<p> Over the course of the last 60 years, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) rights movement in the United States has become a beacon of light around the world where LGBT persons continue to face intolerance, discrimination, persecution, and death. As this qualitative phenomenological study was being written, LGBT Americans taking advantage of their legal rights to marry, still face employment discrimination, housing discrimination, adoption discrimination, immigration discrimination, and discrimination in public accommodations including a Presidential Executive Order, state, and local legislation forcing transgender people to use the restroom that reflects their assigned gender at birth. In fact, in almost three dozen states an LGBT person could exercise their legal right to get married and still legally get fired from their job, legally get kicked out of their apartment by their landlord, and get denied an adoption simply because they are LGBT without other legal protections. Each of these issues has an effect on employee recruitment, retention, and performance and an effect in terms of creating an organizational culture where all employees can thrive without fear of retaliation, retribution, or being unaffirmed in the workplace. Affirmative corporate activism in the form of company supported LGBT employee resource groups/business resource groups, LGBT serving volunteer efforts, philanthropy, and public policy advocacy efforts combined have helped to make corporate America a critical ally in the movement for LGBT legal equality. This qualitative phenomenological study examines how LGBT employee resource group/business group leaders and executive champions influence corporate activism on LGBT issues. The rise of elected conservative leadership in the United States and around the world challenges the espoused values of corporate leaders on LGBT issues. This conservative revolution challenging the gains of the LGBT movement also creates an opportunity for corporate America to develop standards, practices, and policies. Although LGBT people outside of corporate America are likely to remain far more vulnerable to an increasingly more hostile government, corporate America has a unique opportunity to develop best practices and strategies to keep employees safe, make their customers feel welcome, while testing and learning scalable corporate social responsibility solutions. </p><p>

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<p> Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) lag behind their for-profit and public-sector peers in leveraging IT to satisfy a growing and diverse set of stakeholder expectations. NPO technical debt is attributed to a lack of in-house expertise and financial resources. Despite increasing isomorphic pressures, NPOs have not integrated IT into their organizational strategic planning processes. However, how NPO IT leaders advocate for mission-enhancing IT projects remains under-represented in the literature. This phenomenological study explores the life experiences of those NPO IT leaders as they propose and execute projects within a larger portfolio of competing demands. NPO IT leaders were interviewed from 21 international development and relief service organizations. A total of 56 project experiences were extracted to identify dominant stakeholder relationships, isomorphic requirements, and resource demands. Alternating rounds of interview transcript coding and epoch&eacute; memos resulted in five representative project vignettes and two leading practice stories. There were four major findings. NPO IT leadership roles are rarely filled by dedicated IT professionals; NPO IT leaders are usually dual-hatted executives. As a result, IT is not integrated into organizational strategic planning processes; NPO IT leaders are often placed in passive and reactionary positions as opposed to ones of strong advocacy. They remain dependent on financial and expertise resources, which confirms that resource dependency theory influences IT strategy. The prominence of end-user requirements in the project experiences marks a shift from previous literature; normative expectations were twice as prevalent as coercive control of funding or legitimacy when driving strategic investments. Further research in NPO IT leadership characteristics (e.g., style, dual-hatted responsibilities, and sex) and the elusiveness of measuring mission-enhancing impact of IT projects should be conducted.</p><p>

<p> Nationally, over 84 million Americans live in areas that do not have access to a sufficient number of primary care providers, with the majority being in low socioeconomic urban areas. Many physicians who are recruited or choose to practice in these areas leave after several years, while others remain. Limited empirical research has addressed the experiences of the physicians who choose to stay. </p><p> Choosing to maintain a career practice in these communities indicates a commitment. For this study, commitment is defined as the psychological force that binds an individual to a target or course of action of relevance to that target. There is limited understanding of physicians&rsquo; experiences that lead to and sustain their commitment to practice in underserved communities. </p><p> This hermeneutic phenomenological study explored the experience of physician commitment to practice long-term in an urban medically underserved community. It explored how this process developed in these physicians, as well as the influences that strengthened and/or weakened commitment. In-depth interviews of eleven primary care physicians who practice in underserved cities for seven years or greater were analyzed. </p><p> Four primary findings emerged from this study: </p><p> 1. The primary commitment of these physicians was to underserved communities in general and their specific community. The secondary commitment was to their practice clinic organization. </p><p> 2. The essence of the experience of physician commitment for practice in urban medically underserved communities involved: embracing satisfying activities; actualizing their individual values; enacting their identity; and facing/resolving challenges. </p><p> 3. Commitment developed over time through the merging of two prerequisite commitments: the commitment to be a physician and the commitment to the underserved. Family, religious upbringing, mentors, and the nontraditional educational route to and/or through medical school contribute to development of the commitment to practice. </p><p> 4. Commitment is sustained through embracing satisfying activities, actualizing values, enacting identity, and facing challenges. There is an intersection in all parts of the commitment experience that is reinforcing. </p><p> This study shows the complexity of the commitment of physicians practicing in underserved communities, broadens the view of commitment as it is applied to organizations, and has implications for policies for health professional retention.</p><p>

<p> As authenticity and trust continue to be recognized as key pillars of effective leadership in today&rsquo;s world (Avolio et al., 2004; Mayer et al., 1995; Peus et al., 2012), organizations need leaders who are willing to be vulnerable with those they lead. The purpose of current study was to explore the relationship between courage, other-centered calling, vulnerability, and leadership differentiation. The sample for the current study included 296 self-identified leaders who report being responsible for the work and development of others. Leaders were primarily Caucasian (83.7%), male (55.9%), and from a church/ministry setting (41.2%). The study occurred over a year span within an online leadership development tool. Moderated mediation in Hayes (2013) PROCESS Macro was used to test the hypotheses. Courage was positively related to vulnerability (B = .226, <i>p</i> = .000), and the relationship between courage and vulnerability was significantly moderated by other-centered calling (B = .112, <i>p</i> = .032). Additionally, the relationship between vulnerability and leadership differentiation was examined and found to be nonsignificant (B = -.004, <i>p</i> = .901). Findings from this study indicate that courage and other-centered calling are key factors in allowing leaders to choose vulnerability with those they lead.</p><p>

<p> Innovation is researched significantly throughout academic literature, ranging from leadership to organizational culture, with the aim of understanding how to enable greater creativity. This study attempted to address the knowledge gap on the common strategies of facilitating innovation in a group setting by evaluating this condition through four specific areas: environment, process, team dynamics, and facilitator behavior. This study built upon those four areas aiming to understand the process a facilitator puts a group of individuals through to stimulate innovation. Applying a qualitative phenomenological study, the researcher interviewed 15 facilitators of innovative thinking to understand the common strategies applied by practitioners in the field. Upon completion of the interviews, the best practices discovered in academic literature were compared against practitioner best practices, identifying the strategies that intersected both environments. Key elements that elicited greater innovation in a group setting were as follows: (a) leadership supporting experimentation cultures where taking risks is encouraged, (b) stretching the mind to enable ambiguous thought, (c) achieving a cognitively diverse team, and (d) striving to keep everyone engaged from the beginning to the end.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to look at the role of Conscious Evolution as a catalyst for community building. The work of the researcher was to take an in depth look at Conscious Evolution in relation to the success and growth of a service oriented nonprofit organization that works in the area of integrated health care. The scientific and theological perspectives of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, 20^th Century Jesuit priest and paleontologist, provided the theoretical framework that guided the study. His understanding of Conscious Evolution, simply described, is the emergence of humans&rsquo; ability to reflect on existence through means of discernment.</p><p> Teilhard&rsquo;s framework fit with the methodological approach of hermeneutic phenomenology that was used to inform this study. The phenomenon of Conscious Evolution was examined with ten participants from a community center that works with integrative health and wellness. Each participant took part in three extensive interviews that inquired about experiences prior to involvement with the organization, since they became involved, and what their involvement means for them. Four themes arose (community, spirituality, service, and belonging) that affirmed the research questions and promote an opportunity for further study of Conscious Evolution as catalyst for community building.</p><p>

<p> Organizational success and outcomes rely on good teamwork. The study question asked if teams can be more successful with a greater number of socially skilled team members? Evolving research indicates composing teams based on intrinsic social skills, such as personality, values, and psychological roles may generate greater team outcomes than teams based solely on vocational roles, competencies, and cognitive ability. When teams are first formed, people connect instinctively and warm to other team members using their social skills. Only later do people appraise others for competencies and skills. This study examined whether the number of strong emotive connectors (SEC) can increase team outcomes. The study hypothesis tested whether teams with a greater number of high SECs, a socioemotional role construct, would increase their team task-completion rates (TTCR). Regression analysis showed the low and high SEC with an adjusted <i> R</i>² = .52 correlation were both predictive of the TTCR. Additional analysis using 2 one-way ANOVAs for high and low SECs showed between-team (groups) and within teams (groups) results were statistically significant at the <i>p</i> = .00 level. The study found teams having 2 of 5 high SECs made a difference in team performance. Additional high SECs had no impact on team performance. An interesting study result found 2 of 5 low SECs had an adverse impact on team performance. Additional low SECs did not harm team performance. Ensuring at least 2 of 5 high SECs on teams can lessen gaps, diminish conflicts, and elevate team outcomes.</p><p>

<p> The study uses a qualitative comparative case study design to study the adoption, implementation and integration of restorative justice in education (RJE) in public high schools as a remedy to the growing school-to-prison pipeline. Such zero-tolerance, exclusionary policies that dominate schools today adopt punitive tactics towards handling matters of conflict and justice within schools. The retributive approach is gaining harsh criticism as it disproportionately impacts minority youth and criminalizes student behavior. RJE along with other Social Emotional Learning (SEL) approaches is gaining traction within schools as a means of humanizing school environments and emphasizing a student centered perspective. Drawing on human service organizational theoretical frameworks, namely institutional entrepreneurship, innovation implementation, ambiguity-conflict model of policy implementation and diffusion of innovation, this study seeks to expand knowledge on RJE by providing a more critical examination of whether RJE has moved from a more marginal status towards becoming mainstream or standardized practices at schools. The study has a particular focus on the partnerships with community-based organizations (CBOs) many high schools form in order to carry out this work. </p><p> The study adopts a two-phased purposively sampled approach conducted over a period of a year. The primary mode of data collection comprised of conducting face-to-face semi-structured interviews with program managers of CBOs (n=10), central district personnel (n=3), which constitutes the first phase, and multiple school personnel across four high schools (n=60), which constitutes the second phase. Using the AtlasTi software, verbatim transcripts of audio-recorded interviews were analyzed using an inductive and deductive coding scheme. Additional sources such as school discipline data, observations, contract documents and other media sources were examined for data triangulation purposes.</p><p> The findings highlight the critical role played by CBOs to bring about RJE adoption at both the policy level as well as the local schools. However post RJE reform at the policy level, the role and the agency of the CBOs have diminished as evidenced in my findings. Despite the RJE seed being planted by CBOs at schools, the principals make the ultimate adoption decisions about catalyzing RJE reform within schools. Successful implementation of RJE within schools includes three main factors: leadership, effective communication on RJE programming and invigorating a positive school culture. Schools which diffuse and institutionalize RJE as a part of SEL compared to schools that integrate RJE as a part of discipline are more likely to be contributing to the care ethos and nurturing healthy school cultures. However, such a contribution has not redefined the notion of policing and justice within schools, as the study finds traces of the retributive approach still operational within these schools.</p><p> Using the various organizational theoretical frameworks I argue that there are five critical aspects that have come in the way of RJE reform dole out. Firstly, there is a discrepancy in RJE policy vis a vis practice because the CPS Central District Office is using coercive tactics and mandating the use of RJE within schools, which has resulted in resistance to RJE. Secondly, precarity of school-CBO partnerships are playing out largely because of resource dependency issues of CBOs who have lost their ability to effect change beyond adoption. Thirdly, findings highlight the constant state of urban flux in operation at these schools such as drastic leadership changes, staff attrition, neighborhood gentrification amongst others, which has made embedding RJE into the fabric of schools very challenging. Principals have emerged as being very crucial to the RJE change process, since they are contending with both policy level actors as well as CBOs to continue to inspire their own personnel to implement and institutionalize RJE reform. Finally, especially at the local school level personnel appear to be more misinformed about the key components of RJE, thus training efforts need to be reoriented with fidelity and quality control in mind. Thereby, RJE has definitely moved away from the margins but it is still not the mainstream practice at schools. RJE has failed to upkeep its promise and potential especially towards marginalized, communities of color.</p><p> Greater district engagement, continued CBO agency as well as sustained programmatic endeavors spearheaded by principals at the local school level are important for RJE to pose as a true alternative to punitive sanctions rather than being coopted by the retributive approach. Therefore, my study pushes the field of human service delivery, in that instead of focusing on the outcomes of RJE, per se, it looks at the process of and challenges in implementing this innovation, providing insight into improving contracting relations between partners and questions the sustainability of reform efforts within urban environments.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of the current research is to contribute to the VE community&rsquo;s understanding of how the dynamics of temporary teams may influence participant engagement, by answering the question, &ldquo;what factors impact individual team member engagement on a VE study team?&rdquo; In today&rsquo;s business environment, the traditional permanent work team is no longer a reality for many employees (Jacobssen &amp; Hallgren, 2016). Even those who do maintain membership in a permanent team are often tasked with serving on additional committees, task forces and decision-making teams to aid their organization in developing new products or navigating change. Value Engineering (VE) study teams present a unique scenario in which small, in-person teams of technical subject matter experts must solve complex problems in just a few days, having had no previous interaction. These teams can be classified as &ldquo;temporary.&rdquo; To understand what factors contribute to a participant&rsquo;s engagement during a VE study, ten, semi-structured interviews were conducted with VE study team members. Themes from the interview data aligned with the literature&rsquo;s framing of intellectual, social and affective engagement (Soane et al., 2012). Technical expertise, direct engagement by the facilitator, clear roles, prioritization of teambuilding, and viability of the project, were among the factors cited as impacting team member engagement. Recommendations were made related to prioritizing pre-study activities, creating a VE team member cadre for continued team member development, and setting the tone for engagement. These findings and recommendations may be applied to temporary team settings other than VE teams as well, in terms of the importance of context setting, early team member interaction, psychological membership and psychological safety for team success.</p><p>