No description available.

Dissertation (Ph. D.)--University of Akron, Dept. of Psychology, 2005. / "December, 2005." Title from electronic dissertation title page (viewed 08/31/2006) Advisor, Robert G. Lord; Committee members, Steven R. Ash, Rosalie J. Hall, Paul E. Levy, Aaron M. Schmidt; Department Chair, Paul E. Levy; Dean of the College, Charles B. Monroe; Dean of the Graduate School, George R. Newkome. Includes bibliographical references.

Community development places emphasis on community members¡¦ cooperation, to which the role of a leader is a key factor. In other word, leadership has great impact on community development. Researchers look to gain a deeper understanding on leadership in community development. Through assessing their background, character, role-awareness and performance, as well as their social experience in the community setting, researchers examine and compare the social capital that each community leader accumulates. To interpret quantified research result, this researcher engaged in literature review and in-depth interviews. In the three general surveys conducted, ninety community leaders were selected to answer the questionnaire survey. After analysis, they are categorized as natural leaders, hereditary leaders, situational leader, and behind-the-curtain leaders. The research findings include: 1. different leader type results in different amount of social capital accumulated. 2. Social capital generated by leaders is different based upon their character. 3. Leader¡¦s role-awareness also influences the amount of social capital generated. 4. Leader¡¦s performance impacts the amount of social capital generated. 5. Leader¡¦s social experiences also influence the amount of social capital generated. 6. Gender difference impacts the amount of social capital generated. 7. Female are often behind-the-curtain leaders, thus they are often not as productive in social capital accumulation as compared to their male counterparts. 8. A regression model of social capital can be built based on the variables of community leader¡¦s role-awareness, performance and social experience. This research has weakness in theoretical construct and methodological method. The author would like to propose some suggestions as follows. When doing research on this field, researchers are always limited by inevitable obstacles. A comparison among the districts in Kaohsiung is suggested to be conducted and later, a comparative analysis of community leaders between Taipei and Kaohsiung is to be followed. Moreover, there is little research regarding community leaders, let alone the character analysis of community leaders in terms of social capital. It is suggested that the occupation of the leader¡¦s spouse and the leader¡¦s devotion to community service be included in independent variables for the further research. The author provides suggestions for further studies as follow: 1. Further researchers who have further interest in this field can adopt the questionnaires in this study to design their survey questionnaire. 2. The model of accumulating social capital can be used by the further researchers.

Literature on performance management (PM) indicates that the concept has gained momentum in its use by organisations, with the ultimate goal of improving business performance. It is argued that PM makes significant contributions to individual employees and organisational performance by enabling expectations to be defined and agreed in terms of the role, responsibilities and accountabilities, and providing opportunities for individuals to identify their own goals and to develop their skills and competencies. However, there has been much debate as to whether PM optimises or leads to improved overall business performance as other factors other than human resources policies, such as personality, job role experiences, and structural factors, may have a detrimental influence on job performance. Moreover, several studies have shown that PM, and performance management systems (PMS) has resulted in unintended impacts, both positive and negative, in addition to those sought by organisations. This research is an investigation into the perception of managers and care assistants in private care of the elderly in care homes in Scotland on the impact of performance management systems. Use is made of both PM literature and empirical research to understand the perceived impact of the PMS with the ultimate aim of developing an enhanced PMS framework. In addition to documents review, twenty-four in-depth interviews were conducted, comprising of eight managers and sixteen care assistants drawn from eight different private care homes. The interviews focused on eight key PM elements, the PM concept, goal-setting, performance reviews, performance measurement, supporting performance, rewards system, training and development, and managing underperformance. The interview results from managers and care assistants were compared with the normative/ideal PM practice from the PM literature to determine how PMS is being implemented in the private care homes. The research findings reveal an overall positive perception towards PMS implementation by managers. However, the care assistants raised many of concerns which influenced a negative perception towards the PMS implementation. This was used as the basis for developing recommendations for an enhanced PMS framework. Therecommendations are centred around the identified two main problem areas: management/leadership style and the communication process. In addition to staff involvement in performance planning, and a fair underperformance management process, three other theories: power distance, vertical and horizontal trust, and the principal-agent problem were recommended to private care homes. This would help change the negative perception towards PMS implementation by care assistants.

Il lavoro, composto da tre articoli, si focalizza sulla relazione tra leadership e performance, indagata e osservata da molteplici punti di vista e attraverso differenti strategie di ricerca, ma sempre in un contesto pubblico o comunque mission-driven. In particolare, il primo articolo indaga la relazione tra leadership e performance organizzativa, con un duplice obiettivo: da un lato validare da un punto di vista metodologico la scala di misurazione più utilizzata, dall’altro verificarne la relazione con la performance organizzativa utilizzando una scala più parsimoniosa. Gli altri due articoli si focalizzano sulla relazione tra leadership e performance individuale: il primo esplora, attraverso un disegno di ricerca qualitativo, il ruolo del feedback fornito dal superiore nel processo di riflessione critica dei collaboratori, volto al cambiamento dei comportamenti e al miglioramento della propria performance; il secondo indaga, attraverso un disegno di ricerca sperimentale, gli effetti della credibilità dei leader sulla performance dei collaboratori, anche mediante la percezione da parte dei dipendenti dell’importanza e dell’utilità del proprio lavoro per gli altri. / The three papers included in the thesis focus on the relationship between leadership and performance, investigated and observed from multiple points of view and through different research strategies. All the papers are conducted in a public or mission-driven setting. The first article focuses on the relationship between leadership and organizational performance, with a twofold objective: on the one hand, to validate the most used measurement scale for leadership from a methodological point of view, and, on the other, to verify the relationship with organizational performance using a more parsimonious scale. The other two articles focus on the relationship between leadership and individual performance. One explores, through a qualitative research design, the role of feedback provided by the supervisor in employees’ critical reflection process, aimed at changing their behaviors and at improving their own performance. The last one investigates, through an experimental research design, the effects of leaders’ trustworthiness on the performance of employees, through the employees' perception of the task significance of their job.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceived impact of spiritual consciousness on leadership performance. The assumptions of several leadership theories were discussed in relation to spirituality and performance. The leadership qualities associated with performance were highlighted and evaluated. The present study was conducted with ten high performing leaders of private-sector organisations in Johannesburg, South Africa. Qualitative analysis of quantitative and qualitative data was performed. Psychometric assessment results were interpreted and evaluated, semi-structured interviews were conducted and 360 degree questionnaires were administered with the intent to evaluate leadership behaviours impacting on performance. The first part of the interview consisted of a section allowing the participant to tell a story of how their career developed over time. The second part of the interview contained questions pertaining to leadership, the qualities, characteristics and behaviours of successful leaders and those qualities and characteristics that have resulted in their own success followed by questions pertaining to the participant’s perception of spirituality, their experience of spirituality and the perceived link to performance, and lastly their view on spiritual leadership and the impact thereof on performance. The findings suggest that leaders who demonstrate spiritually conscious behavioural traits will likely be regarded as high performing leaders. The relationship between spiritual consciousness and leadership performance was described in detail and recommendations were made for the the implementation of a spiritual consciousness model in the selection of leaders. Confirmative empirical studies with a larger sample are needed to support the findings and to further explore this interesting phenomenon. / Psychology / Ph. D. (Consulting Psychology)

The concept of community leadership as a field of study has attracted the attention of researchers for many years across the globe. The role of municipality councils is of great importance as an aspect of democratic governance. Councils have a significant role to play as partners to the central government in providing community services. This research attempts to explore community leadership in a new democracy focusing on the relationship between community members, community leadership and government organisations compared to the same of established democracies. The specific focus of the research investigation is community leaders and community members in the Kingdom of Bahrain as a new democracy. This thesis is an investigation of the success factors and barriers that influence the performance of municipal councils' members as community leaders. It also investigates how community leaders have practiced their roles and duties and assesses their performance and characteristics in new democracy compared to those of established democracies as exemplified in the UK, Canada, Australia, and the Philippines. The research objectives are: (1) to identify success factors that influence community leadership performance in a new democracy as perceived by community leaders; (2) to identify barriers that hinder community leadership performance in a new democracy as perceived by community leaders; (3) to identify the roles and duties practiced by community leadership in new democracies as perceived by community leaders and community members; (4) to assess community leadership performance in new democracy as perceived by community members; and (5) to identify characteristics practiced by community leadership in a new democracy as perceived by community members. Three sequential pilot studies were undertaken to gain better feedback from respondents and to build a strong foundation for the main survey. Two sets of questionnaires were developed for this study; the first set of questionnaires dealt with community leaders in new democracies, where they evaluated the success factors, barriers and roles and duties practiced by community leadership in established democracies. The second set of questionnaires dealt with community members in a new democracy, where they evaluated their community leaders through roles and duties, performances and characteristics practiced by community leadership in established democracies. The findings showed that municipal councils‘ members agreed on the importance of success factors and barriers that influence communities in established democracies and they were very positive about their own perceptions of their roles and duties in municipality work. On the other hand community members were negative about their own perception of their municipal leaders‘ roles and duties, performance and characteristics. The results also revealed an absence of clear demarcations of roles between government agencies and councils, and disproportionate demarcation of the constituents. The respondents agreed that awareness programs could be an important undertaking to improve and enhance the effectiveness of council leaders. This study may contribute to the literature by filling the gap related to success factors and barriers that influence community leadership performance in new democracies, focusing on problems facing community leadership and the solutions to overcome these problems. Furthermore, the governments of new democracies can use the empirical evidence to create and adopt new laws, policies and regulations that will redound to community improvement services, leadership enhancement and goal achievement.

本研究目的在於探討與女性領導者有關的刻板印象與偏見是否會產生刻板印象威脅效果而影響女性的領導表現，以及是否可以消除或減少它對於個人表現的影響。本研究也探討「對特定領域的認同」及「對所屬團體的認同」在女性領導能力的範疇中，是否會使得刻板印象威脅對於個人表現有不同程度的影響效果。另外，本研究為了要更加確認威脅感的產生，故增加行為觀察的方式來測量焦慮的產生，以彌補自陳焦慮方法的不足。 本研究以60位國立政治大學女學生為研究對象，隨機分派至「激發刻板印象威脅」、「不激發刻板印象威脅」、及「減除刻板印象威脅」等三個情境。每位女性受試者另搭配一男一女成為一小組，每組由此位女性受試者擔任領導者，帶領小組討論並解決一新車分配問題。女性受試者的領導表現由自己、小組中的二位成員、以及不知道本研究目的與假設的評估者來予以衡量。另外，本研究除了由受試者及小組成員以情境焦慮量表來評估受試者的焦慮程度之外，也請不知道本研究目的與假設的評估者，以情境焦慮量表來評估受試者的焦慮程度，並觀察其焦慮行為，評量受試者在活動過程中顯出不舒服或不自然的程度及頻率。 研究結果顯示，「激發刻板印象威脅」情境與「不激發刻板印象威脅」情境的受試者在大部分領導表現變項上均無顯著差異；「激發刻板印象威脅」情境中的受試者在部分領導表現變項上的平均得分顯著低於「減除刻板印象威脅」情境中的受試者。在本研究中，性別認同程度及領域認同程度並不會影響刻板印象威脅與領導表現之間的關係。此外，三個實驗情境中受試者的情境焦慮程度及非語言焦慮並沒有顯著差異。 本文也針對研究結果進行整體性的討論，並提出可能的研究限制，及對於後續研究的建議。

Το περιεχόμενο της εργασίας χωρίζεται σε τρία μέρη. Στο πρώτο μέρος γίνεται η παραίτητη Θεωρητική Επισκόπηση. Σκοπός της Θεωρητικής Επισκόπησης είναι η γνωριμία με το θέμα της εργασίας καθώς επίσης και η κατατόπιση με το αντικείμενο της Ηγεσίας αλλά και της Παρακίνησης των Εργαζομένων. Στο δεύτερο μέρος, γίνεται η παρουσίαση της Μεθοδολογίας Έρευνας που ακολουθήσαμε στην εργασία μας. Παρουσιάζεται η σχετική θεωρία γίνονται οι απαραίτητες αποδοχές, επιλέγεται το δείγμα και περιγράφεται το ερωτηματολόγιο, ανοικτού τύπου που χρησιμοποιήθηκε για τη συλλογή των πληροφοριών. Στο τρίτο μέρος, γίνεται η εμπειρική έρευνα όπου έχουμε την συγκριτική ανάλυση της Αγροτικής Τράπεζας με τη Τράπεζα Κύπρου και έπειτα ακολουθούν τα συμπεράσματα της ανάλυσης. Το ζήτημα της ηγεσίας έχει συζητηθεί στη παγκόσμια βιβλιογραφία μέσα από πολλούς προσδιορισμούς, όπως κλασσική ηγεσία, ηγεσία, οραματική, καινοτομική, εφευρετική, δημιουργική, εμπνευσμένη, ηθική, μεταμορφωσιακή, αναδυόμενη, ηγεσία με ρίσκο, αβεβαιότητα ή στην άκρη του χάους, ηγεσία που υπηρετεί, αυτοηγεσία κλπ. Όλοι όμως οι ερευνητές και μελετητές συμφωνούν στη διάκριση μεταξύ διευθυντών (managers) και ηγετών (leaders). Οι πρώτοι εμπλέκονται στην επίλυση οργανωσιακών προβλημάτων, ενώ οι δεύτεροι αναζητούν τις δυνατότητες υπέρβασής τους. Φυσικά σημαντικό ρόλο στις Επιχειρήσεις- Οργανισμούς παίζει η παρακίνηση των ανθρώπων γενικότερα (ανθρώπινες ανάγκες και κίνητρα) και ειδικότερα σε αυτή την εργασία παρουσιάζονται οι πιο σημαντικές θεωρίες ή υποδείγματα παρακίνησης των εργαζομένων. Είναι η τέχνη της παρακίνησης των υφισταμένων για την εκτέλεση των καθηκόντων τους με ζήλο και εμπιστοσύνη, συνεισφέροντας έτσι στους οργανωσιακούς – επιχειρησιακούς σκοπούς και στόχους, το μέγιστο δυναμικό τους. Είναι ακόμη η ικανότητα να βλέπει και να χρησιμοποιεί τα κατάλληλα κίνητρα για τον καθένα και τη καθεμιά και η ικανότητα να εμπνέει. / The scope of work is divided into three parts. The first part is the Theoretical Overview. The purpose of the theoretical review is to familiarize the subject of work as well as the subject of leadership and of motivation. The second part, we present the Research Methodology followed in our work. Presents the relevant theory are necessary salaries, choosing a sample and described the questionnaire used open-ended collection of information. The third part is an empirical investigation where we have the comparative analysis of the Agricultural Bank of Bank of Cyprus and then follow the conclusions of the analysis. The issue of leadership has been discussed in world literature through many determinations as traditional leaders, leadership, visionary, innovative, inventive, creative, inspirational, moral, emerging, led by risk, uncertainty or the edge of chaos, leadership that serves. But all researchers and scholars agree on the distinction between directors (managers) and leaders (leaders). The first involved in solving organizational problems, and the second looking for opportunities to overcome them. Naturally an important role in Business Organizations, plays motivate people in general (human needs and motivation) and especially in this project the most important theories and models of employee motivation. It is the art of motivation existing for the performance of their duties with zeal and confidence, thus contributing to organizational - operational goals and objectives, its maximum potential. It is still the ability to see and use the right incentives for everyone and each and the ability to inspire.