation of motivational factors.
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Stephanie Lyncheski
Title: An Exploration and Discovery of Compassionate Leadership in Western Postmodern Society
The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between compassion, leadership, and living systems in hopes that the concept of compassionate leadership may be established.
The original purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between leadership, compassion, and living systems theory. Generally, the findings agree with the previous research done in these areas. This study, however, combines the three concepts, which offers new perspectives to leaders within the postmodern Western community. In general, the mechanistic model is failing to meet the needs of business in the postmodern Western society. A more humanistic model needs to be developed and practiced. Working in the community for the good of others is one way leaders can foster and promote their own compassionate leadership practices.
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Jeffrey Robert Mueller
Title: Music at Work: A Transdisciplinary Model for Individual and Organizational Renewal
The purpose of this study is overwhelming interest and potential widespread application for using music, both as a metaphor and as a method, to improve and accelerate organizational and personal renewal.
The study suggests there are four levels of integrating music into the workforce; level one-conceptually, level two-metaphorically, level three-experientially, and level four-experimentally. Music can be experienced in one or all of four modes: listening, performing, composing and conducting. The familiarity of musical metaphors has widespread potential for addressing conflict. The reconnection of head to heart may be further explored by organizations or teams, who are willing to collectively listen to a series of songs. One recommendation is to have a corporate offsite musical event to rejuvenate the organizational members. Corporate policies and procedures can be harmonized by including musical terminology and continuous musical events at work, preferably from the workers themselves. Ideas from the off-site event can be composed and performed during working hours to ensure renewal is continuous. Experimentation with music such as corporate karaoke or team theme songs could occur. Companies could produce a musical video as a new hire orientation tool.
Leadership and Spirituality: Assessment of Spirituality Factors and their Relationship to
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Geraldine L. Paulison
Title: Personality Traits of Middle and Upper-Level Management
The purpose of this study is to determine the degree to which spirituality factors relate to personality preferences of middle and upper-level management in medium-to large sized businesses.
The study found spirituality was found generally throughout the sample population of MBTI types with 76% of the total respondents evidencing more spirituality according to the SAS survey. Specifically, those identified as Feeling tended to be Spiritual while those identified as Thinking tended to be Non-spiritual. The management level of vice resident and above was found to be more spiritual than expected. Although the baby boomer generation has crossed into midlife, which often is thought to be a time of reflection and reevaluation of values, it was interesting to note that according to the SAS, the Generation X group was actually slightly more spiritual than the baby boomer generation.
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Laura A. Pogue
Title: North American Brake Supplier Industry Trends
The purpose of this descriptive research study is to determine if there was a corporate strategy that led to the consolidation within the North American automotive brake supplier industry over the last five years in order to predict future trends for the industry.
The study found the consolidation trend will continue for at least the next five years. Through global positioning and vertical integration strategies suppliers will gain improved global presence and enhanced manufacturing capabilities. Suppliers within this industry will need to continually reassess their strategies to stay competitive, profitable and meet customer demands. The number of suppliers will dwindle at the same time foreign suppliers will enter the market and US suppliers will exit the market. Under vertical integration more suppliers will consolidate to gain organizational resources to meet the demands of the original equipment manufacturers. Further research needs to be conducted to determine what criteria corporate leaders are using to evaluate their organization's performance.
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Barbara Ann Turner
Title: Understanding the Three Dimensions of Decision-Making as a Means of Transforming the Organization
The purpose of this qualitative-dominant phenomenological study is to describe the interaction between three dimensions of decision-making; (1) the moral dimension, (2) the legal or rules-based dimension, and (3) the profit dimension, and the effect of their interaction on decision-making in American corporations that employ 50 people or more.
This study found decisions are made within the contextual boundary of the organization, created by the internal culture of the organization, which is both created and nurtured by the organization's senior leader/s. The organizational climate, becomes the outward manifestation of this culture and reflects a contextual-bound worldview and the "lived" reality of its membership. Given the relationships between culture, leadership, and decision-making, several of the study's findings become intensely significant: (1) Organizational climate significantly influences decision outcome selection, (2) The strength and balance of decision-making dimensions appear to manifest the organization membership's perception of the senior leader/s' vision and values, (3) Decision outcomes are framed by the transactional or transformational orientation of the organization, and (4) The transactional or transformational orientation of the culture creates controls and filters employee's perceptions and influences the ability of members to assign valence to decision alternatives, and (5) Decision-making behavior is best understood by applying multiple methods of discovery.
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