Category: LDRS500 (Page 4 of 4)

Response to Norm Beange

October 1, 2018 / georgeena alphine / 0 Comments

Hai Norm Beange,

I enjoyed reading your blog and the way you briefly described about the forms of power in a leader. As you have mentioned that, referent and expert power are more effective than the other types because people with those two types of power are usually sought out, appreciated and respected by their followers, I too agree upon your idea but in contradiction to your opinion , I believe the Northouse’s view as the author suggests that leadership is a phenomenon that resides in the context of the interaction between leaders and followers. He contends that leadership is, therefore, available to everyone. To easily answer the question you put forth, I believe even an introvert , nervous person can also be a leader based on situations where he/she becomes an emergent leader. To give an example, I have a friend who was very nervous to do anything, fearful and introvert before her marriage , but after marriage her situations changed her to be more outgoing and she had to take up the responsibility to lead her family, take care of kids , manage finances and other educational needs of her kids . As I believe, leadership is not just leading a big group , a leader evolves even from a small family. Her situation changed her and now she is a secretary of the women’s wing in the community she lives. So I do think anyone can be a leader based on circumstances.

Georgeena

Servant Leadership

September 30, 2018 / georgeena alphine / 1 Comment

Although servant leadership seems contradictory and challenges our traditional beliefs about leadership, it is an approach that offers a unique perspective. Servant leadership focuses on the behaviors that leaders should exhibit to put followers first and to support follower’s personal development. It is concerned with how leaders treat followers. Principles of servant leadership which in my opinion seem easy but is in fact tough to realize in practice are:

Listening: Communication between leaders and followers is an interactive process that includes sending and receiving message. Through listening, servant leaders acknowledge the viewpoint of followers and validate these perspectives. For example, if one of the follower has a totally different take/opinion about a topic, instead of disregarding it just because it is the opinion of just one follower, if the leader opts to put aside his leader status and listens to the opinion of that one follower, the leader will not only gain that particular follower but will instead gradually get more followers.
Empathy: Empathy is “standing in the shoes” of another person and attempting to see the world from that person’s point of view. It makes the follower feel unique. For example if there is a difficult situation that one of the follower is undergoing due to which the follower is unable to perform at his or her best, an empathetic leader will not just console the follower but in fact try to improve that situation them self as they too feel the struggle that the follower is undergoing. So they try to change the situation or help them out to come out of it.

Persuasion: Persuasion is clear and persistent communication that convinces others to change. For example, if there is a change that a leader wants to put forth before the followers and requires them to do it, it is of utmost importance that the leader should be able to convey the same effectively without any ill feelings caused to the followers and convince them that such a change is needed for their betterment.

Out of these three principles I personally feel persuasion is the most easy looking but in reality the most challenging principle to adhere to being a leader. Even though traditionally the method of imposing directions by force or coercion was employed by leaders but in servant leadership it is the method of persuasion without force which is widely appreciable and acceptable.

Even then the question remains if this method of leadership is feasible keeping in mind the human nature in general and that of a leader in particular. Can a leader in reality put in practice these methods? Can they remain true to these principles? Will they lose commitment in continuing with these principles in the long run.

References

Peter G. Northouse (2018). Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition ,Thousand Oaks, CA : SAGE Publications.

ASSIGNED AND EMERGENT LEADERSHIP

September 30, 2018 / georgeena alphine / 0 Comments

Everyone has to be a leader at any corner of their life to succeed in the life or to travel out of the comfort zone. As per Northouse, Some people are leaders because of their formal position in an organization, whereas others are leaders because of the way other group members respond to them. These two common forms of leadership are called assigned leadership and emergent leadership.

Assigned leaders hold the position provided by the management of any organization to run the existing system and in such cases academic qualifications or career excellence might have more importance as a criteria than his/her influence/acceptance in the team. While emerged leaders have more acceptance in the team and have true followers. Unity in the team and contribution of each team member are important factors to achieve the common desired goal and in fact emerged leaders have the emotional advantage as he/she is accepted by all the team members thereby the end result would be more positive than assigned leaders. Sometimes, targets set by assigned leader can give a feel of headache while such targets made by emerged leader can make a feel of need of the hour. It all depends up on the emotional attachment to the leader and the destiny of the team by each member of a team.

Many people go through at least on time as a minimum in their life through any emergency situation where they have to take up the ownership to overcome the situation. Here I recall an instance where I feel proud of being a Nurse and could do something by taking the responsibility to save one life. I felt I was emerged to lead many of the situations when I was working as a staff nurse in casualty department at Hinduja Hospital, Mumbai, India, though I wasn’t a senior nurse, but my profession has molded me as leader when I was advocating, giving suggestions, health education , and guiding the patient and family.

The primary functions of management, as first identified by Fayol (1916), were planning, organizing, staffing and controlling. Due to continual industrial development and global standardization, any of the organization which wants to grow eventually would always have a pre-planned system to follow. Above said activities like planning, organizing, staffing and controlling would fall in this system. Managers handle these activities by siting efficiency of the team, consistency of the organization and smooth running of the system. However leaders are careless about the factors like consistency, efficiency and system while they target adaptive and constructive changes in their work and they are courageous to go out of the exiting path. Management is about seeking order and stability; leadership is about seeking adaptive and constructive change. Managers alone cannot lead the organization to prosperity as their vision and style may become bureaucratic at some point and likewise leaders without proper management would be misdirected like aimless arrow. Therefore, as far as the prosperity of any organization is concerned, contribution from managers and leaders are required together. Even though, the practical possibility need to be checked, can it become controversial at any stage?

References

Peter G. Northouse(2018). Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition .Chapter 1, Introduction, Thousand Oaks, CA : SAGE Publications.

Defining Leadership

September 30, 2018 / georgeena alphine / 0 Comments

Northouse defines leadership as “a complex process having multiple dimensions” (p.1) and a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (p. 5).

There are few components of leadership which actually makes a leader. They are, process, power, influence, group context and goal attainment.

As mentioned above, Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group. So, for a leader, it is unavoidable to avoid the component “process” in leadership. This process involves planning, assumptions, analyzing risk factors and methods to eliminate them to achieve a certain goal. This process may be very brief or may even last several years depending on the goal.

Power in leadership doesn’t refer to the power of a leader to order the group. It is the power that should be within to influence the group or followers. It is the power to give enthusiasm and motivation, the power to enhance the capability of the group to work for and achieve the goal.

Being Influential is so important in leadership that, without influence, leadership does not exist. The power to influence the audience is one of the basic qualities a leader should have. A leader failing to influence his audience is not actually a good leader. The type and degree of influence is dependent on the leader’s style, objective, and the audience.

Groups are the content in which leadership takes place. A group is often made up of followers. When there is no group to be lead, there isn’t a purpose of leader. So group is an essential part of leadership. Often this is a group of people with common interests and sometimes not. At times there is an elitist attitude when discussing leaders and followers as the former has a degree of power, and the latter have less. A leader is not above followers or better than followers. It’s just that, one takes the responsibility to lead. They are part of the same process and must be understood in relation to each other. It is an integral part of being a leader to know his or her group well and is responsible to guide them to achieve the common goal.

Leadership includes goals attainment. And in fact, certain goals are the actual reasons for the formation of a leader. Leaders are primarily to work for effective way in utilizing a group effectively to achieve certain targets and goals. This means that, the leader must use his or her influence, power and capability to lead the group to achieve the set goals.

Leadership is an interactive process between the individual exerting the influence and those receiving the influence. As such, a leader touches and is touched by followers. The tide of power can be fluid shift from the leader to the followers and vice versa. Leadership is not a formality that follows a prescribed routine. Some leadership styles will approach this, but none will ever be so set in stone that there is not some degree of elasticity. I don’t be judgmental on the role of each leader. Everyone in one way or the other is influencing an individual positively or negatively.

When you come across any leader in any field ,do you judge on all these criteria or just consider them to have their own individual preference on being a leader?Is this all about leadership in brief? Or, if you have any further inputs and suggestions, it’s all welcome.

Reference

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice, Eight Edition. Contingency theory. (Chapter 6) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Malala Yousafzai, A Leader I follow

September 30, 2018 / georgeena alphine / 2 Comments

“When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful” is the inspirational words of Malala Yousafzai, an educational activist and the youngest honorary Nobel Peace Prize winner,2014 , who believes, “ One child, One teacher, One book and One pen can change the world. Education is the only solution.” And I am proud to say that she is my inspiration.

In the year 2009, when Malala Yousafzai was 12 years old she wrote a blog under a pseudonym Gul Makai for the BBC Urdu about her life during the Taliban occupation of Swat. It gained her worldwide popularity. An attempt was made by the Taliban gunmen to assassinate her while she was on her way home after school as a result of the impact her blog had on their mission to take away the rights of a girl child from getting education. The attempt on her life sparked an international outpouring of support for Yousafzai. Following her recovery, Yousafzai became a prominent activist for the right to education. I follow her on Instagram at https://instagram.com/malalafund?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=1x3gtdi4k6c5g

Malala Yousafzai’s courage and will power to stand up for the right to education of every girl child against a terrorist organization as dangerous as the Taliban, fearlessly is commendable.

Her courage and will power to stand-up against the violation of not just her right but that of other’s is a quality every leader must possess. It is easy to be a leader who just goes with the flow. But to be a leader having strength of will ,character and firmness of purpose is not everyone’s cup of tea. As she said, “Do not wait for someone else to come and speak for you. It’s you who can change the world.” She is an inspiration to me and to anybody facing suppression or violation of their legal rights. Malala spoke through her writing not just about her own right to education but also that of other girls, which was being violated by the Taliban in the District of Swat, Pakistan.

Her belief that huge difference in the society can be made through writing is something which has personally helped me to put forth my views with ease. In her opinion writing is the best way to put forth one’s views or opinions instead of resorting to violence of any kind. Even though she is still facing death threats by the Taliban, Malala is fearless and prepared to face it as it comes, as she says , they can’t take away her fight and mission even by killing her.

Her passion for fighting for the right to education has wowed me. It inspires me to stand up for the slightest infringement of rights I come across. She has shown that even a young child like her could bring about a change as drastic as this as now the district of Swat is terror free. Her carefree attitude to her oppressors and the will power to continue her fight for the right of girls has impacted my outlook towards problems I face being an individual in my day to day life. Her qualities of being straightforward, courageous and committed about her opinions fearlessly has taught me that irrespective of who I am or what I am, I can still make a difference if only I wish to make the change and I’m willing to endure the consequence without being intimidated. Such qualities are a must in leaders as it helps us to standout and be truthful to the position of a leader that we are in. We don’t have to be a social figure or well known to be a leader . I was a nursing student when I first heard of Malala Fund, and my heart was longing to do something for helping young girls in education, which opened a way through Jesus Youth movement to support a girl’s education by offering monthly 500 rupees from my pocket money. I was so happy to reduce my extra expenses and save this money every month to educate a girl child. I may not be doing much, but I am drop that can make a difference in the life of someone for a good cause.

To better motivate followers or use the competences of the medium to inspire people towards a common goal, Malala can be more active on social media platforms, though busy with university studies, her capability isn’t limited to a small town , it’s world wide and so if she couldn’t find time to reach out to unlighted candles at darkest corners of the world , her brightness can be shared using different social media sites, and organising sub divisions of Malala fund raising campaigns in every city to light up the needy. She has done more than anyone could do , so I am not a person to recommend.

“Malala Yousafzai, for bravely lending your voice, we thank you” told Justin Trudeau on the occasion of honoring her as a Canadian citizen on April 12,2017 and I too thank you for inspiring me !!!

References

Malala Fund, Retrieved from : https://instagram.com/malalafund?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=1x3gtdi4k6c5g

Malala Yousafzai,(2014, Oct 12). Personal interview with Christine Amanpour

Retrieved from : https://youtu.be/8YWRsr6hSJk

Malala’s story, Retrieved from : https://www.malala.org/malalas-story

Malala Yousafzai receiving Honorary Canadian citizenship ,Global News, (2017,April 12). Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljlxhowP5E0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H15x7V_I-A