This thesis examines the constructs of organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and work stress, and the extent to which they are affected by perceptions of organizational justice and leadership styles. Much of the literature related to these topics focuses on exploring the relationship between either justice and commitment or leadership and commitment, with very little research investigating the way that justice and leadership combine to affect outcome variables such as commitment, satisfaction, and stress. This study reviewed the literature that details these topics in order to facilitate the understanding necessary to then focus on the relationship between commitment, organizational justice, and leadership style, as well as job satisfaction and work stress. It is important to understand how these three concepts affect one another, as increasing employee commitment is a goal of many, if not all organizations, and understanding how to better influence and facilitate it could be very valuable information.

The purpose of this thesis is to determine the importance of transformational leadership in the social sector. Transformational leadership is a theory of behaviors and attributes focused on the relationship between leaders and followers of a group or organization (Avolio, 1999; Bass & Avolio, 1990a). It involves four factors: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. In order to gain more insight into leadership in some of the most high-impact and innovative social sector organizations, the research consists of interviews and case studies on five of the ten recipients of the Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership. Having been internationally recognized for bold, visionary leadership, the recipients of the Kravis Prize in Leadership demonstrate the skills and practices deemed integral to the individual, team, and organizational success. The research focused on the behaviors, quotes, and publications that alluded to the inherent factors of transformational leadership within the organizations and their leaders from Landesa, INJAZ, Right To Play, Escuela Nueva, and mothers2mothers. The findings revealed a great deal of transformational leadership weaved throughout the behaviors and principles of the organization’s leaders and followers alike. Organizations like INJAZ and its Executive Director, Soraya Salti, personified transformational leadership, displaying numerous examples of behaviors from each of the four components (idealized influence, inspirational motivation, individualized consideration, and intellectual stimulation). Each individual studied personified several, if not all components of transformational leadership. In conclusion of the research and case studies of some of the worlds most high impact organizations, it can be summarized that transformational leadership is an effective strategy to employ in the social sector and is one of the most prevalent common threads amongst high impact nonprofit organizations.

The study of intractable conflicts has risen in recent years particularly with the work of Daniel Bar-Tal’s work on the ethos of conflict. The ethos of conflict is an original psychological concept that captures the collective societal mindset of cultures locked in intractable conflicts and examines the various factors that keep groups in conflict or help them towards peace. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is arguably the most researched, publicized, and discussed intractable conflict in history. The purpose of this paper is to first examine the foundation of that intractable conflict through the lens of Bar-Tal’s theory and apply it once more how it has changed in the modern day. Particularly, this paper focuses on how the change in power structure in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has prioritized the different elements of the ethos of conflict differently for both sides. In the beginning of the conflict, both groups held equitable power that caused them to have similar manifestations of the ethos of conflict. Working with the foundation of Bar-Tal’s theory, this paper provides an analysis of how Israel’s rise to power in the conflict influences different prioritizations of the ethos of conflict for both parties.

The characteristics of nurses acting as organizational champions, as well as the ways that clinical leaders systematically harness the energy of these champions in support of innovation, were explored in this qualitative descriptive study. The specific aims were guided by prior empirical evidence and identified research needs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 formal nursing leaders (e.g. managers, educators, administration) in an academic medical center. This study, including the interview guide, was informed by Kouzes and Posner’s (2007) Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership. Two models were developed to describe the data. Overall, participants echoed prior empirical findings identifying a need for organizational champions’ support of innovation and explained how some nurses seem to have “innate” characteristics that make them champions. Participants identified the champion as the “go to” person who can see the bigger picture and who seems to “own their own practice”. They described the importance of being truly present on the unit in order to harness the energy of these champions. Once champions are identified, leaders match the champions’ talents to the innovation planned, secure buy in from the champions, and actively work to support champions and get a culture of innovation “in the drinking water.” This work enhances the leader’s experience and makes him/her feel inspired and engaged. The two models developed based on the participants’ description of their experience working with staff nurses acting as organizational champions provide a framework for clinical leaders to identify and engage organizational champions in their clinical areas in support of innovation.

This study sought to explore the leadership styles and theories employed throughout the existence of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The research examines the decision process and subsequent outcomes, exploring how they ultimately affected the business and trajectory of the sport. NASCAR is the product of unique and specific characteristics of racing enthusiasts who turned their passion into an international empire. This illustrates how leadership styles, specifically dictatorial leadership, successfully managed decisions of the business. Through the use of qualitative research to review historical accounts of events, this study strives to explain how leadership guided the business from small beginnings to a worldwide phenomenon. Data collected included document review, observations, and an interview. Synthesis of the data showed that each of the four primary leaders (Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr., Brain France, and Jim France) used the autocratic/dictatorial leadership style as they directed the sport. Historical evidence shows that this style of leadership was required to build the sport and move it to its current recognized level. Recommendation for further study encourage future scholars to revisit the long-term impact of Brian France’s leadership once more time has passed since his negatively charged removal from the leadership position. Researchers would need to also examine the leadership of Jim France because at the time of this study he has been in his leadership position for less than two years.

This research focuses on women's leadership roles for sustainable development in crisis conditions with particular attention to the foundations of the leadership roles of women based in spirituality and religion. The research question for this study ask: How do religious and spiritual traditions contribute to the leadership roles of women that can be effective in building sustainable development in crisis conditions? The study uses a content analysis of a key body of women's writings from Burma. The findings from the data explain some of the ways in which spirituality and religion have played significant roles in promoting the leadership of women at the community level for sustainable development under crisis conditions. The study contributes to theory development by generating a set of propositions on the leadership roles of women drawing from religious and spiritual traditions that can be tested in other regions and countries. The study also offers a set of lessons for sustainable development practice.

The purpose of this study was to describe the relationship between Arkansas County Extension County staff morale and their perceived relationship county staff had with their County Staff Chair. The University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service (UAEX) can utilize the results from this research to identify individuals who have the capacity to build high-quality relationships with staff members, thereby promoting higher levels of morale within the organization. Administrators can use this study to identify current or future leaders within the organization by identifying those who can promote high-quality relationships with county-level staff. Results from this study may also be used to identify individuals needing training in developing high-quality relationships. It utilized surveys to collect data. Therefore, Qualtrics was used to distribute the Leader-Member Exchange-7 (LMX-7) and the Staff Morale Questionnaire (SMQ) electronically through the UAEX email distribution list of county employees. Participants were asked to provide a numeric response (1-5) for the seven statements relating to the Leader-member exchange (LMX) on the LMX-7. Each statement had a different 5-point scale, but 1 represented the lowest rated response, 3 represented the average or neutral response, and 5 represented the highest rated response. In addition, participants were asked to provide a numeric response (1-4) where 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = agree, and 4 = strongly agree for the 27 statements relating to the three constructs (Leadership Synergy, Cohesive Pride, and Personal Challenge) of the SMQ. Overall, UAEX county employees reported moderate to high morale, which was directly related to their perceived quality of relationship with their County Staff Chair. The implications of this study suggest that leader-member relationships can affect employee morale in all three constructs measured. The higher the quality of relationship employees perceive with their staff chair, the higher their morale will be. County staff had moderate to high level of morale in each of the three constructs as measured by the SMQ. County-level staff also felt united in striving to achieve the goals and mission of their county office and Extension as a whole.

No description available.

This study examined the perceptions that Board Members of human service organizations have of the leadership competencies of professionally trained social workers to lead such organizations. Participants of this study were comprised of 51 executive leaders of nonprofit human service organizations who were selected using non-probability convenience sampling among the target population. The findings of this study indicated that a majority (78.0%) believed that professional social workers are seen as welfare workers. Most respondents (65.3%) disagreed that the media's portrayal of social issues has influenced perceptions of the leadership abilities of social work professionals. The majority of the respondents (78.4%) agreed that nonprofit human service organizations are required to be more accountable today and as a result all leaders of these organizations should possess training and experience similar to those of professionals in business, legal, or public administration arenas.

This study of 76,365 students from 82 U.S. institutions explored the relationship between involvement in a religious student organization and student capacities for socially responsible leadership, based on the Social Change Model of Leadership (SCM). Results from t-tests found students involved in both religious and secular student organizations reported statistically significantly higher scores on all eight measures of socially responsible leadership than students involved in only religious student organizations. Hierarchical multiple regression models explained between 26% and 29% of the variance in student reported levels of overall socially responsible leadership. Compared to students involved in no organizations, involvement in religious only, secular only, and both religious and secular organization types were found to be negative yet statistically insignificant predictors of socially responsible leadership. The highest predictors of socially responsible leadership were precollege capacities for socially responsible leadership, number of years in school, and collegiate student organization involvement frequency.