<p> One of the major initiatives found in the Improving America&rsquo;s Schools Act of 1995 was a focus on school safety and security relative to the perceived negative impact of violence generated from guns and illicit drugs. This tougher stand manifested itself in the federal requirement that states adopt laws requiring the expulsion of students for drug violations unless special circumstances were determined to exist. If special circumstances existed then another disciplinary action may be administered. Special circumstances are not defined in the federal law and have not been defined in the subsequent Virginia law. The lack of clarity in the federal and state laws, and their application by school boards has yielded nearly 25 years of widely varying sanctions by local divisions for student drug offenses.</p><p> This mixed methods research study analyzed the relationship between the individual school board member&rsquo;s level of attributional complexity (AC) measured by the Fletcher et al. AC scale and their decision-making in assigning a disciplinary sanction in student drug violations. This research study also analyzed school board members&rsquo; level of AC in decision-making with the accumulated hours of training provide through the Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA), years of experience as a school board member, level of confidence in the decision made, and a school board that delegates to the superintendent authority to conduct a preliminary hearing compared to a board that does not delegate the hearing. Individual follow-up interviews extended exploration into other possible factors that influenced decision-making in student drug cases.</p><p> The explanatory design methodology provided a structure for identifying trends in judicial decision-making by school board members to aide in explaining how each independent variable may affect the individual participant level of AC. This mixed methods study has a strong quantitative orientation with the final report having two distinct consecutively developed sections. The second qualitative section is built on further explaining the emerging trends in school board decision-making. The survey asked participants if they were willing to participate in a follow-up interview. From this pool of volunteer participants, a purposeful selection was conducted of varying demographic elements to ensure coverage of varying levels of AC, large and small school divisions, gender, age, training and board experience.</p><p> The statistical analysis of the quantitative questions suggests that there are no statistical significant differences between the individual level of AC of a school board member and any of the aforementioned factors. The qualitative phase of the study suggests that decision-making is contextual to the individual school board. This context consists of a combination of factors with the dominate theme including the recommendation of the superintendent, and the board&rsquo;s interpretation of appropriate sanctions grounded by a strict or flexible application of code and policy. Secondary decision-making factors which emerged were: 1. student accountability through assignment of discipline; 2. the need to maintain a safe drug-free environment for all students; 3. the need to continue the drug-violating student&rsquo;s educational development; and, 4. the need for drug dependency assessment and intervention.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of the experience of employee wellbeing and compassion fatigue (CF) in the animal care industry. According to Figley and Roop (2006) in <i>Compassion Fatigue in the Animal-Care Community,</i> compassion fatigue is found at every level among the caregivers in animal-related fields. Utilizing hermeneutic phenomenology, this study explored the experience of employee wellbeing (EW) and compassion fatigue via interviews with 11 participants who are paid, full-time employees from a diverse array of animal shelters. Data analysis followed van Manen&rsquo;s (1990) description of the <i>inventive thoughtful</i> attitude, which takes place through an ongoing process of writing and reflecting throughout and after data collection to capture participant narratives. </p><p> The interpretation of the findings and incorporation of relevant literature led to the development of six key conclusions: 1. <u>Personal History: </u> Participants&rsquo; prior life experiences and personal histories are relevant to, and may have implications for, the experience of compassion fatigue. 2. <u>Social Construct:</u> Participant understanding of compassion fatigue is socially constructed, developed through comparisons to, interactions with and support from others. 3. <u>Dirty Work:</u> The perception of animal caregiving as a form of &ldquo;dirty work&rdquo; has consequences for the experience of employee wellbeing and compassion fatigue. 4. <u>Three-Tier Approach:</u> Participants use two frequently promoted strategies to combat compassion fatigue: self-care and compassion satisfaction, but they also engage in proactive behaviors, implying a three-tier approach to coping with and combatting CF and improving employee wellbeing. 5. <u>Levels of Responsibility:</u> Participants believe the responsibility to develop and employ appropriate solutions to address issues of compassion fatigue and employee wellbeing exists on three different levels: individual, organizational, and societal. 6. <u>Primary Outcomes: </u> Two primary outcomes are evident from the experience of compassion fatigue&mdash;if caregivers are unable to combat the syndrome, they may reach a breaking point and burn out of the field; alternatively they may overcome CF, continue in their work and thrive. </p><p> Implications for research, theory and practice are presented. A better understanding of CF will allow for more effective planning, preparation and intervention at each level of responsibility. The contributions of this study offer constructive ideas for both individuals and organizations to incorporate into their efforts to reduce CF, improve EW, and hopefully avoid burnout and turnover.</p>

<p> The healthcare environment, specifically hospitals, face a turbulent environment and external forces that present difficult challenges to leaders. Hospital leaders are required to do more with less and navigate to ensure a profitable bottom line and high ratings of patient satisfaction. However, viewing solutions, such as developing a new force of leaders, to navigate through such a hostile environment may not be the only answer. This study seeks not to understand the leader solely, but is focused on the leadership process and the effect followers create due to their behaviors and attributes that influence leaders. </p><p> The study draws from the scholarship of positive organizational behavior particularly that of its positive construct of Psychological Capital and followership theories. In order to understand the follower&rsquo;s influence on the leader, the study uses quantitative methods to analyze the Psychological Capital Questionnaire and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire instruments to identify a relationship between followers Psychological Capital and the followers&rsquo; rating of leadership behavior inclusive of transformational and transactional leadership and laissez-faire. </p><p> The results of the study concluded that there is a positive relationship between Psychological Capital and the leadership dimensions scales from the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire as both rated by the follower, but no statistical correlation significance. There was a significant correlation in regards to follower demographics and leaders behavior as rated by the follower. </p>

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the impact between sensemaking as proposed by Karl Weick and his associates’ school of thought, and ubiquitous electronically mediated informing (UEMI) which is the attention-efficient availability of data, information and electronic computing. At best, Weickian sensemaking theory ignores the potential role of UEMI in sensemaking and at worst, it regards it as more of a hindrance than a help. This dim view of electronic information technology (IT), typified as “spreadsheets on screens”, had merit when first expressed in 1985, but its unchanged position notwithstanding IT’s transformation towards UEMI is increasingly untenable. An interpretation based on the attention-efficiency aspect of Mark Weiser’s vision of ubiquitous computing is harnessed as the foundation to review the progress since 1985 towards true ubiquitous computing and to analyse its increasing impact on sensemaking. Ubiquitous computing (which includes UEMI) still has a long way to go with the accuracy of speech recognition a notable obstacle. Yet, progress has been remarkable, and this thesis employs five current UEMI technologies within a limited aspect of society, namely organisations to evaluate this impact: personal memories, virtual presence, augmented reality, speech recognition and organisational memories. Sensemaking is that which gives meaning to experience. It is a social and on-going process made in retrospect, which seeks congruence with one’s identity, is enactive of an environment which enables further sensemaking, and focuses on the noticing and embellishment of cues to the point where the sense which has been made, is plausible enough to act upon. In addition to these seven process properties sensemaking theory also comprises its substance which involves words, sentences, vocabularies and their mechanics. To make meaning (i.e. sense) a minimum of one cue needs to be linked to one frame. Frames tend to be vocabularies that summarise past experience, whilst cues tend to emerge from current experience. This study introduces four notions. Firstly, attention is viewed as a scarce resource in an economic sense. As an act of attending, sensemaking is viewed as an economic process in which ends (the sense or knowledge made) are achieved with limited means (time and attending capability). Therefore people will pay (i.e. invest) attention to make sense of something only up to a point of plausibility where the perceived cost of paying more attention exceeds the expected benefit of doing so. In line with other economic processes, the productivity of organisational sensemaking may be increased with appropriate organisational structures and procedures, human skills, mindsets and most importantly, any technology which lowers the requirements for scarce attention (i.e. UEMI technologies). Secondly, sensemaking theory’s silence on the consequences of sensemaking is addressed by introducing the notions of risky reality, i.e. those situations where gaps between sensemaking and reality may impact the sensemaker’s welfare or survival. Thirdly, the quality of sensemaking, which determines the size of those gaps, is also addressed. Fourthly, this thesis proposes augmenting words as the building blocks of sensemaking with imagery such as drawings, photos, video footage, animation and augmented reality, both for making sense out of life’s pure duration and for communication. Unlike electronic IT in 1985, current and future UEMI’s inherent attention-efficiency and audio-visual capability enables a higher quality of sensemaking, which is of the essence in situations of risky reality. In addition, UEMI positively impacts all seven process properties of sensemaking, with the highest impact on the properties of plausibility, retrospect, cues and on-going. The impact of sensemaking on UEMI means that the most attention-efficient UEMI technologies will be the most successful in the market. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die impak tussen singewing soos voorgestel deur Karl Weick en sy samewerkers en alomteenwoordige elektronies-gemedieerde informering (AEGI) met ander woorde, die aandag-effektiewe beskikbaarheid van data, informasie en elektroniese rekenaars. Wanneer die teorie oor singewing nie die potensiële rol van AEGI in singewing heeltemal ignoreer nie, word die rol van AEGI as ’n hindernis beskou. Hierdie negatiewe siening van elektroniese rekenaartegnologie, gekenmerk as “spreadsheets on screens”, was wel aanvaarbaar in 1985, maar hierdie onveranderde posisie rakende elektroniese rekenaartegnologie se transformasie na AEGI raak al hoe meer onverdedigbaar. ’n Interpretasie gebaseer op die aandag-effektiewe aspek van Mark Weiser se visie vir alomteenwoordige informasie tegnologie, word ingespan as die fondasie om die vooruitgang vanaf 1985 na alomteenwoordige informasie tegnologie te ondersoek, en die implikasies wat dit vir singewing inhou te hersien. Alomteenwoordige informasie tegnologie (insluitend AEGI) het nog ’n lang pad om te gaan, met akkuraatheid van spraak-herkenning as die grootste struikelblok. Tog is die vooruitgang merkwaardig. Die studie fokus op vyf AEGI tegnologieë binne ’n beperkte deel van die samelewing, naamlik organisasies om die impak op bogenoemde te evalueer: persoonlike herinneringe, virtuele teenwoordigheid, aangevulde werklikheid, spraak-herkenning en organisatoriese geheue. Singewing verskaf betekenis aan ervaring. Dis ’n sosiale en deurlopende proses wat in retrospek uitgevoer word, kongruensie met ’n persoon se identiteit vereis, ’n omgewing tot stand bring wat verder singewing in staat stel, en fokus op waarneming en uitbreiding van leidrade tot die stadium bereik word waar die singewing wat vermag is, geloofwaardig genoeg is om tot aksie oor te gaan. Bo en behalwe die sewe proses eienskappe bestaan die kern van singewingsteorie uit woorde, sinne, woordeskatgroepe en hul meganika. Om betekenis (d.w.s. sin) te maak, moet ten minste een leidraad aan een raamwerk gekoppel word. Raamwerke het die neiging om uit woordeskatgroepe te bestaan wat ervarings van die verlede opsom, terwyl leidrade die neiging het om na vore te kom vanuit huidige ervaring. Die studie steun op vier nuwe idees. Eerstens word aandag as ’n skaars bron beskou in ’n ekonomiese konteks. As ’n optrede van aandagskenking, word singewing gesien as ’n ekonomiese proses waar die einddoel (die sin of kennis wat gemaak word) bereik word met beperkte middele of hulpbronne (die tyd en die vermoë om aandag te skenk). Dus sal mense aandag skenk (d.w.s. belê) om sin te maak van iets slegs tot op ’n punt van geloofwaardigheid, waar die verwagte koste om meer aandag te skenk die verwagte voordeel om dit te doen, oorskry. Soos met ander ekonomiese prosesse, mag die produktiwiteit van organisatoriese singewing vermeerder met die toepaslike organisatoriese strukture en prosedures, menslike vaardighede, ingesteldheid en van kardinale belang, enige tegnologie wat die vereiste vir aandag wat skaars is, verminder (d.w.s. AEGI tegnologieë). Tweedens, word die stilswye van die singewingsteorie rakende die gevolge van singewing aangespreek deur die nuwe konsep van riskante werklikheid – daardie situasies waar die gaping tussen die sin wat gemaak is en die werklikheid die singewer se welvaart wesenlik kan beïnvloed. Derdens, word die kwaliteit van singewing, naamlik dit wat die grootte van sulke gapings bepaal dan ook in hierdie studie aangespreek. Vierdens word daar geargumenteer dat woorde met beelde aangevul kan word as boublokke vir singewing, beide om sin te maak van “life’s pure duration” en van kommunikasie deur middel van tekeninge, foto’s, video-materiaal, animasie en aangevulde werklikheid. Daar word geargumenteer dat anders as elektroniese informasie tegnologie in 1985, die huidige en toekomstige AEGI se inherente aandageffektiwiteit en audio-visuele vermoë, hoër kwaliteit van singewing moontlik maak, wat van groot belang is in riskante werklikheidsituasies. Bogenoemde het dan ook ’n positiewe impak op al sewe eienskappe van singewing, waarvan geloofwaardigheid, retrospek, leidrade en deurlopenheid die grootste is. Dit beteken dus dat die mees aandag-effektiewe alomteenwoordige elektronies-gemedieerde informasie tegnologieë die mees suksesvolle in die mark van die toekoms behoort te wees.

<p> Cultural identity and resource availability aspects in traditional leadership development literature remain understudied, especially among minority populations like Asian immigrants. This study explores the leadership journeys of 24 United States immigrants from China, India and the Philippines using a phenomenological approach, primarily with semi-structured interviews. Experiences of 18 additional immigrant leaders published in popular media were also analyzed. </p><p> Data from the study reveals that Asian migrants&rsquo; roads to leadership in U.S. organizations are heterogeneous and characterized by either linear or nonlinear, overlapping phases of leader development where migrant leaders overcome assimilation challenges and leverage their unique, individual human capital to intersect with organizational level capital in order to enhance their chances of success. Findings suggestive of a relationship between leveraged or suppressed cultural traits and leadership styles are also explored. </p><p> Drawing from theories rooted in behavioral economics and psychology, the study demonstrates that Asian leader pathways reflect an adaptation process that appears to interact in complex ways with individual, organizational, and societal resources available to them. Theoretical and practical implications are drawn and future research directions are recommended.</p><p>

<p> The focus of the qualitative case study was to understand how innovative work behavior was affected by leaders&rsquo; relationship with their employees to enhance job commitment in the grocery retail industry. Specifically, the research involved exploring how the leader and employee relationship can affect employee engagement as a mediator for innovative work behavior. Innovative work behavior is when an employee is generating and implementing useful ideas. The general business problem was that organizations in the grocery retail industry lack innovative work behaviors to meet the market demand for innovation and remain competitive. The study involved triangulating three data sources: open-ended, semistructured interview questions used with one-on-one interviews; a focus group; and public documents from the participating organization headquartered in the western United States. The central research question was as follows: How do grocery retail industry knowledge workers&rsquo; relationships with their leaders affect their commitment and ability to generate and implement ideas? Triangulating the data sources helped to better describe the dominant themes that answered the overarching central research question and indicated leadership style is a significant antecedent to employee engagement that can promote the generation and implementation of useful ideas leading to continuous innovation. High-quality leader-member exchanges that promote mutual respect and trust can stimulate employee engagement that may help the employee generate useful ideas and ways to implement these ideas. The unexpected findings were the trends and preferences revealed within generational groupings from all 11 study participants. Understanding the unique generational differences provides insight into leadership practices to promote innovative work behavior. The needs and wants expressed by the millennial participants indicated their leaders should be more of a coach and mentor. The Generation X and baby boomer participants were seeking more autonomy and resources to explore ideas. Future researchers could consider exploring a deeper understanding of the multigenerational knowledge workers&rsquo; needs and wants to help leaders stimulate employee engagement and increase innovative work behavior.</p><p>

<p> Supporting new nursing graduates (NGs) through the professional socialization transition process has been an ongoing challenge facing nursing leaders. As NGs begin their professional socialization transition process, they begin to acclimate themselves to their job responsibilities. Employers provide NGs with established education and training without established evidence-based sources of support. The literature frequently indicated that institutional support for NGs is provided or should be provided without describing how this is accomplished. Without support for NGs during their professional socialization transition period, they could feel unsatisfied within their roles and resign from their positions or leave the nursing profession. The purpose of this research study was to explore the reflective perceptions of NGs regarding the support they received as well as what support they would have liked to receive during their professional socialization transition process. Through this study, this researcher began to describe the support that NGs desire to successfully transition from NGs to registered nurses.</p><p>

<p> This qualitative research study (Merriam &amp; Tisdell, 2016) informed by an a priori theoretical framework gathered perspectives of female law enforcement leaders on their experiences leading in hegemonic masculine police cultures (Archbold &amp; Schulz, 2012; Morash &amp; Haarr, 2012; Rabe-Hemp, 2009) to better understand how female law enforcement leaders described the construction of their social identities (Morash &amp; Haarr, 2012; Rabe-Hemp, 2009; Tajfel &amp; Turner, 1979) and the influences on their self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977, 1986, 1997). The two areas of focus for the study within the law enforcement leaders&rsquo; experiences included understanding how the women thought of themselves and others as a group and what experiences influenced their confidence to lead. The study was guided by two research questions: How do female law enforcement leaders describe their social identities? and What experiences shape the formation and evolution of self-efficacy of female law enforcement leaders? There were two subquestions: How, if at all, is gender a factor in the female law enforcement leaders&rsquo; social identity constructions? and How do the reported experiences described by the female law enforcement leaders inform the four information sources for self-efficacy theorized by Bandura (1977)? </p><p> This study provided in-depth descriptive data about the social identity constructions and self-efficacy evolution of 16 female law enforcement leaders. General findings from the study indicated women&rsquo;s social identities (Tajfel &amp; Turner, 1979) are constructed within and outside of the law enforcement community with a strong identification with groups outside of law enforcement and influenced by gender. Further findings from the study indicated that a myriad of experiences and interactions influence leader self-efficacy (Archbold &amp; Schulz, 2012; Bandura, 1977, 1986, 1997; Rabe-Hemp, 2009; West &amp; Zimmerman, 1987) that are generally aligned with Bandura&rsquo;s (1977, 1986, 1997) self-efficacy theory, with one noteworthy exception and one emergent influence.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to explore the reasons for the continued underrepresentation of women in leadership positions in education and why barriers continue to exist for women from the perspectives and lived experiences of professional women leaders in education. A phenomenological approach within the qualitative research method of inquiry lends itself to help identify personal experiences of those who have knowledge of these situations (Thomas &amp; Lacey, 2016). Using a phenomenological design allowed for the exploration of the &ldquo;foundational question in phenomenology: What is the meaning, structure, and essence of the lived experience of this phenomenon by an individual or by many individuals?&rdquo; (Johnson &amp; Christensen, 2010, p. 385). Twelve women in educational leadership positions employed in various educational institutions in the southeastern and rocky mountain region of the United States were the focus of this study. The results revealed that barriers are still in place for women regardless if they have shattered the glass ceiling. The barriers are related to how women are viewed in the work place. This study is important for women, young girls, teachers, administrators, and officials in educational leadership. The ability for women to have their voices and experiences heard is one of the primary benefits from this study. </p><p>

<p> The purpose of this grounded theory research study was to discover the transformational learning elements of a small group experience at an Evangelical Christian church that fosters personal transformation. Given the lack of Evangelical Christians experiencing personal transformation within small groups, leaders and teachers could learn much from transformational learning theory that continues to be the predominant framework for research in the area of adult education. The source of data for this study was interviews with small group leaders, teachers, and participants who had experienced a personal transformation while attending a small group. Analysis of the data found that participants faced a variety of circumstances that were personal, meaningful, and transformative, revealing 8 elements, mostly relational, within the small group experience that fostered personal transformation. The concluding theory for this study is that the relational elements of small groups, such as love, care, prayer, and connection create a transformative learning environment where personal transformation is likely to take place through the transparency and development of close relationships with others in the group. Implications of this study include pastors and leaders incorporating relational elements into small groups by taking intentional steps to match individuals, set expectations, set an example, be open and honest, know members, focus on the Bible, be ready to learn, and assess throughout. Creating a life-changing small group experience is an essential mission of Evangelical churches and by incorporating these elements churches can make great strides in fostering spiritual growth and personal transformation in individuals&rsquo; lives.</p><p>