published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

The 21st century is characterised by globalisation, turbulent change, an information explosion and an electronic revolution. The result is organisations with decentralised structures, increased employee empowerment and growth alliances. This changing landscape calls for a more holistic, collaborative outlook on leadership, placing the emphasis on relationships, context and transformation where leadership occurs at multiple levels in organisations. While organisations work towards future sustainability in response to the demands of this landscape, leaders are faced with their own personal transition within their roles. Leadership is a socially constructed process that is co-created amidst pressure from self-expectations, follower expectations and organisational requirements. Leadership as a boundary-keeping role that functions on the periphery between the organisation and the external environment, evokes anxiety. The researcher sought to explore, describe and analyse the lived leadership role experience of 21st century leaders as it plays out above and below the surface of consciousness. At the conscious level, the normative role refers to job description and content. At the unconscious level, the existential role deals with the role in the mind of the individual, while the phenomenal role relates to what others perceive and project onto the individual fulfilling the role. The level of congruence between these three roles and its consequent impact on the individual leadership experience were explored. Hermeneutic phenomenology, using the systems psychodynamic perspective as a theoretical framework, enabled the researcher to apply in-depth description and interpretation. A case study research approach was adopted where individual cases were analysed and then consolidated into a cross-case analysis of findings. The study revealed the underlying mental activity and irrational behaviour relating to anxiety, conflict and defences that manifest for 21st century leaders. By integrating the findings with both systems psychodynamic literature and leadership literature, nine themes emerged, namely anxiety, leadership identity, boundaries, authority, role, task, containment, valence and perceived performance. These themes culminated in a research hypothesis about the constant evolution of the leadership role in the context of the current business landscape. / Psychology / Ph. D. (Consulting Psychology)

by Law Tak Yan. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-46). / TABLE OF CONTENTS / APPROVAL --- p.ii / ABSTRACT --- p.iii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iv / LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS --- p.vi / LIST OF TABLES --- p.vii / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter II. --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.3 / Definitions of Organisational Commitment --- p.3 / Antecedents of Organisational Commitment --- p.4 / Job Characteristics Model --- p.6 / Core Job Characteristic Dimensions --- p.7 / Skill Variety --- p.8 / Task Identity --- p.8 / Task Significance --- p.8 / Autonomy --- p.8 / Feedback --- p.9 / Critical Psychological States --- p.10 / Personal and Work Outcomes --- p.10 / Growth Need Strength --- p.11 / Relationship between Organisational Commitment and Job Characteristics --- p.11 / Chapter III. --- METHODOLOGY --- p.13 / Organisation of the Labour Department --- p.13 / Sample Characteristics --- p.17 / Measurement of Organisational Commitment --- p.18 / The Job Diagnostic Survey --- p.20 / Interview --- p.22 / Chapter IV. --- RESULTS AND ANALYSIS --- p.23 / Level of Organisational Commitment --- p.25 / Comparison of Job Characteristics --- p.27 / Skill Variety --- p.27 / Task Identity --- p.28 / Task Significance --- p.28 / Autonomy --- p.29 / Feedback --- p.30 / Antecedents of Organisational Commitment for Assistant Labour Officers --- p.31 / Chapter V. --- DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION --- p.32 / Enrichment of Job Characteristics by Job Redesign --- p.32 / Combining Tasks --- p.33 / Establishing Client Relationship --- p.33 / Opening Feedback Channels --- p.34 / Antecedents of Organisational Commitment --- p.34 / APPENDIX --- p.36 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.44

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Previous research has found that the clarity of information provided to raters about women managers’ performance affects ratings of their competence, likeability, and overall evaluation. The current study sought to contribute to this literature by examining whether individual differences of raters can explain the reason for differential performance evaluations of male and female managers, despite them both performing equally. For this purpose, the current research extended the findings of Heilman and colleagues by replicating their methodology while introducing a moderator variable, the rater’s Implicit Person Theory (IPT). The IPT differentiates people into either entity theorists (that is, those who believe that behavior is trait-based and therefore fixed and stable) and incremental theorists (those who believe that behavior is situationally mediated and hence, changeable). Specifically, it was proposed that the effects found in the previous study would be stronger when the rater possessed an entity theory as opposed to an incremental theory. In doing so, this research attempted to provide an understanding of why male and female managers might be given different ratings, all other things being equal. Analyses revealed results that were consistent with, as well as some that were quite inconsistent with, previous findings. Rater IPT was found to have a significant effect on ratings provided by male participants but not those of female participants. Other findings and implications are discussed and limitations and future research directions are stated.

No other government agency receives as much attention as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The high-profile agency frequently captures attention of the media in both positive and negative contexts. This thesis takes a case study approach using organizational learning and sensemaking theories to investigate crisis communication within NASA's 2003 Columbia tragedy. Eight participants, who in some capacity had worked for NASA during the Columbia tragedy in a communication centered position, were interviewed. Using a grounded theory framework, nine themes emerged pertaining to organizational learning, leadership, structure, and organizational culture. The results of the study aid in understanding how high risk organization's (HROs) can learn from previous failures and details how organizational culture can hinder organizational change.