Generational differences directly impact the culture and discipline in the U.S. Marine Corps. Previous research suggests that Generation Y's characteristics do not align with traditional military service. The specific problem is that there is a gap in the research and scholarly literature on the level of commitment of Generation Y compared to Generation X Marines. The purpose of this nonexperimental, quantitative study was to examine the influence on Marine Corps culture due to the level of commitment of active duty, enlisted Generation Y Marines compared to active duty, enlisted Generation X Marines. The theoretical frameworks for this study were the theory of generations and the organizational culture theory. The central research question was focused on the influence of Generation Y's experiences, ideas, and opinions on Marine Corps culture. In order for Marine Corps leaders to be effective, they need a better understanding of the people who work for them. This quantitative, cross-sectional survey study used a sample of 264 active duty, enlisted Marines from the 1st Marine Logistics Group in Southern California. The t tests revealed that Generation X has a higher level of commitment than Generation Y. However, the t tests also revealed that Generation Y's commitment profile indicates that the generation continues to serve because they want to or desire to remain in the Marine Corps. Lastly, multiple linear regression analysis revealed that each type of commitment was affected differently by the independent variables (age, gender, generation, and pay grade). The results provide the Marine Corps with a better understanding of generational issues. The positive social change from this research is the ability to sustain an essential and successful military culture and as a consequence, to improve the combat capability of the Marine Corps and the Department of Defense.

With the evolving problems of terrorism in Nigeria and the formation of numerous new terrorist groups, insurgency in Nigeria has escalated, making it one of the most terrorized countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This study looked critically at the effects of the strategies applied in the attempt to fight terrorism and how these strategies have affected insurgency in Nigeria. The background of the study gives an insight on the evolution of terrorist groups in Nigeria, their mode of operation, effects on citizens and the Nigerian economy, as well as the operations of counterterrorist agencies. The qualitative research method was used for this study. Critical theory and resource dependence theory were applied, and data were obtained through face-to-face and telephone interviews with 7 stakeholders. Detailed recommendations are made to aid counterterrorist agencies in developing and applying additional and effective workable strategies in their fight against terrorism. Policies in Nigeria were recommended that may discourage terrorism initiations and center the focus of youth towards nation-building. Social problems were identified connecting young people as the primary causes of terrorism in Nigeria. Solid recommendations in this direction have been provided to ensure youths across the country who form a vulnerable population and are the targets of terrorist sect recruitment are protected and provided with effective tools to prevent their conscription, while engaging them positively in becoming knowledgeable and self-reliant citizens.

Healthcare providers may impede the delivery of spiritual and emotional support to patients and their families by healthcare professional chaplains if they misunderstand how to effectively use chaplains, who often prefer to be engaged sooner than they are. This issue prevents highly trained, board-certified professional chaplains from providing services, thereby impacting the quality of patient care. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine, through the lived experiences of professional chaplains, the extent to which chaplains feel that others perceive them as valued members of an interdisciplinary team (IDT), as well as to determine how team inclusion may impact chaplains' physical and emotional well-being. An adaptation of the antecedents and outcomes of inclusion theoretical framework was used. Research questions were developed to elicit to what extent professional chaplains perceived that they were valued members of IDTs and what impact inclusion had on their well-being A semistructured interview protocol with open-ended questions was used with 9 board-certified professional chaplains in the northeastern region of the United States.. Data were analyzed through coding and comparison of significant responses into units of meaning to reflect the phenomenon of participants' experiences. Key findings revealed that inclusion did have an impact on the well-being of chaplains, and its impact was perceived as positive. This study may contribute to positive social change by helping to initiate training and education programs for healthcare organizations that work with and employ professional chaplains to effectively integrate chaplains into IDTs, ensuring more timely evaluation and care planning for patients and their families to achieve greater wholeness and healing.

Millennials in retail account for a large portion of the U.S. workforce and have the highest number of body image modifications from tattoos, piercings, and/or gauges. Following Moustakas concept of perception, the purpose of this transcendental phenomenology study was to explore how Millennial-aged retail employees describe and experience leaders with body image modifications from tattoos, piercings, and/or gauges. Participants were sought from various retail locations and were required to be born between 1981 and 1996. Data were collected through interviews with 6 participants and the data were analyzed using Moustakas modification of the Van Kamm Method. The results showed that employees typically felt good about their experiences with their leaders, yet varied on how effective and personable their leaders were; however, employees did not ascribe any impact on leadership effectiveness to the body image modifications of their leaders. Implications of this result extends to an increased openness towards traits that make others different, theoretical changes that note visual cues are important for ideal leader categorization, and increased understanding of follower views in relation to leader-follower relationship development.

The U.S. manufacturing industry produces products that ship all over the world. Because of the shortage of skilled labor, some manufacturing human resource professionals lack the strategies and processes necessary to acquire and retain skilled employees. Guided by Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory and Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to explore the strategies and processes that manufacturing human resource professionals use to acquire and retain skilled employees. Data were gathered from a population of manufacturing human resource professionals in Giles County, Tennessee from individual interviews; focus group; and participants' internal documents, public documents, and websites. Transcribed interview data and focus group data, along triangulated data from other gathered documents, were inductively coded following Yin's approach to analysis. Six themes emerged as key strategies to acquire and retain skilled employees: company culture, succession, benefits, finding new employees, incentives, and employee attraction and retention. These findings may contribute to improving business practices in manufacturing industries or human resource management. The implications for positive social change include the potential for the community to become more attractive for other industries and improve the quality of life for individuals who reside in the community.

Senior leaders who fail to implement work-life balance strategies may experience reduced profits and sustainability challenges. This single case study explored employers' strategies for improving employee work-life balance. The population for the study included 4 senior leaders of a hospice care agency in North Carolina who successfully implemented employee work-life balance strategies. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and from the review of company documents, website, and social media pages. The conceptual framework for the study was the transformational leadership theory. The trustworthiness of interpretations was supported by member checking. Four themes emerged from inductive analysis of the data: a supportive work environment promotes employee work-life balance, leadership trust is key to the success of employee work-life balance, work-life balance programs minimize stress and improve employee job satisfaction, and flexibility and remote work options increase employee work-life balance. Implementing work-life balance strategies in an organization may increase employee morale, employee productivity, and quality of work life. The application of the findings of this study may contribute to positive social change by providing insights for senior leaders on the implementation of strategies to achieve work-life balance to increase workplace sustainability and meet the physiological and psychological needs of employees as well as contribute positively to the communities and the organizations served.

Many leaders of nonprofit organizations are challenged by limited and declining financial resources from government grants, while being asked by funders and their constituent base to provide better quality services to a larger population. Nonprofit leaders are exploring strategies to reduce their reliance on government grants by diversifying and growing alternative funding sources. The purpose of this single case study was to explore, through the conceptual lens of the balanced scorecard theory, strategies used by 4 leaders of a nonprofit organization in southern California who have experience managing and growing alternative revenue sources by creating a social enterprise. Semistructured interviews were used to collect data and organizational documents were reviewed. The data were manually coded, and mind mapping was used to identify common themes. Thematic data analysis showed 5 themes: lack of a systematic approach to processes, lack of defined SMART processes, lack of integrating results into the organization's key performance indicators (KPI), lack of defined measurable goals and objectives related to the KPIs in the business models of these organizations, and lack of defined sustainability plan. Nonprofit leaders may benefit from a systematic strategic approach to guide their organization. Nonprofit leaders need to understand how these systematic strategic approaches may impact their organization and how to integrate such opportunities into their organization. The implications for positive social change include the potential to fulfill the missions, strengthen the overall funding sources, and serve the local communities of nonprofit organizations by learning how to use the strategic planning processes.

Organizational leaders know that employee turnover negatively impacts an organization's finances and can be a result of a lack of employee commitment. Guided by Yukl's flexible leadership theory, this single case study was used to explore strategies that senior leaders have used to increase employee commitment and reduce employee turnover. Vice presidents and directors from a U.S. Fortune 500 financial firm in New Jersey participated in semistructured interviews. The 5 participants have implemented effective strategies to increase employee commitment and reduce employee turnover. Data collection comprised face-to-face interviews, review of company documentation, external website content, and member checking to explore effective strategies to increase employee commitment and reduce employee turnover. Data analysis involved organizing information and data and coding it appropriately corresponding to a 5-step data analysis process. Using thematic coding, data were organized into topics based on the conceptual framework of flexible leadership theory. Three primary themes emerged from data analysis: effective and truthful communication, effective leadership and feedback, and improving organizational atmosphere and work environment. Leaders can implement effective employee commitment strategies for increased trust and motivation to enhance productivity and performance in an organization and stimulate the economy. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential to increase job satisfaction and reduce the unemployment rate.

High levels of emotional work, staffing shortages, high turnover rates, low workforce engagement levels, and complex healthcare reforms are common problems in healthcare settings. Healthcare leaders are increasingly aware of the vital impact an engaged workforce can have on patient outcomes and an organization's ability to survive despite current challenges in the healthcare setting. It is important for leaders to understand what factors may influence the ability to engage with their organization, such as emotional labor. The purpose of this correlational quantitative study was to test whether emotional labor is related to employee engagement within a large Midwestern pediatric hospital. The theoretical frameworks that helped guide the development of this study were Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory, Kahn's engagement theory, intergroup emotions theory, and Diefendorff and Richard's model of emotional display rules. Three measures (a demographic questionnaire, the revised Emotional Labour Survey, and the Job Engagement Scale) were used to address the relationship between the variables (the subscales of emotional labor and employee engagement). Data analysis involved simple bivariate correlations and curvilinear regressions. Results indicated that the subscales of faking emotions and hiding feelings negatively correlated with employee engagement. Five of the 6 subscales also had a significant curvilinear relationship with employee engagement. Gender did not play a moderating role in this study. Social change implications and recommendations include the potential for improvements in the need to identify and develop training and self-care strategies necessary for staff to endure the emotional fallout associated with the high emotional demands of their job.

Globally, the aviation industry supports 58.1 million jobs in related industries and U.S. airlines alone generated 11.8 million jobs. Airline performance, productivity, and profitability depend on employees. The purpose of this single case study was to explore the strategies that U.S. airline leaders use to improve employee performance. The study was grounded with the Harvard model of human resource management. A stratified purposeful sample of 14 managers and 10 frontline staff from a Florida airline participated in semistructured individual interviews and a focus group, respectively. The data from these interviews were analyzed using Moustakas's modified van Kaam method. The themes that emerged from analysis included: an emphasis on the individual interaction and verbal affirmations between managers and frontline staff, additional career development opportunities for employees, not only for performing in their role but improving performance and level of commitment to the organization. Furthermore, managers and employees arrived at the same conclusion about organization culture and commitment-individuals have to feel they are contributing to the overall mission and feel valued in doing so. For the latter to occur, leaders need to engage employees in continuous dialogue and be completely transparent, and employees need to be open to feedback and share their motivations and goals. Social change implications include improved management and labor relationships within the U.S. airline industry, which ultimately benefits the flying public through greater stability and better service.