The dissertation examines the words and actions district superintendents used to lead an educational system through a culture shift following the occurrence of a scandalous critical incident. This qualitative study deeply investigated the specific words and actions as offered by the superintendents of two educational systems and members of their respective leadership teams. Those actions were then filtered through two lenses. The first lens was John Kotter's eight steps for change, and the second lens was Thomas Sergiovanni's five sources of authority. The study generated five themes of specific actions taken by the superintendents, determined that four of Kotter's eight steps for change were accomplished, and went on to successfully categorize each action taken based on one of Sergiovanni's five sources of authority.
","abstract_html":"<p>The dissertation examines the words and actions district superintendents used to lead an educational system through a culture shift following the occurrence of a scandalous critical incident. This qualitative study deeply investigated the specific words and actions as offered by the superintendents of two educational systems and members of their respective leadership teams. Those actions were then filtered through two lenses. The first lens was John Kotter's eight steps for change, and the second lens was Thomas Sergiovanni's five sources of authority. The study generated five themes of specific actions taken by the superintendents, determined that four of Kotter's eight steps for change were accomplished, and went on to successfully categorize each action taken based on one of Sergiovanni's five sources of authority.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Fisher, Dale Ross"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Education (EdD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"School of Education","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Educational Leadership","Copyright © 2014 Dale Ross Fisher","Doctor of Education (EdD)"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2014-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:56:07Z","subjects":["Change","Culture","Kotter","Scandal","Sergiovanni","Educational Leadership"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/1082","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Educational Leadership","Copyright © 2014 Dale Ross Fisher","Doctor of Education (EdD)"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Fisher, Dale Ross"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-03-31T17:18:42Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["School of Education"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Education (EdD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Change","Culture","Kotter","Scandal","Sergiovanni","Educational Leadership"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/1082"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The dissertation examines the words and actions district superintendents used to lead an educational system through a culture shift following the occurrence of a scandalous critical incident. This qualitative study deeply investigated the specific words and actions as offered by the superintendents of two educational systems and members of their respective leadership teams. Those actions were then filtered through two lenses. The first lens was John Kotter's eight steps for change, and the second lens was Thomas Sergiovanni's five sources of authority. The study generated five themes of specific actions taken by the superintendents, determined that four of Kotter's eight steps for change were accomplished, and went on to successfully categorize each action taken based on one of Sergiovanni's five sources of authority.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Examining the Words and Actions Superintendents Used to Lead an Educational System Through a Culture Shift Following the Occurrence of a Scandalous Critical Incident"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Educational Leadership","Copyright © 2014 Dale Ross Fisher","Doctor of Education (EdD)"],"dc:creator":["Fisher, Dale Ross"],"dc:date.available":["2016-03-31T17:18:42Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["The dissertation examines the words and actions district superintendents used to lead an educational system through a culture shift following the occurrence of a scandalous critical incident. This qualitative study deeply investigated the specific words and actions as offered by the superintendents of two educational systems and members of their respective leadership teams. Those actions were then filtered through two lenses. The first lens was John Kotter's eight steps for change, and the second lens was Thomas Sergiovanni's five sources of authority. The study generated five themes of specific actions taken by the superintendents, determined that four of Kotter's eight steps for change were accomplished, and went on to successfully categorize each action taken based on one of Sergiovanni's five sources of authority.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/1082"],"dc:subject":["Change","Culture","Kotter","Scandal","Sergiovanni","Educational Leadership"],"dc:title":["Examining the Words and Actions Superintendents Used to Lead an Educational System Through a Culture Shift Following the Occurrence of a Scandalous Critical Incident"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["School of Education"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Education (EdD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:56:07Z"}