African business leaders may not be effective because of a lack of transformational leadership skills. Business leaders applying transformational leadership skills can strengthen relationships with followers and enhance organizational performance. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experiences and perspectives of Liberian business leaders regarding transformational leadership skills needed to lead profitable organizations. Building on a conceptual framework of transformational leadership theory, data were obtained from open-ended interviews of 20 Liberian business leaders operating in the capital city of Monrovia. Interviews were transcribed, coded, validated through transcript review, and analyzed to generate themes. The most prominent themes were the need for Liberian business leaders to act as role models, to attend to individual employee's needs, and to demonstrate ethical conduct. The findings indicated that Liberian business leaders may adopt transformational leadership to help a company gain a competitive advantage, make profits, and enhance employees' commitment and organizational performance. These findings may contribute to positive social change by creating awareness among Liberian business leaders about the benefits of transformational leadership to expand company operations, create employment opportunities, and contribute to poverty reduction in Liberia. Research findings may be useful information to Liberian policymakers, business leaders, and scholars seeking to understand business leadership challenges in a postconflict economy.

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A presente dissertação de mestrado é um estudo a respeito das práticas que engendram políticas públicas de desenvolvimento no estado do Rio Grande do Sul. A partir da investigação de um movimento criado pelos empresários, tratase de desvendar a complexa trama que vincula as principais lideranças empresariais entre si, e, essas a autoridades governamentais. Examina-se o caminho percorrido desde a construção, elaboração de demandas, até o encaminhamento ao setor público das políticas do setor. Objetiva-se, por fim, analisar as concepções específicas de desenvolvimento que estão associadas ao processo de construção das referidas políticas. / The present master thesis is a study of the practices which engender public development policies in the State of Rio Grande do Sul. Through the investigation of a movement formed by entrepreneurs, this work tries to unravel a complex business affair which ties the main business leadership among them and those governmental authorities. This work also examines the procedure from the construction and elaboration of demands, to the guiding to the public sector, as well as the policies of this sector. We aim to analyze the specific conceptions of development which are associated to the process of construction of the referred policies.

A presente dissertação de mestrado é um estudo a respeito das práticas que engendram políticas públicas de desenvolvimento no estado do Rio Grande do Sul. A partir da investigação de um movimento criado pelos empresários, tratase de desvendar a complexa trama que vincula as principais lideranças empresariais entre si, e, essas a autoridades governamentais. Examina-se o caminho percorrido desde a construção, elaboração de demandas, até o encaminhamento ao setor público das políticas do setor. Objetiva-se, por fim, analisar as concepções específicas de desenvolvimento que estão associadas ao processo de construção das referidas políticas. / The present master thesis is a study of the practices which engender public development policies in the State of Rio Grande do Sul. Through the investigation of a movement formed by entrepreneurs, this work tries to unravel a complex business affair which ties the main business leadership among them and those governmental authorities. This work also examines the procedure from the construction and elaboration of demands, to the guiding to the public sector, as well as the policies of this sector. We aim to analyze the specific conceptions of development which are associated to the process of construction of the referred policies.

A presente dissertação de mestrado é um estudo a respeito das práticas que engendram políticas públicas de desenvolvimento no estado do Rio Grande do Sul. A partir da investigação de um movimento criado pelos empresários, tratase de desvendar a complexa trama que vincula as principais lideranças empresariais entre si, e, essas a autoridades governamentais. Examina-se o caminho percorrido desde a construção, elaboração de demandas, até o encaminhamento ao setor público das políticas do setor. Objetiva-se, por fim, analisar as concepções específicas de desenvolvimento que estão associadas ao processo de construção das referidas políticas. / The present master thesis is a study of the practices which engender public development policies in the State of Rio Grande do Sul. Through the investigation of a movement formed by entrepreneurs, this work tries to unravel a complex business affair which ties the main business leadership among them and those governmental authorities. This work also examines the procedure from the construction and elaboration of demands, to the guiding to the public sector, as well as the policies of this sector. We aim to analyze the specific conceptions of development which are associated to the process of construction of the referred policies.

Ethics is more than an abstract body of theories, principles and ideas. It is a way of thinking through difficult situations before deciding how to act (Manning & Stroud, 2008). This study takes this conception of ethics into the realm of the business decision and business schools’ responsibility to ensure that their MBA graduates are empowered and comfortable to reason and act ethically in the difficult business situations they will face and decisions they will be expected to take in their career. / Business Management / D. B. L.

Business Management / D. B. L.

Business today is conducted within societies facing complex global challenges and unprecedented demands for effective, ethical, and excellent business leadership that proactively manages its societal impacts. Integrating economic success with service of the common good requires a sound, shared understanding of “positive” executive business leadership to guide executive selection, education and development, and practice. This thesis formulates and theoretically grounds a general theory of positive executive business leadership. Integrative Executive Leadership (“IEL”) addresses the individual, pairs/groups/teams, organizational, and societal levels of business. Within these contexts, IEL exercises positive integrative agency through multi-stakeholder professional stewardship, integrated performance management, and living codes of ethics. This requires the practice of five mutually-reinforcing positive behavioural repertoires: contemplative self-leadership, functional-relational facilitative leadership, full range managerial-leadership, visionary strategic leadership, and transforming-developmental leadership. These are reinforced by five positive philosophies or styles of leadership: authentic, moral, spiritual, servant, and wise leadership. Consequently, IEL is predicated upon essential competencies, attainments, and positive dispositions. Especially, IEL requires the cultivation of positive psychological states, traits, and virtues, eudaimonic character, postautonomous levels of ego development, psychological complexity, integrative consciousness and flow. In addition to promoting intrinsic morality, these farther reaches of human nature contribute to effective and excellent leadership performance. Integrative Executive Leaders do well by doing good. IEL was developed through multiparadigm theory-building, adopting a pragmatic epistemology, and employing a transdisciplinary, positive scholarship approach to integrate the findings from a broad range of qualitative and quantitative research from the humanities and the social sciences. IEL theory articulates important theoretical relationships derived from: leading insights from management and organization theory; salient research findings from the social sciences and the humanities; insights from positive psychology, positive organizational behaviour, positive organizational scholarship, constructive developmental psychology, transpersonal psychology, and integrated empirical ethics; interpretive analyses of the biographies of great world leaders; and, a rich case study of an extraordinary executive business leader. Accordingly, IEL is advanced as an emergent theory with both theoretical grounding and empirical reference. The path forward requires further transdisciplinary, multiparadigm, multi-method research to further develop and refine IEL and establish it as a grounded theory of positive executive business leadership.

Business today is conducted within societies facing complex global challenges and unprecedented demands for effective, ethical, and excellent business leadership that proactively manages its societal impacts. Integrating economic success with service of the common good requires a sound, shared understanding of “positive” executive business leadership to guide executive selection, education and development, and practice. This thesis formulates and theoretically grounds a general theory of positive executive business leadership. Integrative Executive Leadership (“IEL”) addresses the individual, pairs/groups/teams, organizational, and societal levels of business. Within these contexts, IEL exercises positive integrative agency through multi-stakeholder professional stewardship, integrated performance management, and living codes of ethics. This requires the practice of five mutually-reinforcing positive behavioural repertoires: contemplative self-leadership, functional-relational facilitative leadership, full range managerial-leadership, visionary strategic leadership, and transforming-developmental leadership. These are reinforced by five positive philosophies or styles of leadership: authentic, moral, spiritual, servant, and wise leadership. Consequently, IEL is predicated upon essential competencies, attainments, and positive dispositions. Especially, IEL requires the cultivation of positive psychological states, traits, and virtues, eudaimonic character, postautonomous levels of ego development, psychological complexity, integrative consciousness and flow. In addition to promoting intrinsic morality, these farther reaches of human nature contribute to effective and excellent leadership performance. Integrative Executive Leaders do well by doing good. IEL was developed through multiparadigm theory-building, adopting a pragmatic epistemology, and employing a transdisciplinary, positive scholarship approach to integrate the findings from a broad range of qualitative and quantitative research from the humanities and the social sciences. IEL theory articulates important theoretical relationships derived from: leading insights from management and organization theory; salient research findings from the social sciences and the humanities; insights from positive psychology, positive organizational behaviour, positive organizational scholarship, constructive developmental psychology, transpersonal psychology, and integrated empirical ethics; interpretive analyses of the biographies of great world leaders; and, a rich case study of an extraordinary executive business leader. Accordingly, IEL is advanced as an emergent theory with both theoretical grounding and empirical reference. The path forward requires further transdisciplinary, multiparadigm, multi-method research to further develop and refine IEL and establish it as a grounded theory of positive executive business leadership.