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This research is an empirically based, comparative study of the inspectorates in two high profile areas of public concern, the education and police services and explores the realities and complexities of an increasingly politically favoured instrument, inspection, in regulation regimes. It uses case study methodology and data collected by semi-structured interviews and textual analysis of literature, and reports and other documents published by the two inspectorates and associated organisations. The study has the aims of contextualising the role and place of the inspectorates and of establishing if they are an aid to the achievement of accountability; whether they are independent assessors; and whether any aid given could be extended to a wider population of ”stakeholders”. It seeks to identify ways that any benefits given could be increased and to relate the findings to other scholarship and draw out new insights, particularly those relating to the factors which determine the nature of the regime. Considerably more conflict was revealed than might be expected within and between organisations commonly funded by the public purse. Four methods of resolving this were detected, “co-operation”, “constraint”, “collaboration” and “compromise”. The inspectorates give definite assistance to the accountable parties by the information they provide but this is restricted by their being agents of Central Government control rather than independent assessors. Greater assistance would be given (including that offered to a wider population of stakeholders) if they were made truly independent. Multiple factors were found to determine the punitive nature of regimes, by far the most important being Central Government’s attitude and wishes. Intensive, rigorous inspection is seen as the favoured way ahead in the short term but its extensive use in the longer term is challenged, given an improvement in the line management of public services and the establishment and extension of the use and influence of credible Performance Indicators

<p> The purpose of this quantitative survey research study was to test the ability of the Full Range Leadership Theory to explain a relationship between Transformational and Transactional Leadership Styles (independent variables) and Organizational Performance (dependent variable), when Transformational and Transactional Leadership Styles were moderated by Employee Job Satisfaction (moderating variable) for 119 full-time employees in government agencies within the United States (U.S.). Leadership styles have been positively linked to employee job satisfaction and various organizational outcomes; however, most studies on leadership styles, employee job satisfaction, and organizational performance had been focused on the private sector, with little focus on the public sector. The present study focused on public sector (government) agencies. The sample was made up of full-time, non-supervisory U.S. government employees who worked in agencies within the U.S. Qualtrics, Inc. was hired to draw the sample and three survey questionnaire instruments were used to collect the data. A linear multiple regression model was applied to the study and the data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple linear regression. Results of the study were statistically significant (<i>p</i> &lt; .05). Overall, the results lent support to theories that posit leadership styles and employee job satisfaction play a role in determining organizational performance. The results support arguments for adopting the transformational leadership style, and each of its dimensions, to reverse the decline of job satisfaction and enhance levels of organizational performance for U.S. government employees. Limitations of the study were discussed, as well as implications of the findings. Finally, recommendations for future research were offered.</p>

<p> Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) has the potential to strengthen an organization in the long term by effectively leveraging the organization&rsquo;s human resources to achieve the organization&rsquo;s strategic goals. The problem this dissertation focuses upon is the extent to which SHRM has been implemented in oil and natural gas companies in Western Pennsylvania and whether the information needed to support SHRM is being communicated into and within these oil and natural gas companies. This included examining how HR leaders and staff are viewed in the company relative to its strategic efforts. Using Jacobson, Sowa, and Lambright&rsquo;s (2014) models of SHRM implementation, three cases were examined to identify the degree to which SHRM has been implemented in the organizations. In addition, the communication of SHRM information was explored with regards to what information has been communicated, how is this information communicated, and who communicates such information. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 10 participants from three companies, including seven HR managers and employees and three non-HR managers. The interviews led the researcher to conclude that there is further opportunity for the strategic use of the HR departments and HR functions in the sampled companies. Additionally, there was an apparent lack of communication between the HR departments and the rest of the organization regarding strategic HR issues. The organizations with more traditional models of HR, with limited SHRM, demonstrated a weak focus on communicating SHRM information, as well as minimal information processing capabilities to support SHRM implementation.</p>

<p> This study examined the function of complexity leadership in the generative emergence of new ideas in a high-performance nonprofit organization. The conceptual framework for the study combines Uhl-Bien, Marion, &amp; McKelvey&rsquo;s (2007) Complexity Leadership Theory with Lichtenstein&rsquo;s (2014) concept of generative emergence in order to investigate the growth of new ideas in high performance nonprofit organizations. The study was conducted at Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana (GICI), a high performing nonprofit that is one of 162 local Goodwill member agencies that make up Goodwill Industries International (GII). </p><p> This empirical case study examined the emergence and successful operation of one innovative idea&mdash;the creation and operation of public charter high schools&mdash;with GICI&rsquo;s operating territory. Data was collected through interviews with GICI leaders, board members, and community leaders, well a review of documents pertinent to the case. Merrriam&rsquo;s (2009) case study framework guided the collection of the data, and coding followed the process outlined by Salda&ntilde;a (2013). </p><p> The study identified numerous specific leadership actions as they appeared through each stage of the generative emergence process. These were coded and analyzed through the lens of CLT in order to address the study&rsquo;s research questions. Case findings determined that, in high-performing nonprofits, the function of complexity leadership in the generative emergence of new ideas is to identify, interpret, and respond to specific system behaviors so that the idea has the best possible chance to reach its full potential. </p><p> The study shows that if a high performing non-profit organization is to employ complexity leadership to successfully grow and implement new, innovative ideas via generative emergence, a mix of administrative, enabling, and adaptive leadership actions must be employed during each phase of the process. The study has implications for both CLT and Generative Emergence because it provides specific, empirical examples of the elements articulated by each concept. The study offers implications for practice since the structure and definitions provided by both CLT and generative emergence may be helpful to organizations as they generate and manage the growth of new ideas.</p><p>

<p> The very things that provide firms with advantages in the present may undermine their future viability. This dualism pervades the organizational and strategic management literature and leads to theorization of core organizational constructs as embodying trade-offs between stability and change. For example, the concept of organizational code focuses on how organizations structure information representation to enhance coordination effectiveness and efficiency; yet, efficiency comes at the cost of information loss. Economic-based organizational theories treat the code as an integral, yet inertial part of an organization&rsquo;s invested infrastructure, inseparable from the organization&rsquo;s historical-cognitive context, and understood across the entire organization. By conceptualizing forces for continuity and change as dualities, I show how the organizational code acts as a mechanism by which organizations manage these tensions. In an abductive, longitudinal case study of communication by and within a large, multi-national pharmaceutical company from 1985 to present, I examine firm-specific language and how this language emerges. I find that, when the code is discernable as firm-specific language, it typically has more to do with change than stability. Codified blueprints for practice are an exception to this, but these play a role more akin to proprietary technology or boundary objects than to theoretical conceptualizations of the organizational code. When an organization recognizes some need to change, there is an emergent or deliberate effort to articulate what that change should look like. The emergence of the code happens through these efforts to create a novel conceptual space with unique words, acronyms, phrases, and visuals (WAPVs). This new language, with its firm-specific meaning, has an important effect on how a firm creates value. It becomes meaningful as &lsquo;use cases&rsquo; for it are identified, enabling translation into practice and mindsets. Once an organization generates a use case &lsquo;catalogue&rsquo; for new WAPVs, members better understand why change is needed, what work needs to happen, and how that work gets done. By showing how an organization transforms the &lsquo;language we use to get work done&rsquo; into new practices and ways of thinking that enrich the organizational code, I explain how dualities of continuity and change are managed over time.</p><p>

<p> Assistant principals enact a plethora of work roles within their single position. They are required to manage multiple work roles with constant contradictions of role expectations. The position of assistant principal "is acknowledged to be an important actor on the school scene despite the rather limited attention given to that role by educational researchers, administrator preparation programs, and professional associations" (Greenfield, 1985, p.7). This study explored the role conflict and role ambiguity assistant principals face in their multiple work roles and the relationship these variables have to the secondary assistant principal's general perceived self-efficacy. A social theoretical lens was used to examine identity theory and self-concept in order to gain insight into the paradoxical nature of the interrole conflict and role ambiguity of secondary assistant principals in two regions of Virginia's public schools. Role conflict (RC) and role ambiguity (RA) were measured using the Rizzo, House, and Lirtzman (1970) scale. The General Self-Efficacy (GSE) scale developed by Schwarzer and Jerusalem (1995) was used the collect data on the general perceived self-efficacy of assistant principals. The data indicated that there was a significant relationship between role ambiguity and general self-efficacy; there was not a significant relationship between role conflict and general self-efficacy; and that neither role ambiguity nor role conflict were predictive of general self-efficacy. </p><p> <i>Keywords:</i> role conflict, role ambiguity, general self-efficacy, secondary assistant principals, role theory.</p>

<p> The primary purpose of this research was to test the capability of the Organizational Change in Cultural Context (OC³) Model (Latta, 2009, 2011) to predict responses to change. According to Latta, predictions of resistance to or facilitation of change can be predicted by utilizing organizational culture and its alignment with the content and implementation strategies of the change. The setting for this research was a small elementary school in western Pennsylvania during implementation of a reform model known as Response to Instruction and Intervention (RTII). This qualitative study: 1) investigated the culture of the school using Martin&rsquo;s (1992, 2002) three perspective framework; 2) analyzed the content and implementation strategies associated with implanting the RTII change initiative; 3) made predictions based upon the interaction effects specified by Latta&rsquo;s (2011) OC³ Model with the assistance of a panel of experts; and 4) evaluated those predictions using self-report data from participants at the target institution and members of the implementation team. </p>

<p> This study addressed the problem that no formal evaluation of a P-12 Washington state school district's change from a traditional hierarchical district organizational structure to a three-region organizational structure based on the feeder patterns of its three comprehensive high schools was conducted. A mixed-methods approach was utilized to address the research questions and hypothesis centered on the original goals set forth by the superintendent to increase student achievement, collaboration, planning time, and professional development opportunities. The study incorporated data collected by the state in the five years before the change in district structure and the five years after the change in the district's organizational structure. Quantitative data were collected on student achievement defined by graduation rates and the 10th-grade state assessments in reading, writing, and math over the past 10 years. Data were also collected through the use of an online survey with classified staff, certificated staff, building administrators, and central office administrators. A convergent parallel design was employed to analyze and interpret the data. Both theory generation and theories of organizational change provided the theoretical frameworks for the study. Results of the study showed no significant change in student achievement that could be correlated to the district's organizational structure change. Planning time and professional development was shown not to have increased but results from the data collected on collaboration did indicate an increase in collaboration for building administrators. This study is significant because it delivered a formal evaluation of a district's organizational structure change where none existed and offers a reference for current and future organizational leaders when considering a change in their own organization's structure.</p>

<p> Recent negatively publicized police-citizen interactions in the media, followed by a subsequent rise in crime rates in the United States, has been named the Ferguson Effect. The Ferguson Effect has been explored by prominent scholars in the criminal justice community; however, little is known about how police officers in small police agencies perceive the Ferguson Effect. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the perceptions and lived experiences of police officers regarding the Ferguson Effect in small police agencies, as well as police officers&rsquo; perceptions of their own organizational justice. The theoretical framework for this study was Greenberg&rsquo;s theory of organizational justice. Research questions focused on exploring police officers&rsquo; perceptions, attitudes, and experiences of the Ferguson Effect phenomenon and willingness to partner with the community. A qualitative phenomenological study design was employed, using purposeful random sampling and semistructured interviews of 9 active sworn law enforcement personnel in southcentral Virginia. Data were analyzed through In Vivo coding, pattern coding, and structural analysis utilizing NVivo 11 Pro. Themes included: (a) racial division, (b) rush to judgment, and (c) steadfast leadership. Findings indicated participants demanded clear and fair policies and procedures from leadership, increased effort of transparency in policing, feelings of racial tension, and the need to regain community trust post-Ferguson. Implications for social change include refinement and development of leadership training for police leadership and refinement in organizational policies that support fairness, community engagement, and community interaction.</p><p>