This multi-methods research project studies the main leadership practices from the perspectives of teachers in the recent process of curriculum reform and the extent to which these leadership practices motivated their commitment to change. It also investigates the effects of organizational and teachers’ factors on their perceptions of these transformational school leadership practices in Shenyang, a northeast city of China. The first research question explored the transformational leadership model in Chinese school context. Key words relevant to transformational school leadership practices were identified from teachers’ survey answers using content analysis for formulating the Chinese transformational school leadership questionnaire. Additionally, the Chinese transformational school leadership questionnaire was formulated using principal component analysis. Subsequently, the organizational characteristics questionnaire, and the teachers’ commitment to change questionnaire were validated using principal component analysis and reliability analysis for answering remaining two research questions. The second research question investigated the effects of organizational and teachers’ factors on teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership. The results of multiple regression analysis revealed that variables like culture, strategy, environment, and teacher’s age had significant relationships with teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership. Culture, environment, strategy, structure, and teachers’ factors such as age and grade teacher taught had moderate effects on different dimensions of teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership. The third research question examined the effects of transformational school leadership on teachers’ commitment to change. The results of linear regression showed that the effect of transformational school leadership was moderate when transformational school leadership and teachers’ commitment to change were treated as a single variable. Four dimensions of transformational leadership practices together explained the moderate effects on the four dimensions of teachers’ commitment to change respectively, among which the effect of managing the instructional program was the most prominent. This study represents an original attempt to understand how Chinese teachers perceive transformational school leadership, the effects of organizational and personal factors on teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership, and the effects of transformational school leadership on teachers’ commitment to change in the Chinese urban upper secondary school context. This research seeks to contribute to leadership development and school change practices in the Chinese school context.

This dissertation describes how Canada’s Outstanding Principals (COP) processes (i.e., engaging in the COP program, receiving COP recognition, continuing participation with COPA, engaging in technology-based networking, and navigating nomination process) enhanced the leadership capacities of COP recipients, and how COP, as a leadership development program, strengthened the relationship between transformational leadership and principal efficacy. An exploratory analysis of collective principal efficacy was also presented. Over and above an existing skill set, well-designed leadership development programs require a multi-year commitment integrating leadership wisdom from education and non-education sectors. When core transformational practices were combined, the COP processes of engaging in the COP program, receiving COP recognition, and continuing participation with COPA were most influential, while engaging in technology-based networking and navigating the nomination process were least influential. COP met the six leadership development program elements identified in the literature review as being foundational to a well-designed leadership development program. All six elements were necessary to enhance principal leadership capacity. When evidence relating to influential leadership development experiences and elements of well-designed leadership development programs were combined, purposeful, reciprocal, and iterative peer networking appeared to be the most influential leadership development program element. Principal efficacy was identified as a prerequisite for transformational leadership with the core transformational leadership practice of developing people driving the other core transformational leadership practices. Overall, COP processes moderately improved COP recipient ability to demonstrate core transformational leadership practices. The concepts of transformational leadership and principal efficacy, and their impact on student achievement, are demonstrated as important in the research literature. This dissertation contributed to the research literature by applying these concepts to a leadership development program, establishing that developing leaders with abilities as transformational leaders, and tapping into principal efficacy, were insightful elements of leadership development. Further research was suggested to consolidate understanding of the collective principal efficacy concept, and how to foster collective principal efficacy when developing a network of principals with high principal efficacy. Recommendations for leaders, program developers, and policymakers are made.

This multi-methods research project studies the main leadership practices from the perspectives of teachers in the recent process of curriculum reform and the extent to which these leadership practices motivated their commitment to change. It also investigates the effects of organizational and teachers’ factors on their perceptions of these transformational school leadership practices in Shenyang, a northeast city of China. The first research question explored the transformational leadership model in Chinese school context. Key words relevant to transformational school leadership practices were identified from teachers’ survey answers using content analysis for formulating the Chinese transformational school leadership questionnaire. Additionally, the Chinese transformational school leadership questionnaire was formulated using principal component analysis. Subsequently, the organizational characteristics questionnaire, and the teachers’ commitment to change questionnaire were validated using principal component analysis and reliability analysis for answering remaining two research questions. The second research question investigated the effects of organizational and teachers’ factors on teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership. The results of multiple regression analysis revealed that variables like culture, strategy, environment, and teacher’s age had significant relationships with teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership. Culture, environment, strategy, structure, and teachers’ factors such as age and grade teacher taught had moderate effects on different dimensions of teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership. The third research question examined the effects of transformational school leadership on teachers’ commitment to change. The results of linear regression showed that the effect of transformational school leadership was moderate when transformational school leadership and teachers’ commitment to change were treated as a single variable. Four dimensions of transformational leadership practices together explained the moderate effects on the four dimensions of teachers’ commitment to change respectively, among which the effect of managing the instructional program was the most prominent. This study represents an original attempt to understand how Chinese teachers perceive transformational school leadership, the effects of organizational and personal factors on teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership, and the effects of transformational school leadership on teachers’ commitment to change in the Chinese urban upper secondary school context. This research seeks to contribute to leadership development and school change practices in the Chinese school context.

This dissertation describes how Canada’s Outstanding Principals (COP) processes (i.e., engaging in the COP program, receiving COP recognition, continuing participation with COPA, engaging in technology-based networking, and navigating nomination process) enhanced the leadership capacities of COP recipients, and how COP, as a leadership development program, strengthened the relationship between transformational leadership and principal efficacy. An exploratory analysis of collective principal efficacy was also presented. Over and above an existing skill set, well-designed leadership development programs require a multi-year commitment integrating leadership wisdom from education and non-education sectors. When core transformational practices were combined, the COP processes of engaging in the COP program, receiving COP recognition, and continuing participation with COPA were most influential, while engaging in technology-based networking and navigating the nomination process were least influential. COP met the six leadership development program elements identified in the literature review as being foundational to a well-designed leadership development program. All six elements were necessary to enhance principal leadership capacity. When evidence relating to influential leadership development experiences and elements of well-designed leadership development programs were combined, purposeful, reciprocal, and iterative peer networking appeared to be the most influential leadership development program element. Principal efficacy was identified as a prerequisite for transformational leadership with the core transformational leadership practice of developing people driving the other core transformational leadership practices. Overall, COP processes moderately improved COP recipient ability to demonstrate core transformational leadership practices. The concepts of transformational leadership and principal efficacy, and their impact on student achievement, are demonstrated as important in the research literature. This dissertation contributed to the research literature by applying these concepts to a leadership development program, establishing that developing leaders with abilities as transformational leaders, and tapping into principal efficacy, were insightful elements of leadership development. Further research was suggested to consolidate understanding of the collective principal efficacy concept, and how to foster collective principal efficacy when developing a network of principals with high principal efficacy. Recommendations for leaders, program developers, and policymakers are made.

Among the techniques associated with the theory of musical transformations, network analysis stands out because of its broad applicability, demonstrated by the diverse examples presented in David Lewin’s seminal work Musical Form and Transformation and related articles by Lewin, Klumpenhouwer, Gollin, and others. While transformational theory can encompass a wide variety of analytical structures, objects, and transformations, two particular types of network postulated by Lewin are often featured: the product network and the network-of-networks. These structures both incorporate repetition, but in different ways. This document will propose one possible definition for product networks and networks-of-networks that is consistent with Lewin’s theories as presented in Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations. This definition will clarify how each of these two network formats may be generated from the same sub-graphs, which in turn will clarify the advantages and disadvantages of each structure for musical analysis, specifically demonstrating how analytical goals shape the choice of network representation. The analyses of Chapters 3 and 4 examine works by contemporary Canadian composers that have not been the subject of any published analyses. Chapter 3 presents short examples from the works of contemporary Québécois composers, demonstrating the utility of these networks for depicting connections within brief passages that feature short, repeated motives. Chapter 4 presents an analysis of R. Murray Schafer’s Seventh String Quartet, demonstrating how these structures can be used to link small-scale events with longer prolongations and motivic development throughout a movement. Chapter 5 demonstrates through a wider repertoire how analytical goals shape the choice of network representation, touching on such factors as continuity, motivic return, and implied collections.

<p>Purpose — this thesis aims at finding out the extent to which transformational leaders exercise the required competencies during the process of change within an organization. It’s simply meant to highlight the pros and cons that are evidenced within transformational leaders during the change process.</p><p>Design/ methodology/approach — the thesis relies on two cases involving mergers, notably HP-Compaq merger, and Volvo-Renault merger are used for the analysis. The reliance on models and concepts is employed, to test the empirical findings.</p><p>Findings — this paper illustrates that although transformational leaders competently fulfil their, there is a certain level of incompetence that arise during the process of change.</p><p>Originality/Value — this paper provides a detailed analysis of the transformational leader’s virtue and short comings during the process of change.</p>

The purpose of this research was to explore the interplay between coach transformational leadership and coach-athlete relationship, and the effect on athletes' positive psychological outcomes though three separate studies. The research positioned both transformational leadership and coach-athlete relationship as distinct yet highly related factors of a social environment created by coaches.

The purpose of this experimental study was to examine the role of a Transformational, Transactional, and Laissez-faire leader in the perceived likelihood of employees exhibiting Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs) at work. The extent to which employees identify with their leaders was also examined as a mediator on the relationship between leadership style and OCB performance. OCBs are behaviors that are not directly required of an employee, but that benefit the overall organization by promoting excellence while allowing employees to go beyond the job requirements. Previous research suggests that Transformational Leaders inspire and instill values in employees through empowerment and positive relationships (Bass, 2007; Bass & Riggio, 2006; Carter, Mossholder, Feild, & Armenakis, 2014; Eagly, Johannesen-Schmidt, & van Engen, 2003), and that employees that perform OCBs greatly benefit organizations (Akinbode, 2011; Finkelstein & Penner, 2004; Organ & Ryan, 1995; N. P. Podsakoff, Whiting, Podsakoff, & Blume, 2009; Shaffer, Li, & Bagger, 2015). One of three vignettes describing one of the three leadership styles (e.g., Transformational, Transactional, Laissez-faire) was shown to 200 employed participants working at least part time (i.e., 20 hours per week) under a supervisor via an online survey using MTurk. After rating their respective leader (as described in the vignette) on the Global Transformational Leadership (GTL) scale, participants completed an identification with leader inventory and an OCB-checklist, indicating likelihood of OCB performance under their particular leader. Multivariate analysis of variance was utilized to examine the effect of leadership style on OCB performance. Further, correlational analyses were used to examine the relationship between GTL scores and OCB-Checklist scores. Finally, a mediation analysis with identification with the leader mediating the relationship between leadership style and OCB performance was conducted. Results showed individuals in the Transformational Leader Condition reported the highest likelihood of performing OCBs, followed by Transactional Leader and finally Laissez-faire Leader. Identification with the leader significantly mediated the relationship between Transformational leadership and OCB performance. Finally, individuals that perceived their leader as more Transformational were also more likely to report performing OCBs. Implications of these findings for OCBs in the workplace are discussed.

Fear of global, social and environmental catastrophes has led to most developed and developing economies to embrace sustainability as a desirable public policy goal. Therefore, the Abu Dhabi government has made public commitments to transform along a more sustainable trajectory and assigned the public sector the collective responsibility of leading this transformation. Henceforth, public sector organisations have to embrace sustainable practices, re-orient their activities to achieve wider societal sustainable outcomes and govern others to act more sustainably. However, little is known about how public sector organisations are responding to this encouragement in the Abu Dhabi. The aim of this research is to explore how Abu Dhabi public sector organisation is embedding sustainability strategies for improved competitiveness. Given the relatively new and unexplored nature of the research problem, qualitative research method was adopted to collect and analyse data. Semi-structured interviews with 60 professionals were used to collect data which was then analysed using content analysis for inference and conclusion. The study concluded that the concept of sustainability is perceived as a distinct concept. It is suggests that an organisation wide awareness-raising training programme on the concept of sustainability needs to be to developed and deployed. Also, there is a need for cross-sector collaboration to capture and share best and worst practices related to transformative change towards sustainability. The lack of leadership skills for successful deployment of sustainability initiatives is one of the most important challenges for organisation. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop and deliver a bespoke training framework to address, improve and measure the effectiveness of leadership skills for driving change towards sustainability. Green technology has enormous potential to enable Abu Dhabi public sector organisation to meet its sustainability goals. It is recommended that future research on mobile applications for sustainability should focus on user readiness aspects, as well as organisation readiness for adoption and usage patterns of mobile devices. Overall, it is evident from the empirical findings that the outlook of improved sustainability initiatives efforts from the Abu Dhabi public sector organisation is quite promising at present. A strategic framework for transformative change towards sustainability was developed and validated. It is recommended to explore the level of embeddedness of sustainability initiatives in the public sector between developed and developing countries. This should lead to a generation of benchmark data and best practices in addressing global sustainability issues.

abstract: Sustainability visioning (i.e. the construction of sustainable future states) is considered an important component of sustainability research, for instance, in transformational sustainability science or in planning for urban sustainability. Visioning frees sustainability research from the dominant focus on analyzing problem constellations and opens it towards positive contributions to social innovation and transformation. Calls are repeatedly made for visions that can guide us towards sustainable futures. Scattered across a broad range of fields (i.e. business, non-government organization, land-use management, natural resource management, sustainability science, urban and regional planning) are an abundance of visioning studies. However, among the few evaluative studies in the literature there are apparent deficits in both the research and practice of visioning that curtails our expectations and prospects of realizing process-based and product-derived outcomes. These deficits suggests that calls instead should focus on the development of applied and theoretical understanding of crafting sustainability visions, enhancing the rigor and robustness of visioning methodology, and on integrating practice, research, and education for collaborative sustainability visioning. From an analysis of prominent visioning and sustainability visioning studies in the literature, this dissertation articulates what is sustainability visioning and synthesizes a conceptual framework for criteria-based design and evaluation of sustainability visioning studies. While current visioning methodologies comply with some of these guidelines, none adhere to all of them. From this research, a novel sustainability visioning methodology is designed to address this gap to craft visions that are shared, systemic, principles-based, action-oriented, relevant, and creative (i.e. SPARC visioning methodology) and evaluated across all quality criteria. Empirical studies were conducted to test and apply the conceptual and methodological frameworks -- with an emphasis on enhancing the rigor and robustness in real world visioning processes for urban planning and teaching sustainability competencies. In-depth descriptions of the collaborative visioning studies demonstrate tangible outcomes for: (a) implementing the above sustainability visioning methodology, including evaluative procedures; (b) adopting meaningful interactive engagement procedures; (c) integrating advanced analytical modeling, sustainability appraisal, and creativity enhancing procedures; and (d) developing perspective and methodological capacity for long-range sustainability planning. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Sustainability 2013