Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Organizatinal behavior'

O presente estudo teve como principal objetivo demonstrar o uso da análise de sistemas comportamentais, mais especificamente, o Modelo de Engenharia de Sistemas Comportamentais, no aprimoramento dos serviços prestados pelo Centro para o Autismo e Inclusão Social, da USP. Os objetivos específicos foram: definir a missão do CAIS; reorganizar os processos a partir da definição da missão; estabelecer indicadores de feedback dos principais subsistemas que compõem o sistema processador e descrever o passo a passo da aplicação das ferramentas da Análise de Sistemas Comportamentais. O método utilizado foi a pesquisa-ação, caracterizada por ser um tipo de pesquisa social, com base empírica, que é concebida e realizada em estreita associação com uma ação ou com a resolução de um problema coletivo e no qual os pesquisadores e os participantes representativos da situação ou do problema estão envolvidos de modo cooperativo ou participativo. Os principais resultados foram o estabelecimento de dados de feedback do sistema processador, que antes do estudo não existiam, como os dados de pré e pós-testes realizados pelos terapeutas antes e após as aulas, os resultados das avaliações em tentativas discretas às quais os terapeutas foram submetidos, dados sobre a frequência em aula e sua correlação com os resultados nas avaliações. Os resultados do sistema receptor foram informações sobre os egressos, quanto à atuação na área do autismo e os resultados de avaliação das crianças no VB-Mapp, antes e após o início das intervenções. Outro resultado do presente trabalho foi a criação de uma disciplina específica de graduação, intitulada Análise do Comportamento Aplicada ao Autismo, garantindo maior visibilidade e estabilidade do trabalho realizado pelo CAIS e, consequentemente, maior número de alunos de graduação matriculados semestralmente na disciplina. Conclui-se que, de todas as etapas do modelo de intervenção utilizado, a fundamental foi a definição do macrossistema e da missão do CAIS. A partir dessas definições, vários processos foram redesenhados e tarefas distribuídas, possibilitando a coleta de dados de feedback, fundamental para o planejamento e decisões tomadas a cada mudança de semestre
The main objective of the present study was to demonstrate the use of the behavioral systems analysis, more specifically, the Behavioral Systems Engineering Model, in the improvement of the services provided by the Center for Autism and Social Inclusion, (CAIS-USP). The specific objectives were: defining the mission of the CAIS; reorganize the processes from the definition of the mission; establishing feedback indicators of the main subsystems that compose the processor system and describe the step-by-step application of Behavioral Systems Analysis tools. The method applied was action research, characterized by being a type of social research, with empirical basis, that is conceived and carried out in close association with an action or with the resolution of a collective problem and in which the researchers and the representative participants (situation or problem) are involved in a cooperative or participative manner. The main results were the establishment of feedback data from the processor system, which before the study did not exist, such as the pre and post test data performed by the therapists before and after classes, the results of the discrete trial assessment to which the therapists were submitted to, data on the frequency in class and its correlation with the results of evaluations. The results of the receptor system were information about the alumni, regarding the performance in the autism area and the results of the children´s assessments in the VB-Mapp, before and after the beginning of the interventions. Another result of the present study was the creation of a specific undergraduate discipline, entitled Applied of Behavior Analysis to Autism, guaranteeing greater visibility and stability of the work carried out by CAIS and, consequently, a higher number of undergraduate students enrolled in each semester. Considering all the stages of the applied intervention model, the conclusion is that the most fundamental one was the definition of the macrosystem and the mission of the CAIS. From these definitions, several processes had been redesigned and tasks were distributed, allowing the collection of feedback data, fundamental for the planning and decisions taken in each semester

The literature on person-organization (P-O) fit has been plagued with inconsistencies in the conceptualization, operationalization and measurement of P-O fit. Despite numerous studies examining the relationship between P-O fit and outcomes, these inconsistencies in measurement and operationalization have led to mixed findings concerning specific individual outcomes. The goal of this dissertation was to address some of these inconsistencies by examining the relationship between P-O fit, using perceived and subjective measures of fit, and attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. In addition, previously unexplored mediators of the P-O fit-outcome relationships were examined. Although not formally hypothesized, it was believed that the magnitude of the relationships would differ such that perceived fit would have a stronger relationship with attitudinal outcomes than subjective fit, and that subjective fit would have a stronger relationship with job performance than perceived fit.

A sample of 188 entry-level managerial employees, working in a national transportation organization, was used to examine the relationship between P-O fit and job attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction, commitment, organizational citizenship behaviors and turnover intentions) and supervisor rated job performance. The results of this dissertation suggest that perceived fit is related to positive attitudes and better job performance. Furthermore, perceived organizational support partially mediates the relationship between perceived fit and the attitudinal outcomes studied, lending partial support for hypotheses. Role ambiguity was also examined as a potential mediator between fit and job performance, however, although perceived fit was significantly related to role ambiguity, the results did not support the relationship between role ambiguity and job performance. Tests of the specific hypotheses for subjective fit were not supported. Instead, the results indicated that organizational values, rather than fit between person and organizational values, were a strong predictor of attitudinal outcomes.

This study examined the relationship between employees’ Organizational Commitment and the perception of the management of deviant behavior and examined if Organizational Culture moderated the strength of the relationship between Organizational Commitment and the perception of the management of deviant behavior. Three assessments were administered either electronically or in hardcopy form and were completed by 114 participants who were employed adults ages 18 and above, managed by someone else, in the southeastern U.S. The Organizational Culture Inventory (OCI) developed by Cooke and Lafferty (2013) measured overall Organizational Culture of employees at an individual level of assessment. The instrument used to measure employee Organizational Commitment was the TCM Employee Commitment Survey (Wellspring Worldwide, LLC, 2010). The instrument used to measure the perception of the management of deviant behavior was derived from a non-self-report measure created by Stewart, Bing, Davidson, Woehr, and McIntyre (2009). A moderated multiple regression analysis determined that the relationship between the perception of the management of deviant behavior and organizational commitment was not predicted by a constructive, aggressive/defensive, or passive/defensive culture style. The study found that the perception of the management of deviant behavior did not have a statistically significant predictive relationship with regards to organizational commitment, nor did workplace culture moderate the perceptions or attitudes of employees. The empirical evidence provided in this study enhanced the body of knowledge related to workplace culture. Specifically, the results of the study provided quantitative information, which provided a valuable understanding that a macro-variable such as workplace culture does not necessarily attenuate the relationship between perception of management and organizational commitment within certain diverse workplaces.

This transcendental phenomenological study sought to understand how the followers of authentic leaders in a multi-national healthcare organization experienced well-being. Twenty followers of 5 authentic leaders participated in the research and shared their lived experiences. Followers reported they experienced workplace well-being by maintaining work-life balance, feeling fulfilled/doing meaningful work, and feeling appreciated/recognized for their contributions. Workplace well-being was experienced as a result of their perceptions of feeling trusted and cared about as a whole being and not just an employee by their leaders. Followers also reported that the organizational culture provided support for leaders to demonstrate behaviors of authentic leadership, caring, trust, appreciation, respect, valuing others, openness, honesty, and transparency, which led them to feel an attachment to their leaders and organizations. Followers were motivated to exhibit organizational citizenship behaviors by providing extra or discretionary effort beyond their expected role requirements. These findings indicate that authentic leaders can provide value by cultivating well-being in the workplace. Findings also suggest recommendations for establishing organizational best practices.

There is not a common, agreed upon definition of authentic leadership. There are varying opinions as to whether authenticity is a trait or a style; however, most scholars believe authenticity is a purpose and value based characteristic (Gardner, Cogliser, Davis, & Dickens, 2011) that is developed over time (George, 2003). Transparency is a core concept of authentic leadership, and situational awareness is a critical skill for leaders to determine the degree of transparency that they should demonstrate. There is limited theoretical and empirical research on how transparency and self-monitoring can be used in conjunction with situational leadership and situational awareness theory. This study measures the impact of a leader’s expression of transparency on follower’s confidence in his or her ability with consideration of a number of covariates. The findings of this study are intended to help advance authentic leadership theory with specific focus on situational awareness and transparency as core concepts of authenticity. Implications are discussed on the advancement of leadership theory, authentic leadership, and transparency as a core concept of authenticity.

Data collection used Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and yielded 1,006 global participants who met the inclusion criteria. In general, higher degrees of leadership transparency yield higher levels of follower confidence. Situation can impact how expressions of transparency impact follower confidence. Thus, situational awareness and situational leadership are critical competencies for leaders to use transparency effectively. Leader-Member Exchange does not, generally, moderate the relationship between a leader’s transparency and his or her follower’s confidence. There was statistical significance in the difference in responses between geographies, but there were not statistically significant differences in the results when considering gender, years of work experience, education, age, and race in the US.

Leaders are frequently called to apologize on behalf of their organizations, in some cases skillfully resolving episodes of failure while meeting the unique, competing needs of diverse stakeholders. However, too often leaders handle apology poorly, exacerbating tense situations and alienating key constituents. This study is an examination of the practice of apology as a leadership behavior in an organizational context. To answer the question, How might the existing literatures on apology be examined, integrated and refocused to apply specifically to leaders operating within an organizational context ? the study provides a meta-analysis of the diverse literatures that address the practice of apology. Examining literature from theology and philosophy, the social sciences, law, public relations and organizational management, the study builds a framework to understand and evaluate apology and its appropriate application to episodes of organizational failure. The literature integration and analysis demonstrates a diversity of perspectives on the definition of apology, its purpose and goals, the modes through which apology is delivered, the process or steps involved in apology, and the alternatives to apology. Using the adaptive leadership framework and a stakeholder management perspective on organization, the research is organized around the unique and distinct needs of organizational leaders. The Organizational Apology Model, offered in Chapter 5, provides a robust set of tools and examples designed to support organizational leaders considering the practice of apology.

Managing the behavioral needs of individuals with developmental disabilities has been a long-standing concern for group home managers and direct care staff. Consultee-centered consultation has a history of documented benefits for children in schools and was theorized to be beneficial to adults with developmental disabilities residing in group homes. Adults with disabilities continue to experience behavioral difficulties while staff lack the training to maintain quality support services. Caplan’s consultee-centered consultation (1993) bridges the gap between client centered behavioral consultation and consultee effectiveness in addressing client behavioral concerns. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of consultee-centered consultation on client behavior and the group home environment. Three community-based group homes were chosen to participate in this study using matched assignment. Participants included ten clients with challenging behaviors, two consultees (managers of group-homes), three data collectors and direct-care staff working with clients. This study showed encouraging support of a decrease in the frequency of challenging behaviors exhibited by clients residing in two group homes that received consultee-centered consultation for twelve and six weeks. The level of job satisfaction for employees participating in this study did not demonstrate change over the course of the 15-week study. Despite a lack of support for a change in employee satisfaction, both consultees receiving consultee-centered consultation reported that consultation helped them to address staff concerns and improvements in their level of confidence and skills.

In recent decades, the study of leadership has focused on the qualities of leaders rather than on those of followers. However, it has been argued that there can be no meaningful construct of leadership without a coherent understanding of followership and group behavior. While the body of literature is replete with information on the study of groupthink and conformity as it relates to followership, the neurobiological drivers of such behavior remain under-investigated. The purpose of this work was to investigate the neurobiological basis of groupthink (conformity of thought) as a component of followership. Specifically, this work seeks to investigate six research questions: How does cognitive rigidity and ideological commitment interact to influence groupthink, does the presence or absence of decision-making protocol affect groupthink outcomes, to what extent does the presence or absence of a leader, as well as leader bias drive groupthink, and how does the brain respond in each of these conditions with regard to groupthink and conformity. Two separate experiments were used. The first experiment served as a pilot condition to test the efficacy of a hypothetical vignette. However, an opportunity was seen to test an interactional matrix of cognitive rigidity and ideological commitment (the first research question). In the second experiment, the research questions were tested in a similar mock decision-making group using the same vignette. However, quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) baseline pretest data and posttest data were taken and compared to assess for changes in the brain related to groupthink. Both studies utilized confederates to form the groups to which the researcher measured conformity. While no statistically significant relationships were found directly for any of the research questions, the research did show some interesting patterns. The use of decision-making protocol did seem to slow down conformity when taken into account with other variables, such as leader style. Additionally, consistent with the pre-existing literature, patterns were seen in study two with regard to changes in the frontal cortex, including the medial frontal gyrus, and anterior cingulate. Implications for organizations and churches as well as suggestions for future studies are presented in the final chapter.

The literature supports that as leaders pursue personal and professional growth, they achieve a sense of well-being, become healthier, more engaged, and more productive. This study explores how Christian leaders who have a strong core spiritual identity experience growth toward their best-self. According to the literature, the best-self is a positive psychology approach to personal growth that utilizes a person’s natural strengths and skills to describe one’s personal best. Adult identity development is multifaceted and influenced by numerous factors. A spiritual identity built upon strong beliefs results in a salient identity that influences every part of one’s life. Utilizing a generic qualitative methodology and a snowball sampling strategy, eight participants were interviewed. Multiple consistent themes were identified in the data: (a) an integration of spiritual identity (b) enhanced self-awareness (c) saliency of spiritual identity, (c) roles and motivations defined by faith, (d) altruism, (e) role identity as a calling, (f) faith-based decision-making, (g) intrapersonal and interpersonal prayer, a personal relationship with God, (h) the need to be supported by like-minded individuals, (i) the alignment of organizational values and personal values, and (j) personal growth defined by God. One unexpected finding was the way the participants defined best-self. Based on their narratives, the participants viewed their best-self, including their talents and abilities, as being defined by God, stating that to become the person that God designed them to be would be achieving best-self. The significance of spirituality in the workplace was discovered through the participants’ experiences. This was also supported in the literature. These themes are presented and explored along with recommendations for future research.

This study addressed the problem of conflict in the workplace as experienced by leader-member exchanges (LMXs). The background and significance of this study concerned the research problem and questions asking about systems conflict in the workplace according to LMXs. The study used a generic qualitative research design; participants were obtained online via purposive and snowball sampling. Participants who were Facebook users were asked to describe their conflict experiences in the workplace that were then thematically analyzed. Results showed that either systems conflict in LMXs described leadership and followership; or that types of members in such exchanges described conflict systems. Addressing the problem by answering the research question fills a knowledge gap that the scientific community and organizational leaders might use to address systems conflict in the workplace.

Keywords: generic, qualitative, systems, conflict, leader-member exchanges.

There are more self-made, billionaire entrepreneurs than billionaires who simply inherited their fortunes, but the majority of startup ventures fail within five years. A possible factor in business success or failure could be the emotional intelligence (EI) level of the entrepreneur, defined broadly as the ability to perceive, interpret, and manage emotions. Although there is substantial literature on EI applications in established organizations, there are few empirical studies exploring the predictive value of EI in the context of success for startup entrepreneurs. The purpose of this study was to determine whether EI scores can predict how successful an entrepreneur will be using objective success criteria, as defined in this study (Hypothesis 1), and which, if any, EI competencies are particularly relevant for entrepreneurs (Hypothesis 2). Hypotheses were tested using Spearman correlation and Ordinal regression, with sensitivity testing with Pearson correlation and Ordinary Least Squares regression, respectively. Each analysis controlled for the entrepreneur’s demographic profile and subjective success measures. Regression analysis (n=31); ordinal analysis and correlation analysis revealed a statistically significant effect of only one of the 15 EI scores (Empathy) on entrepreneurial success, as defined in this study, but the exponentiated coefficients from the ordinal regression indicate that improving Overall EI scores can increase Overall Success. Specifically, six of the 15 EI scores were more than two times more likely to increase Overall Success scores (Empathy, Interpersonal Relationships, Social Responsibility, Flexibility, Stress Tolerance, and Optimism), which is consistent with Hypothesis 2. This study is one of the first to empirically examine the EI construct in the context of entrepreneurial success with a population of entrepreneurs seeking assistance using the EQ-i 2.0 emotional intelligence assessment. A key implication of the results is that teachers, emergency services personnel, legal and financial services personnel, even sports coaches and single parents, can all develop competencies to make them more successful in their chosen endeavor, have a sense of fulfillment, and increase the success rate of industries that go far beyond entrepreneurs.

Multiple studies have shown meaning as a driver of employee engagement. The literature indicates that the primary focus of employee engagement research has been on engagement’s performance outcomes rather than on the conditions such as meaning that influence that performance. Along with contributing to the body of engagement research, this study will benefit employees’ and managers’ work experience.

The purpose of this study is to understand how highly engaged managers and employees discover meaning in their work. The phenomenological qualitative research method was chosen to explore and describe the individual managers’ and employees’ lived experiences of finding meaning in work. The company chosen as the setting for the study invited 10 highly engaged employees and managers to participate in the study. Qualitative data was collected from 10 forty-five minute interviews. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) enabled in-depth exploration of the participants’ descriptions of the research phenomenon.

In this study, participants described a progressive discovery of meaning in work. Participant comments focused on the conditions favorable to finding, discovering, and experiencing meaning. Four major themes emerged: (a) leadership, (b) culture, (c) impact and (d) the work.

The employees and managers most often mentioned appreciation for their leadership, especially about how leadership lives the core values. When describing the culture, most comments were about how leadership, managers, and employees contribute to the culture. The culture is intentionally created rather than merely received. Impact is the third major component of a meaningful work experience. This impact includes others, the business, and the greater good. For most, making a difference in other employees’ lives was most meaningful. Almost as important as impact, is the work itself: serving other employees while doing what they do best and like doing most.

The experience of meaning in work not only benefits the employees, it benefits the company. Interview participants expressed a desire to work harder, deliver better quality, continuously improve, grow, develop, increase responsibility and to continue making a difference. Participants also described how they feel experiencing meaning in work: fulfilled, happy, enjoy their work, secure, have fun, celebrate and feel better about themselves.

Understanding organizational behavior (OB) has profoundly influenced organizational performance and how people behave in organizations. Researchers have suggested various micro and macro organizational behaviors to be the impetus for high-performing organizations. Through a policy capturing approach this study builds on these findings by specifically examining the perceptions of micro and macro organizational behaviors in an organizational setting. The participants (n =181) completed a Micro and Macro Organizational Behavior Perceptions Questionnaire. Results showed perception differences exist between subordinates and supervisors. Additionally, participants perceived job satisfaction to be the most important micro organizational behavior, whereas organizational design was perceived to be the most important macro organizational behavior. However when comparing hierarchal positions in the organization, supervisors weighted leadership as the most important and subordinates weighted job satisfaction as the most important organizational behavior. While these findings only scratch the surface as to how organizational behavior is perceived, the implications challenge leaders to close the OB perception gap. Correspondingly, organizational behavior thinking may result in improving individual and organizational performance.

The purpose of this qualitative, single case study was to understand leadership behaviors that motivate internal stakeholders to trust a leader’s vision, embrace change, facilitate employee willingness to passionately implement actions needed for an organizational change initiative and willingly sustain a change initiative. A sample of 20 internal stakeholders was studied, five leaders and 15 followers within an organization of 800+ employees, located in the southwestern region of the United States, which is currently undergoing a change initiative. The research questions were based upon Kurt Lewin’s three-step model of change: unfreezing, transitioning, and refreezing. This research asked how leadership behaviors facilitated employee willingness to trust a leader’s vision and embrace change, passionately implement actions needed for a change, and sustain a change initiative, making an implemented initiative the new normal for the organization. Three themes emerged to address the research questions: 1) know your audience and walk your talk; 2) communication, vision, trust, and buy-in; and 3) residual passion and perseverance. Findings suggested that leadership behaviors influence internal stakeholders in relation to a change initiative and that leaders who are hands-on, consistent, and demonstrate a clear vision increased the possibility of gleaning passion and trust to increase the potential for success during an organizational change initiative.

As organizations struggle to become and remain competitive, the engagement of employees may be a critical enabler in achieving organizational goals, enhancing organizational competitiveness, and improving employee well-being. To this end, scholars have identified a continuing need for research focused on organizational factors within the purview of managers to improve the engagement of employees (Alagaraja & Shuck, 2015; Coyle-Shapiro & Shore, 2007; Eldor & Vigoda-Gadot, 2017; Oswick, 2015; Whittington et al., 2017; Whittington & Galpin, 2010). Using the employee engagement framework proposed by Shuck and Reio (2011), this research examined the relation among employee alignment, perceived organizational support, and employee engagement in an organizational context. The research site was the human resources department of a not-for-profit health care organization located in the southern region of the United States. Census sampling was used to identify the actual sample (Fritz & Morgan, 2010) of 109 full-time nonsupervisory employees whose data was used in the analysis. Three self-report survey instruments were used: (a) the Employee Engagement Scale (Shuck, Adelson, et al., 2017), (b) the Stringer Strategic Alignment Scale (Stringer, 2007), and (c) the Survey of Perceived Organizational Support (Eisenberger et al., 1986). Bivariate correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to test the research hypotheses. The results provided evidence of partial support for the researcher’s hypotheses, with four of the seven hypotheses supported. Evidence was found for a positive relation among employee alignment, perceived organizational support, and employee engagement, as well as the statistically significant contribution of employee alignment in explaining unique variance in employee engagement (i.e., 23.4%). Contrary to expectations, the results did not provide evidence that perceived organizational support had a statistically significant direct effect on employee engagement. Additionally, the results did not provide statistically significant evidence of either a moderation or mediation effect of perceived organizational support on the relation between employee alignment and employee engagement. This study provides preliminary evidence that suggests that employee alignment, and to a lesser extent perceived organizational support, are two factors within the purview of managers that can be useful in creating the requisite organizational environment in which engagement may thrive.

This research explored the topic of team building for a multicultural team and investigated the impact on group cohesion. The participants were members of a work group, each of a different nationality. Review of existing literature revealed a list of team building elements most suited for the multicultural context. A team building program incorporating those elements and customized for the participant group was designed and implemented. Pre and post survey data showed no significant difference in group cohesion, although there was a slight increase in the score for task cohesion. Qualitative interview data, however, suggested a positive impact on group cohesion, with the impact perceived to be greater on task cohesion than social cohesion. Elements of the team building program that were found to be the most impactful were: it provided an opportunity to generate a deeper awareness of others, it provided an opportunity to generate deeper self-awareness, it provided a platform for team collaboration, and it contained fun and interesting activities.

The deep-seated qualities of the psychological sense of community (PSOC) are sometimes considered vital to human function and without them we would suffer isolation, loneliness, depression, and alienation (Sarason, 1974; Pretty, Andrews, & Collett, 1994). In the late 1980s and early 1990s studies of the psychological sense of community began in the workplace (Pretty & McCarthy, 1991; Klein & D’Aunno, 1986. Understanding this phenomenon, what it is, and the implications for those who feel a sense of community and those who do not can be a strength or benchmark for teams and groups of geographically dispersed organizations to build models for improvement. While PSOC is generally measured by an individual’s perception of a referent community to which they belong, cohesion is the collective look at PSOC (Buckner, 1988; E. E. Sampson, 1988; R. J. Sampson, 1991). This study evaluates the sense of community in the context of a geographically dispersed community, where PSOC is both relational and locational. A mixed methods approach to the case study is done through the use of surveys, ethnographic observation, and interviews. Key findings in this study include 16 unique descriptive characteristics for FSPSOC, a strong linear correlation between cohesion and the PSOC, and ambiguity in the term community. In addition, it was established that employees perceive geographic dispersion as directly impacting PSOC.

PURPOSE. The purpose of this study was to identify the career benefits and calculate the return on investment (ROI) of unpaid volunteer leadership as perceived by chapter leaders in a professional talent development industry association. The definition of career benefits was adapted from Hirschi’s Career Resources Model, which includes: social capital, human capital, career identity and psychological resources (2012). Additionally, this study used the ROI Institute’s ROI MethodologyTM to identify and calculate the costs and benefits of volunteer leadership to determine the ROI of time served as an unpaid volunteer leader (2013).

METHODS. This descriptive mixed-method study gathered quantitative and qualitative data via an online survey and semi-structured telephone interviews from 40 volunteer chapter leaders of the Association for Talent Development (ATD).

FINDINGS. There were multiple positive findings and several levels of ROI data documenting the strong value of volunteer leadership in a professional talent development association, and also demonstrating that there is very positive return from giving back to the profession. By giving their time and sometimes their money, volunteer leaders reaped multiple career benefits such as skill development, deeper relationships, publishing, contracts, speaking opportunities, new jobs and promotions. These specific career benefits resulted in a very significant positive financial ROI of 246%.

CONCLUSIONS. This study proved the paradox of volunteer leadership — often the main motivator is to give back, however what volunteer leaders receive is so much more. There is a strong tangible return on investment, as well as numerous intangible career benefits for serving as a volunteer leader in a professional talent development association. RECOMMENDATIONS. This study provides ideas for leveraging the value of volunteer leadership for individuals, associations and organizations. Individuals can improve or enhance their social capital, human capital, psychological resources and career identity. Associations can use this data to provide clear evidence of the value of volunteer leadership. Finally, corporations can encourage volunteer leadership as a tool to enhance or accelerate the leadership development of employees while also supporting professional industry associations.

From the perspective of Depth Psychology, each of us to some degree suffers neurotic complexes of inferiority, superiority, and blind spots in our internal and external awareness. Hence, managing any organization requires managing oneself, or at least understanding the psychological processes involve. As demonstrated throughout this study, not only our inherent functional (neurophysiological) blindness but the acquired blindnesses of hubris, bias, exclusionary modes of perception, and fixed formulae of operation and administration affect our clarity of thought, the lucidity of our decision-making. And perhaps more so for leaders and managers vested in performance and profit: their capacities to listen, learn, interact, implement, recognize and pursue opportunities, recognize and address errors, are materially and decisively affected by the one-sided agenda of business. As argued throughout this study, a central dilemma of economic success entails our overtraining in supposedly objective and obsessively quantitative rational thinking, and our undertraining in purportedly subjective and typically derided emotional qualitative thinking.

Complexity and turbulence create intensifying pressures on 21 ^st-century organizations seeking growth through globalization and operating efficiencies. Organizations are responding by engaging dispersed teams in expanding operations and enabling efficiencies from “anywhere, any time, any form” teaming. The use of dispersed teaming enables new opportunities for organizational growth; however, may introduce the need for change in the organization’s leadership mindset and approach to leading. The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory research study is to explore and seek a deeper understanding of the emergence of leadership in dispersed teams and the resulting points of tension that potentially affect the process of leading and team effectiveness as organizations address complexity. Findings from the study are based on the lived experiences of virtual team leaders and members and provide insights on the theoretical and practical guiding practices exploring the supportive and hindering forces that enable an ideal environment for the act of leading shifting from an entity or person to a shared process with members of dispersed teams. The findings explore the importance of relational leadership and the role of appointed leaders when fostering shared leading. The outcomes of the research provide insight to organizations, leaders, and members of dispersed teams on the importance of operating collectively in an environment where individuals can maximize their capabilities despite geographical separation; while understanding the importance of situational readiness and adaptability when seeking team effectiveness. The research study provides theory describing the ideal aspirational environment that will enable shared leading and guiding principles that introduce practical considerations reflecting the situational realities, ambiguities, and humanistic complexities influencing today’s organization when seeking growth and effective outcomes through dispersed teaming.

How do organizations create an environment to motivate their employees to be healthy, productive, and competent decision makers? My dissertation identifies the underlying factors that could prevent organizations from achieving their goals, and takes on three research projects to address such barriers to successful organizational functioning. To provide a theoretical foundation for my research, I bring together conceptual and methodological streams from various disciplines including organizational behavior, behavioral decision research, and cognitive and affective psychology. I then employ multiple methods, including laboratory experiments involving psychophysiology as well as field research. Three essays compose this dissertation. My first essay examines the role of emotion-regulation processes in moral decision making. That is, emotion-regulation strategies (concealing and rethinking emotions) influence the decision maker’s preference for utilitarian choice. Using a process-dissociation approach, I also show emotion regulation selectively reduces deontological inclinations, leading to greater preference for utilitarian decisions. My second essay utilizes data from a large-scale field data as well as data from laboratory and online labor market. This research shows how seemingly irrelevant, uncontrollable factors—such as rain—may influence employee productivity by eliminating potential cognitive distractions. My third essay focuses on an intervention designed to invoke individuals’ psychosocial resources. Using a method called the Reflected Best-Self Exercise, I empirically test a set of hypotheses at the individual and team level. This research demonstrates that this intervention not only has positive health and stress-buffering effects, but also has implications for individual-level creativity, team-level functioning and performance. Across three essays, I argue that organizational performance should be understood in terms of the functioning of individual employees and teams. Thus, my work lays groundwork for organizational leaders to counteract the three barriers to organizational functioning.

Organizational citizenship behaviors are extra-role behaviors that are neither enforced on the basis of formal role obligations nor guarantee compensation such as promotion or salary. Previous researches focused on organizational commitment as an antecedent and a predictor and organizational culture as a predictor of organizational citizenship behavior. However, there has not been any detailed research exploring the relationship between organizational citizenship behavior, organizational commitment, and organizational culture
which is the main purpose of this study. Moreover, this study searched the mediating effect of organizational commitment on the relationship between organizational culture and organizational commitment, organizational commitment as being one of the most prominent and potential mediators of the relationship between job characteristics and organizational citizenship behavior. A sample of 125 academicians from Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, was selected and conducted a survey. In accordance with the hypotheses, the results indicated, organizational culture with its several dimensions predicted organizational citizenship behavior and its dimension of civic virtue and sportsmanship. Organizational commitment predicted organizational citizenship behavior, whereas, only affective commitment dimension of organizational commitment predicted organizational citizenship behavior and the dimensions of OCB
altruism, civic virtue, conscientiousness, sportsmanship but not courtesy. The effect of organizational culture on organizational commitment was partially supported. It is supported that organizational culture and only its dimension of mission predicted organizational commitment, and its dimensions of affective and normative commitment. Finally, for the mediating role of organizational commitment, only affective commitment has a mediating role between organizational culture and organizational citizenship behavior.

Donor behavior in the non-profit organizational environment is a complex matrix of social influences that include social expectations from social media sites, direct cohort and peer influence, and perceptions of organizational performance, transparency and fundraising expenditures. A widespread general problem in non-profit organizations (NPOs) is that organizational members (cohorts) can exert an influence on the donor behavior of others, and organizational fundraising objectives can be adversely impacted. The purpose of this research was to identify those predictor characteristics that negatively influence donor behavior and would assist in minimizing costs associated with fundraising. I employed a quantitative study using a correlational design of multivariate analyses to identify a set of predictor characteristics originating from the influence of organizational cohorts on donor behavior. This study used a modified original survey to collect data from 244 non-randomized participants from the State of Colorado who donated to non-profit organizations (NPOs) in the last year.

A series of backward regressions produced five statistically significant models that showed positive correlations among the fifteen dependent variables that were included in the survey. In addition, the statistical evidence (p >.001) provided additional support for the three alternate hypotheses in all three research questions. In this study, I attempt to provide correlations that serve as predictor characteristics of cohort influence in the non-profit organizational environment. This data also provides additional information on donation behavior patterns for the three-key areas of interest: Donation Amounts, donation frequency, and volunteer hours. Additional research across other demographic and geographic areas is recommended.

Athletes are given many forms of advice about how to think in ways that promote persistence in the face of aversive and fatigue-producing events. This study evaluated the impact of different kinds of verbal statements on task persistence by athletes. Competitive CrossFit athletes from the Western United States were recruited to participate in one of two experiments. Experiment 1 employed a within subject, alternating treatments design (ATD); Experiment 2-used a pre-and-post group comparison. The ATD investigated the efficacy of three kinds of specific statements designed to increase performance during a demanding and stress-producing task: two were suggested by traditional sports psychology (a statement to focus on the task and a statement to distract from the task), and one suggested by Relational Frame Theory (RFT) and the concept of psychological flexibility (a statement to focus on willingness to persist in the face of aversive emotions). The pre/post group design aimed to replicate and statistically improve the power of the effects indicated in Experiment 1. Results from this program of research suggest that the statement focused on openness to experience improved task persistence significantly over baseline, and more so than a statement instructing athletes to distract themselves from the task. The willingness statement was also marginally more effective than the statement prompting the athletes to focus directly on the task.

Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) is considered behavior that benefits others, but is not a part of the employee’s job description. Research has indicated that OCB can be divided into two categories, behavior that is directed towards other individuals (OCBI) and behavior that is directed towards the organization (OCBO). Research has also suggested that there are three different motives behind OCB, impression management, prosocial values, and organizational concern. This study examines the relationship between the motives and the type of OCB that is performed. The results failed to indicate that motives matter in determining which type of OCB is performed. Additionally, participants in all three motives were more likely to engage in OCBO behavior than in OCBI behavior.

Una creciente literatura explora cómo las personas son afectadas por la organización, y también cómo las personas afectan a la organización con sus decisiones. Mi tesis contribuye a esta parte de la literatura investigando temas en este campo utilizando métodos experimentales. Más específicamente, mi trabajo examina cómo las personas son afectadas por ciertos sesgos y cómo estos sesgos afectan a los demás, así como a la organización; cómo eliminar el sesgo; Cómo se comportan las personas cuando se enfrentan con el dilema de contribuir a dos diferentes bienes públicos de eficiencia diferente; Cómo diferentes niveles de comunicación pueden ayudar a resolver o entorpecer este dilema; el efecto de interdependencia en el diseño organizacional en el funcionamiento; y el efecto de la desigualdad de pago en este tipo de diseño organizacional. En el segundo capítulo llevamos a cabo un experimento para estudiar si la manera en la que los empleados son asignados a un gerente afecta a las evaluaciones subjetivas que tienen los gerentes y los demás empleados sobre un empleado. Los empleados son o contratados por el gerente, o explícitamente no contratados por él y sin embargo asignados a él, o exógenos a él. Para los tres tipos nos encontramos con sesgo de escalada por los gerentes y demás empleados. Los gerentes exhiben un sesgo positivo hacia aquellos empleados que ha contratado él mismo, o una negativa hacia aquellos que no ha contratado explícitamente. El capítulo 3 es un estudio de seguimiento del capítulo dos. Con el presente capítulo se pretende añadir a estas conclusiones observando desde el punto de vista de los empleados que tienen que seguir trabajando en un entorno donde están positivamente o negativamente sesgados y cómo afecta a su rendimiento y decisiones futuras. Además, intentamos eliminar el sesgo y lo conseguimos. También encontramos que tener un gerente de positivamente sesgado hacia un empleado tiene un efecto positivo sobre el desempeño futuro de ese empleado, aun cuando el empleado es consciente de que la evaluación no está justificada. Estando negativamente sesgado en contra, sin embargo, no tiene ningún impacto significativo sobre el desempeño futuro del empleado, sin embargo aumenta la probabilidad de tomar la decisión de abandonar o sabotear, la cual costosa para todos los participantes. El capítulo cuatro reporta un conjunto de experimentos de bienes públicos, que realizamos, en el cual los participantes pertenecen tanto a un pequeño grupo "local" como a un grupo “global” más grande, y tienen diversos grados de comunicación dentro y entre estos grupos. Los resultados muestran que, cuando los participantes sólo pueden contribuir al bien público global, sube el nivel de las contribuciones a la misma vez que sube el nivel de comunicación. También encontramos que cuando se proporciona la opción de contribuir a ambos bienes públicos pero sin posibilidad de comunicación, los participantes prefieren mayoritariamente contribuir al bien público local, el cual es menos eficiente. Sin embargo, en la medida que los niveles de comunicación se agregan, tanto la contribución total como la contribución al bien público "global” aumentan. En el capítulo final, pretendemos crear un paradigma en el cual una única combinación común de tareas interdependientes y secuenciales pueda ser estudiada fácilmente. También intentamos determinar la importancia de la igualdad de pago bajo dos niveles diferentes de asignación justa en posiciones en nuestra tarea altamente interdependiente. Nuestros resultados muestran que incluso la desigualdad extrema en el pago no afecta significativamente una actuación de grupos de trabajo en tareas de esfuerzo real con alta interdependencia. Además, diferentes métodos de asignación de posiciones pueden efectuar al rendimiento en ciertas etapas de la cadena de producción, aunque no al rendimiento final.
Organizational behavior looks at how individuals behave in organizational settings, how they interact with other individuals within the setting, as well as how they behave with the organization itself. A growing literature explores how people are affected by the organization, as well as how they affect it with their decision making. My dissertation contributes to this body of literature by investigating topics in this field using experimental methods. More specifically, my work looks at how people are affected by certain biases and how these biases affect the others as well as the organization; ways to eliminate the bias; how individuals behave when faced with the dilemma of contributing to two different public goods of different efficiency; how different levels of communication within an organization can help solve or hinder this dilemma; the effect of interdependence in organizational design on performance; and the effect of payment inequality in this type of organizational design. In the second chapter of the thesis we conduct an experiment to study whether the way employees are assigned to a manager affects managers’ and co-employees’ subjective evaluations of employees. Employees are either be hired by the manager, explicitly not hired by him and nevertheless assigned to him, or exogenously assigned to him. For all three we find escalation bias both by managers and by co-employees. Managers exhibit a positive bias towards those employees they have hired or a negative one towards those they have explicitly not hired. Chapter three is a follow-up study to chapter two. The aim with this chapter is to add to those findings by looking at the bias from the point of view of the employees who have to continue working in an environment where they are positively or negatively biased against, and how it affects their future performance and decisions. Additionally, attempt to eliminate the bias, and succeed. We also find that having a manager being positively biased towards an employee has a positive effect on that employee’s future performance, even though the employee is aware that the evaluation is not justified. Being negatively biased against, though, does not have any significant impact on future performance, however it increases the likelihood of making a decision to leave or sabotage which is costly to all participants. Chapter four reports on a set of public goods experiments we conducted in which participants belong to both a smaller “local” group, and a larger “global” group and have various degrees of communication within and between these groups. The results show that, when participants can only contribute to the global public good, the level of contributions goes up as the level of communication goes up. We also found that when the option to contribute to both public goods is provided with no communication, participants heavily prefer to contribute to the less efficient local public good, however as levels of communication are added both the total contribution and the contribution into the “global” public good go up. In chapter five we aim to create a paradigm in which a unique yet common combination of sequential and pooled task interdependence can be studied naturally. We also aim to determine the importance of payment equality under two different levels of fair allocation into positions in our highly interdependent task. Our results show that even extreme payment inequality does not significantly affect a work-groups performance in real effort tasks with high interdependence. Additionally, different methods of allocating into positions can effect performances at certain stages of the production line, though not the final performance.

The aim of the thesis is to discuss the key driving factors influencing the success of innovation in high-tech firms based in Sweden. The thesis will discuss key determinant factors and how those factors are connecting with each other. Organizational innovation and Organizational culture relationship have been under research for many years. The success of organizational innovation can be captured by various factors. Similarly, the organizational culture can be captured by different factors. During the research process, we came across various theories and this thesis is based on Rao and Weintraub (2013) developed model. The model provides six building blocks with determinant factors as a foundation for the successful innovative organizational culture. The six major building blocks or factors are Values, Behaviours, Climate, Resources, Processes, and Success (Rao & Weintraub, 2013). The purpose of the study is to define the hypothetical relationship between some of the six major factors which drives the successful innovation in the organization. The authors have developed a model for successful organizational innovation based on their hypotheses. It will be a matter of great interest to reflect upon the employee's feedback regarding those factors that influence firm’s organizational culture and successful innovation. The model was analyzed using the results of the survey in which 230 employees participated from Swedish based high-tech firms, using Structural Equation Modelling (Hair et al, 2010). The research results reveal some of the key contributors towards the successful organizational innovation and the relation between the factors for the successful organizational innovation. The factor successful innovation is strongly dependent on the innovation processes factor and this is followed by some more relatively moderate contributing factors such as the leaders’ behaviours, and the organizational resources. The study reveals that there is a strong relation between the innovation success and the innovation processes. The innovation processes factor is positively connected to the organization values, the leaders’ behaviours, and the organization resources. The organization climate is weakly connected to the innovation processes as represented by the data sample collected which needs to be further investigated. The model identified in the thesis gives an understanding of how the six factors are connected to drive the successful organizational innovation.

This study explored the practices organizations employ to solicit and consider dissent, and the influence of these practices on organizational decision making. Although there is agreement in the literature that soliciting and considering dissent can lead to better decisions, there are significant gaps in the literature. The value of dissent has been studied for many years and specific recommendations have been made to encourage opposing views and seek alternatives when making organizational decisions. However, not many studies have addressed whether organizations are using these recommended practices or other models to encourage dissent.

A qualitative study using individual interviews was conducted to obtain an in-depth understanding of practices used in organizations. Thirty leaders across 19 organizations were interviewed individually to obtain the specifics of practices that influence dissent expression. Participant perceptions indicated that organizational history, culture and leadership are significant influencers in whether employees will dissent in an organization, but practices are necessary to bring about dissent. The data in this study also indicated that power and consequences are barriers to effective dissent and can be mitigated through dissent encouraging practices.

This research provides strong support for the literature and extends the literature by identifying methods and practices used by organizations that encourage dissent. Specific accounts from leaders in organizations show that dissent can a) lead to innovation; b) lead to avoidance of mistakes; and c) lead to mistakes when it is absent or not considered. Prior studies have addressed the value of dissent, but few qualitative studies provide examples of organizational decisions resulting from dissent. Additional findings from this study highlight 1) the importance of one-on-one and small group communication in soliciting dissenting views; 2) decision-making methods that provide an avenue to evoke and consider dissent; and 3) the emphasis on consideration of stakeholder views versus the devil’s advocate in decision making. Finally, practices that solicit dissent can be valuable even when dissent is not heeded, as they can lead to a quick reversal of a decision when necessary.

Contemporary organizational leadership scholars classify the ancient, persisting need to find one's true self as the study of authentic leadership. Authentic leadership scholarship is still very much in its infancy. There have been many calls by leading researchers to study it further in both qualitative and quantitative realms (Walumbwa, Avolio, Gardner, Wernsing, & Peterson, 2008). The current study explores authentic leadership factors qualitatively, as described by leaders and constituents working in a retail sales-based environment. The qualitative methodology of grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) is used in conceptualizing and implementing the research. In-depth interviews we conducted with individuals both in leadership and non-leadership roles. For the purposes of this study the terms "non-leadership role" are operationalized as non-supervisory positions. The data collected for the study center around participants' perceptions of authentic leadership relative to their personal experience within the retail sector. In accordance with grounded theory, these areas are subject to change as the interviews developed. Data was organized in two major themes, relational and instructional, with several sub themes. Data suggested that most behaviors associated with authenticity have to do with self-awareness and that most leaders exhibited a larger sense of awareness, or situational awareness. Further study in this area should be performed to include a more diverse population, detail suggestions are made.

There are many operational and organizational stressors in policing. This study was designed to gain a better understanding of what causes police officers in a rural southern state mental and physical stress and to determine how best to assist officers when they are dealing with stress. The purpose of this study was to determine whether organizational or operational issues cause more stress among police officers in a rural southern state. Qualitative research methods and the phenomenological approach to obtain data from participants who have experienced job-related stressors were used. The social construct theory, a theory of knowledge in sociology, was used for this study. Data were collected by conducting interviews with 14 current police officers in a rural southern state with a minimum of two years of experience in rural policing. The in-vivo coding method was used to code the interview data in MAXQDA software. The study revealed that 13 of the 14 participants attributed organizational issues as their main stress factor. The findings from this study may result in positive social change for police officers and subsequently the communities they serve. The police department and the community benefit when officers are in good physical and mental health. Gaining an understanding of what factors contribute to officers' stress and determining ways to treat the effects of stress could contribute to positive social change by having psychologically and emotionally healthy officers on the street and that could strengthen the partnership between a police department and the community it serves.

The effectiveness of leadership is largely dependent on whether the leadership competencies exhibited by leaders are congruent with the value system endorsed by subordinates. One of the ways in which leaders can influence subordinates is by understanding the leadership competencies valued by subordinates. Gender and national culture are two of the many factors that have an influence on the leadership competencies valued by subordinates. A large amount of research has been conducted to determine if, indeed, gender and national culture influence the leadership competencies subordinates' value. However, most of this research has been conducted in Europe and North America, places in which national cultures differ significantly from those prevailing in African countries. This study, from a South African and Zimbabwean perspective, attempted to ascertain if gender and national culture influence the leadership competencies they value in their leaders. Existing studies have indicated that gender and national culture do not influence the leadership competencies valued in a leader. The findings of this study are in accordance with previous research and agree that gender and national culture do not influence the leadership competencies valued in a leader. The results of this study indicated that male and female subordinates value similar leadership competencies. With respect to national culture, both South African and Zimbabwean subordinates value similar leadership competencies. Based on the findings of this study, regardless of gender and national culture, all subordinates value a leader who is loyal, visionary, openly embodies integrity, and is a leader who empowers subordinates.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not there is a significant relationship between job satisfaction, job involvement, perceived organizational support, and organizational commitment among educators. A review of the literature revealed there is limited research that examined organizational behaviors among educators. Organizational commitment has been identified as a leading factor impacting an employee's level of success in various organizations. There remains a gap in the current literature regarding specific attitudinal behaviors influencing organizational commitment across various levels of education. Organizational commitment among educators employed at the primary, secondary, and postsecondary levels was examined. The sample for this study included 900 educators in a southern U.S. state. Based on the social exchange and leader member Exchange theories, this study used a nonexperimental quantitative design. The data were analyzed using three hierarchical multiple regressions. The findings of this study revealed a significant relationship between job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment. Given the significance of these findings, promotion of dialogue within education could enhance social exchange relations, employee involvement, and educator commitment. Social change implications include the improvement of the educational services and student success outcomes and promotion of the importance of quality workplace exchanges, personal growth, leadership, scholarship, collaboration, and the benefits of a highly committed workforce.

Large-scale transformational change, such as the integration and acceptance of gays in the U.S. military, necessitates a long-term effort by management to mitigate unanticipated consequences. Suboptimal implementation may not account for damaging consequences among individuals expected to live the change. The purpose of this autoethnographic study was to examine the individual experiences of a closeted gay personnel member living through a transformational change in identity, which paralleled an organizational change in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The conceptual framework included elements of general systems theory, Kotter's theory of change management, Ostroff's change management for government, and Maslow's self-actualization theory. Data collection included logs, notes, journals, field notes, and recollections of experiences, conversations, and events connecting the autobiographical story to organizational change. Data were coded and analyzed to identify themes. Data analysis entailed triangularization using the largest DoD survey of that time, and public records of military personnel who participated in lawsuits against the DoD or opined about the policy. While the organization was transforming to allow openly gay individuals to remain in the military, findings showed that nearly half of those who offered opinions predicted that openly gay servicemembers would get beat up or abused. Findings showed the process of transformational change allowed those impacted to make their own sense of the change, and knowing whether someone was gay mattered. Findings may be used by sexual minorities and other subgroups to engage in sensemaking activities to promote transformational change initiatives.

The purpose of this research is to identify the forces that impact the intention of employees to misuse the Internet at the workplace, called cyberloafing. Although cyberloafing literature has suggested several antecedents that predict cyberloafing such as job attitudes, organizational characteristics, work stressors, locus of control (Blanchard & Henle, 2008; Henle & Blanchard, 2008; Liberman, Seidman, McKenna, & Buffardi, 2011), this research adopted attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and organizational citizenship behavior to predict the intention to cyberloaf. Additionally, this research adopted organizational justice and the mechanisms of general deterrence theory as moderating variables to better understand the relationship between attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, organizational citizenship behavior, and the intention to cyberloaf. We believe it is essential to investigate the antecedents of cyberloafing to help predict its existence and occurrence. The existing research, which examined employees' abuse of the Internet, remains greatly atheoretical; thus, it supplies limited insights to researchers as to why cyberloafing continues to take place (Lim, 2002). It is important to recognize what motivates employees to engage in cyberloafing for organizations to implement specific polices and intervention programs to limit or deter its occurrence. This is necessary, as employees' abuse of the Internet can negatively affect an organization through decreased profitability, reduced productivity levels, and exposure to a diverse range of legal liabilities (Liberman et al., 2011). The results of the study showed that an employee's attitude and subjective norm can significantly predict his or her intention to engage in cyberloafing. Both of the dimensions of general deterrence theory (punishment severity and certainty) significantly moderated the relationship between attitude, subjective norm, and the intention to cyberloaf. Additionally, punishment severity significantly moderated the relationship between perceived behavioral control and the intention to cyberloaf. From this study, we concluded that cyberloafing is a social phenomenon that needs to be studied further to fully comprehend the organizational contexts, motivational factors, and consequences. Our study should be analyzed as a positive step toward learning the key components that can influence employees' intentions to abuse the Internet in the workplace.

While many studies have been carried out on organizational culture, leadership, conflict and change, mostly from an instrumentalist perspective, studies have left unanswered the question of how they are related. This thesis employs narrative theory and especially that of Ricoeur together with the social theory of Bourdieu. By considering organization culture (and its sub cultures) as being configured by multiple narratives; leaders as enacting or developing narratives; conflict as the attempt by one or more persons to impose their narratives on others as the correct interpretation of a given situation; and change as the adoption of new narratives it has been possible to impart new understandings to these concepts. Extensions are offered of the narrative theory of Ricoeur and the social theory of Bourdieu (which has strong implications for culture and the operation of power). They are then combined and applied to a narrative presentation of empirical data. This new or extended theory has powerful explanatory value with regard to the relationship between the chosen organisational aspects. Emphasis is given to the dynamic interplay which prevails between the individual (habitus) and the organisation (field).

Problem. With the high level of importance placed on service quality, and a lack of studies on the service behaviors of frontline service employees, this study was conducted to explore the influences of organizational identity (OI) on the service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors (SOCB) of frontline service providers. Few studies of OI have explored its influence on organizational behaviors; in addition, most OI studies have been conducted from a positivist framework in the not-for-profit sector. Similarly, service studies reside more prominently in positivist methodologies conducted in the retail and marketing sectors or in fast food restaurants, hospitals, and hotels.

Procedures. This qualitative case study involved a luxury-level restaurant. Data were gathered through 12 on-site individual semi-structured interviews with service staff of varied roles and tenure, as well as through direct observation, field notes and journaling, and document analysis. The data were recorded, transcribed, analyzed, and interpreted while iteratively triangulated by the sole researcher.

Findings. The site’s OI claims influenced SOCB characteristics aligned with the construct attributes of participation, loyalty, and service delivery. The three OI claims were that the organization is guest focused, focuses on and maintains a gold standard of quality, and is employee focused. Additionally, it was found that a present and highly engaged founder was instrumental to leading, inspiring, and developing staff using a congruent organizational philosophy and core values supported through a rigidly defined formal structure while paradoxically balanced by an informal structuring of employee empowerment facilitated through communications and collaboration.

Conclusions. The OI claims that surfaced in the study were congruent with and influenced SOCB attributes in a dynamic and iterative manner. In addition to the OI claims and SOCB characteristics identified, the chef/founder’s image, organizational philosophy and core values, and organizational structure were important groundings for both OI claims and SOCB. The Hatch and Schultz (2002) OI dynamics model facilitated analysis and interpretation of the iterative cycling between organizational culture and external image. This study contributes to OI, SOCB, and OI dynamics research, particularly in offering a better understanding of the influences of OI on the SOCB of a group of employees. In practice, this study is relevant for hospitality operators and practitioners seeking to better understand influences on the extra-role behaviors of frontline service employees and to enhance service quality.

Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) kännetecknas av individuella beteenden som inte finns med i de formella arbetsuppgifterna men som främjar arbetsplatsen. Syftet med uppsatsen var att undersöka om graden av OCB påverkas av personlighet och ett antal bakgrundsvariabler i en förändringskontext. I studien, som i huvudsak baserades på forskning av Organ med kollegor, undersöktes tre olika verksamhetsområden: Försäkringskassan, tandvården och detaljhandeln. Studien utformades med en kvantitativ forskningsstrategi med tvärsnittsdesign, där insamlingen av data skedde m.h.a. en enkät. Enkäten bestod av 37 frågor uppdelade i tre delar där första delen bestod av tre bakgrundsfrågor, andra delen av tio påståenden som mätte personlighet och den sista delen av 24 frågor som mätte graden av OCB. Resultatet av studien visade att det överlag fanns en hög grad av OCB inom de undersökta verksamhetsområdena. Ett visst samband hittades mellan personlighet och de olika beteendena under begreppet OCB, och en viss skillnad i graden av OCB hittades beroende på utbildningsnivå. Eftersom det redan finns en hög grad av OCB på flera håll i arbetslivet är det viktiga inte att öka graden, utan att lära sig att få upp ögonen för beteendet och dra fördel av det.

The status of wisdom in leadership discourse has been elevated as organizations seek solutions to multidimensional challenges that have led to corporate collapses and the derailment of leaders. The study of wisdom has ancient foundations but its measurement as an organizational leadership construct is relatively new. Recent research has led to the view and operationalization of wisdom as an attribute integrating the cognitive, affective, and reflective dimensions of human performance and behavior (Ardelt, 2003).

This quantitative study explored correlations between wisdom and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) at the individual level of analysis. The hypothesized association was examined using data collected on wisdom as conceptualized by Ardelt (2003) and OCB as defined by Organ (1988). Respondents ( n=193) were selected from an online panel of leaders from organizations across America and invited to complete Ardelt's (2003) three-dimensional wisdom scale (3D-WS) and the OCB scale (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman, & Fetter, 1990) for analysis of the conjectured relationship.

Results indicated that leader wisdom, as defined in the integrative approach, and leader OCB have a significant and moderately strong positive correlation. Implications include the need for a proper value of the role of both concepts for leadership and organizational practices. The measurement of wisdom is crucial in organizations and more research is recommended in future studies.

碩士
大同大學
事業經營研究所
89
Although the study of organizational justice has been intensified markedly in the past few years, little work has been focused on the relationship between justice perceptions and extrarole behaviors. Therefore, this study tried to examine the relationships between justice perceptions and organization citizenship behavior. A theoretical basis for the relationship between fairness and citizenship was drawn from equity theory and other theories of social exchange. This study developed empirically a social exchange model of organizational citizenship behavior, with organizational commitment considered to be a mediator between organizational fairness in the supervisor’s decision making and employee citizenship. Structural equation analysis with Amos 3.6 found support for the hypotheses suggested, including support for a relationship between perceptions of procedural justice and organizational citizenship behaviors. The analysis further showed that procedural justice and organizational commitment could have positive effects on organizational citizenship behaviors. However, perceptions of distributive justice were observed to fail to influence citizenship. The major findings of this study are summarized as follows: 1. Perceptions of organizational justice will positively influence the factors of OCB. 2. Procedural justice in a supervisor’s decision making will be more likely than distri- butive justice to predict a subordinate’s OCB. 3. The factors of organizational justice employees perceive will have positive effects on the factors of organizational commitment. 4. The factors of organizational commitment will have positive influences on the fac- tors of OCB. The implication for managerial practice of this study is that supervisors can directly influence employees'' citizenship behavior. If managers want to increase citizenship behavior in their organizations, they should work to increase the fairness in their interactions with their employees. A corollary of this implies that perceptions of fairness based on interactional justice may be the easiest perceptions of fairness to manage. Distribution of outcomes may be constrained by forces outside the managers’ control. Similarly, the presence or absence of fair procedures may be a function of an organizational policy and not managers’ intentions. By comparison, the fairness of the interactions between managers and employees is often a matter of the former’s being sensitive to the interests of the latter and of convincing the former that to be fair is of self-interest. The limitations and suggestions for future research are summarized as follows: First, a major conceptual limitation is that this study’s model tests only a few organizational variables. Future studies should add more variables to enhance the explanatory power. Second, this study examines the effects of individual organizational variables and does not investigate the interactions among the predictors. For example, distributive justice could interact with procedural justice, or altruism could interact with sportsmanship. Future studies should explore the interaction effects of these variables. Third, for the convenience of sampling, this study uses data from only one company. Perhaps the relationship found here would be different from that observed in other companies in other industries. Future study should try to enhance the generalizability of the findings, replicating this study with more companies form different industries.

碩士
南華大學
管理科學研究所
92
When Taiwan formal become a member of WTO that effect so much industry, alter for the citizens usually dietary habit and large number of agricultural product from foreign country, agricultural product is not worthy year by year. In financial market, government is progressing to reform financial market that to result in bank circle to merge, several primary level farmer’s association and credit cooperative be take over. In retail market, shopping-mall and all-day business to hold most parts markets. 　 　　The Primary Level Farmer’s Association search any advantage opportunity on area under theirs government, wish to create a new grand occasion. But the worker’s behivor of employees will be to affect organizational achievement, in the height degree political Primary Level Farmer’s Association, employees worker’s behivor and which variable have related, is the purpose of this study. 　 　　Questionnaires are the main tool of subject research of Tainan County Primary Level Farmer’s Association are the main people of questionnaires, There were 588 employees belonging to Tainan County Primary Level Farmer’s Association completed questionnaires out of a total of 1,260 potential respondents and the effective return rate is 47% .The data analysis employed in this study includes the Descriptive statistics, Factor analysis, Reliability analysis, through Spss for Windows. 　 　The results of this study are as follows: 　 　1.Most employees of different attributes （gender, marriage, job position, education, age, tenure, job titles and work department）have not significant differences in perception of Perceptions of Organizational, Organizational Justice, Organizational Subculture, Organizational Commitment, Organizational Political Behavior, Job Involvement, Worker’s Behavior. 　 　2.Perceptions of Organizational has significant negative correlation with all variable in this study. 　 　3.Organizational Justice has significant positive correlation with all variable in this study. 　 　4.Organizational Subculture has significant positive correlation with all variable in this study. 　 　5.Organizational Commitment has significant positive correlation with all variable in this study. 　 　6.Organizational Political Behavior has significant positive correlation with all variable in this study. 　 　7.Job Involvement has significant positive correlation with all variable in this study. 　 　8.Worker’s Behavior has significant positive correlation with all variable in this study. 　 　9.Perceptions of Organizational, Organizational Justice, Organizational Subculture, Organizational Commitment, Organizational Political Behavior, and Job Involvement has significant effect to Worker’s Behavior. 　 　10.Different type of Organizational Subculture have not significant differences in perception of Perceptions of Organizational, Organizational Justice, Organizational Subculture, Organizational Commitment, Organizational Political Behavior, Job Involvement, Worker’s Behavior. 　 　Suggestions based on the above conclusion are provided to Primary Level Farmer’s Association, charge Organization, and future research.

Climate change is a serious global issue that poses one of the greatest challenges facing human kind (Kazdin, 2009; Stern, 2011; Swim et al., 2011). Given that organizations are often cited as the largest contributors to climate change (Trudeau and Canada West Foundation, 2007), research needs to investigate how organizations can positively affect climate change. Accordingly, the purpose of this dissertation is to investigate how organizations can positively affect climate change through workplace pro-environmental behaviors. To this end, three studies were conducted. The first study investigated the influence of leaders’ environmentally-specific transformational leadership and their own workplace pro-environmental behaviors on employees’ workplace pro-environmental behaviors. The second study examined if environmentally-specific and general transformational leadership are empirically distinct but related, whether environmentally-specific transformational leadership evokes higher levels of workplace pro-environmental behaviors than general transformational leadership, and if so, examined through mediation why this is the case. The third and final study conceptualizes and defines workplace pro-environmental behaviors as a form of organizational citizenship behaviors that are targeted at benefiting the natural environment (OCBE), and subsequently, developed and refined a measure of OCBE and assessed the measure’s psychometric validity. This dissertation concludes with a general discussion and highlights areas for future research.
Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2014-02-12 16:26:52.658