Dr. Robert Britting Jr. PhD, MBA

Research focus: Leadership & Organizational Change; Global Economics & Consumer Behavior

The most important aspect to any research is to think critically and to apply an honest lens to any insight derived from the analysis. The goal of my doctoral research was to think critically about the dynamics of conventional organizations, explore new frameworks about leadership and how people can be better motivated using classical or already defined approaches.

Specifically, my research focused on developing alternative conceptualizations related to management, better understand what an accepted socially conscious and responsible leader is, and create and define 21st-century leadership practices. Time and time again, the principles of servant leadership were the most prominent and this approach is proven to be the obvious choice for established and developing leaders. Below are the core papers that defined my growth as a doctoral graduate.

Principles of Human development

Robert Britting Jr.

The Breadth component of this paper is comprised of three parts and is based on the research conducted by five original human development theorists. The first part addresses the human life cycle pertaining to the pre-adult years, the adolescent transition, the mid-life years, and the late adult years, known as the end stage of human development. The second part discusses the study of behavioral science, directly related to global human development, and highlights preconceived notions and biases pertaining to thought processes. The third section bridges the original human development theories with current inequalities of human development by examining the government and economic systems impact on people and their development.

The Depth component is based on current and classic refereed journal articles. The paper is separated into two sections, both pertaining to the global economy and human development. The first section discusses the ability to predict a consumer’s behavior by analyzing people’s behaviors, perceptions, and their degree of economic freedom. The second section is comprised of two parts. The first part focuses on the impact of an individual’s social capital, the targeting of adolescent consumers through marketing practices, and the influence of consumer agency in United States and India. The second part is a cultural and regional analysis that explores the differences of the US and Chinese healthcare systems.

The Application component of this paper bridges human development theories of five classical theorists with current and classic research from refereed journal articles.  The purpose of the paper is to provide solutions to global economic problems. The first section focuses primarily on business issues that are impacted by human development qualities and capabilities. The impact of pricing strategies, research techniques, and promotional imaging practices are analyzed and incorporated into a set of tactics. The second section focuses on the healthcare industry pertaining to American and Asian cultures by comparing and contrasting consumers of each region. Issues pertaining to culture, religion, and education are dissected to explore possible solutions to address problems associated with each issue.

Principles of leadership development

Robert Britting Jr.

The Breadth component of this paper analyzed three original and unique theoretical perspectives of leadership development.  Seven common traits of leaders were extrapolated from original frameworks and analyzed according to human behavior characteristics and a leader’s reaction to stimulus based on conflict and strategic thought.  In the end, the basis for each theory supported a similar perspective that focused on the relationship between the servant leadership capabilities of executives.  Based on the research, executive servant leadership was most effective when a social or economic system was structured to allow for leaders and followers to coexist and develop as professionals.

The Depth component of this paper analyzed, compared, and contrasted contemporary perspectives of leadership development.  A common theme throughout this essay focused on the emotional aspects on developing a better understanding of a state of mind as it related to human behavior.  Based on a state of mind perspective the research uncovered that people throughout the world reacted to stress in similar ways as it related to small business.  These findings can be applied to other business examples that are deemed comparable as it pertains to their social, political, and systemic elements.  Furthermore, the findings in the final section showed that there were core competencies specific to leaders of healthcare institutions and major health related companies in the United States.

The Application component applied the original frameworks of three leadership development theories to contemporary business issues and developed the initial stages of an original leadership development framework.  In the end, this analysis found that it was likely that leaders who resemble Robert Gates and Hugo Chavez and had similar power structures, may potentially have dissimilar approaches to leading their people.  Based on the research, this distinction was made and a common theme was evident throughout the essay regarding how these individuals lead collectively in unique political environments.  Based on this finding, a leadership development framework was created to apply a plethora of elements that may create a better understanding of how leaders can be identified or developed.

Principles of organizational and social systems

Robert Britting Jr.

The Breadth component focuses on the original theories of five social science theorists.  The purpose was to identify the ways that human agency influenced the social, economic, financial, and religious factors that impacted social systems.  The initial section determined that faith based economics and social system structuring greatly influenced individual prosperity.  The following sections compared, contrasted, and analyzed socialist and capitalist system theories and determined that both systems are effective at establishing incentives for the most in influential members of society.  I determined that the most distinct commonalities of social system theories were the implementation of science, structure, and intentional bias.

The Depth component of this essay analyzed the current research findings on how social system components and factors impact global organizations and global consumers.  As it pertains to global organizations, I determined that the core dynamics that enable an organization to be successful are the code of corporate ethics, corporate integrity practices, and individual talent development.  As for corporate employees and the common consumer, I found that capitalism and individual freedom enabled people to achieve a higher level of personal and professional success.  This section focused on MNCs and consumers based in Asian and Eastern European countries and compared the lifestyles of those living within socialist or capitalist systems.

The Application component of this essay focused on the social system dynamics that have been found to impact a transition from a socialist culture to a capitalist culture.  With the development of the Social System Leadership Relationship Diagram I was able to determine common traits shared by extreme capitalist and extreme socialist leaders.  I found that nine dynamics, pertaining to social systems and extreme ideological leadership, could be used as a means to measure the effectiveness of a social system and identify the qualities of an effective leader.  The key learning from this essay is that research could benefit future generations by determining that certain professional settings can benefit from leadership styles that pertain to capitalist and socialist systems.

PRINCIPLES OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE MODELS

Robert Britting Jr.

The Breadth component focuses on the original theories of three organizational development theorists by analyzing, comparing, and contrasting the common traits and differences among their frameworks.  This essay determined that the original concepts of field theory, group dynamics, and leadership were the basis for the evolution that established modern OD concepts.  The following sections are built on the initial section and compare, contrast, and analyze the concepts of how conflict, reengineering, and diversity influenced how social systems and organizations could enhance the effectiveness of a group.  It has been determined that the most distinct commonality of OD theory was the consistency of the original researcher’s mindset that enabled them to provide new ideas based off of their colleagues previous research focus.

The Depth component critically analyzed contemporary business situations as it related to how OD principles impacted the evolution of the global businesses in the biopharmaceutical industry.  It was found that general OD theoretical concepts directly influenced structural organization changes not only for biopharmaceutical, but also healthcare service organizations.  According to the critical analysis of contemporary OD related research, organizational change was not only based on corporate structural changes but on cultural and human behavioral modifications.  It was found that regardless of the economic and business environment MNCs, governments, and executive leadership teams needed to adopt and apply internal and external regulatory pressure to ensure that their market potential and revenue growth were consistent with their needs.

The Application component analyzed, compared, and contrasted how OD theoretical perspectives can impact and influence the behavior of people in healthcare-related, social and business systems.  It was found that the social implications of Jewish assimilation into the US culture during WWII was similar to social issues that impacted business culture change for major global pharmaceutical corporations.  Furthermore, a critical analysis was conducted that analyzed the pharmaceutical industry as it related to original OD and contemporary change management theories.  This analysis produced a generalized theory defined three business, cultural change elements, workforce energy, common sense decision-making, and professional goodwill.

Research methods

Robert Britting Jr.

The Breadth component consists of an analysis of four original and unique theoretical perspectives of grounded and case study theories.  This analysis revealed the core differences between grounded and case study theoretical models and provided both traditional and progressive perspectives on each.  Based on this analysis, a new study was proposed that will expand upon the findings of Cunningham, Salamon, and Weilgus (2015) by focusing on executive level commercial organization leaders in the pharmaceutical industry.  The core idea of this study is to better understand the leadership style preferences of commercial organization executive managers, whereas the Cunningham et al. study focused on the project managers within the same departments.

The Depth component consists of three distinct parts and focuses on contemporary leadership research.  Each section builds upon the previous with a primer of leadership theory as the initial area of focus designed to set the stage for the analysis.  The analysis found that though transformational and transactional leadership are the preeminent leadership styles in this era, instrumental leadership should be considered as an alternative as its core elements feature many leadership styles.  Moreover, the analysis found that transformational leadership alone has struggled to gain dominance in multinational businesses as the complex nature of the political nature of many industries limits a leader’s ability to be truly transformational.

The application is designed as a prospectus for a study.  The primary focus of the study will be to ascertain if certain leadership styles are understood, accepted, and possible approaches for pharmaceutical commercial leaders to implement with their teams and employees. Cunningham et al. (2015) initially studied a group of pharmaceutical project managers and found inconsistencies in responses.  There were gaps in their research as Cunningham et al. studied the implementers, not the decision-makers.  The proposed study will focus on decision-makers in the pharmaceutical business as they need to be empowered to lead in a way that supports the culture and the future of the business.