April 1, 2009 – The University of Phoenix’s National Research Center named Dr. Ruby A. Rouse and Dr. Richard S. Schuttler as faculty research grant recipients for 2009. Rouse and Schuttler’s grant proposal was one of only four selected for funding after a competitive review process conducted by the NRC.

The study, entitled Crisis communication: A mixed method study of supervisor leadership and employee performance during the 2008-2009 financial crisis, will use a diagnostic instrument developed by Rouse and Schuttler to measure the effectiveness of supervisor communication. Schuttler said work on the Supervisor Leadership and Communication Inventory (SLCI) began over a year ago. “Originally,” he said, “the instrument was designed to help individual organizations track the influence of leader communication on employee performance.”

However, wider application of the diagnostic tool became evident when the unprecedented financial crisis occurred in the fall of 2008. “The failure of Lehman’s, Merrill Lynch, and AIG demonstrated the interconnectedness of financial organizations,” Schuttler said. Within a matter of weeks, the stock market crashed and the government scrambled to assemble the largest bailout package in history. “Our proposal suggested there is a unique opportunity to study the leadership process during one of the most turbulent times in American history.”

                       

• RQ1: What leadership and communication differences, if any, exist between supervisors from various U.S. industries during the 2008-2009 financial crisis?
• RQ2: What correlation, if any, exists between perceptions of the 2008-2009 financial crisis and supervisor leadership/communication?
• RQ3: What correlation, if any, exists between supervisor leadership/communication and employee performance during the 2008-2009 financial crisis?

Rouse and Schuttler will work in collaboration with an Advisory Council composed of six other researchers: Dr. Tom Box, Dr. Carolyn DeLeon, Dr. Jimmie Flores, Dr. Judith Kaplan, Francisco Melero, and Timothy Taylor.

Schuttler has 20 years of international management and leadership expertise. The conceptual framework for the SLCI was developed in his book, the Laws of Communication: The Intersection Where Leadership Meets Employee Performance. He served as Dean at the University of Phoenix (Business Week's 2004 #3 Hot Growing Companies) and has mentored executives, faculty, and students from around the world in a variety of leadership and management settings. He is the owner of Organizational Troubleshooter, LLC and can be reached at DrRich@SLCI.ws