Mount Allison University

	Ron Joyce Centre for Business Studies

Current Students		Student Research in Business Exploring Peak Experiences at Work Kimberte William The concepts of peak performance and the high-engagement workplace have received considerable attention in management literature over the past two decades. With increasing numbers of knowledge workers reporting high levels of stress and burnout (Duxbury, Higgins & Johnson, 1999), researchers have sought to explore and better understand the nature of work engagement in an era of increasing knowledge intensity, geographical dispersion, virtual communication and persistent and unpredictable change. The overall purpose of this research project is to explore how knowledge workers recollect and construct the meaning of peak experiences in their work. The study involves an inductive analysis of interviews from a purposive sample of 30 knowledge workers from health care, higher education and financial services work environments. The findings of this study are intended to inform management theory and practice regarding the design and context of work that fosters peak experiences. Having a better understanding of how knowledge workers construct meaning regarding those peak experiences may assist managers in facilitating similar conditions in the workplace and thereby enhance the potential for creating a high-engagement workplace environment. He has been awarded a Summer Research Award and this research will form the basis of his honors thesis under the supervision of Dr. Judith Holton.
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Identity Construction in Virtual Teams Samantha Lebans Advances in technology have meant that most organizations utilize virtual teams to some degree. Virtual teams are groups of people employed by an organization who work together across distances. There are obvious advantages for organizations as virtual arrangements reduce travel and time costs, and allow an organization to employ the most qualified employees regardless of geographic location. It is less clear however, how working in a virtual arrangement affects the workplace identity of the individuals working remotely. Without face-to-face contact, what resources do virtual workers draw upon to develop a sense of who they are as it pertains to their work and organization? Samantha is exploring the experience of virtual work as described by virtual workers and how these individuals define themselves given the nature of their working environment. She has been awarded a Summer Research Award and this research will form the basis of her honors thesis under the supervision of Dr. Gina Grandy.

Images of Church Leadership in Atlantic Canada Christine Schweitzer Leadership plays an important role in most successful organizations. In times of crisis, leadership becomes even more critical to the survival and growth of the organization. Churches in North America have seen a considerable decline in active membership over the past decade and several researchers contend that leadership (e.g., visionary, charismatic) is one of the elements that can distinguish successful churches from those less successful. Few management studies have examined the characteristics of successful leaders and leadership types in the religious organizational setting. Christine hopes to fill in some gaps by exploring the nature of leadership in churches in Atlantic Canada. She is using a set of images in her interviews to explore leadership experiences of participants in the church setting. She intends to develop a model of leadership types based upon her findings. This research will form the basis of her honors thesis under the supervision of Dr. Gina Grandy. This research is funded through Dr. Grandy’s SSHRC funding on value creation in churches. For more student research in business, please click on the titles below. The Formation of Celebrity CEOs Evaluating Governance Structures in Churches The virtual workplace The Darker Side of Leadership Transformational Leadership Understanding the Indie Scene Increasing attendance at museums