Educational policy researchers have concluded that if U.S. schools transition from the traditional model of grading and reporting to a uniform standards-based grading and reporting model, students would benefit academically. However, very few middle and high schools in the United States have made the transition to standards-based grading. This qualitative research study was designed address the role of leadership in change by identifying a set of best leadership practices to guide school principals in leading such a transition. The conceptual framework was Kotter's change model. A national sample of 7 middle and 5 high school principals from 8 states who had previously led their schools in the transition to standards-based grading elected to serve as study participants. This panel completed an open-ended questionnaire designed to identify perceived best leadership practices school leaders should consider as they plan to lead such a change. Using the Delphi technique to determine consensus, a set of 78 best leadership actions were identified. Then, these actions were rated by the same panel, resulting in a set of 8 best leadership change practices consistent with Kotter's framework. Practices included establishing and communicating a sense of urgency, developing a change vision and stakeholder buy-in, building coalitions and broad-based actions, generating short term wins and continuing processes, and incorporating change into school culture. This consensus set of leadership practices might affect positive social change by assisting school principals in planning and leading grading change initiatives in schools to enhance students' learning and improve systems of communicating student academic progress using uniform and consistent standards.

The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of scale of change and behaviors of change leadership on employee job psychological stress and employee affective commitment to change, and to explore the job psychological stress in the organizational change strategy and affective commitment to change, whether in relations with intermediary results. Besides, this research also explores the moderating effects of employee positive psychological capital on organizational change strategy. Five hundred and eleven effective surveys were received by employees of Taiwanese banks. The data was analyzed by factor analysis, reliability analysis, using the LISREL model to measure the relationship amongst the constructs. Results showed that organizational change strategy and employee positive psychological capital had significant positively influence on employee affective commitment to change. Furthermore, job psychological stress had a significant negative influence on employee affective commitment to change. The mediating effects of employee job psychological stress towards organizational change strategy can negatively influence employee affective commitment to change. We also found that employee positive psychological capital could moderate the relationship between behaviors of change leadership and affective commitment to change. As a result, it is suggested that by improving psychological factors at work, it is possible to promote employee affective commitment to change as well as positive organization change.

Bakgrund: Dagens företagsklimat blir allt mer snabbrörliga vilket har lett fram till nya marknadsförhållanden i många branscher. Företag uppmanas att anpassa sig och finna nya sätt att konkurrera genom att anpassa sina resurser, vilket beskrivs som dynamiska färdigheter. Nyckelord är timing, hastighet och flexibilitet, vilket inte alltid är så lätt att eftersträva då det finns många krafter inom en organisation som begränsar dess flexibilitet. Syfte: Med följande bakgrund och problematik är syftet med studien att analysera hur organisationer kan gå till väga för att utveckla dynamiska färdigheter och samtidigt minimera den inneboende trögheten i en organisation. Metod och avgränsning: För att besvara följande resonemang har en fallstudie gjorts på ett svenskt företag inom hästavelsnäringen. Val av företag blev Flyinge AB där fem olika intervjuer genomfördes. Ytterligare ett företag, Hästak AB, kontaktades för att få en mer nyanseras bild av avelsbranschen i sin helhet. Resultat: En förändringsprocess är otroligt komplex då det finns många olika faktorer som påverkar dess utfall. Dynamiska färdigheter kan ses som en förändringsprocess och förändringen kan antingen vara stegvis eller kontinuerlig. Den Ideala förändringen att eftersträva är den kontinuerliga, eftersom den ses som naturlig och motverkas inte på samma sätt av de anställda som en stegvis förändring. På så vis är det enklare att vara flexibel och snabbfotad som är centrala egenskaper i dynamiska företag. Det inre motstånd som finns till förändring kan bland annat ses i organisationsstruktur och kultur. Ledaren har en viktig roll att fylla för att motverka denna tröghet. För att göra detta ska ledaren analysera vad som är problemen idag, kommunicera förändringen, samla acceptans för den samt se till att den genomförs. Balanserade styrkort kan i denna process fungera som ett kommunikationshjälpmedel. / Background: In recent years many business environments have been characterized by a fast and advanced technical development, change in demands and increased competition. The market conditions are constantly changing and because of that organizations have to find new ways to compete. This can be realized through adjustments and restructurings of the firm’s resources portfolio and it is also called dynamic capabilities. Key Words in this process are timing, speed and flexibility. Nevertheless, these elements can be hard to attain since many organizations have an internal inertia that will restrict their agility. Aim: The purpose of the study is to analyze how an organization can develop dynamic capabilities and in the same time reduce its internal inertia. Method: To answer the above reasoning a case study has been realized at a Swedish company within the sector of horse-breeding. The stud farm Flyinge AB was chosen and five different interviews were conducted. An additional interview was conducted at Hästak AB with the purpose to get a better understanding of the horse-breeding industry. Result: Change can be seen as a complex process with many different factors that affect the outcome. A dynamic capability is a process of change and it can be either episodic or continuous. The ideal form of change is continuous since it has a low level of internal inertia. The resistance to change can be seen in organizational structure and culture. To eliminate these obstacles the leader has an important role. The leader should identify the problem, come up with a strategy, communicate the new strategy/change, find acceptance for it and finally implement it. In the change process balanced scorecard can be used as an instrument for communications.

Vi lever i en omvärld med oförutsägbarhet och ett högt förändringstempo. Det är en utmaning att skapa förmåga för att vi ska kunna ställa om och anpassa oss till förändringar. Nyckeln till ett framgångsrikt förändringsarbete är att vara mottaglig för förändringar och kunna genomföra dem. Länsstyrelsen Gotlands Län kartlägger alla sina processer men arbetet har tagit längre tid än väntat. Syftet med examensarbetet är att synliggöra möjligheter för att effektivisera processkartläggning. Syftesfrågor som har använts i studien är vilket ledarskap behövs för att stödja arbetet? Hur kan förändrad kultur hjälpa till i förbättringen? Hur kan medarbetarna kompetensutvecklas för att möta behoven? Studien är en fallstudie där datainsamlingen har skett i form av intervjuer. Teori som använts i studien berör offensiv kvalitetsutveckling, förändringsarbete, hållbar verksamhetsutveckling, ledarskap och dialogkompetens. I studien har fem olika teman utkristalliserats i ett Orsak verkan diagram. Resultat visar orsaker till att processkartläggningen är ineffektiv. Arbetet har kommit fram till att delar av ledningen inte är tillräckligt engagerade för att processkartläggningen ska vara så effektiv som möjligt. En plan för genomförande för effektivisering har tagits fram. För att effektivisera processkartläggningen bör ledningen införa ett arbete med förbättringscykeln. Slutsatsen är att verksamhetsutveckling och ständiga förbättringar har stor betydelse för att organisationen ska kunna verka i en föränderlig omvärld, effektivisera de egna processerna och möta ständigt ökade kundkrav så att en bra kostnadseffektivitet uppnås. / We live in a world of unpredictability and a high rate of change. It is a challenge to create the ability for us to change and adapt to changes. The key to successful change is to be receptive to changes and to implement them. The County Administrative Board of Gotland County maps all its processes, but the work has taken longer than expected. The purpose of the thesis work is to visualize opportunities for streamlining process mapping. Sewing questions that have been used in the study are what leadership is needed to support the work? How can altered culture help in the improvement? How can employees develop skills to meet the needs? The study is a case study where data collection has taken place in the form of interviews. Theory used in the study concerns offensive quality development, change work, sustainable business development, leadership and dialogue skills. In the study, five different themes have been crystallized into a family diagram. This result shows reasons that process mapping is ineffective. The work has concluded that the management is not sufficiently committed to making the process mapping as efficient as possible. A plan for implementation for efficiency has been developed. To streamline process mapping, management should introduce work with the improvement cycle. The conclusion is that business development and continuous improvement are important for the organization to work in a changing environment, streamline its own processes and meet ever-increasing customer demands so that good cost-effectiveness is achieved.

The objective of this study is to gain an understanding of how change leaders and managers affect a change implementation in a municipality. To help increase the understanding, the study examines the change project Skolplattformen which was implemented in Sweden's largest municipality Stockholms stad. This to uncover areas that possibly could improve change initiatives in the public sphere. The literature review of the study examines the concepts of public sector related change, change management and change leadership in order to help answer our research questions. This qualitative single case study is conducted primarily through 13 semi-structured interviews with five interviewees, combined with data from publicly published documents. The findings are analyzed through subcategories derived from the theoretical concepts and suggest that the scale of the change project was too complex to implement smoothly in a municipal environment. Hence, lack of communication was shown, the timeframe prolonged and strategic changes in structure was at times unexplained. In the end, Skolplattformen did not meet expectations in relation to time and cost spent.

No description available.

The focus on specific principal leadership behaviors that positively impact student achievement has become more and more pronounced since the inception of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Recently, researchers have begun to focus on a more dramatic type of change as a method for improving student achievement in schools. Marzano, Waters, and McNulty (2005) conducted a meta-analysis of more than 5,000 studies and identified seven leadership behaviors that related to improved student achievement and were viewed as second-order in nature. In many cases, second-order change was needed (a) to accomplish the student achievement improvements necessary to attain Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and (b) to ensure that all students would read on grade level by 2014. For this study, 66 principals from schools with fewer than 60% of students who qualified for free and reduced-price lunches from five urban Florida school districts completed an online survey, Principal Actions Survey (PAS), created to determine which of the seven leadership behaviors successful principals utilized in their schools. Principals were specifically asked to comment on those actions that they felt impacted student achievement and achievement of AYP. Principals consistently responded that they used the seven leadership behaviors, but the results from this study indicated very few statistically significant relationships or predictive relationships. The 66 principal responses were also compared to responses on the PAS of principals from urban Florida elementary schools with more than 60% of students who qualified for free and reducedprice lunches (La Cava, 2009). These comparisons indicated that principals of schools iv with a higher level of poverty reported utilization of the seven leadership behaviors on a more frequent basis or with a higher success rate than principals at schools with lower poverty levels.

Flera undersökningar visar att chansen för att lyckas med en organisationsförändring är liten. Att en organisationsförändring anses som lyckad ligger i att nå uppsatta mål men berör även aspekter kring organisationskultur, ledning och motstånd mot förändringen från individer och grupper inom organisationer. Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka hur chefer på mellannivå uppfattar sitt ledarskap i en organisationsförändring, och hur de handskas med motstånd mot förändring. Studiemetoden är kvalitativ där semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med sex olika mellanchefer på två olika organisationer. Resultatet gav en övergripande bild från informanterna där kommunikation, delaktighet och förtroende framhävdes som viktiga aspekter i ledarskapet när det kommer till organisationsförändringar. Motstånd mot förändringen var något som samtliga informanter upplevde i samband med organisationsförändringen, och de menade att det kan hanteras med hjälp av ledarskapet. Vår slutsats är att organisationerna har liknande uppfattningar och upplevelser av ledarskapet och motstånden i organisationsförändringen där kommunikation och delaktighet är viktiga nyckelord i ledarskapet. Även om de är medvetna om vad de anser behövas i ledarskapet för att hantera motståndet finns det fortfarande problematik i utförandet rent praktiskt. / Several studies show that the chances for an organizational change to succeed is small. The success of an organizational change is connected to reaching goals but also involves aspects of organizational culture, leadership and resistance to change from individuals and groups within the organizations. The purpose of this study is to examine how middle managers perceive their leadership in an organizational change and how they deal with resistance to change. The method for this study is qualitative with semi-structured interviews, conducted with six different middle managers at two different organizations. The result gave a comprehensive picture of informants where communication, participation and confidence were highlighted as important aspects of leadership when it comes to organizational change. Resistance to change was something that all the informants experienced within the organizational change, and they imply that it can be handled with their leadership. Our conclusion is that the organizations have similar perceptions and experiences of leadership and resistors of organizational change, where communication and participation are important keywords for the leadership. Although the informants are aware of what could be necessary for their leadership to deal with the resistance, there is still difficulties in the execution.

Change has become the norm as knowledge economy organisations aim to build agile people, process, and technology practises to ensure future sustainability. Leaders have been criticised due to the inability to manage sustainable and meaningful change that will navigate the future success of the organisation. The research will explore leaders’ stories during an organisational change journey in order to determine the story type and subsequent meaning associated with leadership stories during organisational transformation. The research utilised a qualitative narrative inquiry research design to explore multiple leadership stories. Thematic network analysis was used to explore the themes identified within the leaders’ stories and to identify the themes of meaning evident beneath the surface. The research findings contribute to the field of Organisational Psychology by providing leaders with a framework for navigating sustainable change journeys, and explore current leadership practices that contribute to the high rate of current organisational change failures. / Industrial & Organisational Psychology / M. A.

<p>This paper uses evidence from a small-scale interview of five primary school principals within the Stockholm Municipality to examine their focus on student learning. To facilitate this analysis, four questions were addressed:</p><p>• What are the expectations principals have of learning for their students?</p><p>• Has there been a change in perception of learning in the 21st Century?</p><p>• How do principals think they have influence on student learning?</p><p>• How do principals see their role towards lifelong learning?</p><p>This thesis argues that we have to redefine learning for the 21st Century through emphasizing a more holistic approach to both teaching and learning and by paying more attention to learning outcomes. It explores contemporary trends in leadership education and connects them to the literature. In practice, the study uses two models, instructional leadership and transformational leadership, to integrate the the data collected. It proposes that school principals play a part in student learning through their roles of setting directions, developing people and developing the organisation.</p><p>The main results showed that the principals and vice-principals who participated in the study were aware of their roles in student learning. However, their roles were not immediately identifiable with a particular leadership style but a combination of styles. They realised that they did not encourage lifelong learning, which is an important component of 21st Century learning.</p><p>Key Words:</p><p>21st Century learning, lifelong learning, learning expectations, learning outcomes, leadership styles, instructional leadership, transformational leadership, cultural change leadership.</p>