<p> This exploratory qualitative study examined individuals&rsquo; self-identity and sense of belonging related to the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and the impacts of their tribal connection as enrolled tribal members. It was believed the greater the sense of belonging and connection, the stronger the identity and the greater the impact on the community as a whole. Eight individuals with Oneida ancestry were interviewed about their Native American ancestry and membership, participation in Oneida community, sense of connection and belonging to family and community, self-identity, and congruence with Oneida ancestry and tribal enrollment. Although participants generally did not participate in formal cultural or community activities, they reported connection and belonging to their families and ancestry and self-identified as Native American. They believed their self-identities influence their desires to give back to the community. Based on this study, the Oneida community is advised to: host tribal events related to strengthening identity and building community, develop and incorporate school-age curricula and programs that support Native American identity development, and review and revise tribal membership criteria to support the sustainability and sovereignty of the tribe.</p><p>

<p>This study examined US enlisted veterans? personal agency during their transition from the military to civilian workforce. Veterans currently working in a civilian corporate environment were involved: 41 were surveyed, 10 were interviewed, and 80 supplied comments to the researcher?s LinkedIn request for responses. Participants were asked to describe their sense of personal agency and how it evolved over the time period before, during, and after military service. Participants offered slightly varying descriptions of their transition experience. In general, participants experienced low agency before military service, minimal agency at the start of military service that grew over time, and an unprecedented and sometimes paralyzing degree of freedom and agency after military service. Transitioning veterans are thus advised to understand that the psychological transition process is complex, increase their competencies through cultural immersion experiences and field research, maintain a learning mindset, and build a relevant and committed support team.

<p> Tragic, life-changing, and fatal incidents are a reality on large-scale, civil construction projects. Despite a decline following the enforcement of the 1971 Occupational Safety and Health Act, serious and fatal incidents on heavy construction projects remain higher than that of the active military and have not declined in any notable way in the past decade. Industrial-organizational literature suggested a lack of applied testing for the well-developed theory of authentic leadership (AL) to impact safety outcomes. This quasi-experiment combined the constructs of authentic leadership with safety climate perception as quantifiable measurement of potential safety outcomes in the workplace. The research question focused on whether AL would impact safety climate, thus, reducing injury and fatalities on the job. The researcher examined 1 of the 4 segments that comprised a $1 billion freeway improvement project. Perceptions of 108 field craft personnel were collected on a Likert-type instrument before and after their supervisors attended a brief AL workshop. Utilizing an ordinal scale, statistical significance was calculated pre- and postintervention by computing a Mann-Whitney <i>U</i> for independent samples. Significant improvement was found following the supervisor workshop. The reduction in incidents, when compared to the jobsite&rsquo;s history and the other 3 jobsite segments associated with the highway improvement project, suggests a potential for this framework to support positive social change, that is, to reduce the human cost and suffering associated with industrial accidents.</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>

<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> 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> Leader humility has been linked to a number of positive outcomes such as greater employee satisfaction, lower turnover intention, enhanced group creativity, and improved team performance. However, the study of humility is still in its relative infancy. Questions remain about what causal mechanisms link humility to the various positive outcomes it appears to engender, how contextual differences may affect humility's outcomes and how it functions, and how those interested can easily and accurately gauge an individual's level of humility. This dissertation addresses some of these outstanding questions. It comprises three papers that employed a combination of experimental, cross-sectional, meta-analysis, and text analysis methods to examine humility in a military context or during tasks in which select members of the military regularly engage. The first chapter proposed and tested a causal model to explain how leader humility affects the performance of a team pursuing a highly interdependent task in a virtual environment &ndash; much like military analysts coordinating electronically with geographically dispersed entities trying to compile a complete set of data to address mission requirements. Results from three experiments revealed that humble leaders are liked more by those they are in charge of and that they induce a greater sense of psychological safety in the teams they lead compared to their less humble counterparts. However, while conducting a hidden profile task, humble leaders did not appear to affect information flow or group performance any differently than leaders who are not humble. The second chapter examined how behaving humbly affects assessments of leadership potential among officers in the United States Army - with an added emphasis on exploring potential gender differences in how humble leaders are perceived. Results from a combination of four studies (one cross-sectional and three experimental) found that, contrary to what is hypothesized in the extant literature, humility is valued in the Army, although it may not be the only leader quality that positively affects perceptions of leadership potential. Further, results from a mini meta-analysis of the experimental data from the second chapter found that gender moderated the relationship between humility and perceptions of potential in the military, with men receiving more benefit from acting humbly than women. The third and final chapter in this dissertation proposed and tested a unique, unobtrusive means of assessing humility in a sample of cadets from the United States Military Academy and examined whether humility predicts their military performance at West Point. This final chapter also examined the effect gender has on humility's utility as a leader characteristic in the military. Results revealed that the proposed unobtrusive means of assessing humility possessed modest convergent validity, while proving to be a moderately significant predictor of military performance, even after controlling for several other demographic and experience related variables. No significant interaction between humility and gender in terms of their effect on military performance was noted.</p><p>

<p> An unavoidable feature of humanitarian fieldwork is the day-to-day witnessing of injustice, and the suffering of vulnerable people and communities. The existing psychological and sociological research on aid workers largely focuses on the personal impact of their exposure to suffering and injustice, rather than the actual witnessing experience. The focus of this research is to understand the lived experience of field-workers, how they construct witnessing, and the factors that shape and mediate this experience, in particular the role of the M&eacute;decins Sans Fronti&egrave;res (MSF) principle of <i> t&eacute;moignage</i> [speaking out]. The process of meaning making, and the impact of challenging experiences on field-workers, is also considered. The research method predominantly employed narrative inquiry. Twelve experienced MSF staff were interviewed to elicit personal stories about their role as witnesses. The research findings suggest that for those that daily witness suffering, it is an immediate, direct, and intimate experience. There is a reciprocal relationship with the patient or communities, and an entangled empathy mediates this relationship, and its expression. A strong ethic of care is central to the human encounter. The principle of <i>t&eacute;moignage, </i> and its call to speak out, or engage in social action, is significant in giving direction to witnessing. Research participants often experienced extreme conditions. Impacts such as fatigue, aspects of burnout, a lack of effective coping strategies, and self-care skills were observed. The quality of MSF as a holding environment for witnessing and meaning making is explored. Practice recommendations are made in terms of organizational implications, leadership, and psychosocial support.</p><p>

<p> Meaningfulness at work has been shown to be a positive contributor to employee engagement, performance, commitment and an extensive list of other desirable factors. The Millennial generation appears to be the largest and fastest growing generation since the Baby Boomers. Some managers have said some Millennials seem difficult to manage because their expectations of work upon entering the workforce seem so much higher than previous generations. This qualitative research project explored how Millennials at a small business find meaningfulness at work and to what extent their leaders create an environment of meaningfulness. Millennials at a small business were interviewed to explore their thoughts about meaningfulness at work. The resulting data was examined using content analysis. Mechanisms of meaning, hindrances to the perception of meaning, and pathways to meaningfulness at work were used to categorize the data. Millennials in this study appeared to find meaning at work through recognition of their competence and perceived impact, interpersonal connectedness and self-concordance. Being taken for granted and unfairness seem to be significant hindrances to the perception of meaningfulness at work for Millennials in this study. Meaningfulness at work for participant Millennials appeared to happen when their contributions had a positive perceived impact on the organization and their multi-generational coworkers.</p><p>

<p> The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported workforce disparities in the representation of minority ethnic groups in leadership positions for more than 5 decades. In 2011, Executive Order 13583 initiated the Government-wide Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan, directing federal agencies to recruit a diverse workforce, cultivate inclusion across occupations, and develop strategies to enable leading a diverse workforce. This plan is important considering other research studies show various approaches to understanding leadership behaviors; however, empirical studies have yet to explore if there is a relationship between ethnic identity and leadership style to inform diversity and inclusion efforts. The purpose of this nonexperimental, cross-sectional, correlational study was to examine the relationship between leadership style and ethnic identity through the nigrescence model pertaining to Black identity theory. The research questions in this study explored predictive relationships between leadership style and ethnic identity in the context of gender and age. Study participants were 185 African American leaders randomly selected from 9 organizations in the federal government, historically Black colleges and universities, and private companies. Data were collected through the Cross Racial Identity Scale, the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, and demographic surveys. Results of multiple regression analyses and multivariate analyses revealed significant predictive relationships amongst leadership style (transformational, transactional), ethnic identity, gender, and age (Millennial, Generation X, Baby Boomers). The increased understanding that diverse leadership styles exist across ethnic groups, gender, and generation could help to improve leader-follower relationships and promote positive social change that enables diversity and inclusion in the workplace.</p><p>