Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Effective leadership behaviours'

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the principal's leadership behaviours of private secondary schools in Hong Kong with respect to the effect of a principal's leadership behaviours on students' enrollment as perceived by teachers and senior teachers. The private secondary schools principals, more than anyone else, have the capacity to create conditions for the teachers, students and parents that influence student enrollment. The literature review has shown evidence on the importance of leadership behaviours of principals in general but there is limited evidence on how teachers perceive the effects of leadership. Therefore, a study on teachers' perceptions of the impact of leadership behaviours on student enrollment was carried out as opposed to a study of the direct impact of leadership on enrollment. The effective leadership behaviours of private secondary school principals were studied from different perspectives of teaching staffs such as (a) principals; (b) senior teachers; and (c) teachers in Hong Kong. Three research questions were answered with data collected using a survey instrument, Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) (Kouzes & Posner, 2003), and interview instrument, Leader Effectiveness Index (LEI) (Moss et al., 1994). The leadership practices or behaviours rated or ranked high from both the frequency count (Gall et al., 1996) derived from the interview transcript using the Leader Effectiveness Index (Moss et al., 1994) and the questionnaire, Leadership Practices Inventory (Kouzes and Posner, 2003). This study was a crosscase analysis (Creswell, 1998) in a multiple-case study (Yin, 1993), the results were summed up from the number of frequency-count recording. The different leadership ii behaviours of the principals are perceived by the teachers and senior teachers to affect the students' enrollment. Researcher bias is clarified by providing the Researcher's Background (Creswell, 1988; Stake, 1995). Three Leadership practices: (a) Modelling the Way, (b) Encouraging the Heart, and (c) Inspiring the Shared Vision (Kouzes & Posner, 2003) were found to be the principal's leadership behaviours to affect the students' enrollment as perceived by the senior teachers and teachers. Results indicated Modelling the Way may be a key factor or practice to influence the students' enrollment. After analyzing the data, it is shown that the teachers and senior teachers perceived that the key practices of Encouraging the Heart and Inspiring a Shared Vision may also influence the students' enrollment. These findings are also supported by Peyer's (1995) and Marley's (2003) studies conducted on high school students entering the college or university, where modelling the way, encouraging the heart and inspiring the shared vision (with the exception of the leadership practice of "enabling others to act") were found to be explicit behaviours practised by principals. This study has implications for the preparation and in-service training of the principals or administrators who consider the effect of principal's leadership behaviours on students' enrollment. iii

The aim of this research is to identify the effective leadership behaviours in managing people issues of a British-Chinese cross border acquisition case study in China. There are three areas involved in this study: people issues in mergers and acquisitions (M&As), cross culture differences and cross culture leadership. The knowledge gap identified from past research is that there appears to be no in-depth empirical study to date on an integrated model of the three areas noted above to have a holistic understanding of their influence on the success or failure of M&As, especially in the context of cross border M&As in China. This is the focus of this research. The objectives of this research are to identify how leaders have managed cross culture issues, communications, employees’ resistance, stress and trust in a Western-Chinese cross border acquisition as well as the perceived effectiveness of these leadership behaviours both from the perspectives of Chinese employees and the western managers. The conceptual framework of this research adopted and built on the theoretical model of Project GLOBE. Findings from this study suggest a ‘multiplier’ effect with impact across all the people issues in this cross border acquisition, which means that when one people issue is not managed well by the leadership team, other people issues are triggered. The outcome of this acquisition was influenced by the integrated and holistic effect of all the people issues. In this study, management of people issues in a cross-culture environment was fundamental. There are seven culture dimensions proposed by this study to measure the organisational culture differences pre- and post-acquisition as influenced by both Chinese and British cultures. Specific cultural behaviours related to the proposed seven culture dimensions were also identified. Organisation culture clash was found with the post-acquisition organisation culture which influenced the leadership behaviours in managing the people issues and the perceived effectiveness of the leadership behaviours. This study contributes to existing knowledge by adding the integrated dimension of effective leadership behaviours in managing people issues in a cross culture context of M&As in China as well as extending the theoretical model of Project GLOBE. The practical learning from this study could help leaders in future M&As to take effective actions in managing people issues to improve the success rate of cross border M&As in China which can potentially contribute to the economic development of China and other developing countries.
Doctor of Philosophy

ABSTRACT As Gentilucci and Muto (2007) proposed, Principals need to find strategies and tactics to have direct, positive effects on Students. Little research has been done which takes the key stakeholder perspective, the Student, into account. Students’ perspectives may be critical as they are the focus educational services delivered, and may have insights into how they might best be served. The primary focus of this exploratory research was to examine Students’ perspectives on effective Principal leadership behavior. This subjectivist research paradigm, or “insider perspective” (Gentilucci, 2004; Gentilucci & Muto, 2007) was important in determining the effectiveness of Principal leadership. The secondary purpose of the study was to examine perceptions from Educators’ and Students’ perspectives; and, thirdly, to determine the congruence between these perspectives. This mixed-methods research work involved completion of the Vanderbilt Assessment of Educational Leadership (VAL-ED), by 31 Educators at four schools to collect Educators’ ratings of their Principal’s effective Principal leadership behaviors. Twenty Grade 5 Students participated in one-on-one interviews, to provide Students’ perspectives, which were analyzed through a phenomenological approach. Key findings which emerged: uncovering Educators’ and Students’ perspectives of the effective leadership behavior of the participating principals; the lack of congruence between Educators’ and Students’ perspectives; and four themes revealed through an analysis of Students’ interview data were found in contemporary models of effective Principal leadership behaviors. Student voices identified leadership behaviors which improve student achievement.

This study explores the importance of effective leadership on the success of mergers and acquisitions for the organization and employees of merged companies. More precisely, this study addresses how the nature and influence of leadership and leadership styles impact the integration of merging companies and their employees during the post-merger integration process. Qualitative data from 10 interviews was used to provide a deeper examination of the study participants about their beliefs, responses, opinions, and points of view. This study supports much of the current research in that leadership style does have an effect on both merger and employee satisfaction. This study found that leadership styles should be a key component for organizations to review and take under serious consideration, when preparing and planning for a merger.

Students in many at-risk schools are not achieving at the same academic levels as their counterparts in middle-class schools. Many live in poverty, lack background experiences that would help them be successful, have parents who have not completed high school and may not speak English as their first language. The challenge for educators is how to ensure these students are successful despite these obstacles. This is even more critical today due to the rigid standards set by both state and federal legislation with the advent of the Standard of Learning tests in Virginia and the federal No Child Left Behind legislation. Students not meeting these standards will not be eligible to graduate from high school, a prerequisite for social and economic success in our society. A review of the literature indicates that the behaviors and practices of the principal influence and contribute to the success of students and leads to the thesis of this study: Effective leadership contributes to school success. Two key questions are asked: "What are the leadership behaviors and practices of principals in highly successful school with high concentrations of at-risk students?" and "How do principals in these schools influence the learning outcomes to close the achievement gap?" This study answers these questions by examining the behaviors and practices of principals in successful at-risk schools with a study of one successful at-risk school supported by a survey of the teachers in that school and two other successful at-risk schools. The findings led to some of the following conclusions: the vision of the principal is paramount for school success; the culture of the school must be as nurturing to teachers as the students; the teaching of the curriculum is foremost; the principal protects time for teaching and provides programs to address individual students' differences; the culture must embrace families as it does teachers and students; the principal is sometimes a "benign dictator" who makes decisions without the consideration of the teachers, and the primary job of the principal is instructional leader. Some of the recommendations propose that principals in at-risk schools know and articulate a vision for their schools success; create a warm and nurturing environment for all stakeholders; know the curriculum and recognize effective classroom instruction; provide programs that address individual students' needs and time on task for learning; understand when they must be the "benign dictator" instead of a collaborative leader; and use effective managerial skills in order to perform the primary job of principal: instructional leader.
Ph. D.

The problem addressed in the study was the ineffectiveness of professional learning community (PLC) implementation at some secondary campuses in an urban school district despite extensive professional development (PD) provided for principals. The purpose was to investigate perceptions of principals and teachers regarding principal leadership behaviors that contributed to implementing and leading effective PLCs. Researchers have established that effectively managed PLCs positively affect student achievement. The guiding research questions examined the leadership styles, behaviors, and characteristics of principals leading effective PLCs. The conceptual framework was Hord's 5 characteristics of an effective PLC. Using an exploratory case study design, perceptions of 9 teachers and 2 principals were investigated through open-ended surveys and interviews, respectively. Participant inclusion criteria were membership in and presence during the implementation of 2 secondary PLCs which were selected based on evidence of Hord's 5 characteristics. Emergent coding was used to analyze the data and find themes relevant to leading effective PLCs, including participating in and developing PLC expectations and structures, effective 2-way communication with teachers, and teacher empowerment. All themes emerging from the results were components of a transformational leadership style found to be effective in leading PLCs. The resulting project was a PD program for principals to develop implementation plans and intentional behaviors for themselves that will enable them to implement and sustain effective PLCs. This study has the potential to promote positive social change by providing structures for principals to promote teacher growth through PLCs that enhance the quality of education for students which minimizes the effects of cultural and circumstantial differences.

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify strategies related to the successful implementation of restorative justice practices and to uncover the extent to which the strategies decreased off-campus suspension rates and office discipline referrals in five public schools in the San Bernardino City Unified School District.

Methodology: In this qualitative case study, 10 research participants who were involved in the first three years of implementation of restorative justice practices at their school sites were interviewed. Face-to-face interviews utilizing open-ended questions were used to answer the research questions.

Findings: The data identified four major findings related to the implementation of restorative justice practices: (1) 100% of research participants indicated that having restorative conversations with students was a vital strategy that greatly contributed to lowering office discipline referrals and off-campus suspensions; (2) 90% of research participants stated that having district-provided professional development and support was necessary for effective implementation of restorative practices; (3) when comparing the suspension data for the five schools and the district, 80% of schools had significant decreases in the total number of suspensions; and (4) 80% of research participants indicated that adequate time to prepare for and implement restorative justice practices was a significant factor to consider when looking at implementing restorative practices.

Conclusions: Implementation of restorative justice practices can take many different forms. The data presented in this research study agreed with information found in the literature regarding implementation of restorative practices. Having an established restorative justice team, providing training on restorative practices, and assigning someone to support implementation were key components of effective implementation.

Recommendations: While the study brought to the surface several findings consistent with current literature, other areas in need of further research were identified. First, this study could be replicated on high school campuses to see the impact restorative practices may have on lowering suspension rates. Second, research could be conducted on district-level restorative practices like Youth Court. Third, principals’ perceptions regarding the effectiveness of restorative practices could be studied.

Cada vegada més professionals s’inscriuen a programes de formació executiva, especialment a aquells orientats al desenvolupament directiu, amb l’objectiu d’embarcar en una transició personal o professional. En conseqüència, quan es demana als participants d’aquests programes establir objectius de desenvolupament i definir els corresponents plans d’acció, els participants inclouen no només el desenvolupament de competències de lideratge sinó que freqüentment també inclouen aspiracions personals i objectius de carrera a més llarg termini. El propòsit d’aquesta recerca és descobrir com el procés de fixació d’objectius en programes de desenvolupament directiu pot ser més eficaç i ajudar als participants a avançar cap als objectius establerts. Per contestar aquesta pregunta de recerca, primer hem desenvolupat una escala que mesura el progrés cap als objectius. Aquesta mesura ha estat després utilitzada en un estudi exploratori com a variable de criteri per tal de desenvolupar un codi que avalua la qualitat dels objectius i plans d’acció. Els resultats d’aquest estudi mostren que la fixació d’objectius és més eficaç quan (1) parteix d’una visió específica, (2) articula una narrativa d’objectius en forma de full de ruta, (3) inclou intencions de buscar informació i (4) intencions d’actuar. Finalment, aquests resultats han estat validats mitjançant una intervenció en el programa MBA executiu de ESADE. Més enllà de la contribució teòrica a la literatura sobre la fixació d’objectius, aquesta recerca té implicacions pràctiques immediates ja que els programes de desenvolupament directiu la poden utilitzar com a guia per augmentar l’eficàcia del procés de fixació d’objectius, i conseqüentment per ajudar els seus participants a avançar en l’assoliment de les seves aspiracions professionals i personals.
Cada vez más profesionales se inscriben en programas de formación ejecutiva, especialmente en aquellos orientados al desarrollo directivo, con el objetivo de embarcar en una transición personal o profesional. En consecuencia, cuando se pide a los participantes de estos programas establecer objetivos de desarrollo y definir los correspondientes planes de acción, los participantes incluyen no solo el desarrollo de competencias de liderazgo, sino que frecuentemente también incluyen aspiraciones personales y objetivos de carrera a más largo plazo. El propósito de esta investigación es descubrir cómo el proceso de fijación de objetivos en programas de desarrollo directivo puede ser más eficaz y ayudar a los participantes a avanzar hacia los objetivos establecidos. Para contestar a esta pregunta de investigación, primero desarrollamos una escala que mide el progreso hacia los objetivos. Esta medida fue después utilizada en un estudio exploratorio como variable de criterio para desarrollar un código que evalúa la calidad de los objetivos y planes de acción. Los resultados muestran que la fijación de objetivos es más eficaz cuando (1) parte de una visión específica, (2) articula una narrativa de objetivos en forma de hoja de ruta, (3) incluye intenciones de buscar información y (4) intenciones de actuar. Finalmente, estos resultados son validados mediante una intervención en el programa MBA ejecutivo de ESADE. Más allá de la contribución teórica a la literatura sobre la fijación de objetivos, esta investigación tiene implicaciones prácticas inmediatas ya que los programas de desarrollo directivo la pueden utilizar como guía para aumentar la eficacia del proceso de fijación de objetivos, y consecuentemente para ayudar a sus participantes a avanzar en la consecución de sus aspiraciones profesionales y personales.
Many professionals increasingly join executive education programs, especially those that focus on leadership development, to embark on a personal or professional transition. Consequently, when participants are asked to set development goals and an action plan, these often comprise not only the improvement of leadership competencies but also longer-term personal aspirations and career goals. Not all participants, however, attain the goals to the same degree. The purpose of this research was to discover how the goal-setting process in leadership development programs can be more effective in helping participants engage in goal pursuit. To answer this research question, we first developed a scale that measures goal progress. This scale was then used in an exploratory study as the criterion variable for developing a code that assesses goal-setting quality. Results showed that goal-setting is most effective when (1) it is leveraged on a specific vision, (2) it articulates a meaningful goal narrative, (3) it includes intentions to seek information and (4) intentions to act. Finally, these results were validated by means of an intervention in the executive MBA program of ESADE. Besides the theoretical contribution to the literature of goal setting and intentional change, this research has immediate implications for practice as it guides leadership development programs in making their goal-setting process more effective, and in ultimately helping their participants to engage in the pursuit of their career and life aspirations.

Based upon the principles of equality, respect, and dignity for an organization and its community, Robert K. Greenleaf (1977) dedicated his life to conceptualizing and defining the humanistic philosophy of "servant leadership." With service and leadership sometimes seen as opposites, servant leaders are often misunderstood and perhaps underestimated. The purpose of this study was to create a well-defined comprehensive portrait of a servant leader by identifying key descriptors of the characteristics and behaviors of servant leaders and the work environments where they are effective. The research procedure consisted of a three-round Delphi to gain consensus on responses to four key research questions. From your experience and observation, what are the key words or phrases that describe (1) the characteristics that distinguish servant leaders, (2) the behaviors that distinguish servant leaders, (3) the work environments in which servant leaders are effective, and (4) the work environments in which servant leaders are ineffective? The following groups were represented on the panel of experts: (a) appointed and elected officials, (b) authors, (c) business leaders, (d) clergy, (e) educators, (f) leaders of associations, and (g) leaders of volunteer organizations. The first round Delphi instrument was open-ended. The second round gained opinion by adding a Likert scale to the results of the first round. The third round Delphi instrument was used to gather opinions from each panel member using a revised Likert scale instrument. In the third round each panelist received the statistical information calculated from the second round. The characteristics, behaviors, and effective work environments, as agreed upon consensually by the panel of experts in the third round, were reported. Twenty-eight panelists participated in each of the three rounds of the Delphi study. The characteristics, behaviors, and effective work environments of servant leaders, as determined by the panel of experts, are presented and discussed. A Servant Leadership Inventory was created from the data. The self-rating inventory is offered as an instrument to create discussion and increase awareness about leadership based on service to others.
Ed. D.

Aujourd'hui, la notion de gestion a été remplacée par celle de leadership. Le leadership et ses impacts sur la performance de l'organisation ont été étudiés par de nombreux chercheurs. Cependant, peu d’études ont porté sur le leadership efficace dans les universités en tant que type d'organisation. L'enseignement supérieur français a récemment connu une réforme importante (LRU). Les débats sur ses aspects positifs et négatifs ont été vifs et le sont encore. Dans le cadre de cette réforme, le leadership semble avoir plus d'importance, dans la mesure où une plus grande autonomie voire plus de pouvoir formel ont été délégués aux présidents d'université. Dans notre recherche, nous avons étudié les comportements de leadership efficace chez les présidents d'universités françaises, et nous les avons comparés avec les mêmes comportements chez les présidents d'universités Iraniennes. Prenant en compte des facteurs sociaux, culturels et politiques, ces comparaisons donnent des résultats intéressants. Pour nos recherches, nous avons utilisé la théorie du leadership de Kouzes et Posner (2003), qui ont identifié cinq comportements de leadership efficace (Model the way, Inspire a shared vision, Challeng the process, Enable others to act, Encourage the heart) et développé des questionnaires d’Inventaires de Pratiques de Leadership (Leadership Practices Inventaire, LPI) à partir de visions croisés (Questionnaires «Soi » et «autres»). L'objectif principal est d'évaluer dans quelle mesure les présidents d'université français et iraniens sont impliqués dans ces comportements. Les questionnaires LPI, ainsi que huit questions ouvertes, ont été soumis à tous les présidents d'universités publiques en Iran et en France, et à cinq vice-présidents de chaque université. Nous avons reçu un total de 107 réponses sur la France et 72 réponses en l'Iran. Les résultats ont été analysés en utilisant SPSS 11.5, et une analyse de contenu a été réalisée pour des questions ouvertes. Les réponses des vice-présidents montrent que les présidents d'université français présentent des scores plus élevés dans tous les comportements de leadership efficace par rapport aux présidents Iraniens. En outre, sur la base des réponses des présidents eux-mêmes, les présidents français ont score plus élevé sur quatre comportements, tandis que les présidents Iraniens s’estiment plus impliqués dans le comportement « mettre en question les processus » (Challenging the process). Toutefois, les scores des deux pays sont faibles en comparaison des scores globaux moyens aux LPI pour les dirigeants d'autres pays, y compris des dirigeants nord-américains. Les interprétations possibles de cette différence sont discutées en détail
Nowadays the notion of management has been replaced by leadership. Leadership and its impacts on organization performance have been studied by many researchers. However, not many studies have focused on effective leadership in universities as a kind of organization. French higher education underwent a substantial reform recently (LRU). And there is still much debate about its positive and negative aspects. In light of these reforms, leadership seems to gain more importance, as more autonomy and power is delegated to the university presidents. In this research, we study effective leadership behaviors among French university presidents, and compare them with the same behaviors among Iranian university presidents. Considering different social, cultural and political background, comparison of two countries would yield interesting results.For our research, we used Kouzes and Posner’s theory of leadership (2003), who identified five effective leadership behaviors (Model the way, Inspire a shared vision, Challeng the process, Enable others to act, and Encourage the heart) and developed Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) questionnaire (‘Self’ and ‘Others’ versions). The main objective is to evaluate to what extent French and Iranian university presidents are engaged in these behaviors. LPI, as well as eight open-ended questions, were submitted to all public university presidents in Iran and France, and five vice presidents in each university. We received a total of 107 responses from France and 72 responses from Iran. The results were analyzed using SPSS 11.5, and content analysis was performed for open-ended questions. The results show that, according to vice presidents opinion, the French university presidents had higher scores in all effective leadership behaviors compared to Iranian presidents. Also, based on the presidents’ opinion, French presidents had higher score in four behaviors, while Iranian presidents were more involved in ‘Challenging the process’ behavior. However, scores from both countries were lagging behind, compare to overall average score received by other leaders filing this questionnaire, including North American leaders. Possible reasons for this difference are discussed in detail

This research builds upon arguments for the use of the psychological theory of adult vertical development to transform traditional organizational practices of leadership development, and build leaders needed for the future. The purpose of this study is to understand the current state of vertical development theories in organizational leadership development practices. Specifically, the research considers what strategies and practices are being used, and what challenges practitioners have faced in implementation. It was found that an organization’s success in implementing vertical development largely depended on three factors: 1) overall leadership development strategy, 2) ability to overcome new variations of organizational challenges that have long impeded leadership development, and 3) degree to which vertical development theories are used in practice. The details of this research illustrate that accelerating leadership capacity of an organization through the implementation of vertical development requires significant organizational commitment and change, and likely a new perspective on organizational change itself.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: On the basis of a literature review regarding effective leadership, coping with change and the assessment of effective leadership and coping, this study investigated the use of The Wheel, a free-format, projective technique, which lends itself to a qualitative and quantitative analysis. A group of (N=75) managers, within a large South African engineering organisation, were assessed during organisational change. Human Resource practitioners and supervisors evaluated participants' leadership effectiveness by using a six-point Lickert scale. Overall performance scores were calculated based on a gap analysis between perceived performance and required performance. High, Medium and Low performance groups were identified and compared in terms of The Wheel results. On a quantitative level significant differences were obtained with regards to Overall performance scores and the Number of Segments completed by participants. Furthermore, some of The Wheel constructs correlated with individual performance rating items and also appears to reflect the impact of organisational change on participants' Attitudes, Discrimination and Sense of Control towards key words "My Work". On a qualitative level, the contents of The Wheel profiles indicated themes that may be an indication of different approaches and lor problems experienced respectively by High and Low performance groups during organisational change. The Wheel may thus have predictive validity for assessing leadership effectiveness during organisational change, but due to limitations of this explorative study, further research is recommended.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Op grond van 'n literatuurstudie van effektiewe leierskap, hantering van verandering en die meting van effektiewe leierskap en probleemhantering, word die gebruik van The Wheel, 'n projeksietegniek wat kwalitatiewe en kwantitatiewe interpretasie behels, ondersoek. Vervolgens is 'n groep (N=75) bestuurders, vanuit 'n groot Suid-Afrikaanse ingenieurs organisasie, tydens organisatoriese verandering en herstrukturering geëvalueer. Prestasie beoordelings vir elk van die deelnemers is deur menslike hulpbronpraktisyns en supervisors gedoen op grond van 'n ses-punt Lickert skaal. Algehele prestasietellings is vir elke deelnemer bereken op grond van 'n gapingsanalise tussen waargenome prestasie en vereiste prestasie. Hoë, Medium en Lae prestasiegroepe is geïdentifiseer en vergelyk in terme van die The Wheel resultate. Op 'n kwantitatiewe vlak was daar betekenisvolle verskille tussen verskillende prestasiegroepe en die Getal Segmente ingevul deur deelnemers. Sommige van die The Wheel konstrukte het ook betekenisvolle korrelasies getoon met van die prestasiebeoordelingsitems. Die The Wheel resultate het ook die situasionele impak van organisatoriese verandering en herstrukturerinq gereflekteer in terme van deelnemers se Houdings-, Diskriminasie- en Kontroletellings behaal vir sleutelwoorde "My Werk". Op 'n kwalitatiewe vlak dui die inhoud van die The Wheel profiele daarop dat Hoë en Lae prestasiegroepe onderskeidelik verskillende temas meld tydens die vrye assosiasie oefening. Die The Wheel mag belofte inhou vir die met1ng van effektiewe leierskap, maar as gevolg van beperkings in hierdie eksploratiewe-studie. word verdere navorsing aanbeveel.

School board governance matters. Past research has demonstrated that effective school boards are associated with higher student achievement. However, this research has been less clear about what those agreed upon effective practices are. The current study set out to identify effective school board governance practices and to determine the extent expert panelists agreed with these practices. Obstacles to effective governance were also identified and agreed upon. Differences in responses from panelists in five sizes of school districts were also explored.

Using a Delphi methodology, expert panelists in Montana provided information in the form of narratives and lists about their perceptions of effective school board practices as well as their encountered obstacles during round one. Qualitative analysis techniques were used to create a set of effective practices and a set of encountered obstacles. Further refinement was accomplished by using two additional rounds in which panelists provided feedback, reconsidered their responses and provided additional comments. A set of 17 highly agreed upon effective practices and a set of two highly agree upon obstacles resulted.

From this data, a model of effective school board governance was developed. This model aligns well with past research that was conducted based upon outside sources of judgment, such as high test scores.

However, some important deviations from past recommendations are also noted. Data from the current study places an increased emphasis on the actual operations of school boards, such as on the types of discussions that are held, as well as the mechanics of productive and collaborative school board meetings.

The power of school boards occurs when acting collectively as a group in a school board meeting and this study supports focusing improvement efforts in making that time more effective. School board members many gain knowledge and experience individually, but it is only through working together that they shape and guide the cultures that are needed to improve our public schools for the future.

The academic performance of African-American, Hispanic and low-income students is an ongoing national problem, as these students are not making the same academic gains as their White, Asian, and more socio-economically privileged peers. Schools across the country are striving to close this achievement gap, especially in light of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 2002 (more commonly known as the No Child Left Behind Act), which states as its main objective "to close the achievement gap with accountability, flexibility and choices so that no child is left behind" (Public Law 107-110, 107th Congress, 2002). Research on effective schools shows that schools can positively impact student achievement--especially the achievement of minority and poor students (Andrews & Sonder, 1987; Edmonds, 1981). Moreover, research shows that very few elements account for more inconsistency in student achievement than school leadership (Leithwood, 1994). Principals' behaviors and practices impact student achievement (Edsource et al., 2005; Powell, 2004; Waters, Marzano & McNulty, 2003). Hence, the purpose of this study was to use Powell's (2004) five domains of effective principal leadership behaviors and practices (e.g., vision, mission and culture; curriculum and classroom instruction; collaboration and shared leadership; family and community involvement; and effective management) as a lens to identify, compare and contrast, from the perspective of teachers, the leadership behaviors and practices of principals in predominantly minority elementary schools deemed effective and principals in predominantly minority elementary schools deemed marginally effective. The sample consisted of 20 schools (e.g., 10 effective and 10 marginally effective) in a mid-Atlantic state. Data were collected using a 76-item survey questionnaire developed by Powell (2004).
Ph. D.

This research examined the psychology of leadership with respect to Enterprise Risk Management (ERM). ERM a risk management process that has been developed to enable organizations to minimize internal and external risks and exploit opportunities for gain. Despite the prevalence of several ERM frameworks for various kinds of risk, their implementation has been at best, partially effective. Given that the implementation of ERM's is the responsibility of senior management / leaders of organizations, it was assumed that one of the reasons for the faulty ERM implementation may be attributed to poor leadership. The literature indicated that the psychology of leadership related to implementation of risk management programmes refers to the ability to make rational decisions under condition of risk and uncertainty and the ability to influence others in the organizations to adopt and develop a risk management culture. However, the elements of a psychology of leadership that would lead to effective ERM implementation have been largely ignored in the literature. The gap in the literature this research attempts to bridge. The abductive pragmatic approach was used using qualitative and quantitative methods and primary and secondary data. The analysis of the secondary data led to the formulation of a framework containing various psychological factors related to decision making, leadership style and organisational culture. Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 42 respondents from private organisations operating in the Saudi oil and gas sector, whilst quantitative data were gathered from 100 respondents from private organisations operating across various sectors in Saudi Arabia. The analysis of primary data collected from the empirical survey and the information gathered from the literature review corroborated all the factors identified in relation to decision making, leadership style and organisational culture. The key factors found to impact psychology of decision making included risk perception, psychometric paradigms, bias, culture, gender, emotion, decision-making style, attitude and protective zones. The factors impacting psychology of creating organisational culture of risk included leadership style, development, communication and appetite for monitoring risk, the development of an ethical organisation, role identification, the transformational leadership style and facilitation of the emergence of champions at all levels of the organisational hierarchy. One of the key findings of this research highlighted the occurrence of bias or heuristics that can impede rational decision making under condition of risk and uncertainty. The most important of these include representation, availability and anchoring, which can lead individuals to overestimate or underestimate the consequences of their decisions, and make decisions that do not lead to the desired outcomes from occurring. Another finding is the corporate environment in Saudi Arabia related to risk management. It was found that women in Saudi Arabia are more risk averse than their male counterparts. Findings suggest that this is the outcome of social prescriptions related to the role of women and indicate that steps must be taken to break down cultural barriers that prevent female participation in decision-making processes. In this connection, it was also found that in Saudi Arabia there is low tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity, high tolerance for hierarchy, that values the community over the individual and that is more masculine than feminine in its worldviews. All of these have resulted in a risk averse management culture in Saudi Arabian organizations. It was also found that it is the transactional leadership style that is better suited to risk management activity than authoritarian, individualistic or transactional leaders. These finding are relevant as they constitute a framework or model of ERM implementation that may be used by any organization that seeks to effectively implement ERM frameworks. The leaders of these organizations can use this framework to understand the mental processes that they undergo when they have to make rational decisions under condition of risk and uncertainty as also how to leverage various psychological factors in creating an organizational culture of risk. The key limitation of this research is that it does not conduct statistical tests to explore positive and significant links between the various dimensions of the psychology of risk leadership and the benefits of an effective ERM implementation. The recommendations aims to help improve ERM implementation in Saudi Arabia and a future research for those interested in investigating the influence the psychology of leadership on ERM in a context of a particular sector.

The recent economic recession in the U.S. and in the E.U. is enhancing entrepreneurship processes around the world. Old forms of production are becoming obsolete along with old ways of organizing the economy and society. This scenario and the emergence of new leadership processes have prompted an increase in entrepreneurship focused on the needs of new niches. However, not all entrepreneurship and leadership processes have been successful in achieving their goals. Research on entrepreneurship and leadership has identified the need to further understand the dynamic features of these processes and their complexity.

One of the sectors in the U.S. that has shown major growth during the last decade is the wine sector. The increase of national and international market competition in the wine sector has prompted new entrepreneurship and leadership processes in this sector. As a result, it seems timely and appropriate to expand our understanding of effective entrepreneurship and leadership processes in the U.S. wine industry.

The dissertation’s main contributions are to: (a) expand the understanding of the dynamics of entrepreneurship, (b) expand the understanding of how human cognition relates to its contexts in order to make entrepreneurship effective, (c) identify two types of leadership that are key for achieving companies’ sustained competitive advantage, (d) expand the understanding of how human cognition relates to its contexts in order to make leadership effective, (e) identify the structures (traits and processes) that effective entrepreneurship and leadership share, (f) identify the synergies between entrepreneurship and leadership, and (g) bring useful insights to the nine wineries interviewed so that they can address their current challenges more effectively. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)

This study explores the behaviors of effective local Christian church pastors in Tanzania, East Africa and it addresses gaps in the current knowledge related to African religious leadership, leadership theory in the African context, leadership across African cultures, and African leadership in relationship to followership. A qualitative research method using a multiple case study design was employed to provide an understanding of effective African pastors as local leaders who contribute to African social welfare. Effective pastor leaders with a demonstrated record of numerically growing their churches while also conducting development projects for the betterment of local communities were interviewed, along with focus groups of members from their congregations. Additional data were gathered through observations and by reviewing documents. Results of transformational leadership theory surveys (Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire-MLQ) completed by Tanzanian pastors are also presented. The study found that effective Tanzanian pastors demonstrated behaviors consistent with transformational leadership behaviors, improved the lives of parishioners and community members, and were instrumental in growing the numerical membership and financial base of their churches. The study identified the activities taken by effective pastors when they began their tenures, as well as the ongoing and decision-making/problem resolution activities throughout their tenures.

Postsecondary education is constantly changing and the role of the chief student affairs officer must evolve to meet the demands of the shifting social, political, and administrative needs of their student population and institution. The intent of this study was to identify the knowledge, skills, and competencies required of chief student affairs officers to be effective and successful in contemporary and future higher education contexts. To provide clarity to the obligations of the executive-level role, the study offers an understanding the complexity of chief student affairs officers’ responsibilities in a rapidly shifting postsecondary environment. Participants of the study were current chief student affairs officers who engaged in organized groups based on location, institutional type, athletic conference, or state higher education system. Through a qualitative methodology, with semi-structured, group interviews, the study allowed for data gathering from multiple chief student affairs officers at varied institutional types and locations. Data were collected from 13 focus groups with a total of 68 participants during either during established meetings or via online video conferencing.

Findings of the study contribute to the knowledge base of effective practice and preparation for successful and effective chief student affairs officers and provide evidence-based data from which to build continuing education and ongoing professional development. Recommendations are offered for individuals currently in the chief student affairs officer position, those aspiring to the role, graduate programs in doctoral education, search firms, and professional associations that provide ongoing educational offerings for executive leaders in postsecondary education.

Organizational leaders know that employee turnover negatively impacts an organization's finances and can be a result of a lack of employee commitment. Guided by Yukl's flexible leadership theory, this single case study was used to explore strategies that senior leaders have used to increase employee commitment and reduce employee turnover. Vice presidents and directors from a U.S. Fortune 500 financial firm in New Jersey participated in semistructured interviews. The 5 participants have implemented effective strategies to increase employee commitment and reduce employee turnover. Data collection comprised face-to-face interviews, review of company documentation, external website content, and member checking to explore effective strategies to increase employee commitment and reduce employee turnover. Data analysis involved organizing information and data and coding it appropriately corresponding to a 5-step data analysis process. Using thematic coding, data were organized into topics based on the conceptual framework of flexible leadership theory. Three primary themes emerged from data analysis: effective and truthful communication, effective leadership and feedback, and improving organizational atmosphere and work environment. Leaders can implement effective employee commitment strategies for increased trust and motivation to enhance productivity and performance in an organization and stimulate the economy. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential to increase job satisfaction and reduce the unemployment rate.

This dissertation is a qualitative inquiry that explores and pinpoints those exact communication strategies in leadership communication that enable higher educational leaders in sustaining their positions. This study was initiated with the intent to lay out the foundational literature on the content of communication that is utilized by higher educational leaders on a daily basis to achieve their departmental and institutional goals. For this purpose, communication was the core idea of focus, pertaining to which, verbal and non-verbal skills of leaders were explored. From the notion of communication and upon further investigation of communication literature, theory and leadership studies posit persuasion and trust as two prime components of leadership communication, without which, a leader’s functionality would be greatly mitigated. Therefore, the three main constructs that this study examined are communication, persuasion, and trust. This study was strongly driven by the motive to explore the utilization of those specific communication strategies that enhance persuasion and trust among higher education leaders and their staff and colleagues. The method of inquiry was in-depth, face-to-face interview protocol that enabled the researcher to formulate carefully worded interview protocol questions that were meticulously sequenced and worded to extract the lived communicative experiences of its participants. From this point, thematic coding was utilized to code the responses of the participants and draw out the common themes that emerged across all interviews. The results of this research are comprehensive and contribute to the existing base on communication literature. This research brought forth the pivotal role of relational communication in facilitating leadership, the need for all leaders to make conscious efforts in choosing their verbal and non-verbal communication strategies meticulously in their daily professional lives, and the indispensable role of persuasion and trust in dynamic leadership communication.

Although the major responsibility for community college governance falls to presidents and administrators, researchers have recognized the integral role of faculty in governing higher education institutions. Few studies, however, have explored the effectiveness of contributions of faculty elected to community college academic senates. The purpose of this research was to investigate the background traits and leadership skills of elected academic senate presidents in order to identify both their perceptions of themselves as leaders and the perceptions of other faculty senate members. This study was based in the theory of transformational leadership in organizations and its impact on the effectiveness of organizations. The research question for this quantitative study focused on the extent to which the elected academic senate presidents' background and leadership traits affect the performance of faculty senates. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Form 5X; MLQ 5X) and supplemental demographic data were used with faculty at the 112 community colleges in a western state to measure the relationship between leadership behavior and organizational effectiveness. Data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation and z and t tests. Results indicated that there is a significant relationship between senate presidents who were transformational leaders and more effective in leading faculty senates. The implications for social change include informing community college faculty senates and their presidents about effective leadership styles and skills and providing resources to improve faculty governance. The anticipated results are improved college governance, enhanced college service to their communities, and enriched education for their students.

This study sought to measure the current status and priorities of high school staff around effective behavior supports. The school district studied includes nine comprehensive high schools and one alternative education site. The use of effective behavior supports in the areas of school-wide supports, classroom supports, non-instructional supports, and individual student supports are the foundations for school-wide positive behavior supports, SWPBS, a tiered system of interventions designed to address the behavioral needs of all students within a school building. The study was designed as a mixed methods investigation. An online survey was created from the Effective Behavior Supports, Self-Assessment Scale, EBSSAS, which was administered to a random sample of teachers, school administrators and school counselors. Ten high school principals also participated in direct interviews. The study found that school-wide, classroom and non-instructional supports are partially in place across the district, while individual student supports are rated as not in place. School-wide, classroom and non-instructional supports status varied from correlating priorities in statistically significant ways, with the schools systemically reporting these areas as low priority for improvement. However, in the area of individual student supports, there was no statistical difference between the status and priority rating (not in place, and low, respectively), indicating less confidence in those types of behavioral supports district wide. Implications of these findings include a need for systematic address of individual student support structures, and the usefulness of developing a district-wide manner of coordinating of individual school efforts to meet the needs of students with habitual problem behaviors. Through a district wide support structure, each school should use the data gleaned from the survey responses to develop their own tiered system of support for addressing students with more significant behavioral needs, through means other than suspension.

The purpose of this research is to highlight the importance of identifying the communication frequency within the leader-member exchange (LMX) relationship, and to appreciate what the positive or negative effect of a low or high LMX frequency has on this relationship and on staff morale. Management is for the most part responsible for communication frequency and is in a position and has the means to change such frequency or to add additional communication channels. The research was based on a program introduced in a South African retail company three years ago. Data was collected from 64 stores in the Western Cape and the results were statistically analysed on the SPSS16 program. The results clearly supported the hypotheses that, in a low-communication frequency area, an increase in communication frequency has a positive effect on staff morale and that the proximity to head office (or lack of it) does not have a negative effect on staff morale.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Antioch University, 2010.
Title from PDF t.p. (viewed July 22, 2010). Advisor: Richard Couto, Ph.D. "A dissertation submitted to the Ph.D. in Leadership and Change program of Antioch University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, March 2010."--from the title page. Includes bibliographical references (p. 155-165).

In the first decade of the 21st century, the number of functioning business organizations in Nigeria decreased by 45%. The high rate of business failures in Nigeria has left many questions about what is needed for creating business success. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the influence of internal and external dynamics on leaders in Nigerian microfinance organizations. Twenty leaders from microfinance institutions participated in face-to-face semistructured interviews. The data analysis process involved the use of Moustakas's modified van Kaam method, which resulted in the emergence of 12 themes. The themes that emerged included: (a) staff turnover, (b) financial fraud, (c) knowledge gap, (d) lack of real-time technology, (e) ethical behavior of leaders, (f) organizational bureaucracy, (g) foreign exchange fluctuation, (h) poor state of Nigerian economy, (i) competition from unethical practices of other organizations, (j) constant changes of government policies and poor regulatory controls, and (k) noncompliance with the Microfinance Policy and Framework by stakeholders. There was a common perception among the participants that there was a need for government intervention in providing improved infrastructure and adequate regulatory controls. The findings provide indications from participants' responses that business success is dependent upon business leaders' effectiveness in their roles and ethical practices as perceived by the followers. The study is significant in that its findings may assist businesses and government to focus on the effectiveness of leaders, increase labor relations, and increase the overall success of business which in turn improve the economy of Nigeria.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.
Leadership has always been, and always will be, central to human affairs, whether from a political, societal, religious, business or any other view. Both the need for leadership in managerial jobs and the difficulty of providing effective leadership in these jobs has grown considerably more, to include even lower level managerial, technical and professional employees. An important objective of this research report was to investigate the Eastern Cape Department of Health’s (ECDoH’s) current business practices and culture, as perceived by its leadership and management. The aim was to understand and document reasons for perpetual underperformance and to suggest ways of transforming the organisation’s culture and practices into a high performing organisation on a sustainable basis. To achieve the above objectives, this research report uses the Beehive Model of Organisational Renewal, developed by Christo Nel of the Village Leadership Consulting, which looks at seven elements of workplace practices that are benchmarked against international best practices. These seven elements are strategy execution, change leadership, structure, business discipline, talent creation, rewards and recognition and stakeholder value. The Beehive Model of Operational Renewal assumes that it is possible for any organisation to achieve greatness, to be a high performing organisation based on the conditions that success is by choice and not by accident; it is a long and winding journey and requires full executive acceptance, commitment and resolve to achieving a high performance organisation (HPO) status. The reviewed literature shows that cultures within successful organisations have characteristics of adaptability, alignment with external factors and the organisation’s vision and mission, and are biased towards action. It also suggests that when people are listened to, respected, supported and appreciated, in exchange they tend to go the extra mile in executing their jobs, even lifting the performance of individuals previously written off as mediocre. Depending on the desired type of culture, people behaviours, organisational symbols and systems will have to be modified to suppport and entrench the values of that organisation. Establishing a culture in an organisation is primarily a leadership role and culture and leadership are viewed as two sides of the same coin which cannot be separated. Literature suggests that long-term organisational change in the public sector is complex and problematic, because of the many stakeholders and short-term orientation of many political stakeholders. Change is particularly difficult because it has to overcome a longstanding tradition, uncertaintly and doubt amongst many people, fear of job loss and inertia and much Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za iv resistance, both visible and subdued. Healthcare staff all over the world face the challenge of a rapid introduction of technology in the form of electronic patient records, computerbased decision support tools and hospital information networks which are changing the traditional ways of doing things. Managing organisational culture is viewed as an essential part of the health system reform in most countries, where evidence shows that it will be a complex, multi-level, and uncertain process, requiring strategies unfolding over a period of years. For any change to be successful, it requires leadership – in fact, it is argued that leaders drive change from the top, through people and with people. Successful change is about leadership getting involved in driving the change at grass roots level, being authentic, honest and transparent. Leaders must balance the natural resistance people have to change with the time and space people need to reflect and accept the change and the directives that the leaders use to put pressure on the employees. In healthcare, many techniques have been employed to bring about changes to quality healthcare delivery. These include total quality management (TQM), lean management, learning organisation, business process reengineering and some leaders have used external consultants to influence change. None of these techniques was found to be successful without good leadership and a culture that embraces these changes. Arguably, people are the only competitive advantage any organisation has. Given that people are the executors of strategy, it is imperative that they get involved in its development. The use of systemic ways of developing strategy and making sure of its implementation using the balanced score card and strategy maps, is recommended. Linking company values and culture to the strategy leads to far greater organisational success. In most organisations human resources (HR) practices are still in the traditional back office. In the new economy, HR practices need to be transformed to deliver a new proposition, which adds value to the bottom line of the business by satisfying all stakeholder requirements, aligning people to performance and increasing organisational capabilities for sustainable performance. In the last decade, New Public Sector Management (NPSM) has emerged as a major reform strategy applied in varying degrees in a growing number of public sector organisations. Its main focus is to improve service delivery and to give rise to new management practices in the public sector. It emanates from a continued dissatisfaction with the performance of traditional public sector leadership and bureaucracy, reinforced by claims that the private sector is more efficient. Three building blocks for NPSM are described to reform public sector and these are responsibility, accountability and performance. In transforming public Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za v sector organisations, managers have to explicitly introduce policies within each building block – these policies contain leverage to influence clarity of purpose, agreements, power over decision-making, individual and team performance, and customer accountability. There are strong arguments to encourage clinicians to change their mindset and be retrained to lead the healthcare reform around the world. Some of the arguments are that clinicians are in the frontline, making decisions that determine quality and efficiency of care, having the technical knowledge to make sound strategic choices about longer-term patterns of service delivery. Clinicians are typically intelligent, well-trained and caring people who expressly choose this career to cure and comfort. A growing body of research supports the assertion that effective clinical leadership lifts the performance of health care organisations, as evidenced in a study which found that hospitals with the greatest clinician participation in management scored about 50% higher on important drivers of performance than hospitals with low levels of clinical leadership did. In another study, it was found that in 11 cases of attempted improvement in services, organisations with stronger clinical leadership were more successful, while another found that Chief Executive Officers (CEO) in the highestperforming organisations engaged clinicians in dialogue and in joint problem-solving efforts. The research findings show that the ECDoH is entrenched in the old economy values, meaning that business practices that were examined using the Beehive Model are rated in the risk/poor class. All seven elements scored in this poor class, with changed leadership, structures and talent creation constituting the poorest performers. This implies that the organisation is led from the top, leaders use power over others, there is widespread compression and incompetency at all leadership levels. It is unlikely that a single political head in the form of the Member of Executive (MEC) or a change in the head of department (HoD) will bring about the required astronomical transformation of the ECDoH. Only when the collective begins to accept the current predicament, can a total buy-in and commitment to high performance status begin. Finally, it is recommended that the ECDoH leadership transform their mindsets and adopt the new economy values of leading the organisation. They need to leverage on their positions of power to co-create a new culture, learn and adopt new change leadership skills, and transform the organisation’s HR proposition inside out. The executives are urged to consider funding a three to five year project of organisational renewal, using the Beehive Model and its related tools, to bring about sustainable change in the ECDoH.

The research investigated the problem of the apparent lack of leadership among leaders in the higher education (HE) sector in South Africa (SA). In particular, the research investigated the perception that there is a lack of transformational leadership among leaders in the public institutions of higher learning. This will compromise the leaders’ ability to manage change successfully. This problem was therefore viewed from the perspective of the changing HE landscape in SA in which institutions of higher learning are being merged or incorporated. One of the potential consequences of these mergers and incorporations is that the newly formed institutions may be challenged by a lack of appropriate leadership. The view that a lack of appropriate leadership is one of the root causes of institutions finding themselves in a precarious situation is widely supported by scholars and role players in the HE sector. The aim of this research was to establish the frequency of exhibition of transformational leadership and its behaviours, as well as to ascertain the level of transformational leadership among leaders in the HE sector. Transformational leaders are, by definition, change agents. Therefore, the research was premised on the assumption that if leaders exhibit transformational leadership and its behaviours frequently, if not always, and if their level of transformational leadership is high, then they will necessarily be able to manage change successfully. The Full Range of Leadership Styles (FRL) was adopted in that in addition to transformational leadership, the transactional and laissez-faire leadership styles were also measured. Fundamental to the FRL model is that every leader exhibits each style to some extent and that the model represents how frequently a leader exhibits a particular style of leadership. The findings of the empirical study generally indicated that the picture painted by scholars and role players in the HE sector about leadership in that sector is not as bleak as they claim, although some improvements in developing transformational leadership still have to be made.
Prof. Frans Cilliers

Influences of change management processes on superior work performance were examined using causal modelling on 341 managers from an international chemo-pharmaceutical company in Germany, Mexico and France, who had completed a Quality Performance Scale (Leadership & Change Management Questionnaire). The research, whilst dealing largely with organisational development also concentrates on micro issues such as employees and their involvement in the changing organisation, and especially on their reactions to change-induced stress. Another central theme to this investigation has been the examination of cross-cultural differences within the changing organisation. Irrespective of job status, managers‘ previous experiences of an in-house measure of excellence, positively influenced their score on the Quality Performance Scale. Low scores of egoism were found to positively influence the quality of work performance. Differences in workplace flexibility accounted for 60% of the variance in Performance/Flexibility/Stress. This supported the conclusion that in this instance, organizational culture is not constant but varies according to organizational division and country. This research has not only broken new ground for the host organisation by introducing new efficient methods for measuring its employees workplace behaviour, but it has also produced a valuable piece of empirical work measuring superior performance in managers, from a cross-cultural differences perspective, using a multi-rater feedback system, across time.

This mini thesis is aimed at establishing the relationship between developmental leadership and affective commitment as it presents itself across four levels of leadership within FNB Branch Banking. The four leadership levels targeted for research are Area Managers, Branch Managers, Administration Managers and Co-ordinators. The researcher used an Ex post facto research design in a natural field setting, formulating the research hypothesis that there is a statistically significant positive correlation between developmental leadership behaviours and affective commitment as reported by those whom directly reported to the four levels of leadership. Using 919 responses, the results of the statistical analysis showed all four leadership levels having a strong positive correlation between developmental leadership behaviours and the affective commitment of direct reports at a 99% confidence level. Finally the research also found that age has a statistically significant relationship with affective commitment and this should be examined in further research.
Human Resource Development
M. Tech. (Human Resources Development)

Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology)
As a key on-going concern for modern organisations, effective leadership is the focus of this study. Effective leadership is probably the primary factor in how well organisations deal with on-going change. This creates successful organisational cultures that are conducive to employee engagement in order to achieve outcomes of great customer service, which in turn will have desired business results. Leadership effectiveness is defined as the extent to which a leader achieves the consequences intended. In other words, that which I as a leader envisaged as an outcome of my actions has been achieved. In reality, one finds big mismatches between what leaders intend and the outcomes of their actions. This has perplexed me, even in cases of well-meaning leaders who did aspire to making themselves and their organisations more effective. This ineffectiveness has remained, notwithstanding a myriad of leadership advice on what constitutes “good” leadership, and how to implement such advice. The advice and its implementation have a poor record. At a very minimum, this advice fails because it is not actionable, and simply represents that which somebody else espouses, but cannot enact. These mismatches between what leaders say and what they actually do in practice lead to leaders being ineffective. The study endeavours to assist the executives who participated in this study in becoming aware of the root causes of this ineffectiveness. In particular, this study proposes a theory of action (Action Science) approach to explain why there is a gap between the espoused values of leaders and their actions. A theory of action asserts that human action is not accidental, it is deliberately planned, i.e., all human beings have a particular picture, model or belief of how to view the world in their minds, and go about executing a particular task within the constraints of this model.

Ο σκοπός της συγκεκριμένης έρευνας είναι η μελέτη της ηγετικής συμπεριφοράς, οι τρόποι με τους οποίους εφαρμόζεται, καθώς επίσης και ο ρόλος της ως τροφοδότης ενός ολοκληρωμένου μοντέλου διαρκούς επιτυχίας. Συγκεκριμένα, θα παρουσιαστεί το θεωρητικό υπόβαθρο των παραπάνω εννοιών, ο ορισμός τους, τα χαρακτηριστικά τους γνωρίσματα, οι συσχετιζόμενες με αυτά έννοιες. Στη συνέχεια, θα επιχειρηθεί η περαιτέρω έρευνα για την εξακρίβωση της σημαντικότητας και του ρόλου της ηγετικής συμπεριφοράς στις φαρμακευτικές εταιρείες που δραστηριοποιούνται στην Ελλάδα. Παράλληλα, η εν λόγω εργασία δύναται να προσφέρει μία διευρυμένη προσέγγιση των παραπάνω εννοιών με τα ευρήματά της.
The aim of this research is to study the leadership behaviour, the ways that this behaviour is applied and also its role as a provider of a complete model of continuous success. Moreover, there is a further research to find out when leadership behaviour is critical in shaping the performance of pharmaceutical companies that activated in Greece.

碩士
逢甲大學
公共政策所
99
The leadership of an effective principal in school orgnization is incomparably influential and is also the school efficiency guarantee. The obejct of this study is one elementary school principal and it is about his leading of the school members. The philosophy and actual practices of the object are displayed through getting into his working field, analysis of data and depth interviews. This study found that the leading of an effective principal includes five outstanding leading practices and actions, which are direction setting, talent development, orgnization redesigning, teaching plan management, and strategic alliance construction. Based on the research discovery, the following suggestions are advanced: 1.Shape a bottom –up common school perspective and avoiding formalization. 2.Provide individual supports and concerns to school members and make it the base to develop school profession learning groups. 3.Build up the orgnization atmosphere and culture with supports and concerns and take these as the advantages for reorgnization. 4.Develop school-based curriculums actively to solve the predicament of the declining birthrate and pupils deficiency. 5.Develop cooperation means between strategic alliance and make unimpeded conversation between the school and the community.

碩士
國立台北師範學院
教育政策與管理研究所
93
Abstract This study aimed to probe into desired features of leadership behavior for effective principals in Taiwanese elementary and secondary schools, of which can contribute to the improved quality of education, better administrative management and performance. In order to achieve this end, the author had referred to a wide range of literature on leadership theory and features of leadership behavior for effective principals. Based on the arguments of the literature, the author developed a semi-structured interview outline including 8 core aspects of features of leadership behavior and conducted an interview survey accordingly so as to further examine those presumptions. The author adopted purposive selection approach to sampling 18 elementary and secondary school principals, all of whom were the winners of The First Excellent Leadership Award 2004, to be the interviewees for the survey. As all of those excellent principals were endorsed by the various competent authorities of education and the Ministry of Education of Taiwan government, the results of interview survey deserves high reliability and validity. Based on the results of interview survey, the conclusions of this study are as follows: desired features of leadership behavior for effective principals in Taiwanese elementary and secondary schools include 7 aspects, with 49 features of behavior in total. The aforesaid 7 aspects are moral behavior, positive communication skills, active interaction with students, professional development, advanced arrangement of curriculum & teaching, effective administration, and creative vision & culture. Each aspect contains 5 to 10 desired behavior features. The author wishes to make the following suggestions: suggestions for the competent authorities of education, suggestions for the cultivation and training center of principals, suggestions for principals how to become effective, and suggestions for further study.

The Cambridge education system introduced after independence is mainly blamed for the high failure rate experienced in the Junior Secondary (Grade 10) and Senior Secondary (Grade 12) phases in Namibia. Although it is acknowledged that failure rate can be contributed to by many factors, the research wanted to establish whether the principal’s leadership can have any contribution to the academic achievement in a school. The researcher consulted different literature in an attempt to achieve the research objectives. The principal carries out a number of leadership job functions, hence, an instrument with the relevant job functions of a principal was selected to collect data. Three poorly performing schools were identified in the Omaheke Region. The research used questionnaires among teachers, inspectors and principals to collect data. The analysis shows that two principals were rated low in most leadership job functions. That implies that these principals are not engaged in instructional leadership, resulting in poor academic results. At the end recommendations and proposals for future research are highlighted.
Human Resource Management
M.Tech. (Human Resource Development )

碩士
國立臺灣師範大學
公民教育與活動領導學系
101
A Study of Leadership Behaviors and Effective Teaching Factors on Happy Baseball Teaching of Elementary School Special Educators in Taipei City Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors of leadership behaviors and effective teaching in elementary school special educators teaching happy baseball in Taipei city. Qualitative approach was adopted in the study. Eight special education teachers with over three years of happy baseball teaching experience were interviewed. The researcher further understood the situation of teacher’s leadership behaviors and effective teaching through observing the process of teaching happy baseball. The results were as following: 1. The commonness of content in leadership behavior of special educators: organize teams effectively in games, make good use of positive encouraging behavior, and build up good teacher-student relationship. 2. The uniqueness of content in leadership behavior of special educators: influence leadership behavior by characteristics and teaching beliefs, make good use of different ways of leadership to correct students’ behavior. 3. The commonness of factors in effective teaching: students’ individual needs are preconditioned, the collaboration of the teaching staff, and all teacher assistants lack baseball experience. 4. The uniqueness of factors in effective teaching: different learning environment, instruction objectives, integrating classes with happy baseball, and student evaluation differentiation. Three recommendations for further impelling happy baseball were proposed as following: 1. For special educators: encourage teaching happy baseball helps students' learning, and happy baseball should be included into formal curriculum. Physical education and special educatiors should co-teach, invite parents to happy baseball courses, carry out with Individualized Education Program, implement systematic teaching evaluation and apply a teaching method based on students' individual differences. 2. For school administration: hold inter-school special education happy baseball games, enhance sharing teaching experience, provide suitable happy baseball learning environment, and increase teaching hours for happy baseball. 3. For Chinese Taipei Happy Baseball Association: hold workshops periodically, cultivate happy baseball professional training skills, nurture professional happy baseball coaches, assist teaching, and keep holding competitions.

Metropolitan Municipalities are faced with myriad complex challenges that affect their effectiveness and efficiency in fulfilling their legislated responsibilities of rendering/providing services to their respective communities and customers. The lack of effective leadership consistency in top and senior management of most Metropolitan Municipalities result to failure and inability for municipalities to achieve their strategic objectives including the realisation of performance. Moreover, the absence of effective leadership consistency manifest in many forms such as inadequate oversight, noncompliance to legislations, failure to meet performance targets, numerous service delivery protests, projects stoppage and disruption, ineffective leadership and unfavourable audit opinions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of consistency on effective leadership and its influence in achieving the organisational objectives and the realisation of organisational performance in the Metropolitan Municipalities using City of Tshwane as a case. Furthermore, to develop a framework prescribing how effective leadership consistency should be formed and used to realise performance and achieve strategic objectives in local government. A sequential exploratory mixed method approach was applied in this study. A combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods complemented each other’s strengths, and further overcame weaknesses and limitations in collecting the data. A self-administered Questionnaire was used to collect 177 data with a response rate of 88.5% for the Quantitative data, while face-to-face interviews was used to collect the Qualitative part from 15 respondents. Quantitative techniques namely, Descriptive Statistics was used to analyse the frequency and percentage response of the participants while Inferential Statistics simple t-test was used to assess the difference in participant’s responses. Furthermore, Pearson Correlation Coefficient was used to measure the level of association between variables of the study; and Forward Stepwise Regression was applied to assess the relationship between the variables of study. The study found that consistency of leadership in the organisation is positively correlated with effective leadership; consistency of effective leadership in the organisation correlates to the achievement of the strategic objectives; and consistency of effective leadership in the organisation correlates to the realisation of performance. Moreover, a framework has been developed prescribing how effective leadership consistency should be used to effect or bring about organisational performance. The research study recommended that consistency of effective leadership at the top and senior management is essential and absolutely necessary, and it should be wellmaintained for the realisation of success of the municipalities.
Graduate School of Business Leadership
D.B.L.

Business today is conducted within societies facing complex global challenges and unprecedented demands for effective, ethical, and excellent business leadership that proactively manages its societal impacts. Integrating economic success with service of the common good requires a sound, shared understanding of “positive” executive business leadership to guide executive selection, education and development, and practice. This thesis formulates and theoretically grounds a general theory of positive executive business leadership. Integrative Executive Leadership (“IEL”) addresses the individual, pairs/groups/teams, organizational, and societal levels of business. Within these contexts, IEL exercises positive integrative agency through multi-stakeholder professional stewardship, integrated performance management, and living codes of ethics. This requires the practice of five mutually-reinforcing positive behavioural repertoires: contemplative self-leadership, functional-relational facilitative leadership, full range managerial-leadership, visionary strategic leadership, and transforming-developmental leadership. These are reinforced by five positive philosophies or styles of leadership: authentic, moral, spiritual, servant, and wise leadership. Consequently, IEL is predicated upon essential competencies, attainments, and positive dispositions. Especially, IEL requires the cultivation of positive psychological states, traits, and virtues, eudaimonic character, postautonomous levels of ego development, psychological complexity, integrative consciousness and flow. In addition to promoting intrinsic morality, these farther reaches of human nature contribute to effective and excellent leadership performance. Integrative Executive Leaders do well by doing good. IEL was developed through multiparadigm theory-building, adopting a pragmatic epistemology, and employing a transdisciplinary, positive scholarship approach to integrate the findings from a broad range of qualitative and quantitative research from the humanities and the social sciences. IEL theory articulates important theoretical relationships derived from: leading insights from management and organization theory; salient research findings from the social sciences and the humanities; insights from positive psychology, positive organizational behaviour, positive organizational scholarship, constructive developmental psychology, transpersonal psychology, and integrated empirical ethics; interpretive analyses of the biographies of great world leaders; and, a rich case study of an extraordinary executive business leader. Accordingly, IEL is advanced as an emergent theory with both theoretical grounding and empirical reference. The path forward requires further transdisciplinary, multiparadigm, multi-method research to further develop and refine IEL and establish it as a grounded theory of positive executive business leadership.

The study set out to assess the impact of organisational restructuring (OR), the independent variable on organisational behaviour (OB), the dependent variable, in private and public sector organisations as well as state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in South Africa. OB, for the purposes of this study, consists of turnover intention, resistance to change, commitment to change and job security. It further aimed to evaluate whether the various types and magnitude of OR impact on employees in the different sectors. OR was delineated into three factors, that being Restructuring (Type), Restructuring (Leadership) and Restructuring (Frequency), before being further regressed into sub-factors, that being Restructuring (Type_Count), Restructuring (Leadership_Count) and Restructuring (Frequency_Count), for the purposes of using it as categorical variables and indexing it. The study assessed whether effective change management (ECM) mediated the relationship between OR and OB, across sectors. ECM is underpinned by effective change management processes, leader-member exchange (LMX) and perceived organisational support (POS). Finally, it aimed to assess whether employees’ psychological capital (PC), comprised of self-efficacy, hope, optimism and resilience, moderated the relationship between ECM and OB. The study found that OR does, indeed, impact on the OB of employees in different sectors. It has also confirmed the mediating role of ECM and that PC moderated the relationship between ECM and OB. The study assessed whether effective change management (ECM) mediated the relationship between OR and OB, across sectors. ECM is underpinned by effective change management processes, leader-member exchange (LMX) and perceived organisational support (POS). Finally, it aimed to assess whether employees’ psychological capital (PC), comprised of self-efficacy, hope, optimism and resilience, moderated the relationship between ECM and OB. The study found that OR does, indeed, impact on the OB of employees in different sectors. It has also confirmed the mediating role of ECM and that PC moderated the relationship between ECM and OB. The study found that the unidimensional construct, effective change management, coupled with PC, another unidimensional construct, has indeed been able attenuate the impact of OR on OB. In the case of this study, it was primarily the employees of large organisations, such as SOEs, which are affected, while employees of private and public organisations were also affected. Recommendations to organisational leaders and practitioners are provided, with the aim of assisting with the successful implementation of organisational change and restructuring initiatives, while at the same time reducing the impact thereof on the organisational behaviour of employees
Business Management
DBL (Business Leadership)

Learner discipline is one of the pillars of the education system of any country. However, research studies have found that it has become the number one public health problem in state secondary schools in Mauritius, in particular, over the past decade. This study aimed at determining the role of principals in maintaining effective discipline among learners in selected Mauritian state secondary schools. The researcher determined the causes of a lack of learner discipline, the possible barriers that prevent state secondary school principals from maintaining effective learner discipline and the disciplinary strategies that the principal may adopt and implement for effective learner discipline. The qualitative research approach was used for the empirical inquiry carried out in the selected research sites. The researcher gathered information about learner discipline and disciplinary strategies from selected participants, namely 24 learners, 24 educators, 24 parents, 4 principals and 2 school superintendents from four state secondary schools through focus group interviews, individual interviews and non-participant observation. The study revealed that all the stakeholders in the education system of Mauritius, inter alia the principals, parents, school superintendents, educators, learners, the Educational Zone Directorates and the Minister of Education have a misconception of learner discipline. They follow a custodial perspective rather than a humanistic perspective of learner discipline at schools: they adopt reactive and punitive or corrective disciplinary approaches instead of proactive, preventive and positive approaches to learner discipline management. The literature study on the causes of learner indiscipline and the reseach-based behavioural strategies and the empirical inquiry in the selected schools allowed the researcher to make a critical assessment of the current disciplinary strategies implemented by the state secondary school principals. In addition, the findings of the investigation provided the researcher with the knowledge to propose a learner discipline management model. The model provides the principals with the research-based strategies and guidelines to effectively manage learner discipline.
Educational Leadership and Management
D. Ed. (Education Management)