<p> This mixed method study examined the relative impact of virtual and classroom-based mindfulness training on the psychological capital (PsyCap) of leaders. The control group (n = 9) and the experimental group (n = 15) participated in an 8-week program and completed pre and post-assessments PsyCap levels. A virtual program was delivered to the control group. A classroom based program was delivered to the experimental group. The experimental group exhibited significant improvement in all four psychological traits which make up the PsyCap construct: efficacy, hope, resilience and optimism. The control group exhibited significant improvement only in self-reported hope scores. The qualitative results from the experimental group were encouraging, emphasizing key learnings from the classroom experience which made an impact at the personal and professional levels. Continued research in this area is anticipated to understand more antecedents to increasing PsyCap levels, leadership effectiveness and benefits of mindfulness based interventions, and enable organizations to better support leaders with mindfulness resources in the workplace. Keywords: Leadership Effectiveness, Mindfulness Based Interventions, PsyCap, Wellness in the Workplace</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this research is to verify key attributes, benefits, and deficiencies of the co-leadership model. Does co-leadership encourage more thoughtful decisions, provide checks and balances, and better support in a complex environment? Explanatory sequential mixed method research was employed to determine qualitative and quantitative measurable impacts. A sample group of 14 co-leaders, formally and informally paired, from the profit and not-for-profit sector were surveyed. The survey consisted primarily of Likert-type Scale queries to test assumed attributes and benefits and open-ended questions used to identify unanticipated attributes, benefits, and deficiencies. In depth interviews were conducted with three individuals who have served under the co-leadership model to determine key factors that lead to successful implementation. Results were verified using inter-rater reliability and shared with participants in hopes that more organizations will recognize and endorse co-leadership as a legitimate model that better supports sustained leadership in an increasingly complex world.</p><p>

<p> This study aims to explain the process through which organizations adopt practices that are congruent with the need for sustainability of the world to support the existence of economic, social, and environmental systems for future generations. The study used grounded theory for data collection and analysis. Seven organizations that varied by industry, type, size, and number of years in operation participated in this study, representing industries from manufacturing, financial services, education, government, community organizations, faith-based organizations, and consumer products from Northwest Pennsylvania. The data analysis was qualitative in nature. Results from open, axial, and selective coding produced six main categories: sustainability definition/meaning, sustainability practices, sustainability mechanisms, sustainability barriers, sustainability factors, and sustainability learning to-date. Implications of study and future research are discussed.</p><p>

<p> Networks are the connective tissue tying together individuals and organizations working toward shared aims. Increasingly, communities are adopting network-based strategies to collaboratively contend with society&rsquo;s most vexing challenges and create lasting community change. This often occurs when addressing problems that are more complex and entangled than any one individual or organization can tackle on their own, such as education reform, affordable housing, or income inequality. </p><p> Individuals who assume leadership roles within networks&mdash;the researcher refers to these people as <i>network leaders</i>&mdash;must identify effective strategies to activate network members and unlock agency within stakeholders to empower them to contribute to a shared mission. This study specifically focused on research subjects who were professionally engaged as network leaders, and sought to uncover characteristics that network leaders exhibit and strategies that network leaders employ when performing their unique role. </p><p> The findings of this Constructivist Grounded Theory study center around the primary research question: How do network leaders catalyze collective action? The theory of network leadership proposed herein is derived from data collected from 27 network leaders. The model creates a framework for understanding the phenomenon of network leadership. The <i>Phases and Critical Tasks </i> of network leadership are moderated by the <i>Network Leadership Core Engagement Process</i> and the <i>Network Culture</i>, which is in turn influenced by the <i>Characteristics of the Network Leader Profile</i> and collaboratively developed <i>Network Agreements </i>. The theoretical model is grounded in the data and designed to be an accessible framework for understanding how network leaders catalyze collective action.</p><p>

<p> The field of Organizational Change has seen a proliferation of publications of all sorts over the past two decades. In view of the emerging breadth of the field, it is becoming increasingly difficult for practitioners and researchers alike to separate the wheat from the chaff. At the same time, research suggests the majority of Organizational Change efforts are not successful. It is therefore my intent to map the nomological structure of the field of Organizational Change, determine the most dominating concepts, and identify any patterns or trends.</p><p> For that purpose I have collected bibliometric data from 1948 to 2016 and conduct a network analysis based on co-occurrence of keywords of Organizational Change.</p><p> My network analysis suggests five major findings. First, the field of Organizational Change has reached a level of maturity, which reduces the likelihood of breakthrough innovations. Second, only five concepts are dominating the field of Organizational Change today, which I label the &ldquo;Top Five&rdquo;: Change management, leadership, organizational culture, organizational learning, and innovation. Third, we are barking up the wrong tree, which means there is an inherent inconsistency between the topicality of the field, i.e. the dominance of very few topics, and the low success rate of Organizational Change projects. Fourth, it is still unclear how to exactly define and reliably measure change. Finally fifth, there seems to be too much focus on the paradigm that change is always preferably over an equilibrium.</p><p> I therefore propose three suggestions for further research. First, look beyond the Top Five concepts and create more dissonant discussion within the field, including a critical review of established paradigms. Second, revisit the established definitions and measurements of change, which includes questioning the widespread assumption that the majority of change efforts are failing. Finally third, conduct a network analysis based on a network of social actors of the field of organizational change, i.e. authors of organizational change.</p><p>

Abstract not available.

This dissertation addresses key questions raised in Human Geography and Economic Geography concerning scale and the production of space, alternative economic geographies and co-operative economic development. It is the product of a five year ethnographic investigation with cooperative enterprises in Western Massachusetts and the broader Connecticut River Valley of Western New England. It explores neglected questions about how subjects are producing co-operative economic identities, enterprises and development strategies amid capitalist cultural dominance; and how structural, financial and governmental aspects of their enterprises participate in cultivating the desire and capacity to expand co-operative space. In line with poststructuralist feminist perspectives within and outside the disciplines of Human and Economic Geography, each chapter challenges ontological presumptions often made about the economy, scale, power and size and offers theoretical contributions based upon empirical research with co-operative enterprises. The three chapters of this dissertation explore the co-production of co-operative space and subjects; the “practices of scale” in the Valley Alliance of Worker Co-operatives; and cooperative development in a regional context. They challenge the presumptions that space and economy are (and must be) structured by capitalism; power is constituted by hierarchy, size and “scale”; and subjects and subjectivity are insignificant to the project of constructive development. Contrary to structuralist critiques of worker co-operatives based upon size, political conservatism and vulnerability, I argue that worker owned enterprises empower workers despite capitalist cultural dominance and relative size.

Identity has long been a prolific research interest for organizational scholars. Its popularity can be attributed to the development of post-bureaucratic organizations, where control is no longer achieved through external forms (i.e. rules and procedures), but rather, "softer" mechanisms, such as organizational culture and values. Examining identity therefore becomes crucial for understanding how employees internalize organizational goals to exhibit desired behaviors. While the predominant approach has been to analyze how organizations help shape, control, and regulate member identity, this project calls into question the assumption of organizational employment to explore the micro-processes of identity construction among a growing class of worker in the U.S.: the self-employed professional. This investigation is grounded in the world of personal coaching, an emerging profession organized largely by self-employment. Between 2007–2011, I immersed myself in the "field" of coaching, generating data via ethnographic methods—i.e. participant observation, in-depth interviews, informal interactions—and secondary archival sources. Applying a critical interpretive lens to conceptualize identity not as a "thing" but as an ongoing social accomplishment, the analysis reveals three main insights. First, intense identity working was provoked by tensions and anxiety arising from conflicts, contradictions, and challenges, as informants tried to construct a positive identity as a self-employed professional, while simultaneously performing vital (and mostly unrecognized) identity work for the wider coaching profession. Second, since "doing" identity and material conditions are mutually constitutive, identity efforts can be categorized as having a profitable, proficient, or pragmatic orientation; I contend that this typology is applicable to other self-employed professionals. Third, as a socially negotiated process, identity working is one which recruits many participants—both within and outside of the coaching community. Furthermore, geographically-dispersed members actively regulate and control each other's identities to maintain professional standards, via new organizing forms, like social media. This investigation contributes to knowledge about the nuances of identity working, and linkages between such micro-processes and the wider historical, socio-economic conditions. Extending beyond the coaching profession, the data produced serve as a contextual exemplar for exploring how individuals navigate the restructuring of labor and changing employment relations, which increasingly characterize the "new world of work."

<p> In an era of continuing economic uncertainty public sector organizations face unprecedented challenges in resourcing increasingly complex missions. To meet these challenges public sector managers must look for innovative ways to resource essential missions and define public sector outcomes. The use of collaboration to create public value represents one way to provide effective and efficient service in this environment. </p><p> This study informs the subject of <i>collaboration</i> as a mechanism for creating public value by considering these concepts as a practical matter against actual events or programs involving the California Highway Patrol, a large State police agency with multiple missions and complex inter-agency relationships. The results of the study demonstrate a correlation between the strength of the collaborative effort and the results obtained, as well as the effect of circumstances on results. In identifying a common formula for evaluating these concepts, other public programs can be evaluated based on these contexts.</p>

<p> With up to 50 percent of principals exiting prematurely in some localities, based on research-established norms, there is an immediate need to explore and understand principal attrition. While principals have an indirect role in student achievement, mediate by others such as teachers and other instructional leaders, the role is important. The principal is a potential leverage point that policy makers, local and otherwise, can utilize to have the greatest impact on teaching and learning and thus student outcomes, particularly with financial and human resource decisions. This grounded theory study used snowball sampling to identify and engage with ten former principals in the United States with semi-structured interviews. The aim was to explore the experiences and exit decision-making process of former educators who served five years or fewer as principal. There were four major findings in this research: (1) knowledge constructed during anticipatory socialization plays a key role in the later decision to exit the role; (2) educators rely heavily on personal interactions with peers and supervisors to create an idealized image of the role and expectations for day-to-day functioning as a principal; (3) there is no single cause for exit, rather educators experienced a series of compounding, unanticipated tasks they were unprepared for; and (4) exit from the principalship follows a linear path found in the pre-established role-exit process.</p>