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This phenomenological qualitative research examined the factors that influenced seventeen women leaders in K-12 Christian schools and the pathways that lead to their achievement. The research was designed to analyze the pivotal components of their journeys to further understand and enhance training for future women educational leaders. The framework of the research was in response to the underrepresentation of women in leadership counter to those serving as teachers. The participants were acquired through the snowball sampling technique with data collected via online interviews and a discussion board forum. The data was triangulated, coded, and analyzed to result in seven themes. The themes represent consistent components shared in the narratives of the participants regarding their personal journeys to Christian education leadership positions. The themes were both intrinsic and extrinsic in nature. The themes encompassed motivations such as personal desire to serve, a calling from the Lord, a commitment to live in obedience to the Lord’s guidance and valuing the experience as a teacher. The remaining themes represented external influences within the accrediting agency, as well as spiritual and professional mentors who spoke words of encouragement as well as modeled servant leadership behaviors. Suggestions for further research are to include a deeper look into the mentor relationships and whether they are organic in nature or structured. In addition, research could expand to Christian leaders within secular schools. The conclusions of the study supported the literature on both external and internal sources of encouragement for women Christian education leaders. The underrepresentation of Christian educational leadership is not due to obstacles within the Christian educational realm but rather due to a direct correlation of guidance from the Lord. / Doctor of Philosophy in Leadership

The purpose of this evaluation was to determine the effectiveness of an Externship as the capstone experience of a Master's degree program in preparing seventeen teachers to be Mathematics Specialists. This formative evaluation was based on the teacher's perspective and was naturalistic in design utilizing both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Data sources included a teacher survey, teacher interviews, writing prompts, teacher observations, and teacher final project presentations. This evaluation was designed to answer the question: Do the teachers feel that the requirements of this Masters' Degree Externship have prepared them for their role as a Mathematics Specialist? The success and effectiveness of the Externship was tied directly to the teachers chosen school-based experiences which were designed based on a mathematics needs assessment of their schools. Teachers were found to be involved in all five of the essential components of an externship as outlined in the theoretical framework — application, collaboration, reflection, expectations, and the cohort structure. In addition, teachers were found to integrate their leadership and teaching skills through the engagement of their school colleagues in the improvement of educational experiences for all students. Overall, the teachers felt that the experiences throughout the Externship adequately prepared them for their roles of a mathematics specialist; working effectively with stakeholders; working with issues around curriculum and instruction; planning and delivering professional development; and working as leaders within their schools. / Ed. D.

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The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze the leadership experiences of woman presidents of nonprofit agencies who are perceived as successful. Recognizing that participants' descriptions of their leadership experience are both similar and different, those similarities and differences are explored and analyzed. Commitment to the organization's mission, communicating a vision into action, fostering collaboration, and an adaptable leadership approach all contributed to the success of these female board presidents. A case study design was used to obtain an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon of women leaders on nonprofit boards of directors. In-depth interviewing, observations with field notes, member checking, and written materials were utilized as data collection techniques. The selection of eight current and former board presidents for this study involved purposeful, criterion-based sampling. The researcher selected subjects based on their knowledge and experience with the phenomenon under investigation. An interesting finding from the study was that participants shared the same motivation and commitment to nonprofit work, as well as similar leadership qualities despite their differences in socioeconomic background, ethnicity, race, and age. The data also revealed these women place a high value on the social element of nonprofit work. Research supports that women overall are more likely to attach importance to helping others then men who place more significance on status and prestige. This finding based on the literature review and data analysis, suggests further research should include a comparative study of leadership qualities of men and women nonprofit board presidents to determine if there is a consistent leadership model.Nonprofits need to recognize that future leaders are out there waiting to be trained and among them are women who have transferable skills along with a passion and commitment to an organization. Those nonprofit agencies who understand the value of training and board development will be cultivating the leaders of tomorrow.

This research study examines two recent conceptualisations of leadership that have evolved from previous leadership research. They are the Level 5 leadership theory and the romance of leadership theory. These concepts have been chosen as they represent conflicting perspectives of leadership. The aim of this research study is to investigate whether a recent historical profile of publicity given to a prominent Level 5 leader lends itself to a romance of leadership interpretation. The present study addressed this aim by adopting a research methodology that is qualitative in nature and by utilising archival case history research and theory-based sampling. The two measuring instruments that were used are the items comprising the romance of leadership scale (RLS-C) and archival data. An exemplar of a Level 5 leader that has received ample press coverage, Bill Gates, was chosen. 201 articles from the following five sources and four years were collected and their content analysed: the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, Forbes, Fortune and Business Week in 1990, 1995, 1998 and 2006. The positive period included 1990 and 2006, and negative period 1995 and 1998. Once the 201 newspaper articles were randomly selected, the researcher analysed the content via 17 sub-categories. The eight sub-categories from the principles of Level 5 leadership were used as a criterion to find supportive evidence in the data for the Level 5 leadership theory. The researcher concurrently used the nine items from the RLS-C, which comprised nine sub-categories as a criterion to find supportive evidence in the data for romance of leadership theory. This research study resulted in a follower-centric, non-traditional recognition of leadership as it provided clear support for the romance of leadership theory. In the positive period, subcategory 1 and 5 dominated. Four trends were extracted: Ability, Image, Philanthropy and Innovation, constituting altogether 82 percent of the total propositions. Ability was the most salient trend. In the negative period, sub-categories 1 and 5 dominated. Five trends were extracted: Power, Image, Ability, Innovation and Competition constituting altogether, 85 percent of the total propositions. Power and Image were the most salient trends. Conceptual and methodological reasons for the findings were offered, followed by a discussion of the limitations and some theoretical and practical implications. Finally, future considerations for research were suggested.

Thesis advisor: Judith A. Clair / Building from existing theory and research on gender and work and leader identity development, this dissertation informs our understanding of professional women's experiences with coming to see themselves as leaders as they move along the leadership path in organizations. Given limited work that considers variation among women at a similar point in their development, I introduce the construct of a gender-leadership frame to capture the various ways in which women construct their gender as relevant to their leadership. I consider how these constructions are both shaped by the organizational context and have implications for leader identity development. I conducted a qualitative, inductive field study of women developing as leaders (n=55) in a large, global bank to explore these ideas. I found that women hold different constructions of gender and leadership (gender-leadership frames) and that various elements of the organizational context prompt women to shift their frames, feel conflicted in their frames, or remain within one reinforcing frame. Further, I found that these different frame experiences orient women toward certain types of self-questioning and enactment of their leader identities. Together, these findings demonstrate that different ways of thinking about one's gender in relation to one's leadership may help explain women's different choices, aspirations, and development on the leadership path. Coming to see oneself as a leader does not happen in a vacuum, but rather is a complex process in which non-work identities (here, gender) play a role in one's understanding of who she is and can be as a leader. Not only does gender play a role in women's self-views as leaders, but scholars and organizations must appreciate women's different experiences and perspectives which have tangible implications for their motivations to pursue leadership opportunities and growth within their organizations. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Management and Organization.