The research in this thesis investigates the learning processes of absorptive capacity (AC) as an element within organisation innovation. An analysis of leadership ‘styles’ is undertaken and factors for effective innovation adoption are considered. It is apparent that AC has been well researched in recent years but there is evidence that little attention has been given into important influences such as leadership. Consequently, AC is determined to involve managerial learning through three processes. These include: (1) exploratory learning as an ability to value and acquire external knowledge, (2) transformative learning to assimilate this knowledge, and (3) exploitative learning to use knowledge for innovation. However, there is little known about interventions of AC learning towards innovation and the effects of top and middle managers’ leadership styles on these processes. Therefore, the research initially attempts to investigate the relationship between AC, innovation, and leadership styles with a view to exploring valuable theoretical insights into the learning processes involved. A conceptual model is formulated which suggests a relationship between the learning processes of AC with different stages of innovation adoption. In this respect, the role of managers is investigated through attention to ‘transformational’ and ‘transactional’ leadership styles where the former changes employees’ values for achieving common goals and the latter encourages exiting practices. The methodology adopted involved a qualitative strategy with data collected through three substantive case studies from research sites in Iran. In total 31 Semi-structured interviews were conducted with respondents to explore the learning processes of AC and leadership styles on innovation. Secondary documents and non-participant observations provided further insights by triangulating the data. Data was analysed in two stages (i) a description of each case was reported (ii) a thematic analysis was used in order to compare the case companies collectively. The findings supported the effects of the learning processes of AC on innovation adoption. It was also found that the leadership behaviours of top and middle managers change from transformational to transactional leadership styles during the exploitative learning process. The influence of top managers’ knowledge, middle managers’ intention, and trust in middle managers also emerged as important constructs in the learning processes. The research contributed to the learning processes of AC and the influence of managerial leadership styles by adding new insights to organisational theory. The results will also be of value to practitioners by providing prescriptive analysis when using external knowledge effectively for adopting innovation.

Work-life balance remains a challenge for transformational leaders who are managers in the hospitality industry. Guided by the principles of leader member exchange theory, this quantitative study investigated how transformational leadership level predicted a commitment to work-life balance roles for 100 degreed frontline hotel managers. In particular, the effects of transformational leadership and commitment on job roles, family roles, friendship roles, and social roles were explored. Transformational leadership was measured using the Team Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, and work-life balance role commitment was measured using the Investment Model Scale Commitment Inventory. There was a thorough review of the responses from the questionnaire and the data was computed in SPSS software. The findings suggested a predictive relationship between transformational leadership and commitment to job roles. This study contributes to the few studies conducted on transformational leadership's effect on work-life balance and further expands the organizational psychology literature by showing that transformational leadership level predicts commitment to work-life balance roles among degreed hotel managers in front-line work teams. The results promote positive social change by the sustainability of organizational effectiveness for the hospitality industry through human capital by focusing on transformational leadership training. Lastly, this study contributed to positive social change through its presentation of alternative techniques to work-life balance situations within the hospitality industry, which could positively impact employment situations through training programs, classroom simulations, and conferences.

Within academic literature and contemporary organisations, it has become widely accepted that transformational leaders are required to harness the potential of their human resources in the direction of accomplishing organisational objectives and achieving organisational success. Transformational leaders are typically portrayed as charismatic, visionary individuals who are primarily concerned with the needs of their followers and who project a passionate and inspirational attitude within the organisational context. Little research however, has been directed toward a critical analysis of the power dynamics inherent in the leader-follower relationship and the discursive practices which influence and are influenced by this relationship. The current study sought to determine the extent to which a textual analysis of electronic journal articles pertaining to transformational leadership accurately reflected the presence of discursive effects. The findings revealed that both the knowledge products associated with transformational leadership as well as the practice of transformational leaders were informed by and embedded within a human resources management (HRM) discourse. As this discourse seeks to advance the interests of management and the organisation, transformational leadership functions as a mechanism through which the control and domination of workers is enacted within the workplace. Transformational leaders, through their alliance with a managerialist ideology, aspire to motivate employees to transcend their own self-interests and align their values with those of the organisation thereby engendering compliance, docility and self-domination. Discursive formations persuade employees to invest their subjectivities in the organisation, producing a hegemonic situation in which employees become instrumental in their own subordination. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the field of nursing and transformational leadership. The introduction provides a foundation for defining leadership and a history of leadership theories. Chapter one discusses the transformational leadership model and its four components as well as the effects that transformational leadership can have on organizations, such as satisfaction, performance, and stress. In addition, this section compares transactional leadership to transformational leadership. Chapter two provides a history of nursing and current problems in the nursing field, which can be addressed by applying transformational leadership to nursing. This section provides insight into the leadership aspect of nursing and examines the effects that transformational leadership can have on nurses, patients, and the overall medical field. Lastly, chapter three is a case study on the Western University of Health Sciences leadership program for nurses, specifically focusing on the transformational leadership portion. This section will provide background information about the program, such as the program’s goal and curriculum, and indicate the effects that the seminar has had on nursing leadership. Ultimately, this paper will show the importance of teaching and applying transformational leadership to the nursing field in order to improve the satisfaction, wellbeing, and the performance of nurses and patients.

After decades of consistency in the organizational practices of police departments, the public has come to demand a reform that reflects the advancements in technology and research. However, the durability of these organizations is largely due to an internal resistance to change. This study argues that the most effective avenue for police to effectively induce this change is through the cultivation of positive leadership and justice perceptions. Prior literature has proven that both transformational leadership and organizational justice play a significant role within organizations in the development of improved attitudes and behaviors. As such, this project took a holistic approach to assess the presence of a primary relationship between transformational leadership and organizational justice perceptions. Using a secondary data set, the current study analyzed the responses of thirty-eight officers from a single police department and found a significant relationship between these two concepts. Results showed that the total model of transformational leadership significantly predicted perceptions of procedural justice, interactional justice, and overall organizational justice. The intricacy of this connection, however, may only run through one of the four transformational leadership facets. This argues that these findings could aid in the creation of a prospective avenue for inducing organizational change by establishing the foundation for effective supervisor-officer relationships based on the paralleled importance of individualized consideration.

This study aims to contribute to our understanding of how transformational leadership (TFL) influences organisational learning capability (OLC), psychological contract and performance, as well as the process by which OLC and psychological contract mediate the relationship between TFL and performance. These concepts are widely studied in the western context. This study also aims to examine how applicable these concepts are to a nonwestern context. This study furthermore focuses on investigating two sample groups, namely subordinates and managers, who represent the employee as well as the employer perspective, in contrast to the vast majority of existing works which focus only on one of these two perspectives. This study selected a mixed-methodology case study as its research methodology. This study selected a market-leading company in the consumer-electronics business in Thailand for its single case study, in order to investigate the contextual dimension through in-depth analysis, particularly looking at the relationship and friendship culture emphasised in Thai culture, which is ignored in the western context. The mixed-methodology approach, including quantitative and qualitative methodologies, is utilised. The quantitative research focuses on surveys. In the qualitative research, semi-structured interviews are conducted, together with observations and documentary analysis. The findings reveal that TFL directly influences OLC, psychological contract and performance. However, the challenge comes when we seek links in the research with OLC and work performance. This study suggests that the TFL concept based on Bass (1985) may not be entirely applicable to the Asian context. This research found instead that managers who support only the development of their subordinates' competence cannot be expected to enhance performance. It is important for managers to engender commitment in subordinates. The relationship between managers and followers is a significant factor for performance improvement. If the relationship between managers and subordinates is good, they will help each other to achieve their goals. Therefore, this study suggests that, in applying the TFL concept to the Asian culture, the definition of TFL should be changed to focus not only on the development of subordinates' competence, but also their commitment. This research suggests that HR plays a key role in the organisation by developing managers so that they feel effective enough to develop their subordinates. This research also identifies that senior management has a powerful role to play in reinforcing trust and loyalty to the employees.

D.Comm. / The globalisation of the South African economy since 1994 has emphasised the need for a new form of leadership, with specific emphasis on authentic and transformational leadership. By understanding the psychodynamic aspects that drive the transformational leader organisations will be able to identify and develop transformational leaders. A real need exists to understand the psychodynamic attributes of transformational leaders and how these attributes affect their behaviour and effectiveness. Most of the currently available research on psychodynamic attributes and their relationship with leadership behaviour and effectiveness is one-dimensional in nature: the research has investigated one or at most two, stand-alone psychodynamic attributes of leaders and their relationship with transformational leadership behaviour and leader effectiveness.

In a society fixated on leaders, where does that leave followers? Followership highlights the follower in the leadership process, examines who are followers, and explores how and why people follow. Much of the existing literature on followership has focused on classifying followers into follower types. However, less is known about why an employee might enact a particular follower role. The purpose of this dissertation is to understand how leaders influence the likelihood that followers to enact a particular follower role orientation, either coproducing or passive. Specifically, this research contributes to understanding the impact of transformational leadership on follower motivation and follower role orientation. An additional contribution of this dissertation is to establish the theoretical mechanism that explains the connection between leader behavior and follower role orientation by integrating self-determination theory (SDT) into the process of followership. Through SDT, we gain understanding of the origins of these roles by explaining their underlying motivation. Study 1 consisted of sequential experiments with a between-subject design that used distinct vignettes for transformational leadership and work-based need satisfaction. Findings support the causal relationship between transformational leadership and follower needs satisfaction; however, the casual relationship between follower need satisfaction and follower role orientation was not significant. Study 2 was a two-wave field study of full-time employed adults located in the United States. Results from Study 2 indicated that transformational leadership relates to coproduction follower orientation through competence need satisfaction and to passive follower orientation through autonomy/relatedness needs satisfaction. These findings contribute to our understanding of how different follower role orientations develop.

Gaining information about competency within hiring practices is critical for hiring managers seeking to hire skilled workers, improve employee fit, and lower hiring cost. Employee replacement cost ranges from 30% of an entry-level engineering or aeronautical employee's salary to 400% for a high-level employee in those fields. Guided by the transformational leadership theory and the decision-making theory, the purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to explore the hiring strategies used by 4 hiring managers to hire employees for organizational fit. The managers work within the aeronautics and engineering fields within the Southeast region of the United States, which included metro Atlanta, Georgia, and South Carolina. Data came from semistructured interviews with the hiring managers and company documents. Member checking was employed as a means of reinforcing credibility and trustworthiness. The data were analyzed and coded and 5 themes emerged: job descriptions and job requirements, resume review and interview matrices, practical demonstrations, leadership training, and compensation and benefits. By implementing practices that management supports, hiring managers can succeed in hiring employees for organizational fit. The findings may influence social change in that if hiring managers select the right workers, the business may sustain operations in the community and thus contribute to the prosperity of the employees, their families, the community, and the economy.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there are differences in the perceptions of the importance of identified servant leadership characteristics for high school principals held by teachers in schools located in two diverse communities. Servant leadership is a practical philosophy supporting people who serve first in their life and work (Frick, 2004, p. 8). Like other leadership philosophies, the practice of servant leadership may be influenced by variables that are particular to the environment in which it is employed (Howard, 2005; Kelly & Williamson, 2006; Lambert, 2004). This research is a case study involving two purposively chosen communities. Participants in the study were teachers from high schools in two diverse communities, one located in urban coastal Virginia and the other located in rural southwestern Virginia. A similar number of participants were obtained from the two communities to assure appropriate representation for data analysis. A 48-item questionnaire using a Likert-type scale was used as the research instrument. The questionnaire was constructed using the servant leadership characteristics and behaviors identified by Abel (2000). The questionnaire was offered to all teachers in both communities. A confirmatory factor analysis was used to group the 48 items into 12 factors. The data secured were compiled and analyzed to determine differences in teachers’ perceptions of the importance of identified characteristics of servant leadership in principals in the two communities. While all the identified characteristics were found to be important, the analysis indicated statistically significant (p< .01) differences did exist for the factor represented the servant leadership characteristics of building community, communicating vision, and empowering people. For this factor, the population from the urban community had a higher mean score (3.78 compared to 3.49) and smaller standard deviation (.29 compared to .49) than the population from the rural community. The implications of the study are that current school leaders might be able to better manage and lead their school communities if they adapted their practice of servant leadership to the particular characteristics of their communities. Similarly, principal preparation programs might incorporate the findings into their curricula. / Ed. D.