Rozprawy doktorskie na temat „Leadership practice”

Principals have tremendous influence on the schools they lead (Bamburg & Andrews, 1990; Marzano et al., 2005). Certain leadership behaviors impact school level factors (Cotton, 2003; Hallinger & Heck, 2010; Leithwood, Begley, & Cousins, 1990; Marzano et al., 2005; Orr, 2003). To affect high levels of student achievement, school principals must be responsible for uniting diverse groups under shared purposes with purposeful emphasis on others rather than on self (Cotton, 2003; Hallinger & Heck, 2010; Leithwood, Begley, & Cousins, 1990; Marzano et al., 2005; Orr, 2003). Effective programs in educational leadership preparation include cohort-modeled groupings, among other features (Davis et al., 2005). Because cohorts are a feature of effective programs, yet few aspiring school leaders are prepared through cohort-based programs (Browne-Ferrigno & Muth, 2009), a concern regarding a problem of practice is raised.

The purpose of this study was to explore how aspirant school leaders experience the acquisition of leadership practices within their educational leadership preparation program and to contribute to the empirical understanding of how to best prepare school leaders for successful practice. This study was designed to examine: How do school leaders make meaning of their experience in a principal preparation program? In what ways do their experiences support the development of communitarian leadership?

The sample included nineteen school leaders who were alumni of a university-based educational leadership preparation program. Participants were interviewed using a basic interview protocol that followed the semi-structured approach for interview technique outlined by Moustakas (1994). The data analysis was carried out in the stepwise manner, using Atlas.ti 7.0 to code and group significant statements from the interview texts and using a basic memoing process to address any concerns of subjectivity.

Leaders who experienced preparation activities, including activities that gave them practice leading diverse individuals to shared outcomes articulated how preparation influenced the development of communitarian leadership skill, including relationship-building, communication, and values-identification. Communitarian leadership, which includes leadership actions linked to improved school-level outcomes (Marzano et al., 2005), may have utility as a framework for developing aspiring principals through formal preparation programs.

This thesis examines Leadership Development in both a corporate setting and an expedition-based setting. The assumptions that are the foundations of current Leadership Development originate, and are informed by, aspects of the natural sciences. These methods are critiqued in terms of usability and applicability in the context of human relating. An alternative approach is investigated based on nonlinear causality and the complex responsive process of relating using the work of Stacey (2003, 2007, 2010), Stacey and Griffin (2005), Stacey et al. (2000). What is explored is the Leader as expert and the ability through communication, decision making, and planning to create certainty. What is problematized is the fantasy that this creates in ongoing day-to-day interactions. The work explores interactions between a leadership consultant/coach and clients in varied domains: the role of the practitioner in the delivery and creation of theory, models, best practices and standard operating procedures; and the reflections of both the practitioner and clients that what is emerging cannot be foreseen. This leads to a further exploration cycle of the human experience in organizations and how reification, the uncanny, and the struggle for recognition might offer other ways of making sense of the experience. The work examines the role of the consultant/teacher and the client/student and the emergence of knowledge. It further investigates the relationship of time and causality and how this is connected to theoretical knowledge and knowledge in action. This leads to a further connection of thinking, reflecting and reflexivity and what this means as practice for leadership development. Using the context of leadership coaching for management teams and connecting the reflexive aspect of knowledge, what is argued is that sensemaking as developed by Weick (1995, 2001, 2009), Weick and Sutcliffe (2007) is not a sufficient practice to explain and create best practices, standard operating procedures, models, and theories. What is also necessary, and is identified as sensemaking and connected to Elias (1987) work, is our own involvement and detachment as we abstract to understand what is happening in the moment between human agents. It is argued that paying attention to these aspects of ongoing human relating offer the possibility of thicker and a more contextualized understanding of the emergent unpredictable outcomes that leaders deal with every day.

The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of accomplished teaching practitioners by tracing the development of the teaching expertise of participants using a narrative inquiry frame. This allowed time and space for participants to engage in making meaning of the memories of lived teaching experiences. This perspective took into account the influence of the cultures and contexts in which the teacher was situated prior to, during, and after engaging in the National Board process. The implications of the study indicated engaging in continuous reflection enabled teachers to mitigate problems by framing and reframing practices. Educators at all levels may do well to pause, reflect, and reconsider the how the structures of public school might be altered so that teachers have the spaces they need to learn to teach in ways that ensure all students, particularly those with a support system that is significantly different from the backgrounds of their teachers, are provided with an equitable education. School leaders might choose to consider how the disparate cultural history of teachers and students influences the teaching practices in their school and community context, which may diminish the likelihood of equity, access, and fairness for learning by all students. Emphasis on creating pathways for culturally diverse future educators will continue to be of concern as our knowledge of the growing diversity of our students depends on constructing understandings of their actual, not perceived, educational needs.

Since the mid 1970s student experience of gender at school has been the focus of intense media scrutiny, academic research and policy development for schools in Australia. This study took as its focus the role of the school principal as a leader for gender equity in schools. It set out to determine the response of 35 Catholic K-6 schools to gender policy directions as contained in gender policy documents published for Australian schools between 1975 and 1997 and to use these findings to determine implications for school leadership for gender equity. The study encompassed three interlinked research phases which contributed to specific learnings about leadership for gender equity. The first research phase entailed a critical analysis of gender policy documents for Australian schools leading to the development of a Policy Analysis Template. Utilisation of the template resulted in a synthesis of gender policy implications which formed the basis for examination of school practice in a sample of K-6 Catholic schools in the next two research phases. The second research phase examined student experience of gender at school using a questionnaire and the third research phase studied teacher and principal experience of gender reform utilising questionnaires. Data analysis methods included content analysis of policy documents, statistical analysis of questionnaire responses to determine particular connections and to identify emerging trends in the data and analysis of the qualitative responses to provide validation and further insights. The research tools developed for this study provide possibilities for future work in gaining insights into policy implementation in schools. The research results confirmed the findings of the implementation literature in terms of leadership. The response of schools to gender policy directions was strongly influenced by a principal who could not only articulate a vision of gender equity but who also had a commitment to translating this vision into practice. The findings also demonstrated a clear link between a school’s commitment to its proclaimed values, formed and shaped by its Catholic ethos and its response to gender equity issues through actual practice. Thus school responses to gender policy directions were seen to be informed and influenced by their articulated vision and mission. Furthermore, results demonstrated that specific gender policy directions had been adopted by schools whereas others had resulted in little or no impact at all. It was beyond the scope of this study to investigate the factors that enabled or inhibited school response to particular gender policy directions although specific gender policy reform priorities were signalled for principal attention. The focus of this study was on the emerging connections and relationships between gender policy directions, student experience of gender at school and teacher and principal experience of gender reform. The recommendations of the study addressed the role of the principal in fostering school commitment to equity practices. The study which utilised a sample of 35 Catholic K-6 schools demonstrated the significant role of the principal in gender reform. The impact of gender policy directions on actual school practice was seen to be dependent on the vision for gender equity and commitment to implement this into practice that the school principal brings to the role of leadership for gender equity.

This interpretive research study examines peer leadership in a distributed online MBA community of practice at New States University (NSU pseudonym, based in USA). It explores ways in which faculty members in a global business course, NMBA616 (pseudonym), negotiate relationships, meaning and identity in their efforts to be effective teachers and address their own needs for professional growth and development. The research participants provide insights about community formation and function in a virtual domain where they work together at a distance without meeting face-to-face. The study appears to be a new application of culture code methodology, symbolic interactionism and social learning theory as they conjoin on social, psychological and organizational levels. To my knowledge it is the first study of an MBA virtual community of practice. Research interviews were conducted primarily by distance using web-based technology, teleconferences and email, as well as some face to face discussion. The central questions are: 1) To what extent does a distributed faculty team in an online global business management course constitute a community of practice? 2) What is the nature of faculty relationships in the online global business management course? and 3) What are the leadership issues in a virtual practice setting? Findings reveal that online community practitioners are resourceful in creating peer leadership that is embedded within the group and its relationships. The study is motivated by my personal interests and professional experience, as well as by the quest of online colleagues for ways to assess, support and improve themselves and their practice. Building on personal experience as an online business communications instructor, the thesis presents an example of peer leadership in a virtual global business community of practice and in its completion stands as a case study.

The research sought to (i) bring about change and make the Bank more customer-centric using literature on leadership practice to inform the process, (ii) understand and articulate how leadership is enacted within the organisation, and (iii) generate actionable knowledge that is relevant for academic and practitioner communities. The research concludes with a brief reflection and synthesis of a re-calibrated view of the researcher's leadership DNA.

This study sought to advance understanding of authority in higher education academic management/leadership. Although there is rich literature on education management and leadership, the role of authority in this area has received less attention. Drawing on an understanding of authority as social, multiple, changeable and contested, this study had three broad aims: to understand contextualised authority practices; to conceptualise authority in academic leadership/management and to investigate the value of practice-focused constructivist grounded theory methodology in educational research. Data were collected from the Education Departments of two, post 1992, UK universities over a period of eighteen months and analysed using elements of practices as a sensitising framework. The study shows how elements combine in construction of authority. Three practices: overseeing, deciding and challenging, are considered. The study contributes to the discussion on academic leadership and management. Findings demonstrate the complexity of authority practices in this domain. Four ideas in particular stand out: that access to knowledge and material resources confers or restricts authority; that elements and everyday practices combine to create a ‘toolkit’ from which authority practices can be constructed; that grouping multiple authorities into a triad of structuring, relational and knowledge-based authorities can cast light on constructions and contestations of authority; and that knowledge-based authorities in higher education have multiple and conflicting sources that draw on different higher education discourses. Finally, the study suggests the value of practice focused grounded theory methodology in shifting focus from an agentic understanding of academic leadership/management.

Since the mid 1970s student experience of gender at school has been the focus of intense media scrutiny, academic research and policy development for schools in Australia. This study took as its focus the role of the school principal as a leader for gender equity in schools. It set out to determine the response of 35 Catholic K-6 schools to gender policy directions as contained in gender policy documents published for Australian schools between 1975 and 1997 and to use these findings to determine implications for school leadership for gender equity. The study encompassed three interlinked research phases which contributed to specific learnings about leadership for gender equity. The first research phase entailed a critical analysis of gender policy documents for Australian schools leading to the development of a Policy Analysis Template. Utilisation of the template resulted in a synthesis of gender policy implications which formed the basis for examination of school practice in a sample of K-6 Catholic schools in the next two research phases. The second research phase examined student experience of gender at school using a questionnaire and the third research phase studied teacher and principal experience of gender reform utilising questionnaires. Data analysis methods included content analysis of policy documents, statistical analysis of questionnaire responses to determine particular connections and to identify emerging trends in the data and analysis of the qualitative responses to provide validation and further insights. The research tools developed for this study provide possibilities for future work in gaining insights into policy implementation in schools. The research results confirmed the findings of the implementation literature in terms of leadership.;The response of schools to gender policy directions was strongly influenced by a principal who could not only articulate a vision of gender equity but who also had a commitment to translating this vision into practice. The findings also demonstrated a clear link between a school's commitment to its proclaimed values, formed and shaped by its Catholic ethos and its response to gender equity issues through actual practice. Thus school responses to gender policy directions were seen to be informed and influenced by their articulated vision and mission. Furthermore, results demonstrated that specific gender policy directions had been adopted by schools whereas others had resulted in little or no impact at all. It was beyond the scope of this study to investigate the factors that enabled or inhibited school response to particular gender policy directions although specific gender policy reform priorities were signalled for principal attention. The focus of this study was on the emerging connections and relationships between gender policy directions, student experience of gender at school and teacher and principal experience of gender reform. The recommendations of the study addressed the role of the principal in fostering school commitment to equity practices. The study which utilised a sample of 35 Catholic K-6 schools demonstrated the significant role of the principal in gender reform. The impact of gender policy directions on actual school practice was seen to be dependent on the vision for gender equity and commitment to implement this into practice that the school principal brings to the role of leadership for gender equity.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: One of the purposes of management education is to develop people to become effective leaders of organisations with ever-increasing unpredictable futures. Learning from the latest findings in effective neuro-science and well-documented biology and stress research, a more holistic approach to leadership development has been embraced. This approach proposes that leaders, who are able to better sustain themselves through developing their emotional intelligence and cognitive ability, will be more balanced leaders. The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is a semi-autonomous organ of state that derives its mandate from the President of South Africa through the SARS Act no.34 of 1997. It was borne into a democracy which brought about tremendous transformation in every facet of South African life, ranging from growing the country’s infrastructure, to social economic welfare for all, education, health services and security. SARS is responsible to collect over 90 per cent of the country’s revenue. They therefore have to display effective leadership as this democracy has been very sensitive and the citizens of SA have high expectations of Government to deliver on a better life for all. One of the most important tasks of SARS was to engage in total transformation of the entire organisation, including its infrastructure, information technology, policies and procedures and a strong learning culture that embraces effective leadership. One of the transformation initiatives, the School of Leadership, procured several leadership training programmes to address the leadership capability. Leadership coaching has been embraced by SARS starting with the most senior leadership and is now being introduced to all levels of management. During this study, the researcher sought to identify and understand the effect of coaching as a leadership development tool to transform leadership practice. The research identified the respective leadership competencies developed as a result of this coaching received by leaders within SARS and determined to what extent leaders embraced it. It is recommended that the coaching programme is accelerated to all levels of management in SARS and that it receives prominence on the agenda of the Commissioner by making it the most prestigious award in the national annual award ceremony. All managers should have a key performance indicator to encourage the practice of these learnt competencies during the coaching process. Lastly, the recruitment process for all leadership positions should feature these competencies as essential and test for it accordingly through appropriate competency assessments.

This thesis examines middle leadership in four international secondary schools in Malaysia. It focuses on five main areas; roles, responsibilities, role relationships, instructional engagement and leadership involvement. Data were collected through observations, documentary analysis and 52 semi-structured interviews with four principals, 12 heads of department and 36 teachers. The empirical data indicate that the middle leaders’ roles suffer from lack of clarity, with managerial tasks dominating their job scope. Different role interpretations have led to the development of misunderstanding and uneasy relationships between and among the participants. Despite this, and in contrast to the literature, there is more coordination between the middle leaders and the senior leaders, mainly due to the nature of accountability in private international settings. The empirical findings show teaching and learning to be the most powerful feature of the four case-study schools. Among all the themes identified, lesson observations are conducted and taken seriously in all the schools. Criticisms about monitoring persist but the general trend is positive. Time constraints, as suggested by international literature, continue to hamper the work of the participating middle leaders. This thesis holds that autonomy to take and implement decisions is an essential component of distributed leadership. Broadly speaking, the empirical evidence suggests that opportunities for middle leaders and teachers to participate and influence key decisions in their schools are limited. While they claim great autonomy in the domain of the classroom, they report limited satisfactory experience outside it. The observational findings indicate four departmental models; ‘island’ & ‘shopping mall’, in which isolation prevails; ‘solar system’, with its asymmetrical balance of attention; ‘magnet’, where a few are attracted and the rest repelled, and ‘bicycle wheel’, with a hub to which all ‘roads’ lead. The main significance of this thesis is inter-sectionality, which occurs at the interface between autonomy and expertise. This model suggests that the transition from middle management to middle leadership is contingent upon the proportional provision of these two constructs. A lack of equilibrium between autonomy and expertise can influence the extent to which middle-level practitioners can be described as leaders.

The purpose of this research project was to examine whether frontline nurse managers who had attended a leadership program, perceived their leadership style as containing behaviors representative of transformational leadership. A secondary purpose was to determine the participant's opinions about the value of a leadership program for their practice. Current literature was utilized to support this research project examining a nursing systems issue.The primary instrument used to collect data about leader practice was the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) (University of Georgia, 2002). An evaluation tool was also designed and utilized to gather information about the participant's perception of their leadership behaviors after completion of a training program. Survey participants were selected from nurses who completed the Arizona Healthcare Leadership Academy (AzHCLA) (2007) course in the last four years.A course survey and results from the LPI revealed that study participants perceived an increase in their behaviors related to leading others as well as having learned new skills by having completed the AzHCLA course. Nurse's educational levels were compared to the five leadership practice subgroups from the LPI to examine whether a nurse's educational level could better account for an increase in leadership competencies. Research data revealed that no relationship between educational levels existed but that certain leadership skills were gained by having completed a leadership educational program. By using descriptive statistics, mean scores were used to identify differences in how nurses perceived their individual competencies and behaviors after having completed leadership education. Reported perceptions of competencies and behaviors indicated that educational programs can be beneficial to frontline nurse leaders.While results from an ANOVA showed there was no statistical significance related to education and LPI subgroups, there was a trend in the mean differences for those individuals with a master's degree. Qualitative data revealed that course participants perceived having gained new leadership skills and behaviors. The data from this study created a baseline of information that warrants further investigation to identify if indeed education makes a difference in perceived leadership practices.

Published Article
Literature reveals the crucial influence of school leadership on the creation and maintenance of successful schools. In searching for new foundations to understand leadership, Raelin's leaderful practice model serves as an authentic model to describe a successful South African leadership practice. A qualitative study was used to interpret school leadership in primary schools through the lens of the leaderful practice model. The following observations emerged from the study: "It is passion that makes people succeed in life"; "It isn't my school, it's our school"; and "Development has to be an integral part of education". By sharing the leadership experiences of the principal, this study could serve as a valuable resource and promote the creation of other leaderful practices in South African schools.

My thesis provides an account of the 1st and 2nd person action research I have undertaken in the context of leading three separate co-inquiry groups with Danish business leaders inquiring into the question: How can I better develop meaningful leadership practice with others? In the thesis, I recount a series of episodes taking place in the third co-inquiry group in an experiential narrative voice to illustrate how our 2nd person practical knowing of meaningful leading and learning develop in the messy complex reality of ongoing co-construction of our mutual practices. With this outset, I go on to track and reflect upon, how, over time and across different contexts, my own 1 st person understanding and practice have been challenged and changed with respect to different lines of inquiry and development. These include for example, how I construct experiences as meaningful in practice: I show how I shift from trying to 'implement' in my practice preconceived ideological, generalized, intellectual, and static ideas of the meaningful towards increasingly constructing experiences of meaningful practice in a more contextualized, embodied, relational, and emergent fashion. Other lines of inquiry concerns my attempts deal with authority, power, and leadership in less unilateral, role-constricted, static ways in favour of more mutual, eo- constructed, distributed and dynamic patterns. With respect to how I understand and approach practice learning, my thesis illustrate my journey of moving from a largely instrumental, individualized, controlled and bounded approach towards a more social constructionist understanding and practice, where learning approaches a quality of 'reflexive relational being' rather than 'directive individualized doing'. With the unique accounts of 1 st and 2nd person practical knowing I have developed, I seek to offer a (3rd person) contribution to knowledge in the context of what I see as a currently emerging new discourse of leadership. Towards this end, I further seek to crystallise a developing personal 'living theory in the experimental form of a set of 'guiding poetics'. I connect and discuss these contributions in relation to e.g. constructive developmentalist theories of post-conventional action- logics and meaning making; social constructivist thinking; theories of complex responsive processes; and theories on social fields of consciousness. I also discuss how much of the current academic and popular writings on spirituality and leadership which inspired me at the outset of the research, I now consider to be restrictive and corruptive by what I see as its embedding in conventional modernist discourse. Following the idea that 'style is theory', I attempt with this thesis to draw attention to and experiment with the need to embrace different genres of writing and create new discourses that can become more adequate resources in support of developing post-modern meaningful leadership practices.

Across much of the Western world there is a growing movement working to plant the seeds of a holistic worldview that is based on a recognition of the interdependent relationship between self, Earth, and community. One way to nurture this emergence on a local level is through community-based workshops that offer theories and practices in support of such a perspective. The purpose of this study is to create a curriculum that could be used to shape this type of workshop. The design of the curriculum content is meant to offer interior and exterior tools and experiences that catalyze both individual and group development. The primary method utilized in the research was a curriculum advisory board to assist with content development. The ultimate goals of such a workshop are two-fold: (a) to deepen participants’ relationships to self, Earth, and community; and (b) to create and inspire local community groups that can support social justice, environmental stewardship grounded in an ethic of care, and regenerative (sustainable) community development during this time of great planetary need. The findings of the research span the fields of adult development, relational education, community organizing and activism, regenerative leadership, nature connection, and sustainable community development. Tools and practices include but are not limited to meditation, dialogue, shadow work, worldview inquiries, journaling, group development, and community action plans.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2005.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 95-100).
For decades, Boston residents have worked together and organized to strengthen and protect their neighborhoods, often in response to encroaching government policy and local development. The South End's Villa Victoria housing complex is a testament to the work of Puerto Rican residents to gain site control and save the area from demolition under Urban Renewal in 1968. In the 1960s, residents in several communities lobbied the state to stop the destruction of their homes as part of a planned extension of the interstate highway. Today, the Southwest Corridor Park reminds us of that successful organizing effort. It represents the first time federal funds were used to develop a combined open space and transit system.
by Kim L. Alleyne.
M.C.P.

Thesis (MOccTher (Interdisciplinary Health Sciences. Occupational Therapy))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007.
Objectives: The study aimed to identify the functions that occupational therapy leaders perform in clinical settings in the Metropole District of the Provincial Administration of the Western Cape (PAWC) and determine the influence of these functions on clinical practice. Methodology: The researcher used a descriptive design and a non-standardised questionnaire which was compiled to collect the data for the study. The questionnaire was piloted with a group of occupational therapy leaders from the Boland Overberg Region. Feedback was used to refine the final study questionnaire. Thirty-five study questionnaires were mailed or handed to the participants in the study and the researcher received 25 completed questionnaires; therefore, the response rate was 71.4%. The data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 10.0) for all the questions. Descriptive statistics were used to report the data. Inter-observer reliability was checked by using the split-half method. The results revealed that the study questionnaire was reliable as Cronbach's Alfa was calculated at 0.90, correlation coefficient Pearson’s r was calculated at 0.51, and Spearman-Brown was calculated at 0.67. Results: The results were presented in relation to the respondents’ number (N = 25). The participants identified 57 leadership functions, grouped as managerial, ethics-related, education, research, and consultation functions. The participants reported to have high performance in both direct and indirect occupational therapy services. Performance in the direct occupational therapy services functions was higher than the performance in the indirect occupational therapy services. Minimal performance in occupational therapy leadership functions was reported for consultation, ethics related, and research functions which need to be addressed by in-service training. The indirect occupational therapy services enabled the participants in the study to perform on a more optimum level regarding the direct occupational therapy services. The occupational therapy leaders had many empowering factors in their work place such as subordinates, supervisors, and top management. Conclusion: The 57 leadership functions identified in the study culminated in an occupational therapy leadership functions framework (OTLFF) which represents the managerial activities of the occupational therapy leaders in the PAWC. These study findings are useful guidelines for occupational therapy professionals and students as guidelines for leadership training, participant facilities to compile job descriptions, and educational facilities to set educational curricula. Recommendations: The study had many shortcomings; therefore, generalisation of results can't be done. The researcher recommends replication of the study using a larger and more representative sample.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: As organisations expand internationally and continue to conduct business across different time zones and geographical boundaries, distributed project and organisational teams have become increasingly prevalent. Rather than meet face-to-face, developments in information and communication technology have made it possible for these team members to interact electronically thereby creating an alternative means for team member collaboration. Teams that collaborate in this manner are called virtual teams. This study explored effective leadership practice in virtual teams. The process of exploration started with discovering those core competencies considered essential to virtual team leadership. These competencies were then operationalised and tested for their respective contributions to effectiveness in virtual teams as measured by team performance and personal satisfaction. It was suggested and subsequently confirmed by the results of this study that as virtual team leaders begin to display essential leadership competencies, the virtual teams they lead become more effective. Four leadership competencies were identified as integral to effective leadership practice. These were: an ability to coordinate task delivery, an ability to communicate, an ability to build trust and an ability to manage multicultural diversity. In addition, it was determined that virtual team leaders tended to emphasise the more transactional forms of leadership over the more transformational forms with the strongest emphasis on task and communication as predictors of performance rather than satisfaction. In contrast, team members emphasised the more transformational forms of leadership with the strongest emphasis on trust and diversity management as predictors of satisfaction rather than performance. It was also apparent that for team members, task coordination was weakly correlated with performance. These differing results illustrate a distinction in leadership emphasis, which if misunderstood or incorrectly managed, could lead to conflict and low levels of team trust. For team leaders, a desire to perform and deliver against team objectives has an associated risk of inadvertently emphasising task at the expense of fostering healthy team relationships. By comparison, team members emphasise personal satisfaction over performance and are potentially at odds with a strongly taskorientated team leader. This does not mean that team members are disinterested in team performance. On the contrary, performance is important to team members but it would seem that performance follows as a result of first experiencing satisfaction as a virtual team participant.

This dissertation explores the need for critical transformative leaders who critique oppression within schools and have a desire for social justice. This study attempts to learn more about the principal practices that maintain or disrupt the status quo and what ritual patterns emerge in relation to the work of principals. Two public elementary school principals were observed over the course of a three-day period to better understand the challenges that critical transformative leaders face in the field of education. Four lessons emerged regarding the ritual patterns of principals studied: (a) an emphasis on solidarity, which creates ends that support status quo practices and restricts the development of dialogue centered on social justice issues, (b) the need to expose the hidden curriculum through praxis and work toward liberation, (c) a limited resistance in leadership practice, and (d) that a theoretical understanding of social justice leadership is not enough for transformation to occur in schools. The lessons learned in this study suggest that the neoliberal influences placed upon public schools and public school principals are a major obstacle preventing principals from doing critical transformative work. Furthermore, the academic coursework that principals are involved in is not a sufficient condition for doing critical transformative work. These themes suggest that there is a great need to find ways to open dialogue amongst principals, school staff, parents, and those who make policy decisions so that these groups can begin examining oppressive conditions in schools. Reflection and action against unjust policies are essential to aspects of praxis for which dialogue can be used as a vehicle for change.

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to explore teacher leadership practice in an effort to understand how the behaviors of teacher leaders, and interactions among them, contribute to teacher and collective efficacy for the purposes of increasing student achievement and closing student achievement gaps.

Methodology. A grounded theory approach to qualitative research was used to establish a theoretical foundation among the constructs of teacher leadership, efficacy beliefs, and student achievement. Data were primarily collected through an examination of the perspectives of 33 formal and informal teacher leaders in a county in Northern California.

Findings. A theoretical framework called teacher leadership for efficacy and equity is proposed, which outlines direct and indirect pathways for teacher leadership to improve student achievement. Teachers who improve student achievement and close student achievement gaps through teacher and collective efficacy (a) focus on equity and improvements to teaching and learning; (b) take ownership over the learning of all students and speak positively about them; (c) build relationships with students and show they care; (d) take initiative, are positive, and go above and beyond; (e) collaborate, use data to inform practice, and share ideas and strategies; (f) learn, mentor, coach, and watch each other teach; (g) are flexible, adaptable, customize instruction, and try new things; and (h) experience and celebrate success and share success with others. These practices are guided and supported by shared leadership, collaboration, and school culture.

Conclusions. Existing teacher leadership research supports elements of Facets A, D, E, F, and G of teacher leadership practice. New findings include teacher leaders’ maintaining an explicit focus on equity (A), taking ownership over the learning of all students and speaking positively about them (B), building relationships with students and showing care (C), and experiencing and sharing success (H). New findings are supported by research in other areas.

Recommendations. Teacher leaders who impact student achievement should be considered teachers as well as leaders. Stronger attention should be paid to informal teacher leadership, teacher leadership practice, and fostering equity through teacher leadership. Recommendations include operationalizing this framework in quantitative studies, putting it into practice, and replicating the study in other contexts.

The structure of this critical commentary is that required for higher doctorates as outlined in the Keele University: Code of Practice on Postgraduate Research Degrees. The submission focuses on: 74 items in refereed journal articles; 7 Press items, commissioned journal articles and other publications; 18 books; and, 12 book chapters. Special reference is placed on the period since 2003, during which the bulk of the material has been produced. The commentary outlines that the publications that make up this submission encapsulate a career of thirty-five years during which the writer has been a school-teacher, head-teacher, Lecturer, and Professor of Education. It is explained that this body of work encompasses two interconnected themes, including the development and practice of leadership in education and the primary curriculum. Overall, this submission, totaling 750,000 words of material where the writer was sole author, within an overall submission totalling approximately two million words, has contributed to the ongoing discourse on educational leadership and the primary curriculum through a sustained programme of original research and publications. It is stated that the range of influence of this material has been broadened to international status through comparative research that has included work on leadership training in North America, Australasia and Europe. Centrally, it is claimed that this work has contributed to the movement towards a more complex conceptualisation of pedagogy and andragogy that seeks to encourage a more reflexive, research-led and praxis-based approach to teaching and learning. It is argued that the writer has thus made a long-term contribution to the development of knowledge within the discipline of Education.

Department structure and leadership functions can influence work climate. In one healthcare system, advanced practice providers (APPs) worked in a decentralized structure with multiple leaders. This project explored the impact of the change to centralized leadership for APPs working in an academic healthcare system in which employee turnover was high and satisfaction was low. An ad hoc committee led by the chief medical officer created a centralized department with a designated leader. Surveys and interviews were used to identify the benefits of the strategies implemented and understand whether the change in organizational structure resulted in an improved work climate for APPs in the large multicampus academic healthcare system,. Data were collected from departmental reports, 12 APP interviews, and 2 online surveys with a total of 73 responses. Results showed that centralization improved leadership support and communication with APPs within the system by 11.4%. Feedback from APPs indicated the physicians maximized APPs' expertise and licensure, thus creating a supportive work climate and environment, professional growth, and job satisfaction. With the implementation of the centralized department in 2014, the turnover rate dropped from 20.47% in 2013 to 6.1% in 2016 resulting in positive social change for APPs, providers, and patients.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2000.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study seeks to demonstrate the impact of late 20th century leadership literature, which is taken as the accepted embodiment of leadership thinking. Leadership thinking influences both the academic study and resultant practice of leadership. A paradigmatic approach was employed to contrast that the demands of a post-industrial, globalised society would be of a different order to those of the 20th century industrial society. The study seeks to challenge the intellectual climate of the business leadership discipline at the level of the normative, which in turn would present a challenge to the conventional strategic focus and approach of business leadership. A challenge to the normative requires that a certain philosophical perspective be introduced in the crossing of the boundary lines between various disciplines. As business is part of the social sciences, the critical intellectual challenges to modern knowledge were explored, which provided a foundation for the challenge. This required that new scientific theory, both in the pure and the natural sciences as well as certain postmodern authors representing the humanities be reviewed. A refocusing on what has been taken for granted, what has been neglected, regions of resistance, the forgotten, the irrational, the repressed, the borderline, the classical, the sacred, the marginal and the excluded signifies .. The question is asked if we are able to recognise the ways in which our lives and livelihood have been influenced by outmoded structures? Due cognisance is not taken of the unsettling shifts of mindset that will be required to exercise leadership in the post-industrial paradigm. The concept of paradigms is central to this study where it operates' as the methodology device, given that the nature of the research is exploratory, open-ended and hermeneutic compared to the mensural convention that most business research follows. The study explores the paradigm dependency of leadership, as a sociological frame of reference, where leadership is viewed as a patterned social action and a political/structural action, so that leadership is analysed as a socially constructed reality. A key distinction of this study is the major temporal transformation from the industrial to the post-industrial paradigm, where post-industrial is of a magnitude far greater than information technology advances. The current populist interpretation is e-commerce, the Internet and genetic engineering. The notion of the 'Limits of the Model', representing the breakdown of the industrial paradigm, occurs when the paradigm is being pushed too far. The significance of this breakdown for leadership, is that leadership vision and purpose must take its cue from an external frame of reference, which is categorised as a paradigm of the 'sociological' region, The crisis of leadership is bound to their sociological understanding situated within a network of culturally shared knowledge, beliefs, ideals and taken-for-granted assumptions about the nature of industrial life. Three distinct crises of leadership are identified and they combine to form a major existential crisis which embodies the struggle of the individual to find purpose and meaning in working life. The study provides a different concept and criteria for vision which requires that corporate vision would have to travel beyond the rational dimension that dominates leadership thinking today and enter into the realm of the metaphysic. Corporate vision would become a 'force-field', defined by organisation culture, In order to escape from the cultural obsolescence that surrounds most organisations today, leadership has to become a process that entails the capacity to create a new story about what is to be struggled against and dreamed about. The leaders' stories would become a reconceptualisation of the purpose of life which the post-industrial paradigm will demand. Vision and purpose would be grounded in legitimacy, sustainability and ethics, creating a question mark around the organisation's current fitness for purpose. The constructs of a "'quantum worldview provide a challenge to every boundary that leadership has tended to operate by and with. These constructs promote disorder, relationship as the basis of all definition, information as the primal creative force (and not capital and labour) and sustainability based on meeting future generations' needs. Leadership becomes a set of principles governed by a hierarchy of imagination, ideas leadership. Leadership as stewardship on a more evolved plane of value promotes an ecologicalliteracy, based on the notion of the living planet. The living planet operates as a platform of supposition which dictates that ethics will become the enabling dependency for leadership in the 21st century. This reconceptualisation of leadership is one that highlights a communal relationship, based on mutual purpose which requires true community, or a second-order level of communalism. Most business initiative today is focussed on pseudo or chaos stages of community, which does not support an ethical dimension in either purpose, strategy or operation. Ecology as an eco-philosophy goes hand in hand with the idea of spirit as an animating principle. The potential contribution of Africa with its rich cultural heritage of community through the ages, as well as the Platonic archetype of Philosopher-Ruler to enable the magnitude of the shift to be addressed is the hermeneutic yield of the study. The ecology metaphor of the postindustrial paradigm is a fertile source of potential and possible hypotheses that can be explored in the identification and reformulation of the sociological paradigm necessary to move leadership research forward. The result is a much broader, more societal 'picture' of 21st century business leadership, where globalisation is recast in a set of global ethics and global accountability, which business and its leadership has to come to terms with. The 'recasting' of business leadership promotes a different ontology where an overarching communitarian approach, will become the 'ground' for leadership and business models, strategies and evaluation for the foreseeable future.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie wil die impak demonstreer van die leierskapsliteratuur van die laat 20ste eeu, wat beskou word as die aanvaarde beliggaming van leierskapsdenke. Leierskapsdenke beïnvloed beide die akademiese studie en gevolglike praktyk van leierskap. 'n Paradigmatiese benadering is gevolg om die kontras aan te dui tussen die vereistes van onderskeidelik 'n post-industriële wêreldgemeenskap en 20ste eeuse industriële samelewing. Die studie wil 'n uitdaging rig tot die intellektuele klimaat van die besigheidsleierskapsdissipline op die normatiewe vlak, wat op sy beurt 'n uitdaging bied aan die konvensionele strategiese fokus en benadering van besigheidsleierskap. 'n Uitdaging aan die normatiewe vereis dat 'n sekere filosofiese perspektief bygevoeg word waar die grense tussen verskillende dissiplines oorgesteek word. Aangesien besigheid deel is van die sosiale wetenskappe is die kritieke intellektuele uitdagings aan moderne kennis ondersoek, wat 'n grondslag vir die uitdaging voorsien het. Dit vereis dat nuwe wetenskaplike teorie ondersoek word in beide die suiwer en die natuurwetenskappe, sowel as sekere postmoderne outeurs wat die menswetenskappe verteenwoordig. Dit is van belang dat daar weer gefokus word op wat as vanselfsprekend aanvaar is, wat verwaarloos is, waarteen daar weerstand was, wat vergeet is; die irrasionele, die onderdrukte, die grensgevalle, die klassieke, die heilige, die marginale en wat uitgesluit was. Die vraag word gevra of ons in staat is om die wyses te herken waarop ons lewens en lewensonderhoud beïnvloed is deur verouderde strukture? Daar word nie genoeg kennis geneem van die verwarrende veranderinge in denkwyse wat vereis word om leierskap in die post-industriële paradigma uit te oefen nie. Die konsep van paradigmas is sentraal tot hierdie studie waar dit opereer as die metodologiese ontwerp, aangesien die aard van die navorsing ondersoekend, oop en hermeneuties is - vergeleke met die metingskonvensie wat deur die meeste besigheidsnavorsing gevolg word. Die studie ondersoek die paradigma-afhanklikheid van leierskap as 'n sosiologiese verwysingsraamwerk, waar leierskap beskou word as 'n sosiale aksiepatroon en 'n politieke/strukturele aksie, sodat leierskap ontleed word as 'n sosiaal gekonstrueerde realiteit. 'n Belangrike onderskeidende kenmerk van hierdie studie is die groot wêreldtransformasie van die industriële na die post-industriële paradigma, waar post-industrieel van 'n baie groter omvang is as bloot vordering in die inligtingstegnologie. Die huidige populistiese interpretasie is e-handel, die Internet en genetiese manipulasie. Die idee dat die "Beperkinge van die Model" die ineenstorting van die industriële paradigma verteenwoordig, kom voor wanneer die paradigma te ver gevoer word. Die betekenis van hierdie ineenstoring vir leierskap is dat leierskapsvisie en --doel gebaseer word op 'n eksterne verwysingsraamwerk, wat gekategoriseer word as 'n paradigma van sosiologiese aard. Die krisis van leierskap is verbind aan hulle sosiologiese begrip gesitueer binne 'n netwerk van kultureel gedeelde kennis, oortuigings, ideale en aannames wat as vanselfsprekend aanvaar word oor die aard van die industriële lewe. Drie duidelike krisisareas van leierskap word geïdentifiseer en hulle vorm saam 'n belangrike eksistensiële krisis wat die beliggaming vorm van die individu se stryd om 'n doel en betekenis te vind in sy werksiewe. Die studie voorsien 'n ander begrip van en maatstaf vir visie, wat vereis dat korporatiewe visie verby die rasionele dimensie moet beweeg wat leierskapsdenke vandag oorheers, en die gebied van die metafisiese moet betree. Korporatiewe visie sal 'n "kragveld" word wat deur organisasiekultuur gedefinieer word. Om te ontsnap uit die kulturele veroudering wat vandag in die meeste organisasies bestaan, moet leierskap 'n proses word wat die kapasiteit behels om 'n nuwe storie te skep ten opsigte van waarteen daar gestry en waaroor daar gedroom moet word. Die leiers se stories sal 'n nuwe konseptualisering word van die doel van die lewe soos vereis deur die post-industriële paradigma. Visie en doelwit salop die grondslag rus van egtheid, volhoubaarheid en etiek, wat 'n vraagteken plaas om die organisasie se huidige geskiktheid vir die doel. Die konstrukte van 'n kwantumwêreldbeskouing voorsien 'n uitdaging aan elke grens waardeur en waarvolgens leierskap geneig was om te opereer. Hierdie konstrukte moedig wanorde aan; asook verhouding as die grondslag van alle definisie, inligting as die vernaamste skeppingskrag (en nie kapitaal en arbeid nie) en volhoubaarheid gebaseer op die voldoening aan die behoeftes van toekomstige generasies. Leierskap word 'n stel beginsels beheers deur 'n hiërargie van verbeelding, idees en kreatiwiteit, waar die vrystelling van die menslike gees die sentrale taak van leierskap word. Leierskap as 'n rentmeesterskap op 'n meer ontwikkelde vlak van waardes moedig 'n ekologiese geletterdheid aan, gebaseer op die idee van die lewende planeet. Die lewende planeet opereer as 'n platform van veronderstelling wat voorskryf dat leierskap in die 21ste eeu daarvan afhanklik sal wees vir sy bestaan. Hierdie nuwe konseptualisering van leierskap is een wat die fokus plaas op 'n gemeenskapsverhouding gebaseer op 'n onderlinge doel, wat werklike gemeenskap vereis, of 'n vlak van gemeenskaplikheid van die tweede orde. Die meeste besigheidsinisiatief vandag fokus op pseudo- of chaos-stadiums van gemeenskaplikheid, wat nie ondersteuning bied vir 'n etiese dimensie in doel, strategie of bedryf nie. Ekologie as 'n eko-filosofie hang saam met die gedagte van geesteskrag as 'n lewewekkende beginsel. Die potensiële bydrae van Afrika met sy ryk kulturele erfenis van gemeenskap deur die eeue, sowel as die Platoniese argetipe van die Filosoof-Heerser wat dit moontlik maak om 'n verandering van hierdie omvang aan te spreek, is die hermeneutiese veld van die studie. Die ekologie-metafoor van die post-industriële paradigma is 'n vrugbare oorsprong vir potensiële en moontlike hipoteses wat ondersoek kan word in die identifikasie en herformulering van die sosiologiese paradigma wat nodig is vir vordering in die navorsing oor leierskap. Die gevolg is 'n baie breër, meer gemeenskapsgerigte "prentjie" van 21ste eeuse besigheidsleierskap, waar die uitbreiding tot wêreldomvang omvorm word tot 'n wêreldetiek en wêreldtoerekenbaarheid waarmee besigheid en besigheidsleierskap tot 'n vergelyk moet kom. Die "omvorming" van besigheidsleierskap moedig 'n ander ontologie aan, waar 'n oorkoepelende gemeenskapsbenadering die grondslag sal vorm vir modelle, strategieë en die evaluering van leierskap en besigheid in die voorsienbare toekoms.

Thesis advisor: Martin Scanlan
This qualitative single-site case study examined how district administrators in one racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse Massachusetts school district supported and strengthened principals’ culturally responsive leadership practice. Building coherent culture and structures that provide space to critically self-reflect and collaboratively learn are essential. Data collection included interviews with district administrators and principals, observations of leadership meetings, document review, and a survey. Findings revealed district administrators established collaborative relationships with principals by employing a coherent service-oriented approach. Participants perceived the intentionality of the superintendent’s efforts as foundational to building trust, however prior experiences with district leadership impeded these efforts. The superintendent controlled sensemaking to signal equity as a district priority, yet the lack of a shared understanding of culturally responsive practice led participants to conflate culturally responsive practice with other district endorsed equity practices. Attempts were made to align structures and tools to equity priorities, however culturally responsive practices were subsumed within other equity initiatives creating variance in the perception of the effectiveness of how structures and tools support principals’ culturally responsive leadership practice. Implications include developing a district definition of culturally responsive practice and using equity practices as a scaffold to support principals’ understanding and enactment of culturally responsive practices that bring critical self-reflection and conversations about racial and cultural bias to the forefront. Future research may extend this study to analyze sensegiving interactions and examine the impact of these interactions on principals’ culturally responsive leadership practice
Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2020
Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education
Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education

This thesis outlines a personal attempt to explore leadership in a holistic manner that recognises the contribution of both individuals and the collective whilst remaining sensitive to contextual factors. It endeavours to do this through presentation, analysis and discussion of two empirical studies of leadership, informed by distributed and practice perspectives, which regard leadership as a shared and contextually situated social process. The thesis begins with an overview of leadership theory and research, proposing that the time is right for a reframing of the field of leadership studies in order to redress the balance accorded to individual and collective accounts of leadership; review how we recognise, reward and develop leadership; and revisit our methodologies and approaches to leadership enquiry. The first empirical study investigates perceptions and experiences of leadership in the UK higher education sector, proposing that whilst leadership may be considered as widely dispersed, the notion of ‘distributed leadership’ also carries a powerful rhetorical function that may mask an uneven distribution of power, resources and rewards. The second empirical study explores the notion of ‘leadership-as-practice’ in three large, complex organisations outside the HE sector, and reveals the significant impact of discourse and sensemaking in shaping perceptions, experiences and the accomplishment of leadership for middle-senior level operational managers. The discussion chapter draws together the various themes explored in the thesis, in particular demonstrating the significance of issues of discourse, identity and purpose in making sense of the elusive nature of leadership practice. It is argued that a holistic representation of leadership remains difficult to achieve because of the manner in which grand Discourses and micro-level discourses of leadership interact to attribute the social process of leadership to the actions of individual leaders. The thesis concludes with a series of recommendations that highlight the value of a somewhat eclectic approach to leadership theory, research, practice and development that facilitates the emergence and recognition of contextually-appropriate ‘hybrid configurations’ of leadership.

This study set out to gain an understanding of the leadership practice in response to the multicultural orientation of education due to the increasingly multicultural environment of schools in Cyprus. The research aimed to analyse the complexity of leadership and ME by investigating the different school stakeholders' roles in and contribution to the leadership behaviour and practice of ME in a Cypriot primary school. Aiming to provide an in depth and rounded view of the beliefs, and behaviours of the different stakeholders that may affect the processes of leadership practice for ME, the study adopted a qualitative, case study design. Purposive sampling and criterion-based selection were used to select a primary school and to identify stakeholders within that school to participate in the study. The participants were the headteacher, teachers, parents, students and inspector of the school. The main research instrument employed as the semi-structured interview. Other data collection methods included observation, concept map, conversation, documents and open questionnaire. Data were analysed using thematic analysis by employing themes and codes both preconceived as well as grounded in the data. The study used Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological model as a conceptual framework to analyse the evidence and examine the research aims. The findings reveal the complexity of multicultural leadership practice and the influence of the different school stakeholders' beliefs and behaviour. Furthermore, the research findings highlight the importance of a moral, democratic and distributed discourse of leadership in response to multiculturalism,: accompanied by forms of transformational and instructional leadership. Another outcome is that the practice of multi cultural leadership is affected by the ecological system of the school in various ways. Finally, some behaviours and characteristics (conceptualizations of ME, multicultural competence, celebrating diversity, parental and communal involvement, state support, school culture, relationships, curriculum, collaboration, experience and personal qualities, school's support system) are presented as those that may enable or disable multicultural leadership practice in the school in numerous different ways. The findings discussed in this report provide important data that could be interesting for researchers and professionals in the field of educational leadership, multi cultural education and school policy. These concern school stakeholders (teachers, headteachers, students, parents, governors and inspectors), policy makers and providers of leadership professional development programmes.

The purpose of this study was to assess the nature of participation in a hybrid Community of Practice; exploring how teacher efficacy influenced participation; and how participation impacted both technology teacher leadership and technology integration practice. The researcher addressed the following research questions: What is the nature and frequency of the activities and interactions evidenced by participation in a hybrid CoP? What types of knowledge capital were found in a hybrid CoP? Does teacher efficacy influence participation in the online component of a hybrid CoP? How does participation in a hybrid CoP impact teachers’ technology integration and the development of their technology leadership ability? Participants included 31 teachers enrolled in an Innovative Teacher Leaders (ITL) program. The researcher implemented a mixed methods comparative case study, collecting data via participant observations, monthly self-reports, and semi-structured interviews. A survey instrument was administered to collect data on Teacher Efficacy and Teacher Leadership. Frequency data were collected based on interaction logs and face-to-face training observations of the CoP. Findings of this study pointed to the need for time to practice, implementation support, and peer coaching/discourse as necessary factors for successful professional development. Participation in this hybrid CoP was found to have a positive impact on teacher technology integration and technology leadership ability.

This thesis focuses on the differences between managerial styles in theory and in practice in a selected company. It is based on literature review and a series of structured interviews conducted among top and middle management of the selected company. It is divided into two main parts respectively. The aims of the thesis are to identify general managerial approach practiced by the managers of the selected company and to determine whether there is a link between the managerial approach of a direct superior and subordinate.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Miami University, Dept. of Educational Leadership, 2005.
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As a contrast to Edward Deming's requirement to 'drive out fear' from the workplace many managers will view fear as an appropriate management tool. This was supported by the Ryan and Oestreich report in 1991. To explore the current status of fear in the military workplace, this study investigates a particular superior-subordinate relationship at company level in the Army environment at Fort Ord, California. A sequence of in-depth interviews with a Company Commander and his Executive Officer provide the data base. A fear model is developed to assist in categorizing and analyzing the articulated fears. The array of fears recorded during the interviews enabled us to address the following issues: (1) the extent to which fear is applied as a management tool, (2) whether the use of fear in a leadership context is viewed appropriate by the officers, and (3) the possible impact of the use of fear on the relationship between the two officers.

Thesis advisor: Martin Scanlan
This qualitative case study examined leaders’ shared data use, a process of translating data into action (Bernhardt, 2013). Understanding data use is considered conceptually by attending to the assistance relationships shared between central office leaders and principals in the context of turnaround. Such relationships are marked by occasions during which members share expertise by modeling practices; the modeling informs how systems, structures and subsequent practices are introduced and even reinforced for newer members. I focused my analysis on four manifestations of data use: data’s influence on adjusting leadership practice, data’s ability to inform instruction, data use’s benefits from technological advancement, and the intentional promotion of resilience. Data collection included document review as well as interviews with central office leaders and principals. Findings evidenced the nature of both central office leaders’ and principals’ data use as well as revealed a remarkable degree of commonality in the language and practices these leaders shared. The results of this study indicated that assistance relationships are a functioning element of leadership in the turnaround context. This study supported the research that leaders’ shared practice of data use benefits student growth and achievement in line with state-determined assessment and accountability targets. Recommendations include additional research into Lawrence Public Schools’ data use to further inform a blueprint for comprehensive district-wide reform as well as the development of exit criteria from receivership
Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2018
Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education
Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education

The demographic composition of the United States population continues to change, becoming increasingly more diverse. But, unfortunately, the U.S. education system too often fails to reach all students. Historically marginalized students from groups based on race, ethnicity, class, gender, language, ability, and/or sexual orientation are routinely excluded from the mainstream school community. Since the backgrounds and interests of these students typically do not match the dominant ideologies and norms of the perceived authoritative group, their needs have largely been ignored by educational institutions (Bartlett & Garcia, 2011; Lee, 2005; Valenzuela, 1999). Therefore, it is vital that educational institutions become more flexible and inclusive. Some contemporary charter schools have aimed to do just this. They are innovative and progressive. In these schools, with the greater flexibility, leaders in charter schools are able to play important roles in shifting conventional and bureaucratic public schooling to a more organic and supportive school community that includes our increasingly diverse student population. This 18-month critical ethnographic study at Millennium High School, a small, urban, non-profit charter public school located in the Southwest United States is an example of the transformative leadership framework merging with tempered radicalism and power-with structures to develop and sustain a modern school community. I draw from 27 interviews and over 80 hours of observations, including traditional and participant observations, to develop and support my argument. My results indicate, since leadership still plays an important role in shifting educational consciousness, the contemporary transformative leader develops and sustains a larger educational community by acknowledging the importance of transformative leadership practices, tempered radicalism, and the modern school community.

The world is in a pandemic situation. Shifting to remote working has become a priority for many companies and remote work has become new normal. In doing so, industrial organizations are experiencing new challenges. Moving to the online way of working, new working conditions and different practical challenges they bring have created empirical context highly relevant for studying leadership which is currently a hot topic among scholars. Almost all studies, in the context of remote working, emphasize the importance of leadership.  Nevertheless, it is argued that the most recent literature and work on leadership have remained the leader-centered approach highly employed within traditional leadership literature. The leader-centered approach focuses on individual leaders and their traits, abilities, and actions, and thus contributes to placing the abstract phenomenon of leadership into distinct individuals, thereby supporting the taken-for-granted assumption that leadership is a single-person, heroic, task. Instead, scholars call for more studies that investigate leadership as ongoing social production of direction through constructions of space of action by actors in certain practice/practices. This emergent movement in leadership research is known as leadership as practice.  Accordingly, the aim of this thesis is to investigate leadership within the remote working environment, from leadership as practice perspective and through the construction of actors’ space of action. This includes an analysis of current leadership practices in relation to the construction of space of action as well as the analysis of practices that might potentially contribute to improving the current ones in doing so.  An interview study has been carried out at the three companies in Serbia, Germany, and the UK with a qualitative approach. The thesis builds on a theoretical framework and empirical data that have been collected through an extensive literature review and semi-structured interviews using an open-ended interview guide.  The result suggests that the current leadership practices are narrowing down the space of action. Also, the analysis of empirical data revealed that certain leadership practices have the potential to contribute to the construction of space of action within a remote working environment. The thesis’s insights might help companies to improve their own practices.

Innovative organisations are facing exceptional changes and challenges. To meet such changes and challenges, it is recognised that appropriate leadership is essential. This leadership organises and encourages thoughts and good intentions by putting the interests of others as the top priority, energises positive thoughts; loyalty, integrity and determination, and facilitates creative thinking by using all creative methods to solve problems and think outside of the box. Leadership best practices are the basis and driver for "innovative organisations and excellence" across the world. However, achieving best practice is almost impossible without defining a common understanding of leadership and sustainable business excellence within organisations. For five decades, scholars almost failed to agree on one common definition. This has led to the need for new, agreeable leadership roles to ensure that organisational excellence is sustainable, innovative, and valid for all. The aims of this research include, firstly, to provide a framework for understanding leadership. Secondly, it aims to provide a methodology to build and validate "business excellence" and "leadership" models and theories. Thirdly, this research will develop a sustainable business excellence framework that integrates quality management and the majority of the necessary components for considering the performance of enterprises in today's environment, taking into consideration the creativity and sustaining excellence in innovation by organisations in this 21st century. The research methodology used in this thesis includes a literature review of approximately 1000 articles and definitions that were collected from different sources, interviews of carefully selected experts in the field of leadership and business excellence, and different sets of questionnaires. Moreover, a validation tool has been developed, which is a combination of well-known management tools (Deming Cycle, RADAR logic, and Structural Equational Modelling (SEM)). In addition, statistical software (SPSS) and AMOS have been used to carry out the necessary statistical analysis and to facilitate the development of the proposed leadership framework and validation model. There are four major new outcomes of this thesis: 1) developing a framework for understanding leadership, 2) developing the six essential elements of leadership, 3) developing a model to validate business excellence models, 4) developing a new leadership framework for the 21st Century that is characterised by innovative principles and sustainable business excellence within an organisation.

Translating research to practice takes 10-20 years or more and evidence-based practice (EBP) integration remains at 10%-20%, despite recommendations requiring EBP-guided decisions. EBP integration has been associated with up to 30% decreases in healthcare system spending, improved quality outcomes, and increased staff satisfaction. Nurse leaders are accountable for EBP enculturation, yet rate quality and safety as the highest priority and EBP as the lowest. This knowledge gap perpetuates low EBP integration rates and hinders EBP enculturation. Asking whether EBP facilitative interventions for nurse leaders increase scores on organizational culture and readiness, beliefs, and EBP use scales addressed the knowledge gap via this quality improvement, pre/posttest pilot project. Multiple frameworks guided the project: the nursing process, Lewin's change management model, the Johns Hopkins Nursing EBP model, and the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership-® model. A comprehensive literature search validated the design using EBP facilitators: educational interventions, transformational leadership, strategic planning, and a systems perspective. Pre/posttest data garnered from 14 non-direct care nurse leaders on the Organizational Culture and Readiness for System-Wide Integration of EBP Scale, the EBP Beliefs Scale, and the EBP Implementation Scale was analyzed using 2-sample t tests. Individual questions on the scales revealed statistically significant differences correlating to the facilitative interventions, yet overall aggregate scores did not change significantly. The limited findings contribute to the existing body of knowledge, while positive social implications include resolving public health and safety issues, reversing fiscal irresponsibility, and overcoming resistance to change.

This case study conceptually illustrated how a leadership living-learning community provided an educational context well suited to enhance development of leaders within changing leadership and educational paradigms. Specifically, it highlighted how both leadership and learning have come to be viewed as sociocultural processes, and presented theoretical and applied descriptions of â communities of practiceâ and the identity formation process of â legitimate peripheral participationâ (Lave & Wenger, 1991). The unit of analysis for this case study was a first-year, leadership-themed living-learning community at a four-year, land grant university in the Eastern United States. The purpose of the study was to explore how college students constructed leadership identities as they moved from first year members to second year peer leaders in the living-learning community. Nine sophomore students serving in peer leader roles and four faculty members serving as program instructors were the primary study participants. In-depth qualitative interviews with students and faculty, analysis of key program documents and studentsâ written assignments, and a confirmatory student focus group contributed to the creation of eight primary themes and one overarching theme describing how students constructed leadership identities through community participation. The eight themes included access to experiences of membership, meanings of the first-year experience, beliefs about leadership, peer leader roles and practices, knowing in practice, meanings of multi-membership, and embodiment of the program mission. The overarching theme illustrated how peer leaders embody the mission-oriented program design as they move throughâ and ultimately out ofâ the community. Studentsâ representations of their beliefs and practices enacted through community leadership roles emphasized college success strategies, foundational leadership knowledge and skill development, and preparation for future leadership roles. The findings of this study provided insight for educators who desire to design programs that foster college student leadership development. The findings revealed social and cultural implications related to higher education's call to enhance students' leadership capacity. There is a need to further explore leadership identity formation within other contexts, as well as the long-term impact of learning community experience on studentsâ representations of leadership identity.
Ph. D.

Thesis advisor: Martin Scanlan
As the populations of public schools in the United States grow increasingly more diverse, it is critical for district and school leaders to understand how educators make sense of their responsibility to improve outcomes for historically marginalized students. Culturally responsive practice (CRP) is a framework of beliefs and practices to enhance these students’ success. Additionally, it is well established that family engagement in schools also supports student achievement. This qualitative case study explores the intersection of CRP and family engagement by focusing on two research questions: (1) How do educators understand CRP in efforts to engage families of marginalized students and (2) How do educators enact that understanding in practice? It is part of a larger case study examining understanding and enactment of CRP in a diverse Massachusetts school district. Along with Mapp’s (2013) Dual Capacity Building Framework of family engagement, I apply Maitlis’ (2005) organizational sensemaking theory to data collected from semi-structured interviews, document review and an online survey. Findings reveal that educators understood CRP in regards to family engagement as the need to know students and families and recognize differences in their cultures. Also, educator understanding emanates from both personal and professional experiences including learning from colleagues, students and families. However, educators lack a common definition or understanding of CRP in regards to family engagement. Consequently, family engagement practices vary and tend to be more traditional versus reflective of CRP. This study revealed the need for stronger district direction and support for CRP and family engagement
Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2020
Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education
Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education

With increasing demands on student achievement as set forth by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (2001), teachers are the catalyst for improving their students' performance (Marzano, 2000). Existing studies on the use of formative assessment as a process by which teachers elicit information of their students' progress and use that information to inform their instruction have shown promising results in student achievement gains (Wiliam & Thompson, 2007). Extensive teacher professional development is needed, however, to instill a change in teacher practice needed to successfully employ formative assessment resulting in improved student achievement (Trumbull & Lash, 2013; Wiley & Heritage, 2010).

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between Linking Learning and Assessment professional development (including online training modules and communities of practice) as well as other forms of professional development on formative assessment and resulting self-perceived teacher practice, and what aspects of the professional development teachers found meaningful in improving their practice.

This study utilized a mixed-methods design. A questionnaire was administered to middle level educators (N=82) throughout the state followed by a focus group interview (N=5). Quantitative data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics, correlations, Anova, and t-tests. Qualitative data were obtained through open-ended questions and the focus group. Content analysis was conducted to analyze the qualitative data obtained through the focus group interview and the open-ended questions on the questionnaire.

A major finding of this study is that most teachers are in the early stages of implementing the formative assessment process and have begun to realize the power of formative assessment. Those who have had ongoing and intensive training have begun to see meaningful changes in their practice. Professional development found to be most meaningful to teachers includes: collaboration, active learning opportunities and coherence. In addition, teachers expressed the need for professional development to be differentiated to meet their individual needs.

The results of this study may serve to inform teachers, administrators, districts and state departments of education when developing and implementing professional development in general as well as professional development on formative assessment.

The number of students taking American Sign Language (ASL) at the post-secondary level continues to increase as more Deaf-related graduate programs and employment settings require fluent ASL skills. Western Oregon University (WOU) is one of the few existing programs in the United States that offers four years of ASL instruction; however, as a rural university it has limited access to a Deaf community. The problem of practice is that students often have little exposure to rich language models who are fluent in ASL, which impacts their legitimate peripheral participation (LPP) in the local Deaf communities of practice (CoPs) and reduces apprenticeship opportunities that might be beneficial for their language acquisition experiences. While research suggests that direct engagement with language models has a significant impact on language acquisition and fluency in general, there is scant literature in the field of ASL that addresses this connection. My dissertation research addressed this gap in the literature. To address my problem of practice, I used a qualitative research design with both descriptive and comparative research questions to complete three case studies. Using semi-structured interviews, this study explored participants' attitudes and beliefs about their experience in local Deaf CoPs. The three participants in my study were Western Oregon University students enrolled in ASL 8 course. Data analyses included inductive analysis of qualitative data, a within case analysis, and a cross-case analysis. Findings showed that participants were interested in moving past LPP in local Deaf CoPs, and were interested in identifying apprenticeship opportunities because they realized the importance of engaging with native language models.