<p> This case study explored how specific behaviors shape the connections between people within an inter-sector health collaborative as an important antecedent to achieving collaborative outcomes. The primary research question guiding this study was, &ldquo;How do individual complexity leader behaviors&mdash;a subset of complexity leadership behaviors&mdash;shape the connectivity of agents within a complex adaptive system made up of elected, unpaid volunteers immediately following their annual strategic planning retreat?&rdquo; Methods included observations, interviews, and document review. Individual complexity leader behaviors (CLBs) were found to shape the connectivity of agents within this complex adaptive system in a variety of ways that depended on the extant level of connectivity between agents. Specifically, when experiencing low-negative connectivity, the utility of CLBs shaped the extant connectivity in a negative manner. When experiencing low-neutral connectivity, the utility of CLBs shaped the extant connectivity in either a negative or a positive manner, or in a manner that reinforced the status quo. When experiencing moderate connectivity, the utility of CLBs shaped the extant connectivity in a manner that reinforced the status quo or the behavior made no impact on the extant connectivity. Lastly, when experiencing high/deep connectivity, the utility of CLBs shaped the extant connectivity in a positive manner, in a manner that reinforced the status quo, or the behavior made no impact on the extant connectivity. There were also a number of additional findings related to the nature of both CLBs and the indices of connectivity. These findings are critical given that the relative connectivity of agents within a complex adaptive system is predictive of that system&rsquo;s capacity to achieve outcomes. This study empirically supports and extends several core assumptions of complexity leadership theory; it also demonstrates that individual CLBs are identifiable and influential; that anybody can utilize CLBs; and that CLBs should be intentionally and mindfully utilized. Moreover, this study empirically supports the existence of non-linearity and (inter)connectivity in complex adaptive systems; it also demonstrates the versatility of connectivity and its indices. The results of this study have practical implications for inter-sector collaboratives&mdash;particularly related to how they utilize complexity leadership behaviors and achieve outcomes&mdash;and for capacity-building practitioners&mdash;specifically related to re-framing their conceptualization of leadership for their students.</p>

<p> The objective of this research study was to ascertain if attributes of servant leadership were more fully developed in undergraduate students nearing graduation than in those students who recently embarked on their university program. The university at which the project was completed endeavors to make its undergraduate students servant leaders as publically stated in its vision, mission, and other public statements and documents. The results of the research indicate that of the five servant leadership attributes selected, the seniors indicated higher scores in two categories, lower in one, and showed no statistical difference in the other two. As a result of this study, therefore, it cannot be concluded that the upper classmen had stronger servant leadership attributes than freshmen. The implications of this result include the need for further study around the students&rsquo; environments and history, the institution&rsquo;s curriculum and extracurricular content, and the culture of the university in light of its mission and vision.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to develop a comprehensive manual for volunteer managers of Associated Students, at California State University, Long Beach. The volunteer manual will serve as a supplement to the Associated Students volunteer policy. The volunteer manual will also enable staff of Associated Students to efficiently and effectively work with student volunteers. In regard to volunteer staff, the volunteer manual could be utilized by any department within Associated Students. This project informs readers of the importance of recruitment, training, and retention of volunteers. </p>

<p> A considerable deficit of Licensed Mental Health Professionals (LMHPs) is expected in the United States because of the rapid professional burnout and turnover. Research has related various leadership styles to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and retention. This study focused on authentic leadership theory and the relationship between authentic leadership and burnout. The researcher conducted a causal-comparative study with a convenience sample of 116 licensed mental health professionals to assess the relationship between authentic leadership and LMHP leader burnout in an attempt to identify a solution to the systemic burnout and turnover problems in community mental health centers. The results indicated that authentic leadership was a statistically significant predictor of all three subscales of the MBI. The multiple linear regression analysis indicated that the subcomponents of authentic leadership had a relationship with the three subscales of the MBI. The transparency sub-component of authentic leadership was particularly important because it was a statistically significant predictor of the emotional exhaustion subscale, while the balanced processing and self-awareness subcomponents were also statistically significant predictors of the depersonalization subscale. The moral sub-component of authentic leadership was a statistically significant predictor of the personal accomplishment subscale, which makes this study useful for development of leadership trainings designed to promote work environments that are able to minimize burnout and turnover in LMHPs.</p>

<p> A toxic organization is characterized by a narrow focus on bottom line profits and malicious or abusive behaviors go unnoticed or undisciplined (Kusy &amp; Holloway, 2009; Macklem, 2005). It produces a toxic work environment where employees suffer emotional pain generated from damaging behaviors (Samuel, 2010). While some degree of toxicity is unavoidable, the unrelieved intensity of pressures over a prolonged period of time tends to wear people down (Bacal, 2000; Samuel, 2010). </p><p> Much of the academic and popular literature addressing organizational toxicity focuses on bullying and dysfunctional behavior. This research shows that harmful behaviors are symptomatic of more complex systemic problems. The purpose of this study was to uncover the organizational antecedents of toxicity using Bolman and Deal's (2008) Four-Frame Model of holistic analysis addressing the role that structure, human resources management, political systems, and organizational culture in creating or perpetuating organizational toxicity. </p><p> The study was guided by 4 research questions: 1. What role, if any, does the Structural Frame play in creating or perpetuating organizational toxicity? 2. What role, if any, does the Human Resources Frame play in creating or perpetuating organizational toxicity? 3. What role, if any, does the Political Frame play in creating or perpetuating organizational toxicity? 4. What role, if any, does the Cultural Frame play in creating or perpetuating organizational toxicity? </p><p> The researcher used a phenomenological methodology and purposeful sampling strategy. Fifteen working professionals were interviewed to share stories of their experiences working in a toxic organization. Data extracted from the stories were synthesized through a holistic framework to identify the systemic sources of toxicity. The results revealed dysfunctions with organizational hierarchies, strategies, goals, policies, rules, standards, technology; failures in human resources management and political power sources; and the impact of leadership, values, and norms on organizational culture. These dysfunctions culminate in a toxic work environment. </p><p> This study was intended to provide leaders, students, and victims of toxicity with information for early and accurate identification of organizational toxicity. It concludes with suggestions for understanding the organizational antecedents of toxicity and provides a strategy for managing within, and emotional release from, the toxic work environment.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 231-237).

<p> Biomedical PhD education is a large and increasingly interdisciplinary segment of higher education. The primarily laboratory-based research training is commonly distributed to a range of administrative units within and outside the research-intensive universities. This organizational fragmentation represents a significant challenge to coordination, oversight, and quality development. The University of Pennsylvania was one of the first institutions to establish a centralized, umbrella-type biomedical graduate program to address these organizational challenges. The thirty-year-old program has been highly successful and is regarded as a model for other institutions. In order to learn from the program's path to success, this research investigated the inner dynamics and leadership actions related to the development of Biomedical Graduate Studies (BGS) at the University of Pennsylvania. The retrospective instrumental case study explored the process from the period prior to the establishment of the program in 1984 until its current configuration in 2014. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 18 people representing different time periods and leadership positions in the history of the program, as well as archival material. The data were analyzed to establish the chronology of events and to identify the main themes and leadership actions of the change process. The presented case was subsequently analyzed in light of established theory on organizational change and leadership orientations in higher education. This analysis demonstrated that the change was a multi-dimensional process and could be explained by several theoretical frameworks. There were elements of planning and decisive management, organizational learning, political bargaining, adaptation to environmental factors, and attention to culture and symbolism. The process involved a transformation that empowered the junior faculty, promoted collegiality, and improved the quality of recruitment, student satisfaction, and scientific outcomes. Centralization of student recruitment and funding, detaching the graduate education from the department structure, and collaborative leadership stood out as primary factors for success. This case study may serve as a guideline for other institutions that aim to develop centralized biomedical graduate programs. It also represents a reference for further research in the field of biomedical education management.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to identify what leadership behaviors are associated with each of Spillane's (2006) three conceptually distinct forms of distributed leadership, and to determine whether specific influence tactics (Yukl, Seifert &amp; Chavez, 2008) are differentially associated with each form. A two-phased, mixed methods design was employed. The sampling frame for both phases included student affairs professionals in colleges and universities in New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, which were primarily four-year, undergraduate, co-educational, residential institutions. In Phase I, focus groups identified behaviors exhibited by student affairs professionals working together to accomplish a task. The identified behaviors were crafted into leadership behavior statements. These statements were triangulated with Spillane's forms of distribution: The co-investigator associated the statements with Spillane's conceptual definitions; while concurrently, a survey of these statements was sent to distributed leadership experts asking them to rate the expected likelihood of the behaviors being demonstrated in each of Spillane's forms of distributed leadership. Subsequently, in Phase II, student affairs professionals were surveyed regarding leadership behaviors and influence behaviors. Both cluster and factor analytic techniques were employed to associate influence behaviors with Spillane's forms of leadership distribution. Factor analysis of the leadership behaviors were interpreted in light of the co-investigator's cluster analysis of the same data. Spillane's distinct forms of distributed leadership were not affirmed by this study. When practicing distributed leadership &ndash; the idea that multiple participants co-create a leadership experience &ndash; a universal, differentiated view may be overly simplistic.</p>

I denna studie undersökte jag ledares uppfattningar av ledarskapsutbildning samt hur de själva anser att ledarskapsutbildning påverkat dem. Detta gjorde jag genom kvalitativa intervjuer med avdelningschefer på ett företag i Sverige. Urvalet bestämde jag i syfte att ta del av ledares olika uppfattningar av ledarskapsutbildning. Urvalet styrdes samtidigt av det antal ledare som fanns att tillgå för tillfället av studiens genomförande, samt av studiens begränsade tidsram. Jag utformade en intervjumall i syfte att förbereda mig inför intervjuerna. Frågorna i mallen testade jag i en pilotstudie. Intervjuernas utformning förankrade jag hos företagets personalchef samt VD. Åtta ledare blev tillfrågade om de ville delta på intervju. Samtliga av dessa var avdelningschefer varav sex av dem tackade ja. Jag valde att genomföra intervjuerna på avdelningschefernas arbetsplats. Intervjuerna spelade jag in för att sedan transkribera i sin helhet. Transkriberingarna analyserade jag genom att jämföra likheter samt olikheter mellan avdelningschefernas upplevelse av ledarskapsutbildning. Studiens resultat visade att ledare definierar ledarskapsutbildning väldigt olika. Resultatet av studien visade även att ledare hade olika åsikter angående ledarskapsutbildning. En del anser att ledarskapsutbildning bidrar med fördelar som ökad gemenskap i ledargruppen samt ett betryggande ställningstagande till utveckling från organisationens sida. Andra anser att ledarskapsutbildning också har en baksida där den förändring som ledarskapsutbildning medför, utgör stress samt påverkar ledaren negativt. Min tolkning av studien är att när ledare anammar den kunskap de tagit del av sker ett djupgående lärande. Det i sin tur innebär att ledaren tydligare förstår sin del i ett organisatoriskt sammanhang tack vare den ledarskapsutbildning hen genomgått. Min slutsats är att ledare i omfattande grad påverkas av ledarskapsutbildning. Vid ett initialt skede av ledarskapsutbildning är tydlighet vad gäller utbildningens syfte samt mål det primära för att ledare ska vara positiva till utbildningen. Ledare anser att utbildningen ska vara utvecklande. Organisationen skall ge dem utrymme för tid till reflektion samt genomförande av de förändringar som utbildningen innebär. Resultatet från denna studie visar även att ledares trivsel på arbetet påverkas av ledarskapsutbildning. Faktorer som organisationens struktur av utbildning, press till utveckling samt gemenskap mellan ledarkollegor är exempel på följderav utbildning som påverkar ledarnas trivsel. Ledare tycker det är viktigt att informationen kring utbildningen är tydlig samt att utbildningen har ett uttalat syfte. Ledarna anser även att de har ett eget ansvar att förvalta sin utbildning på ett effektivt sätt.

<p> This qualitative study examined the process of adopting online education at three private colleges. All three institutions participating in the study were private Catholic colleges that offered their first online courses in the late 1990s. The research question posed for this study was: Within the participating institutions, how did online education get started and what was the process for its development? </p><p> Findings from this research indicated that, for an institution to successfully implement online education, four elements emerged: (a) some form of infrastructure needed to be in place that could support online education, (b) a latent force, referred to as an engine, was necessary to provide ongoing support, (c) an innovator, who had a strong interest in online education, was imperative, and (d) a bridge builder, who provided credibility, communication, and coordination between stakeholders, was critical to the sustainability of the online initiative. The institution successfully implementing online education also needed significant amounts of personnel, funding, and technology. </p>