The Positive Energy Patrol: One Nursing Division\u27s Approach to Address the Issue of Morale in the Workplace

The purpose of this project is to develop an article for submission to a professional journal describing a staff led initiative to address employee morale in the hospital setting. It is well documented in professional nursing literature that the morale of a work environment has a direct effect upon the care provided to the patients and families served. Empowerment of staff, mutual respect, and transpersonal care as described by nursing theorist Jean Watson provide a healthy framework for a workplace where people want to engage and contribute. A morale initiative as trialed at one institution will be shared for consideration to potentially enhance a positive work environment, and thus enhance the patient care provided

Understanding how the Army\u27s Informal Leader Bonds Formal Leadership and the Complex Environment

Bullying and toxic leadership in the U. S. Army disrupt bonding processes between leaders and subordinates, which may jeopardize military operations, threaten resiliency initiatives, inhibit leader development, and stifle innovation. Little research, however, has looked at the role of informal leaders who operate outside the formal power structure in military environments. Using social exchange theory as the foundation, the purpose of this case study was to explore the activities of informal leaders who mediated the normal and disrupted leadership bonding processes in an Illinois Army National Guard Infantry Brigade. The research questions explored the informal leaders\u27 influence and behaviors to gain a greater understanding of the bonding processes. A maximum variation purposeful sampling was used to select 25 informal leaders from 8 company size units in an Illinois Army National Guard Infantry Brigade. Publicly available archival data were also considered. All data were coded inductively and then subjected to Braun and Clark\u27s thematic analysis procedure, revealing the perception that informal leaders improved bonding between soldiers and leaders and reduced stress associated with military service. The implications for positive social change include recommendations to the Illinois National Guard to provide support for using informal leaders as a mechanism to promote more cohesive relationships between leaders and subordinates and to explore the use of informal leadership to reduce stress

Take a walk on the wild side: Exploring, identifying, and developing consultancy expertise with elite performance team leaders

Objectives: Stemming from sport psychology’s recent shift to examine the effective management of elite sports team organizations, the extensive, significant, and complex challenges faced by those with responsibility for team performance have been emphasized. Recognizing that most work in this budding area has been theoretical in nature, our contribution to this special issue consequently identifies and critically evaluates some implications for excellence in practitioners who support leaders of elite sport performance teams. Method: Narrative review and commentary. Results and Conclusions: To survive and succeed, leaders of elite teams must: (a) negotiate complex and contested socio-political dynamics both within and outside their performance department; (b) make impactful and consistent real-time decisions; and (c) continually reinforce and protect their programme. To provide an optimally impactful and valued service, sport psychologists must therefore be able to advise on a broad and politically-astute leadership style and, most critically for consultancy excellence: (a) work within a professional judgment and decision making model; (b) facilitate the leader’s adaptive expertise and nested decision making; and (c) operate a proactive, forthright, and straight approach to ethical considerations. Based on these implications, we conclude by providing suggestions for the training and development of applied consultants

An Examination of Culturally Competent Transformational Leadership Influence of Student Achievement and Stake-holders Perception

This research consists of a non-experimental, descriptive and correlation research design to analyze the relationship between principals’ leadership style as well as principal cultural competency and their impact on student achievement and stake-holders perception. The study took place in the South Puget Sound region of Washington state in one of the fastest growing areas in the U.S. The researcher investigated the impact of transformational leadership in education based on research that posited that transformational leaders inspired and motivated followers to exceed performance expectation and commitment to a shared goal (Bass, 1985a; Burns, 1978;). The study relied heavily on prior educational studies that indicated that transformation leadership was the most effective and successful leadership model for school reform and school improvement. The study also investigated education leaders’ culturally competency and the significance of the appreciating individuals’ communities, ethnic cultures and family traditions to provide optimal educational experiences (Arthur et al, 2005). The study investigated the overall impact of school leadership through the lens of concurrent use of transformational leadership and culturally competent leadership and their influence of student academic achievement and stake-holders perception. The study concluded with practical implication for a proposal for a new leadership framework titled, The Diverse School Leadership

Benefits of Implementing Culturally Responsive Teaching In Latino Elementary Classrooms

The benefits of implementing culturally responsive teaching strategies into the elementary classroom empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural references to impart knowledge and skills. Culturally responsive educators see themselves as part of a community of learners and desire to learn collaboratively. This capstone investigates the relationship between culturally responsive teaching and its effect on predominantly Latino elementary school students’ learning. Teachers who use culturally responsive teaching strategies see culture as an asset which can be used to enhance academic and social achievement. This study not only defines, but also highlights effective teaching strategies that reflect a culturally responsive pedagogy. The purpose of this senior capstone project is to discover the benefits of culturally responsive teaching in Latino elementary school classrooms through four teacher interviews, sixty student surveys, and two in class observations. My findings indicate that the implementation of culturally responsive teaching strategies is highly effective in the development of the whole child

Lifting the veil of invisiblity: an interpretative phenomenological study of student perception as related to resiliency

This interactive phenomenological study was an attempt to understand how marginalized, low socioeconomic students in a predominately white suburban school were able to succeed to graduation and beyond. Six students were interviewed using semi-structured questions in an audio-recorded interview while the researcher annotated body language, emotions, and pauses of the participant. The perceptions of the students were examined in relation to Buber\u27s existential I-Thou relational theory as well as other care-oriented educators such as Freire, Dewey, and Nel Noddings. Also informing the conceptual framework of the study were Milstein and others regarding resiliency. Significant themes emerged from the participants\u27 narratives; however, rather than the expected prevailing theme of resiliency, something unexpected emerged. The participants all discussed the necessity of mattering to someone, of being heard and seen. This prevailing theme is what transformed the lives of these young people and gave them the inner strength to cope with often devastating events in their lives