Date of Award

2007

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Leadership PhD

First Advisor

Erich W. Baumgartner

Second Advisor

Shirley A. Freed

Third Advisor

Jimmy Kijai

Abstract

Problem. Training programs that focus on leadership and management are becoming more prevalent in society with little regard to the training’s impact. This study’s purpose was to determine if there was a relationship between leadership training and performance in the United States Coast Guard.

Method. The sequential mixed-method study examined the impact o f a 33-day resident training course on the graduate’s performance. The measurement o f performance was obtained quantitatively through annual performance evaluations and qualitatively through interviews. The performance evaluations were collected from 40 graduates of the Coast Guard C hief Petty Officer Academy and analyzed using a repeated measure analysis o f variance. The study spanned 4 years, collecting one pre-graduation evaluation and three post-graduation evaluations. For the qualitative portion of the study, four Chiefs were examined with interviews in an effort to expand on the impact o f the leadership training.

Results. The results of this study indicated that leadership training significantly increased overall performance as measured through performance evaluation (p < 0.01). The portions o f the performance appraisal that significantly increased were the leadership abilities and organizational responsibilities sections (p < 0.01), whereas the military protocol and professionalism section showed no significant increase (p > 0.05). Although leadership training positively impacted performance, the effect was found to be minimal.

Conclusion. The Chief Petty Officer Academy was designed to teach newly promoted Chiefs the leadership and communication skills they need to be successful in their new position. While it was not specifically designed to improve performance, it appears that it has that effect. The Chief Petty Officer Academy could capitalize on this positive effect by focusing aspects o f its curriculum more directly on performance-enhancing training, making the program more beneficial to the United States Coast Guard.

Subject Area

Leadership--Study and teaching.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dissertations/527/

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