<p> The purpose of this qualitative, basic interpretive study (Merriam, 2009) was to improve understanding of the role of transactive memory systems (TMS) in board groups as a way of leveraging their knowledge in the context of the chief executive officer (CEO) succession planning process. Sixteen participants were recruited who had served on a board of a $500 million-plus public company and had been involved in a CEO succession planning process within 5 years of the study. Within the participant group, a subset of six had all worked together, over the same time period, on the same CEO succession planning process from beginning to end. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and participant follow-up.</p><p> The study findings confirmed a relationship between structures and processes of TMS and CEO succession planning in the context of board groups. The data supported the presence of some but not all of the characteristics of TMS presented in Ren and Argote's (2011) metaanalysis and categorization of antecedents, components, and consequences of TMS. Specifically, TMS antecedents present in board groups included team-level inputs of task interdependence, goal interdependence, team familiarity, shared experiences, and communication. Specific dimensions of TMS components present within board groups included team knowledge stock and knowledge of who knows what. Three TMS behavioral indicators were present: knowledge specialization, task credibility, and task coordination to support knowledge sharing and updating. Finally, key dimensions of TMS consequences included team performance behaviors of team learning, creativity, and reflexivity.</p><p> Five conclusions were drawn from the study. (1) The TMS dimension of reliance on others' specialization serves to meet the challenges of bounded rationality in board groups. (2) High familiarity can enhance trust, but if overemphasized negatively affects the reliability of specialized expertise. (3) Personal respect and trust in the expertise of others affects receptivity to defer to others' specialized expertise. (4) A director's publicly known resume is the primary determinant of specialization. (5) Board structures (the knowledge stock of the group) and processes (transactive processes of encoding, storing, and accessing knowledge) facilitate the continual refinement of member-expertise associations and conscious development of knowledge sharing. </p>

<p> Organizations have an immense opportunity to raise employee awareness regarding the best values, skills, and attitudes that each generation offers. This study was an appreciative inquiry with an intact multigenerational corporate team located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, studying the strengths that each generation brings to intergenerational collaboration. Perceptions about collaborative strengths were gathered in a workshop and via pre- and post-workshop surveys. Through analysis and interpretation of the study findings, unique strengths for each generation were revealed; discoveries were made around foundations for intergenerational collaboration and the role of the individual contribution to multigenerational collaborative behavior was acknowledged. Recommendations emerged, including: to build generational competence, lay the foundation for intergenerational collaboration, bridge intergenerational collaborative gaps, and apply knowledge to organizational policy and program development. Developing an appreciation for what strengths each generation brings to collaboration provides an opportunity for organizations to enable diverse teams and ultimately improve business performance.</p>

<p> This multi-site case study explored the role that a global nonprofit organization plays in decreasing the gap of inequality and contributing to the greater society. This research identified what processes were used to implement, increase, or alter the global CSR efforts. This research identified how global CSR efforts impact and is impacted by the organizational culture. In addition, the study explored how CSR efforts have changed or expanded to meet the demands of a globalized society, with a particular focus on the mutual relationship between these expanded efforts and the organizational culture. It studied the internal impact of the CSR efforts as well as how the organization relates externally. This qualitative study made use of three sources of data: semistructured interviews, document and artifact analysis, and observations. The use of various methods of data collection ensures reliability and trustworthiness and adds to the thick description of the case. The findings in this multi-site case study provided an understanding of how a global non-profit organization implements or expands social responsibility efforts. </p><p> This exploratory study yielded seven major conclusions. The conclusions operationalize to meet the organizational needs and the processes used to implement. The seven conclusions are 1) The organization's CSR efforts impact organizational culture including artifacts espoused values and basic assumptions 2) The impact was reciprocal as the organizational culture impacted their CSR efforts 3) CSR efforts reflect the needs of society and adapt to meet societal needs to balance the organization's internal culture and external image 4) Senior leadership and policy volunteers are instrumental to the implementation of CSR efforts throughout the organization as well as to the organizational culture 5) Partnering with organizations increases their CSR efforts and result in better serving their community and organizational needs 6) CSR processes increase awareness and impact to promote goodwill locally and globally and 7) CSR efforts need to be included in the organization's strategic plan and align with the mission and vision of the organization.</p>

<p> Salons have a long and rich history. The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of salon owners, employees, and independent booth renters (IBRs) regarding mass employee walkouts (gaggles). The central problem for the study is salon owners fear gaggles because they can bankrupt salons. Prior to the current study, research had not been conducted to examine why salon walkouts occur. This study is unique because the research was conducted from the perspective that salon personnel and owners are knowledge workers (KWs). Unlike most KWs, stylists who walk out often take their clients with them. The overarching research question was the following: What are the lived experiences and perceptions of salon owners, employees, and IBRs before, during, and after a salon employee gaggle? The purposeful sample for the study consisted of salon owners, employees, and IBRs in the Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, metropolitan area who had experienced gaggle walkouts in salons. Ten stylists, who had experienced a total of 26 gaggles, completed telephone interviews. Using an iterative four-step analysis method with NVivo 10 software, 17 themes and seven subthemes were identified. The overall lived experience was pain. The findings regarding the gaggle phenomenon were discussed in terms of chaos and systems complexity theory. Leaders may use the findings of the study to better understand the lived experiences of salon owners, employees and IBRs during walkouts throughout the salon industry. Additional research is needed to determine whether the findings are applicable to KWs in other service industries..</p>

<p> The problem addressed in this study was to understand processes and mechanisms that provide value-creating experiences in support of organizational innovation. There was a gap in the literature about factors affecting innovative opportunity identification. The research was guided by systems theory, which allowed for recognition of the organizations' ability to recreate their futures and the contention innovation is an organizational journey that can be systemized. Innovation demands all aspects of an organization be challenged and examined, and critical constraints identified. Critical constraints serve as the boundaries for innovational processes that are unique to the organization. The research questions was: How can leaders of participating nonprofit organizations improve value creation during community development organization training program (CDOTP) workshop sessions to support innovative opportunity identification? An exploratory qualitative inquiry which allowed access to the personal experiences of 20 management workshop participants from three participant groups; nonprofit (NP) organizational leaders, workshop creators/presenters and workshop training participants, ages 18 and over. Overall the findings were consistent with the literature reviewed for this study. Results strongly indicated acknowledgement of a leadership gap that keeps individuals and organizations stuck in the status quo. The data analysis revealed factors impeding adaptive capacity building, knowledge sharing, transfer of new learning, motivation, and empowerment were driven by lack of leadership commitment to experiment with new processes and behaviors. The results reinforce a sense of urgency for leaders to challenge the rigidness of the NP culture and explore with new possibilities that recognize value creating experiences and support both organizational innovation and organizational sustainability.</p>

<p> This qualitative method with a multiple case study research design probed the factors and concerns of three individual business leaders, the internal documents, charts, and graphs supplied, and the external information about each respective organization when they considered the implementation of their respective telework program. Thus this research concerned itself with the business leadership issues involved with the decisions to implement a telework program such as the retention of employees, cost savings, security of data transmissions, cultural issues resulting from a virtual work environment, and the use of technology in support of a telework environment. Considerable research had been conducted about teleworkers, their home environments, conflicts resulting from telework, and family relationships of teleworkers. This research study focuses on leadership issues faced by the decision makers within the three participating organizations. The findings of this research study suggests that leaders who effectively plan and organize a telework environment do so to improve employee quality of life, increase productivity, decrease employee turnover rates, reduce automobile traffic thus reducing the carbon footprint of the organization&rsquo;s workforce, and reduce the costs associated with the operation at each organization&rsquo;s central work location.</p>

<p> Organizations use different metrics to measure performance. Employee job satisfaction is one indicator of organizational effectiveness. Research has found that leadership directly influences employee job satisfaction. The purpose of this quantitative research study was to examine the relationship between leadership and employee job satisfaction in a military community. Bass and Avolio&rsquo;s (2004) full-range leadership theory served as the foundation for the research. The elements of this leadership style (transformational, transactional, and passive/avoidant) comprised the independent variables. Job satisfaction formed the dependent variable. The study required the administration of two composite surveys. The Leader survey was comprised of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) Form 5X Short and a demographic questionnaire. The Employee survey was comprised of the MLQ Form 5X Short, the Spector (1994) Job Satisfaction Survey, and a demographic questionnaire. The participants included military and MWR civilian leaders as well as MWR civilian employees from U.S. Army garrisons in Europe. Three hundred eighty-one participants successfully completed one of the two surveys. The study employed Pearson&rsquo;s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and multiple regression analysis to assess the bivariate relationship between employee job satisfaction and the elements of full-range leadership. The study results indicated a statistically significant correlation between each element and employee job satisfaction. Additionally, the regression analysis illustrated different degrees of job satisfaction prediction, depending on the element of full-range leadership being applied. Transformational leadership among military and MWR civilian leaders contributed more positively to MWR employee job satisfaction than the other leadership elements.</p>

<p> Organizational perception and conception of interactions and relationships vary over time and space. This study focused on the capacity within and between healthcare organizations to collectively make sense of ambivalent and ambiguous environments in the context of social structuring actions (Czarniawska, 2008; Johnson, 2009; Weick, 1995). The purpose was to develop narrative frames from which a deeper understanding could be developed of how collective sensemaking is enacted through reciprocal and reflective interorganizational relationships during the final phases of an intended multiorganizational integration endeavor (Barki &amp; Pinsonneault, 2005; Oliver, 1990). This study explored and described collective sensemaking as recognizable patterned social structuring actions that surfaced during integration efforts within the Military Health System's Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury. </p><p> A narrative approach illustrated emergent social processes. In the process of collaboration, ongoing generative conversations (Taylor &amp; Van Every, 2000; Hardy, Lawrence, &amp; Grant, 2005; Weick, 2004) affected the relationships between collective sensemaking and social structuring. An interpretive constructionist perspective revealed practices involving the interplay of assignment of <i>meaning</i> (signification), reducing equivocality and integration; formation of a sense of community, establishing structures and <i>norms </i> (legitimation); and the effects of collaboration and <i>power </i> (domination) distribution (Giddens, 1984; Weick, Sutcliffe, &amp; Obstfeld, 2005). </p><p> More than 24 months of embedded observation aided the researcher's awareness of ongoing narrative dynamics of collaborative actions setting the conditions for the emergence of interorganizational relationships (Harquail &amp; King, 2010; Hatch, 1997; Hatch &amp; Schultz, 2002) and embodied practices (Varela, Thompson, &amp; Rosch, 1991). Throughout experiences of collective sensemaking, organizations interpose mini-narratives as evidence of reciprocal patterns of social structuring revealing cooperative behaviors interweaving coordinated actions and setting conditions for the structuring of collaborative integrating nets of collective action. This supports both Carniawska's (2008) and Weick's (1995) theory of organizing during collective sensemaking as enacted processes within relational conceptualizations and perceptions. These findings contribute to understanding the dynamics of collective sensemaking and social structuring; moreover, they incorporate the new paradigm of enaction (Kuhn, 1996; Stewart, Gapenne, &amp; Di Paolo, 2010) as embodied sensemaking into organizational theory.</p>

<p>Companies are seeing valuable knowledge leave the organization as older workers eventually retire taking with them all their knowledge gained, however few companies have begun to focus on knowledge transfer from older to younger workers. Due to the economic downturn, many Baby Boomers are remaining in the workforce longer than planned. Therefore, the time is critical for organizations to act now. </p><p> The purpose of this study was to understand what theme parks can do to leverage the knowledge base of its retirement workforce before they leave the company, which factors prevent or influence this knowledge transfer and the role of Human Resources in enabling a knowledge sharing organization. A series of face-to-face interviews with individuals who have retired from the theme park industry and human resources professionals in theme parks were conducted. Several themes surfaced as a result of this study and very little differences were found amongst the participant groups, whether they were a retiree or from HR. </p><p> The results of the data revealed that there are none to minimal efforts in place in theme parks to leverage the knowledge base of the retirement workforce. The results also showed that there is a strong desire by those retiring to share their knowledge with the company and in most cases, there is an expectation that this transfer of knowledge take place. However, the lack of interest and engagement by the manager often results in a disappointed retiree and the perception of not being valued. </p><p> The study also revealed that HR could play a key role in enabling a knowledge sharing organization. However, for knowledge transfer to take place, HR must first change the culture and prepare the organization to embrace the retirement process and accept it as a critical and important phase in an employee&rsquo;s career. The results showed that HR could have a key role not just in the transfer of knowledge, but also in the entire retirement process as a whole. </p>

<p> The purpose of this study is to compare the spiritual benefits of practicing photography to the spiritual benefits of practicing prayer, meditation and yoga. Benefits noted were divided into the 4 dimensions of being human: physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. The study considers Mexican leaders' perceptions of photography as a spiritual practice. A total of 105 Mexican leaders answered surveys. Of the 105 leaders, 14 were professors, 30 were entrepreneurs, 46 were business executives and 15 were students and homemakers (listed as "other") varying in ages from 21 to over 61. </p><p> The design of this study is descriptive, while the study was quantitative in nature. In preparation for the study, the researcher gathered qualitative information regarding the benefits observed as leaders practice photography. These descriptive answers were then used to create the quantitative surveys for the study. </p><p> The data demonstrated that photography can be considered a spiritual technique. First, the spiritual benefits shown from practicing photography mirror, to a large degree, the spiritual benefits reported for practicing prayer, meditation, and yoga. The literature also supports the reported similarities; however, participants do not consciously recognize these benefits. Second, the 4 dimensions of being human (physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual) are divided into 5 factors: (a) physical well-being and better decision-making, (b) optimism in life, (c) interrelation with the environment and intellectual development, (d) relaxing, and (e) spiritual growth.</p>