One possible dissertation research topic is leadership lessons from entrepreneurial failure: a phenomenological study. To most entrepreneurs, failure is a familiar theme and cannot be completely avoided. Whether big or small, everyone experiences failure in his or her life (Brodsky, 2013). This topic discusses how leadership should expect failure when being an entrepreneur. Leadership should also expect that failure could not only affect them financially but also emotionally. People put their heart and soul in starting businesses. When business fails, it not only implies financial losses, but also indicates emotional defeat that could haunt entrepreneurs for years (Bruder, 2013). Leadership should expect the highs as well as the lows. Entrepreneurs’ success stories in their business ventures are widely studied, but their failure stories have rarely received equal attention or even been discussed (Llopis, 2012; Nisen, 2012; Wenzimmer & McConoughey, 2013). Leadership use their traits and skills but also common sense of knowing that nothing comes easy. McGrath (1999) noted the anti-failure mind-set would not benefit entrepreneurs in the long run.
Another possible dissertation topic is the impact of leadership style on innovation: a study of retired military senior officers in executive-level supervisory roles within the high-technology engineering defense industry. This topic addresses different styles of leadership and how they work within the military. According to Ulmer, the commonly accepted authoritative (i.e., hierarchical) leadership style used on the battlefield receives broad support as widely applicable and the most appropriate leadership style for military operations (Ulmer, 1998). Ulmer goes on to state many years of contemplating and exercising authoritative leadership, as it pertains to battle scenarios, reinforces the military commander’s reliance on his own thinking, often to the exclusion of inputs from the balance of the people in his organization. As the world continuously changes so does the expectations of the leadership within our armed forces. The military itself has seen the need to adapt to global economic and technology changes by including in its training transformational leadership (Huse, 2003). The environment of the army is unlike any other organization. The term environment is also known as the organizational climate. Organizational climate is defined by Charbonnier et al. (2010) as an environment in which followers are encouraged to independently develop ideas and collaborate with team members to synthesize multiple perspectives for larger collective creativity, a place where employees are exposed to “norms and practices that encourage flexibility and the expression of ideas and learning”.
Other leadership styles have been explored within the leadership of the military. Transformational leadership is characterized by charisma, inspiration, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration (Avolio, 1994). This type of leadership can inspire people to greater levels and change things that are happening. Transformational leadership means discovering and using employees’ talents, increasing enthusiasm, transmitting knowledge and buy-in for the organization’s mission, and encouraging an entrepreneurial mindset as opposed to an emphasis on hierarchy (Allameh et al., 2012). Another form of leadership is the transactional leadership. According to Somech (2006), this transactional leadership style can degrade the innovation that might otherwise stem from the organization’s workforce and consequently degrade the organization’s competitive posture.
A third possible dissertation topic is the moderating influence of core self-evaluation, emotional intelligence and extraversion on career success. Leaders at companies have a few issues to consider. For example, would a graduate who was adept at perceiving, using, understanding and managing emotions be better equipped to capitalize on their core self-evaluation traits to improve career success compared to those with weak emotional intelligence competencies (Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2004)? Also another issue to consider is would the characteristics often associated with extraversion such as relationship building, social capital, and networking capabilities interact with core self- evaluation to influence career success (McCrae & Costa, 1987; O'Boyle, Humphrey, Pollack, Hawver, & Story, 2011)? Leadership should utilize their decision making skills and communication skills during these issues.
From an organization perspective, higher levels of job and career satisfaction have been shown to improve employee attitudes, motivation, performance, and other desirable contributions made to their position (Barsade & Gibson, 2007). Leadership should notice these positive attributes and highlight them to improve the organization. Research has shown that job complexity is a key explanatory variable in the relationship between core self-evaluation and job satisfaction (Judge et al., 2000). These key details should have learned and discussed before being in a job or career setting. As business school administrators address these elements of their program, they could be in a better position to create a more self- aware, emotionally intelligent, path-bending brand of MBA leader, who would then be capable of making a more meaningful contribution to organizations and to society (Boyatzis, 2008; Lyons, 2012).
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