Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/733
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Item Engineering leader identity development through reflexive instruction(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2021) Tallman, Brett Pierson; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Bill Schell and Bryce Hughes (co-chair)Recent developments in engineering education have prioritized focus on developing leadership as a professional skill. Despite widespread efforts, indications are that the effectiveness of skill-based training is mixed, at best. One approach that has demonstrated promise is using identity as a lens for understanding leadership development. Its impact on engineering leadership is relatively unexplored. This research strives to contribute to the field by measuring leader identity development due to instruction that leverages the lens of identity. In addition, the research explored the influence of engineering leadership construct (i.e., how students think about engineering leadership) and student class year on leader identity. A retrospective post-test measure was used to assess student leadership beliefs. Qualitative data (student essays, for example) supported interpretation of the quantitative data. Results indicate that short-term reflexive instruction (focusing on values, language, reflection, and group work) significantly increases leader identity and changes leadership construct. Moreover, the perceived relationship between engineering and leadership is a significant predictor of leader identity. These findings provide a promising first look at the operationalization of an identity-based approach to engineering leadership development, as well as the relationship between leader identity and one's understanding of engineering leadership.Item The influence of transformational leadership and diversity climate on using TRIZ to generate ideas: a case study from UAE companies(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2019) AlDhaheri, Abdulla Saeed Obaid Saeed; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Bill SchellThe rapidly changing dynamics in global industry are forcing companies to continually improve methods for harnessing the creativity of their employees and to use that creativity to drive innovation. Frequently, projects to develop new products fail at the end of the development process or during commercialization. These failures often have their origin at the very beginning of the development process, during the pre-development phase called the Fuzzy Front End (FFE). To manage this phase, there is a need to focus on idea and concept generation, for instance by using new techniques like the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ). To improve the pre-development activities in the FFE phase, there is a further need to understand how TRIZ methods interact with transformational leadership behaviors and team make-up to improve the effectiveness of the FFE. Prior work has shown that transformational leadership has positive impacts on organizational outcomes, including improved performance of research and development (R&D) functions. This research applied TRIZ problem-solving in several semi-government companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and investigated the influence of leadership, diversity climate, knowledge management practices and organizational change variables, to measure participants' perception of being able to apply TRIZ in problem-solving. Measures of team performance during a two-day TRIZ session were also made using organization-specific challenges. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) was utilized to understand the relationships between the measured factors. Hypothesis analysis showed that transactional leadership did not support knowledge management practices while group and organizational diversity climates positively impacted knowledge management practices and particpants' perception on being able to apply TRIZ. Transformational leadership, knowledge management practices, and organizational change positively impact participants' perception of being able to apply TRIZ. The implications are as follows: the full range of the leadership model along with group and organizational diversity climate strongly effect the relationship between knowledge management practices and particpants' perception of being able to apply TRIZ. The presence of transformational leadership improved the particpants' perception of being able to apply TRIZ in problem-solving. Workers' knowledge converted information into a general solution based on TRIZ training outcomes.