A safe (free from gang activity) and disciplined school environment conducive to learning is mandated by federal legislation such as the No Child Left Behind Act. Research has concentrated on reasons for gang activity in the school and the community as well as leadership in general but there is a void in the literature as it relates to the type of leadership in schools that is successful in limiting gang activity in schools that are less gang-impacted than the community from which they draw. Research questions include: (1) what do principals say about how they lead in gang-impacted schools that have fewer gang-related incidents than the community from which they draw their population and (2) what is the connection between principal leadership style and the presence of relatively fewer gang-related incidents in schools than in the community from which they draw their population? This phenomenological study answered the question of how principals lead in gang-impacted schools with a more favorable environment than the communities they serve through interviews, observations and document analysis. The final product is the portraits and stories of principals' relationships with gang-impacted schools and the central concept of leadership in these types of schools. According to the three participants interviewed in this study, both transactional and transformational leadership attributes are necessary to lead a gang-impacted school that has fewer gang-related incidents than the community from which it draws. The underlying conclusion in this research study is that leaders who display more transformational leadership than transactional leadership attributes are more successful in gang-impacted schools. As a result of this study, principals who are placed in schools identified as being gang-impacted will be better equipped to identify and practice leadership behaviors that have worked for other school leaders. In addition, school districts will be better able to identify and provide staff development to and for potential leaders as it relates to leadership. / Ed. D.

No description available.

The specific problem this research studied is the relationship between principal instructional leadership behaviors and student achievement in Nigeria. Eight of the often cited principal instructional leadership behaviors were selected for study. They are: set goals; set expectation; provide resources, human/material; manage/coordinate curriculum and instruction; establish school climate; promote staff professional development; and monitor student progress. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the eight selected principal instructional leadership behaviors and student achievement in Nigeria. Using the stratified random sampling technique, a sample of 400 teachers, and 40 principals was selected from 40 secondary schools in Edo State. Two questionnaires were developed to gather data for the study. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and pictorial presentation. The descriptive demographic variables gender, age, experience, and education, were used to describe the data gathered. The independent and dependent variables were subjected to inferential statistics using the Pearson product – moment correlation coefficient technique. Eight null hypotheses were tested to determine the statistically significant relationship between the eight independent variables and the dependent variable. The level of significance chosen was .05. The primary findings indicated that there are no statistically significant relationship between any of the eight independent variables and the dependent variable. Therefore, it could be concluded that there are other variables that are related to student achievement in Nigeria, though the eight independent variables could enhance it. Student intrinsic motivation, discriminating synthesis of old and new values, and a return to the Nigerian tradition are variables offered as those that are related to student achievement in Nigeria. Of all these variables, student intrinsic motivation seems to be the recurring variable that is most related to it. Nine main recommendations were made to the Nigerian students, scholars, school system, and society.

Master of Arts / Communications Studies / Timothy R. Steffensmeier / This study explored how millennials make sense of leadership in civic life beyond a college classroom. Competency-based learning, specifically as it relates to leadership development, was considered along with the importance of helping others make sense of leadership learning beyond theory to practical application. Competency-based learning considers the practical teaching points set in front of students and posits that they are helpful for making an often nebulous notion of leadership more tangible. The focus of this study was a group of undergraduate millennial-aged college students, selected from a Leadership in Self and Society course. Leadership itself has countless definitions. This study used the definition of leadership according to O’Malley, Fabris McBride and Nichols (2014) as "mobilizing others to do difficult work, work that is more provocative, engaging and purposeful" (p. 50). By examining meanings of adaptive leadership utilizing the described experience of a small subset of students who participated in a college leadership development classroom experience, this study built on a broader notion of how leadership is communicated and understood in a classroom and separately beyond in communities. In considering how operating from the frame of leadership as an activity not a position, data was gathered on how people make sense of acts of leadership and the ambiguity that comes with adaptive situations, by examining the words used to describe their lived experience using a phenomenological research approach. This study strived to build a foundation for other studies to consider articulation of lived leadership experience as a means of building competence within the field of adaptive leadership.

The leadership style found in government is usually diverse in nature, with the chain of command being top-down and focused on bureaucracy. There are some leadership styles that can adversely impact or vastly improve workplace performance. This descriptive phenomenological study was used to understand employee perceptions of leadership styles that affect their workplace performance. Bass's transformational leadership theory guided this study to explore how a supervisor's leadership style impacts an employee's workplace performance. The primary research question focused on positive and negative perceptions employees held related to supervisors' leadership behaviors and characteristics. The data collection was derived from in-depth interviews with 10 mid-level management employees aged 27 to 55 years of age, who are currently or were previously employed with a local government agency. Using Moustakas's method of data analysis, four primary themes were disclosed: (a) perceptions of three leadership styles, (b) insights on workplace performance, (c) observations of leader behaviors and characteristics, and (d) work ethics, indicating that a supervisor's leadership behaviors and characteristics do impact employees' workplace performance. The 4 primary themes indicated that participants preferred leader characteristics and behaviors associated with transformational leaders than they did with transactional or laissez-faire leaders. An organization's culture is influenced by leadership style, and consequently, leadership style affects an employee's workplace performance. The social change implications, as related to the findings, enable a leader to evaluate the perceptions of an employee's view of appropriate leadership styles that increases their workplace performance.

This study identified the leadership competencies, skills, behaviors, and training needs most critical to a college newspaper leader's success. A Web-based Delphi technique, supported by the Center for Distance Learning Research at Texas A&M University, was used to submit three rounds of questionnaires to a panel of 25 editors from 19 institutions in 13 states. The experts responded to 13 open-ended questions in Round One designed to elicit information to establish the leadership competencies, skills, and behaviors critical to college newsroom leaders. Round One also established information concerning participants' prior knowledge of the top leadership position. The Round Two instrument included seven questions with 189 statements developed from responses to Round One. Panelists rated responses using a four-point Likert scale. Panelists reached consensus in the final round by selecting the three most important of the ranked responses to each question returned from Round Two. Additional questions asked for recommendations for the future training and development of editors. The panel's list of leadership traits agrees with more than 50 percent of the admired traits of all leaders (Kouzes and Posner,1997), and more than 50 percent of the ideal traits of top professional journalists (Peters, 2001). The panel reached consensus on 8 situations they considered unique to the college newsroom that had a significant impact on their leadership experience. The topthree included: the need to manage everything and still publish a great paper, dealing with uncommitted students, and dealing with frequent staff changes. The panel reached consensus on the following as most important for incoming college newsroom leaders: the most critical leadership competency was "ability to communicate"; the most critical leadership behavior was "a passion to improve and develop the newspaper"; the most critical leadership competency editors "lacked" was "ability to take charge"; the experiences they considered most important to shaping their understanding of the role was that it is a full-time, difficult, and frustrating position; and they indicate that "dedication to the newspaper" is the leadership trait that separates an average from a great newsroom leader.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among leadership behaviors, organizational climate and leadership effectiveness of executives at vocational training institutes of state-owned enterprises. The study was designed to contribute to an understanding of the types of leadership behaviors and the inner organizational climate, which can produce higher leadership effectiveness. The population of this study was the vocational training institutes¡¦ staff of states-owned enterprises. The sample of the study was all staffs of nine vocational training institutes of states-owned enterprises. The total number of usable sets of instrument returned was 178 and a usable return rate of 66.7%. The research instrument was composed of four questionnaires: 1. The Leadership Behaviors Questionnaire for the vocational training institutes¡¦ staff of states-owned enterprises which was used to assess leadership behaviors, 2. The Organizational Climate Questionnaires for the vocational training institutes¡¦ staff of states-owned enterprises which was used to assess the inner organizational climate, 3. The Leadership Effectiveness Questionnaire for the vocational training institutes¡¦ staff of states-owned enterprises which was used to assess the leadership effectiveness of vocational training institutes¡¦ executives of states-owned enterprises. The data was analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistic methods, including: descriptive statistics, t-test and one-way ANOVA. The results were as follows: 1. The transformational behaviors were moderate high, transactional behaviors were lower and non-transactional behavior were the lowest performed by the vocational training institutes of states-owned enterprises executives. 2.The facilities were the highest and the performance-reward relations were the lowest in the organizational climate of vocational training institutes of states-owned enterprises. 3.The leadership effectiveness of vocational training institutes of states-owned enterprises executives was moderate high. Among them the target achievement was the highest, and the leadership effectiveness was the lowest. 4.There were significant differences among all aspects in terms of leadership behaviors, organizational climate and leadership effectiveness of vocational training institutes of states-owned enterprises executives on different background variables. 5.The inspirational motivation was the highest in the correlations between leadership behaviors and leadership effectiveness. The supervisory style-work was the highest in the correlations between organizational climate and leadership effectiveness.

This study identified the leadership competencies, skills, behaviors, and training needs most critical to a college newspaper leader's success. A Web-based Delphi technique, supported by the Center for Distance Learning Research at Texas A&M University, was used to submit three rounds of questionnaires to a panel of 25 editors from 19 institutions in 13 states. The experts responded to 13 open-ended questions in Round One designed to elicit information to establish the leadership competencies, skills, and behaviors critical to college newsroom leaders. Round One also established information concerning participants' prior knowledge of the top leadership position. The Round Two instrument included seven questions with 189 statements developed from responses to Round One. Panelists rated responses using a four-point Likert scale. Panelists reached consensus in the final round by selecting the three most important of the ranked responses to each question returned from Round Two. Additional questions asked for recommendations for the future training and development of editors. The panel's list of leadership traits agrees with more than 50 percent of the admired traits of all leaders (Kouzes and Posner,1997), and more than 50 percent of the ideal traits of top professional journalists (Peters, 2001). The panel reached consensus on 8 situations they considered unique to the college newsroom that had a significant impact on their leadership experience. The topthree included: the need to manage everything and still publish a great paper, dealing with uncommitted students, and dealing with frequent staff changes. The panel reached consensus on the following as most important for incoming college newsroom leaders: the most critical leadership competency was "ability to communicate"; the most critical leadership behavior was "a passion to improve and develop the newspaper"; the most critical leadership competency editors "lacked" was "ability to take charge"; the experiences they considered most important to shaping their understanding of the role was that it is a full-time, difficult, and frustrating position; and they indicate that "dedication to the newspaper" is the leadership trait that separates an average from a great newsroom leader.

Work environments for health care providers in acute care hospitals have become increasingly demanding due to the impact of economic constraints, the rapid advancement of treatment modalities, and value systems changes among clients, as well as among heath care providers. In Japan, health care industries also face severe economic constraints. Because Japan has socialized medicine, the government controls reimbursements. Due to the dramatic growth in health care expenditures, the Japanese government has imposed regulations that reward shorter lengths of hospital stays with higher reimbursement. As a result, only patients whose conditions are critical and require complicated nursing care are now hospitalized. Consequently, the acuity levels of patients have increased every year. Under such conditions, administrators are charged with keeping the organization financially solvent so that they can remain in business, while continuing to improve the quality of their services. Although systems research in health care settings has received considerable attention in North American countries, there has been little research in this area in Japan, where systematic leadership training for nurse managers is also still in a developmental stage. Research on organizational effectiveness has shown positive correlations between managers' leadership styles and employees' psychological well-being or self-efficacy.The purposes of this study were: 1) to test Laschinger's Work Empowerment Theory with incorporation of leadership behaviors in acute care hospitals in Japan, and 2) to investigate how leadership behaviors might mitigate burnout and empower staff nurses working in acute care hospitals in Japan. It was expected that employees who perceived a high level of Structural Empowerment would demonstrate high Psychological Empowerment and low burnout level. If employees perceived high leadership behaviors in their immediate supervisors, their Psychological Empowerment was expected to be higher and their burnout level was expected to be lower.The following four instruments were used: 1) Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire-II (CWEQ-II); 2) Psychological Empowerment Scale; 3) Nurse Manager's Action Scale; and 4) Maslach Burnout Inventory. The questionnaire was distributed to 1,377 staff nurses working on 50 inpatient care units in two acute care hospitals in Japan. Participant response rates for all units were equal or greater than 50%. Psychometric evaluation of the instruments was performed. Construct validity and reliability were established for all instruments at the individual level. At the group level, construct validity and reliability for two instruments (Structural Empowerment and Nurse Manger's Action Scale) were confirmed, but not for two others (Psychological Empowerment and Maslach Burnout Inventory).Results suggested that the Work Empowerment Theory also fits Japanese nurses, but there was little effect of leadership behaviors on staff nurses' perceived empowerment. A group level analysis indicated that leadership behaviors did not influence Psychological Empowerment or Burnout, but influenced Structural Empowerment.

The problem with which this study is concerned is to compare the perceptions and expectations of the deans, chairpersons, and faculty members regarding the leadership behavior of academic department chairpersons at Silpakorn University in Thailand. The Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ) was employed to assess the leadership behavior of the academic department chairpersons in terms of initiating structure and consideration. The populations included 6 deans, 31 chairpersons, and 255 faculty members who were employed at Silpakorn University during the 1982-1983 school year.