Date of Award
Fall 2022
Document Type
Consultancy Project
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Committee Chair
Elizabeth Jones
Abstract
This project reviewed the leadership, organizational culture and practices, and worker satisfaction in a Charlotte, NC-based marketing and advertising agency led by Black founders. These founders are creative artists and entrepreneurs with expertise in a variety of traditional and nontraditional creative fields, collectively called creative industries. The agency, Hue House, is a community-focused creative startup formed in 2019 to “decolonize the marketing and advertising industry” (Hue House, n.d., About Us section) through consulting, creativity, and community. As an entrepreneurial startup and social enterprise, the agency’s goal is to serve a niche in the predominantly white-led advertising and marketing industry. Part of Hue House’s profits benefit local Black and Brown creatives through providing and increasing access to paid opportunities, training, and resources for their professional development. A formal inquiry was launched to explore implications of this organization’s leadership for the organizational culture created with respect to the founders’ racial identities, for the adoption or eschewing of traditional organizational practices, and for worker satisfaction. Finally, reflections of various organization workers were reviewed and analyzed using a mixed methods explanatory design. The Denison Culture survey, a worker satisfaction survey, and qualitative interviews were conducted as a part of an organizational analysis to draw insights and, in turn, develop a set of organizational documents that reflect organizational practices and philosophies in a culturally relevant and nuanced way.
Citation Information
Arrington, Alexandra, "Black Leadership and Culture in Creative Industry: Organizational Practices and Worker Satisfaction in a Charlotte, NC, Social Enterprise" (2022). Education Projects. 47.
https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/education_projects/47