<p> Earlier organizational research neglected investigating the association between workplace spirituality and organizational citizenship behavior despite its importance. The present study examined the relationship between workplace spirituality and organizational citizenship behavior, which were conceptually related via transcendence of self-interest. The study also investigated whether affective, normative, and continuance organizational commitment mediated this relationship. This non-experimental research used convenience sampling and cross-sectional surveys. Survey responses were gathered from 198 general practice receptionists or medical receptionists who had been full-time, permanent employees in primary care offices across the United States for at least five years. The results from three Baron and Kenny analyses indicated a strong, positive, statistically significant relationship between workplace spirituality and organizational citizenship behavior, and Fry&rsquo;s causal theory of spiritual leadership conceptually substantiated this relationship. The results from the three Baron and Kenny analyses also revealed that only normative organizational commitment partially mediated the relationship between workplace spirituality and organizational citizenship behavior. Future studies should pay considerable attention to the contextual nature of organizational commitment and, specifically, normative organizational commitment. Instead of a cross-sectional design, scholars should consider using a panel longitudinal design in future research.</p><p>

<p> The Department of Homeland Security leaders with over 230,000 employees are tasked with maintaining the security and safety of people and infrastructure. The unique mission of each agency poses a leadership challenge across directorates. To accomplish the security task, leadership must employ a highly trained, resilient, and effective workforce. The problem is that employees continue to report low levels of job satisfaction and lack of leadership. The purpose of this study was to understand the job satisfaction of a small segment departmental employees, former undercover officers. The current study utilized a qualitative method with a multiple case study design. Participants were recruited from an association of retired special agents. Seventeen former undercover officers were interviewed in-depth to gain a perspective of their relationship with their supervisors while working undercover. This study examined four research questions. To gain information concerning the four research questions, 15 interview questions were asked of each participant. The information gathered was analyzed and coded, eight themes were developed. The findings revealed former undercover officers maintained an elevated level of job satisfaction while working undercover regardless of their supervisors&rsquo; knowledge and abilities. Participants reported lower level of job satisfaction when undercover work concluded. This finding was in contrast with the guiding theoretical framework in the literature concerning leader-member-exchange theory. Former undercover officers reacted positively to supervisors with transformational leaderships skills which is supported by the leaders-member-exchange literature. The potential implication of this study is continued reported low levels of job satisfaction by employees may lead to lower levels of performance which can degrade the security of our nation. Future studies should include a quantitative study of currently active undercovers officers through anonymous surveys to protect their identity and safety.</p><p>

<p> This study utilized a qualitative approach to examine academic leaders&rsquo; perceptions of the impact of the changes occurring in the higher education environment on leader development and the faculty governance model. Interviews were conducted with academic leaders in four regionally accredited, 4-year, private, similarly-sized, religiously affiliated institutions in a rural region of a Midwestern state. The interviews explored the perceptions of academic leaders on the impact of changes within the context of the social construct of the higher education environment, the contextual influence on leaders and leadership development, and the faculty governance model. The results suggested that individuals socially reconstruct their environments by revisioning the challenges in the context of the mission of the institution. The results further revealed the philosophies of trust, support, mentoring, followership, and decision making as critical to shared leadership in the higher education environment. Academic leader development, the faculty governance process, and shared governance were influenced by the changes occurring in the environment. These findings have important implications suggesting the need to examine the construct of leadership in the higher education environment and academic leaders&rsquo; influence on faculty governance and shared governance. The findings also raise interesting possibilities for advancing an augmented view of leadership in the higher education environment.</p><p>

<p> Although many studies had sought to understand aspects of principal leadership and others had focused on diffusion or scaling of innovation, limited research had been conducted to examine the intersection of the two. The purpose of this study was to understand what leadership strategies have helped principals successfully diffuse an innovation across an established, high- performing school. A qualitative research design was used to interview both experts on innovation diffusion and practitioners who have successfully diffused an innovation in their context. Transcripts of interviews were coded for key words and phrases, categories and themes. Both practitioners and experts viewed principals as having an important role in diffusing innovative high-impact practices across a school context. Overall, practitioners were focused more on nurturing the innovation at the classroom level, starting from where their school was in relation to the change and then working with faculty to propel the change across the system. In contrast, the experts were generally more focused on the actual position of principal as the ones responsible for leading change and innovation. In general, they believed that a principal&rsquo;s primary role was to provide a vision, change the culture and system, and then lead the way in changing the status quo. Several strategies were identified that principals should use to diffuse innovative high-impact practices across a school. These strategies related to change leadership, instructional leadership, innovation diffusion leadership, fostering distributed leadership, and acting as manager.</p><p>

<p> This qualitative grounded theory research study explored whether there is evidence of disablism on Councils on Developmental Disabilities. Utilizing a semi-structured interview method, this research interviewed executive directors of Councils on Development Disabilities to determine their perceptions of disablism within their individual Councils. The data collection process yielded three conditions and one overarching condition. The overarching condition of communication is an essential component to the three remaining conditions of appointments, accommodation, and culture. The four conditions, while intertwined, are elements that promote or discourage disablism. These conditions led to the emergence of seven themes: a) mindfulness of communication, both verbal and nonverbal; b) involvement in the appointment process; c) perception of accommodations; d) creation of a culture that fosters acceptance, affirmation, and respect; e) equal distribution of power diminishes disablism, (Arnstein, 1969); f) prevention of disablism requires attentiveness; and g) disablism, while seemingly superficial, is evident. Each of these themes led to the development of a new substantive theory regarding disablism on Councils. The key to eliminating disablism is the application of the themes equally to both members with developmental disabilities and members without disabilities. Through such application, no segment of the Council membership would experience discrimination.</p><p>

<p> The majority of student evaluations of teaching (SET) related studies repeatedly consider matters related to the creation and validity of an assessment tool, as well as the validity, and reliability of SET scores. Not only to determine the usefulness of teaching; but also, the possible sources of student biases related thereto as well (Hofman &amp; Kremer, 1980; Abrami &amp; Mizener, 1983; Tollefson et al., 1989). However, limited research studies have considered SET and their relation to student learning outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify what relationships, if any, exists between the grade undergraduate college students' predict to earn in a course and their actual earned grade, controlling for students' perceptions of faculty knowledge and their affect toward faculty. Also, this study also examined what relationship, if any, exists between undergraduate college students' earned grade and the overall evaluation they provide their instructor on an end of course SET. </p><p> The population for this study consisted of 344 undergraduate college students enrolled during the spring 2018 quarter at a small private college of music, located in Hollywood, California. Students&rsquo; predicted&nbsp;grade was collected&nbsp;via a document that contained a detailed outline of the course grade percentage standards alongside a single question survey: "What Grade do you expect to earn in this course?&rdquo; Students' perceptions of faculty knowledge was measured via 15 questions, covering an instructor&rsquo;s subject matter knowledge (e.g., "My instructor understands the topics at a high-level ") and inquiries from the knowledge of students' understanding header (e.g., "My instructor is familiar with my prior knowledge in this subject area"). Measuring for students' affect toward faculty was accomplished through the administering of an eight-item survey assessing respondents' affect toward the instructor, which included items such as the value of instruction and the like. Extant data regarding students actual earned grade, and overall SET evaluation was collected on the last day of classes, the college&rsquo;s Office of the Registrar.</p><p> A detailed investigation of the Wald statistic of the individual relationships revealed that none of the various grades students' predicted to earn in a given had a significant impact on the prediction of the different students' actual earned grade in a given course after controlling the effect of students&rsquo; perception of faculty knowledge and affect toward faculty. However, the undergraduate college students' actual grade earned was significantly related to students' perceptions of faculty knowledge (<i>F</i>(4, 339) = 2.86, <i> p</i> = 0.02), and their affect toward instructor (<i>F</i>(4, 339) = 77.27, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001). The findings mentioned above are further reinforced by the Post-Hoc test findings too. Specifically, that undergraduate students&rsquo; who earn a higher-level grade concurrently rate their faculty member as having high knowledge, versus those students who earn a low final course grade. Also, undergraduate college students who earn higher-level grades also have a higher rating of affect toward instructor than those undergraduate college students who concluded their studies with a lower grade earned.</p><p>

<p> Technology is essential to organizations, especially computer-mediated communications, allowing for globalization, improved quality, and increased profits. Knowledge workers rely on technology as well as computer-mediated communication tools. Research on the use of computer-mediated communications among adolescents and in social settings has suggested that there is a lack of effective interaction and relatedness when technology is used. Research further posits that this can cause a breakdown in trust and commitment. This study used a survey to collect data about organizational commitment levels and relatedness and affiliation needs in the workplace for knowledge workers, and to what extent computer-mediated communications could explain these variables. The research question was: What is the extent of relationship between computer-mediated communications, relatedness and affiliation needs, and organizational commitment of knowledge workers? There were 199 responses collected by the researcher and analyzed with linear regression. The survey and structural model utilized a composite of existing instruments to measure computer-mediated communications, relatedness and affiliation needs in the work place, and commitment levels to the organization. Two structural models examined the relationships for the constructs and resulted in two null hypotheses being rejected. The first model tested computer-mediated communications use and relatedness and affiliation needs. The results supported a significant relationship between these variables. The second research question tested the relationship between computer-mediated communications use and normative and affective organizational commitment levels. The second model also rejected the null hypothesis and discovered a significant relationship exists between these variables. Future research was recommended to further analyze the results based on sex and age and include different classifications of knowledge workers.</p><p>

<p> Over the last 70 years, teams have become the ubiquitous unit of work in our organizations. The software industry heavily utilizes the Scrum methodology to develop software. Scrum is a team-based methodology that requires the constant formation and development of team capabilities. Researchers and practitioners dealing with work team dynamics have relied on the popular team developmental stages of forming, storming, norming, and performing, defined by Dr. Bruce Tuckman in 1965. However, this framework was conceived primarily from articles dealing with therapy groups and not modern teams. This study expands the body of research in work team stage development applied to Scrum, a methodology that itself has no social science foundation and minimal theoretical coverage. </p><p> A combined case study and grounded theory method is used to leverage the strengths of both to investigate the developmental stage of 5 Scrum teams at a high-tech company. A questionnaire along with team interviews were utilized to gather data on how teams relate to developmental factors found in the literature. Descriptive analytics were leveraged to uncover the questionnaire findings, and grounded theory analysis was applied to code interview answers into usable concepts, categories, and themes. Themes were further explored concerning their causal relationships. </p><p> The study proposed and validated 12 theoretical factors that contribute to the stage development of Scrum teams across 4 distinct stages. These factors interconnect and form 4 quadrants with unique dynamics associated with a team&rsquo;s mission, structure, execution, and teaming. Furthermore, higher stage teams proved to be self-managed and adaptable and able to handle higher task complexity. Leaders were observed shifting roles as teams evolved through stages. This latter finding is consistent with the theoretical model of Kozlowski, Watola, Jensen, Kim, and Botero. The research also identified common challenges that teams encounter in their development. </p><p> The findings from this study can help organizations who practice Scrum become more intentional about the development of their teams toward adaptability. A concerted effort by software organizations to optimize the evolution of teams across the factors found in the study could yield significant benefits, particularly for missions dealing with high complexity and innovation needs.</p><p>

<p> <b>Purpose:</b> The purpose of this Delphi study was to identify and describe the perceptions of open educational resources (OER) higher education experts regarding the activities needed at colleges and universities in the United States in order to advance faculty adoption of OER over the next 10 years. Also, this study examined those activities that were most important and had the greatest likelihood of being implemented. </p><p> <b>Methodology:</b> The researcher utilized a mixed-methods Delphi study technique to identify and describe activities to advance faculty adoption of OER. The target population for the study consisted of a group of OER higher education faculty experts from postsecondary institutions within the United States. This study utilized a purposive criterion sampling method to identify 16 experts. The Delphi method employed questionnaires over 3 successive rounds to gather data from and build consensus among the expert panel. In Round 1, the researcher asked the expert panel for activities to support faculty adoption of OER. In Round 2, the expert panel rated the 35 activities for degree of importance and likelihood of implementation. In Round 3, the panel had an opportunity to revise their score, if desired, in order to move toward consensus. </p><p> <b>Findings:</b> Analysis of the quantitative data from the study revealed 17 OER activities that received consensus for importance and 11 OER activities that indicated consensus concerning likelihood for implementation. Finally, there were 6 OER research findings on which the expert panel came to consensus concerning equally importance and likelihood of implementation. </p><p> <b>Conclusions:</b> Based on the data and research findings, 6 conclusions were drawn related to faculty adoption of OER within colleges and universities over the next decade. </p><p> <b>Recommendations:</b> There were 8 recommendations for further research covering these topic areas: (a) replication of the study within different higher education arenas and across other stakeholder groups; and (b) examination of faculty receptivity and resistance to adopting OER, utilizing a change theoretical framework; (c) a model for open pedagogy; and (d) an examination of K-12 educators&rsquo; OER adoption practices.</p><p>

The importance of leadership style and the organizational citizenship behavior have been recognized in many research studies. However, the influence of empowering leadership on employee's change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior and employees' cognitive mechanism to engage in such behavior have received little attention. Drawing on social cognitive theory, the present study explores the effects of empowering leadership on change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior directly and indirectly through employees' willingness to take risk. The study also examines the boundary conditions that employees would make the decision to engage in such behavior with the effects of two moderators - regulatory focus and perceived organizational support.;A nested data model of empowering leadership, willingness to take risk, regulatory focus, perceived organizational support and change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior were tested using a 3-wave sample of 173 matched dyad relationships from nine financial institutions in Hong Kong. The research model rests with individual-level as unit of analysis while controlling the variances from the teams using hierarchical linear modeling. The results show that willingness to take risk can partially mediate the relationship between empowering leadership and change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior. In addition, promotion focus, prevention focus and perceived organizational support can moderate the relationship between empowering leadership and willingness to take risk when they are of low level while promotion focus and willingness to take risk are proved to be predictors of change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior. Implications from the findings for future research and management practice will be discussed.