Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Employees--Training of; Mentoring in the professions; Camp Adventure Youth Services--Employees--Training of; Academic theses;
Abstract
Contemporary organizations operate in increasingly complex environments. External pressures force many organizations to function with fewer resources. Organizational leaders work not only to meet external demands, but the many needs of individuals working within the organization so that they can retain these individuals and teach them the knowledge that will assist them in becoming future organizational leaders. Camp Adventure™ Youth Services works to help college students enhance their leadership abilities as they implement youth services worldwide. The purpose of this study was to determine if and how the organization utilizes mentoring in the program to support students and promote the development of leadership competencies. The researcher also hoped to detem1ine if Camp Adventure TM Youth Services possesses characteristics of Peter Senge's (1990) learning organization, an organization particularly adept at responding to external pressures, and if so, bow these elements impact mentoring and leadership development. The researcher surveyed 174 Day Camp participants from the summer of 2008. Descriptive statistics related to mentoring, leadership development and learning organization characteristics were calculated. Ten individuals whose surveys indicated they were involved in mentoring were interviewed to further explore how mentoring promoted leadership development. Interview responses were analyzed utilizing constant comparative analysis to explore recurring themes and the relationships between these recurring themes. The six themes found in the interviews were: Shared Culture; Experience and Incorporating Ideas; Learning, Teaching and Skill Development; Mentoring Relationships; Support, Comfort and Encouragement; and Leadership and Confidence. Strong evidence of mentoring and leadership were found in both the Staff Development program and during the summer implementation of youth services programs. Evidence that Camp Adventure™ Youth Services does exhibits behaviors of the learning organization was also found. The researcher utilized these findings in the development of a model that incorporates the six themes with elements of the learning organization, mentoring and leadership development. This model has potential explanatory value and will enhance the organization's ability to support students as they experience complexity associated with the nature of the organization's work. The findings of this research provide insight not only for Camp Adventure™ Youth Services, but also for other organizations possessing a strong shared culture. Other leadership development programs that are experiential in nature may also benefit from the research as it has implications for how to effectively support students during these experiences.
Year of Submission
2009
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Education
Department
Department of Educational Psychology and Foundations
First Advisor
John Henning
Second Advisor
Julianne Gassman
Third Advisor
Mike Waggoner
Date Original
2009
Object Description
1 PDF file (204 leaves)
Copyright
©2009 Michael Carl Gleason
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Gleason, Michael Carl, "The Impact of Mentoring on the Leadership Development of Participants in Camp Adventure Youth Services" (2009). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2755.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2755
Comments
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