Sharing Leadership in Top Teams: A Qualitative Case Study of One Governing Board in the Nonprofit Sector

Shared leadership is increasingly important in organisations today in order to meet the needs of changing environments, complex problems and to accommodate transparency and accountability. This is especially applicable to nonprofit organisations (NPOs) where good governance has been a concern for years not only because of underdeveloped theories of nonprofit governance (Cornforth, 2012) but also public pressure to demonstrate accountability, after reported cases of failed governance. This research has a qualitative exploratory methodological design that interprets emerging data to develop and clarify concepts. The thesis adopts an ontological relativist position towards the epistemology of constructionism, and employs an intepretivist methodology to discuss findings and concepts. The case study employs the concept of shared leadership, a mutual influence process in teams, (Pearce and Conger, 2003) and an ‘ethical form of board leadership’ for corporate boards following poor governance and various scandals (Vandewaerde et al, 2011, p.404) to explore sharing leadership and governance in one nonprofit board in practice. Three data collection techniques namely interviews, observation and document review have been carried out. Specifically, eight interviews, observation of one annual general meeting and one routine board meeting, and a review of 21 documents including seven board minutes and eight reports. The participants richly described their experiences, having been identified using a Braun and Clarke (2006) interpretive process that examines the following themes; compliance; core purpose; expert knowledge and leadership. Findings inductively identified from the data suggest support for the concept of co-leadership between two individuals; for board governance moving towards a pluralist perspective in 2017; and changing context as the locus of leadership during 2014 – 2017

Shared Leadership in Top Teams. A Study of Nonprofit Federated Board Leadership

This study explores the complex nature of nonprofit board leadership in two boards in one UK charitable federation. It employs a constructionist epistemology and a hybrid analytical approach of thematic analysis, positioning, and leadership differentiated in the interplay between individual action and interdependent leadership. Analysis of three data sources (18 trustee interviews, observation of 3 board meetings, and 39 archival documents) reveal three themes: ‘applying accountability’, ‘engaging with team tensions’, and ‘managing resources’. Two storylines also emerge: ‘seizing a commercial opportunity’ and ‘developing a new service’. External to these boards, 15 interviews and 3 meetings inform an analytical description of the ‘case organisation’. Findings from this ‘interpretive sensemaking’ case study (Welch et al., 2011) show multiple ways in which leadership occurs. Trustees’ experience of leadership in talk and in their interactions in negotiation illustrate the kind of leadership agency they adopt when taking responsibility for multiple forms of accountability to clients, tasks, and external entities. Human agency is illuminated in trustees experience of leadership as they act as ‘innovative agents’ and ‘constructive integrators’. In particular how they balance between innovation and integration. The proposed board leadership framework integrates the individual and team aspects. It conceptually relates the elements of agency as a discursive presentation and the practice of accountability with positioning through which insights make visible the ‘shared’ leadership of two teams that constitute trustee boards. This study departs from the positivist orientation of much nonprofit board research to contribute insights of everyday leadership from a rare interpretive perspective. It further contributes to studies and increasing interest in positioning theory, position-oriented analysis, and innovative methodological hybrid analytical approaches. Finally, it contributes to empirical studies of shared leadership (Pearce and Conger, 2003). In particular, the dynamic, temporal, and temporary nature of the concept in ‘real’ life settings. While extant literature of nonprofit board leadership from a positivist orientation offers an important body of work, little attention has been given to how leadership actually occurs in practice. To this end, the theoretical focus of positioning theory helps to illuminate the everyday interactions and discourses through which leadership is enacted

Improvements in Markers of Fragility after 8-weeks of Resistance Training with Instability and/or Cadence Walking in Persons with Mild to Moderate Parkinson’s Disease

In persons with Parkinson’s disease (PD), resistance training with instability (RTI) and cadence walking (CW) are effective in improving markers of fragility and motor function. The benefit of combining RTI and CW to markers of fragility and motor function in individuals with PD has not been studied. PURPOSE: to examine the effects of RTI, CW and RTI+CW on markers of fragility (6-minute walk (6MW), timed-up-and-go (TUG), walking speed, stride-to-stride variability and handgrip strength) in individuals with PD. METHODS: individuals diagnosed with mild to moderate PD (N=18 ( 6 female, 12 males); MHY stage=1.53 + 0.50; age = 63.67 + 7.23 y; BMI = 27.38 + 3.88 kg/m2) were randomized into RTI, CW or RTI+CW exercise groups for 8-weeks. RTI and CW were performed 3 days/week and RTI+CW was performed 4 days/week (2 days RTI and 2 days CW). RTI included full-body machine and free-weight exercises with volume (reps and sets) and instability progressions. CW included volume (time) and intensity (speed) progressions for 8-weeks. RESULTS: stride to stride variability improved significantly more in RTI+CW versus CW and RTI alone (2.54 + 1.18 inches, 0.19 + 0.28 inches, p=0.006 and -1.38 + 0.98 inches, p=0.008, respectively). Arm swing in the affected versus the unaffected arm significantly improved in the RTI+CW and RTI groups compared to the CW group (3.198 + 1.29 inches, 5.20 + 2.16, p=0.043 and 0.46 + 0.22 inches, p=0.003, respectively). There were significant pre- and post-improvements in distance of the 6-minute walk (1642 + 370 feet, 1801 + 350 feet, p=0.002), stride velocity (1.04 + 0.14 m/s, 0.99 + 0.15 m/s, p=0.002), steps per minute (116.91 + 15.12 spm, 125.38 + 15.73 spm, p=0.011), stride-to-stride variability (2.16 + 1.68 inches, 1.48 + 1.33 inches, p=0.003), arm swing difference between affected and unaffected sides (9.97 + 6.65 inches, 5.70 + 4.24 inches, P=0.005), Berg Balance scale (51.00 + 3.58, 53.39 + 3.18, PCONCLUSION: all exercise groups significantly improved markers of fragility including endurance, stride velocity and variability, hand grip, arm swing difference and balance after 8-weeks of RTI, CW or RTI+CW. Additionally, RTI+CW may be more effective than CW alone in preventing falls in persons with PD due to the significant improvements in stride-to-stride variability. RTI group’s stride-to-stride-variability worsened over the course of 8-weeks. RTI+CW and RTI may be more effective than CW alone in improving arm swing of the PD affected side during walking in individuals with PD

An experimental study on the response of blanket bog vegetation and water tables to ditch blocking

We studied the effect of ditch blocking on vegetation composition and water-table depths in a blanket peatland. Measurements were made for a period of four years (water tables) and five years (vegetation) in the inter-ditch areas of three experimental treatments: (i) open ditches, (ii) ditches blocked with closely-spaced dams and (iii) ditches partially infilled with peat and blocked with dams. It is often assumed that ditch blocking will lead to an increase in the abundance of Sphagnum and, potentially, a reduction in the abundance of sedges, particularly the cotton grasses. However, our data show no treatment effects on the abundance of either group. We did find an effect of time, with the abundance of both sedges and Sphagnum spp. varying significantly between some years. For the sedges there was no systematic change over time, while for the Sphagnum spp. abundance tended to increase through the study period. This systematic change was not related to a measure of the vigour of the sedges, although vigour was lower towards the end of the study compared to the beginning. Our vegetation data are consistent with our water-table data. As with plant type abundance, we did not find any statistically significant differences in water-table depths between treatments, both for annual averages and summer averages. We comment on why ditch blocking does not seem to have affected water tables and vegetation composition at our study site

Research agenda for preventing mosquito-transmitted diseases through improving the built environment in sub-Saharan Africa

Mosquito-transmitted diseases are a major threat to health in sub-Saharan Africa, but could be reduced through modifications to the built environment. Here we report findings from a major workshop held to identify the research gaps in this area, namely: (1) evidence of the health benefits to changes to the built environment, (2) understanding how mosquitoes enter buildings, (3) novel methods for reducing mosquito-house entry, (4) sustainable approaches for reducing mosquito habitats, (5) case studies of micro-financing for healthy homes and (6) methods for increasing scale-up. Multidisciplinary research is essential to build out mosquito-transmitted diseases, and not build them in

Professionalism, Golf Coaching and a Master of Science Degree: A commentary

As a point of reference I congratulate Simon Jenkins on tackling the issue of professionalism in coaching. As he points out coaching is not a profession, but this does not mean that coaching would not benefit from going through a professionalization process. As things stand I find that the stimulus article unpacks some critically important issues of professionalism, broadly within the context of golf coaching. However, I am not sure enough is made of understanding what professional (golf) coaching actually is nor how the development of a professional golf coach can be facilitated by a Master of Science Degree (M.Sc.). I will focus my commentary on these two issues

Re-evaluation of putative rheumatoid arthritis susceptibility genes in the post-genome wide association study era and hypothesis of a key pathway underlying susceptibility

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an archetypal, common, complex autoimmune disease with both genetic and environmental contributions to disease aetiology. Two novel RA susceptibility loci have been reported from recent genome-wide and candidate gene association studies. We, therefore, investigated the evidence for association of the STAT4 and TRAF1/C5 loci with RA using imputed data from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC). No evidence for association of variants mapping to the TRAF1/C5 gene was detected in the 1860 RA cases and 2930 control samples tested in that study. Variants mapping to the STAT4 gene did show evidence for association (rs7574865, P = 0.04). Given the association of the TRAF1/C5 locus in two previous large case–control series from populations of European descent and the evidence for association of the STAT4 locus in the WTCCC study, single nucleotide polymorphisms mapping to these loci were tested for association with RA in an independent UK series comprising DNA from >3000 cases with disease and >3000 controls and a combined analysis including the WTCCC data was undertaken. We confirm association of the STAT4 and the TRAF1/C5 loci with RA bringing to 5 the number of confirmed susceptibility loci. The effect sizes are less than those reported previously but are likely to be a more accurate reflection of the true effect size given the larger size of the cohort investigated in the current study

Utilisation of an operative difficulty grading scale for laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background A reliable system for grading operative difficulty of laparoscopic cholecystectomy would standardise description of findings and reporting of outcomes. The aim of this study was to validate a difficulty grading system (Nassar scale), testing its applicability and consistency in two large prospective datasets. Methods Patient and disease-related variables and 30-day outcomes were identified in two prospective cholecystectomy databases: the multi-centre prospective cohort of 8820 patients from the recent CholeS Study and the single-surgeon series containing 4089 patients. Operative data and patient outcomes were correlated with Nassar operative difficultly scale, using Kendall’s tau for dichotomous variables, or Jonckheere–Terpstra tests for continuous variables. A ROC curve analysis was performed, to quantify the predictive accuracy of the scale for each outcome, with continuous outcomes dichotomised, prior to analysis. Results A higher operative difficulty grade was consistently associated with worse outcomes for the patients in both the reference and CholeS cohorts. The median length of stay increased from 0 to 4 days, and the 30-day complication rate from 7.6 to 24.4% as the difficulty grade increased from 1 to 4/5 (both p < 0.001). In the CholeS cohort, a higher difficulty grade was found to be most strongly associated with conversion to open and 30-day mortality (AUROC = 0.903, 0.822, respectively). On multivariable analysis, the Nassar operative difficultly scale was found to be a significant independent predictor of operative duration, conversion to open surgery, 30-day complications and 30-day reintervention (all p < 0.001). Conclusion We have shown that an operative difficulty scale can standardise the description of operative findings by multiple grades of surgeons to facilitate audit, training assessment and research. It provides a tool for reporting operative findings, disease severity and technical difficulty and can be utilised in future research to reliably compare outcomes according to case mix and intra-operative difficulty