Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Leadership – Case studies'

Increasing complexity and rapid change associated with globalization and the knowledge economy have diminished the relevance of traditional linear models of leadership. Researchers have begun to view leadership not in terms of individuals and hierarchal exchanges but as a collective influence process among members of a group to achieve shared objectives that focus on enabling learning and adaptation in organizations rather than predicting outcomes and controlling behaviors. Complexity theory and its central phenomenon, emergence, are particularly well-suited to study both new leadership approaches and how to manage social systems at a time when prediction and control are elusive.

At the same time, institutions of higher education have come to play an increasingly important role in knowledge-based economies and as important actors in economic and human development. Leadership research and practice in higher education have not kept up with this trend, and require a new approach in order to meet the demands of a highly dynamic and disruptive environment. Generative leadership, which focuses on constructing the rules, conditions and constraints for interaction, collaboration and experimentation throughout organizations, fostering innovation and adaptation, and may be particularly well-suited for the creation, dissemination and application of knowledge in higher education. In this context, a qualitative, multiple case study design was used to explore how generative leadership might foster emergence in four initiatives designed to increase the ability to create, disseminate and apply knowledge in an institution of higher education.

Two major findings resulted from this study. The first relates to the increased incorporation of generative leadership, emergence, and complexity theory into the existing research and practice on teams. The second major finding relates to the role that the study’s results, along with the notions of generative leadership and emergence, can inform higher education pedagogy for continued transition into the knowledge age and beyond. The researcher hopes that this study, its results and findings promote a continued shift towards complexity- and emergence-based thinking to solve some of our most pressing knowledge challenges as we continue to move through a time of change and disruption. Ultimately the results and findings of this study could promote additional research on generative leadership, emergence and knowledge capacity in higher education for the benefit of local, regional and global social and economic ecosystems.

Increasing competitions in the markets, companies are tending to acquire different potential competitive advantages. Cost-effective ways of doing business have been deeply underpinned in every leader’s minds. However, the problem is how to obtain the most cost-effective way to operate business apart from cutting costs or other strategies which only focus on short-term measures. Nowadays, employees’ creativity are claimed to be highly valuable for the organisation to become successful and sustainable. Since, we are interested in what kind of organisational structure, culture and working environment would have positive influence on employees’ creativity at work, how those working qualities are able for employees to increase their capability on creativity; and also the constraints of those working environment on employees’ creativity will also be discussed.

To have a better understanding of our research area, a single case study is introduced as a tool helping us to get to know more about the real life and in a practical perspective. Since, a Swedish company has been chosen as our case study here.

In order to reach the purpose of our study, our research questions focused on what factors in the organisation and what characteristics of leadership styles can beneficial to employees’ creativity, and the constraints of the organisation for the employees’ creativity.

Based on our frame of reference and our research questions, we investigated the relevant literatures for our better understanding of the research area. It is also used as a guide for us to collecting data. We used qualitative single case study as our approach to acquire data and interviews were conducted with the IKEA managers.

A qualitative inquiry method is used, entailing in-depth interviews with four employees of IKEA with different types of positions and departments. The results show that their impression and experience of the company vary in some aspects, as different positions might perceive differently.

The purpose of this qualitative exploratory multiple-case study was to explore the lived experiences and the challenges African American male nurses faced in leadership roles and in providing quality care for minority patients. Participants included 15 African American male registered nurses (RNs) working in executive, administrative, and managerial leadership positions in Florida’s hospitals and other healthcare organizations. The participation criteria included being an African American male RN working in a leadership position in Florida with experiences in leadership and providing quality care for minority patients and at least 5 years of leadership experience. Participants completed in-depth face-to-face, digitally recorded interviews answering open-ended questions. Analysis of the interview data identified emerging themes and patterns using NVivo 10 qualitative data analysis software. Four major themes were identified: (a) specific leadership challenges associated with being an African American male leader, (b) general leadership challenges, (c) patient-level challenges limit the ability to provide quality care for minority patients, and (d) systemic challenges limit the ability to provide quality care for minority patients. Recommendations to healthcare leaders include a work environment free of gender segregation and racial discrimination, organizations adequately funded to deliver quality care, and strong leadership support for nurses and staff. Future studies should include additional geographic locations to increase the generalizability of findings to other populations.

The purpose of this multiple case study described and compared practices utilized to implement the School-Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS) approach at 3 purposely selected Central California elementary school sites. More specifically, this study described and compared: (a) school practices for defining and teaching school rules/expectations; (b) the reward systems being used; (c) systems for documenting and reporting office-managed student behavior violations; (d) systems for collecting and summarizing discipline referrals; (e) the priority given to improving behavior-support systems in school site plans; (f) school budget allocations for SWPBS; and (g) district support, financial and otherwise, for SWPBS at these schools.

This study did not attempt to prove a causal relationship between SWPBS and improved student achievement; rather, it focused on describing and comparing specific practices that these 3 schools were utilizing in relation to the SWPBS approach. The intention was thus to learn more about specific practices that might be replicated in other schools.

This research was qualitative in nature and utilized a multiple case-study methodology. Interviews, observations, and artifact reviews were conducted at 3 Central California elementary schools, all purposely selected because they had each implemented the SWPBS Framework for more than 1 year, had subsequently decreased negative student behavior, and had increased student achievement. 3 types of data were collected in order to understand each school‘s SWPBS practices and the level of support for the program. School principals, campus supervisors, and classroom teachers were interviewed; classroom and playground observations were conducted; and reports were reviewed by the researcher and the principal. The 3 types of data were triangulated for each school and compared.

The findings led to the conclusions that SWPBS is a systems approach that uses interventions to help students succeed in school. Furthermore, it has to have consistent, committed leadership in order to be successful. It has to be built on the foundation of implementing clear and precise rules that are embedded in all areas of the school. Lastly, SWPBS can be implemented without the district‘s assistance; however it is difficult to sustain unless the district fully supports the approach.

There are currently an estimated 93 million children with disabilities in the world. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report each year that 1 in every 700 babies is born with Down syndrome. Yet in spite of the enormity of numbers, they remain one of the most marginalized groups in society. Discrimination, negative attitudes, inadequate healthcare, and segregated education systems effectively bar differently abled children from realizing their full potential. This study uses a single-subject case study of one spectacular sport event involving one child with Down syndrome. It is framed by Vygotsky’s "zone of proximal development" (ZPD) theory, which suggests that social interaction, adult guidance, and peer collaboration, can support development that exceeds what can be attained alone. A thematic analysis was used to measure differences in recurring themes among three separate sources of data including (1) online YouTube video comments, (2) written correspondence, and (3) focus group interviews. Four emerging themes including servant leadership (31%), happiness (27%) inclusion (20%), and community (17%), were most frequently identified. However, significant differences in frequencies of thematic responses were noted between the three sources of data. Findings support past research that has found comparative differences between participants and observers in how one relates to people and scenarios. Observers are likely to remove themselves from “understanding” an experience, and may be less likely to feel the full spectrum of human emotion and character. This unintentional yet impactful event points to the power and mystery of how a person’s influence can extend much further than their immediate community, but to external observers from the wider world. Findings also confirm the role of Servant Leadership, Community, and Inclusion as critical for reshaping attitudes and assuring equity across policies and programs so that children who are differently abled can reach their full potential.