Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [72]-79). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2003. / Advisor: Dale W. Lick, Florida State University, College of Education, Dept. of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Nov. 21, 2003). Includes bibliographical references.

published_or_final_version / Psychology / Master / Master of Philosophy

No description available.

No description available.

The concepts of transformational and charismatic leadership have led to a variety of leadership behaviors and practices that seek to enhance followers' motivation to perform beyond expectations, by changing their values, goals, needs and aspirations at work. One such activity, which has gained momentum and interest in recent years, is the dissemination of a vision. This thesis is an attempt to investigate the nature of the visioning process in organizational leadership through theoretical analysis and empirical investigation. / An analysis of the visioning process yielded two important components: the visioning activity and the visioning product. Based on this analysis and a review of the existing literature, vision was defined as a product with content and the visioning activity a two-stage process involving vision formulation and vision articulation. Building on these definitions, a number of vision content characteristics and visioning behaviors were examined, leading to theoretical propositions and testable hypotheses. / The empirical test of the proposed theoretical framework was carried out in two studies. Study 1 investigated observers' perceptions of leader behaviors, vision content characteristics and related attributions of vision and visionary leadership. This study was conducted using analyses of biographical and autobiographical accounts. Study 2 sought to replicate the investigation with direct observations from followers of "real-life" organizational leaders. / The empirical test substantiated the importance of distinguishing between the various content characteristics of visions as they relate to attributions of vision and visionary leadership on the part of observers/followers. The empirical results also support the importance of distinguishing between the various components of the visioning activity of leaders as they relate to attributions of vision and visionary leadership on the part of observers/followers. Finally, the results suggest distinct relationships between the attributions of vision/visionary leadership and various effects of the visioning process on followers. / In light of these results, suggestions for future research and implications for leadership practice are discussed.

Although there has been increased understanding of the dynamics of intense perfectionism and self-criticism, studies need to address more directly the mechanisms or processes through which perfectionism has its ill effects. The present research examined the roles of daily stress, coping, and perceived social support in the relation between two different perfectionism dimensions and distress symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety, negative affect, low positive affect). In two studies, confirmatory factor analysis supported the existence of two perfectionism factors, which were referred to as evaluative concerns perfectionism and personal standards perfectionism. In Study One, university students (136 men; 307 women) completed measures of perfectionism, hassles, coping, perceived social support, depression, and anxiety. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the measurement model used in this study. Structural equation modeling indicated that hassles, avoidant coping, and perceived social support were each unique mediators which together fully explained the strong relation between evaluative concerns perfectionism and distress. Personal standards perfectionism had a unique association with active coping only. Hassles and social support also moderated the relation between both dimensions of perfectionism and distress. Study Two examined daily event appraisals, avoidant coping, and perceived social support as trait mediators in the relation between the evaluative concerns dimension of perfectionism and high negative affect and low positive affect. University students (66 men; 104 women) completed questionnaires at the end of the day for seven consecutive days. Trait influences were found in the daily reports of event appraisals, coping styles, and social support. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the construct validity of the perfectionism and aggregated daily measures. Structural equation modeling indicated that avoidant coping fully explained the relation between

Alfalfa is an important forage crop in North America which can also escape cultivation and establish in unmanaged habitats. Genetically modified (GM) alfalfa has been approved for environmental release in Canada and the United States and the occurrence of alfalfa in unmanaged natural and semi-natural habitats may compromise the successful co-existence of GM and non-GM alfalfa. To-date, little information has been available on the nature and dynamics of roadside alfalfa populations and their ability to become feral. Such knowledge is necessary to design efficient trait confinement protocols and to enhance the co-existence of GM and non-GM alfalfa within agricultural regions. The overall aim of this work was to characterize roadside alfalfa populations and to establish their role in novel trait movement. A roadside survey revealed the widespread occurrence of feral alfalfa populations in southern Manitoba. We described the seedbanks of roadside alfalfa populations, seedling recruitment and adult reproductive success, indicating that alfalfa is capable of establishing self-perpetuating feral populations in unmanaged habitats. We also noted the successful establishment of alfalfa in a grass sward representing roadside vegetation. Roadside mowing can reduce (and perhaps prevent) seed production in roadside alfalfa; however, mowing failed to drive the populations to extinction in the short-term. Herbicide (2,4-D) applications controlled alfalfa plants but seeds in the seedbank may still contribute to new seedling recruitment. The roadside alfalfa populations we worked with exhibited high levels of genetic diversity, indicating an absence of past population bottlenecks or genetic drift. In addition, phenotypic characterization provided evidence that roadside alfalfa populations were experiencing selection pressure for adaptive traits including winter survivability, rhizome production and prostrate growth habit; all traits that favor persistence in unmanaged habitats. We also noted the occurrence of high (>60%) levels of outcrossing in feral alfalfa populations, establishing their role as sources and sinks for novel traits. Our findings indicate that alfalfa populations occurring in unmanaged habitats need to be considered in trait confinement protocols in order to reduce the adventitious presence (AP) of novel traits and to enhance the successful co-existence of GM and non-GM alfalfa.

Competition between species is believed to lead to patterns of either competitive exclusion or limiting similarity within ecological communities; however, to date the amount of support for either as an outcome has been relatively weak. The two classes of null model commonly used to assess co-occurrence and limiting similarity have both been well studied for statistical performance; however, the methods used to evaluate their performance, particularly in terms of type II statistical errors, may have resulted in the underreporting of both patterns in the communities tested. The overall purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the negative co-occurrence and limiting similarity null models to detect patterns believed to result from competition between species and to develop an improved method for detecting said patterns. The null models were tested using synthetic but biologically realistic presence-absence matrices for both type I and type II error rate estimations. The effectiveness of the null models was evaluated with respect to community dimension (number of species × number of plots), and amount of pattern within the community. A novel method of subsetting species was developed to assess communities for patterns of co-occurrence and limiting similarity and four methods were assessed for their ability to isolate the species contributing signal to the pattern. Both classes of null model provided acceptable type I and type II error rates when matrices of more than 5 species and more than 5 plots were tested. When patterns of negative co-occurrence or limiting similarity were add to all species both null models were able to detect significant pattern (β > 0.95); however, when pattern was added to only a proportion of species the ability of the null models to detect pattern deteriorated rapidly with proportions of 80% or less. The use of species subsetting was able to detect significant pattern of both co-occurrence and limiting similarity when fewer than 80% of species were contributing signal but was dependent on the metric used for the limiting similarity null model. The ability of frequent pattern mining to isolate the species contributing signal shows promise; however, a more thorough evaluation is required in order to confirm or deny its utility.