(NCU) Choose Potential Topics and Reference Management System

Choose Potential Topics and Reference Management System 
BTM 7300, Assignment 1 
DuBose, Justin Z. 
Dr. Antoinette Kohlman 
26 March 2017 

​My name is Justin DuBose and I am currently pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy degree (Ph.D.) from Northcentral University.  Prior to enrollment at Northcentral, I received a Bachelor of Arts from North Georgia College & State University (since renamed the University of North Georgia) with a major in history and a minor in political science.  I subsequently enrolled at Luther Rice Seminary and received my Masters of Divinity degree in 2013.  Since 2013 I have been serving as the Senior Pastor of Missionary Alliance Church in Whiteville, NC.  Included in my area of responsibility is the oversight and management of a pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade Christian school, Columbus Christian Academy.  It was this particular responsibility of overseeing an organization with an annual budget of approximately $750,000, multiple management structures, and twenty-five employees which initially sparked my interest in the further study of the subject of not-for-profit organizational leadership.  While each of my interests in doctoral research centers around this area of not-for-profit organizational leadership, there are a few areas within that umbrella which are of particular interest to me, and which a literature review will most assuredly benefit my studies.   
One area which I am particularly interested in researching and writing about is the religious, not-for-profit sector of business and the unique challenges of rallying volunteers around common objectives and a shared mission and vision.  I am very interested in studying the organizational leadership required in rallying volunteers of not only various socio-economic demographics, but also volunteers of various generational demographics. Recent studies are highlighting the fact that members of different generations internalize and demonstrate different values.  For example, in a study conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management, and reported on by Larry Lettau, of National American University, and Ahmed Al-Asfour, of Oglala Lakota College, the values of each working generation were determined to be quite different.  (Al-Asfour, 2014)  This pressing challenge to organizational leaders is one of tremendous interest to me, and particularly within the scope of not-for-profit organizations where corporate reliance upon volunteers is proportionately high. 
Another particular interest of mine within the field of not-for-profit organizational leadership is the unique leadership challenges presented by modern technology.  In the traditional, brick-and-mortar workplace environment, leaders regularly interacted with their employees and volunteer base.  In an increasingly technological environment, the modern organizational leader has less personal interaction, and yet still must clearly communicate to those within their organization.  When these leaders address the members of their organization, every word from their mouths, pens, tablets, or keyboards serves the purpose of informing employees and clients of the "state of thinking" within the organization.  (Sarros, 2014)  This "state of thinking" not only informs others of the direction in which leadership is headed, but also paints a mental picture for them of the identity and values of the organization itself.  This, in turn, will influence their own "state of thinking" about their present and future as a part of the organization.  In this sense, communication and trust must be a conscious priority for twenty-first century organizational leaders.  This is another particular area within the realm of not-for-profit organizational leadership which would merit further research and academic study. 
For this assignment, several hours throughout the week were spent combing through both the Northcentral University library site as well as the World Wide Web in general.  Specifically within the Northcentral library, the academic resource of EBSCO Host was utilized most frequently in the gathering of literature for the assembly of a scholarly literature review on the subject.  Key search terms while searching EBSCO Host included “organizational leadership”, “leadership styles”, and “organizational development”.  The search results for these three terms included hundreds of academic resources, several of which merited a thorough reading of the contents. 
Two particular sources, which have already been referenced above, were extremely helpful and insightful in this area of study.  The first of which, a journal article on “Strategies for Leadership Styles for Multi-Generational Workforce” dealt with the challenges faced and competencies required by the organizational leader in a multi-generational workforce.  (Al-Asfour, 2014)  The second of these helpful sources appeared in the Leadership & Organizational Development Journal.  The article was written by four authors and dealt with the subject of how organizational leaders leverage their mastery of language to motivate their employees.  (Sarros, 2014)  This article was very insightful in the area of communication and trust from leader to employee and volunteer base. 
Outside of the Northcentral library resources, which were incredibly vast and wonderfully beneficial, were Google searches within the "News" search function of the search engine.  Key search terms here included “values-based leadership”, “organizational culture”, and “organizational transformation”.  As with the EBSCO Host search, hundreds of search results were populated within a matter of seconds.  The first source that caught my attention was an article from Forbes magazine dealing with the subject of organizational culture.  (Bersin, 2015)  The author, Bersin, posits that this subject is, as it should be, at the forefront of the modern leader’s agenda.  This is due to the fact, he argues, that organizational culture sets the tone for every aspect of employee engagement and involvement.   
The second article which merited further reading, also from Forbes magazine, dealt with the important topic of values-based leadership.  (Gleeson, 2017)  Gleeson, a former Navy SEAL, persuasively suggests that values, and those clearly articulated and communicated, provide the basis for successful organizational transformation.  Referring to his time in the SEALs, Gleeson says that, “everything we do is guided by our ethos.”  Organizations, he recommends, should learn from this military approach to mission and vision and adapt similar principles. 
In organizing the research required for the pursuit of this degree, I spent several hours exploring the various citation management tools offered by Northcentral University.  This process and terminology were both wholly unfamiliar to me as a research student, so it did take some time to familiarize myself with the concept.  After first reading through and exploring the library resource, “Organizing Research”, I then began to explore the citation management tools of “EndNote” as well as “RefWorks”.  These resources both seemed to accomplish the same purpose in making the management of citations and research sources easier to keep track of, and both seemed very similar in most every respect.  In fact, in exploring each of the citation management systems it seemed that one resource was just as useful and valuable as the other.  However, I then began to explore the “Frequently Asked Questions” section of the Northcentral library.  In my exploration, I discovered a section which specifically addressed the comparison of these two citation management tools.  While navigating this section, I discovered that RefWorks was recommended over EndNote.  The reasoning was simply due to the fact that RefWorks continued to be available for utilization to alumni after graduation while EndNote did not offer that same benefit.  In other words, while conducting research on the subject of not-for-profit organizational leadership as an active student, both resources were deemed equally valuable.  However, all the time and energy spent on that research would be rendered inaccessible after graduation with EndNote, but this was not the case with RefWorks.  For this reason, the citation management tool of RefWorks was recommended over EndNote by the Northcentral library, and my own judgment on these two citation management tools lines up with their own.  As I continue to accumulate scholarly resources, and examine more and various types of scholarly literature on the subject of organizational leadership in the area of not-for-profit organizations, I plan to regularly utilize the citation management tool of RefWorks. 
In conclusion, as I continue to study and examine the scholarly literature available on the subject of not-for-profit organizational leadership, I hope to progressively continue to narrow my focus on either of the two aforementioned topics.  I am looking forward to the skills that will be developed during the course of this class as I can already see the benefit of these skills to the overall process of dissertation study and composition. 
 
References 
 
Al-Asfour, A., Lettau, L.  (2014)  Strategies for Leadership Styles for Multi-Generational Workforce. Journal of Leadership, Accountability, and Ethics, 11(2), 58-69.  Retrieved March 26, 2017. 
 
Bersin, J. (2015, March 13). Culture: Why It's The Hottest Topic In Business Today. Retrieved March 26, 2017, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2015/03/13/culture-why-its-the-hottest-topic-in-business-today/#616eec69b6e2 
 
Gleeson, B. (2017, March 10). How Values-Based Leadership Transforms Organizational Cultures. Retrieved March 26, 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2017/03/10/how-values-based-leadership-transforms-organizational-cultures/#17aee2ff1fbd 
 
Sarros, J. C., Luca, E., Densten, I., & Santora, J.  (2014)  Leaders and their use of motivating language. Leadership & Organizational Development Journal, 35(3), 226-240.  Retrieved March 26, 2017.