Tag: Unit 7

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Unit 7

Part A

What is at the heart of the quantitative/qualitative debate?

Quantitative research is a numerical process to understand a research question while qualitative research is investigating personal experiences to gain a better understanding of a problem. Both when done by applying a scientific approach, ensure biases do not come into play. The research question will help determine which type of study is better suited. In recent years mixed methods have been combined to gain an even greater understanding of the problem. Appropriate methods in conducting mixed method research papers are now available and widely accepted amongst the scholarly community. The argument that now exists is if quantitative research or qualitative research on its own provides a comprehensive understanding of a problem and or if combined provide a more complete picture.

Do you think mixed-methods research can provide a more complete picture for leadership studies? 

I believe that yes mixed methods of research can provide a more complete picture for leadership studies. For example in my own experience, both the economy and capacity building are equally important to First Nation communities and so in understanding the best leadership style to promote this type of environment, it is clear that a mixed method research paper would provide a greater understanding. Quantitative data on indigenous leadership could be measured by exploring the financial success of an indigenous community and how this relates to leadership styles. Qualitative data on indigenous leadership could be measured by focus groups targeting the answers such as how has past traditional teachings been utilized by leadership, what are the investments in training that are seen as valued, how does a community best build capacity and what is the community doing to help people that are disadvantaged. Organizations are complex and have often more than one goal or strategic mandate and therefore, this is where I believe mixed methods are beneficial to leadership studies.

Part B

Evaluating the use of mixed method approach in the article called Achieving High Organizational Performance through Servant Leadership (Melchar & Bosco, 2010)

  1. The rationale for needing mixed methods of research is appropriate and justified – Rating 3 – the researchers determined that qualitative interviews were necessary prior to proceeding with a quantitative questionnaire, …in order to determine whether there were main themes that reflected the senior leader’s “servant leader” orientation (Melchar & Bosco, 2010, p. 80).
  2. The choice of the mixed methods design is appropriate and justified – Rating 3 – the researchers describe how qualitative interviews are researched as well as the results of the surveys, how the surveys were interpreted and what method was used to interpret the surveys.
  3. The quantitative methods are of good quality based on the standards of quantitative research – Rating 3 – while the sample size was somewhat small, the researchers indicated in their conclusion that …the coefficient alphas were consistent with those in the Barbuto and Wheeler (2006) study. Good statistical analytic procedures were used and described in the reference paper.
  4. The qualitative methods are of good quality based on the standards of qualitative research – Rating 3 – the qualitative method and results were shared in a table. These results were consistent with former research in evaluating traits of servant leaders. There researchers goals were to confirm that the leadership had traits of servant leadership.
  5. The quantitative and qualitative components of the study are meaningfully mixed – Rating 3 – If the researchers did not conduct qualitative research prior to the quantitative research, the results of the quantitative research may have been questioned.
  6. The study used rigorous application of mixed methods research to address the purpose – Rating 3 – the research paper purpose was to investigate …whether a servant leader can develop a corporate culture that attracts tor develops other servant leaders (Melchar & Bosco, 2010, P. 74). The qualitative data was used to confirm servant leadership management style as opposed to other types of leadership styles. Once confirmed the organization did possess a servant leadership style the quantitative data sought to understand if the servant leader developed and attracted other servant leaders.
  7. The use of mixed methods produced a good understanding of the research purpose – Rating 3 – the researchers did provide serval complete and valid in-depth answers to the study’s research question.

Overall score 21/21 indicating a high quality research paper.

Part C

Describe an example of a Transformational Servant Leader in your life.

In my indigenous community I have many examples of transformational servant leaders. As a group I would describe the elders as transformational servant leaders. Our elders form part of our government and guide us in business activities. They heavily influence and support change in the community for future generations. Many of these elders have experienced inter-generational trauma and in their lifetime will never likely see the results of their work in instilling change in the community. The elders support the youth in education, mentorship, family life and remind younger generations about the importance of taking care of others and mother earth. They remind us to use our traditional teachings such as following the 7 laws of life – health, happiness, humbleness, generations, generosity, forgiveness and understanding. These laws help guide our business group in making important decisions for the future our community. They put others needs above their own and are impacting important change for my community.

How would you use a mixed methods approach to study servant leadership?

I would utilize a mixed method approach in studying servant leadership through an exploratory sequential design. Relative to my workplace, and in evaluating servant leadership in an indigenous setting, quantitative data could be utilized to evaluate servant leadership through data that could be collected, evaluating past successes of indigenous organizations. Qualitative data however is also important in understanding the future of servant leadership and its role in indigenous communities. There is an emergence of traditional teachings that align with servant leadership however since much of indigenous culture teachings were not shared or spoken of amongst generations, there has been a gap in information. As culture teachers become more readily available and accepted in communities, so does the concept of servant leadership become accepted as a best model for leadership.

In past research, quantitative research has been held in higher regard than qualitative research in terms of its ability to provide more perceived credible results. Do you think a mixed method approach provides more validity to the importance also of qualitative research and its findings?

References

Barbuto, J. e., and D.W. Wheeler. 2006. “Scale Development and construct Clarification of Servant Leadership.” Group & Organization Management, 31(3): 300-326.

 

Melchar, D. E., & Bosco, S. M. (2010). Achieving high organization performance through servant leadership. Journal of Business Inquiry, 9(1), 774-88.

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Unit 7, Activity 2 – Indigenous transformation leadership and ethics

An organization that sees the benefits of a transformational leadership style, must also recognize managerial implications. According to Wang, G., Oh, I.S., Courtright, S.H., & Colbert, A. e. (2011) “organizations need to pay particular attention to intervention programs that enhance their manager’s leadership style. Organizations should focus on selecting and promoting individuals that are more likely to become transformational leaders.”

Transactional leadership in an indigenous community has not worked well. With a history of mistrust, motives are questioned and it becomes very difficult to find ethical leaders under this management style. Transformational leadership is inclusive of employees and encourages employees to work for the greater good of the company. A shared vision is bought into by employees, thus motivating them to go the extra mile in accomplishing tasks. The challenge however, remains in finding transformational leaders that are also familiar with working in indigenous communities. The good news is that transformational leadership can be taught and so an indigenous community has the ability to invest in training its future leaders. Therefore in an effort to become a better leader to my indigenous community, I believe that if I can find employees with good ethics, I can train them to be transformational leaders.

The five principles of ethical leadership are:

  1. Ethical Leaders respect others – Northouse (2016, p. 342) “Respect means that a leader listens closely to followers, is empathic, and is tolerant of opposing points of view. It means treating followers in ways that confirm their beliefs, attitudes and values.”
  2. Ethical Leaders Serve Others – Northouse (2016, P. 343) “Ethical Leaders have a responsibility to attend to others, be of service to them, and make decisions pertaining to them that are beneficial and not harmful to their welfare.”
  3. Ethical Leaders are Just – Northouse (2016, P. 344) “Ethical leaders are concerned about issues of fairness and justice. No one should receive special treatment or special consideration except when his or her particular situation demands it. When individuals are treated differently, the grounds for different treatment must be clear and reasonable, and must be based on moral values.”
  4. Ethical Leaders are Honest – Northouse (2016, P. 346) “When leaders are not honest, others come to see them as undependable and unreliable. When we lie to others, we are in essence saying that we are willing to manipulate the relationship on our own terms.”
  5. Ethical Leaders Build Community – Northouse (2016 P. 347) “Concern for the common good means that leaders cannot impose their will on others. They need to search for goals that are compatible to everyone.

Selecting only two of the five principles as most important over the others is challenging. Depending on the situation, any one of the five principles could be emphasized as being important. As a leader in an indigenous community, and for my situation however, I would suggest that being just and honest are the two most important qualities of an ethical leader.

Indigenous communities have dealt with dishonesty and unfairness for more than 300 years. This has spanned over generations and in some respects still happens today. It has only been through recent case law that indigenous communities are gaining back some rights. The era of residential schools, the 60’s scoop, murdered and missing woman, land title rights and other social injustices have caused generations of mistrust. This distrust extends to those working for indigenous communities as it takes time for the community to know what ones true intentions are. Some community members in an indigenous community will never trust anyone, despite their good intentions.

Equally though in an indigenous organization must strike a balance in terms of the treatment of the indigenous employees and the non-indigenous employees. If not handled properly it has the potential to create a divide amongst staff and ultimately a loss of confidence in leadership. For example, an indigenous organization can apply in British Columbia for a Human Rights exemption that allows preference when hiring indigenous people. This does not mean however that the promotion automatically goes to the indigenous person. What it means is that all things being equal, the organization can give preference to the indigenous person. There are equally, responsibilities of the organization to ensure that the employees are aware of this policy and in practice see that it is applied fairly. Ultimately it is important that all employees understand the desire to build capacity with indigenous people, not as a means to be given preferential treatment, but rather to level the playing field due to years of suppression of a race.

How else might an ethical leader further develop trust and create a culture of fairness with their non-indigenous and indigenous employees? Are there other ethical leadership qualities that one might see as also being important in an indigenous community and in selecting future transformational leaders?

Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership, Theory and Practice. Seventh Edition. Chapter 13, Page 341-347, Principles of Ethical Leadership

Wang, G., Oh, I. S., Courtright, S. H., & Colbert, A. E. (2011). Transformational leadership and performance across criteria and levels: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of research. Group & Organization Management, 36(2), 223-270.

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Unit 7, Activity 1 – Indigenous economic development ethical leadership

Without ethical leadership, organizations risk exposure to a negative reputation, demoralized staff, a culture of mistrust, fiscal loses and legal implications. In every organization there are expectations amongst stakeholders that the leadership will uphold the highest standards when it comes to ethical leadership. An indigenous economic development organization has many stakeholders to consider to be a flourishing and sustainable organization. It can be one of the most challenging yet also rewarding areas to work in.

When considering values and beliefs of an indigenous economic development organization, these come from internal employees, the indigenous government, band members, outside government stakeholders, other indigenous peoples as well as the general public. Balancing expectations of all can be achieved, provided the leaders set the tone for the organization. For example, indigenous economic organizations work under a variety of government structures. Some are elected in Chief and Council positions, some are hereditary positions or a combination there of. In addition, when it comes to elected positions, each government sets their own term for how long a person holds office. One challenge of an indigenous economic development organization in upholding ethical leadership, is the pressure of the current government to keep the membership happy. This can occur in both an elected and hereditary government system. The best way an indigenous economic development organization can prevent leaders from being negatively influenced by the current government, is to create a legally binding board of directors that the leader of the economic development organization must be accountable to. This board of directors should be a mix of internal stakeholders but heavily outweighed by outside board members whom stand nothing to gain and expect the leadership to act ethically. If the leadership of the economic development organization does not act ethically the board of directors should hold the authority to terminate the employment of the leader and not be influenced into making decisions based on the current government. If a nation wants it economic development arm to be around for generations to come, this is an important step in securing its future and its success.

The public also plays a major role in deciding what values and beliefs constitute ethical leadership of an indigenous economic development organization. For example, if you were to eat at a café that you purposely went to, in order to support an indigenous organization, would you think it be appropriate if that café was not recycling? How about if the indigenous café served farmed fish? There are social responsibilities an indigenous organization must uphold because of the expectations of the public. In a day of truth and reconciliation, public support is higher than it has ever been because of shared public values. Taking care of the environment is a common shared value and indigenous economic development organizations are expected to uphold this public value.

Another stakeholder of an indigenous economic development organization are the band membership which are often the ownership of the indigenous economic development organization. This can get tricky when considering ethical leadership and so having strong policies and procedures in place can avoid any conflict of interest problems. An example of where this can occur is the membership is expecting that its members have first priority at all jobs. Implementing strong Human Resource management practices with ensure that the organization is not breaking the law and showing favoritism’s. There are opportunities in indigenous led organizations to apply to the Human Rights code to allow preference to indigenous people when hiring, however there are rules and processes that must to be followed. It’s important though, to ensure that the employees working those jobs are qualified, or divides may occur between indigenous and non-indigenous employees. Capacity building for indigenous people is about helping indigenous people to get qualified and to be successful. It’s not about providing a “hand-out” but instead a “hand-up”.

Government and memberships of communities are both concerned with the financial integrity of an indigenous economic development organization. Indigenous organizations with employees working on reserve receive taxation benefits. There are also exemptions from purchases made by Status Indians purchasing on reserve. Excellent record keeping is important because if an organization is not following the law, there can be tremendous financial implications and public shaming. The public does not always understand the Indian Act, how it came to be and within it, why indigenous people sometimes are entitled to taxable benefits. There are negative perceptions surrounding some of these benefits and if an indigenous organization is thought to be breaking the law in this regard, it could receive a great deal of negative publicity. This could embarrass the organization and the membership. Yet, another way indigenous organizations are impacted by government and its membership is with the First Nations Transparency Act. Indigenous economic development organizations and their governments are required to go through an external financial audit each year, with the results posted online and presented to the membership. The purpose of this audit is to ensure accounting principles are followed and there is no fraud. Without ethical leadership there cannot be fiscal responsibility which in turn could mean, the end of an indigenous economic development organization.

In closing, indigenous economic development organizations that have high ethical standards with leadership and its employees can be highly successful. Particularly today, there are many individuals, government officials and the public that want to support indigenous economic development organizations to be successful. There is however only one chance to do things right and any unethical behavior can be damaging for years to come. The truth and reconciliation movement has benefited indigenous nations by creating public sympathy and a desire to want to help indigenous organizations, particularly those that want to help themselves. This olive branch however comes with a great deal of responsibility and so a strong culture of ethical behavior is integral to the success of an indigenous economic development organization. What are some other ethical and moral beliefs that the public holds with its indigenous organizations? Do you think it is fair that indigenous organizations are held to this standard given the history of inter-generational trauma?