A Study of Attitudes and Behaviors that Enable Leaders in Evangelical Protestant Seminaries to Engage in Adaptive Work
[Thesis]
Drennan, Amy Dyan
Louis, Michelle
Azusa Pacific University
2020
305
Ed.D./HE
Azusa Pacific University
2020
This study examines the attitudes and behaviors that enable leaders in Evangelical Protestant seminaries to engage in adaptive work. To implement this study, a qualitative grounded theory research design was utilized to investigate how 12 faculty and administrators led adaptive work within their institutions. Adaptive leadership framed the study by providing an approach to institutional change that examines underlying values, beliefs, and practices within graduate theological education. A model entitled Attitudes and Behaviors Enabling Adaptive Work Engagement highlights 6 categories of attitudes and behaviors that emerged from the data to represent the prominent attitudes and behaviors that enabled leaders to engage in adaptive work. These attitudes and behaviors include sobered hope, tenacity, personal humility, strategic attunement, anchored adaptability, and self-reflection. Implications for practice are outlined in the conclusion of the study to suggest institutional efforts to encourage leaders engaging in adaptive work within their institutions.