Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Leadership Leadership Communication in organizations Communication in personnel management'

This research aims to provide a theory of enterprise social networking that generates and/or sustains a culture of employee engagement within a chosen South African private sector company. Based on an extensive review of interesting literature and the application of a grounded theory process in a chosen case, this research work provides a theory of enterprise social networking sustaining and growing employee engagement together with an explanatory theoretical framework that makes the theory more practical. Employee engagement is defined as “the harnessing of organisation member’s selves to their work roles; in engagement people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances.” This research regards employee engagement as a three part concept composed of a trait (personality/cognitive) aspect, a state (emotional) aspect, and a behavioural aspect. Research has shown that employee engagement has an unequivocal positive impact on business outcomes, such as profitability, business performance, employee retention and productivity. Employee engagement can be regarded as a culture if it is abundant within the organization’s employee population. Gatenby et al. (2009) propose that employee engagement is fostered by creating the desire and opportunity for employees to connect with colleagues, managers and the wider organisation. This standpoint is supported by Kular et al. (2008) who state that the “key drivers of employee engagement identified include communication, opportunities for employees to feed their views upward and thinking that their managers are committed to the organisation.” Further indicators of employee engagement include strong leadership (particularly in the form of servant leadership), accountability, a positive and open organisational culture, autonomy, and opportunities for development. One of the key facets of employee engagement is connection. A complementary definition of social media, an umbrella under which enterprise social networks fall, is that “(it) is more of a relationship channel, a connection channel. Each and every tweet, update, video, post, is a connection point to another human being. And it’s the other human being who will determine your worth to them.” Social media provides participants with access to a larger pool of resources and relationships than they would normally have access to. This enlarged relationship/resource pool is a result of expanding human and social capital enabled through social media tools. In order to produce a theory of enterprise social networking sustaining and growing a culture of employee engagement a rigorous grounded theory methodology coupled with a case study methodology was applied. The case study methodology was used to identify a suitable research site and interesting participants within the site while the grounded theory process was used to produce both qualitative and quantitative data sets in a suitability rigorous fashion. The corroborative data was then used to discover and define the emergent theory.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the current communication techniques and strategies used by political parties resulting in these parties achieving significant growth, understand the components of those communication techniques in order to isolate the factors attributing to this achieved success and develop a model that can be replicated from a business organization in order to achieve similar beneficial results.The study revealed that there is a clear connection between political parties and business organizations, broadening the research fields of both entities respectively. Furthermore, the findings were categorized based on potential value, with practices such as “thriving on dissatisfaction”, “taking advantage of emotions”, “showing visible structures as an organization / political party”, “intentional use of weak signals”, “leader’s direct connection to audience” and “formulating receiver interpretation of signals” appearing to have high potential in achieving success if implemented correctly in the communication strategy.

Mini-study project (MBA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2003.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) has been undertaken by many organisations with the hope of dramatically improving their competitive position. In most cases however, this undertaking has been a failure. For the success of the BPR, organisational and people issues are of critical importance and cannot be overlooked, as often is the case. Many organisations have not recognised the fundamental need of fully addressing the "soft people issues" during their re-engineering exercises. The ability of the Management team and Management Consultants to filter through these soft issues is of critical importance to the success of the BPR. This study discusses leadership as the first topical issue. Within the parenthesis of LNDC, it then explores the leadership skills required by management of this institution. Leadership is intensely studied from the traits models, situational, consistency models to the transformational leadership styles. Change leadership forms an important basis of the discussions. Organisational culture is one important aspect that has to be considered during change initiative. Crafting and creating appropriate organisational culture forms the centrepiece of leaders' consideration during organisational change. The ability of a leader to create shared values within the organisation leads to building a strong corporate culture that distinguishes between organisations. The McKinsey's seven S model provides a firm framework for most changing organisations. This model illustrates how the soft, yet important issues powerfully impact the BPR process. All of these namely, strategy, structure, systems, style, skills, staff and shared values, are equally important and if any one of them is not properly aligned with the rest, the whole change process may become a failure. This model impacts all seven S's of the organisational dimension and is driven by strategy. Communication on the other hand forms another important element of the discussions. This study shows that without proper communication during organisational change, the whole change process can become a complete failure. The ability of a leader to disseminate intended information appropriately to the employees requires one to have skills and communication methods that are applicable to that particular organisational setting. After undertaking a survey at the LNDC, the researcher concluded that management, at this corporation lacks leadership skills necessary for managing change in an organisation. Recommendations have been made suggesting that the either the CEO be replaced or trained in leadership skills. This would help the organisation to successfully implement the intended change process.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: geen opsomming

The study was conducted in collaboration with Volvo Cars in the spring of 2019. The study examined the leadership of workshop managers in Sweden, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Belgium and Poland. The purpose of the study was to investigate how leadership can be developed to increase the possibilities for successful implementations of Volvo Personal Service and to investigate which parts of Lean Leadership are required for Volvo Cars to be able to run and develop the leadership of VPS workshops successfully. Selected questions for the study would generate which pitfalls could be identified in the workshop managers' leadership based on research and how Volvo Cars would develop the leadership of these workshops in order for them to be more in line with Lean Leadership. The aim of the study has been to generate a written document for Volvo Cars regarding how the company should guide or develop the existing leadership to lay the foundation for successful implementations and continued development of VPS. The thesis is based on a pilot study in which five areas of improvement were mapped to finally decide that the leadership of the workshop managers was the area of improvement that should be investigated deeper. Volvo Cars has noted that the implementation of VPS not always is successful in all workshops and wanted to investigate whether the problem could lie with the workshop managers in Volvo workshops. Case study was chosen as a research strategy for the study, since only one research unit would be investigated, that is, connect Volvo workshops and their workshop managers. The survey was conducted with a qualitative design because the research questions and chosen research strategy were supplemented with a mixed form of data collection to deliver the best possible results for the study. Personal interviews and web surveys were chosen as methods for the data collection. During the pilot study, it emerged that there was suspicion that the leadership conducted by the workshop managers is a form of command and control. The workshop managers also experienced difficulties in changing their leadership and focusing on supporting and developing leadership instead of controlling leadership. The result of the survey shows the total opposite, the workshop managers conduct a coaching leadership with a great focus on the employees' development, their own development and continuous improvements, which also are important elements of Lean Leadership. The conclusions that the study has laid the foundation for are that the workshop managers conduct a leadership that is not at all in line with what Volvo Cars predicted. The workshop managers have shown clearly that they possess characteristics that support Lean Leadership, but they have also proven that in many situations they conduct Lean Leadership and that they are fully capable of changing their own leadership. The result will mainly benefit Volvo Cars and their continued work with VPS, but other organizations in the industry can also use the study's results regarding the new leadership.
Undersökningen har genomförts i samarbete med Volvo Cars under våren år 2019. Vid undersökningen har ledarskapet hos verkstadschefer i Sverige och på marknaderna Spanien, Italien, Brasilien, Chile, Mexiko, Belgien och Polen undersökts. Undersökningens syfte var att undersöka hur ledarskapet kan utvecklas för att öka möjligheterna till lyckade implementeringar av Volvo Personal Servicesamt undersöka vilka delar av Lean Leadership som krävs för att Volvo Cars ska kunna driva och utveckla ledarskapet i VPS-verkstäder på ett framgångsrikt sätt. Valda frågeställningarför undersökningen skulle genera vilka fallgropar som gick att identifiera i verkstadschefernas ledarskap utifrån forskning samt hur Volvo Cars skulle utveckla ledarskapet hos dessa verkstäder för att de ska ligga mer i linje med Lean Leadership. Måletmed undersökningen har varit att undersökningen skulle generera i ett underlag till Volvo Cars gällande hur det ska vägleda eller utveckla det befintliga ledarskapet för att lägga grund för lyckade implementeringar och fortsatt utveckling av VPS. Examensarbetet grundar sig i en förstudie där fem förbättringsområden kartlades för att slutligen besluta om att verkstadschefernas ledarskap var det förbättringsområde som skulle undersökas djupare. VolvoCars har uppmärksammat att implementeringen av VPS inte blir lyckad i alla verkstäder och ville undersöka om problemet kunde ligga hos verkstadscheferna i anslutna Volvo-verkstäder. Fallstudie valdes som forskningsstrategi för undersökningen eftersom enbart en undersökningsenhet skulle undersökas, det vill säga ansluta Volvo-verkstäder och deras verkstadschefer. Undersökningen genomfördes med en kvalitativ design av anledningen att forskningsfrågorna och vald forskningsstrategi skulle kompletterats med en mixad form av datainsamling för att leverera bästa möjliga resultat för undersökningen. Personliga intervjuer och webbenkäter valdes som metoder för datainsamlingen. Vid förstudien framkom det att det rådde misstankar om att det ledarskap som bedrivs av verkstadscheferna är en form av kommando och kontroll. Verkstadscheferna upplevdes även ha svårigheter med att förändra sitt ledarskap och fokusera på ett supporterande och utvecklande ledarskap istället för ett kontrollerande ledarskap. Resultatetav undersökningen visar motsatsen, det vill säga att verkstadscheferna bedriver ett coachande ledarskap med stort fokus på medarbetarnas utveckling, sin egen utveckling och ständiga förbättringar vilket även visar på viktiga grunddelar i Lean Leadership. De slutsatser som studien legat till för är att verkstadscheferna bedriver ett ledarskap som inte alls ligger i linje med vad Volvo Cars förutspått. Verkstadscheferna har visat tydligt att de besitter egenskaper som stödjer Lean Leadership men de har även bevisat att de i många situationer bedriver Lean Leadership och att de är fullt kapabla till att förändra sitt egetledarskap. Resultatet kommer främst gagna Volvo Cars och deras fortsatta arbete med VPS men även andra organisationer inom verkstadsbranschen kan nyttja studiens resultat gällande det nya ledarskapet.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Antioch University, 2007.
Title from PDF t.p. (viewed August 5, 2008). Advisor: Carolyn Kenny. "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 July 2007."--from the title page. storytelling, stories, portraiture, organizational culture, corporate culture, organizational behavior, narrative Includes bibliographical references (p. 193-198).

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.

The present study – employing psychometric meta-analysis of 92 independent studies with sample sizes ranging from 26 to 322 leaders – examined the relationship between EI and leadership effectiveness. Overall, the results supported a linkage between leader EI and effectiveness that was moderate in nature (ρ = .25). In addition, the positive manifold of the effect sizes presented in this study, ranging from .10 to .44, indicate that emotional intelligence has meaningful relations with myriad leadership outcomes including effectiveness, transformational leadership, LMX, follower job satisfaction, and others. Furthermore, this paper examined potential process mechanisms that may account for the EI-leadership effectiveness relationship and showed that both transformational leadership and LMX partially mediate this relationship. However, while the predictive validities of EI were moderate in nature, path analysis and hierarchical regression suggests that EI contributes less than or equal to 1% of explained variance in leadership effectiveness once personality and intelligence are accounted for.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Antioch University, 2010.
Title from PDF t.p. (viewed March 26, 2010). Advisor: Al Guskin, 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 2010."--from the title page. Includes bibliographical references (p. 258-265).

Introduction At the start of 2020 Sweden gets their first documented case of Covid -19. On March 16th the Public Health Agency of Sweden recommended that schools and universities should conduct their education on distance mode. These recommendations would also apply to businesses all around Sweden where it is possible to work remotely. Previous studies have shown that working remotely requires that leadership must take more responsibility. Additionally, the need for clear management control and communication. Purpose The purpose of this study is to research how management control and communication works and have changed within knowledge intensive organizations where daily operations has gone on distance mode due to the corona pandemic. Method The research has been conducted using a qualitative method where both managers and employees have been interviewed. The interviewed people represent three different organizations, a management company, the industrial unit within the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and a legal unit within Swedish Public Employment Service. Result and contribution According to our research, remote work during the Covid-19 pandemic has led to informal meetings on the workplace has been heavily reduced or completely seized. This change has affected managers ability to retain a healthy relationship to their employees. The study show that a management control based on trust and a leadership based on trust has been an advantage, especially within knowledge intensive organizations. The underlying challenge for the managers has been missing communication and knowledge sharing.
Inledning  Den 31 januari 2020 får Sverige sitt första konstaterade fall av Covid-19. Den 16 Mars presenterar Folkhälsomyndigheten rekommendationerna om att svenska gymnasieskolor, universitet, högskolor och övrig utbildning att ske på distans. Dessa rekommendationer kommer även att gälla för samtliga verksamheter i Sverige som har möjlighet att arbeta på distans. Under distansarbete visar tidigare forskningen på ett ökat behov av en medveten och välutvecklad arbetsledning, samt behovet av en tydligare styrning och kommunikation.  Syfte  Syftet med uppsatsen är att studera hur styrningen och kommunikationen fungerar samt förändrats inom kunskapsorganisationer där verksamheten har gått över till distansarbete, som en följd av pandemin.   Metod  Undersökningen är utförd med en kvalitativ metod där vi har intervjuat chefer och medarbetare. De olika kunskapsorganisationer vi undersökt är ett managementbolag, Industrienheten inom Naturvårdsverket och rättsavdelningen på Arbetsförmedlingen. Resultat och bidrag Distansarbetet har enligt samtliga respondenter, lett till att informella möten på arbetsplatsen minskat eller helt upphört. Det har påverkat chefernas förmåga att upprätthålla en viktig relation till medarbetarna, men även inverkat på informationsflödet. Denna studie visar att en tillitsbaserad styrning och ett tillitsbaserat ledarskap är fördelaktigt under distansarbetet, speciellt inom kunskapsorganisationer. De stora utmaningarna för de chefer som intervjuats kan härledas till bortfall av kommunikation och kunskapsdelning.

Thesis (M.S.)--State University of New York at New Paltz, 2007.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 49-53). Online version available via the SUNY New Paltz Sojourner Truth Library : http://hdl.handle.net/1951/42567

Summaries in English and Afrikaans
Hierdie studie is onderneem om die effek van leierskap op verandering in 'n nie-winsgewende organisasie te bepaal. 'n Literatuur- en 'n empiriese studie is onderneem. Literatuur beklemtoon dat verandering 'n realiteit in 'n organisasie is, 'n veranderingsagent die proses meet dryf en dat die transformasieleierskapstyl die gewenste styl vir veranderingsbestuur is. Navorsing toon dat verandering vanwee eksterne invloede wel voorkom. Verwarring ten opsigte van wie die rol en verantwoordelikheid as veranderingsagent moet vertolk kom egter in die navorsing na vore. Die wyse en frekwensie waarop kommunikasie ten opsigte van verandering plaasgevind het, word oor die algemeen positief deur die respondente ervaar, maar respondente toon egter ook positiewe en negatiewe gedragsreaksies aan ten opsigte van verandering. Respondente toon dat die transformasieleierskapstyl met leierskapsgedrag/-kenmerke wat verband hou met integriteit toeganklikheid en objektiwiteit hul tot deelname aan verandering motiveer. Navorsing toon ook dat leierskapspotensiaal en die behoefte aan leierskapsontwikkeling by respondente teenwoordig is. Navorsing het bevestig dat leierskap 'n effek op verandering in 'n nie-winsgewende organisasie het.
This research aims to establish whether leadership has an effect on change in a not-for-profit organisation. A literature and empirical study were conducted. Literature indicated that change in organisations is a reality and that organisations need to appoint change agents in order to facilitate the change process. Research has shown that change in noHor-profit organisation was caused by external influences and indicated that confusion exists as to whom the role and responsibility of change agent belongs to. Respondents indicated that they were generally positive about the frequency and way in which change was communicated but they indicated both positive and negative behavioral reactions to change. The transformational leadership style is highlighted as the best leadership style to manage change. The transformational leadership style with leadership behavior such as integrity, approachability and objectivity motivates respondents to participate in the change process. Research also indicated that respondents have leadership potential and have a need for leadership development. This study confirmed that leadership has an effect on change in a not-for-profit organisation.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
In order to help individuals feel more engaged within work organizations and more satisfied with their jobs, employers have started to administer stay interviews within organizations, with the end goal being to retain organizational members. Stay interviews have become a proactive solution to the retention problem and have been seen as an alternative to the exit interview. This study proposes that through the use of stay interviews, organizational members will feel more engaged, satisfied, and committed to an organization, which will ultimately result in the retention of organizational members.

abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore the way mindfulness informs how leaders make sense of and navigate paradoxical tensions that arise in their organizations. This study employs a qualitative research methodology, based on synchronous, semi- structured, in-depth interviews of leaders who hold a personal mindfulness practice. Qualitative interviews illuminate how leaders’ communication about paradoxical tensions (e.g., through metaphorical language) reflects the way they experience those tensions. Findings extend the constitutive approach to paradox by demonstrating the way mindfulness informs awareness, emotion, pausing, and self-care. Specifically, this study (1) empirically illustrates how higher-level, dialogic more-than responses to paradox may be used to accomplish both-and responses to paradox, (2) evidences the way discursive consciousness of emotion may generatively inform paradox management, (3) suggests the appropriateness and use of a new paradox management strategy that I term ‘mindful dis/engagement’, and (4) highlights self-care as an others-centered leadership capability.
Dissertation/Thesis
Doctoral Dissertation Communication 2019

Listening is a critical skill for those who lead. Research indicates that leaders significantly influence followers through their listening practices; however the relationship between leadership styles and listening is assumed but not conclusively proven (Kouzes and Posner 2002). The purpose of this current study was to determine if a relationship exists between leadership style and listening practices of International Mission Board (IMB) overseas team leaders (Burns 1978, Bass 2004). The population for this research was overseas team leaders of the IMB serving in this position for more than six months with a team of four or more team members. A total of 145 of 391 team leaders participated in this study with a response rate of 37%. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was used to measure transformational, transactional, and passive/avoidant leadership style and the Listening Practices Feedback Report-360 (LPFR) assessed listening practices of attention, empathy, memory, open mind, respect, and response. A correlational analysis using Pearson r was conducted between leadership styles and listening practices. Further analysis was conducted to determine which leadership style was most significantly correlated with each of the six listening practice subscales. The subscale of open mind was not significantly correlated with any leadership style. The findings indicated that transformational leadership had a statistically significant and moderately positive correlation with the total LPFR score and on five of the six listening practices subscales. Transactional leaders also had a moderately positive correlation with total LPFR score and significant correlations on empathy, memory, and response subscales. Passive/avoidant leadership style had a significantly moderate negative correlation with LPFR and with empathy, memory, respect, and response subscales. Transformational leadership scored highest on the LPFR total listening score. Passive/avoidant leaders' showed the lowest total listening scores and were rated ineffective listeners. This study shows that transformational and transactional leadership styles have a statistically significant and moderately positive relationship with listening dimension scores as measured by the LPFR and supports transformational leadership theory.

The phenomenon of conflict is the problem that principals are faced with in their respective schools. The aim of this study was to explore the role that innovative leadership could play in managing conflict at the selected schools in Botswana. For the purpose of this study, a qualitative research approach was adopted. It included interviews, during which the informants responded to open-ended questions; observations, where the researcher visited the schools and interacted with the informants; and document analysis. These methods were employed to determine the perceptions of participants regarding the nature, extent, and causes of conflict at the selected schools. The study indicated that a number of factors could significantly contribute in managing conflict. Employing innovative educational leaders, benchmarking, using bottom-up communication skills, and the engagement of policy analysts, are some of the key recommendations made for avoiding further conflict within schools and between schools and the Ministry of Education.
Educational Leadership and Management
D. Ed. (Educational Management)