Browsing by Subject "Succession"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    An Analysis of Leadership Succession in International Schools: Novelty, Disruption, and a Path to Resolution
    (2018-06) Kokonas, Dean
    This research project is an exploratory multiple sample study of three European international schools and utilizes semi-structured interviews to gather data to better understand the phenomenon of leadership succession events at the director level of the organization. The succession of leadership is a significant event in the life of an international school and is viewed as a novel event with disruptive strength. As such, Event System Theory is used as the theoretical framework to view and analyze the event of leadership succession. The purpose of this study is to determine recurring themes influencing the process of leadership succession in international schools. The following research questions assist to focus the study: Q1. Within the boundaries of the three sample schools, what are the director and Board Chair person’s perceptions and understandings of planning and management for director leadership succession events? Q2. In what ways have past school leadership succession events been a disruptive influence in the life of the three sample schools, and what is the nature of the disruption? Q3. In what ways are sample schools actively engaged in strategic succession planning, and what elements of that strategy, if any, have been effective? From an analysis of data eight salient themes emerge: Certain change, Transition, Disruption, Strategic Succession Planning and Management, Internal Leadership Development, Necessary Conversations, Policymaking, and Deputy Director Appointment. Recommendations for practice are distilled from the analysis of data, which can help to moderate the disruptive effects of leadership succession for the benefit of the entire school community.
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    Dynasting across cultures: A grounded theory of Malaysian Chinese family firms.
    (2010-06) Loy, Teik-Cheok Johnben
    The purpose of this study was to develop a substantive grounded theory of Malaysian Chinese family firms. Using classic grounded theory methodology, this study sought to identify the emergent main concern of the participants as well as the latent pattern underlying their behavior in working to resolve or address the main concern. Through constant comparative analysis of data gathered from interviews, participant observations, informal conversations, and relevant literature, I discovered the emergent main concern for Malaysian Chinese family businesses to be dynasting and the pattern of behavior for resolving that concern to be dynasting across cultures. Malaysian Chinese family businesses are theorized as mainly concerned with dynasting, that is, building, maintaining, and growing the power and resources of the business within the family lineage. In their substantive context, traditional Malaysian Chinese founders and westernized successors are hypothesized to be engaged in basic social structural and psychological processes of dynasting across cultures, where they struggle to transition from traditional Chinese to hybrid cultural and modernized forms of family business from one generation to the next. An analysis of extant literature revealed that the emergent theory contributes to family business theorizing in a novel way, and the study itself addresses the lack of literature on rigorous and scholarly theorizing about family businesses outside Western contexts. Implications of the theory and the study for research and practice are discussed.
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    An in-depth evaluation of succession planning and management in health care.
    (2011-05) Hart, Allison Suhler
    This descriptive case study explored, in-depth, the succession planning and management programs in health care organizations in the State of Minnesota. The purpose was to evaluate the extent to which succession planning and management programs are used in these organizations. Review of the literature showed that health care is well behind other businesses and industry in their succession planning efforts. To evaluate the efforts in these health care organizations, ten in person interviews were conducted with administrative and human resource leaders from member organizations of the Minnesota Medical Management Group Association. Participants were asked about succession planning and management programs within their organizations, how they prepared individuals for advancement within the organization, future challenges and opportunities and any critical incidents or personal experiences they had with succession planning. These interviews were then transcribed and evaluated for any themes. There were five major themes identified through analysis. Upon evaluation of those themes, the identified challenges that these organizations faced, mirror those outlined in the literature review. There appears to be a lack of coordinated succession planning efforts across health care organizations. In order to make improvements and develop strong succession planning programs in their organizations, it will be necessary to identify the competencies needed by individuals to take organizations forward in an uncertain future, openly and constantly communicate employees' strengths and areas for improvement, deepen their planning efforts past the highest level of the organization and continuously evaluate the changing needs of the organization among senior leadership to ensure alignment with succession planning efforts.
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    Phylogenetic diversity, functional traits, and tropical forest succession.
    (2011-11) Whitfeld, Timothy John Sulivan
    This dissertation investigated changes in phylogenetic and functional diversity during ecological succession following anthropogenic disturbance in the lowland forests of New Guinea. Plant evolutionary history, functional traits, and interactions with insect herbivores were examined to address questions related to patterns of plant diversity, species coexistence, and possible mechanisms maintaining diversity in tropical forests. Chapter 1 investigated the recovery of forest structure, species diversity, and functional diversity during succession by examining a chronosequence of survey plots located in younger secondary, older secondary, and primary forest. Secondary forests had less biomass and lower species richness compared to primary forests. They also had higher specific leaf area (SLA) and foliar nitrogen and their leaves were more likely to contain latex. By contrast, trees in primary forest had high wood density and foliar carbon, larger seeds, and taller trees with larger crowns. These changes reflect the contrasting life histories of trees in young and old forests and possibly reflect a tradeoff between growth rates and life span that suggests deterministic processes such as environmental filtering or competition may drive species coexistence during succession. Chapter 2 compared plant community phylogenetic structure along a successional gradient in lowland New Guinea based on a chloroplast DNA phylogeny. The sensitivity of results to different methods of phylogenetic branch length estimation was assessed by comparison of equal branch lengths, genetic distance, time-calibration, and a relaxed molecular clock Bayesian estimate. Mean phylogenetic distance among co-occurring trees increased with total basal area per plot, a proxy for forest age. Significant phylogenetic clustering was detected in secondary forest whereas primary forest was significantly over-dispersed relative to null expectations. The sensitivity of these patterns to various methods of branch length estimation and phylogenetic uncertainty was also examined. Power to detect community phylogenetic patterns when equal branch lengths were assumed was weak in comparison to direct molecular and time-calibrated measures of divergence. Inferred change during forest succession was also robust to phylogenetic uncertainty so long as temporal information was incorporated in estimates of divergence. The observed patterns are consistent with processes of environmental filtering during tropical forest succession giving way to other processes in primary forests including density-dependent mortality. Chapter 3 examined the degree to which the abundance of herbivores in a rain forest community is explained by the functional traits of host plants. Per-tree caterpillar and leaf miner abundance was measured together with total leaf biomass (kg), percentage of immature foliage, specific leaf area (cm2 g-1), leaf nitrogen content (% dry mass), and presence of exudates. Apart from leaf nitrogen content, neither plant resources nor herbivore abundance showed evidence of phylogenetic conservatism in our community sample. The plant traits explained only 30% and 16% of variation among individual trees in caterpillar and leaf miner abundance. Leaf biomass was a stronger predictor of herbivore abundance than either resource quality (leaf nitrogen content) or palatability (percent immature foliage, specific leaf area). The primary importance of resource quantity was also observed at the plant species level in analyses of species means and phylogenetic generalized least squares regression. Plant exudates significantly depressed herbivore abundance but apparent convergence among community members evidently weakens the power of plant phylogeny alone to predict herbivore community patterns. Leaf nitrogen content, explaining to some extent caterpillar abundance, provides an alternative example of how a conserved trait at one trophic level can influence community-wide patterns at another.
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    Status and dynamics of Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis Engelm.) Forests in Southwest Montana, Central Idaho, and Oregon, U.S.A.
    (2009-06) Larson, Evan Reed
    Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) is a vital component of high-elevation forest communities across western North America, but declines in its health and dominance have raised concerns about the potential loss of this foundation species from many of the places it is currently found. The factors implicated as driving mechanisms of these declines include the exotic fungal disease white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola), outbreaks of the native mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae), climate change, and fire suppression, but much of the research that links these mechanisms with whitebark pine declines is geographically restricted to the Northern Rockies, an important but relatively small part of the range of whitebark pine. My dissertation research developed baseline data on the status of whitebark pine communities and critically assessed the effects of blister rust, mountain pine beetle, and fire suppression on whitebark pine communities across the central distribution of the species. Specifically, I assessed (1) blister rust infection levels and the causes and rates of whitebark pine mortality, (2) patterns in the abundance and distribution of whitebark pine regeneration, and (3) patterns in disturbance, succession, and the effects of fire suppression on the structure and composition of the whitebark pine communities at my sites. Blister rust rates were generally lowest in western Oregon and highest in central Idaho. Mortality rates varied widely but mountain pine beetle activity was the primary cause of whitebark pine death at most sites. Whitebark pine regeneration was nearly ubiquitous and more abundant on cooler, drier sites with lower subalpine fir abundances and higher rates of mountain pine beetle-related mortality. Many of the stands I examined contained post-fire cohorts, but several stands also contained cohorts that established following episodes of mountain pine beetle-related mortality, illustrating the need for multiple lines of evidence when reconstructing fire history in whitebark pine forests. Patterns in succession and forest composition were strongly influenced by site-specific climate conditions and I found limited evidence of advancing succession due to fire suppression at my sites. The diverse and complex dynamics of whitebark pine communities require a nuanced discussion of its current and future status.