<p> Organizations face challenges related to swiftly and successfully adapting their products and services to meet the changing demands of the external environment to achieve long-term success. These challenges have prompted the study of organization agility, an organizational capability defined as the ability to swiftly and successfully change in order to achieve long-term financial success (Worley, Williams, &amp; Lawler, 2014). Researchers have theorized that the behaviors and attributes of organization leaders impact organization agility (Worley et al., 2014; Holbeche, 2015). The purpose of this study was to conduct an inferential quantitative research study to determine if leadership behaviors predict organization agility. </p><p> The research sample included 126 U.S.-based business units within 47 organizations with greater than 1,000 employees. Organization agility was measured using the Agility Survey (short-form) developed by Worley, Williams, and Lawler (2014) to generate a Total Agility Score. The leadership behaviors and attributes of the business unit leaders were measured using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-5X; Avolio &amp; Bass, 2004). Confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis determined an alternative five-construct model of leadership behaviors and attributes for this data set. Simultaneous linear regression determined that the leadership behaviors found to predict higher levels of organization agility included (a) exploratory behaviors that support a culture of discovering new ways to solve problems and conduct business, (b) latitude behaviors that provide employees with a high degree of freedom and responsibility in achieving work results and resolving issues, (c) visionary behaviors that create a clear organization purpose and mission that define the &ldquo;why&rdquo; of the organization&rsquo;s existence, and (d) reflective behaviors that cause leaders to challenge their own assumptions and create mechanisms for the organization to do so as well. Simultaneous linear regression analysis also determined that leadership behaviors related to power and structure predict lower levels of organization agility. </p><p> In addition to the original research question, results were reported comparing the Total Agility Score for organization groups divided by type of organization, size of organization, and year founded; and for business unit groups divided by business unit leader gender and size of business unit. Inspection of these results&rsquo; means indicated that the Total Agility Score for for-profit organizations (<i>M</i> = 3.97) was significantly higher than the Total Agility Score for nonprofits/government agencies (<i> M</i> = 3.67), a difference of .30 on a 5-point Likert scale (<i> p</i> = .009) and with a larger than typical effect size (<i>d</i> = .77). Inspection of the results also indicated that the Total Agility Score for organizations with 1,000 to 6,000 employees (<i>M</i> = 3.99) was significantly higher than the Total Agility Score for organizations with greater than 6,000 employees (<i>M</i> = 3.83; <i>p</i> = .038) with an effect size between smaller than typical or medium (<i> d</i> = .37). </p><p> This research study contributes to the body of knowledge of organization agility by informing scholars, practitioners, and organization leaders as to the leadership behaviors and attributes that predict both higher and lower levels of organization agility. Several additional research studies are suggested that would enhance knowledge related to the conceptual frameworks and theories of organization agility and leadership.</p><p>

<p> This study examined the function of complexity leadership in the generative emergence of new ideas in a high-performance nonprofit organization. The conceptual framework for the study combines Uhl-Bien, Marion, &amp; McKelvey&rsquo;s (2007) Complexity Leadership Theory with Lichtenstein&rsquo;s (2014) concept of generative emergence in order to investigate the growth of new ideas in high performance nonprofit organizations. The study was conducted at Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana (GICI), a high performing nonprofit that is one of 162 local Goodwill member agencies that make up Goodwill Industries International (GII). </p><p> This empirical case study examined the emergence and successful operation of one innovative idea&mdash;the creation and operation of public charter high schools&mdash;with GICI&rsquo;s operating territory. Data was collected through interviews with GICI leaders, board members, and community leaders, well a review of documents pertinent to the case. Merrriam&rsquo;s (2009) case study framework guided the collection of the data, and coding followed the process outlined by Salda&ntilde;a (2013). </p><p> The study identified numerous specific leadership actions as they appeared through each stage of the generative emergence process. These were coded and analyzed through the lens of CLT in order to address the study&rsquo;s research questions. Case findings determined that, in high-performing nonprofits, the function of complexity leadership in the generative emergence of new ideas is to identify, interpret, and respond to specific system behaviors so that the idea has the best possible chance to reach its full potential. </p><p> The study shows that if a high performing non-profit organization is to employ complexity leadership to successfully grow and implement new, innovative ideas via generative emergence, a mix of administrative, enabling, and adaptive leadership actions must be employed during each phase of the process. The study has implications for both CLT and Generative Emergence because it provides specific, empirical examples of the elements articulated by each concept. The study offers implications for practice since the structure and definitions provided by both CLT and generative emergence may be helpful to organizations as they generate and manage the growth of new ideas.</p><p>

abstract: This research examines data exchange between city departments and external stakeholders; particularly, why city departments have different capacity to access data from departments in the same city, other public agencies, private and nonprofit organizations. Data access is of theoretical interest because it provides the opportunity to investigate how public organizations and public managers deal with a portfolio of relationships in a loosely structured context characterized by dynamics of power and influence. Moreover, enhancing data access is important for public managers to increase the amount and diversity of information available to design, implement, and support public services and policies. Drawing from institutionalism, resource dependence theory, and collaboration scholarship, I developed a set of hypotheses that emphasize two dimensions of data access in local governments. First, a vertical dimension which includes institutions, the social environment - particularly power relationships - and coordination mechanisms implemented by managers. This dimension shows how exogenous - not controlled by public managers - and endogenous - controlled by public managers - factors contribute to a public organization’s ability to access resources. Second, a horizontal dimension which considers the characteristics of the actors involved in data exchange and emphasizes the institutional and social context of intra-organizational, intra-sectoral and cross-sectoral data access. Hypotheses are tested using survey data from a 2016 nationally representative sample of 500 US cities with populations between 25,000 and 250,000. By focusing on small- and medium-sized cities, I contribute to a literature that typically focuses on data sharing in US large cities and federal agencies. Results show that the influence of government agencies and the influence of civil society have opposite effect on data access, whereas government influence limits data access while influence from civil society increases capacity to access data. The effectiveness of coordination mechanisms varies according to the stakeholder type. Public managers rely on informal networks to exchange data with other departments in the city and other governmental agencies while they leverage lateral coordination mechanisms - informal but unplanned - to coordinate data access from nongovernmental organizations. I conclude by discussing the implications for practice and future research. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Public Administration and Policy 2018

<p> This multi-site case study explored the role that a global nonprofit organization plays in decreasing the gap of inequality and contributing to the greater society. This research identified what processes were used to implement, increase, or alter the global CSR efforts. This research identified how global CSR efforts impact and is impacted by the organizational culture. In addition, the study explored how CSR efforts have changed or expanded to meet the demands of a globalized society, with a particular focus on the mutual relationship between these expanded efforts and the organizational culture. It studied the internal impact of the CSR efforts as well as how the organization relates externally. This qualitative study made use of three sources of data: semistructured interviews, document and artifact analysis, and observations. The use of various methods of data collection ensures reliability and trustworthiness and adds to the thick description of the case. The findings in this multi-site case study provided an understanding of how a global non-profit organization implements or expands social responsibility efforts. </p><p> This exploratory study yielded seven major conclusions. The conclusions operationalize to meet the organizational needs and the processes used to implement. The seven conclusions are 1) The organization's CSR efforts impact organizational culture including artifacts espoused values and basic assumptions 2) The impact was reciprocal as the organizational culture impacted their CSR efforts 3) CSR efforts reflect the needs of society and adapt to meet societal needs to balance the organization's internal culture and external image 4) Senior leadership and policy volunteers are instrumental to the implementation of CSR efforts throughout the organization as well as to the organizational culture 5) Partnering with organizations increases their CSR efforts and result in better serving their community and organizational needs 6) CSR processes increase awareness and impact to promote goodwill locally and globally and 7) CSR efforts need to be included in the organization's strategic plan and align with the mission and vision of the organization.</p>

<p> Throughout the Cold War, the United States maintained a military prepared to confront a technologically advanced Soviet adversary. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the structure and purpose of the armed forces were called into question. In time, the U.S. military transformed from one prepared to conduct large-scale war, to one prepared to carry out a variety of missions ranging from war to humanitarian efforts. Throughout the 1990s, the U.S. Army's senior leaders engaged in a campaign to transform the organization from its warrior-oriented mindset to a service-oriented one. I report in this dissertation my findings from an analysis of the efforts of the Army's senior leaders in support of this transformation from 1991 to 1995. Specifically, I report my findings from an analysis of the discursive dimensions of their efforts.</p><p> Theoretically, this dissertation contributes to two emergent perspectives in organizational analysis: the institutional logics and institutional work perspectives. These perspectives highlight the fact that individual and collective actors are not only influenced by the structural, normative, and symbolic dimensions (i.e., the institutional logic) of the institutional environments in which they act, but those environments are shaped by their actions (by institutional work). Through my analysis of the efforts of the Army's senior leaders to disrupt and replace the Cold War institutional logic, I identified three distinct forms of institutional work. Environment work included efforts to construct an extra-organizational environment that demands change, and an intra-organizational environment hospitable to change. Organizational identity work involved the establishment of an organizational sense of self that encompassed new practices. Institutional logic work involved a recursive process of textualization that established a post-Cold War logic constituted in a well-structured discourse. </p><p> In conclusion, I consider the institutional work I identified as situated within the institutional field of the armed forces. I demonstrate how the management of organizational change can influence the logic that prevails within the broader institutional field. I conclude by highlighting the utility of focusing on the organizational level of analysis in studies of institutional change, and the benefits of considering the institutional logics and institutional work perspectives as complementary.</p>

<p>This is a grounded theory study of how scholar-practitioners simultaneously help clients generate results and create new knowledge. Through a set of 41 interviews, it examines the roles of scholar-practitioners in organization development and medical translational research, compares the strategies and tactics they use in each field, and considers how they renew themselves professionally and personally. It shows how these professionals perform varying combinations of three roles: research, teaching and applied field work. They have developed different work habits, ways of thinking and even ways of being than their colleagues who focus on just one of those areas in either field, and have a set of personal characteristics including being agile/adaptive, collaborative, holistic, passionate and wise, which empower their use of self in helping their clients or patients. It shows how strategies and tactics are employed in the translation of theory to practice and vice versa, which had not been done previously, and develops a new Knowledge-Results Circular Flow Model to connect all the aspects of their work with their clients to generate client-determined results and new knowledge in an ongoing iterative process. Last, but not least, it shows that scholar-practitioners in these two fields are much more similar than different, and can learn from each other to strengthen both the knowledge they generate via their research, and the client/patient results that are the focus of their work. </p>

<p> Research has shown that the United States governments have spent a considerable amount of human and financial resources on transformational leadership initiatives, aimed at improving outcomes within the federal, state and local governments. Transformational leadership holds the answers to those seeking to develop and foster effective leadership traits that are common and valued in public sector organizations. Research has also shown that the concepts of transformational leadership are among the most popular and current approaches to understand effective leadership in organizations. This quantitative study is an attempt to compare the perception of transformational leadership traits from middle-level managers and supervisors across the three levels of government in the United States. The study used Avolio &amp; Bass Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Form 5X (MLQ) to assess the perceived transformational leadership traits demonstrated by leaders within the federal, state and local government. Transformational leadership comprises five dimensions, which are idealized influence attributes, idealized influence behavior, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. A total of 725 employees from federal, state and local government participated in the study. The hypotheses for the study were tested using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The study concluded that while there was no significant difference in the perceived transformational traits among the three levels of government in the United States, the results also indicated that there is need for a higher level of transformational leadership practices across the three levels of government in the United States. </p>

<p> The realization of growth synergies across products and services in a global multi-unit firm is a topic of discovery that has substantial implications for the profitability of multi-national corporations. A driver for the realization of this incompletely tapped potential is the influence of organizational design. The scholar comprehensively examines a singular case study in which a multidimensional organizational design is used to exploit growth synergies in a global multi-unit firm. For many firms, collaboration is connected to synergy realization, which is critical to growth in saturated and emerging markets. Cross-business unit strategy research has been largely focused on diversification rather than on synergies. Additionally, the literature addresses synergy realization in very turbulent or static markets; however, in this case, the scholar illustrates how a multi-unit firm in a moderately dynamic market attempted to exploit growth synergy opportunities through (a) focused action, (b) the application of an organizational design that exploits decentralized collaboration, (c) lateral support mechanisms that preserve business unit (BU) self-interest, (d) a designed relationship with the corporate center, and (e) a singular context with clients. The intent of these actions is to enhance profitability theory by analyzing rapid evolutionary change in an integrated global value chain. This study attempts to show whether or not a multi-unit firm made of business units that are related diversifiers can be combined, or recombined, to exploit complementary resources. Furthermore, this study advances emerging research on the exploitation of multidimensional organizational design, its dynamic capabilities, co-evolutionary organization-wide change leadership, and cross-unit innovation.</p>

<p> The purpose of the quantitative, correlational research study was to evaluate the relationship between organizational culture and the quality of management support for mentoring among Air Force Enlisted members assigned to a Communications Squadron. Organizational culture theory and organizational support theory were the theoretical foundations for this study. Organizational culture was the predictor variable, and it was assessed using Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) to discern the type of perceived organizational culture type&mdash;clan, adhocracy, market, or hierarchy. The perceived quality of management support for mentoring was the criterion variable, and it was assessed using the Quality in Mentoring Framework (QIM). A purposive sample comprised of 60 Air Force enlisted members provided data for this study. The enlisted members were part of a larger target population of 27,500 United States Air Force enlisted members working in communications career fields. Based on the survey results, there was not a statistically significant correlation between perceived organizational culture and perceived management support for mentoring. The small response rate may have attributed to the study outcome. Recommendations for future research include expanding the study to Air Force officers and government civilians to examine different organizational levels and gain an organizational perspective of organizational culture and management support for mentoring.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to investigate the differential effects of the Capitalization vs. Compensation model applied to a brief, group-based intervention that focused on Character Strengths, as defined by Peterson and Seligman (2004). Traditional Character Strengths interventions in Positive Psychology apply a Capitalization model, in which individuals engage their top-ranked strengths of character, and this approach has amassed substantial empirical support. However, it is not known whether a Compensation model, in which individuals engage their bottom-ranked strengths, can offer similar benefits. One hundred and eighty-seven employees from eighteen small organizations were randomized at the group level to receive one of four psychoeducational interventions: Top Strengths, Bottom Strengths, Placebo (behavioral health), or a delayed-treatment Control. Participants completed the VIA Survey of Character Strengths and a pre-treatment battery of outcome measures that assessed both positive psychological variables, such as life satisfaction and psychological well-being, and negative life functioning variables, such as depression and negative affect. Post-treatment outcome measures and a compliance measure were completed approximately one month following the psychoeducational presentations. Results revealed few differences between experimental conditions for most measures; however, participants in the Bottom Strengths condition experienced a decrease in symptom distress and an increase in emotional well-being relative to those in the Placebo and Control conditions. Regression analyses revealed several interesting relationships between Character Strengths and outcome measures, with implications for applications in multiple fields. A discussion of methods to strengthen brief group-based interventions, as well as the future direction of Character Strengths interventions, concludes the paper.</p>