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Show moreAdolescence is a very significant period in a young persons’ life. It is a time when youth are growing and establishing individual identities. It is also a critical time for learning essential life skills. However, we often don’t recognize the importance of teaching leadership to our children. We simply rely on someone else to teach these skills. Parents become preoccupied and concerned about how their children are doing in school or in a sports program, and developing leadership skills fades from our list of “things to do” for our children. Parents make the erroneous assumption that the educational system will fully prepare their children to accept leadership roles later in adult life. The fact of the matter is we often don’t fully understand the developmental process of adolescent leadership. Such as, what are the emotional and behavioral prerequisites required for an adolescent to learn leadership skills, how should leadership be cultivated, and what does the learning environment have to look like for leadership development to take place? Adults have a significant role in cultivating leadership in their children. They not only provide the support system for this learning process, but need to build certain behavioral and emotional competencies to serve as a foundation for growth. Adults enrich and cultivate the adolescent’s self esteem; they provide challenges and build the confidence of the independent self, and act as a safety net providing love, guidance and reflection. A critical part of transitioning from adolescent to adulthood is learning about leadership. How often is this fact overlooked? My research will involve the study of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) organization. This organization has been in existence for over 93 years, and has graduated over 100 millions boys. Like most youth organizations, leadership training and development is one of the missions of the Boy Scout program. The purpose of my research is to discover how youth leadership development in the BSA is unfolded. What personal competencies does an adolescent need as a prerequisite for leadership to develop? How leadership skills are cultivated, and what is the optimal learning environment? My research will provide illustrations of how essential leadership skills are learned and developed. Furthermore, I want to discover the organizational and/or structural factors in the BSA that create this environment. Leadership is taught at a very basic level in the Boy Scouts, the young boys, between the ages of ten through seventeen learn, responsibility, accountability, organizational skills, the ability to communicate, and how to give direction and delegate. Learning even the very basic skills is important at this age. Research has shown that, “leadership development starts early,” and that, “skills critical for effective leadership, including the capacity to understand and interact with others, develop strikingly in adolescence and especially in young adulthood” (Gardner, J.W., 1987). Yet even with these learned skills many adolescents never get the opportunity to ever use their leadership skills (Linden & Fertman, 1998). My ethnographic research will focus on describing, analyzing, and interpreting the learning and development process of leadership. I want to gain an understanding of how this intriguing and complex process works. I will study the learning and developmental process, and will also make an assessment of the learned leadership skills. My ethnography will incorporate field observations, as well as group and individual interviews of scout leadership, adult volunteers and parents. This will be done primarily at the weekly scheduled scout troop meetings. Tape recorded interviews of scouting leaders, parents and adult volunteers, and data from field observations will be gathered, sorted, categorized, analyzed and interpreted. Participants in the research will include: Boy Scout members (ages 10 to 17), scouting leadership, adult unit leaders, adult committee members, adult volunteers, and parents. The results of my research will help those involved in the Boy Scouts of America organization, other youth leadership organizations, teachers and counselors in schools, and those working with troubled youth. My research will identify the adolescent competencies needed as a precondition to develop leadership skills. Additionally, it will provide the necessary information about constructing the proper learning environment so that development can be optimized.
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Show moreLeadership theory defines authentic leaders as those holding high moral values, and posits that authentic leaders, through their integrity and altruism, inspire followers to emulate them by also developing their own values, integrity and caring. If the authentic leadership construct is valid, then followers must perceive their leaders’ integrity and altruism before they will desire to emulate them, and these perceptions should be influenced by leaders’ value content. This empirical study addresses that fundamental question: Do leaders’ values impact their perceived authenticity – their integrity and altruism – in the eyes of their followers?
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Show moreThe transition from staff nurse to nurse leader is a natural promotional pathway in a nursing career. Yet seldom are staff nurses who are promoted to management prepared – either practically or psychologically – for the job. This study, based on semi-structured qualitative interviews with 13 nurse leaders, describes from their perspectives, the perils of ill-prepared promotion to management. Our findings suggest that nurse leaders often “do” management but continue to “be” nurses. The schism between doing and being, as seen in previous research in other contexts, impacts nurse leader’s attitude, job satisfaction and performance. In an era where the nurse leader is seen as vital in helping to stem the nation’s escalating nursing shortage, understanding – and remedying – barriers to optimal performance is crucial.
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Show moreAccording to Taylor, Chait, and Holland (1996) and Carver (1997), boards of nonprofit organizations spend too much of their limited available time pursuing trivial decisions. This paper examines how boards of high-performing professional societies tackle big issues. Using a decision theoretic approach, the paper conceptualizes bold decision making as involving a particular decision space (Papadakis, Lioukas, & Chambers, 1998), a set of decision steps (DeSanctis & Gallupe, 1987; Nutt, 1984), and group processes associated with bounded rationality (Boland & Pondy, 1986; Simon, 1991). This framework is measured against findings from fieldwork, resulting in a revised conceptual model and general support for the ability of decision theory to provide insights into effective board functioning.
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Show moreHow do boards make strategic decisions? Semi-structured interviews with twenty eight directors of small to medium size publicly traded U.S. companies in the high technology sector were conducted in order to gain insights into strategic decision-making at the board level. We identified six characteristics that distinguish two divergent views about strategic decision-making. These characteristics include the role of the board chair, the boardroom climate, the board’s shared vision and goals, the board’s agency primacy, the board’s process for decision closure and the board’s level of involvement in the strategic planning process.
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Show moreA qualitative study of eleven male and eleven female directors was undertaken to investigate gender differences relating to championing tough issues at the board. This study demonstrated that men and women at the board share common mechanisms in the championing process. Correspondingly, they also evidenced notable differences. A championing model is presented to examine the gendered differences of the “tough issues” championing process. The model incorporates (1) the preconditions to championing, (2) the board environment that impacts the choice to champion (3) the influencing factors that impact the engagement process (4) the engagement style of the champions and (5) the collateral benefits (or not) of having championed the issue. Consistent with Kramer, Konrad and Ekrut (2006), women championed twice the number of issues as men in this sample. Both male and female directors championed very difficult issues; the majority of which related to the CEO including leadership ability, performance, management style and compensation. Directors agreed that the benefits to the board and the individual champion did outweigh the difficulties of the champion process. As a result, champions of tough issues have a unique role to play in improving the decision-making quality of boards.
Doctorate of Management Programs
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Show moreThis paper describes how in absence of strong sponsorship and often regardless of project outcome, leaders of high impact corporate change initiatives must simultaneously develop bonding social capital to become sustainable members of the enterprise’s leadership team. This particularly holds for executives brought in from outside the firm to lead change. We present the findings of a qualitative research study of 42 projects led by 30 executive leaders from a diverse portfolio of primarily manufacturing companies, leaders who were either Insiders (those established within their firms) or Outsiders (leaders brought in as fulltime employees from outside the firm specifically to lead the project). The basis of this study was a conceptual model of the extent to which change leaders are embedded in and leverage internal and external social networks to contribute to favorable project outcome, influencing their career development upon completion of the change initiative. The grounded theory analysis has revealed a topology of traits characterizing change leader identity and presents the interplay of social capital (relationships, trust and shared norms in addition to the leveraging of social networks internal and external to the firm), sponsorship, and in the case of several change leaders, a shift in self identity that unfolds in the course of leading planned organizational change. Leading change can change leaders.
Doctorate of Management Programs
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Show moreOrganizations are challenged to attract and retain executives who can lead successful and sustainable organizational change. This study aims to: (1) explore the role of bonding social capital in affecting the turnover intention of executive leaders of large scale radical and continuous improvement change projects in organizations, and (2) identify mechanisms which may influence whether change leaders can balance the potentially competing commitment to a career of leading change with a commitment to an organization, therein affecting the organization’s ability to retain them longer term. This study of over 600 change leaders from for-profit, non-profit and civil service organizations draws distinctions between Insiders and Outsiders, and develops an instrument for bonding social capital that is generalizable to contexts with the individual as the unit of analysis. Our findings indicate that bonding social capital and perceived organizational support appear to play primary roles in the turnover intention of Outsiders. This differs from Insiders who appear to be affected by their identification with the organization and perceived organizational support, influencing organizational commitment, leading to mitigation of turnover intention. Unlike for Insiders, we found the extent to which an Outsider is committed to a career of leading change can negatively influence his intention to remain with the firm. We caution organizations who hire Outsiders to lead change projects to continue to “use them, love them or lose them” as leaders of challenging change initiatives, and not assume that Outsiders will become committed to the organization and become Insiders.
Doctorate of Management Programs
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Show moreIn a world of increasingly complex environments decision making processes become ever more important. This research examines the role of the pathfinder leader in a specific collective action of a complex galaxy of actors seeking to develop an enforceable water resources regime and extends that examination to a more general population engaged in complex civic collective actions within the context of municipal governance. This work extends emergent leadership research within governance structures, with implications for research and practice. The research also develops quantitative measures for collective action costs, benefits and outcomes.
Doctorate of Management Programs
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Show moreOn-the-job experiences are emphasized as powerful developers of leadership talent in leadership and family business literature. Our qualitative study of 37 family business leaders from mid-market privately held family firms found that it is not just having experiences but the nature of those experiences that determines whether or not authentic leadership talent is actually developed, particularly in next-generation family enterprise leaders. The ?family effect,? the extent to which actors in a family firm embrace risk in the development of nextgeneration leaders, is identified as central to the development of leadership competencies. We propose a conceptual framework with four factors that promote and four factors that impede the development of leadership talent in family enterprises. Early leadership learning experiences, emotional and social intelligence, job assignments with real responsibility and accountability, and personal reflection promote the development of authentic leadership talent in family firms. Obligatory or entitled motivations for joining the family business, being shielded from risk and/or the consequences of failure, a family business environment characterized by unresolved conflict, and being promoted to positions without necessary qualifications impede the development of leadership talent, and are associated with family business leaders who are likely to hold what we have labeled ?pseudo leadership positions.?
Doctorate of Management Programs
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Show moreThis research investigates developmental experiences of executive leaders that result in effective capabilities over time. We conduct a qualitative study by interviewing 31 C-Suite and Director/V.P.-level executives within four organizations in three distinct industries (Healthcare, Manufacturing, Professional Services). We compare outstanding and average leaders to compare and contrast developmental experiences to better understand the demonstrated competencies which enable and differentiate outstanding leaders. We use an emotional and social competency index (ESCI-U) to code for existing competencies as well as thematic analysis to discover new themes. Eight of the competencies from the ESCI-U and three new themes, Lifelong Learning, Environmental Aesthetic, and Duality of Awareness are identified as key differentiators of effective executive leaders. Our analysis suggests that this unique blend of competencies, themes, and behaviors enable leadership effectiveness within the healthcare, manufacturing and professional services industries. Key words: Competencies; Senior Leadership; Healthcare Leaders; Manufacturing Leaders; Professional Services Leaders; Executive Leaders; Effectiveness; ESCI; Leadership Development; Leadership Assessment, Succession Management, Executive Leadership Development
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Show moreIn the current work environment, younger workers in leadership positions are overseeing workers much older than themselves. Few empirical studies have focused on the emerging patterns of leadership associated with the relationship between young managers and older workers. To address this gap in the literature, we conducted a qualitative study based on semistructured interviews with thirteen managers under the age of thirty six and thirteen employees at least twenty years older. The goal of our study is to generate grounded theory about the ?lived experiences? of contemporary young managers leading older subordinates. Our exploratory findings show that the task focused nature of younger leaders is causing management to overtake leadership and that the nature of work relationships is changing to become more broad and instrumental. Finally we propose an emergent pattern of leadership taking into account a new concept of work-life balance.
Doctorate of Management Programs
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Donated by Melbahu and Ulysses S. Mason. Physical ite
Show moreGlenville community committee meeting minutes (meeting about Forest City Hospital), May 20, 1977.
Donated by Melbahu and Ulysses S. Mason. Physical item kept at Dittrick Medical History Center, Forest City Hospital Archival Collection, Box III - Part 3 - Folder 23.
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Show moreThis study investigates the possible link between leadership and organizational sustainability. The primary focus is to determine if leadership is a distinguishing variable associated with organizational sustainability. This study was quantitative in design and used The Leadership Profile (TLP) (Sashkin & Rosenbach, 1995, 1996, 1997) to measure leadership. The data used for this study to measure leadership was collected through the use of a mailed survey. The mailed survey yielded a 180-degree leadership assessment. The sample consisted primarily of chief executive officers and their senior executive subordinates of multinational or national healthcare firms. A purposive and nonrandom selection was completed to ensure specific characteristics and information were represented in the sample. One hundred forty (140) chief executive officers and senior executive subordinates participated in the study. The data used for this study to measure organizational sustainability was collected through the development of a financial databased focusing on specific organzational financial meaures. Nine hundred (900) organizations were contained in the initial sample with approximately two hundred seventy two (272) organizations qualifying under sample constraints. Ultimately, one hundred forty (140) senior executives from thirty five (35) qualifying organziations participated in the study. This study's results indicate that leaders of the least sustainable organizations (subgroup 3) recorded significantly lower levels of self awareness, self-other agreement and concurrence of their transactional leadership, transformational leadership behaviors, and transformational leadership characteristics than leaders in the sustainable and somewhat sustainable organizations (subgroups 1 and 2, respectively). Although there were significant differences in leadership recorded by leaders in sustainable organizations versus non-sustainable organizations, the most significant and most important finding relates to the significant differences in the agreement and concurrence of self-other ratings of leaders in both sustainable and non-sustainable organizations. Therefore, this study's findings suggest that self-awareness and self-other fit as defined as congruence between self and other assessments and measured by The Leadership Profile (TLP) (Sashkin & Rosenbach, 1995, 1996, 1997), differentiates leaders in sustainable organziations versus less sustainable and non sustainable organizations. In sustainable organziations, there is greater agreement and congruence between self-other ratings measured by The Leadership Profile (TLP) (Sashkin & Rosenbach, 1995, 1996, 1997) suggesting that leader self-awareness more closely matches the perceptions of key subordinates.
Doctorate of Management Programs
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Show moreThis research explored the ways in which the contemporary notion of transformational leadership might help to extend the neoinstitutional approach to organizational change and politics. The role of leadership in converting deeply taken-for-granted, change-impeding structures and practices, such as shared governance, into ones that facilitate organizational adaptation in the highly institutionalized field of liberal arts colleges, was explored.The original research model accounted for institutional forces in which leadership styles (transactional and transformational) might variously reconfigure the effect of these forces on innovation and change. It was hypothesized that the president’s leadership style would impact institutional outcomes such as financial viability, indices of quality, and curricular innovation by its effect on in-place consensus structures. It was further hypothesized that the effect of leadership on these outcomes would be moderated by the level of organizational trust, the level of job satisfaction, and budget stability. Results indicate that transformational leadership style does mediate predict change in these highly legitimized institutions, providing the means for converting these taken-for-granted structures into vehicles of change. In addition, presidents and faculty hold notably different views on the role of consensus-making structures in the change process and the impact of leadership on these relationships. Standing committee work predicts change according to faculty leaders, and is facilitated by transformational leadership in the president. Among presidents, adhoc committee work predicts program change directly. These f Neoinstitutional research has produced a considerable number of studies in response to criticisms regarding its over-emphasis on stability and uniformity in organizations and organizational fields (e.g., Mezias, 1990; Brint & Karabel 1991; DiMaggio, 1991; Oliver 1991, 1992; Borum & Westenholz, 1995; Beckert 1999; Scott et. al., 2000; Greenwood, Suddaby, & Hinings, 2002). These studies constitute a successful effort to integrate into new institutionalism various dynamics that were central to ‘old institutionalism,’ such as interests, power, and politics (Scott 1995, 2001). However, few scholars have considered the implications of the potential disjuncture between the two institutionalisms in terms of level of analysis. Whereas most neoinstitutional studies examine processes at the inter-organizational level (notable exceptions include Ritti & Silver, 1986; Covalevski & Dirsmith, 1988; Goodrick & Salancik, 1996), old institutionalism focused on intra-organizational processes in explaining politics and change. For instance, Selznick’s work on goal displacement and organizational transformation at the Bolshevik party (1952) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (1949) and Barnard’s (1938) work on the societal responsibilities of corporate executives placed specific emphasis on the ways in which power and politics inside the organization mediated the effects of the external environment on these organizations. Distinctively, such studies articulated intra-organizational processes in terms of leadership dynamics. As outlined by Selznick (1957), the common thread was a focus on how leaders aligned internal arrangements with external pressures and opportunities towards their own and/or their organization’s benefit. In the new institutionalism, views on taken-for-granted practices can be paradoxical. While these practices are viewed as sources of organizational legitimacy (Meyer & Rowan, 1977; DiMaggio & Powell 1983) necessary for survival, they are also considered obstacles to successful adaptation to new pressures and circumstances (e.g., Hinings & Greenwood 1988; D’Aunno, Sutton, & Price, 1991). The notion of transformational leadership may help overcome or perhaps ‘capitalize’ on this paradox. Leadership as a mediator of organization-environment interactions: preserving the organizational archetype. This research explored the way in which the contemporary notion of transformational leadership (Bass, Avolio, and Goodheim, 1987) helps to extend the neoinstitutional approach to organizational change and politics. Specifically, it explored the role of leadership in converting deeply taken for granted, change-impeding structures and practices into ones that facilitate organizational adaptation to market forces in the highly institutionalized field of liberal arts colleges. Transformational leaders possess the capability of drawing on prevailing structures and practices in ways that facilitate profound change in organizations. In the face of external pressures, they can reformulate organizational value commitments, realign competing interests and power differentials, and build significant capacity to bring about organizational innovations (Bass and Avolio, 1993; Avolio, Bass, and Jung, 1999). To use Anthony Giddens’ (1979, 1984) concepts, if structures are both enabling and constraining, their enabling features are likely to be more pronounced under transformational leadership. In the new institutionalism, views on taken for granted practices can be paradoxical. While these practices are viewed as sources of organizational legitimacy (Meyer & Rowan, 1977; DiMaggio & Powell 1983) necessary for survival, they are also considered obstacles to successful adaptation to new pressures and circumstances (e.g., Hinings & Greenwood 1988; D’Aunno, Sutton, & Price, 1991). The notion of transformational leadership may help overcome or perhaps ‘capitalize’ on this paradox. The work of Greenwood and Hinings (1996) provides a partial but useful parallel to this attempt to incorporate the notion of transformational leadership into the institutional frameworkapproach. Greenwood and Hinings (1996) These scholars explicitly pointed to the need to focus on intra-organizational dynamics as a means to bridge the new and old institutionalisms. Drawing on their earlier work on organizational archetypes (e.g., Greenwood & Hinings, 1993), they proposed a model that accounts for external market factors as well as internal organizational factors, such as values and power relations, to explain organizational change. They argued that profound changes in an organization’s basic archetype result from the interaction between external pressures and internal dynamics. The work of Greenwood and Hinings (1996) provides a partial but useful parallel to this attempt to incorporate the notion of transformational leadership into the institutional approach. As did the adherents to the old institutionalism, this research extends their perspective that leadership may mediate the organization-environment interaction in ways that result in innovation without abandoning the basic organizational archetype. In the face of external pressures, transformational leaders can reformulate organizational value commitments, realign competing interests and power differentials, and build significant capacity, drawing on prevailing structures and practices, to bring about organizational innovations (Bass & Avolio, 1993; Avolio, Bass, & Jung, 1999). If structures are both enabling and constraining (Giddens, 1979; 1984), their enabling features are likely to be more pronounced under transformational leadership. The way in which transformational leadership (Bass, Avolio, & Goodheim, 1987) acts to convert deeply imbedded, taken for granted, change-impeding structures and practices into ones that facilitate organizational adaptation to market forces in the highly institutionalized field of liberal arts colleges is the focus of this study. This research extends this perspective, as did the adherents to the old institutionalism, that leadership may mediate the organization-environment interaction in ways that result in innovation that need not require the abandonment of the basic organizational archetype.
Doctorate of Management Programs
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Show moreThis paper examines the work of the Council of Great Lakes Governors (CGLG) from an organizational effectiveness frame of reference as the CGLG sought to develop an enforceable regional water management regime for the water resources of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Basin. It seeks to find both the theoretical and applied framings that tie the pieces of the applicable descriptive literature on social learning and negotiated order as decision making models together, and to draw generalized lessons about organizational effectiveness from the particular geo-politically complex venue under study. This will advance the study of collective action, collaboration, social learning, negotiated order and organizational effectiveness.
Doctorate of Management Programs
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Show moreExamination of leadership characteristics in the context of a corporate restructuring proved to be surprising. Observations and reviewed documentation revealed that no single characteristic of leadership differentiated leaders from managers but rather it is a combination of qualities that make the difference. Emerging themes, together with those theorized in literature, illustrate that although terminology has changed the basic understanding of leadership has not. The ability to challenge oneself personally and professionally remains at the heart of those that lead. The finest leaders of our time —the Jack Welches, and the Lou Gerstners — are all highly energetic individuals that continually challenge the status quo. The passion exhibited by these leaders is infectious as they rally their organizations to continually challenge those around them to search and execute on new opportunities.
Doctorate of Management Programs
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Show moreFor military teams faced with the threat of death, this study found that the generally accepted positive effects of training and experience may be insufficient to ensure survival and met mission goals. Positive outcomes of acute?or ?at the point of death??events encountered by military team leaders did not correlate with general training, overall team leadership experience or frequency of experience. Survey responses of 494 military team leaders reveals situation awareness and perceived control trump training and experience in positive outcomes of in extremis events. These results empirically support the rapidly accreting, but, to date, mostly theoretical literature on situation awareness in acute crisis situations. Results relevant to military and other professional first-responders facing life threatening situations, may also be of interest to individuals facing tense, ambiguous, albeit less acute, circumstances.
Doctorate of Management Programs
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Show moreLeading during in extremis situations when lives are in peril remains one of the least addressed areas of leadership research. In particular, although lives may depend on it, little is known about how leaders in in extremis situations make sense of their situation and communicate that sense to others. Because most of the literature on sensemaking and sensegiving in in extremis situations is theoretical, we sought empirical evidence of how it proceeds in actual practice. To address this gap in the literature, a qualitative study was conducted based on semi-structured interviews with thirty U.S. Army leaders at West Point who had recently led teams in in extremis situations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our data suggest simultaneity rather than sequentially of sense making and giving during in extremis situations and demonstrate the process proceeds best when leaders are in a heightened state of awareness. Training facilitates leader sensemaking by freeing up cognitive capacity, but sensegiving can originate from subordinates in certain circumstances. Our findings have implications for both theory and practice.
Doctorate of Management Programs
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Show morePhysician leaders span two professional groups- that of physician and of leader. While there have been many efforts at understanding the characteristics of effective physician leaders, a greater understanding is needed on the nature of physician leadership. We surveyed the largest health care organization for physician leaders in the United States to gain a greater understanding. Findings from our qualitative research guided this quantitative study, which used PLS to analyze results from 677 online surveys to understand the causal relationship of role conflict and role endorsement to participation. Our findings reveal the mediating influence that positivity exerts upon participation. Our findings also offer physicians interested in leadership, as well as health care leaders, an opportunity to increase understanding on the social identification process that leads a higher level of professional participation, which may ultimately increase effectiveness for physicians in leadership.
Doctorate of Management Programs
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