TDNet Discover

The purpose of this capstone study is to investigate the relationship among leadership clarity, decision authority, and strategy execution for leaders and team members at a private equity backed enterprise software firm that has completed nine acquisitions since 2021 across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The problem of practice is that the pace of acquisition-driven growth has outrun the organization’s ability to establish clear decision authority and unified leadership expectations, leading employees to hesitate in decision-making and producing inconsistent execution across legacy and acquired teams. The study is grounded in Psychological Safety Theory (Edmondson, 1999) and Stewardship Theory (Davis et al., 1997), which together explain the interpersonal and structural conditions under which employees act on behalf of the organization. The setting is a mid-sized waste and recycling enterprise software firm with approximately 1,500 customers, $100 million in annual revenue, and 300 employees. The study employs a mixed methods action research design integrating an employee perception survey analyzed in SPSS Version 29, semi-structured interviews and focus groups analyzed through Braun and Clarke’s six-phase thematic analysis in NVivo Version 14, and directed content analysis of governance and integration documentation. The action research intervention is a structured leadership communication protocol designed to clarify decision authority and align leadership expectations across organizational levels. Anticipated results include measurable variation in perceptions of clarity and authority across legacy and acquired teams and measurable improvements following implementation of the protocol.