<p> The purpose of this study was to add to the knowledge on the value of professional communities of practice as a performance improvement intervention. <i> Value</i> was defined as the awareness of the benefits and outcomes, provided as improvement in a tangible or intangible way, that positively impact organizations and/or individuals and their personal and professional environment. The problem with the research on the topic of the perceived value of participating in a professional community of practice was the accessibility of information. Previous studies yielded results that professional communities of practice provide value to an organizational environment. However, there was limited information on how individual community members described <i>value</i> in a tangible way. This performance improvement research study answered the question, how do members of a professional community of practice describe their perceived value from participating? This single-case, explanatory, qualitative case study provided rich descriptions of members&rsquo; experiences of their (a) expectations when joining, (b) benefits realized from participating, (c) outcomes received due to participation, and (d) contributors to benefits and outcomes of perceived value from participating in a professional community of practice. The population was members of Toastmasters International, a learning professional community of practice. The sample groups were obtained from 2 sources: prerecorded Toastmasters International member testimonials published on www.toastmasters.org, and purposeful sampling of select tenured Toastmasters members who would be able to answer the research questions due to their experiences in the Toastmasters program. The data analysis included an innovative use of Thomas Gilbert&rsquo;s behavior engineering model. Whereas the model is normally used to find deficiencies that are hindering performance, for this case study, it was used to find the success factors that contributed to performance improvement. The answer to the research question could be summarized into two categories of findings. Research findings were that (a) members were able to evaluate their own participation as it pertained to tangible, quantifiable improvements in their performance (evidenced by 41% of the 49 participants&rsquo; ability to articulate outcomes) and (b) the motivators of participation that resulted in <i>value</i> and <i>personal improvement</i> as defined by the individuals were nonquantifiable elements such as recognition and external opportunities, and benefits beyond their initial expectations. This research could be useful for other formal and informal communities of practice to evaluate value in their organizations.</p><p>

<p> By 2030, almost every entry level role in the United States will be filled by a member of Generation Z (born after 1995). Researchers have noted an unclear understanding of the Generation Z perspective on leadership; despite Generation Z&rsquo;s increasing presence in the workforce. This knowledge gap is detrimental to organizational viability and can negatively impact organizational performance and strategy. The purpose of this study was to identify the leadership preferences of Generation Z based on their lived experience in the workplace; and discuss to what extent Generation Z prefers a transactional or transformational leadership style. A theoretical frame that links generational identity (generational cohort theory) to leadership theory supports the exploration of these preferences phenomenologically and establishes the significance of generational leadership preferences on organizational performance. Semi-structured, open-ended interviews were conducted and analyzed using a modified version of interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). IPA revealed six (6) emergent themes in the phenomenon under investigation (specifically Generation Z&rsquo;s workplace experiences); the themes were described and their implications interpreted. The findings were validated using a relatively novel tool for phenomenology: freelisting (a cultural domain analysis tool). The findings describe Generation Z&rsquo;s ideal leader and their introspective thoughts on their workplace identity and experiences. It was concluded that Generation Z tends to prefer transformational leadership more than transactional leadership, supported and predicted by the literature. Understanding Generation Z&rsquo;s leadership preferences will provide insight on better methods for organizations to recruit, train, and develop employees. Such insights will also be beneficial to future Generation Z research.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this research was to understand how people working in California&rsquo;s San Francisco Bay Area/Silicon Valley technology industry love one another platonically in the workplace, as well as what effects they perceive from this love. Through this constructivist grounded theory study, a theory was developed. This <i>Work-based Platonic Love Theory</i> involves workplace relationships that are heavily centered around work itself. These relationships can begin in admiration for one another, conflict with one another, or even dislike. They are transformed into loving relationships through shared experiences of work-related hardship, challenging or innovative work, and/or spending long work hours together. Participants describe the relationships as familial, often team-oriented, caring, and rooted in work. Effects of these work relationships include the perception of greater individual and team success, high performance, and shatterproof teams. <i>Work-based Platonic Love Theory</i> resulted from data produced by in-depth interviews with 17 participants who reported experiences with platonic love in San Francisco Bay Area/Silicon Valley technology firms. The study underscores the value of platonic love in the workplace to the work itself, to teams, and to individuals. It also suggests a heavily work-centric nature of loving relationships within the technology industry in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley.</p><p>

<p> Acute care hospitals and senior healthcare leaders are facing increasing governmental regulations enacted by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Value-Based Programing, and a constantly changing political agenda. Senior healthcare leaders are expected to solve these new challenges and lead their employees and organizations during these challenging times. However, the ever-changing healthcare environment, which may be attributing to the high turnover rates and low rates of job satisfaction for senior healthcare leaders, is preventing lasting solutions to the current challenges the healthcare industry is facing (Fiabane, Giorgi, Sguazzin, &amp; Argentero, 2013; Keyko, Cummings, Yonge, &amp; Wong, 2016). Research supports that intrinsic variables of job satisfaction are the key to increasing motivation and job satisfaction for healthcare employees (Janssen, De Jonge, &amp; Bakker, 1999; Lee &amp; Cummings, 2008; Lundh, 1999; Nolan, Nolan, &amp; Grant, 1995; Speedling, 1990). Research also indicated that value congruence is positively related to job satisfaction (Edwards &amp; Cable, 2009; Kristof, 1996; Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, &amp; Johnson, 2005; Ren &amp; Hamann, 2015) and has a stronger relationship between intrinsic variables of job satisfaction than extrinsic variables of job satisfaction (Caudron, 1997; Fisher, 2010). The purpose of this research study was to explore the relationship between the rates of extrinsic and intrinsic job satisfaction and the degree of person-job value congruence for senior healthcare leaders. Surprisingly, this study&rsquo;s findings indicated that there is no statistically significant relationship between person-job value congruence and extrinsic or intrinsic job satisfaction. Also, contrary to previous literature, extrinsic job satisfaction was highlighted as more important than intrinsic job satisfaction for increasing job satisfaction for senior healthcare leaders. The study&rsquo;s findings also note that female senior healthcare leaders have less extrinsic job satisfaction and feel that they need to achieve more (be more successful, capable, and ambitious) in their roles than male senior healthcare leaders. This study&rsquo;s findings offer acute care hospitals evidence that supports employee engagement strategies that differ from the common practice to focus on intrinsic variables and personal values. Instead, this study&rsquo;s findings suggest acute care hospitals focus on the more explicit extrinsic variables of job satisfaction and explore potential gender differences between senior healthcare leaders.</p><p>

<p> Workplace wellness programs (WWPs) aim to curtail health-care expenditures while increasing employees&rsquo; health and wellness. However, WWPs are not effective at helping employees affected by obesity, and participants may be penalized with higher health care costs for not meeting biometric markers. The disease burden to treat the related health conditions for those with obesity cost $1.42 trillion in 2014 and continues to increase. This retrospective multiple case study examined seven companies and 10 employees within the theoretical framework of positive psychology and global well-being models to identify themes. The employees were exemplary cases that lost 3% BMI or 10 pounds of weight and kept it off for six months or more while utilizing their WWP. Eight themes emerged including meaningful relationships, vitality, positive emotions, resilience, optimism, confidence, trust/faith, and hope. The eight themes provided insights for a unique way to integrate and examine positive psychological capital and positive organizational health as a strategy for long-term well-being, weight loss, and health in WWPs. The top four themes identified extrinsic shared motivational constructs that could be identified and strengthened by values in action and positive psychology interventions to promote WWP engagement and success. An organization supporting a health and wellness culture can benefit over time with healthier, happier, and productive employees. The lower four themes offered awareness of intrinsic motivation and self-concepts for deeper meaning within the context of weight loss and maintenance. This research presents a template (Weight and Wellness Mindset) to organize positive psychological variables that may be examined through quantitative research. The positive psychological constructs may be measurable to promote hedonic and eudemonic well-being and impact employees&rsquo; engagement and success in WWPs. </p><p>

<p> This qualitative exploratory single case study was completed to analyze the role of how middle managers evaluate coaching ability of front-line supervisors, address unsuccessful coaching, and learn how those determinants factor into the manager&rsquo;s employment decision respective to retaining or hiring a front-line supervisor. The investigation occurred at a regional company in the Midwest of the United States that had previously attempted to enact a coaching culture program. Focus was placed on senior leaders and hiring/middle manager viewpoints and interviews were conducted with nine middle managers and three senior leaders. Additional data points included document analysis, direct observation, and expert testimony from a consultant who had worked with over 100 companies to implement a coaching culture. Data were analyzed through an eclectic two-phase coding system with emphasis upon hypothesis coding, word frequency, and thematic coding reassembly. Identified themes were then investigated through a lens of assertion development, and decision modeling. Five critical conclusions emerged and those findings aligned to how companies evaluate coaching ability and use those assessments in hiring decisions. Each of the five findings have a direct effect on the success of implementing a coaching culture. (1) Leaders should fully align on organizational coaching expectations, behaviors, and definitions. (2) Organizations need a robust coaching supervision program to evaluate current front-line supervisors. (3) Companies need to develop a comprehensive interviewing process to ascertain the coaching ability of potential candidates for the front-line supervisor role. (4) Leaders should also mitigate factors that inhibit coaching activity particularly emphasizing the importance of the coaching dyad. (5) Companies need to ensure the quality and consistency of coaching throughout the organization.</p><p>

<p> The global marketplace, with its complexity, immediacy, and ubiquitous disruptions places almost impossible demands on its leaders and its leadership ranks. For many years, a top, perennial contender for the &ldquo;what keeps CEOs up at night&rdquo; list has been a severe lack in both the quantity and quality of effective leaders. The war for talent has been figuratively bloody and literally protracted. Leadership development and coaching modalities abound, but demand appears to be much greater than the supply of effective and measurable solutions. Nowhere does there appear to be a scalable approach to accelerate into this demand curve. </p><p> This descriptive phenomenological inquiry explores the lived experiences of 16 leaders who participated in an experimental Facilitated Peer-group Coaching experience (FPC). FPC is a coaching methodology where participants work on both their own leadership development and the development of their peers. Participants learn to coach and develop each other with the assistance of a trained facilitator. Subjects in this study responded to 20 face-to-face interview questions designed to identify their thoughts, perceptions, feelings and perspectives. The findings and conclusions of this study revealed five developmental fields that catalyze and empower leadership growth. These fields include creating community, self-exploration and illumination, the community mirror, leadership development, and organizational business results. Those fields comprise an ecosystem that presents opportunities for global organizations, coaches and coaching organizations, and academic scholarship. </p><p>

<p> As Internet technologies have grown, virtual employees have become a large part of many sectors of business. The problem is that virtual team members may have lower job satisfaction than counterparts in traditional roles and virtual workers may suffer from turnover. Transformational leadership is associated with higher employee job satisfaction and performance; however, it remains unclear how particular leadership styles may affect virtual employees. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to describe the perceptions of virtual employees concerning their perceptions of extraversion/introversion of leaders and how they perceive the attributes of leaders when using different modes of communication, and how these issues affect their job satisfaction. A generic qualitative design was used with a purposeful sample from the population of virtual employees. The data were collected using an online questionnaire and qualitative methods were used to code and develop subthemes and themes. The results contained several themes: differences in interactions with introverts and extraverts; effectiveness and motivation driving communications with leaders; participants&rsquo; perceived congruence between preferred leader and current leader and the follower&rsquo;s satisfaction level. The study&rsquo;s novelty was revealed in details of perceived leadership style and personality, and virtual communication modes. The participants indicated they perceive and interact distinctively with introverts versus extroverts, including an expectation to use different communication modes and preferences or bias toward introverts and extroverts. Context of communications tended to be functionally or relationally motivated for most participants. However, participants&rsquo; motive and communication choices were often accommodating to the perceived leader personality types and aligned with follower&rsquo;s congruence and satisfaction with their leader. Conclusions and recommendations were that virtual workers&rsquo; preconceptions about introversion and extraversion are relevant to virtual communication choices with leaders should be explored for research and for practice. Congruence between an ideal and current leader has been studied quantitatively but few contextual details were available in those studies. An unexpected finding was that some participants were congruent with their leader but were unsatisfied. Another conclusion and recommendation was that qualitative results found are consistent with other studies and based on these results can be further explored qualitatively.</p><p>

<p> Nationally, about 50% of all business startups in the U.S. vanish by their fifth year (Fisher, Maritz, &amp; Lobo, 2014). In a recent survey, the U.S. Census Bureau (2015) has identified 5.4 million small businesses in operation today, with about 67% of them having fewer than 20 employees. This majority of all small businesses are known as micro-business enterprises (MBE) and are run by micro-business owners (MBO). </p><p> In this qualitative phenomenological study, decision-making processes through the principles of causation and effectuation were explored on MBOs whose MBE has fewer than 15 employees. There is a gap identifying challenges MBO&rsquo;s experience between the phase where the MBE transitions out of the startup phase and moves into the growth phase&mdash;a point in the business cycle known as the inflection point (Dimovski, Penger, Peterlin, &amp; Uhan, 2013). The findings in the study supported the problem statement in that MBO behavioral characteristics are the primary drivers that can impact the operating of a successful or unsuccessful business. </p><p> Authors who have studied decision-making processes at the point of inflection have indicated that most research has been conducted through quantitative methods (Chandler, DeTienne, McKelvie, &amp; Mumford, 2011; Perry, Chandler, &amp; Markova, 2012). As the study on the decision-making principles of causation and effectuation matures, Perry, Chandler, and Markova (2012) suggested new qualitative research be conducted to explore various aspects of psychological capital as MBOs hire, train, and manage employees.</p><p>

<p> This study examined the status of field employee turnover at a national afterschool program provider in relation to its turnover improvement goal and assessed the knowledge, skills, motivation, and organizational influences of those with the greatest impact on retention and turnover&mdash;frontline Area Managers (AMs) who directly supervise afterschool staff. Clark and Estes&rsquo; (2008) gap analysis served as the general conceptual and methodological framework for the study. A mixed methods convergent parallel study was conducted using document analysis, surveys, interviews, and observations. Document analysis revealed high employee turnover in the school year of study (62%), far surpassing industry norms and prior year performance. However, analysis also found high employee retention (74%), which can coexist with high turnover when most staff are retained, but a smaller segment repeatedly churns over the same period. Specifically, recurring turnover among 37% of the organization&rsquo;s field employee roles was found to be the source of its high turnover rate, while 63% of roles remained filled and therefore stable across the school year. Gap analysis of quantitative and qualitative survey results triangulated with interview and observation data illuminated barriers to AM success with retention and turnover. Barriers included limited knowledge of factors related to turnover, perception of minimal organizational focus on and resources for retention, significant external locus of control over turnover, and lack of ownership and accountability for turnover. The implications of these findings signal the risk of continued high turnover, where AMs could remain disempowered due to lack of critical knowledge, skills, motivation, and organizational resources for retention. The study concludes with recommendations for context-specific solutions grounded in literature and in the New World Kirkpatrick Model (Kirkpatrick &amp; Kirkpatrick, 2016), as well as an integrated implementation and evaluation plan, strengths and weaknesses of the study, limitations and delimitations, and recommendations for future study.</p><p>