Leadership

In this qualitative study, learning and engaging in leadership among Latino men college students enrolled at institutions of higher education were examined. The purpose of this narrative study was to explore the stories of how Latino men college students become leaders. Furthermore, this study aimed to understand how Latino men college students engaged in leadership and how they transferred their leadership knowledge between institutions of higher education and their home communities. A narrative design was used to study the stories and experiences (Clandinin, 2006; Connelly & Clandinin, 1990) of eight Latino men college students. Oral histories such as storytelling are a generational avenue within the Latin* community (Bordas, 2001; Delgado, 2002: Marrun, 2020; Rodriguez, 2011). Two semi-structured interviews were used to gather the data from the participants and data was analyzed using two cycles of coding. Lozano’s (2015) Latina/o Leadership Journey was used as the theoretical framework for this study to answer the three research questions focused on how Latino men college students became leaders, engaged in leadership, and transferred their leadership knowledge within their communities.
There are three findings to this study that are focused on how Latino men college students become leaders, Latino men’s leadership engagement, and transferring leadership knowledge in different communities. The three findings had two to three themes that support the findings. Each of the findings address and answer the three research questions. Recommendations for policy, practice, and future research are also addressed to support the lived experiences of Latino men college students in their process to become leaders.

In this qualitative study, spirituality, and leadership among 15 Black collegiate men enrolled at higher education institutions were examined. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe and explore the essence of spirituality within the lived experiences of undergraduate Black men student leaders. The objective was to understand the intersection of spirituality and leadership within Black men, and how it informed their decision making and influenced their career aspirations post their undergraduate collegiate experience. In this study, spirituality is defined as an “internal process of seeking personal authenticity, genuineness, and wholeness as an aspect of identity development” (Love & Talbot, 1999, p. 364).
Guided by descriptive phenomenological methodology, four research questions were asked: (1) What is the meaning of spirituality for Black men student leaders? (2) How do Black men student leaders apply spirituality within their daily leadership practices and behaviors? (3) How do Black men student leaders define the connection between spirituality and leadership development? (4) How does spirituality inform the pathways and career aspirations of Black men student leaders? Four findings emerged as a result of the data analysis: (1) The Spirit and the Struggle: Spirituality Empowers Black Leadership, (2) The Spirit of Black Leadership is Service to Others, (3) Leading from Within: Spirituality is the “Backbone” of Black Men Leadership Identity, and (4) Spirituality Influences Black Men Career Aspirations.

Over the last forty years, there has been ample research examining general leadership development and the characteristics of followers and leaders (Day, 2001). However, although recognized as important for leader development and leadership effectiveness, there is still much to understand about leader identity (Epitropaki et al., 2017). The focus on identity literature has been disproportionately focused on follower identity rather than leader identity (Epitropaki et al., 2017; Johnson et al., 2012). This shortage is unfortunate due to leader identity’s capabilities in developing leaders and effective leader behaviors (Miscenko et al., 2017; Johnson et al., 2012). Due to this deficiency, I focus my dissertation on leader identity and attempt to better grasp the development of one’s leader identity. In line with recent conceptual literature, I examine the four dimensions of leader identity and patterns of development to better understand the development of leader identity. Through the two papers in this dissertation, I aim to enhance our current understanding of leader identity.

Levels of self-directed learning readiness, strategic thinking and leader
effectiveness in nonprofit directors were obtained from a sample of YMCA
directors who responded to an online survey. The resulting data were analyzed
to determine if correlations between the measures were observed and if the
relationships were moderated by employment, geographic or demographic
variables.
Self-directed learning readiness and strategic thinking were highly
correlated. Analysis of the questionnaires from 471 respondents demonstrated
that the correlations between self-directed learning readiness and strategic
thinking were robust (r = .58, p < .001 ). Leader effectiveness was found to
correlate with these two constructs at identical and significant levels (r = .1 0,
p < .05). These correlations present evidence of positive relationships between self-directed learning levels, strategic thinking levels and leader effectiveness.
Correlations were also found for self-directed learning readiness and each
of the three subscales of strategic thinking, reframing, reflecting and systems
thinking, and the leader effectiveness measure; and for the reframing subscale of
strategic thinking with leader effectiveness. Responses to open-ended questions
reflected the use of self-directed learning strategies and strategic thinking by the
sample in preparing for challenges in education and leadership.
Correlations between strategic thinking and leader effectiveness were
moderated by ethnicity. Levels of correlation between self-directed learning
readiness and strategic thinking were moderated by the variables of years of
AYP membership and number of branches supervised, the level of performance
rating desired, and years of similar employment.
The YMCA directors in this study were determined to be effective leaders
who used strategic thinking and self-directed learning strategies to meet the
demands of their leadership roles.
The results indicate that individuals who exhibit self-directed learning
tendencies can be expected to use strategic thinking strategies; that those who
are strategic thinkers reflect self-directed learning behavior; and that leader
effectiveness is supported by the possession of strategic thinking and selfdirected
learning skills.

This dissertation presents an analytical framework based on the processes of social identification
and self-categorization as mechanisms through which team-focused leadership and group affective tone
separately and jointly contribute to team outcomes at both the team and team member levels A review of
relevant literature supported the development of the research hypotheses The hypotheses were tested using
multilevel structural equation modeling and single level path analysis to tease out significant effects of
team leadership and affective processes in teams
The results of single level path analyses demonstrated that leaders and team members contribute to
the affective tone of a team through the sharing of emotions and processes of emotional contagion and
norms of emotional expression via identification and self-categorization processes Both individual leaders
(vertical team-focused leadership) and team members sharing in leadership processes (shared team-focused
leadership) were found to distinctly contribute to group affective tone and the important team outcomes of
team performance, creativity, trust, team member engagement, team member identification, and team
member citizenship behaviors The results further demonstrated that the affective tone of a team (group
affective tone) has direct effects on team member outcomes, and mediates direct effects on outcomes of
team-focused leadership Group affective tone was found to mediate the effects of both vertical and shared
team-focused leadership on team member engagement, identification, citizenship behaviors, and team trust The results are relevant to both researchers interested in studying leadership and affective
processes in teams and to management practitioners interested in understanding contributions to team
effectiveness The consideration of both team-focused leadership and the affective tone of a team matter in
team effectiveness The emotional climate of a team appears to be important to team member outcomes
more so than team-level outcomes Therefore, what managers consider to be important indicators of team
effectiveness (either team-level or team member-level) determine the actions of a manager to monitor and
strengthen the positive affective tone of a team Limitations are discussed and future research directions are
provided to extend the observations of this study

The field of nonprofit management education is nascent and little of the research has extended into the area of leadership as a requisite competency for nonprofit leaders. Likewise, the research on leadership has not been widely extended to the nonprofit sector. Prior research suggests a broad range of competencies are necessary to lead in the dynamic, complex environment of nonprofits, the exercise of which differs from that in the for-profit sector.

The highly complex role of the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) requires the refinement of a multitude of competencies and leadership skills in this unprecedented time of healthcare reform. As the senior most patient advocate in our medical centers the CNO is responsible for translating research into practice, policy development and implementation creating value based patient-centric strategies to transform health care.
The ability to sustain and thrive in this role is essential in repositioning nursing as a
knowledgeable discipline actively contributing to the redesign of healthcare. This exploratory descriptive phenomenological study was designed to explore and
describe the elements that contribute to the sustainment of CNOs in their practice of
nurse executive leadership. Ray’s (1989) Theory of Bureaucratic Caring, Authentic
Leadership Theory (Wong & Cummings, 2009), and Resiliency Theory (Earvolino-
Ramirez (2007) provided the theoretical lens through which this study was grounded. Semi-structured telephonic interviews were conducted with twenty CNOs all with
two consecutive years experience in their current role. Six themes emerged after thorough content analysis which describes the lived experience of sustainment. Each theme was supported by several subthemes. Themes emerged as: Loving the Profession, Having a Broader Impact Reflecting on One’s Own Work, Learning to Manage Conflict, Maintaining Work/Life Balance Working with Supportive Leaders.

Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, has suffered through
centuries of disenfranchisement, poverty, slavery, environmental disasters, internecine
racial prejudice, and foreign infringement. Its people won independence from France in
1804 but only at the cost of huge human and financial losses. Since then, Haiti has
known little freedom or democracy. In 1991, the first truly democratically elected
president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was elected (with a 67% majority). Nine months later,
he was deposed by a military coup d'état. During that time and the chaotic years that
followed, groups of human rights observers traveled to Haiti in an attempt to record and
report publically, officially, what was actually happening to the Haitian people and their
institutions. Although much has been written about the country during that period, there
have been no studies focused on the human rights observers who were intimately
involved with the people and the country. These groups and other groups participating in similar situations have not been studied and, yet, research in that area might provide
important insights in the field of social justice. It is important to identify what encourages individuals to become a part of the effort to make a positive difference in the lives of others, in the most adverse situations, the process by which human rights observers become engaged, and how that engagement affects their lives both during and after their in-country experiences. The purpose of this phenomenological study is to see if there are commonalities (e.g., socio-cultural influence, self-directed learning readiness, etc.) among the initial in-country experiences of several human rights observers and further to discover what, if any, effect those experiences had on their leadership styles.
The study identified socio-cultural influences (self-directed learning readiness and
familial, religious, educational impact); motivational factors; methods of processing the
experience (immediate responses of connectedness/love and reasoned responses
involving individual and group reflection); and multiple outcomes (spiritualty, social
action, and creativity). The overarching findings included identification of
transformational learning in the participants and the evolution of their leadership from the servant model into a transformational/chaos model, including reflection in and on action as an operating context.

Research has shown that women are reluctant to act as or perceive themselves as leaders over men (Eagly & Karau, 1991, Snodgrass & Rosenthal, 1984). Other research has shown how expectations about behavior can elicit such behavior (Rosenthal & Rubin, 1978). This thesis combines these two bodies of research in an attempt to create an environment where women emerge as leaders over men. Mixed- and same-sex dyads were given bogus leadership expectancies, and then interacted in a team task. Leadership performance, perceptions, and predictions were measured after the task. It was hypothesized and found that expectancies can overcome sex role stereotypes regarding leadership.

This study attempted to answer three questions: How is servant leadership defined? What are the characteristics of servant leadership? Can the presence of these characteristics within organizations be assessed through a written instrument? There were two main parts to the study. Part one involved a Delphi study to determine the characteristics of servant leadership and part two used these characteristics to construct the Servant Organizational Leadership Assessment (SOLA) instrument. The three-part Delphi survey was conducted with fourteen authorities from the field of servant leadership. The panel was asked to name and rate the characteristics of the servant leader. All characteristics that were rated from "Necessary" to "'Essential" in the final survey were used in the construction of the SOLA instrument. A significant (p < .05) decrease was found in the interquartile range between round two and round three, indicating a move toward consensus. Seventy-four items were written for the field test version of the SOLA and six items were added to assess job satisfaction, for a total of 80 items. The field test was conducted with 828 people from 41 organizations representing various states in the U.S. and one organization from the Netherlands. The instrument had an estimated reliability of .98. One way ANOVA and correlation tests were run with demographic data and the SOLA score and also with the job satisfaction score. A significant (p < .01) positive correlation of .653 was found between the SOLA score and the job satisfaction score. A factor analysis revealed a two factor solution composed of organization assessment items and leadership assessment items. Potential subscores were considered, but there was a high correlation between the scales; therefore use of the overall SOLA score is recommended for research purposes. This study provides an operational definition of servant leadership and the servant organization as well as a list of the characteristics of servant leadership, as determined by a panel of experts. The SOLA was found to be a reliable tool for measuring servant leadership in organizations and will be useful for further research as well as diagnosis in organizations.