Thesis (D. Min.)--Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2008. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 181-189).

Thesis (D. Miss.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1995. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 260-266).

Thesis (D. Min.) -- Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, NC, 2005. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 186-196).

This thesis seeks to study the phenomenon of transformational journeys in major organisations, defined as a process of radical change delivering dramatic and sustained improvement in market competitive performance within an aggressive timescale. This is characterised by strategic repositioning, alongside shifts in both strategic and organisational architecture, and is observable as periodic in the life of an organisation. A research framework for observation and explanation is taken from theories and research in strategic change, strategic intent and competitive advantage, strategic and organisational architecture, management process in transformation and typologies of transformational journeys. The primary research question, “how do top managers in different organisations lead and manage transformational change?” was addressed with an overall qualitative dual approach: firstly a pilot cross-company study with executives from 23 organisations to develop a high level typology and compare and contrast aspects of process; secondly longitudinally to examine in detail the complex interrelationships and aspects of emergent process. The prime empirical work was a main case study of Thames Water Utilities on a 7 year journey. Limited or secondary data was used from around 7 other longitudinal cases. The thesis conclusions make a number of specific propositions: around effective use of the descriptive framework and metaphor of a journey; on dependencies between aspects of context, content and process of change in transformation; on typologies of different journey management styles; on perceived conditions for success; and on practical applicability. Specifically, the adoption of “navigational leadership” capability, defined by a number of dimensions and characteristics, is explored as a new and emergent style appropriate in future business circumstances of increasing change and uncertainty. The research also concludes that such styles can be learnt and adopted by top teams.

The aim of this study is to examine the role of teacher as agent for change in the school environment after the provision of in-service teacher training. Ministry of Education provides in-service teacher training in collaboration with the International English Language Education Association (INGED- Turkish acronym- for short) in order to keep English language teachers up to date and adapt to the changing nature of the modern world. To what extent in-service teacher training enables teachers perform as leaders, whether they act as agents for change and more importantly whether teachers contribute to school improvement are the areas that this study conducts a research on. Qualitative research method was employed in this study. Data were collected through interviews in two phases in the city of &Ccedil / anakkale. Phase 1 took place during the Ministry of National Education in-service teacher training seminar, Phase 2 was after six months of the seminar. Sample in the first phase was v made up of 19 course participants, in the second phase the sample contained both 19 course participants and their 38 peers and 10 principals. Findings revealed that some teachers who work in a more democratic school environment were enabled with their change agentry roles as their principals created a flexible institutional culture. However, teachers who work in more rigid and centralized work environment were not given the freedom for applying the ideas that they were encouraged through in-service teacher training. This shows that on the one hand even one shot in-service teacher education contributes to teacher development in building change agents by raising teacher awareness on her subject knowledge and role but on the other hand to practice leadership and change agent role very much depends on the school culture.

Project/Thesis (D. Min.)--Abilene Christian University, 2000. / Includes 9 sermon outlines. Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-101).

This thesis is focused on positive affect in the workplace, with a particular emphasis on the UK public sector. Three samples of data were taken from 433 respondents across nine participating organizations with the aim of identifying those who rate themselves as happy and upbeat and whom others are noticing in this regard. Thus, the thesis goes beyond the analysis of those who are self-nominated as happy, seeking those who are flourishing (denoted throughout as Happy Plus or H+ ) which, for the purposes of this thesis, are categorised as employees whose positive affect is contagious. The data identified 45 H+ respondents, ascertaining that their happiness has a degree of longevity that is in line with eudaimonic sources and that the state of flourishing is unlikely to be accidental. The flourishing respondents were measured on 16 workplace emotions and compared against a group of 388 non-flourishing work colleagues. The H+ respondents recorded higher scores in all 4 emotions associated with employee engagement (enthusiastic, joyful, inspired & excited) and employee satisfaction (calm, relaxed, laid back & at ease) while the NonH+ group scored higher in emotions associated with stress (nervous, anxious, tense & worried) and depression (dejected, despondent, hopeless & depressed). Independent samples t-tests (using the Bonferroni correction) suggest these differences are statistically significant in 13 of the 16 affects measured. This is salient in that the more vigorous sense of employee engagement tends to result in pro-social behaviours that are correlated with bottom-line performance. The thesis then sought to discover the means by which the H+ respondents achieve and maintain their flourishing status. Following Lyubomirsky s (2007) contention that if an individual s genes and circumstances are fixed (in the immediacy of here and now) then it is the 40% of one s intentional strategies that will differentiate the flourishing from their non-flourishing colleagues. Thus, the H+ and NonH+ groups were compared on a raft of seventeen within-person strategies. The flourishing group rate choosing to be positive as their biggest single strategy, with the corollary that attitudinal choice requires both awareness and effort. It is postulated that engaged employees are attitude maximizers rather than satisficers , in that they are less likely to make do with ambivalent attitudes, striving to be as positive as they are able. Flourishing employees are also significantly more likely to set goals, play to their strengths, have positive internal dialogue, reframe negative events and consume less news. They indulge in what is termed life-crafting in which they alter their thoughts and circumstances to maximise their likelihood of remaining happy. The thesis concludes with a series of recommendations, focusing on co-creation , the idea that happiness emerges as a collective and cooperative endeavour that requires both favourable working conditions and individual effort. As such, recommendations are aimed at how organizations can learn from the findings to implement structures and policies that are best placed to facilitate flourishing cultures. There is a further set of recommendations alluding to what individuals can do to raise their own happiness levels. As such, it is argued that organizational culture change is not simply a matter of instigating top-down or bottom-up remedies, but rather eliciting change that emanates from inside-out.

This research study identified the frequency in which six public school districts in Texas provided principals with effective development opportunities prior to the principalship excluding university or certification programs. A purposive sample of over 200 principals from six school districts in the Dallas/Fort Worth area were asked to participate in the study yielding a response rate of 41%. Respondents identified through a questionnaire their leadership development opportunities and perceptions of preparedness on nine standards common to the profession. Principals were nominally grouped for comparison. The perceptions of preparedness for principals who received effective leadership development opportunities were compared to those who did not receive these same opportunities using an independent samples t-test to determine statistical significance (p < .05). Peer coaching yielded the most statistically significant results in three standards. This finding indicates principals who receive peer coaching prior to the principalship compared to those who did not perceive themselves as more prepared in the areas of community collaboration, political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context, and curriculum, instruction and assessment. Effect size was measured for the statistically significance standards to determine practical significance. Each of the five statistically significant standards yielded a medium effect size indicating that the leadership development methods received by participants explained approximately 30% of the difference.

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