The happy productive worker (HPW) theory states that happy employees perform at higher levels than unhappy employees do. Despite the explanatory power of the HPW theory, it was unknown if a happy middle-level manager would be associated with productive direct reports. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to address that gap by exploring the impact of middle-level managers' well-being and happiness on the performance of their direct reports. Key research questions examined how middle-level managers' well-being and happiness influenced the performance of their direct reports and how middle-level managers' application of the HPW theory influenced social change. Twenty middle-level managers from varied organizations participated in semistructured interviews to generate data. Data were subjected to content analysis to identify emergent categories and themes. Findings showed that middle-level managers' well-being and happiness had both positive and negative influences on direct reports' performance in that reports tended to mirror their middle-level manager's level of well-being and happiness. Whenever the middle level manager was happy, their reports' productivity increased, and whenever the middle level manager was unhappy, reports' productivity decreased. The overall conclusion was that middle-level managers' well-being and happiness in the workplace are important and offer opportunities to help direct reports to grow and to flourish in their department of the organization. Recommendations include further study of the strategies middle-level managers use to influence direct reports' advancement toward their potential. Organizational leaders may apply these findings through professional development training to enhance the growth and improve the productivity of their direct reports.

Small business managers are experiencing a 30% turnover of employees, costing U.S. businesses $41.3 million per year. The purpose of this case study was to explore the strategies that experienced business managers use in small accounting firms to respond effectively to generational differences in workplace engagement. Using a purposeful sampling technique, 5 managers possessing successful experience in issues related to generational differences in the workplace were recruited from small accounting firms located in Midwestern United States to participate in semi-structured interviews about engaging a multi-generational workforce. Methodological triangulation was used to analyze the data collected through semi-structured interviews and observations, which were grouped into common nodes and themes. Three themes emerged, including providing resources and incentives, giving opportunities, and forming relationships between managers and subordinates. These themes aligned with leader-member exchange theory, indicating the need for managers and subordinates to establish high-quality relationships which result in more engaged employees. The results from this study might contribute to social change by providing transferable knowledge about how management behaviors affect the engagement of employees, which could assist more business owners to take generational differences into account, and in turn produce more engaged and satisfied employees. Responding effectively to generational differences in workplace engagement may lead to less employee turnover, which may increase revenue and translate into social responsibility and sustainability programs in the community.

From 2001 through 2015, some information technology (IT) project managers failed to deliver U.S. Government IT projects on time and within budget. The failure of IT project managers to complete projects on time and within budget provoked the U.S. Government Accountability Office to classify IT projects as high risk. This multiple case study explored strategies government contracted IT project managers use to reduce cost overruns and improve on-time delivery. The participants in this study were government contracted IT project managers from organizations that provide IT project management in the Maryland area. Employing purposeful sampling of the explicit population, 5 selected participants from 5 firms provided data. The conceptual framework for this study was the actor-network theory. Data were collected and triangulated from 5 semistructured interviews and business documentation. Yin's 5-step data analysis process resulted in the emergence of multiple themes. The emergent themes included clearly defined requirements, monitor and control, and demonstrated leadership. As more government organizations realize the benefits of IT project success strategies, funding may become available for leaders to advance additional positive social change projects in various communities. IT project managers may implement the practical strategies found within this study to improve the outcome of their government contracted IT projects.

Approximately 70% of small and medium-sized enterprises fail due to a lack of effective leadership succession planning. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies that some business leaders in the manufacturing sector in Jamaica used to implement leadership succession plans. Data were collected from semistructured interviews conducted with 5 business leaders who participated in the succession strategies of a manufacturing organization in Jamaica. Data were analyzed according to Yin's 5-step process. Analysis of data collected from interview sessions and review of company documentation were used to conduct methodological triangulation to validate the findings. Five themes emerged from data analysis: (a) identification of mission-critical roles, (b) talent acquisition and selection, (c) successor development and retention program, (d) organizational designs and policy implementation, and (e) senior leadership support and participation. The findings of this study might be used by business leaders to impact social change by developing and creating a leadership pipeline from diverse backgrounds to ensure future business growth in a competitive global environment.

Nurses experiencing bullying or witnessing other nurses bullied may choose to vacate their hospital positions. Nurse attrition negatively impacts a hospital's bottom line, which can lead to insolvency and a lack of access to healthcare by patients. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the choices nurses made regarding their careers after experiencing or witnessing bullying and to calculate a hospital's cost of loss. Freire's oppressed group theory provided the conceptual framework for the study. The basis of the research questions was to understand how the nurse felt when bullied or observing a coworker bullied, the actions taken, and the financial impact to the hospital. The snowball technique secured 11 RN participants for this phenomenological study with data collection consisting of a demographic questionnaire and semistructured interviews. Data analysis followed Maxwell's plan of initial analysis, transcribing and coding, theme identification, a final coding review, and the final abstraction. The findings in this study demonstrated that based on the lived experiences of the participants, demographics did not influence who or how nurses were bullied; and after leaving the employer, bullied nurses and witnesses displayed various emotions that encompassed nonchalance, anger, tears, or relief. Over half said they would have stayed if they had not been bullied or witnessed it. An additional theme demonstrated that the results of bullying significantly affected a hospital's bottom line in revenue and reputation. Eleven suggestions have been recommended for future studies. Academics, hospital administrators, nurses, and the community at large can use the study findings to effect changes in the hospital environment through conversations, grass-roots efforts, and collaboration.

The significant problem addressed in this research was the increasing default rate among federal student loan borrowers who attended non-degree-granting proprietary colleges in Florida (i.e., career and technical colleges). The purpose of this study was to identify, better understand, and predict which borrower characteristics increased the likelihood of student loan default at proprietary non-degree-granting colleges. The research was based on the structural-functional and planned behavior theories and utilized a quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional design to explore the relationship between academic success, age, college graduation status, ethnicity, gender, high school class ranking, and federal student loan default. Self-reported data were obtained from students who attended private, for-profit, less than 2-year colleges in Florida. To determine which student borrower characteristics predicted an increase in the likelihood that borrowers would default on their student loan payments, one hypothesis was proposed to evaluate six borrower characteristics. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the statistical relationships and found that academic success, age, and gender were statistically significant in predicting student loan default among students who attended private, for-profit, less than 2-year colleges in Florida. This study may facilitate positive social change by aiding educational institutions in identifying at-risk borrower characteristics and by providing various default prevention strategies that could be incorporated into specific counseling messages to reduce future student loan defaults and lower institutional cohort default ratings.

Combining multiple forecasts in order to generate a single, more accurate one is a well-known approach. A simple average of forecasts has been found to be robust despite theoretically better approaches, increasing availability in the number of expert forecasts, and improved computational capabilities. The dominance of a simple average is related to the small sample sizes and to the estimation errors associated with more complex methods. We study the role that expert correlation, multiple experts, and their relative forecasting accuracy have on the weight estimation error distribution. The distributions we find are used to identify the conditions when a decision maker can confidently estimate weights versus using a simple average. We also propose an improved expert weighting approach that is less sensitive to covariance estimation error while providing much of the benefit from a covariance optimal weight. These two improvements create a new heuristic for better forecast aggregation that is simple to use. This heuristic appears new to the literature and is shown to perform better than a simple average in a simulation study and by application to economic forecast data.

The landscape industry in the United States suffers higher turnover among middle management positions. Upper management does not know why this is occurring and currently has no strategy to deal with it. The purpose of this study was to investigate the reasons for high turnover among middle managers and explore the ways to reduce turnover. Reducing turnover may help with the stability of the landscape industry and increase employee retention. Conceptual framework for this study included Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Herzberg's two factor theory, situational theory, and contingency theory. This qualitative exploratory case study addressed the reasons for high turnover of middle managers and the strategies that might prevent high turnover in landscape industry. Three cases were selected, and each case included a sample of 5 middle managers in addition to publicly available company archival information. Middle managers were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. Archival data were used to achieve data saturation. Thematic analysis reviled the following results. The findings indicate that middle managers typically perceive that stress to sell and loss of contracts cause turnover. By creating strategies to reduce stress and manage contract loss, upper management may reduce turnover. The implications for social change include increased viability of landscape companies, which could result in decreased unemployment and increased quality of life for middle managers within the industry.

After 30 plus years of research, clergy burnout is an ongoing concern; as such, it is important to identify the causes of this phenomenon. Researchers have already demonstrated that internal factors such as personality types, personal mastery, or conflict management and external factors such as role conflict, excessive activities, or unrealistic expectations, can lead to burnout. The problem that led to this study was that more exploration is needed about clergy's perceptions on leadership and burnout within the church. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore clergy within the Wesleyan Church in the Midwest to discover their perceptions about leadership and burnout within the church. The conceptual framework was shaped by the great man theory of leadership and Maslach's burnout theory. The central research question for this study focused on clergy's perceptions about leadership and burnout within the church. Data were collected using face-to-face semistructured interviews with 23 pastors who are currently leading and experiencing burnout. Data collected included transcribed interviews, field notes, and observations. Data were hand-coded to find key concepts and themes. Two themes that emerged from the data were leadership is understood as hierarchical and leadership is understood as the work of solo actors, which were consistent with the great man theory of leadership. The results of this study may contribute to a better understanding of the factors that lead to clergy burnout. The results of this study will address a gap in literature and may result in positive social change for both the clergy and church congregants because the results can be used to come up with solutions for burnout. This study may also lead to new theories about clergy burnout.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) described Nigeria's road networks as one of the poorest and deadliest transportation infrastructural systems in the world. Data from the UNDP and the World Bank (WB) show that Nigeria has suffered transportation infrastructure deficits; these data also illustrate Nigeria as one of the lowest indices in economic development in the last decade. This qualitative case study addressed the impact of a lack of investment in transportation infrastructure in the form of road networks on Nigeria's economic development. The purpose of the study was to understand the relationship between the investment in road networks and economic development in Nigeria. The theoretical framework comprised Solow's economic growth theory and Frischmann's transportation infrastructure theory. Data were collected through personal interviews with a purposeful sample of 20 Nigerians including previous and current public and private sector transportation-linked individuals directly involved in investment, management, and policy administration. Interview data were compiled and organized using qualitative software for content analysis. Recurring responses were identified and patterns and trends documented from the data. Findings revealed corruption in awarding roads contracts, lack of contracts monitoring, and inefficient governance hindering economic development in Nigeria. This study supports positive social change by informing decision-makers that by investing in network of roads, that time to project completion and financial savings may promote economic development, thus improving the standard of living of Nigerians.