The purpose of this research project was to examine whether frontline nurse managers who had attended a leadership program, perceived their leadership style as containing behaviors representative of transformational leadership. A secondary purpose was to determine the participant's opinions about the value of a leadership program for their practice. Current literature was utilized to support this research project examining a nursing systems issue.The primary instrument used to collect data about leader practice was the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) (University of Georgia, 2002). An evaluation tool was also designed and utilized to gather information about the participant's perception of their leadership behaviors after completion of a training program. Survey participants were selected from nurses who completed the Arizona Healthcare Leadership Academy (AzHCLA) (2007) course in the last four years.A course survey and results from the LPI revealed that study participants perceived an increase in their behaviors related to leading others as well as having learned new skills by having completed the AzHCLA course. Nurse's educational levels were compared to the five leadership practice subgroups from the LPI to examine whether a nurse's educational level could better account for an increase in leadership competencies. Research data revealed that no relationship between educational levels existed but that certain leadership skills were gained by having completed a leadership educational program. By using descriptive statistics, mean scores were used to identify differences in how nurses perceived their individual competencies and behaviors after having completed leadership education. Reported perceptions of competencies and behaviors indicated that educational programs can be beneficial to frontline nurse leaders.While results from an ANOVA showed there was no statistical significance related to education and LPI subgroups, there was a trend in the mean differences for those individuals with a master's degree. Qualitative data revealed that course participants perceived having gained new leadership skills and behaviors. The data from this study created a baseline of information that warrants further investigation to identify if indeed education makes a difference in perceived leadership practices.

Syftet med föreliggande studie var att inom idrottskontexten studera samband mellan idrottares upplevelser av de olika ledarskapsstilarna (1) transformativt, (2) konventionellt och (3) låt-gå med olika motivationsinriktningar inom Självbestämmandeteorin (SDT). I studien deltog 117 handbolls- och fotbollsspelare i åldrarna 16-33 år (M = 19.17, SD = 3.61). Deltagarna besvarade enkäter bestående av Sport Motivation Scale-II (SMS-II) för att mäta motivationsinriktning, Transformational Teaching Questionnaire (TTQ) för att mäta upplevt transformativt ledarskap samt delar av Developmental Leadership Questionnaire (DLQ) vilket avsåg att mäta upplevt konventionellt ledarskap och låt-gå ledarskap. Resultaten visade att det fanns statistiskt signifikant samband mellan upplevt transformativt ledarskap och inre motivation samt yttre självbestämmande motivation (identifierad reglering och integrerad reglering). Vidare visades att det fanns statistiskt signifikant samband mellan upplevt konventionellt ledarskap och ickesjälvbestämmande motivation (extern reglering och introjicerad reglering). Inget signifikant samband visades mellan upplevt låt-gå ledarskap och amotivation. Studieresultaten har diskuterats i förhållande till teorier och tidigare forskning där slutsatsen är att både transformativt och konventionellt ledarskap har samband med idrottares motivation vilket kan vara betydande kunskap för praktisk tillämpning inom idrottskontexten. Studiens resultat ligger i linje med den tidigare knapphändiga forskningen inom området men mer forskning behövs. / The purpose of the present study was to examine relationships between athletes' perceptions of different leadership styles and motivational orientations within the context of sports. Theoretical frameworks of transformational; conventional; and laissez-faire leadership - as well as the different motivational orientations within Self-Determination Theory (SDT) - were applied. Participants were 117 handball and soccer players aged between 16-33 years (M = 19.17, SD = 3.61). Participants completed questionnaires consisting of the Sport Motivation Scale-II (SMSII) to estimate motivational orientations; the Transformational Teaching Questionnaire (TTQ) to measure perceived transformational leadership; and parts of the Developmental Leadership Questionnaire (DLQ), which intended to measure perceived conventional leadership and perceived laissez-faire leadership. The results revealed significant correlations between both transformational leadership and intrinsic motivation as well as extrinsic self-determined motivation (identified regulation and integrated regulation). Furthermore, results showed significant correlations between conventional leadership and non-self-determined motivation (external regulation and introjected regulation). The correlation between perceived laissez-faire leadership and amotivation was not statistically significant. The results are discussed in relation to theories and previous research. Conclusions were that both transformational and conventional leadership correlate with athlete's motivation, hence the knowledge of said subjects may be meaningful for practical application. The results are in line with previous limited research however further research is needed.

A predominantly authoritarian nature of schooling is still evident internationally and nationally (Maitles & Deuchar, 2007; Harber, 2004; Grant, 2006). In accordance with the Constitution of South Africa, schools in this country need to foster a democratic way of life and principals need to be instrumental in creating, leading and governing democratic schools. Dewey (1916) asserts that if individuals are to pursue and establish a democratic way of life, they must be afforded opportunities to learn the meaning of that way of life. Thus democratic schools play a pivotal role in their contribution to democratic societies (Beane & Apple, 1999; Gutmann, 1987) and to democracy at large. This empirical study explores the experiences and practices of school principals in creating, leading and governing democratic schools in an urban area, south of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal. Situated within an interpretive paradigm, this study is embedded in qualitative research. For a deep understanding of the phenomenon a case study approach was appropriate. Two secondary schools whose principals were willing to participate and which had some characteristics of democratic schools as outlined in the literature review comprised the sample. Data were gathered through observations of the principals. In addition staff meetings, staff briefing sessions and school governing body (SGB) meetings were observed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and various school documents were reviewed. Findings at both schools revealed that the principals associated democratic schools with the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, and as such they claimed that democratic schools are linked to democratic principles. At both of the case study schools the respondents made reference to a range of democratic principles. These included shared decision-making, with emphasis on inclusion of all stakeholders, and the need for a shared purpose and shared vision. Both of the schools advanced the notion of democratic schools promoting critical thinking and respecting the rights and dignity of all individuals. Other democratic principles referred to were representation of various stakeholders, democratic schools embracing diversity, the notion of interconnectedness between the school and the community, individuals being accorded equal value, trust, transparency and openness. Thus there was a shared language with regard to the notion of a democratic school. The participants concurred that the principal plays a pivotal role in promoting and practising democracy in the school. At both schools the principals seemed to move away from stereotypical authoritarian behaviour. They viewed leadership as a collective endeavour and promoted participative leadership. This study revealed that at the case study schools, leadership was extended to others in the school community and there seemed to be a flattening of traditional leadership hierarchies. There was also evidence of servant leadership and distributed leadership. Although both principals believed in democratic school governance and were moving towards shared school governance, the learners’ voice in SGB meetings was minimal. However, the respondents concurred that more can be done with regard to inclusion of stakeholders in major decisions. The principals also referred to some challenges that retard the practice of democracy in schools. The embedded nature of democratic principles in shared leadership and democratic school governance is emphasized, and a model for creating a democratic school is presented. In this way, this study can contribute to the growing body of literature on democratic schools. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2012.

This study explores the narrated experiences of nine women heads of department (HoDs) in their roles as middle managers of secondary schools in South Africa. There is scant literature about women who hold such positions in schools. Too little is known about how they develop as middle managers and what capabilities they need to perform a management function. This study aims to push that peripheral attention given in education management literature to women in middle management roles in schools into sharp focus by concentrating on the women who operate in this much neglected tier of management. The study seeks to do this by understanding how women HoDs develop capabilities in a changing social context so that they become able to function as transformational middle managers and leaders at secondary schools. The key critical questions posed in the study are: * What are the narratives from women HoDs about how they developed their capabilities in a transforming and contested social context? * What are the capabilities that enable women middle managers to function as managers? * In what way do the capabilities of women middle managers enable them to function as transformational leaders? Located within the feminist paradigm, the study employs a participatory narrative methodology in two phases to generate data through qualitative participatory methods such as life-history interviews, letter-writing, journaling and participant observations. The first phase in the field focuses on eliciting accounts from nine women HODs about their lived experiences from early childhood to adulthood in order to understand how they developed their capabilities and how they came to take up management roles. Central to the development of capabilities are family relationships and educational experiences that influenced and equipped them for management. The second phase of data generation concerns observations and experiences of the women HoDs in their middle management roles. In this part of the study, role models, mentors and practices as middle managers come to the fore. To understand how women middle managers develop as managers in a transforming school context, and what capabilities enable the women middle managers to function in their role as transformational leaders, the study uses two theoretical lenses. The first lens is Nussbaum's and some educational scholars‟ expansion of Sen's capability approach; and the second lens is Bass and Avolio's and Leithwood et al's work on the behaviours and attributes of transformational leaders, which are used to separate out the capabilities that enable women to function as transformational middle managers. Five key findings emerge in this study: * The foundational management capabilities that enable women to function as transformational leaders in school management develop over an extended period of time from childhood into early career years. * Women identify mentors and/or role models who are afar from or in close proximity to them and who are located within their personal and/or professional domains as significant formative influences on them as middle managers in schools. While some women assert that their mentors and role models put up some barriers to their development as middle managers, these women employed their agency and resilience to offset any weak capability development. * Women middle managers' capability to function as transformational HODs is constituted in four attributes that emerge through the practice of behaviours and attributes that characterise transformational leadership. The management capabilities and the transformational leadership functionings are aligned on the basis of leadership attributes, namely, developing knowledge and skills; setting departmental directions; developing people in the department; and redesigning the department. * While women middle managers in schools have the internal capability to function as transformational leaders based on the foundational management capabilities they developed over many years, the external conditions within the school context may constrain them from functioning as transformational leaders. When external conditions support the development of women‟s management capabilities, then women appear to have a strong capability set; however when there are barriers to their capability development, then their capability set may be weak. * Neither the capability approach nor transformational leadership theory on their own is sufficient to understand how women develop capabilities to function as transformational leaders within the middle management tier of schools in the South African context. Based on these five findings, especially the fifth finding, the thesis of this study is that the affinity and complementariness between the development of foundational management capabilities and the behaviours and attributes of a transformational leader proposes a hybrid of the two theoretical lenses. This new approach, referred to as the Transformational Leadership Capabilities Approach, provides an explanation of how women middle managers develop capabilities appropriate for a management role and how they can function in that management role as transformational leaders. The Transformational Leadership Capabilities Approach unifies the capability approach and transformational leadership theory on the basis that management capabilities and transformational leadership behavioural components and dimensions are complementary. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

The purpose of this study was to establish challenges associated with leadership and management in transforming township schools into learning organisations. The study examined the leadership and management styles that promote schools into learning organisations. Post apartheid South Africa heralded changes in society and the educational system as a whole. Both transition from the apartheid era and the advent of a democratic government in 1994 resulted in the restructuring of education in this country. School managers and leaders are faced with situations in which effective and efficient school management requires new demands and challenges. During the apartheid era educational managers were subjected to many forms of suppression, which favoured the previous government. The education system was characterized as being authoritarian, non-consultative and non-participatory. Educational leadership focused on technical and bureaucratic functions of the school, and greater emphasis was placed on vertical structures. Leadership and management in South Africa today calls for a different mindset. The challenge is for leaders to recreate schools as learning organisations that focus on results and accountability. Real transformation will depend upon the nature and quality of internal management and how principals execute, delegate, consult and participate with all stakeholders. Self-management is accomplished by an internal distribution of power within the school and in transformational leadership. School principals need to adopt a new paradigm of leadership in which leaders are intuitive and visionary. Democratic South Africa places emphasis on transformational leadership. The study recommends that principals need to align themselves with the values of the constitution of the country bearing in mind democracy, equality, human dignity, freedom and justice. The challenges and need for leadership and management are great if education is to be uplifted and transformed. One of the main findings of the research in the researched schools was that there was an understanding of transformational leadership and learning organisations. The study also showed that the understanding of these concepts help to translate school activities into better performance. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2012.

This study explored the links between leadership style, leader personality, and motivation to lead, with employee engagement. Transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and abusive supervision styles were examined in relation to levels of employee engagement via a sample of n=195 employees and n=130 managers. Consistent with findings from Christian, Garza, and Slaughter (2011), transformational leadership showed a positive link to employee engagement (r= .38, p< .05). On the opposite end, abusive supervision was negatively related to employee engagement (r= -.27, p< .05). Contingent reward leadership showed a positive link to employee engagement (r= .32, p< .05). Relationships between personality and leadership style were framed according to the socioanalytic framework (Hogan & Shelton, 1998). This study did not find any significant differences in the relationships between the expected leadership behaviors and the traits directed at "getting along" with others vs. "getting ahead" to achieve power and status. Motivation to lead (Chan & Drasgow, 2001) was expected to moderate the relationships between leader personality and leadership style; however, these predictions were not supported in this study. Future directions for research, including other individual difference variables that may predict leadership styles, are discussed.

Raw biomass material is bulky, high in void fraction, and very low in transportation efficiency. Furthermore, biomass dissipates quickly in harsh environments of high heat furnaces because of its relatively low calorific value (BTU/lb) and has grinding or size degradation properties highly dissimilar from commonly-used fossil fuels like coal. Therefore, the development of transformational technologies are necessary to convert raw biomass into high-value and useful products of high hardness and calorific value without requiring excessive process energy. This thesis investigates the sustainability of densified biomass fuels. In addition, a procedure that converts raw biomass from agro/forest industry waste into a fuel source known as semi-carbonized densified biomass (SCDB) is shown to have the necessary performance qualities that are conducive to applications involving the harsh conditions of high heat furnaces. The SCDB is produced at temperatures between 115-230°C and pressures between 8-25 MPa. The raw biomass is transformed into a densified fuel source with maximum compressive strengths between 60-200 MPa and calorific values between 18-23 MJ/kg, which are essential to operating in high heat furnace environments. The procedural steps and equipment used to manufacture this densified fuel source are outlined in detail along with experimental results and discussions of initial testing.

This thesis examines the constructs of organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and work stress, and the extent to which they are affected by perceptions of organizational justice and leadership styles. Much of the literature related to these topics focuses on exploring the relationship between either justice and commitment or leadership and commitment, with very little research investigating the way that justice and leadership combine to affect outcome variables such as commitment, satisfaction, and stress. This study reviewed the literature that details these topics in order to facilitate the understanding necessary to then focus on the relationship between commitment, organizational justice, and leadership style, as well as job satisfaction and work stress. It is important to understand how these three concepts affect one another, as increasing employee commitment is a goal of many, if not all organizations, and understanding how to better influence and facilitate it could be very valuable information.

The purpose of this thesis is to determine the importance of transformational leadership in the social sector. Transformational leadership is a theory of behaviors and attributes focused on the relationship between leaders and followers of a group or organization (Avolio, 1999; Bass & Avolio, 1990a). It involves four factors: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. In order to gain more insight into leadership in some of the most high-impact and innovative social sector organizations, the research consists of interviews and case studies on five of the ten recipients of the Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership. Having been internationally recognized for bold, visionary leadership, the recipients of the Kravis Prize in Leadership demonstrate the skills and practices deemed integral to the individual, team, and organizational success. The research focused on the behaviors, quotes, and publications that alluded to the inherent factors of transformational leadership within the organizations and their leaders from Landesa, INJAZ, Right To Play, Escuela Nueva, and mothers2mothers. The findings revealed a great deal of transformational leadership weaved throughout the behaviors and principles of the organization’s leaders and followers alike. Organizations like INJAZ and its Executive Director, Soraya Salti, personified transformational leadership, displaying numerous examples of behaviors from each of the four components (idealized influence, inspirational motivation, individualized consideration, and intellectual stimulation). Each individual studied personified several, if not all components of transformational leadership. In conclusion of the research and case studies of some of the worlds most high impact organizations, it can be summarized that transformational leadership is an effective strategy to employ in the social sector and is one of the most prevalent common threads amongst high impact nonprofit organizations.

The solar minimum of 2009 has been identified as an exceptional event with regard to cosmic ray (CR)modulation, since conditions in the heliosphere have reached unprecedented quiet levels. This unique minimum has been observed by the Earth–orbiting satellite, PAMELA, launched in June, 2006, from which vast sets of accurate proton and electron preliminary observations have been made available. These simultaneous measurements from PAMELA provide the ideal opportunity to conduct an in–depth study of CR modulation, in particular charge–sign dependent modulation. In utilizing this opportunity, a three–dimensional, steady–state modulation model was used to reproduce a selection of consecutive PAMELA proton and electron spectra from 2006 to 2009. Thiswas done by assuming full drifts and simplified diffusion coefficients, where the rigidity dependence and absolute value of themean free paths for protons and electrons were sequentially adjusted below 3 GV and 300 MV, respectively. Care has been taken in calculating yearly–averaged current–sheet tilt angle and magnetic field values that correspond to the PAMELA spectra. Following this study where the numerical model was used to investigate the individual effects resulting from changes in the tilt angle, diffusion coefficients, and global drifts, it was found that all these modulation processes played significant roles in contributing to the total increase in CR intensities from 2006 to 2009, as was observed by PAMELA. Furthermore, the effect that drifts has on oppositely charged particles was also evident from the difference between the peak–shaped time profiles of protons and the flatter time profiles of electrons, as is expected for an A < 0 polarity cycle. Since protons, which drift into the heliosphere along the heliospheric current–sheet, haven’t yet reached maximum intensity levels by 2008, their intensities increased notably more than electrons toward the end of 2009. The time and energy dependence of the electron to proton ratios were also studied in order to further illustrate and quantify the effect of drifts during this remarkable solar minimum period. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Sociology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.