Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2006. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 151-155)

This research contributes to our understanding of trust in the international business environment, exploring the development of trust, and the influence of culture, structures and hierarchies, and international business communications. The focus is on the management of employees working in foreign-owned, international businesses operating in Morocco. With few notable and very valuable exceptions, there has been very little research exploring the Arab approach to management and even fewer pieces of research focus on the development of trust in this context. A qualitative research approach was employed, as so little is understood about the context and the phenomenon. A total of 30 interviewees from various managerial and organisational levels represented the sample of the study with five participating international companies, from different sectors established in Morocco. Using a content-thematic analysis, the research shows that Moroccan employees prefer working in international companies and their preference is associated to many factors such as the work environment they belong to, the financial and social benefits they receive, career advancement and employees’ development as well as being a part of a defined and organised structure where information is well circulated and communication is encouraged. In this way, this research contributes not only to our understanding of the development of trust in an Arab context but also sheds more light on cultural aspects which was found out in the research that they were interpreted differently such as the case of Hofstede’s uncertainty avoidance dimension. In particular the research suggest that some, non-Arabic researchers, may have misinterpreted certain behaviours in Arab cultures. This leads the research to a final conclusion that clearly shows the importance of considering Arab management as a fourth paradigm to explain managerial practices in the Arab World as suggested by Weir (2008) and better understand their practices (Hutchings and Weir, 2006).

<p>The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to explore leadership characteristics dual language school principals possess to effectively lead a dual language program. The research seeks to identify specific leadership characteristics and qualities necessary for a principal to effectively lead a dual language school compared to the leadership characteristics required to lead a traditional/monolingual school. The researcher examined the perceptions of leadership responsibilities with dual language teachers in an urban school district in southern Washington. This research study was compared with a similar study completed with monolingual teachers in an urban school district in western Wisconsin. The researcher used an electronic survey, via Qualtrics, to gather demographic information and determine the rank order perceptions of the 21 leadership responsibilities according to dual language teachers. A total of 17 teachers participated in the research study. The highest rated leadership responsibility among the dual language teachers was Communication and the lowest rated leadership responsibility was Contingent Rewards. The researcher also implemented a collective case study design to accumulate and analyze data regarding the leadership characteristics of two dual language school principals, via semi-structured interviews. A recommendation from this study is that several of the 21 leadership responsibilities are more applicable to increasing student achievement in dual language classrooms compared to monolingual classrooms. </p>

<p>The purpose of this quantitative study is to explore the frequency of uncivil behaviors amongst teachers. The research seeks to determine leadership support and job satisfaction levels in order to relate their relationship to turnover. Fulfillment of teachers’ basic psychological needs is essential for optimal performance and growth. The 2018 Indiana Department of Education Teacher survey data shows low favorability levels regarding school leadership trends and collegiality in schools. The researcher examined the perceptions of the educators in a region of Indiana. This research study was compared with a similar study completed in an urban school district in Western Central Illinois. The researcher used an electronic survey, via Qualtrics, to gather demographic information and determine the extent of teacher-to-teacher uncivil behaviors as well as levels of leadership support and job satisfaction. A total of 74 teachers participated in the research study. Overall, 10.9% percent of respondents perceived themselves to be victims of uncivil behaviors on a weekly or daily (regular) basis. Strong statistical significance was found between uncivil behaviors and job satisfaction, leadership support, and teacher turnover. A recommendation from this study is that teacher turnover can be reduced when leaders meet the intrinsic needs of their teachers.</p>

<p>This qualitative study examined the thoughts and perceptions of Indiana public school superintendents overseeing school safety response and planning in their districts. The study was based on interviews of five public school superintendents overseeing safety planning and response in large Indiana school districts located in varying regions of the state. Participants were purposely sampled according to the number of students served in their districts and the number of schools that they were responsible for overseeing. Data were collected by conducting semi structured interviews via telephone with the researcher taking field notes and digitally recording dialogue from the interviews.</p> <p>Two theoretical frameworks were used in the study—phenomenology and reality testing. Phenomenology was used to focus on the lived experience of the participants in the study. This particular study examined the five participating superintendent’s experiences while overseeing safe school planning and response measures. The participants were asked to describe their experiences and share their perceptions (i.e., what they were doing, why they were doing it, and how it affected safety response and preparedness in their district). One of the planning measures involved participation in the recently mandated safe school plan audit. Reality testing was used to determine what is actually happening in the real world. The use of reality testing in this study focused on determining what was actually occurring in the districts that completed the safe school plan audit process. </p> <p> </p> <p>As a result of the study, three themes emerged. Superintendent lived experiences, thoughts, perceptions, and actions regarding school safety planning and response are centered on consistency, reaction, and security. Superintendent responses reflected the importance they placed on establishing consistency within their safety planning and response efforts. Despite their efforts to plan and establish consistent mitigation, response, and recovery efforts superintendents lived experiences presented that their thoughts and efforts were often times reactionary. Throughout the interviews, superintendents represented security to be a pivotal element of their safety efforts.</p> <p>The three themes were further grounded into two assertions. First, Indiana public school superintendents live with a number of uncertainties as they oversee and plan safe school efforts in their districts. Second, Indiana public school superintendents plan and oversee safety operations in the absence of viable quantitative safety incident data.</p> <br> <p> </p>

Nonprofits are primarily dependent upon external sources for funding and other critical resources; therefore during recessionary periods the nonprofit sector faces a crisis of its own as crucial resources become scarce. The Great Recession of 2007-2009 had widespread adverse impact on the nonprofit sector yet, some nonprofit organizations managed to not only restore their finances and operations to their pre-recession state, but also capitalize on the economic conditions and emerge stronger and more prosperous than before the recession began. Specifically, these organizations embody resiliency by realizing positive outcomes or exhibiting optimal performance during and after tough economic times. In the face of increasing demands, shifting funding streams, and operational challenges, organizational resilience is more important than ever for the sector. The purpose of this research was to develop a better understanding of the nature of organizational resiliency as it relates to nonprofits impacted by economic recession. The primary research question that directed this research was: What attributes are exhibited by resilient nonprofit organizations? Using a multiple case study approach, this study explored the essence and meaning of resilience through the experiences of seven nonprofit organizations in Virginia during and after the recession. Data were collected from pertinent organizational documents and semi-structured interviews with the executive director of each organization. Nine themes emerged from the data. Conclusions drawn from the findings suggest that resilient nonprofit organizations exhibit: positive disposition toward change; flexibility; timely and responsive decision making; deep social capital; intra and inter-organizational relationships; effective leadership; diverse revenue streams; sufficient assets, systems and infrastructure; and shared mission, goals and strategy. / Ph. D.

<p dir="ltr">This quantitative study utilized a survey design to collect data from 61 Indiana K-12 public school superintendents to identify their use of Palmer and Stough’s emotional intelligence (EI) factors (Palmer et al., 2009) and frequency of use of Kouzes and Posner’s (2017) leadership practices in the workplace. Participants provided their age and years of experience as a superintendent and rated their use of emotional intelligence and leadership practices in the workplace. The four EI factors with the highest whole group mean were emotional self-control, emotional reasoning, emotional self-awareness, and emotional awareness of others. The top two leadership practices used by Indiana K-12 public school superintendents were enable others to act with a mean of 53.90 (SD = 3.96) and model the way with a mean of 52.84 (SD = 3.96). Research questions were answered using a simultaneous multiple regression analysis. There was no statistically significant relationship between age and years of experience as a superintendent with either EI or use of leadership practices in the workplace. The linear combination of Palmer and Stough’s seven factors of EI was a statistically significant predictor (p < 0.001) of the composite score of Kouzes and Posner’s leadership practices, with emotional reasoning being a significant predictor (t = 3.40, p = 0.001). The results of this study reinforce the relationship between the use of EI and leadership practices in the workplace and add to the body of research regarding EI and leadership practices in education.</p>

No description available.

This study provides an account of the agendas, participation and influence of management, teachers, students and parents at a primary school in Tigray, Ethiopia. A literature review revealed gaps in the knowledge of these stakeholders’ involvement in school leadership structures in the current national policy context. A broader review of the major traditions of school research informed the design of this ethnographic case study. Fieldwork at ‘Ketema School’ took place over an eight-month period in 2014, and involved participant observation, informant-led interviews, and the collection of institutional documents. Data collection focused on the meetings of various bodies, and the activities of a single class in Grade 6 and 7. Inductive analysis of the case data was supported by Atlas.ti. The study reveals a convergence of understandings about the purposes and processes of the school consistent with the state-authorised model of schooling for national development. Structures and processes of surveillance and control incentivise and normalise compliance with government directives. These include positions of distributed leadership and mechanisms of mutual surveillance and internal accountability through which teachers and students share responsibility for supervising peers and colleagues. For example, the student leaders of the ‘one-to-five’ networks perform an academic support and behavioural control function in relation to their peers; and gim gima is a practice of public critique used for exposing misconduct. Meetings and other participative spaces enable members of the school community to share their views on conditions in school according to their interests and priorities; however, these forums are dominated by management agendas, and school-level decisions are restricted by a strong external policy context. This study extends knowledge of school leadership practices in Ethiopia and informs wider debates around community participation, accountability and school autonomy in developing countries. Recommendations are made for sharing and strengthening democratic practices and for future research.

The Healthcare Quality Strategy for NHS Scotland, relates its overall vision of healthcare quality to six dimensions of care as: Safe, Efficient, Effective, Equitable, Timely and Patient Centred. Patient Centred Care also underpins many subsequent policies such as the management of Long Term Conditions (Scottish Government, 2008) and the Chief Medical Officers Realistic Medicine report (Barlow, et al., 2015) Leadership styles and associated policies and procedures are often assumed to inhibit or encourage the delivery of quality Patient Centred Care and the NHS invests millions of pounds per year in Leadership training. At a clinical team and management level there are behaviours and initiatives that can arguably have positive and negative impacts on the ability of individual practitioners to provide quality Patient Centred Care. However there have been no attempts to empirically test the association between (good) Leadership and quality Patient Centred Care. Without any evidence of such a relationship, NHS investment of substantial resources may be misguided. Additionally, much of the focus of research in both Leadership and Patient Centred Care has focused on medical practitioners and nurses. There is little research that focuses on the impact of allied health professionals' (a term describing 12 differing health care professional groups representing over 130,000 clinicians throughout the United Kingdom) practice on the quality of person centred care and how this is affected by Leadership structures and styles. This study aimed to explore whether there is a direct or indirect link between (transformational) Leadership and achieving the delivery of high quality Patient Centred Care (PCC) in allied health professional (AHP) practice. Aim The aim of this thesis was to explore whether it was possible to empirically demonstrate a relationship between Leadership (good or bad) and Patient Centred Care, and to do this in relation to Allied Health Professional practice. Research questions I. Is there a relationship between Transformational Leadership and Patient Centred Care in AHP practice? II. How do AHP’s conceptualise Leadership and its impact on their ability to deliver PCC? III. Do local contexts influence the ability of leaders to support Patient Centred Care? Study one Study one was designed to answer research question one: exploring the relationship between transformational Leadership and Patient Centred Care using survey design. Two groups of Allied Health Professionals were selected to take part in the study: Podiatrists and Dieticians. Clinical team leaders from across 12 Podiatry teams and 12 Dietetic teams completed a survey composed of measures of transformational Leadership and self-monitoring. Clinicians from these teams were also be asked to complete questionnaires on their perception of their clinical leaders’ transformational Leadership skills. This allowed comparison of self-assessed Leadership and team assessed Leadership. Clinicians were also asked to collect patient experience measures from 30 of their patients. Study Two Study Two was designed to answer research questions 2 and 3: how do AHPs conceptualise Leadership and how do they view the link between Leadership and their ability to deliver Patient Centred Care; and how might local context impact on professional Leadership and therefore its potential to enable or inhibit Patient Centred Care. In depth interviews were conducted with clinicians and clinical team leaders to explore the barriers and facilitators to effective Leadership, teamwork and the provision of quality care. Interviews were conducted with 21 Podiatrists and 12 Dieticians and analysed using a framework analysis approach. Results I. Is there a relationship between Patient Centred Care and transformational Leadership in AHP practice? The theory that there is a link between transformational Leadership and Patient Centred Care was confirmed. A significant relationship was discovered for the dietetics group linking Transformational Leadership with patient centred quality of care measures. There was also a relationship in the podiatry group that was suggestive of a relationship. II. How do AHP’s conceptualise Leadership and its impact on their ability to deliver PCC? AHP’s in both groups had broadly similar conceptualisations of Leadership and both groups played down the role of Leadership in the delivery of Patient Centred Care. A far more salient factor in achieving the delivery of high quality Patient Centred Care for the AHP’s interviewed was professional autonomy. III. Do local contexts influence the ability of leaders to support Patient Centred Care? A number of contextual issues related to both Patient Centred Care and Leadership were identified from the qualitative analysis. These were centred on systemic factors, relating to management and bureaucracy, and individual factors, such as relationships within teams. In Podiatry a major shift in the context of care was ongoing during the study, namely a greater emphasis on encouraging patients to self-care. This affected the relationships between patients and Podiatrists, and Podiatrists and managers, in a way that Podiatrists felt it negatively impacted on their ability to provide quality Patient Centred Care. Conclusion A weak relationship was observed between Transformational Leadership styles and the delivery of Patient Centred Care in two Allied Health Professional groups. Professional autonomy was identified as being more likely to facilitate delivery of person centred care. Organisational issues and intervening policy directives can impact on the delivery of Patient Centred Care, regardless of Leadership. Recommendations Further work exploring the link between Leadership and Patient Centred Care is required. The concept of professional autonomy should be fostered within Leadership programs to enhance delivery of Patient Centred Care. The impact of individual policies, such as moves towards more self-care, on quality criteria need to be more fully considered. Whilst such policies may make care more efficient, there may be negative consequences for other quality care criteria, such as Patient Centred Care.