published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / Recruiting is the most challenging peacetime assignment for any United States Marine. It involves many internal and external factors that are generally beyond the control of recruiting personnel. In particular, Recruiting Station (RS) Commanding Officers are subject to intense pressure to make their assigned recruiting goals or be relieved from duty. It is thus critical for the Marine Corps Recruiting Command (MCRC) to select only the best-qualified officers to serve as recruiting commanders. This thesis has three main objectives: (1) analyze the current screening and selection process used by MCRC since fiscal 1996; (2) evaluate whether this process is more effective than the previous method; and (3) determine if the process can be improved. To accomplish these goals, the study reviews MCRC's responsibilities, policies, procedures, and rationale in determining the required characteristics of a successful RS Commanding Officer. The methodology relies on a literature review, personal interviews with individuals from all recruiting command levels, and descriptive data on RS Commanding Officers from fiscal 1990 through fiscal 2003. The results suggest that the current screening and selection process is effective and an improvement over the previous system. Recruiting commanders are more experienced, more diverse, and more suited to the task, based on several indicators. Recommendations are offered to change common perceptions of the current process as a "selection board." / Captain, United States Marine Corps

The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify and compare differences in leadership behaviors of senior student affairs officers (SSAOs) based on their generational cohort (Baby Boomer, Generation X, Millennial). The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was used to measure nine leadership behaviors and three leadership outcomes. Surveys were administered electronically to 3,361 individuals identified as a chief student affairs officer or director of student affairs in the Higher Education Online Directory (2014). The 449 respondents included 246 Baby Boomers, 192 Generation Xers, and 11 Millennials. Due to an uneven sample size, the Millennial group was removed from the data analysis. The total respondents consisted of 215 male and 219 female SSAOs with 260 employed at four-year private institutions and 170 employed at four-year public institutions. A MANOVA was utilized to determine whether or not statistical differences existed between the nine dependent variables (leadership behaviors) and independent group variables (generational group). The findings showed that whereas Generation X SSAOs exhibited more transactional leadership behaviors, Baby Boomer SSAOs were more transformational. The results of this study have implications for the field of student affairs in that research and practice support the need for more transformational leaders in senior administrative positions in higher education. If Generation X SSAOs who represent the next generation of administrators are more transactional in their leadership, college presidents and professional associations may need to develop a new, more transformational generation of SSAOs to replace Baby Boomers as they retire.

The purpose of this dissertation is to compare features of eleven Canadian provincial / territorial Child and Youth Advocates (CYAs) and identify factors that contribute to their success at influencing changes to public policies, practices and laws to improve services and programs for children and youth. This exploratory study compares and provides explanations regarding the CYAs’ evolution, institutional designs, legislated mandates, implementation, expectations and accountability structures. This study is based on reviews of publicly available documents and interviews with CYA key contacts, members of their legislative oversight committees and informed experts. The CYAs are statutory officers who assist their legislatures in protecting children’s rights and holding governments to account. They also provide a valuable source of information and advice for decision-makers and government agencies. Each CYA is uniquely designed to serve the needs and interests of their jurisdictions. They have overlapping functions and use some common approaches to systemic advocacy aimed at laying the groundwork for change. This study identifies several factors that contribute to the CYAs’ success at influencing systemic change. Comprehensive legislation and adequate resources enable some CYAs to undertake a full range of systemic advocacy functions. Raising awareness helps to build a common understanding of children’s rights and promotes a collective will for change to better serve their needs and interests. Effective use of the media is a powerful tool for raising awareness about the CYAs’ systemic concerns and recommended changes and for putting pressure on governments to take action. Educating and providing guidance to the media aids in controlling messages that are reported. Elevating the views and interests of young people who have direct experience with government systems is an effective strategy used by some CYAs to influence systemic change and increase the participation of young people in public decision-making. Building positive relationships with government agencies promotes greater cooperation with CYAs’ advice. The use of strategic plans for systemic advocacy may aid the CYAs to clarify their goals, objectives and performance measures and to monitor changes over time. / Graduate / Public Administration / thunter@uvic.ca

CEO competence and development is a continuing concern in the NHS. As a key feature of any CEO leadership role is responsibility for organisationally critical decisions, and there is an increasing recognition of the role context plays in effective leadership behaviour. This study examines the role of contextual intelligence in relation to PCT CEO decision making behaviour. To do this, the research addresses four questions: a) what does the literature say about CEO contextual intelligence? b) what factors do PCT CEOs say they take into account in different decision making contexts? c) what contextual factors do they actually take into account? and d) what impact do the contextual factors have on their decision making behaviour. A systematic literature review resulted in a model of CEO contextual intelligence for CEO decision making. Semi-structured interviews with 24 PCT CEOs in a NHS region about factors influencing their decisions on generic strategies, national policies, regional strategies and local plans revealed a hierarchy among contextual factors applying to different decision strata. Semi-structured interviews and analysis of CEO diaries two months later of the same focal decisions show the real critical factors to be:- national policies themselves, the Strategic Health Authority and the decision making process, for regional strategies; and Top Management Team and structure for local plans. Altogether, the research reveals that the PCT CEO’s decision making context is rationally bounded; the relevant contextual factors differed significantly from the literature derived model; the actual factors in practice differed from what were espoused; choice of factors vary depending on decision trigger strata which links to degrees of CEO autonomy; and macro level factors which were indicated as significant from the systematic review were in fact ignored in practice. A PCT CEO model of contextual intelligence is developed together with a two dimensional model of underlying structures guiding PCT CEO decision making behaviour. The findings have implications for governance structures in the NHS, CEO decision making and senior leader development in ii the NHS in the context of the 2012 Health and Social Care Act. Areas for further research in public sector, NHS and contextual intelligence are also identified.

This study is designed to investigate the relationship between the age and tenure of the chief executive officer of a corporation and his participation in innovation. The chief executive is assumed to be the key participant in the innovation process. Two questions form the basis of the study, Firsts, are younger chief executives more innovative than older executives? And second, does the tenure of chief executives affect performance in innovation?

The problem with which this study is concerned is that of the income concepts used by bank loan officers in dealing with financial information, as compared to the income concepts used by the accounting profession. A series of twenty different financial situations were designed which required the loan officer to make a decision as to an income concept before he could compute the answer to the questions in income, profit, gain, and change in wealth which were asked for in each situation. The loan officers' answers to each situation were then compared with the accountants' answers, using generally accepted accounting principles. In addition, comparisons were made between the income concepts used by the different classes of loan officers and sixteen environmental factors to determine what influence, if any, these factors might have on the answer given by the bank loan officers. The two purposes of the study were to show that bank loan officers do not calculate net income by the same methods as accountants, and to determine if there are environmental factors which would influence the method the loan officer used to compute his answers.

The problem of this study was to survey the perceived effectiveness of a human relations training program for a select group of Public Safety Officers at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. In relation to this select group of Public Safety Officers, the purposes of the study were as follows: (1) to describe the selection procedures, (2) to provide a general overview of the procedures involved in a thirteen-week police training program, (3) to describe the human relations training aspects of the thirteen-week police training program, (4) to describe the public safety officer trainees in terms of their performance on various criteria measurements, (5) to assess and describe the personality characteristics of the Public Safety Officer trainees, and (6) to determine the Public Safety Officers' perceptions of, and reactions to, the human relations training aspects of the thirteen-week police training program.