CS Honors Thesis

Statement of thesis question: Does authentic leadership include acting within both personal and organizational values? This subject is significant to the leadership and organizational communication field because very little research has been done thus far on authentic leadership. By combining the organizational and leadership aspects I hope to make contributions to the understanding of authentic leadership and its relationship within organizations and to investigate authentic leadership and organizations by studying the relationship between personal and organizational values and their interactions; specifically, using the the Walt Disney Company as an organizational model. Authentic leadership is currently understood as an individual acting in accordance with personal values. Organizations, specifically the Walt Disney Company, have complex organizational values. Authentic leadership is not currently associated with organizational values and I will be taking an organization which has commonly known and strongly held values and establishing the connection between organizations and authentic leadership. During my time researching I hope to view the specific organizational values in this company and also what values the organization holds for its leaders. In determining the organizational values I would like to define authentic leadership in relation to organizational values as well as personal values. In this process I hope to further understand and identify components of authentic leadership and use organizational values as a component to what makes up an authentic leader or authentic company.

Methodology: In order to research this topic I plan to use primarily ethnographic methods. I will study the Walt Disney Company as an organization during my time as a College Program intern by immersing myself in the company culture and observing the management and leadership styles in the organization. My methodology will be ethnographic using participant observations, formal and informal interviews and document analysis. I will be spending 4 months participating in the Disney College Program at Walt Disney World in Florida where I will be enculturated into the organization as an employee and will have daily interactions with “team leaders”, managers and organizational leaders. In addition to interviews I will also use document analysis to determine the organizational values which are presented versus which values are prevalent in everyday management. I will need to clearly define authentic leadership, organization values and personal values in order to evaluate my thesis question.