A central insight in economic sociology is that firms depend on relationships with other organizations for their access to capital, information, and other resources. Such interactions among firms tend to develop into stable networks of social and economic exchange that stratify fines in an industry. My dissertation contributes to our understanding of emergent industry structures by explaining how firms build their networks during the early history of a new sector. First, I propose that firms in young industries are exposed to multiple institutional pressures from professional groups, policy makers, neighboring industries, and trade associations. Second, I argue that institutional pressures shape firms’ collaborative strategies. Finally, I claim that firms are not uniformly affected by institutional pressures, since they typically differ in their exposure to different collaborative practices and beliefs. I find empirical support for these claims in a multi-method study of the U.S. venture capital industry during its formative years 19651988. The empirical results highlight that a young industry can develop along many different trajectories. Understanding how firms historically were affected by different institutional pressures is crucial for explaining contemporary industry structures and business practices.

In this study I utilize ethnographic research to explore how professionals working within non-profit organizations in the field of aging implement and navigate shifts in old age policy. I consider how these shifts are informed by changes in the political economy as well as the construction of knowledge about older adults through mainstream gerontology and the media. I explore how groups, such as older adults and caregivers, are produced and reproduced through policy, defined both as an exercise of power and the everyday practice of practitioners. This study is based on a combination of methods, including a year of participant observation and semi-structured interviews with members of an elder advocacy organization in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Participant observation took place primarily in the offices of this organization. I attended meetings and events in other locations in Philadelphia, which usually dealt with other non-profit or government groups. Thirteen interviews with staff members at this organization, as well as with individuals in additional organizations in the field of aging, provided insight into the constraints and opportunities created by federal and state aging policy for those that work “on the ground.” The interviews explored the goals of these programs, organizational understanding of the target population, and external factors that affect the trajectory of these programs. I argue that, 1) aging is increasingly depoliticized through the concept of “successful aging,” which professionals alternately reproduce and resist； 2) this process facilitates the roll-back of social welfare programs, and； 3) that this “aging system” creates constraints and contradictions for those who work within it, which are rooted in the effort to simplify and define population groups or make them “legible,” in order to utilize government and private resources.

This dissertation is a phenomenological qualitative study which explored and analyzed the experiences of 10 women engineers holding management positions in male-dominated engineering organizations. The data analysis revealed insightful information on the obstacles faced by the participants, their success strategies and predominant leadership styles. The themes that emerged from this study highlighted the obstacles, and organizational cultural factors affecting women’s ability to become leaders in engineering organizations and the strategies used to overcome those obstacles. The analysis of the data revealed that in spite of their academic achievements, high performance, transformational leadership style and technical acumen, gender stereotypes and organizational culture continue to contribute to the under representation of qualified women engineers in management positions. The participants noted various strategies that helped them succeed: (a) overachieve and deliver on time, (b) expand experience base and knowledge by welcoming challenges and assignments outside of comfort zone, (c) team player and respectful of others, (d) build a reputation for being competent and assertive, (e) mentoring, and (f) develop a career plan and communicate it with others that can help you get there. This phenomenological study contributed to the existing body of existing knowledge, from which other women, organizational leaders and researchers can draw from. Organizational leaders have much to gain from this study on designing and implementing strategies that will foster the advancement of women in engineering. This study will also provide women engineers some guidelines on success factors to thrive in a male-dominated engineering environment.

The purpose of this study was to model the role of vision in a complex organization and the roles that agents, tasks, knowledge, roles, resources and beliefs play. For this purpose, an investigation into the current structure of this model is conducted. Additionally, this study sought to develop a better understanding of how agents individual vision and beliefs about the organizational vision can be influenced over time. This purpose sought to identify the evolution of vision, therefore, required a method that simulates how these entities change over time. Dynamic Network Analysis was utilized to capture an understanding of the existing organizational dynamic and to analyze the changes in the dynamic over time using simulations. Results found that complex organizational vision is rooted by leader and organizational values and beliefs. The present state of the organization is composed of people, knowledge, resources and roles, while these individuals bring with them organizational pressures, concerns, and perceived obstacles. Through interaction and interdependency, individuals exchange ideas, aspirations, and beliefs. Upon interaction, individual beliefs converge and neutralize toward organizational beliefs, while internal and external tension is applied. Vision emerges through the interaction of these entities over time. Consequently, reduced interaction has a stifling impact on vision. When organizational members do not commit to vision at some level of preferential capacity, organizational performance can be severely damaged, in the form of knowledge loss and task failure.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a leadership development course for the top 100 leaders of a Fortune 500(TM) company using Kirkpatrick’s four levels of evaluation and the Success Case Method. Participants’ satisfaction with the training was measured through a survey given upon completion of the course and it was determined that participants were satisfied with the training. Knowledge gains as a result of training were also measured and participants’ knowledge significantly increased after training. Participant behavior change due to training was discovered using the Success Case Method. Participants’ top four changes in behavior that resulted from the course were: 1.) identifying development needs to improve bench strength 2.) developing someone on their team for a more responsible leadership position, 3.) developing a better understanding of their team members, and 4.) improving the performance level of their team. Organizational results due to training were discovered using the Success Case Method and included: 1.) profits and 2.) cost savings. Finally, information was gathered about the factors that led to training success, the factors that deterred training success, and how the training could be improved.

The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to explore, investigate, and understand how managers who use emotional intelligence (EI may influence employees when change occurs in an organization. Change happens when companies are merged, acquired, closed, downsized or restructured. The way change is communicated, processed, planned, and implemented affects all employees. EI can play an integral part in helping employees implement, embrace, and adapt to change within an organization by using the five qualities of EI: (a) self-awareness, (b) self-regulation, (c) motivation, (d) empathy, and (e) social skills. The goal of this study was to help managers who have an understanding of emotions assist employees adapt to organizational changes and aid in motivating employees to incorporate change. The purpose of the research was to examine the different responses given by managers in the automotive industry regarding practices of EI in a change process. The analysis revealed the different mechanisms for communicating change and the impact of the mechanisms from a manager’s perspective. The study also involved investigating how the managers perceived EI how the managers incorporated EI in effecting change, and the managers’ perceived impact of the use of EI. Significant relationships emerged between managers’ awareness of EI, use of EI, and individual differences in preference of methods. The conclusions included suggestions regarding the intelligent use of different tactics and mechanisms for formulating an action plan to handle an issue. The current research resulted in insight to potential training programs that can be devised on the basis of the findings enumerated in this dissertation.

Two aspects of perfectionism among supervisors were compared with their discomfort when managing the performance of subordinates. Results indicated that two types of maladaptive perfectionism may be present in supervisor tendencies when managing performance. Definitions of maladaptive and adaptive traits of perfectionism were compared with discomfort and discussed in relation to management style and effectiveness. Conclusions suggested roles perfectionism may play in supervisor management styles, and its potential for effect on organizational climate. Implications for management development were discussed. Recommendations were made for further research regarding perfectionism in organizational contexts.

Successful volunteer management is essential to the effective functioning of sport organizations because the organizations and events could not be sustained without the support of volunteers Cuskelly, McIntyre, & Boag, 1998). In order to achieve effectiveness in volunteer management, sport organizations should understand what volunteers want and how volunteers feel about their volunteer activities. In the competitive environment of volunteer recruitment, sport organizations should be appealing to target volunteers, emphasizing the uniqueness of sport volunteering on the basis of a basic understanding of volunteer psychology. There has been an increasing number of research studies examining motivation and satisfaction of volunteers in sport management. However, there has been a lack of research testing the idea of whether sport volunteering is more favorable and influential for motivating and satisfying volunteers than other volunteer opportunities are. This dissertation is the first attempt at comparing the characteristics of sport volunteers with non-sport volunteers in order to fill this gap in volunteer research and verify the characteristics of sport volunteers compared with other volunteers. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to compare the psychological differences between the groups of sport volunteers and non-sport volunteers. In order to achieve this research purpose, marathon volunteers n＝321) and music festival volunteers n＝132) were compared in terms of identification, motivation, evaluation of fit, satisfaction, and intentions for future volunteering associated with their current volunteering experiences. The results indicated that there were significant group differences in the level of identification related to the context of volunteering. However, no significant group differences were found between sport volunteers and music volunteers in terms of other constructs. The findings presented herein will contribute to expanding the body of knowledge about volunteers not only in sport management but also in general volunteer management, and will also provide tips for effective volunteer management to event volunteer coordinators. Recommendations are offered for future research based on the current research findings.

The purpose of this study was to examine and empirically test some of the theoretical ties between emotional intelligence (EI) and transformational leadership (TL). The possible relationships between core EI traits, and TL behaviors of senior human resource (HR) professionals who earned their Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) certifications were investigated. The variables in this study were the core EI traits of regulation of emotion in others, and empathy as the independent variables； and the TL aspects of inspirational motivation, individualized consideration, and idealized influence as the dependent variables. This study used a voluntary, survey, research methodology approach to show whether there was a relationship between SPHR professional.s scores on EI traits using the Multidimensional EI Assessment-Workplace (MEIA-W), and TL characteristics using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). The results of the data analyses indicated that there was not a relationship between the EI trait of regulation of emotion in others and the TL aspect of inspirational motivation, and there was not a relationship found between the EI trait of regulation of emotion in others and the TL behavior of individualized consideration. A relationship was found, however, between the EI trait of empathy and the TL behavior of individualized consideration, and the EI trait of empathy and the TL aspect of idealized influence.

This multi-case study research, using qualitative and quantitative methods, examines, compares, and validates the traits, behaviors, and formulas for success utilized by four experienced, long-term, exemplary executives who lead nonprofit organizations NPOs) that serve homeless and “at risk” populations. Service longevity is a measure of success in this study and each leader subject must have served a minimum of five years at their NPO to participate, though most have been leading their respective NPOs far longer. An NPO leader affects not only an organization but individual constituents and the entire community. Each leader subject is considered successful by numerous constituents and the community. Anyone is at risk for homelessness and its effects on the entire community are boundless. Traits and formulas for success are measured using three surveys: Kouzes & Posners 360 LPI and Most Admired Characteristics surveys and Cialdinis Influence IQ Test. Additional data sources are personal interviews, organizational 990s, annual reports, and other financial and programmatic data. The instruments for data analysis are a Likert 7 Point Importance Scale used for the program and organizational evaluations by NPO professional outside raters and the Strategic Plan. Analytic tools are the Pearson Product Moment Correlations, the organizations 990s, a 3 year annual report comparison, and participant observation. This study measures the leaders against the ideal. One common theme among all the leaders is consistency, one of Cialdinis Six Principles of Influence； however, the use of the other Principles was varied. Three of the four leader subjects identified three of the top four traits of an exemplary leader and each demonstrated use of Kouzes & Posner Practices. There appears to be some statistical relationship between the Cialdini Principles and the Kouzes and Posner Practices； however, due to the small sample size the results are interesting but not generalizable. Triangulation of the data affirms the original premise: the leaders are successful, each in a unique way. Overall, comparing the organizations to the ideal standards identified in the research objectives, all leaders possess verifiable measures of success from a variety of measures, both qualitative and quantitative.