The purpose of this dissertation is to describe the role and leadership of a learning executive [Chief Knowledge Officer, Chief Learning Officer] within a publicly traded corporation. My description depicts a unique learning executive within a leading multinational medical technology corporation. My discovery pursued three researchable questions (a) How does a learning executive contribute to their organization? (b) What contextual factors affect a learning executiveâs ability to exhibit leadership? (c) What type of leadership does a learning executive exhibit within their organization? My research focused on leadership as a key job competency for a learning executive. Additional outcomes from my research include a narrative description of contextual factors that influence leadership, a thorough portrayal of the job as viewed by research participants, and a how-to guide for Human Resource Development (HRD) and Human Resource Management (HRM) professionals. Reviewed literature incorporated theory from the following topical areas, leadership, upper echelon leadership, human and social capital, organizational learning, knowledge management, organizational context, and existing portrayals of the role. The dissertation relied on descriptive qualitative case study research technique to make sense of observed phenomena. I relied on in-depth participant interviews, extant organizational, and public data to further my observations. The findings of the dissertation suggest that the researched learning executive was able to influence the prosperity of this corporation as an outcome of his leadership. His leadership can be described as situation-ally dependent, behaviorally complex, and integrative. Two vetted leadership theories are utilized to portray his leadership, TRC and Transformational leadership theories. The results of the research contribute to existing literature in the areas of leadership theory, human and social capital theory, knowledge management, human resource development, qualitative business research, and literature on the role of learning executives.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NCSU/oai:NCSU:etd-01122009-200424 |
| Date | 23 February 2009 |
| Creators | Prafka, David William |
| Contributors | Dr. Timothy Hatcher |
| Publisher | NCSU |
| Source Sets | North Carolina State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-01122009-200424/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dis sertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to NC State University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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