<p>This dissertation begins from one central claim about the understanding of social life - that the unit of analysis most appropriate for the task of sociology is the joint act (Blumer, 1969). If we are to understand social life, then we must take our social science to people and their accomplishments.</p> <p>My research attends to one specific set of accomplishments: the designation of the objects of our worlds as appropriate or inappropriate. This, I argue, is the essential quality of the social dramas which accompany the designation of deviance. promoting definitions of This extended process of the appropriate and the inappropriate, I refer to as the process of championing. Championing is built upon the accomplishments of Becker's (1973) labeling theory, yet carries with it a critique of this tradition. Championing is my attempt to examine the generic dimensions of deviance designation.</p> <p>My theoretical claims find their empirical application in a study of one group of champions - the actors who comprise the Christian Heritage Party of Canada. Within this group we find those who promote their religious based definitions of the way the world ought to be within the setting of Canadian electoral politics. My research examines the activities and perspectives of these actors. Attending to deviance designation as accomplished action, my work examines the perspectives of actors, their careers of involvements, the symbolic relevances of political policy, and the sales dimensions of political recruitment.</p> <p>My work is derived from a phenomenological interactionism. It confronts the social world with a methodology of participant observation and interview and a naturalistic respect for an understanding of life as it is lived. The sociology of deviance is a sociology of everyday life.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Employee support is a key factor in creating more welcoming and accepting work environments for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals in sport. As such, organizations need to understand what factors encourage employees to display attitudes and behaviors that support inclusion. Thus, the purpose of my dissertation was to advance the literature by examining antecedents and outcomes related to employee support for LGBT inclusion and equality in the workplace. In Study 1, I provide LGBT employees the opportunity to share their perceptions of support for LGBT inclusion, particularly how the attitudes and behaviors of their coworkers foster or inhibit acceptance in the workplace. Results indicate that various micro-level (demographics, personality, experiences with LGBT individuals) and meso-level factors (organizational culture for diversity, support of relevant others) influenced the level of employee support for LGBT inclusive policies. Furthermore, power meaningfully influenced these dynamics, such that individuals in low status positions within the athletic department were hesitant to show support for LGBT equality. However, those who did champion LGBT inclusive initiatives successfully modeled supportive behaviors and positive attitudes toward LGBT individuals, vocally opposed discriminatory treatment, and provided sexual minorities with a safe space at work. In Study 2, I develop a multilevel model that addresses factors at the macro-level (i.e., mass media, inclusive community), meso-level (i.e., sexual orientation diversity, presence of other allies), and micro-level (i.e., personality, personal values, attitudes toward LGBT individuals, contact with LGBT individuals) that influence ally support. In addition, I differentiate between attitudinal and behavioral support for LGBT equality, and discuss various factors that may encourage allies to engage in more active ally behaviors. In Study 3, I drew from the multilevel model to examine how micro-, meso-, and macro-level factors influence attitudinal support for sexual LGBT inclusion among sport employees, and determine if these attitudes affect behavioral support for LGBT inclusion in the workplace. The results from the study offered support that multilevel factors relate to support for LGBT inclusion. Specifically, sex, supervisor support, and typed of media consumed were related to attitudinal support for LGBT inclusion, and these attitudes positively associated with championing behaviors.

With rapid changes in the business environment, more acute competition and increasingly demanding clients, organisations in the construction industry have identified innovation as a means of achieving competitive advantage. Innovation provides an important avenue for firms to improve performance while differentiating their products and services. Research has identified a number of factors as influencing innovation in construction organisations. Primarily these include internal factors such as organisational climate, innovation championing, leadership and exogenous influences such as clients, regulations, technology and the economy. The role of senior management in promoting innovation is widely recognised in literature. However, in the construction and project based environment, very few studies have focused on middle management and how their day to day leadership activities impact on innovation and project performance. The purpose of this study was to improve middle management leadership behaviour in order to facilitate innovation and improve project performance in construction professional services firms. Through a combination of qualitative case study, questionnaire surveys and qualitative interviews, the research identified how the leadership behaviour exhibited by middle managers in the work place could enhance innovation and project performance. The study was undertaken in five phases to reflect the five key objectives for the research. The first phase comprised a review of the literature on innovation to identify key internal and external factors influencing innovation and ultimately, project performance. The second phase involved a case study of three different innovative projects to examine the role of middle managers in facilitating the innovations studied. Phase three of the study investigated the relationships among transformational leadership, innovation championing and organisational climate for innovation while examining how they combine to promote innovation and enhance project performance. Phase four involved qualitative validation of the relationship among the constructs examined in phase three and preparation of leadership development resource for middle managers which was subsequently trialed in phase five. Key findings from the study suggest that transformational leadership behaviour exhibited by middle managers influences innovation by developing an environment conducive to innovation which in turn fosters innovation championing behaviour and ultimately, enhances project performance. The study contributes to knowledge and adds to the understanding of the role of middle managers in facilitating innovation and improving project performance. It demonstrates that the bypass effect of transformational leadership is applicable in the project based environment since transformational leadership of middle managers directly influenced project performance, circumventing project managers. In addition, the cascading effect of transformational leadership was confirmed, as championing behaviour and climate for innovation mediated the relationship between transformational leadership of middle managers and project performance. Furthermore, it revealed that the individual dimensions of transformational leadership influenced innovation and project performance differently. The study found that individualised support was the most influential dimension impacting on innovation championing behaviour, climate for innovation and project performance. Articulating vision and fostering the acceptance of group goals both influenced climate for innovation and project performance. High performance expectation, modelling behaviour and intellectual stimulation influenced innovation championing and project performance. Beyond these the study has highlighted the particular actions which constituted each dimension of transformational leadership and how they influenced the performance of project team members. Through this study transformational leadership development resource has been developed to help middle managers cultivate the expected leadership behaviour that could facilitate innovation and improve project performance. The study also identified how transformational leadership behaviour can be engrained in the day to day working practices of middle managers. The study presents a more positive view of middle managerial role in improving organisational performance contrary to previous negative reporting on this constituency and identifies the need for greater recognition for their role. The study recommends that construction professional services firms should support middle managers to develop transformational leadership behaviour and create the kind of environment where innovation becomes a part of the normal daily work practices. In addition the study opens a new avenue for the study of transformational leadership by using both qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate the impact of the individual dimensions. It recommends that future research adopts the same approach in different contexts to further test the suggested relationships. The study concludes with recommendations for policy makers to give greater attention to incorporating transformational leadership behaviour into the essential set of behavioural competencies managers in the construction industry need to develop beyond their technical skills.

As new information technology (NIT) has become a critical instrument for an organization to gain its competitive edge, the issue of how best to exploit and adopt NIT is now a pressing challenge for organizations and researchers alike. Based on upper echelon theory and individual differences literatures, this research paper endeavors to address the issue concerning the knowledge gap present in previous literature: the correlation between a top manager¡¦s personal traits and his NIT championing behavior. To bridge this gap, this paper attempts to explore to what extent a top manager¡¦s personality, ability, and belief characteristics can affect NIT championing behavior. We venture to propose in this paper a comprehensive model in which top managers¡¦ individual characteristics are integrated to facilitate the analysis of NIT adoption in organization. To test research model, Partial Least Squares (PLS) is used to verify the feasibility of the model proposed. Survey results from 130 top managers in Taiwan strongly support our proposition that a top manager¡¦s personality, ability, and belief have significant influence on NIT championing behavior. At the conclusion section of this paper academic and practical implication is discussed.