Category: Unit 8

I believe that the lesson that can be taken from the video, Unconscious Bias – making the Unconscious Conscious , (2014) relates back to our critical thinking assignment and confirms the importance of critical thinking skills in a leader. In my paper, I wrote,  “critical thinking is taking the facts of a situation and not readily accepting them at face value.” This means that leaders need to know and consider all information before acting.

 

It is a natural thing that people develop bias’ over their lifetime. I can think of an example in education where people often think that males are better at math and science than females. In education, it is rare that males teach at the elementary level. It is more common that they teach junior high or high school.  Growing up with these experiences, naturally a person would develop some bias’. It is important to make decisions based on factual information.

 

In the trusted 10 exercise, I had an even split of 5 females and 5 males. This wasn’t planned, just coincidence. Most are university educated with a few who had high school education. Most are close to my age, or within 5 years of my age. Out of the 10 that I listed, only 2 females are married. All 10 of my trusted 10, fit into my inner circle. They are people that I consider myself to be close with. I believe that they all fit in the innermost circle because I am a very trusting person. I always look for the good qualities in people, and trust them with my whole heart. People may make it to more outer circles such as acquaintances if I feel that I could not tell them anything about my life and have them listen without being judgemental. These people have been there for me through some difficult situations that I have encountered in the last couple of years. They are people that I trust and feel that I could talk to about anything. I hope that these people feel the same way about me.

 

I found that most of the people in my trusted 10 are quite similar. When I reflect on their personalities, I feel that they all have a lot in common. I think that this tells me that my circles are not that diverse. I believe that part of the reasoning behind this is that I am very similar to these people as well. This tells me that I need to develop my leadership skills by expanding the diversity of people in my trusted network. This will require me to be more conscientious and to make sure I am not judging people based on first impressions. In my life, I don’t feel like I do this, however, that findings from my trusted 10 activity tell me that this could be an area for growth and improvement.

 

Armstrong and Nouman tell us in the article, “Leadership Competencies in a Diverse Culture”  that, “leaders need to promote and to engage in divergent thinking if they are to be effective in a world of diverse cultures. One of the critical challenges that leaders face today is how to move beyond a merely theoretical agreement to accommodate diversity and instead use diversity as a strategic lever that propels innovative ideas and solutions. “(Armstrong, A and Nouman, A, 2010, P 1). They tell us the importance of diversity and how it can empower a leader to be more effective. I believe that it is the due diligence of a leader to look after and inspire their followers so that everyone can work towards accomplishing a common goal. Effective leaders need to have diversity and each person needs to feel valued and to have a voice.

 

References

Armstrong, Ann, and S. Nouman Ashraf. “Leadership Competencies in a Diverse Culture.” Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations: A Reference Handbook. Ed. Kathryn A. Agard. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2010. 267-74. SAGE Reference Online. Web. 30 Jan. 2012.

 

1. (2014, September 25). Unconscious Bias @ Work – Making the Unconscious Conscious. Retrieved November 16, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW5s_-Nl3JE&feature=youtube

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

 

On the Gender-Leader Implicit Association Test I scored -1. This indicates that I do not favor males and leadership. I believe this to be true. In my own profession, I have worked for 2 different principles, both female and the superintendent of our division is a female. In my experience, I feel that my school is faced with the opposite problem of making sure that the male staff members do not feel excluded. There are only 8 male members of our staff and closer to 60 females, and it is sometimes a challenge to make sure that they do not feel devalued or unimportant.

 

You can make women feel valued and like they belong in the workplace in many ways. I believe that it starts by having a good rapport with them and establishing a connection.  Make them feel included as a valued member of the organization. Make them feel unique and valued in the organization (Nugent et al., Catalyst (2016), P 2). This means caring about them, showing that you value women by striving for equal pay, giving promotions according to talent and leadership qualities, not according to gender, and establishing an inclusive work atmosphere possible.  If a leader is aware of the glass ceiling barrier that women face in their careers, then using certain strategies could help to alleviate the barrier.  Some of the strategies could include: establishing a mentorship program, flexible work policies, paid family medical leave, and compulsory paternal leave (Women’s Policy Journal, Volume 6, 2009, P 42).

 

It is also important for a leader to realize that inclusion and exclusion co-exist in organizations. While most people have difficulty providing examples of inclusive  elements in an organization, they can readily identify exclusive elements (Nugent et al., Catalyst (2016), P 2). For example a woman may experience inclusion by participating in a leadership mentoring program, but then experience exclusion when she meets with her team and her ideas are always dismissed or ignored. (Nugent et al., Catalyst (2016), P 11.).

 

Leaders need to manage and understand that inclusion and exclusion co-exist in organizations. They can do this by making inclusion more visible in an organization by rewarding inclusive behaviour and by creating a shared vision for inclusion.  They need to have meaningful conversations with all of their employees, not just women. They need to constantly monitor and be watchful for incidences of exclusion and track the progress and the setbacks  (Nugent et al., Catalyst (2016), P 3).

 

To foster recognition and a sense of belonging for women, a leader should have one on one meetings, monitor meetings to learn whose opinions are being heard, and whose are being discounted,

 

Research shows that when employees feel valued in an organization, they are more motivated and team-oriented.  In contrast, when employees feel excluded, there is a great cost to the organization as they are more likely to leave the organization, less likely to share innovative ideas, put less effort into their work and generally exhibit less job satisfaction (Nugent et al., Catalyst (2016), P 2).

 

“If inclusion is to take root within an organization, leaders must be able to simultaneously acknowledge and manage the good, the bad, and the ugly of their employees’ day-to-day experiences—the positive strides, the difficult times, and everything in between” (Nugent et al., Catalyst (2016), P 12).

 

References

 

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Nugent, J., Pollack, A. & D. Travis (2016).  The Day to day experience of workplace inclusion & exclusion.  Retrieved on November 17, 2017 from http:www.catalyst.org/system/files\The\day\to\day\experience\of\workplace\inclusion\and exclusion.pdf

“Too often does motherhood equate hitting that glass ceiling.” (Women’s Policy Journal, Volume 6, 2009, P 42). In the case study in Northouse, 2016, we read about, Marina Soslow, who is afraid to tell her boss that she is expecting a baby because she has seen similar situations in the past in which her female coworkers were treated unfairly and eventually were eased out of their positions. (Northouse, 2016, P 414). In the Women’s Policy Journal, they argue that women tend to have children during the most demanding time periods of their careers. (Women’s Policy Journal, Volume 6, 2009, P 42).

 

When I first began this blog post, I was considering how something so complicated as prejudice can be eliminated from the workplace by leaders. This is a problem that has been around for many years and it is something that cannot be solved easily. In the 60’s, John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act, which was an attempt to eliminate wage discrepancies based on the gender of an individual.  (Women’s Policy Journal, Volume 6, 2009, P 42). This is now over half a century ago, and the wage gap has not been eliminated.  According to Joe Angelo in (Women’s Policy Journal, Volume 6, 2009, P 40) “President Obama [recently] announced that women in this country continue to earn just 78 cents for every dollar their male counterparts are paid. The good news is that this is 9 cents more on the dollar than in 1975 when the sum was only 69 cents. In addition to the monetary discrepancy, this “discounting” of women subjects them to adverse secondary effects in our larger community.” The concept of women receiving less pay seems to be an accepted situation in the work force.  Gender prejudice has been an issue for many years and it will not be something that is easily terminated. I believe that a good leader can help to minimize prejudice in the workplace, however they cannot eliminate it, but only deal with situations as they arise.

 

A leader is required to implement or sometimes create policy as problems arise. This is the easy part of leadership. Implementing these policies is where leadership qualities are tested. A leader cannot quote the policy handbook and discipline individuals as the problems arise. Anyone can do that. A true leader will create a culture in which people are intrinsically motivated to act morally because they believe in the outcomes and the common goal.

 

In Unit 7, we discussed ethical leadership. In one of my blog posts, I wrote, “leaders have a strong influence on their followers and because of this, they are obligated to do what is morally right. (Northouse, 2016). These obligations include treating staff fairly, creating policies and abiding by them, and knowing the difference between right and wrong. Van Buren suggests that a staff that is treated morally, will have higher efficacy which in turn creates a happier work environment that produces higher quality work.” (Thompson, S., Unit 7, 2016).

 

I believe that it takes a true leader to establish a culture in the workplace in which people feel comfortable to talk about their fears and concerns and to create a team environment in which people work together to solve problems. In the case of Marina Soslow, her boss, Roy Bond, likely has some recurring fears as women on staff get pregnant. I would imagine he is wondering about the likeliness of her coming back to work after three months, if at all, especially with the cost of childcare.  He is also probably thinking about the amount of time and effort the company has invested into training her. It is possible that he worries that the people she has delegated the work too will not do a good job and their company could suffer. Also, coming from a teacher, kids get sick often and this could require that she has more days off.  There are a number of fears he could have around this situation. But even given his concerns, I do not believe that his response to her was appropriate.

 

Her boss would demonstrate stronger leadership qualities if he first conveyed the message that he truly cared for her. He could do this by congratulating her and showing that he is genuinely happy for her. This would immediately motivate Marina to make sure that her work is being done well, not because she has to but because she wants to. Northouse teaches us that employees need to feel cared for in order to achieve common goals. (Northouse, 2016).

 

Society also needs to transform their view of women in the workplace.  Women are historically, and continue to be the primary caregiver in their family.  Women should not be viewed as having to choose between raising a family and having a career, even though typically both events coincide in time. As an employer, there could be practices put into effect that attempt to embrace and help women be successful in their careers while still balancing family life. For example, employers can offer on-site child care, or allow workers to adjust their working schedule to better fit into their family life.  

 

I believe that in order to help minimize the stereotypes that women face in the workplace, equality between male and females has to be experienced in the early years of education. Young learners need to be taught good morals, values and need to see the reasoning behind this teaching. As a teacher, I need to treat males and female students equally.

 

Northouse, 2016, states that “leadership emphasizes that authentic values and behaviors can be developed in leaders over time. Authentic leadership is not an attribute that only some people exhibit: Everyone can develop authenticity and learn to be more authentic.” (Northouse, 2016, P 207).  I believe that as a teacher, I need to be a good leader and role model for all students so that I can assist in teaching right from wrong in hope of minimizing some of these prejudicial attitudes..

 

References:

 

Decastro, B. (2009). Women’s Policy Journal, Volume 6, President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership – theory and practice – seventh edition. Los Angeles: Sage.

Watson, L. E. (1988). Light from many lamps. New York: Simon & Schuster