The purpose of this thesis is to provide an effective business leadership guide to any Marshallese who aspires to become an insightful business leader. Certainly, making of such guide will help broaden the perspectives of current and future business leaders to better understand political, economical, and cultural challenges that are common within the context of doing business in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). To understand these challenges, this thesis investigated numerous research questions, including what it takes to be a successful business leader in the RMI business vista. In addition, leadership styles from east and west are also considered. The research used the quantitative and qualitative methods by which survey and interview were executed. The sample included Marshall Islands Business leaders. Chapter 1 described the rationale for the study, background of the Marshall Islands, research purpose, and scope of the entire thesis. In a country where many challenges are confronting business leaders, it is no wonder why making of such a leadership guide is indispensable. Indeed, with such a guide, Marshall Islands business leaders are more likely to raise their awareness within the framework of their own business environment. While at the same time benefited from exposing to leadership theories, models and related concepts that are without a doubt beneficial for any business leaders to know. Chapter 2 discussed the literatures related to the study, which includes traits and contingency leadership theories. From the contingency theories, Hershey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership model is used as the model for the study. Hofstede’s dimension of differences and East Asia and United States’ leadership styles comparison are also explained. Chapter 3 stated how the research was conducted, including the research methods, how the instruments were constructed, the subject population, the selection criteria for participants, data collection process as well as how the data were analyzed. Chapter 4 reported on the findings from the field research. The findings from the survey and interview are presented in graphs and tables with supplementary explanations. Chapter 5 commented on the survey and interview findings corresponding to the research purpose presented in chapter one. Alongside the rationalization of the primary findings, are the implications and study’s suggested business leadership guides. Chapter 6 provided the conclusions by recapping the key findings and leadership guides. Suggested future research and limitation encountered throughout the process are also discussed.

Businesses in the United States endured approximately $300 billion in annual performance losses resulting from ineffective leadership behaviors. Small business leaders' ineffective leadership characteristics diminish performance and stifle economic growth. As primary drivers of economic wealth, small business leaders rely on effective leadership behaviors to sustain the performance of small organizations. The purpose of this case study was to explore virtuous leadership strategies that small business leaders and employees use to increase business growth. The conceptual framework for this study was the virtuous leadership theory (VLT). The sample size consisted of 3 leaders and 7 employees from a small business located in the greater Houston metropolitan area. Study participants had at least 1 year of experience working in a small business that practices virtuous leadership as outlined in the authorized representative's organizational letter of intent. The qualitative research method was used to collect semistructured interviews and the small business's mission and goal statement. Data analysis included collecting and coding data, identifying and congregating analogous themes, interpreting thematic inferences, and methodological triangulation for interpretation accuracy. Six themes emerged including continuous communication, employee knowledge and training, the use of virtuous tenets, transference of wisdom, modeling justice, and teambuilding. The findings from this study may contribute to the body of knowledge regarding the best practices for virtuous leadership that leaders may use to increase business growth. Small business leaders may use the results identified in this study to increase economic viability and employment through increased business growth.

With the advent of democracy, South African business leaders are confronted with numerous challenges like globalisation, cultural diversity, Black economic empowerment, transformation etc; that require innovative thinking, re-engineered approaches and improved competencies. This study focused on the leadership competencies required of South African business leaders within the financial services industry to deal effectively with these challenges and explored how the developmental needs of business leaders should be addressed. Contrary to initial predictions, transactional leadership was still prevalent within the industry and both White and Black executives continued to advocate and practice these competencies. However, corporate and individual strategies have been re-defined to incorporate transformational leadership competencies. This has required executives to modify their operating styles and leadership behaviours. With regard to servant leadership, legislation has required business leaders to focus on their interaction with employees, economic welfare and to increase social contribution. However the overall conclusion is that while banks are becoming “caring organisations” the primary focus will still be on shareholders. This business model is unlikely to change under the present capitalist and market driven economic systems. The application of African leadership competencies was a contradiction in practice. White executives were of the impression that their organisations had adopted African leadership competencies, but Black business leaders were more sceptical about its adoption. The core reason was that White executives did not necessarily fully understand these values, while Black executives were not represented in sufficient numbers to implement these values in practice. Leaders are further required to concentrate on their EQ maturity, as this will empower them to become more self-conscious, learn from experience and interpret the behaviour of others. The study concluded that for business leaders to be successful in the longer term they would need to display, advocate and practice the competencies of charisma, intellectual stimulation, inspiration and transformation, in conjunction with an appreciation of cultural diversity and Ubuntu. The most fundamental variable that proved successful for leaders was that they exhibited time for their people.

With the advent of democracy, South African business leaders are confronted with numerous challenges like globalisation, cultural diversity, Black economic empowerment, transformation etc; that require innovative thinking, re-engineered approaches and improved competencies. This study focused on the leadership competencies required of South African business leaders within the financial services industry to deal effectively with these challenges and explored how the developmental needs of business leaders should be addressed. Contrary to initial predictions, transactional leadership was still prevalent within the industry and both White and Black executives continued to advocate and practice these competencies. However, corporate and individual strategies have been re-defined to incorporate transformational leadership competencies. This has required executives to modify their operating styles and leadership behaviours. With regard to servant leadership, legislation has required business leaders to focus on their interaction with employees, economic welfare and to increase social contribution. However the overall conclusion is that while banks are becoming “caring organisations” the primary focus will still be on shareholders. This business model is unlikely to change under the present capitalist and market driven economic systems. The application of African leadership competencies was a contradiction in practice. White executives were of the impression that their organisations had adopted African leadership competencies, but Black business leaders were more sceptical about its adoption. The core reason was that White executives did not necessarily fully understand these values, while Black executives were not represented in sufficient numbers to implement these values in practice. Leaders are further required to concentrate on their EQ maturity, as this will empower them to become more self-conscious, learn from experience and interpret the behaviour of others. The study concluded that for business leaders to be successful in the longer term they would need to display, advocate and practice the competencies of charisma, intellectual stimulation, inspiration and transformation, in conjunction with an appreciation of cultural diversity and Ubuntu. The most fundamental variable that proved successful for leaders was that they exhibited time for their people.

Leadership behaviors play an important role in followers' performance. In today's competitive world, organizations gain advantage from creativity of their employees. Yet, there has been little research done on the effects of transformational and transactional leadership on followers' creative performance. The present study investigates the relationships between the components of transformational leadership (charisma, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration), transactional leadership (e.g. contingent reward behavior) and followers' creative performance. The proposed model examines the role of followers' intrinsic motivation, self-esteem and identity (e.g. personal and collective) in these relationships. While the study's hypotheses were not supported, charisma (β = .39, ρ < .01) and transactional leadership (β = .36, ρ < .05) positively predicted creativity in the absence of any controls. The effect of charisma was not consistent with expectations, though that associated with transactional leadership was. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis (Ph.D)--University of Wollongong, 2005. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 365-395.

Leaders of small businesses need dynamic capabilities created through careful implementation of information technologies (ITs) to enhance efficiency, performance, and output. The purpose of this multicase study was to explore strategies leaders of small businesses used in developing countries to implement ITs for improved business performance. The framework for this study was the technology, organization, and environment model. The sample population consisted of 10 leaders of small businesses located in the Accra region of Ghana. The study participants had at least 5 years of experience working with small businesses that implemented IT. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and review of companies' strategic and project plans. The data analysis process included methodological triangulation, coding, the identification and congregation of themes, and the interpretation of inferences. Five themes emerged: top management support for IT implementation, investment in appropriate IT infrastructures, engaging in appropriate IT knowledge and skills training, creating an organizational culture of IT acceptance, and embracing legal and regulatory frameworks for IT. Findings from this study might assist leaders of small businesses in gaining insights into key IT strategies required for improving small business survivability. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential to facilitate employment generation and reduce poverty in developing countries by improving small business performance.

Title: From horse people to business leader Authors: Jennifer Norin, Maria Nyström and Therese Olsson Supervisor: Anders Wrenne Department: School of Management, Blekinge Institute of Technology Course: Bachelor’s thesis in Business Administration, 15 credits Purpose: The purpose of our work is to deepen the knowledge of horse people's potential to act as successful business executives by finding out how a person can implement their practical experiences from a horse environment in a role as business leader. Method: This thesis has a qualitative approach in which we gathered the empirical material through three extensive semi-structured interviews by phone calls with managers of different riding schools. We also formed a poll with a quantitative approach to gather more overall information from a larger number of horse owners via social media. Results: This thesis shows that there are several skills that develops in the stable environment that are useful as a business leader. Skills like problem solving, time planning and budgeting and many more are introduced and developed in the life with horses and then implemented in the workplace.

The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine if business leadership practices by Texas public school principals have an impact on principals' campus student achievement in mathematics and reading, as measured by TAKS scores. The survey instrument was the Leadership Assessment Instrument (LAI), developed by Warren Bennis in 1989. The survey instrument was electronically distributed to a sample of 300 public school principals in Texas. Of the 300, 140 principals completed and returned the survey, for a response rate of 47%. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 16.0, was used for the analysis of data, which included descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, and regression. In addition, reliability for the LAI was also calculated. The LAI consists of the following five categories of effective business practices: focused drive, emotional intelligence, building trust, conceptual thinking, and systems thinking. No significant relationships were found between principals' use of LAI elements and student achievement in mathematics and reading. However, the lack of significant relationships between the business model as used in public schools and student achievement reveals that current models of principal preparation programs do not result in school leaders who are adequately prepared to increase student achievement. Further research is recommended as public school leaders continue to seek alternative strategies and innovative practices to improve student achievement.

Eine wachsende Anzahl von Unternehmen führt Enterprise Social Networks (ESN) ein, um den Wissensaustausch zwischen den Mitarbeitern zu verbessern und neue Möglichkeiten zur Zusammenarbeit zu schaffen. Die Anbieter von ESN-Lösungen versprechen ihren Kunden außerdem eine Erhöhung der Produktivität und Innovationskraft der Mitarbeiter. Häufig können Unternehmen diese Vorteile jedoch nicht realisieren. Gartner prognostizierte 2013, dass 80 Prozent der Unternehmen die mit ihren Social-Business-Initiativen gesteckten Ziele bis 2015 nicht erreichen werden. Zu den häufigsten Gründen für das Scheitern von ESN-Initiativen zählen fehlende Unterstützung durch die Führungskräfte, eine „inkompatible“ Unternehmenskultur, fehlende Business-Ziele sowie eine Unsicherheit in der Belegschaft, wie und wofür das neue Werkzeug genutzt werden kann. Im Vergleich zu externen sozialen Netzwerken entwickeln sich ESN häufig nicht als Selbstläufer und scheitern kurz- oder mittelfristig aufgrund mangelnder Partizipation seitens der Mitarbeiter.