<p> Some leadership styles can produce job dissatisfaction, resulting in labor turnover and financial loss to organizations. Despite these known consequences, there is a lack of research on the perceptions of leadership styles on job satisfaction for hourly wageworkers. This phenomenological study was used to understand the experiences of non-management employees on how management leadership styles affected their job satisfaction. Bass's leadership theory, Herzberg's dual factor theory, and Maslow's hierarchy of needs guided this study. The primary research questions were used to explore themes in leadership styles affecting selected North Carolina employees in the workplace. Data collection included in-depth interviews with 25 hourly wageworkers who completed at least one annual performance discussion with their first-line supervisor. Utilizing Moustakas' modified van Kaam method of data analysis, 4 primary themes emerged: (a) perceptions of 3 leadership styles, (b) insights on job satisfaction, (c) observations of leader behaviors, and (d) leadership agility. The 4 primary themes and 18 subthemes indicated that participants perceived more positive experiences with transformational leaders than they did with transactional or laissez-faire leaders. The findings are important for first-line supervisors in the fields of business, finance, and education to develop strategies that may maximize positive experiences with leadership styles that will create and improve overall job satisfaction. Social change implications, given the findings, include supervisors' increased awareness of how the 3 leadership styles could provide more favorable experiences for hourly wageworkers.</p>

<p> Engaging and retaining high potential employees play a key role in enhancing an organization's competitive advantage. Although multiple factors affect engagement and retention, senior leaders play an important role. This study examined senior leaders' use of touch points (intentional interactions) with high potentials as a retention and engagement strategy within one organization. This mixed-method study gathered survey and interview data from high potentials and senior leaders. Study findings revealed that touch points yielded a range of benefits for the company, for leaders, for high potentials, and for talent management within the organization. The benefits appeared to be associated with the frequency and recency of touch points. Based on these findings, senior and executive leaders are advised to engage with high potentials at least quarterly. Organizations are advised to create processes to advocate for, facilitate, and monitor senior leaders' use of touch points to optimize organizational outcomes.</p>

<p> The problem in the nonprofit sector is a macro-economic problem involving implementation of concepts of economies of scale, and overcoming organizational and sector inefficiencies. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate that strategic restructuring is an innovative, successful management strategy for a nonprofit organization to maintain sustainability and maximize impact. This research study used three different research methods to demonstrate that idea. The first research method was a quantitative analysis of several different financial ratios using the MANOVA statistical test. The second research method was a qualitative analysis of interviews that the researcher held with 10 different third-party payers. The third research method was an archival analysis of 57 case studies of organizations that have gone through a strategic restructuring process from 2007-2010. This research failed to show conclusive evidence on the effectiveness of structural reorganization in terms of improvement in financial ratios. However, there is a definite perception among funders&rsquo; regarding the strategic restructuring process for nonprofit organizations, as well the case studies provided excellent evidence for what factors contribute to a successful strategic restructuring partnership. Funders do support strategic restructuring and want organizations to engage in this management activity, if the nonprofit organization feels it will further their mission. Given mission-focused leaders, team-oriented, mission-focused organizations, with continued financial support from third party payers, to fund consultants who use the strategic restructuring formula, strategic restructuring can be a tool to maintain sustainability in an economy that constantly challenges the principles of sustainability. </p>

<p> The U.S. aerospace industry strategic leadership fails domestically and internationally, not managing employee thinking and behavior for continuous success in the 21^st century. The problem addressed in this study was to understand the key processes and principles involved in the strategic leadership's shaping of cultural assumptions that may contribute to the industry's failure. The qualitative study explored the shaping of cultural assumptions, as it relates to the organization's relationship to the larger society, in terms of the nature of reality and truth, the nature of human nature, the nature of human activity, and the nature of human relationships for continuous success in the 21^st century. The study was guided by Scharmer's (2009) theory U, leading from the emerging future in relation to transformative change, stressing the needs to think and act differently, Gharajedaghi's (2011) systems theory, and Schein's (2010, 2013) findings on cultural assumptions and humble inquiry. The research question asked, "How does the U.S. aerospace industry's strategic leadership identify experiences affecting the shaping of cultural assumptions for continuous success in the 21^st century?" The study utilized an exploratory qualitative inquiry that enabled access to the personal experiences of 20 U.S. aerospace industry strategic leaders. Themes and patterns were identified in a data set through inductive analysis. The findings matched the reviewed literature and revealed scarce successful attempts to lead from the emerging future through cultural assumptions shaped for continuous success. The findings encourage the majority of the U.S. aerospace industry strategic leadership to overcome internal blockage and initiate a transformative change to avoid organization declines. The successful strategic leaders in the study support the need for co-creating continuous success in the 21^st century.</p>

<p> In the course of doing business in the modern world organizations often find themselves involved in negative situations which can only be categorized as crises. These crises have a wide variety of causes and often result in negative outcomes for the organizations involved. While crises have been studied from an organizational view, this research investigates the consumer's experience when exposed to a crisis. To do this, the current literature on marketing crises is expanded upon to create a definition of marketing crisis, and the theoretical lens of attribution theory is applied to identify why individual consumers may respond quite differently to the same marketing crisis. The three specific research questions investigated are: 1) How do consumers make causal attributions about marketing crises? 2) What factors influence how consumers make those attributions about marketing crises?, and 3) What are the consequences of causal attributions about marketing crises? These questions are tested with an experimental design manipulating exposure to a marketing crisis and measuring antecedents, causal attribution, and consequences associated with an attribution theory model of crisis perception. A major finding of this research is that the cause of the crisis matters to consumers, and that the perception of cause can vary greatly among consumers. Specifically, and counter-intuitively, this research suggests that consumers who are actually customers of organizations affected by the crisis may have a less dramatic response to a negative development than consumers who are less involved and more psychologically distant.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationships between four different theoretical viewpoints &ndash; categorization, congruence, perception-of-fit, and product involvement &ndash; and their effects on consumer evaluations of brand extensions of nondurable goods and the underlying factors of how attitudes are transferred from the parent brands to its product extensions. </p><p> By using the single-step multiple mediator model by Preacher and Hayes (2008), the findings suggested, in general, that (1) a more positive effect of congruence, perception-of-fit, and product involvement between the parent brand and the product extension, the more the positive the attitude-toward-product-extension when there was an effect of the attitude-toward-parent-brand on the four intervening variables, (2) a more positive effect of categorization, congruence, and product involvement between the parent brand and the product extension, the more the positive the attitude-towardproduct- extension as a result of the direct effects of the four intervening variables on attitude-toward-product-extensions, (3) congruence and product involvement were mediators, and the results showed that the direct effect of attitude-toward-parent-brand on attitude-toward-product-extension was statistically significantly different from zero, (4) the result on the direct effect of attitude-toward-parent-brand on attitude-toward-productextension was not statistically significant at the 0.05 level, and (5) the result on the total effect of attitude-toward-parent-brand on attitude-toward-product-extension was statistically significant at the 0.05 level. Managerial implications and recommendations were addressed and suggestions were made for future research. </p><p> </p>

<p> Family firms contribute to both the national and global economies. Over the last few decades, the family-business field has continued to develop, as have its counterpart disciplines of business, economics, psychology, and social sciences. The study of leadership theory has also advanced over the years; however, not much research has applied this theory to family firms. </p><p> This dissertation contains the oral histories of a family-owned manufacturing business that is still operating after 60 years. The purpose of this exploratory case study was to examine the leadership dynamics of a family operation. To provide a theoretical leadership model to understand the oral histories presented in this dissertation, four major themes were discussed: family systems theory, organizational psychology, leadership studies, and the manufacturing industry. </p><p> The shifts in scholars' understanding of organizational dynamics were presented using Bowen's family systems theory and Lewin's systems theory is detailed in the narrative portion. This study used two mechanisms to study the family firm: oral histories (captured through open-ended interviews) and written documents and memoirs. Excerpts of written narratives also ground the interviews within the firm's historical and geographical setting. </p><p> This study documents the significance in understanding organizational culture to the development of a leadership model for family firms. This case study provides the opportunity to identify key attributes within a successful family firm. This firm has remained successful through multiple leaders over several decades within a challenging industry.</p>

<p> This study explored middle managers' lived experience of exercise-induced reflection to understand if the meaning they ascribed to the lived experience could address their practical problem of not being able to reflect in time-constrained work environments. The study also explored if the lived experience could be linked to another model of reflective learning that does not appear to exist within the study's theoretical framework at the intersections of leadership and reflection, reflection and aerobic exercise, and aerobic exercise and leadership. </p><p> To understand the meaning participants associated with their lived experience of exercise-induced reflection, ten employed middle managers were recruited to participate in a series of thirty face-to-face, semi-structured interviews. Analyzing the data through the phenomenological processes of grouping, reducing, clustering, thematizing, and textural-structural synthesis led to the discovery of six core themes. The core themes were the following: the age at which participants first experienced the phenomenon, the aerobic activity that evoked exercise-induced reflection, reflective states, reflection topics, reflection during exercise is productive, and applied learning. These themes revealed how the lived experience of reflection through exercise manifested into three major meanings: a productive haven for reflective thinking, a mind-body connection that stimulates reflective learning, and a therapeutic sanctuary for well-being. </p><p> Understanding the meanings participants ascribed to exercise-induced reflection expanded upon the literature within the theoretical framework of the leadership, reflection, and aerobic exercise disciplines. Additionally, the meanings addressed middle managers practical problem of reflection in the time-constrained workplace. </p><p> Findings from this transcendental phenomenological study provide a baseline understanding of exercise-induced reflection for future research. Augmenting the baseline findings through mixed methods and medical research studies could provide a deeper understanding of exercise-induced reflection. A mixed methods study could help explore and explain the relationship of exercise-induced reflection to workplace performance and leadership styles. A medical study could expand upon knowledge about the relationship of exercise-induced reflection to human neuro-physiological changes.</p>

<p> The gender gap issue is a complex, systemic problem emerging from the interrelation of multiple variables. This study sought to identify the primary, interrelated, and mutually influential variables that contribute to the C-suite gender gap phenomenon using Moustakas' transcendental phenomenological research methodology. Seven female vice president level executives who work in a male-dominated private sector industries in a major metropolitan area were interviewed. Common themes emerged around the significant impact of culture and upbringing and experiences with subtle or overt second-generation gender bias. Five women had some experience of the double bind, although not all of them seemed to perceive the experience that way. All participants discounted the concept of the "glass ceiling." All except one credited strong mentors who provided advice, guidance, and support and who also acted as advocates in helping to advance their careers. All participants demonstrated strong self-confidence, although two noted their confidence was low during their early career and grew through positive, reinforcing experiences. All participants discussed work-life balance and many tempered their career ambition with a similarly strong value for creating and maintaining work-life balance. Only one experienced career limitations by downgrading her work schedule to accommodate childcare needs. Each of their stories, though unique, illustrated how the variables of personality, leadership style, levels of ambition and confidence, upbringing, organizational culture, societal culture, how others interact with them, work-life balance, and mentors created a systemic "whole" that brought them to their current level of success in their careers. It is in the context of describing and seeing the systemic complexity of the issue that recommendations for a comprehensive strategy for action were presented.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study is to isolate how the successful Church of God in Christ women leaders combine work, church and family life. This study explores the experiences that mold the life course of women and how they affect work-family life balance. The goal is to extract these strategies and provide them to other women interested in pursuing leadership roles in the church and in their careers all while balancing family life. Qualitative data was analyzed to find coping strategies, and themes.</p><p> Giele (2008) developed the life course theoretical framework used in this study. She discussed the framework in her article entitled &ldquo;Homemaker of Career Women: Life Course Factors and Racial Influences Among Middle Class Families.&rdquo; Giele&rsquo;s (2008) study focused on 48 women. After interviewing these women, Giele categorized these interviews in to 4 categories of questions, which are as follows: childhood, adulthood, current adulthood and future adulthood. Exploring these categories provide an inside look at each woman&rsquo;s perception of their identity, relationship types, motivations and adaptive styles.</p><p> In 2011, Dr. Margaret Weber and her team duplicated Giele&rsquo;s study but later decided to add an additional set of questions to the semi-structured questionnaire. These additional questions were created to allow women an opportunity to share their coping strategies which can be used to inform others. The additional questions also help to complete the life course process and inform others (Weber, 2011).</p><p> This dissertation research is based on Giele&rsquo;s (2008) study and enhanced by Weber&rsquo;s (2011) additional set of questions. The life course framework helps to analyze the narratives of women and to isolate data pertaining to work-life balance. This phenomenological study strives to understand all contributors impacting this balance.</p><p> </p>