Master of Science / Department of Psychological Sciences / Clive J. A. Fullagar / This mixed-methods study consisted of two phases. First, interviews were conducted with ROTC instructors responsible for organizational socialization of newcomers to the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force. This data shaped surveys given to organizational newcomers in phase II, which measured organizational culture and cognitive leadership schemas. It was hypothesized that implicit leadership theories (ILTs) would reflect respective organizational cultures. Although this was supported in the qualitative results from Phase I, it was not supported in the quantitative results from Phase II. However, analyses showed that leadership is still perceived as a masculine role in both the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, as was hypothesized. It was also hypothesized that leaders in line occupations would be seen as better leaders than leaders in staff occupations. This was supported for the Air Force sample, but not the Army sample. During the interviews, ROTC instructors asserted that male and female leaders were equally capable, and that line and staff leaders were equally capable. However, questioning revealed that organizational stereotypes still defined the quintessential leader as a male in a line occupation, although females had more opportunities to fill those key occupations in the Air Force than in the Army, at the time of this study. This discrepancy, along with the discrepancies in results between the qualitative and quantitative data, indicate that organizational culture has perhaps changed at the levels of visible artifacts and espoused values with respect to diversity, but has not yet changed at the fundamental level of basic assumptions.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between intelligence and behavior during leader development. Design/methodology/approach: As part of a leader development program, a variety of measures are collected, including measures of intelligence and measures of performance (e.g. assessment center performance, a 360-degree appraisal). The participants are given performance feedback from a variety of sources then asked to form developmental goals. The goals are examined for goal quality and goal-feedback correspondence, and examined in relation to intelligence. Findings: Intelligence was positively related to goal-feedback correspondence. Intelligence was also related to goal quality after controlling for variance attributed to professional discipline. Research limitations/implications: Personality, gender, age, and other variables were not included in this study. Other factors, such as the cultures of the organizations from which the individuals hailed, were also not included. Moreover, the conclusions were based on the behaviors exhibited in one leader development program. Future research should address these limitations. Practical implications: Leader development is expensive and is becoming more popular. The results of this research could help organizations better determine who is likely to benefit from the investment in leader development. Originality/value: In addition, a unique method is presented in the study for measuring leader development behavior based on goal quality and goal-feedback correspondence. Generalizability theory is applied in order to determine the reliability of the measures.

Universities are an ideal environment to assist students in the development of their leadership skills in a safe and supportive environment. The development of emotional intelligence (EI) has become an important aspect of student leadership development. The purpose of the study was to examine the emotionally intelligent leadership (EIL) scores of students working in a collegiate recreation setting and to examine their perceptions of their own EI and EIL. An exploratory, sequential, mixed-methods approach was used to explore the EIL scores of students employed in collegiate recreation departments at seven university sites. EIL was the theoretical framework used in this study (Shankman et al., 2015). The findings of this study showed no statistically significant difference in mean scores of EIL between students working in formal and informal leadership positions or between genders. Themes that emerged from the participant’s perceptions of their own EI and EIL were communication, confidence, perceived leadership ability, and teamwork. Understanding how students perceive their own EI and EIL can assist practitioners in the creation and development of intentional training and development programs.

Effective leadership in healthcare improves the patient experience. Self-awareness drives leadership development, competence, and, in turn, leader effectiveness. The problem addressed by this study was the absence of knowledge regarding how healthcare leaders develop awareness of their leadership strengths and weaknesses: their competence. The purpose of this postintentional phenomenological study was to explore how healthcare leaders develop this awareness. Twelve midlevel nonclinical healthcare leaders from 3 hospitals in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States shared their experiences during semistructured interviews. Participants and their organizations contributed supporting documentation of competence and performance expectations. Following Vagle's postintentional process, data were reviewed holistically and then in detail in multiple iterations. A reflective plan, including a postreflective statement, created prior to data collection and reviewed throughout the study, elevated and abated researcher bias and potential for influence. This plan also served to question the emerging themes and contributed to the trustworthiness of the study. In response to the research question, the necessity of honest and constructive feedback and use of self-reflection to elevate understanding of leadership competence emerged. The shared participant experiences elevated five feedback mechanisms of greatest value: quantifiable results, person-person, recognized capabilities, environmental/relational, and self. Adoption of recommendations for practice, such as an improvement of performance-evaluation processes or the development of a feedback culture, could contribute to social change through the development of effective healthcare leaders. Honest and constructive feedback, with reflection, contributes to gained awareness and identification of developmental needs.

Despite the gap between the demands of the global work environment and the maturity of its leaders, minimal research exists on the trend of the practice of mindfulness meditation and the developmental experiences of leaders, thereby resulting in a growing divide between theory and practice. Consequently, leadership scholars have little understanding of how an increasing number of leaders experience mindfulness meditation. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the perceived impact mindfulness meditation had on leader development for 20 manager-leaders who had a regular (at least 3 days a week) mindfulness-meditation practice. The primary recruitment strategy included outreach to potential participants affiliated with professionally oriented mindfulness groups on the social networking site, LinkedIn (geographic location was not relevant in this study). The primary conceptual framework was Day's conceptualization of leader development. The central research question addressed leaders' perceptions and experiences of the impact of mindfulness meditation on their development as leaders. A modified Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen data analysis procedure was used in this study. Key results included the identification of 10 core themes and the associated conclusion that leaders who want to contribute solutions to global challenges will have to access more of their potential, which may require consideration of techniques that foster vertical learning. The primary recommendation includes the serious consideration of mindfulness meditation by leaders and organizational decision makers of development investments. This study has implications for positive social change in that a better understanding of how leaders experience mindfulness meditation may provide direction for leaders and organizations about developmental practices that support leadership effectiveness.

In contemporary world, there is a constant need for leadership development. Technological advancements, excessive uncertainty and severe hostility on one hand and high expectations from subordinates, pressure from stakeholders on another hand force leaders to develop more skills and competencies in order to succeed. Leadership competencies represent a set of behaviours that are seen to be crucial to deliver desired outcomes. Organisations design competencies models that are used for diverse reasons within human resources management, such as employee selection, career development, succession planning, performance management and employee development. The current most common practices in leadership competencies development applied by organisations include coaching and mentoring, 360‐degree feedback, specific job assignments, networking, action learning, corporate case studies, computer simulations, experiential learning and of course classroom‐type leadership training. However, the future generation of employees are the nowadays youngsters whose life is widely influenced by technology. A specific interest among them is in online and computer-based games, on which they spend a considerable amount of time per week. Games in general were proven to be an effective tool for education among children and young adults, and were discussed to be useful for adults as well. Presented research is performed with the goal to create an understanding of the game-based learning approach to leadership competencies development. Our first ambition for the research was to find out what leadership competencies are most likely to be developed though GBL approach. We came to the results that GBL approach can be effective in developing social interaction competencies such as motivation, facilitation, coaching, effective communication, collaborative negotiation, effective teamwork and such cognitive competencies as strategic thinking, decision making, problem solving and technical competency. Our second aim for the research was to draw on a conceptual framework in form of an experiment to answer to the question of how effective is game-based learning for development of leadership competencies. The experiment model proposed in this conceptual paper was designed by us by putting together elements in form of such games as "Spaghetti Tower"; "Strategic thinking game with 8 players" for measurement and "Acquire" board game for development of the "strategic thinking" leadership competency.

Although there were numerous leadership development programs throughout the country, most ignored the small producers located throughout the south. In order to address the needs of these traditionally underserved individuals, the “National Small Farmer Agricultural Leadership Institute” was created to address the concerns of small farmers in rural communities. This research specifically targeted the effectiveness of leadership development over a period by exploring the factors that motivate the program participants to enhance their leadership skills and the ability to transform that motivation into effective leadership. The group involved in this study is a convenience population of small farmers and ranchers from across the Southern United States, who graduated from the National Small Farm Leadership Institute. These participants represent 2 graduating classes from 2007 and 2009. A retrospective post survey methodology was used to conduct this study. The instrument is divided into a knowledge base before they took the program (pre) and a retrospective post assessment. Each of the questions allowed the participants to rate their ability on a 5 point Likert-Type scale. The responses ranged from 1 to 5 with the following responses Very Poor, Poor, Fair, Good and Very Good. The survey research examined four educational constructs that were covered during the leadership development program. These were Leadership Skill Development, Leadership Theory, Agricultural Skill enhancement and the Transformation of their leadership skills. Through analysis of the four educational constructs the research reveals substantial increases in knowledge and skills such as Group Problem Solving, Consensus Building, Team Building, Group Decision Making and Obtaining information to help in decision making. Participants were definitely found to have increased their leadership skills through teaching of Leadership Philosophy, linkages to Federal and agricultural resources, the appreciation of different styles of leadership and awareness of agricultural policy issues. The study revealed that in each of the four educational construct areas of the National Small Farm Leadership Institute that there were substantial increases in knowledge and changes in behavior such as: understanding and explaining personal leadership philosophy, increased awareness of Agricultural Policy Issues and transferring the leadership back to the community.

Over the last two decades, several studies have confirmed that there is a leadership crisis among the nation's community colleges. In response to this leadership crisis, the American Association of Community Colleges [AACC] commissioned the development of a leadership competency framework consisting of six leadership competency areas deemed "either `very' or `extremely' essential to the effective performance of community college leaders." Since the release of this framework, limited research has been conducted on the importance of and the preparation in the identified competencies. The majority of research that has been conducted has focused on the position of president, even though there are several leadership positions within community colleges that are facing a leadership crisis. One such position is that of academic affairs officer. This study had two purposes. The first was to extend the research that has been conducted on the AACC leadership competencies by examining how community college academic affairs officers perceived the importance of and their own level of professional preparation in the identified competencies. The second was to examine the leadership development experiences that academic affairs officers identified as the most beneficial to their professional development as academic affairs officers. This study was a quantitative, descriptive, correlational design and used a questionnaire to collect data. The population for this study was academic affairs officers at public community colleges in the United States. The academic affairs officers that were included in the population were identified from the membership directory of the AACC. The survey instrument used for this study was based on the AACC leadership competency framework, as modified by Duree, which included 45 leadership competencies summarized into six leadership competency areas: organizational strategy, resource management, communication, collaboration, community college advocacy, and professionalism. Using two four-point scales, academic affairs officers (n=102) were asked to rate the importance of and their own level of professional preparation in the identified competencies. The survey instrument also asked academic affairs officers to rank the top five leadership development experiences that they feel have been the most beneficial to their professional development as academic affairs officers. In general, academic affairs officers believe that the AACC leadership competency areas are important for effective leadership in leading academic affairs. The most important leadership competency area was communication, followed by organizational strategy, community college advocacy, collaboration, professionalism, and resource management. In addition, academic affairs officers perceive that they are moderately or very well-prepared to perform many but not all of the identified competencies. For those identified competencies that academic affairs officers did not feel as prepared to perform, several were rated as important for effective leadership. Academic affairs officers ranked progressive job responsibilities as the leadership development experience felt to be the most beneficial to their professional development as academic affairs officers. Academic affairs officers then ranked challenging job assignments; participation in institutional task forces, committees, and commissions; and networking as the second, third, and fourth most beneficial leadership development experiences, respectively. The fifth most beneficial leadership development experience was networking, followed by attendance at conferences and specialized workshops. Based upon frequency totals, university-based degree programs and mentoring (role as mentee, not mentor) were also considered beneficial leadership development experiences. The significance of this study is that it provides practical, relevant, and timely information for both current practicing academic affairs officers and those who aspire to lead public community colleges in the position of academic affairs officer. The results of this study have several implications for practice. These implications include: to inform those persons seeking academic affairs officer positions of the relative importance of the AACC leadership competencies and the leadership development experiences deemed to be the most beneficial by a sample of incumbents; to inform leaders of higher education and professional development programs of the leadership competencies that should perhaps be included in the curricula of their programs; and to provide resources to be used by search committees in formulating desired qualifications and, later, in interviewing candidates for the position of academic affairs officer.

The steady increase of racial and ethnic diversity in public universities has provided student leaders with many challenges. However, little is known about the effects of racial and ethnic diversity on the development of these student leaders. This study aims to evaluate the effects of racial and ethnic diversity in college student organizations on the development of student leaders and the perceived value of such diversity on their development. The sample consists of 833 student leaders from Florida's ten public universities who completed online surveys. The questions asked were designed to evaluate their past and present leadership roles and skills, exposure to ethnic and racial diversity on their campus (specifically in student organizations), and the perceived influence of racial and ethnic diversity on their leadership skills and career preparation. The results of the study show there is a positive relationship between membership in a diverse student organization and the development of leadership skills. The findings also reveal that the leadership skills learned from this exposure are expected to better prepare students for their careers upon graduation.

The aim of this research was to empower Coloureds in Greenspark based on qualitative and quantitative research from a narrative approach so that they can develop their potential as leaders in the community by means of a group work leadership development programme. The thesis comprises of five Sections. SECTION A This section indicates the actuality of the research. The problem statement as well as the aim and five objectives are explained in this section. This research was undertaken within the DR & U model, namely The Developmental and Utilization model of Grinnell (1981) with a combined qualitative and quantitative research approach. This research was done from a social constructivist paradigm, and the research epistemology was qualitative by nature. The exploratory design was used as research plan. In order to note down data collection and processing systematically, video recordings were made of the group discussions. Two external evaluators as well as the group members themselves were also used to do the evaluation. The group work leadership development programme was also evaluated by the group members by means of a self-compiled questionnaire. SECTION B This section took the form of five articles in which the research findings were reported. All five articles form part of the overarching research aim and objectives and of the entire research project. However, each article is a distinctive subdivision of the entire research project, because it also functions independently - each with an own objective, own research methodology as well as a distinctive content. Section B consists of the following articles: Article 1 The objective of Article 1 was to establish the role the empowerment approach plays from the post-modern perspective in social work, by means of literature analysis. Empowerment was applied differently in different situations within the post-modern philosophy. Group work as a method of social work is a possible way in which the empowerment of individuals can be dealt with. Together with the community, the parties involved are responsible for empowering individuals. Article 2 The objective of this article was to establish the points of departure of the narrative approach by means of a literature analysis. From the literature analysis, it became clear that the narrative approach does not work with strategies, but with responsibilities, in which each individual takes responsibility for his/her own social construction, which includes his/her choices for life. Article 3 Article 3 discussed the role the narrative approach plays in group work within social work. Guidelines for dealing with empowerment within the group work process from the narrative approach were determined by means of a literature analysis. The focus was on relevant literature with specific reference to narrative theory, which included empowerment as well as the post-modern way of thinking and the description of group work. Article 4 The objective of Article 4 was to determine the role the narrative approach possibly plays in group work. The theoretical knowledge was utilised from the narrative approach in developing a group work leadership development programme. Article 5 With Article 5, the objective was to evaluate the group work development programme. This evaluation was attended to by two external consultants, as well as the group members themselves. SECTION C In Section C, the synoptic findings, conclusions and recommendations with regard to this research were discussed. The limitations of the research under review were indicated and recommendations were made with the view to use it in group work theory and in practice for training and research purposes. SECTION D Although each article and sections A and C are accompanied by an own source list, a combined source list of the entire research is given in this section. SECTION E All addendums that were referred to in the thesis are contained in this section. / Thesis (Ph.D. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.