<p> African Americans are underrepresented in senior leadership positions of the Federal Government. As of 2009, African Americans occupied less than seven percent of senior pay level positions (EOEC, 2009). Kohli, Gans, and Hairston (2011) projected that African American representation in senior leadership positions will remain stagnant over the next decade. Thirteen GS-13 to GS-15 federal government managers participated in this qualitative phenomenological study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore the lived experiences of federal government managers. Moustakas&rsquo; modified van Kaam method and NVivo10 software was used to analyze transcribed participant interviews. The results from the study indicate the need for mentoring relationships and agency-sponsored training programs to prepare African Americans for senior leadership positions. Based on lived experiences, participants indicated that effective communication was essential for obtaining and sustaining senior leadership positions. Findings from the study also indicate that mobility is a major concern for African Americans who aspire to achieve senior leadership status. Federal government leaders in general schedule leadership positions are the major hiring candidate pool for senior leadership positions (EOEC, 2009). Information from this study may assist African Americans in advancing to federal senior leadership positions.</p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry was to explore how African American Online doctor of management students perceived engaging support to maintain motivation throughout the dissertation writing process. The study involved collecting and analyzing data from 10 African American online doctoral students who matriculated into an online doctor of management program or had completed the dissertation writing process. Participants shared perspectives on support through narrative storytelling and answered open-ended questions that described individual perceptions of engaging support to maintain motivation during the dissertation writing process. The general research question was as follows: How do African American online doctoral of management students engage support to maintain motivation during the dissertation witting process? Four themes emerged from the findings. The four themes were faith based support, collaborative coaches versus autonomous coaches, traditional faculty support versus nontraditional support, and chair lack of encouragement versus encouragement. The major implication was support to maintain motivation in an online learning environment must include communications and socialization on an ongoing basis during the dissertation writing process. Doctor of management organizational doctoral program leaders may use this study to examine doctoral student support issues, chairs&rsquo; encouragement strategies, and the need for dissertation coaching. The conceptual framework for this qualitative narrative inquiry was Bandura&rsquo;s (1997) self-efficacy theory, Atkinson&rsquo;s (1957) expectancy value theory, and Vygotsky&rsquo;s (1978) social constructivist theory.</p><p>