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Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:25:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Alvaro Cardoso Armond.pdf: 1400403 bytes, checksum: 6d026e18e35c6ceb3b40fb71dea63651 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-11-24 / During the last decades, entrepreneurship has been given a lot of attention by researchers from many different fields. Its impacts over economic development, its role in making new technologies available and its power to socially transform cities, regions and countries, have stimulated the search for a better comprehension of the phenomenon. Although it s a relatively new field of knowledge, where the academic debate is yet very intense, it seems that there is an agreement on the fact that the entrepreneur is the pivotal element of entrepreneurship. This study was drawn from this assumption. A research was conducted aiming to identify the leadership behavior applied by entrepreneurs to promote the organizational changes required to consolidate and develop their businesses. The research is qualitative and exploratory, and was conducted through in depth interviews, with three entrepreneurs, which generated approximately four hours of report from each one of them. In order to be analyzed, the reports were submitted to categorization, based on the Yukl, Gordon e Taber (2000) theoretical model. Evidences were found that, in general terms, the type of leadership adopted by the entrepreneurs, aiming the growth of their organizations, is consistent with the leadership behavior presented in the literature, but that there are some personal and contextual factors, which would characterize leadership as an individual experience, influenced by environmental elements. / O empreendedorismo tem, ao longo das últimas décadas, merecido a atenção de pesquisadores de diversas áreas. Seu impacto sobre o desenvolvimento econômico, seu papel como agente de disponibilização de novas tecnologias, e seu poder de transformar socialmente cidades, regiões e países, têm estimulado os estudiosos a buscar uma maior compreensão do fenômeno. Apesar de ser uma área do conhecimento relativamente nova, marcada, ainda, por um nível elevado de controvérsia acadêmica, parece haver consenso sobre o fato de que o elemento central e determinante do empreendedorismo é o empreendedor. Foi a partir dessa premissa que o presente estudo desenvolveu-se. Realizou-se uma pesquisa que tem por objetivo identificar os comportamentos de liderança adotados pelos empreendedores para promover as mudanças organizacionais requeridas para consolidar e desenvolver seus empreendimentos. A pesquisa é de natureza qualitativa e exploratória, tendo sido realizada por meio de entrevistas em profundidade, com três empreendedores, que geraram cerca de quatro horas de relatos com cada um deles. Tais relatos foram analisados através de processo de categorização, com base no modelo teórico proposto por Yukl, Gordon e Taber (2000). Encontrou-se evidências de que os comportamentos de liderança adotados pelos empreendedores, visando ao crescimento de suas organizações, estão, de maneira geral, alinhados com o referencial teórico estudado, especialmente no que se refere às ações orientadas ao relacionamento e à mudança. Depreende-se que, embora as experiências relatadas apresentem convergência com os pressupostos teóricos, há nuances pessoais e contextuais significativas, que caracterizariam, assim, a liderança como um exercício individual, mediado por fatores ambientais específicos.

The purposes of this study were to determine, based on the perceptions of teachers and principals, during the first year of operation in new elementary schools: (1) the extent of change in organizational climate, (2) the extent of change in principal leadership behavior, (3) the difference between teachers' and principals' perceptions of climate and principal leadership behavior, and (4) the relationship between the openness factor of climate and the principal leadership behavior factors of consideration and structure. The major findings of the study included: 1) Both teachers' and principals' perceptions of the organizational climate in the school changed during the course of the school year. 2) Both teachers' and principals' perceptions of principal leadership behavior changed during the course of the school year. 3) The differences in teachers' and principals' perceptions of climate and principal leadership behavior as measured by the openness score of the OCDQ and the two dimension scores of the SBD were not statistically significant. 4) For the scores for the total group of subjects, the calculated correlation coefficients for the relationship between openness and consideration were all positive.

Studien syftar till att skapa en ökad förståelse för ledarskapsbeteendets betydelse för företags interna effektivitet. Fenomenet studeras under en organisationsförändring. Förändringslitteratur och tidigare forskning inom området benämner mellanchefer som förändringsagenter och framhäver deras möjlighet att påverka resultatet av en organisationsförändring. Vidare har studier inom ledarskapsbeteenden främst fokuserat på ledningsnivå och det saknas kunskap om ledarskapsbeteenden på mellanchefsnivå. Mellanchefer har därmed valts som undersökningsenhet i uppsatsen. Forskningsfrågan lyder enligt följande; Vilken betydelse har mellanchefers ledarskapsbeteende för företagets interna effektivitet vid en organisationsförändring? Undersökningen utgörs av en kvalitativ studie som inkluderar två företag. Det ena företaget är Scandinavian Airlines, som är verksamt inom flygbranschen. De genomgick en organisationsförändring som slutfördes för två år sedan. Det andra företaget är Volvo Cars, som agerar i bilbranschen. Företaget är i den inledande fasen av en förändringsprocess. Respondenterna utgörs av tre mellanchefer på respektive företag. De två första respondenterna valdes med ett avsiktligt urval, vilka i sin tur rekommenderade de resterande fyra. De sista baseras därmed på ett snöbollsurval. Intervjuerna är uppbyggda på semistrukturerade frågor, med utgångspunkt i fyra huvudbegrepp från referensramen. Studien har sin utgångspunkt i en deduktiv metodansats då den går från teori till empiri. Verklighetsuppfattningen utgår från ett kritiskt realistiskt perspektiv och studien har ett interpretativt förhållningssätt till kunskapsbildning. Studiens resultat visar att flera faktorer i samtliga mellanchefers ledarskapsbeteenden tyder på transformativa ledarskap. Mellancheferna individanpassar sitt ledarskap och förmedlar ett förtroende till medarbetarna som ger dem utrymme för frihet och kreativitet i arbetet. Vidare lägger cheferna stor vikt vid att öka motivationen hos sina anställda. Ett transformativt ledaskapsbeteende har visat sig ha betydelse för företags interna effektivitet i positiv bemärkelse. Mellanchefernas definition av intern effektivitet involverar en välfungerande kommunikation och minskade suboptimeringar. Det påstås bidra till ett effektivare samarbete mellan avdelningar och ökade förutsättningar för ett lyckat resultat. / The study is aiming to create increased understanding for how middle management can affect businesses’ internal effectiveness with their leadership behavior during an organizational change. Previous research has contributed with knowledge about middle managers part and meaning during an organizational change. They were hence chosen as the research target in the study. The research question is as following; What significance does the middle managers’ leadership behavior have for the business’ internal effectiveness during an organizational change? The study consists of a qualitative study that includes two businesses. One of the businesses is Scandinavian Airlines, which is active in the flight business and went through an organizational change that finished two years ago. The other business is Volvo Cars, which is an actor in the car business and is in the early phase of the change process. The respondents consist of three middle managers from each business. The first two respondents were chosen with deliberate selection, which in turn recommended the other four respondents. The last four were thus chosen with snowball selection. The interviews are based on semi-structured questions, with it’s starting point from four main concepts from the theoretical framework. The study is hence based on a deductive method. Furthermore, the reality view in the essay assumes a critical realistic viewpoint and an interpretive approach to knowledge creation. The study’s results show that several factors in all middle managers leadership behaviors matched with transformational leadership. The middle managers’ adjust their leadership depending on their employees and facilitates trust in the employees that gives them space for freedom and creativity in their work. Furthermore, the middle managers put significant importance on increasing the motivation of their employees. A transformative leader behavior has shown to have significance for business’ internal effectiveness in a positive regard. The middle managers definition of internal effectiveness involves functioning communication and decreased sub optimizations. It allegedly contributes to a more effective cooperation between departments and increased conditions for a successful result.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationships between stress and outcomes including organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), job satisfaction, and burnout in high-risk occupations. Moreover, how personality, emotions, coping, and leadership influence this relationship is investigated. Data were collected from 379 officers in 9 police organizations located in the Southern and Southwest United States. The primary research question addressed within this dissertation is: What is the relationship between stress and behavioral and affective outcomes in high-risk occupations as governed by coping, leadership, and crisis? The majority of the hypothesized relationships were supported, and inconsistencies center on methodological and theoretical factors. Findings indicate that occupational stressors negatively influence individuals in high-risk occupations. Moreover, crisis events exacerbate these influences. The use of adaptive coping strategies is most effective under conditions of low stress, but less so under highly stressful circumstances. Similarly, transformational leader behaviors most effectively influence how individuals in high-risk occupations are affected by lower, but not higher levels of stress. Profiles of personality characteristics and levels of emotional dissonance also influence the chosen coping strategies of those working in high-risk occupations. Prescriptively, it is important to understand the influences among the variables assessed in this study, because negative outcomes in high-risk occupations are potentially more harmful to workers and more costly to organizations. Thus, this dissertation answers the research question, but much work in this area remains to be done.

The problem of this study is to determine if school climate perceptions are stable among the departmental subgroups of the high school. In addition, the study seeks to determine if the subject area of the department or patterns of leadership behavior of the department head (as perceived by teachers in the department) have a significant relationship to how teachers within a department perceive the climate of their school.

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Abstract This cross-sectional survey study investigated middle and high school administrative team members’ leadership classifications and perceptions of secondary principals’ leadership actions and behaviors in the context of change and to what extent these perceptions are gender specific. In addition to gender, the study also examined the impact of race/ethnicity, age, campus level, length of employment in the district, length of time working with the principal, and closeness to the principals on leadership actions and behaviors. The results of the study are intended to highlight the importance and value of feminine-inspired leadership approaches and administrative team members’ perspectives of leadership in managing and leading the change process. The study targeted the leadership actions and behaviors of 39 middle school and 28 high school principals assigned to traditional secondary schools in the southwestern United States. Administrative team members’ perceptions of secondary school principals’ approaches to leadership served as the basis for the study, which investigated whether administrative team members perceived principals’ leadership actions or behaviors in a change context to be gender specific. Male and female administrative team members (n=210) were surveyed using the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ), Form XII – fourth revision (Ohio State University, 1962). Based on survey results, secondary principals were classified as dynamic, considerate, passive, and structured leaders as rated by administrative team members using the LBDQ. The results of the study revealed that gender and school level of administrative team members did not influence the classification of secondary principals as dynamic, considerate, passive, or structured leaders. The ratings of those principals perceived as dynamic were statistically significantly higher than those of principals as passive and structured leaders. Out of 62 secondary principals, administrative team members classified principals as follows: dynamic leaders 63% (n=39), considerate leaders 5% (n=3), passive leaders 16% (n=10) and structured leaders 16% (n=10). Additionally, dynamic leaders received a statistically significant higher rating of closeness to principal when compared to passive and structured leaders. The findings of the study, which illuminate the perspectives of administrative team members with regard to secondary school principals, have implications for informing research on school leadership as well as educational leadership practices.

The selection of effective leaders is critical to improving organizations' performance in the current dynamic global business landscape; however, the inadequacy of leadership selection criteria in many organizations had led to an increase in the rate of chief executive officers' dismissals within the last 3 decades in the United States. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between employees' assessments of their managers' transformational leadership behaviors and employees' perceptions of managerial leadership effectiveness for improved leadership selection. Bass' transformational leadership theory and Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory guided the study with data gathered, using an online survey, from randomly selected information technology professionals employed at telecommunication service companies located in the State of New Jersey (n = 190). Data analysis using a multiple linear regressions indicated a statistically significant relationship between managers' transformational leadership behaviors and employees' perceptions of managerial leadership effectiveness, F(5, 184) = 237.578, p < .0005, and R2 = 0.866. The final model indicated that each of the 5 predictors examined that represented managers' transformational leadership behaviors were statistically significant in predicting employees' perceptions of managerial leadership effectiveness. The results of this study may have implications for social change by providing information for business executives to improve leadership selection criteria. Adopting the findings from this study might increase effective leaders who proactively align organization's vision with societal expectations, thus improving an organization's public perceptions and financial outlook.

Job dissatisfaction among bank employees may adversely influence the financial performance of banks due to employee turnover, decreased productivity, poor service quality, decreased customer satisfaction, and negative employee attitudes in the workplace. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine how work on the present job, pay, opportunities for promotion, supervision, and coworker relationships predict job satisfaction among bank employees in Nigeria. The population of the study was 167 bank employees in 3 commercial banks in Nigeria. The 2-factor theory (TFT) served as the theoretical foundation in this study. Data collection was through a survey instrument called the job descriptive index. The results of the multiple linear regression analysis showed that the regression model significantly predicted job satisfaction, F (5, 95) = 10.806, p < .05, R2 = .363. Both supervision and coworker relationships were statistically significant predictors of job satisfaction among bank employees in Nigeria, while there were no statistically significant relationships between the predictors' work on the present job, pay, and opportunities for promotion, and the dependent variable, job satisfaction. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential to provide senior bank executives with an understanding of factors that relate to job satisfaction among bank employees, including creating a desirable work environment, improving the quality of supervision in the organization, increasing job satisfaction, and making the organization more desirable for employees.