<p> The purpose of this qualitative explanatory single case study was to understand why Knights of Columbus (KofC) volunteers in Ontario, Canada demonstrate motivation, organizational commitment, and engagement. The scope of the study was guided by two main research questions: &ldquo;Why do KofC members volunteer?&rdquo; and &ldquo;How do KofC members combine elements of motivation, organizational commitment, and engagement in their volunteer activity?&rdquo; The triangulation of participant interviews, observations from KofC general meetings, and online archived documents supported the study&rsquo;s qualitative methodology that required rich, descriptive data. For feasibility, the population of this study was comprised of KofC volunteers within three councils in Ontario, Canada and 17 KofC members were selected purposively based on age and experience criteria for face-to-face interviews. Transcribed interview data, observational field notes and archival documents were analyzed and coded using NVivo 11 to uncover three emerging themes: living one&rsquo;s faith, loyalty, and flexibility. The findings indicated that KofC members have alignment between personal and organizational values, intend to follow Biblical scripture to live their faith in the public square, and feel obligated to help others in need. Fraternity and unity were welcomed benefits that KofC members enjoyed while volunteering. KofC provides volunteers with role and task variety, which allows volunteers to choose the activities that suit their interest, skill set, and time commitment. By gaining insights from these themes, organizational leaders can improve their communication to potential and existing volunteers, foster stronger relationships among volunteers, and develop programs that engage volunteers through catered recruitment and retention strategies. </p><p>

<p> Prior to this research study, it was not known if, and to what degree a relationship exists between the four key areas of Catholic school climate (collegial leadership, teacher professionalism, academic press and institutional vulnerability) and the organizational citizenship behavior of teachers. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was therefore to investigate the degree of relationships between these variables in Catholic schools (K-12) in the south-central region of Arizona. The school climate was measured using the Organization Climate Index (OCI) and organizational citizenship behavior was tested using Organizational Citizenship Behavior Scale (OCB Scale). The study was built on the theoretical foundation of Social Exchange Theory as well as the theoretical frameworks of school climate and organizational citizenship behavior. A convenience sampling method was used to collect data from 140 participants from 35 Catholic schools (K-12) in the south-central region of Arizona. Two correlational tests, Pearson's r and Spearman's rho, were performed to address the four research questions and their associated hypotheses. The results revealed that three areas of school climate have statistically significant relationships with OCB of teachers. These include: collegial leadership, r = .516, p &lt; .001; teacher professionalism, r = .783, p &lt; .001; and academic press, r = .553, p &lt; .001. The institutional vulnerability aspect of school climate did not have statistically significant relationship with the OCB of teachers, r = -.144, p = .089. The study limitations, strengths and weaknesses, and recommendations for practical applications and future studies were discussed. Key words: school climate, organizational citizenship behavior, social exchange theory.</p><p>

<p> This qualitative, explanatory case study addressed one primary research question: How do interprofessional healthcare teams adapt in response to an adverse event? There were two subquestions: How does employing the components of change enable interprofessional healthcare teams to adapt? and How does employing the components of team enable interprofessional healthcare teams to adapt? Despite knowledge of the benefits of interprofessional teams, flawed teamwork is often to blame for adverse events (Manser, 2009). Unfortunately, most studies have not identified what aspects of teamwork need to be improved to prevent adverse events. In addition, Bowie, Skinner, and de Wet (2013) concluded from a study of healthcare root cause analysis (RCA) conducted after adverse events that only 82% of changes suggested by the RCA were implemented fully or partially. Literature that addresses how teams adapt after an adverse event is limited. </p><p> This study examined three interprofessional healthcare teams within a large academic medical center. Data gathered from document review, supervisor interviews, focus groups, and team member interviews were used to explain how teams adapted in response to an adverse event by examining factors related to change and teams. The contributions of factors of change and teams to team adaptation were also revealed. </p><p> The study offered the following broad conclusions. First, it is important to capture ongoing learnings from teams beyond the RCA. Second, the type and pace of change contribute to how ambiguity manifests. Third, a common mental model focused on the patient enables teams to make changes to reduce harm. Fourth, strong communication and leadership can help reduce ambiguity resulting from change. Fifth, team learning is robust when relationship conflict is minimal and psychological safety is strong. Lastly, team adaptation is composed of cognitive and behavioral adaptations, which are enabled by change and team factors, respectively. The study concludes with implications for theory and practice, as well as recommendations for further research.</p><p>

D.Phil. / Traditionally leadership was seen as synonymous with the executive authority of an organisation and in the school environment with that of the headmaster. However, a paradigm shift occurred and leadership is now viewed as attitudes, competencies and skills at three levels, namely the personal, interpersonal and professional levels, implying that every person is a leader in his or her own right. The idea of a leader as a value-driven, principle-centered and character-based person gathered momentum. The afore-mentioned qualities call for a special kind of self-knowledge that can partly be obtained from feedback to leaders on how stakeholders in the organisation perceive them and/or how their behaviour impacts on the organisation. Although school leadership gained momentum only in the past two decades, it has been realised that professionalism and the quality of leadership impact on the quality of teaching. It therefore seems important in the evaluation and improvement of teacher leadership to gain insight into how stakeholders, especially those (learners) who can speak authoritatively on their firsthand experiences of what is happening in class, perceive teacher leadership. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe learners' everyday experiences and interpretations of their teacher leadership in order to make recommendations to the stakeholders concerned. I embarked on an explorative-descriptive inquiry. To ensure high-quality research, I adhered to all the necessary criteria for reliable, valid and ethical research. In order to capitalise on both qualitative and quantitative research methods, and to compensate for the shortcomings of both, as well as to enrich the credibility of the study, I opted for a mixed-methods approach. In this study of an Afrikaans governmental high school in Gauteng, I made use of a symbolic interactionistic methodology to understand how learners perceive, understand and interpret their teacher leadership. Complying with ethical and professional considerations regarding research with children (namely access, protection against harm, informed consent, privacy and confidentiality) the study crystallised in two phases. In the first qualitative phase I made use of purposeful snowball sampling methods, and gained rich descriptions from learners and their parents regarding the learners' experiences of and perceptions about their teacher leadership. I used analytical methods based on the Chicago School of Symbolic /nteractionism to generate codes, which was categorised according to the leadership paradigm of personal, interpersonal and professional leadership. In a second phase, the universum of learners and teachers were included in a social survey. Two questionnaires were designed for the learners and teachers respectively. The learner questionnaire contained odd questions on demographic details, as well as hypotheses which were drawn from the codes and categories forthcoming from the first phase. However, from a symbolic interactionistic standing, I was not merely interested in the majority viewpoint. Therefore the learners were once again given the opportunity to expand on their answers qualitatively. The teachers, in turn, were asked why they chose the teaching profession, and had to comment on what they thought the learners would have to say about their own, as well as their colleagues' leadership qualities as teachers. The second-phase narratives were noted until saturation was gained and then concluded and summarised.

<p> Researchers and practitioners continue to study the causes of high consequence failures in complex socio-technical systems. Often linear causal pathways are identified in investigations that blame individual human error, or technical malfunctions. This study represents a significant expansion in the analysis of high profile accidents, crimes, crises, and tragedies to accommodate system complexity. Presented is a model of socio-technical system wholeness that provides an integral framework with which socio-technical system deficiencies are analyzed. The research questions if lack of systemic wholeness is the cause for selected high profile events.</p><p> This case study used historical documents pertaining to 13 actual events that included espionage, high consequence accidents, mass killings, and the response to natural disasters. The documentation included government commission reports and previously recorded interviews. A hermeneutic analysis method guided the iterative development of deficiency codes. These codes were assigned to key statements in the documentation that described the varied deficiencies. The qualitative analysis software, Atlas.ti aided in the coding of approximately 5,000 of pages of documentation. Deficiency codes were then organized and the highest frequency codes are listed and are also shown graphically on the integral model, to reveal characteristic patterns.</p><p> In all of the cases, significant deficiencies are shown in all dimensions of the integral wholeness model. Deficiencies are described as systemic holes and shadow aspects. Holes and shadow aspects form patterns within and among cases, spanning the various subject areas. Systemic boundaries pertaining to each case are also described using the wholeness model. In several of the cases, multiple systems are shown with systemic links. Deficiencies in the links were also identified from the data and are presented.</p><p> The dynamic process of movement towards socio-technical systems wholeness is perpetual. It is also essential when the consequence of socio-technical systems failure threatens individuals, communities or the natural environment. The research shows the need for constant vigilance and attention to holes in protective defenses, and reconciliation with shadow aspects to avert systemic failure. This research has a broad span. Additional research opportunities include using this wholeness model for in-depth analysis of single socio-technical system prior to failure</p>

<p> The study investigated the potential role of individual &ldquo;ways of knowing&rdquo; in participatory program evaluation. Ways of knowing refer to individual styles and preferences for creating and testing knowledge in a group setting. These implicit preferences were hypothesized to influence perceptions of credible research methods, appropriate meeting discourse approaches, and prioritized learning outcomes of evaluation. Researchers have identified three ways of knowing most directly relevant to the study: &ldquo;separate knowing,&rdquo; or playing &ldquo;devil&rsquo;s advocate&rdquo;; connected knowing, or playing the &ldquo;believing game&rdquo;; and &ldquo;constructed knowing,&rdquo; or combining both approaches according to context. To identify participants&rsquo; preferred &ldquo;ways of knowing,&rdquo; the study applied Q methodology, guiding participants to rank a series statements according to which are most descriptive of them. These rankings were analyzed through by-person factor analysis to group participant preferences. The application of Q methodology took place early on within a broader action research case study, in which the researcher facilitated a participatory program evaluation with a team of five stakeholders from a non-profit organization. Results of the case study were compared with Q findings to explore the Q tool&rsquo;s usefulness for understanding participants' actual behaviors and perceptions of the evaluation process. </p><p> The Q tool developed and refined for use in the study served to differentiate the three theoretical ways of knowing among participants, in a more nuanced fashion than extant Likert-scale surveys. The results of the tool were useful for understanding case study participants&rsquo; discursive preferences, particularly between argumentative and narrative styles. Hypothesized relationships between ways of knowing and evaluation design and learning outcomes were not supported in this study; rather, the evaluation context was paramount in shaping these decisions. The Q tool represents the primary practical contribution of the study, and it may be adapted and applied to future studies, and to the practice of participatory evaluation. The study also revealed potential relationships between ways of knowing and other phenomena of interest that might be investigated further. The conceptual distinction among the three ways of knowing can inform our understanding of group dialogue, and how best to promote it among diverse participants.</p><p>

<p> Increasing complexity and rapid change associated with globalization and the knowledge economy have diminished the relevance of traditional linear models of leadership. Researchers have begun to view leadership not in terms of individuals and hierarchal exchanges but as a collective influence process among members of a group to achieve shared objectives that focus on enabling learning and adaptation in organizations rather than predicting outcomes and controlling behaviors. Complexity theory and its central phenomenon, emergence, are particularly well-suited to study both new leadership approaches and how to manage social systems at a time when prediction and control are elusive. </p><p> At the same time, institutions of higher education have come to play an increasingly important role in knowledge-based economies and as important actors in economic and human development. Leadership research and practice in higher education have not kept up with this trend, and require a new approach in order to meet the demands of a highly dynamic and disruptive environment. Generative leadership, which focuses on constructing the rules, conditions and constraints for interaction, collaboration and experimentation throughout organizations, fostering innovation and adaptation, and may be particularly well-suited for the creation, dissemination and application of knowledge in higher education. In this context, a qualitative, multiple case study design was used to explore how generative leadership might foster emergence in four initiatives designed to increase the ability to create, disseminate and apply knowledge in an institution of higher education. </p><p> Two major findings resulted from this study. The first relates to the increased incorporation of generative leadership, emergence, and complexity theory into the existing research and practice on teams. The second major finding relates to the role that the study&rsquo;s results, along with the notions of generative leadership and emergence, can inform higher education pedagogy for continued transition into the knowledge age and beyond. The researcher hopes that this study, its results and findings promote a continued shift towards complexity- and emergence-based thinking to solve some of our most pressing knowledge challenges as we continue to move through a time of change and disruption. Ultimately the results and findings of this study could promote additional research on generative leadership, emergence and knowledge capacity in higher education for the benefit of local, regional and global social and economic ecosystems.</p><p>

<p> Organizations are increasingly examining the potential benefits of integrating insights concerning emotional intelligence (EI) into their employee training and development programs to enhance their mission. Petrides&rsquo;s EI model of trait emotional self-efficacy (ESE) has been defined as a constellation of emotion-related self-perceptions and dispositions assessed through self-report. This study explored the relationship between the four factors of Petrides&rsquo;s ESE model (well-being, self-control, emotionality, and sociability) and the well-researched work outcomes of job satisfaction, counter-productive work behavior, and turnover intent. Based on existing research, the study controlled for age, gender, job tenure, and social desirability. The study relied on an archival data set drawn from a similar pilot study, and included a sample population (N = 157) of certified nurse assistants and registered nurses, selected both out of convenience and because this population is known for its affect-laden work. The study employed a 239-item survey. ESE was measured using the TEIQue long form, and psychological instruments were used to measure outcomes. Confirmatory factor analysis found a lack of fit for the four-factor model, and a new, two-factor model was found using an exploratory factor analysis. The first factor, comprised mostly of the facets well-being and self-control, was named emotional constitution. The second factor, comprised mostly of emotionality and sociability, was named emotional awareness. Data analysis included four-step hierarchical regression models to assess unique variance in each of the three outcome variables using emotional awareness and emotional constitution as predictors. Results showed that emotional awareness predicts nurse job satisfaction (&beta; = .21, <i>p</i> &lt; .05), and emotional constitution negatively predicts both nurse CWB (&beta; = &ndash;.49,<i>p</i> &lt; .01) and turnover intent (&beta; = &ndash;.31,<i>p</i> &lt; .05). No difference between groups (RNs and CNAs) on these factor dynamics was found. Implications of this study are discussed.</p><p>

<p> Learning environments in higher education are changing rapidly, with increased attention surrounding active learning, educational technologies, and their impact on teaching and learning. Companies are creating and introducing innovative technologies at breakneck speeds, often overwhelming academic leaders charged with meeting the needs of the institution, faculty, students, and community. This whirlwind of change creates new challenges and opportunities for leaders to address as they guide their institutions toward adopting new educational technologies, specifically Learning Management Systems (LMS). Academic leaders must strive to build a strong vision for the future and seek support frameworks that encourage acceptance by faculty of the LMS as a fundamental design and delivery tool for instruction. As with any change, perception is at the heart of acceptance regarding innovation. This study explores the perceived impact of nine faculty members&rsquo; experiences regarding the change process during an LMS transition on a Midwestern United States urban campus. To do so, a conceptual framework has been developed, combining individual and group-oriented approaches to leading organizational change. Using a case study approach with the lens of the conceptual framework, the study creates a rich exploration of the phenomenon of leading organizational change in higher education. Emergent themes lead to recommendations that will benefit leaders as they navigate innovative educational technology transitions in higher education. </p><p>

<p> This study examined the relationship between school leaders&rsquo; self-reported levels of emotional intelligence and teacher perceptions of school climate in K&ndash;12 Catholic schools in Indiana. This study built upon the findings of a mixed-method study by Juma (2013) that was limited in scope and generalizability, and examined the relationship between a principal&rsquo;s perceived emotional intelligence and teacher perceptions of school climate. The current study used a quantitative methodological approach and a larger sample size to enhance understanding of the relationship between school leaders&rsquo; perceptions of emotional intelligence and teacher perceptions of school climate. The Emotional Intelligence Quotient 2.0 (EQ-i 2.0) and the Organizational Climate Questionnaire (OCQ) were completed by 200 teachers and 30 school leaders in 30 K&ndash;12 Catholic schools in Indiana. This study did not find a significant relationship between a school leader&rsquo;s perceived level of emotional intelligence and teacher&rsquo;s perceived school climate. Prior research on these variables has been inconclusive. This study adds to the body of research examining the possible connection between a school leader&rsquo;s emotional intelligence and school climate.</p><p>