Many U.S. organizations fail to retain Millennials for longer than 3 years. The purpose of this case study was to explore the strategies and methods leaders have used to retain Millennial employees within a small business in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. The leaders of this small business have retained their Millennial employees for the last 3 years. The conceptual frameworks for the study were Bass's transformational leadership theory and von Bertalanffy's general systems theory. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 4 participant leaders with a successful record of retaining Millennials. In addition, company documents including policies, training records, company website, and peer-reviewed journals were gathered to supplement the semistructured interviews. All data were analyzed using the modified van Kaam method. The findings revealed that these 4 leaders employed specific strategies for career growth opportunities, communication plans, organizational level community involvement, high compensation packages, high functioning and fun culture, regular feedback meetings, training opportunities, and respect for opinions to solve the low retention rate among Millennials within an organization. The leaders also reported 3 methods that they employed to retain Millennials were maintaining open lines of communication, establishing positive relationships with management, and providing targeted training throughout the employees' tenure. Social change implications include organizational leaders increasing retention rates of Millennial employees by enhancing employee motivation and improving relationships. Results may benefit organizations by reducing turnover costs.

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which religiosity and spirituality affected daily work practices and leader/follower trust levels in foodservice and nutrition directors and their subordinates. A similar 72-item survey questionnaire was developed for both the directors and employees, which was completed by 129 directors and 530 employees. Both questionnaires contained questions on demographics, religious influences on work practices, trust characteristics, and three validated measures of religiosity: 1) worship service attendance (1=Religiosity Score), 2) influence of spiritual beliefs on daily life, and 3) frequency of prayer (2 + 3=Spirituality Score). Frequency data was gathered for all questions. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson's Correlation were used to assess the relationship of directors' and employees' Religiosity and Spirituality Scores compared to their daily work practices and trust levels. Two-sample t-tests evaluated differences in directors' and employees' perceived trust levels toward each other. Most directors and employees were women and Caucasian. Most of the directors and employees had earned a Master's degree and bachelor's degree, respectively. The religion most frequently reported was Protestant. Data analysis of the Religiosity and Spirituality Scores and demographics showed some differences in ethnic group, gender, age, and education level, although there was no consistently identified trend. Well over one-third of directors (40.3%) and employees (36.3%) attended worship services at least four times the previous month. The more directors and employees attended worship services, the more likely they were to demonstrate specific spiritual actions and attitudes at work. Generally, religiosity and spirituality did not appear to influence perceived trustworthiness in directors and employees. However, both directors and employees were rated as being highly trustworthy by their counterpart(s). Directors and employees tend to over-rate their own trustworthiness when compared to ratings by the opposite discipline. Degree of religiosity and spirituality did not consistently affect the way directors and employees rated each others' trustworthiness though it was related to how they perceived their own trustworthiness. Directors expected that their employees were more committed to their jobs than they actually were.

<p>Human embryonic stem cells (hESC) have potential applications as tools for drug screening to identify small molecule regulators of self-renewal or differentiation. Elucidating the mechanisms governing lineage commitment in hESC will allow for efficient derivation of specified cell types for clinical use. Recognizing the early steps in loss of pluripotency is key to achieving both goals of drug screening and derivation of therapeutically relevant cell types. Here we report the use of a real time cell cycle fluorescent reporter for the first time in hESC that indicates onset of differentiation in a lineage unbiased manner. Pluripotent hESC possess a short cell cycle length, due primarily to a truncated G1 phase. G1 lengthens concomitant with differentiation. Stable hESC lines expressing the live cell cycle reporter exhibit fluorescence only during G1. Due to the short length of pluripotent G1 phase, G1 fluorescence is only weakly and transiently detected, however it is quickly increased to easily detectable levels upon onset of differentiation. We hypothesize that lengthened G1 phase can be used as an indicator of differentiation status of individual human embryonic stem cells.</p> <p>Cells with lengthened G1 are typically negative for pluripotency markers OCT4, Tra-1-60 and SSEA-3 following differentiation. Differentiated cells with lengthened G1 also demonstrate increased levels of lineage-specific differentiation markers at both the protein and mRNA level. Automated image analysis of hESC indicates this mutually exclusive relationship between lengthened G1 and pluripotency exists both on the cellular level and in colonies as a whole. Here we have shown that lengthened G1 indicates both loss of pluripotency and gain of lineage markers.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

Leadership as a concept has been an area of significance for several decades. While the contribution of research to leadership concept in the industry has been substantial the same cannot be claimed with regard to the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). There is a paucity of research studies in the context of HEIs, particularly in regard to business schools. Deans of business schools were hardly the subject of research in the leadership literature till recently. But with collapsing business empires in the last decade (for instance Lehman Brothers), business school deanship came under scrutiny as the leaders in those business empires that collapsed were graduates of renowned business schools. The review of the literature with respect to challenges affecting HEI and business school leadership threw up many challenges. The challenges investigated were leadership styles, leadership practice, leadership effectiveness, decision quality, follower commitment, follower satisfaction, management style, organisational setting and orgaisational culture. Each challenge was assumed as a factor affecting deans of business schools as leaders. The review of the literature provided the theoretical basis for determining the nature of each factor. Leadership style was defined as the independent variable influencing leadership practice. Five leadership styles namely transactional, transformational, laissez-faire, democratic and autocratic leadership styles were made as independent variables to determine leadership practice. Leadership practice was identified as the independent variable influencing leadership effectiveness although the relationship between leadership practice and leadership effectiveness was supposed to be influenced by mediating factors namely decision quality of deans of business school, follower satisfaction and follower commitment. Academic and administrative staff were considered as the followers. Management style and organisational setting were considered as moderating variables of leadership practice of deans of business schools. Oraganisational structure was used to represent organisational setting as the variable. Organisational culture was used as the control variable. The theoretical framework was drawn to represent the linkage between the factors. The model developed was supported by already established theories that were tested for reliability and validity. The leadership style and leadership effectiveness models were developed which was the focus of this research. Leadership style-leadership practice linkage provided the theoretical framework to determine the style practised by the deans. Leadership practiceleadership effectiveness linkage mediated by decision quality, follower commitment and follower satisfaction provided the theoretical framework to determine the leadership effectiveness. Survey questionnaire was the method used to collect data. The questionnaire was sent to 600 academic and administrative staff members of business schools from eight different countries. The results showed that the transactional leadership style was the leadership style practised by the deans of the business schools. Other findings were as follows. That transactional leadership indirectly but positively influenced the leadership effectiveness of deans through decision quality and follower satisfaction. The mediation of the transactional leadership practice-leadership effectiveness linkage by decision quality and follower satisfaction was significant and in the positive direction. Management style and organisational structure were found to act as moderating variables of transactional leadership practice of deans positively. Transformational, laissez-faire, democratic and autocratic leadership styles were found to have significant and positive correlation with transactional leadership style implying that these four styles could moderate the transactional leadership style-leadership practice linkage. The study offers insights into how deans of business schools might develop their leadership attributes either by enhancing their transactional leadership style or changing their style or combining different styles to suit the situation.

This study investigated the role of selected variables on organizational commitment in selected organizations in a North Texas metropolitan area. The selected (independent) variables were orientation attendance, unit size, educational level, gender, age, and length of service. Organizational commitment score was the dependent variable. The Organizational Commitment Questionnaire and a demographic questionnaire were administered to 1,055 employees. The Organizational Commitment Questionnaire contained fifteen statements which measured employees' feelings about their organization. Multiple regression was used to determine the relationship between organizational commitment and the selected variables at the .001 level of significance. It was determined that gender and length of service showed the strongest significant relationship on organizational commitment. This model shows that the six independent variables account for only 3 percent of the variance in the relationship between organizational commitment and the selected variables. Therefore, approximately 97 percent of the unexplained variance is accountable for the organizational commitment of the employees at the selected organizations used in this study. Studies using the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire to show the relationship between organizational commitment and other antecedents of organizational commitment are recommended. A follow-up study should also be conducted using the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire to show the relationship between organizational commitment and race. A follow-up study should be conducted using this questionnaire and a work ethic questionnaire to determine the relationship between organizational commitment and work ethics. An orientation attendance questionnaire should be developed and used with the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire to show the relationship between organizational commitment and orientation attendance. Additional research is necessary in other organizations and cultural settings before this study can be generalized to a greater number of employees. Recommendation is made that future researchers administer questionnaires to subjects due to the low reading and comprehension skills of many respondents.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a psycho-educational intervention program could support traumatised people to increase their mental toughness. Mental toughness is a well proven phenomenon in sports psychology as well as in leadership in the corporate world. I wanted to apply the use of mental toughness in trauma. Literature was consulted to understand the phenomena of mental toughness and trauma respectively. The corresponding aspects of mental toughness and trauma were selected for the literature review and many similarities between mental toughness and trauma were discovered. The corresponding aspects included action taking, the importance of the “self”, facing negativity and adversity, the importance of support systems, flexibility and adjustment, dealing with guilt and self-blame, the role of self-talk, people’s perceptions, goal-setting, commitment, helplessness / learned helplessness and dealing with stress. I used the corresponding aspects to compile a psycho-educational intervention programme to support traumatised persons to develop increased mental toughness that will support them to better deal with trauma. A valid and reliable psychometric instrument, the MTQ48 (Mental Toughness Questionnaire 48), has been successfully used to determine people’s mental toughness in sports psychology and in corporate management, but has never been tested before in supporting traumatised people. An action research design was employed, where both qualitative as well as quantitative methods were used. This is also known as a mixed research design. Eight traumatised people took part in the research which was presented weekly, as individual sessions, over eight weeks. Data collection methods included questionnaires, observation and individual therapy. The results of the study indicated that seven of the eight participants’ overall mental toughness increased after the intervention program, and four of the eight participants’ mental toughness components increased. As an additional benefit, all respondents indicated that they could better deal and cope with their trauma after the intervention program. The conclusion could be drawn that the psycho-educational intervention program was successful in supporting the traumatised participants to increase their mental toughness. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / Organizational cynicism is an attitude, characterized by frustration and negatively valenced beliefs, resulting primarily from unmet expectations, which is capable of being directed towards an organization in general and/or more specific facets of the organizational environment (Brockway, Carlson, Jones, & Bryant, 2002). This thesis presents an exploratory study into the causes of organizational cynicism at the United States Naval Academy. The study is based on focus groups involving 30 first class midshipmen (i.e., seniors). Gaps in expectations versus students' reality emerged as a cause of organizational cynicism. Themes such as (1) constraints on decision-making discretion, (2) disappointment in peers' actions, (3) organizational inconsistencies, and (4) emphasis on outside interests versus midshipmen's interests emerged as the strongest precursors to the development of cynicism. The effects of organizational cynicism were reported as (1) lack of organizational commitment and citizenship and (2) deficiencies in decision-making and risk taking skills. / Lieutenant, United States Navy

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a psycho-educational intervention program could support traumatised people to increase their mental toughness. Mental toughness is a well proven phenomenon in sports psychology as well as in leadership in the corporate world. I wanted to apply the use of mental toughness in trauma. Literature was consulted to understand the phenomena of mental toughness and trauma respectively. The corresponding aspects of mental toughness and trauma were selected for the literature review and many similarities between mental toughness and trauma were discovered. The corresponding aspects included action taking, the importance of the “self”, facing negativity and adversity, the importance of support systems, flexibility and adjustment, dealing with guilt and self-blame, the role of self-talk, people’s perceptions, goal-setting, commitment, helplessness / learned helplessness and dealing with stress. I used the corresponding aspects to compile a psycho-educational intervention programme to support traumatised persons to develop increased mental toughness that will support them to better deal with trauma. A valid and reliable psychometric instrument, the MTQ48 (Mental Toughness Questionnaire 48), has been successfully used to determine people’s mental toughness in sports psychology and in corporate management, but has never been tested before in supporting traumatised people. An action research design was employed, where both qualitative as well as quantitative methods were used. This is also known as a mixed research design. Eight traumatised people took part in the research which was presented weekly, as individual sessions, over eight weeks. Data collection methods included questionnaires, observation and individual therapy. The results of the study indicated that seven of the eight participants’ overall mental toughness increased after the intervention program, and four of the eight participants’ mental toughness components increased. As an additional benefit, all respondents indicated that they could better deal and cope with their trauma after the intervention program. The conclusion could be drawn that the psycho-educational intervention program was successful in supporting the traumatised participants to increase their mental toughness. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

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