<p> This study explored workforce agility from a human resource perspective. This included its main determinants, such as adaptability, proactivity, resiliency, business orientation, and self-awareness; the interventions through which it is developed, such as performance management processes, training, and coaching; and finally the main challenges that organizations face when developing it, such as cultural context and the lack of strategic clarity. The empirical analysis provided several insights on the development of workforce agility. Although limited to a small sample, the study provided evidence supporting the need for future research on the definition of the characteristics of an agile workforce, the definition of a competency model to support its development, the need to deepen the understanding of the mechanisms related to its development, and the main challenges faced by leaders in the implementation of an agile workforce.</p>

<p> The deep-seated qualities of the psychological sense of community (PSOC) are sometimes considered vital to human function and without them we would suffer isolation, loneliness, depression, and alienation (Sarason, 1974; Pretty, Andrews, &amp; Collett, 1994). In the late 1980s and early 1990s studies of the psychological sense of community began in the workplace (Pretty &amp; McCarthy, 1991; Klein &amp; D&rsquo;Aunno, 1986. Understanding this phenomenon, what it is, and the implications for those who feel a sense of community and those who do not can be a strength or benchmark for teams and groups of geographically dispersed organizations to build models for improvement. While PSOC is generally measured by an individual&rsquo;s perception of a referent community to which they belong, cohesion is the collective look at PSOC (Buckner, 1988; E. E. Sampson, 1988; R. J. Sampson, 1991). This study evaluates the sense of community in the context of a geographically dispersed community, where PSOC is both relational and locational. A mixed methods approach to the case study is done through the use of surveys, ethnographic observation, and interviews. Key findings in this study include 16 unique descriptive characteristics for FSPSOC, a strong linear correlation between cohesion and the PSOC, and ambiguity in the term <i>community</i>. In addition, it was established that employees perceive geographic dispersion as directly impacting PSOC. </p>

<p> An investigation into the relationship of organizational climate and academic optimism as predictors of student achievement and school effectiveness was conducted. De-identified secondary data from 67 elementary schools in the Northern portion of Alabama were used. The instrumentation for this study included School Academic Optimism Survey (SAOS), Organizational Climate Index (OCI), the Index of Perceived Organizational Effectiveness (IPOE) which is now known as the SE Index (School Effectiveness Index), a composite score for Academic Achievement (AA), and socioeconomic status (SES). Ordinary Least Squares Block Regression method was used to test the effects of the independent variables separately and together on school effectiveness and academic achievement. The results suggested that all variables had a moderate correlation with each other. Also, when controlling for SES both optimism and climate served as independent predictors for achievement and effectiveness. When entered into a regression model together while controlling for SES, climate predicted achievement while optimism did not. This was likely due to the small sample size as compared to the number of predictors in the model. Both climate and optimism served as predictors for effectiveness when in the regression model. The results of this study lend further support to the importance of School Academic Optimism and Organizational Climate as predictors of academic achievement and organizational effectiveness.</p>

<p> This research examines the relationship of leadership styles to career success using the Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). The objective of this research was to identify how the selection and practice of appropriate project leadership styles benefited the leader based on five assessed success criteria. Participants include 159 students from a Midwestern University in leadership programs with leadership experience. Transformational leaders were identified as being more beneficial to leaders as supported through the comparison of MLQ results to career success factors. Statistical significance in transformational leaders found a stronger preference to each of the five assessed success factors when compared to transactional or passive-avoidant leaders. Of worthy discussion is the instrument&rsquo;s standard utilization of parametric data treatment in the presentation of medians and p-values. Results using medians verses means to determine data relationships found a stronger preference when comparing transactional leadership to each success factor when compared to transformational or passive-avoidant leaders. </p>

<p> This qualitative research study examined detailed reports by senior organizational leaders linking mindfulness to improved leadership effectiveness. Extensive research supports the existence of a relationship between mindfulness and cognitive, physiological, and psychological benefits that may also have a positive impact on leadership effectiveness. Currently, however, little is known about the processes potentially enabling mindfulness to directly influence leadership effectiveness, and as a result this study was designed to explore this gap in the literature. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with forty-two organizational leaders in North and South America and Europe, many with a history of leadership roles at multiple global organizations. Participants credited mindfulness for contributing to enduring improvements to leadership capabilities, and data analysis revealed new findings clarifying the perceived relationship between mindfulness and tangible results for organizational leaders. Specifically, the results indicate that mindfulness is perceived to contribute to the development of behaviors and changes to awareness associated with improved leadership effectiveness. A potential relationship between mindfulness and the development of emotional intelligence competencies linked to increased leadership performance was revealed as well. The contribution of this study to current literature is also discussed, as are recommendations for future research.</p><p> <i>Keywords:</i> mindfulness, organizational leadership, emotional intelligence, leadership effectiveness, leadership development, mindful leadership, leader empathy, leader emotional self-awareness, leader emotional self-management, leader social awareness, leader relationship management</p>

<p> From the perspective of Process reality, Western modernist philosophical and practical conclusions about experienced reality and practical wisdom fall prey to what Alfred North Whitehead calls the <i>fallacy of misplaced concreteness</i> (1925, 1929/1978). The fallacy misplaces, or abstracts, substance assumptions from a flow reality, more specifically such assumptions as the <i>fallacy of the bifurcation of nature,</i> the <i> fallacy of substance-thinking,</i> and <i>the fallacy of simple location</i> from the perspective of the Ideal and the perspective of the <i>Real.</i> From such abstractions cascades the familiar problem of the dualist-materialist world knot creating and exacerbated by forced, and false, choices arising between realism and idealism. However useful they may be, these choices ignore the more fundamental processual reality, and within their distortions effectiveness in a world of inherent change eventually becomes untenable. Committing, instead, to a processual world solely consistent of experiential unitivity and creative advance changes fundamental assumptions about the Ideal, ranging from formal <i>rational</i> choice to formative <i> emancipatory</i> development. Similarly, committing to a world made solely of relationality and emergence changes fundamental assumptions about the Real, ranging from subjective social <i>constructions</i> to objective <i>material</i> processes. Process reality does not, however, require the negation and rejection of misplaced abstractions but converts them to a Jamesian (1912) &ldquo;radical empirical&rdquo; order of understanding&mdash;a greater breadth of grasp and a more complex and thus more effective understanding and pragmatic engagement of flow, not substance, reality. This dissertation explores this reform through four Whiteheadian principles of Process reality (1929/1978): the <i>ontological principle, </i> the <i>principle of relativity,</i> and the <i>principles of process</i> from the empirical perspective of vectored change and the formative perspective of change through concern. This dissertation also considers the fallacies of misplaced concreteness from the special case of contemporary leadership study and practice, specifically the fields of <i> strategic planning, organization development, managerial influence,</i> and <i>organization design.</i> To embark on the study and practice of leadership in the contemporary global conditions of fundamental volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity requires a grasp of processual reality&rsquo;s dynamic experiential creativity. A Process grasp of reality will fundamentally reform Ideal and Real metaphysical commitments of research and theory as much as practice and outcome. A Process grasp of reality will allow the breadth of choice and engagement necessary for the understanding and performance of effective leadership.</p>

<p> A lack of alignment between police performance evaluation policy purposes and officer performance evaluation perceptions has implications for the organizations&rsquo; resource management, officer morale, and public safety. A literature review points towards a gap existing between policy purpose statements and employee perceptions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the policy purposes of police performance evaluations and the officers&rsquo; perceptions of those evaluation experiences in 4 Ontario municipal police services. DiMaggio and Powell&rsquo;s (1983) Institutional theory was the foundation for this study. Data for this study were collected from 4 police services in Ontario, Canada. The data consisted of police performance evaluation policies and in-person interviews with 12 officers. Data were inductively coded, and then the coded data were subjected to content analysis. Three policy purpose themes and 13 officer perception themes emerged that indicate that: 1) there seems to be a lack of alignment between the policy purpose theme of assessing work performance and eight of the perception themes; 2) officers perceived performance evaluations as negatively impacting their morale: and, 3) healthy relationships with supervisors were more useful to officers than performance evaluations in terms of performance and career outcomes and progression. Consistent with Institutional theory, officers perceived performance evaluations to be necessary even with limited utility. The positive social change implications stemming from this study include recommendations to police executives to consider alternative processes in tandem with performance evaluations to improve morale, in turn creating better opportunities for improved public and officer safety.</p>

<p> Elite US-Sino joint education ventures in the People&rsquo;s Republic of China (PRC) have brought together diverse stakeholders to create a learning environment that supports innovation in the context of China&rsquo;s transformation to a service-based economy. These diverse stakeholders include: university administration, faculty, and students; government agencies; and industry. Theories of strategical alliances are useful in understanding how these stakeholders interact and influence these institutions during their establishment. Important insights can be learned about how to build successful cross-border education partnerships in a complex social environment.</p><p> Three descriptive case studies were conducted through in-depth interviews, site visits, and official documentation. The first case is the Hopkins-Nanjing Center at Nanjing University&mdash;the first US-Sino venture established in 1986. The second case is Duke Kunshan University, and the third case is the Schwarzman Scholars Program at Tsinghua University, heralded as the Rhodes Scholarship of China.</p>

<p> Lean manufacturing was first introduced in the United States in Womack&rsquo;s 1990 book, <i>The machine that changed the world</i>. This 10-year study was published in response to an increase in global manufacturing competition and the demand for American manufacturing companies to increase efficiency and quality while removing process wastes as seen in sustainable continuous improvement environments. Despite widespread interest and research supporting the obstacles senior managers face when implementing lean processes, there is little understanding of how organization development (OD) and change theories relate directly to lean implementation. This qualitative case study mapped out key organizational players&rsquo; conceptions of lean manufacturing and how they implemented the lean management system into an organization by comparing their mental models to OD change management models and Lean management models. The researcher interviewed and observed senior managers and production employees involved with implementing lean management system within one manufacturing organization. The primary purpose was to identify if and how senior managers&rsquo;, lean consultants&rsquo;, and other designated change agents&rsquo; inherent mental models align with existing OD theories and determine if an understanding in organizational development (OD) theory is necessary for the success of lean implementation. Data collected from interviews, production documentation review, and personal observations revealed senior management did not fully understand OD principles and as a result the lean implementation was short lived. These findings will help future organizations who choose to pursue such implementations to understand the importance of OD and change models prior to executing a lean cultural transformation.</p>

<p> Employee retention in the Canadian gaming/casino industry is an important consideration that allows organizations to maintain stability in a highly competitive hospitality environment. The purpose of this quantitative research was to determine if there was a relationship between employability skills, in the form of customer service aptitude and essential skills numeracy, and employee retention in the gaming/casino industry. The literature review supports the notion that hiring people with the correct person-job fit (P-J fit) has a high probability of retention (Edwards 1991). The current study looked at 298 employees hired by Manitoba Lotteries casinos (data supplied by Manitoba Lotteries Corporation) and applied bivariate analyses and a binary logistic regression analysis to identify if the customer service aptitude and numeracy assessments are useful tools in predicting employee retention in the gaming/casino industry. This approach encompassed information that identified customer service and numeracy/math skills as being critical to the successful performance of duties for a large number of gaming/casino employee positions. The results of the analysis were unable to provide evidence that high levels of customer service aptitude and numeracy/math assessment results significantly contributed to short term employee retention. However, significant relationships were identified between casino department and retention and between gender and numeracy scores. Implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed.</p>