<p> What is considered a fair and accurate performance appraisal depends on whom you ask. The performance appraisal, an evaluation/assessment instrument widely used by many human resource departments, has been in the controversial spotlight for almost as long as organizations have been in existence. The performance appraisal process (or lack thereof) is one of the mostly hotly debated human resources issue in today&rsquo;s work environment, and there is a trend to abandon traditional performance appraisals (Kenny, 2016). One purpose of the performance appraisal is to communicate to employees any information collected about their performance over a specified period of time. While the performance appraisal process is a critical function of human resources that can trigger assessment fairness perceptions, understanding how fairness influences job productivity and employee satisfaction, as well as employee behavior consequences, have practical implications. Social influences of perception are fast becoming contextual components of the performance appraisal process. The traditional approach to the performance appraisal is antiquated because the workplace environment has rapidly changed due to technological advances. The manner in which 21^st Century employees work and the definition of performance, significantly impacts how employee performance should be measured (Bititci, Garengo, Dorfer &amp; Nudurapati, 2012). Applying the social comparison, expectancy, and equity theories to the performance appraisal process suggests that an employee expects to be fairly compensated, recognized, and fairly rewarded for their contributions to meeting organizational goals. This research underscores the importance of incorporating organizational justice dimensions into the performance appraisal process. Additionally, this research enhances the understanding of organizational justice and the role that it plays on employee perception of the overall performance appraisal process. </p><p> Using thematic synthesis, employee and manager/supervisor perceptions, reactions, and observations of performance appraisal accuracy and equity were examined. These variables were identified as predictor constructs for appraisal effectiveness and satisfaction. The findings show that organizational justice within the context of the performance appraisal is significantly impacted by national context and demographic characteristics, and the relationship quality between the appraiser and appraisee is crucial. These results provide HR practitioners and organizations with a meaningful approach to integrate organizational justice. The pivotal role and important implications that organizational justice plays on the performance process is presented. </p><p>

<p> Here Be Dragons: How Global Business Executives Navigate Change and Paradox Globalization has resulted in increased international trade, enhanced information flows, diasporas, and a greater dependence on the global economy, as well as dramatically changing the context in which leaders operate today. Studies show that there is a shortage of global leaders and that most organizations are concerned that this lack of global leadership skills may threaten corporate performance and continued business growth. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how senior executives in globally integrated business enterprises navigate change, as viewed through the lens of paradox theory. This exploratory study employed a basic qualitative design. Data were collected from 23 global executives, working for 20 unique global enterprises, in 12 different functions, across 18 different industries, through a preinterview participant qualifying profile, an in-depth semistructured interview, and follow-up verification. </p><p> The key findings of this study build on existing research and show that (1) executives who are global leaders are contextual leaders; (2) global leadership roles are inherently paradoxical because they balance both task complexities and relationship complexities; (3) for these global executives, change is continuous and contextual; (4) paradox is the process that global executives use to navigate continuous change; (5) global executives are savvy sensemakers; (6) the global leadership capabilities to navigate paradox can be learned, and global leaders are constant and agile learners; and (7) to navigate change, executives who are global leaders oscillate/balance constantly by navigating paradox + sensemaking + learning. The study concludes with implications for theory and practice, along with recommendations for further research.</p><p>

<p> People with disabilities face discrimination around the world. This has a negative impact on society, individuals and the economy. In Saudi Arabia, people with physical disabilities face serious challenges. This research addressed the negative perceptions and attitudes toward disability in Saudi Arabia that resulted in discrimination against people with disabilities, create challenges for them and prevented them from participating in society equally. This mixed- method study investigated the challenges that face the physically disabled in Saudi Arabia in their personal, political, economic and professional paradigms. This research used quantitative and qualitative methods, to reflect the sentiment and impressions of both the disabled and non- disabled populations in Saudi Arabia on the topic of physical disability. There were 14 participants in the interview component of this research and 403 participated in the survey. This research identified the main challenges facing people with disabilities in Saudi Arabia as inaccessible environments, judgmental society, family and self-image, health care services and enforcement of existing laws and regulations. Furthermore, the results highlighted a number of steps needed for people with disabilities to overcome the challenges in their personal and professional lives.</p><p>

<p> The &ldquo;glass ceiling&rdquo; (Hymowitz &amp; Schellhardt, 1986), invisible barriers preventing women from reaching executive-level organizational positions, has not been cracked (Seltzer et al., 2017) and &ldquo;sticky floors&rdquo; (Booth et al., 2003), representing women becoming stuck as they try to climb the job ladder, contribute to their underrepresentation in top management positions. </p><p> These phenomena are represented in the federal sector with senior executive service (SES) membership, (Lashley, 2013). Only 34% of the SES are women despite the federal work force composition of 43% women (OPM, 2014). Belenky et al.&rsquo;s (1986) seminal model of women&rsquo;s ways of knowing focused on the learning styles of women. It is still used today to understand how women develop knowledge in the workplace. This phenomenological study extends that tradition to explore how women SES also used their voice in the workplace throughout their career advancement and contributes to the empirical literature on how women SES speak out and learn through the lens of memory and life stories. </p><p> In this study, talking and learning, were conceptually framed by Belenky et al.&rsquo;s (1986, 1997) work. Ten participants recently retired from the SES from six federal agencies were selected and interviewed using a modified version of Seidman&rsquo;s (2013) three stage interview method; data were analyzed using Moustakas&rsquo;s (1994) heuristic inquiry. </p><p> Eleven themes emerged from the experiences of study participants offering insight into developing voice in the workplace. Two contributions, talking in changing ways and turning points, were added to a conceptual framework of a Belenky&rsquo;s developmental staged model of talking and learning. All participants were at the highest stage, yet a few moved between the highest and a lesser stage of talking, depending on the situation and influence. </p><p> The study concluded that the few who moved between stages would have remained at the most advanced stage through mentoring until retirement. The findings from this study provide insight into the role of voice and learning in career advancement of women in the federal sector and suggest contributions for future research.</p><p>

<p> As authenticity and trust continue to be recognized as key pillars of effective leadership in today&rsquo;s world (Avolio et al., 2004; Mayer et al., 1995; Peus et al., 2012), organizations need leaders who are willing to be vulnerable with those they lead. The purpose of current study was to explore the relationship between courage, other-centered calling, vulnerability, and leadership differentiation. The sample for the current study included 296 self-identified leaders who report being responsible for the work and development of others. Leaders were primarily Caucasian (83.7%), male (55.9%), and from a church/ministry setting (41.2%). The study occurred over a year span within an online leadership development tool. Moderated mediation in Hayes (2013) PROCESS Macro was used to test the hypotheses. Courage was positively related to vulnerability (B = .226, <i>p</i> = .000), and the relationship between courage and vulnerability was significantly moderated by other-centered calling (B = .112, <i>p</i> = .032). Additionally, the relationship between vulnerability and leadership differentiation was examined and found to be nonsignificant (B = -.004, <i>p</i> = .901). Findings from this study indicate that courage and other-centered calling are key factors in allowing leaders to choose vulnerability with those they lead.</p><p>

<p> The real estate industry is facing several challenges, including the need for real estate agents to experience success within their profession. The goal of this study was to fill the gap in the literature in determining if, and to what degree, experiential and strategic emotional intelligence, gender, and full-time/part-time work status predicted successfulness among real estate agents in central and northern Arizona. This study was based on the ability-based emotional intelligence model. The study utilized the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Tests (MSCEIT) to measure REALTORS&rsquo;^&reg; emotional intelligence level, as well as SurveyMonkey to collect demographic data on the participants. Data analysis was conducted using a single binary logistic regression. Results indicated that experiential emotional intelligence and strategic emotional intelligence are not significant predictors of REALTOR^&reg; success. However, gender and the full-time/part-time work status were found to be significant predictors of REALTOR^&reg; success (<i>OR</i> = 0.307, <i>p</i> = .017 and <i> OR</i> = 3.936, <i>p</i> = .014, respectively). Findings suggest that male real estate agents have a higher likelihood of success than female real estate agents. Additionally, full-time real estate agents have a higher likelihood of success than part-time real estate agents. </p><p>

<p> Organizations that value tacit knowledge transfer (TKT) have significant advantages over competitors. The knowledge management (KM) community has identified willingness to share and use information as a TKT barrier. Trust has been revealed as key for building effective organization relationships. This study examined stages of trust as a pathway to bridge barriers that affect TKT. It was theorized that, if stages of professional relationship trust existed, then employees would be willing to share and use tacit knowledge. This was the foundation and inspiration for learning methods to measure and improve TKT. This quantitative research used structural equation modeling to investigate the direct effects of calculus-based trust (CBT), knowledge-based trust (KBT) and identity-based trust (IBT) on willingness to share and use tacit knowledge. Each stage was investigated individually. Results indicated that CBT and KBT significantly influenced TKT among employees. Employees in the CBT and KBT stage were more willing to share and use tacit knowledge. The results confirmed that CBT and KBT were pathways that bridged gaps for learning how to overcome TKT barriers.</p><p>

<p> This dissertation is a qualitative inquiry that explores and pinpoints those exact communication strategies in leadership communication that enable higher educational leaders in sustaining their positions. This study was initiated with the intent to lay out the foundational literature on the content of communication that is utilized by higher educational leaders on a daily basis to achieve their departmental and institutional goals. For this purpose, communication was the core idea of focus, pertaining to which, verbal and non-verbal skills of leaders were explored. From the notion of communication and upon further investigation of communication literature, theory and leadership studies posit persuasion and trust as two prime components of leadership communication, without which, a leader&rsquo;s functionality would be greatly mitigated. Therefore, the three main constructs that this study examined are communication, persuasion, and trust. This study was strongly driven by the motive to explore the utilization of those specific communication strategies that enhance persuasion and trust among higher education leaders and their staff and colleagues. The method of inquiry was in-depth, face-to-face interview protocol that enabled the researcher to formulate carefully worded interview protocol questions that were meticulously sequenced and worded to extract the lived communicative experiences of its participants. From this point, thematic coding was utilized to code the responses of the participants and draw out the common themes that emerged across all interviews. The results of this research are comprehensive and contribute to the existing base on communication literature. This research brought forth the pivotal role of relational communication in facilitating leadership, the need for all leaders to make conscious efforts in choosing their verbal and non-verbal communication strategies meticulously in their daily professional lives, and the indispensable role of persuasion and trust in dynamic leadership communication.</p><p>

<p> Innovation is researched significantly throughout academic literature, ranging from leadership to organizational culture, with the aim of understanding how to enable greater creativity. This study attempted to address the knowledge gap on the common strategies of facilitating innovation in a group setting by evaluating this condition through four specific areas: environment, process, team dynamics, and facilitator behavior. This study built upon those four areas aiming to understand the process a facilitator puts a group of individuals through to stimulate innovation. Applying a qualitative phenomenological study, the researcher interviewed 15 facilitators of innovative thinking to understand the common strategies applied by practitioners in the field. Upon completion of the interviews, the best practices discovered in academic literature were compared against practitioner best practices, identifying the strategies that intersected both environments. Key elements that elicited greater innovation in a group setting were as follows: (a) leadership supporting experimentation cultures where taking risks is encouraged, (b) stretching the mind to enable ambiguous thought, (c) achieving a cognitively diverse team, and (d) striving to keep everyone engaged from the beginning to the end.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to examine the significance of participation in a six-session innovation training program on participants&rsquo; perceived creative behaviors in a military research and development organization in eastern Maryland. This study included an introduction and background of the problem, thorough literature review, declaration of design and methodology, data collection and analysis, and presentation of the findings. Data collection included an online qualitative survey of past program participants, theoretical literature, and innovation training course materials. The survey responses showed evidence through individuals&rsquo; perceptions, beliefs, and lived experiences that may encourage leadership to utilize innovation-training programs and similar creative behavior training to improve organizational culture, communication, and experience. Four common themes emerged through data analysis relative to influencing creative behaviors as follows: Essential to Innovation, Applicable to Daily Activities and Organization, New Skills and Methodologies Learned, and Significant Perceptions and Beliefs. These themes were analyzed to formulate responses to the guiding research questions of this study. The data presented in this study has shown the potential value of innovation training by presenting both positive and negative outcomes, allowing leaders to understand current issues with organizational creative behaviors, and the potential opportunity to bolster these behaviors through innovation training. Organizational leaders have an opportunity to potentially utilize innovation training as a means of reinforcing or improving the quality and productivity of organizational innovative projects through enhancing individual perception in areas including critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration and team building, and creativity and innovation.</p><p>