Kansas Leadership Center and the Kansas State University Staley School of Leadership celebrate Keyhan Shams, Ph.D., research assistant professor and assistant director of Third Floor Research, for his recent award from the International Leadership Association (ILA).
The Fredric M. Jablin Doctoral Dissertation Award is presented to one scholar annually “whose doctoral dissertation research, while on any topic and from any discipline, demonstrates substantial insights and implications for the study of leadership.”
Shams’ dissertation, Bridging the Gap between Learning and Practicing Leadership: Developing New Instruments to Evaluate Leadership and Adaptation, explores how adaptive leadership ties into effective reasoning, focusing on self-awareness, role clarity, and managing conflict.
Tim Steffensmeier, Ph.D., assistant vice president, director of engagement & outreach and professor of leadership studies congratulates Keyhan Shams in front of the Kansas Leadership Center exhibitor booth at the International Leadership Association 26th Global Conference in Chicago last week. Steffensmeier supervised Shams’ doctoral dissertation. Despite a hectic schedule of work and family travel, Steffensmeier made a special trip just to attend the awards celebration and fete Keyhan surrounded by colleagues and friends at K-State, Fort Hays State and the Kansas Leadership Center.
He presents new tools to measure these skills and examines the decision-making process, which he found to be emotionally and mentally challenging for leaders. His recommendations aim to help educators, researchers, and coaches support leaders in navigating these challenges, making leadership development more impactful and manageable.
“What makes me so happy about this award is that it recognizes a three-year, collaborative, and engaged effort with leadership researchers, educators, and practitioners,” said Shams. “I’m proud that the Staley School of Leadership and the Kansas Leadership Center jointly created a space where this collaboration could thrive.”
As part of his award, Shams presented a summary of his dissertation and fielded questions from fellow researchers and educators at the ILA 26th Global Conference.
The latest report from Third Floor Research incorporates part of Shams’ dissertation and is available for free download from the Kansas Leadership website.
An article based on his dissertation, “Bridging the Assessment Gaps: Engaged Validation of Adaptive Leadership Behavior and Self-Awareness Scales,” (Shams, Steffensmeier & Wefald) is published in the Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies.
Read more about Shams’ work and ILA awards on the ILA conference website and the Staley School of Leadership blog.
About Keyhan Shams
Keyhan Shams, Ph.D., is a research assistant professor at the Staley School of Leadership and assistant director of Third Floor Research, a research partnership with the Kansas Leadership Center. He holds a bachelor’s degree in urban planning and design from the University of Tehran and a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from Iran’s Shahid Beheshti University. Recently, he earned his Ph.D. in leadership communication from Kansas State University.
About Keyhan Shams’ Doctoral Dissertation
In his dissertation–Bridging the Gap between Learning and Practicing Leadership: Developing New Instruments to Evaluate Leadership and Adaptation–Shams presents empirical quantitative and qualitative evidence exploring the theoretical connections between Stanovich’s tripartite model of reasoning and Heifetz’s adaptive leadership framework. He introduces newly validated instruments to measure adaptive leadership self-awareness, self-efficacy, and behavior. Shams demonstrates that awareness of defaults, role and purpose, as well as surfacing conflict, are among key components of adaptive leadership self-awareness and behavior. Drawing from the qualitative portion of his dissertation, he also outlines the decision-making process individuals may use to exercise leadership as an activity. His qualitative concept map illustrates that this decision-making process is emotionally and cognitively burdensome. Finally, he provides recommendations for adaptive leadership researchers, educators, and coaches to enhance the impact of their developmental efforts.
A portion of Shams’ dissertation is discussed in the latest report from KLC’s Third Floor Research and is available for free download from the Kansas Leadership website.
