EDUCAUSE Institute

One of my interests is instructional technology so I went looking for leadership development programs for those that work in technology in higher ed. While there are many conferences, there does not seem to be many leadership development programs. The EDUCAUSE Institute is one of the few I found. There are 3 separate programs:

1) Learning Technology Leadership Program: This is for those who have significant experience using higher ed in teaching environments and would like to move on to positions of higher responsibility.

2) Leadership Program: This is for IT managers in higher ed who are seeking higher leadership positions

3) Management Program: This is for IT professionals in higher ed who would like to go on to become managers

All 3 programs are described as a "leadership immersion programs" that aims to assist in transforming people who see themselves as implementers of technology, to people who are able to drive change on campus through the use of technology. I thought this goal was extremely important as technology is often used as a piecemeal, quick-fix effort in education at any level. There is a growing movement to make technology a larger part of a college or university's strategic planning.

EDUCAUSE is an association who aims to assist higher ed with the strategic use of technology in teaching and management. They have an excellent online journal for those interested in technology and pedagogical issues.

The Thomas Lakin Institute for Mentored Leadership in Community Colleges

The Thomas Lakin Institute for Mentored Leadership is sponsored by the Presidents’ Round
Table of the National Council on Black American Affairs, an affliate of the American Association of Community Colleges. The Presidents’ Round Table was established in 1983 to bring together African-American community college leaders to focus on the continuation of African American leaders in key leadership roles. Priorities include successful matriculation of African-American students and employment opportunities for African-Americans in community colleges across the nation with special emphasis on grooming future presidents.

The Lakin Institute honors the memory of the distinguished African-American educator, Dr.
Thomas Lakin. Dr. Lakin was Chancellor of Ventura County Community College District and is
warmly remembered as a mentor who inspired and encouraged dozens of promising leaders of color.

This Insitute is by far one of the best in leadership development for African American Community College Leaders who wish to ascend to the position of being a college president. Participants learn from community college president and other leaders in the field. A number of inviduals who have participated in the Lakin Institute have gone on to become community college president.

Leadership development is essential and key in efforts to diversify the pipeline to sustain equity in all phases of education. The Lakin Institute, The NCBAA Midlevel Institute, the National Community College Hispanic Council Leadership Symposium, and the AACC Future Leader's Institute are all exceptional leadership development programs for individuals seeking professional enrichment to pursue high level positions such as president and vice president at community colleges.

The Lakin Institute for 2009 will be held in Chicago, Illinois, October 11-16, 2009.

If you have a moment, please review the following website http://www.brookhavencollege.edu/prt/. Go under announcements and click on Lakin Invitation (Windows Movie Video). I think you find the concept very creative. It is an announcement of the 2008 Lakin Insitute which was held in Dallas, TX. Lakin Invitation (Windows Movie Video)

School of Embodied Leadership

SOEL - is a summer leadership retreat that GMU sends 20 students to. The retreat is 5 days long in CA, and is intensive training on students can develop themselves into leaders. SOEL teaches leadership from a eastern philosophy; focusing on mind, body, and soul and how you need to be centered with yourself before you are able to be a strong leader. The students sleep in group tents, prepare group meals as a group, exercise, and given opportunities to be team leaders.

So I heard about this leadership retreat today for the first time, and it sounds kind of interesting at first but also it sounds a little iffy as well. I believe that since the retreat is based on living in groups, exercising and cooking with groups, it has great potential to begin the development/teaching of team leadership. What a team leader needs to accomplish, how to manage a group, and how to know when to interfere or not when working towards the goal of the group.

Also think that this is a time that students can become more aware of the Leadership Exchange Theory and the relationship that the students will experience between leaders and being supporters.

It was hard to find any real information on this Leadership program on the web, but I feel that it was a lot of opportunities available to it to teach participants about Team Leadership, Leadership Exchange, and even the Path- Goal Theory due to its focus on working and living in groups. I do not think that the leadership program takes advantage of the group practices as much as they can.

Tempered Radical..Who Me?

UHHHHHHHHHHH....my whole blog was just deleted before publishing...grrrrrrrr. So this is what I had to say! I wasn't sure if I, Sho Roberts, could be a tempered radical. It's something that I would love to aspire to be, but am not sure if I can do it now. OOHHHH..but that is a lame excuse, cause anyone can be a tempered radical at any point in their lives. That is what is so great about it, its making smaller changes to better the organization in the end, and seeing the BIG picture. So how can I be a tempered radical?? One way I can be a tempered radical is to quietly work towards the changes to be made when the office moves into a new renovated location. I strongly believe that the space, supplies, and resources our office has now are inadequate to fulfill the needs asked from us. There are certain things that I believe need to be in the new work space that others may not have agree with or think about. The way I can go about bringing these changes is to talk about them in the appropriate settings, talk about them with other members of the office, and quietly bring the ideas to the light. By doing this quietly I will be able to bring about the change without making a big fuss, drawing attention, or being aggressive about it...which is totally a tempered radical way.

Go Tempered Radicals!! Wouldn't be great if there was a Tempered Radical Institute on campus that taught us more about how to be a tempered radical?!?!?!

Leadership Program

The leadership program I decided to examine is the Kellogg School of Management-Women's Senior Leadership Program. The program is designed for women who are a part of corporate America. The program is broken down into four three day session which is done over a 12 month period.

I think breaking up the session through a 12 month period is a great idea. You have a chance to reflect on what happened in the last session or in work atmosphere. As discussed in class, reflection is a key thing in leadership. Each of the four session are different which are "Session 1: Gathering Intelligence,Session 2: Creating a Context for Success, Session 3: Driving Results Session 4: Managing External Constituents". I think that is a good thing to have different topics already prepared. It helps it identifying and use transformation, skills, situation approaches etc.

Another thing discuss is giving feedback during the process. I think that feedback during any training is important to have. Listening to stories for any peers is an important part of learning. In my opinion, having people discuss a topic and not have peer interaction is boring and you do not learn as much if a group was interacting together.

The one thing i do not agree with is the price of the program. To take a part of the program it will cost someone $21,500. I think that is a lot of money for four sessions.

Another thing I would like to see change is the people teaching the course. The only people teaching the class is Kellogg faculty. I would like to see the Kellogg group bring in professionals from outside the group for a different perspective.

All in all i think this is a great program.

Leadership Institute Oops

Okay, so I'm browsing around and I come across The Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians - http://www.gse.harvard.edu/~ppe/highered/programs/acrl.html.

The program focuses on transformational leadership, which I found interesting. Personally, I think I would try to focus on two leadership theories so people can find one or the other more appealing or more easy with which to identify. Otherwise, the curriculum seems to cover self-assessment, effective leaders in higher ed, leadership theory, and planning for change - a pretty comprehensive curriculum for six days.

However, I have two criticisms of the institute.

1. There are no librarians on the faculty staff leading the institute. Hmmmm - seems like a major deficiency there.

2. One of the questions this institute proposes to answer is: "How well-positioned is my organization to meet current and future challenges? The program delivers the information and insights needed to help your library respond to a rapidly-shifting landscape. It is designed for those whose role is to think strategically—about emerging needs of students and faculty, about changing expectations of library staff, about new technologies, and about the long-range plans for the library within a larger institutional context."

Hey - wait, I thought this was to help me improve my leadership skills? I do not think a Leadership Institute should have this as one of its top TWO goals. Instead, I think, it should use the above question as a back-drop for the following question - are you equipped (do you have the leadership skills) to lead your library to address the rapidly shifting landscape, etc... Posing this question but without "librarian speakers/leaders" in the field is a major flaw for the institute. People who attend these types of institutes want to be with their peers to share stories, experiences and to network. Not having "leaders in their field" leading discussions

Leadership Development Program

The NCAA offers various leadership development programs throughout the year.
The NCAA will host their annual Regional Student-Athlete Development conference again next fall. The mission of the conference is to provide a forum for student-athletes and coaches to develop leadership skills and discuss how issues affect the student-athlete. The goal of the conference is to use your leadership skills and at the conference develop plans that you can incorporate on your own campus. The objectives for the conference are to:

-Learn and practice skills of exemplary leaders.
-Learn how to build and enhance a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
-Discuss Division I issues and legislation.
-Learn about the NCAA opportunities including scholarships, developmental programs, the NCAA governance process and more.
-Grow personally and professionally.
-Develop a team-directed action plan to promote positive change on campus and within the conferences.
-Make an incredible network of friends!

In critiquing this leadership program the program, the program is only limited to two student athletes per institution. There are 350 member institutions in the NCAA and this program is only available to less than 1% of all student athletes. The regional leadership development program rotates annually and participant attendance is restricted to your region only. The regions are Northeast, South, West, and Mid-atlantic. The program will only be in your available in your area every 4 years.This program change to be offered every two years in your region and potentially offered to more student athletes.

Website:http://www.ncaa.org/wps/ncaa?ContentID=628

Leadership Development

Frank and I did a lot of searches for leadership development seminars, programs, and organizations for our project. Based on all the searches and the readings, there are a wide variety of development programs, all with very specific aims. There are the general development programs such as Academy Leadership which deal with developing leaders in a general sense, and there are organizations like the ones in the reading that develop specific types of people who are under-represented or who lack the opportunities.

For this post I decided to look at the Wallace Foundation . They have a researched method dedicated to k-12 school principles that they believe can speed up development of leaders and make more permenant the advances made in leadership development. It seems that the Wallace Foundation is dedicated to not only provide the training for these school administrators, it also directs it efforts to getting these leaders the support necessary to do their jobs well and not just manage their tasks.

The Wallace Foundation states that there are three main focus areas: clear standards for what is a qualified leader, proper training to foster skills and understanding, and conditions or incentives that keep leaders doing their job well. The issues that plague the qualified leaders in many schools, they say, is the burocracy and it's forced expectations which take up too much of these administrator's time and energy, leaving little behind for them to focus on leading well. Their development program focuses its attention on strengthening these conditions to foster better leadership.

In focusing on leadership training, their program utilizes college programs and other training opportunites in the area to increase state and district standards. I think that this is a good direction to take as it utilizes already in place opportunities, however it assumes that these administrators can attend these univerites. Utilizing universities also allows for various leadership styles to be analyzed.

The issue that I have with the foundation is that it does little to engage or focus on the individual. Many of its initiatives are on a broader range, and although they provide support information for leaders, they assume that those involved are proactive enough to find this information. In a sense it seems that although they are claiming an attempt to remove the "sink or swim" mentality, they do very little to help the individuals.

They did mention a mentoring program that was interesting to help individual administrators accomplish their tasks and learn the necessary skills. I think that more of this passing the torch should be done in many leadership positions.



Learning walks

Seeking Tempered Radicals at HEP

Whenever I attend meetings, I always say if you bring a suggestion to the table, you should be prepared to carry it through to fruition. So I hope my suggestion doesn't come back to haunt me...

How would I enact tempered radicalism in HEP? I would like to see some kind of a learning community formed. I don't have a clue as to who is who in this program, what they study, what their future plans are, etc. If I didn't sit next to you in class, I don't know you exist. And even then, some teachers (Dr. Lester not included...) do not make an attempt to create a classroom atmosphere where students can get to know their peers -- which is rather sad because I think we are our own best resources when it comes to jobs and internships.

So how can this be improved upon? I know we're all busy with life, work, and school schedules. However, we can use a list-serve of some kind as a way to communicate with our peers. It can be managed by interests. For example, I am interested in community college leadership, transfer of GED grads to college, the use of distance education with low-income workers, and international education. I am sure there are at least 2 other people in our program who can connect with me on at least one of those subjects. However, I will never know, because we don't interact.

What kind of information can be shared over this list-serve? Relevant scholarships, dissertation grants, research information, interesting articles, jobs and internships, info on courses that were great (or really bad...) and just plain old fashioned discussion about the topic at hand.

What do you think?

Tempered Radicals and Servant Leaders

Like my other colleagues, when I searched for information on Tempered Radicals there was actually very little direct information that I came across. However, I did come across a very interesting dissertation entitled:

TEMPERED RADICALS AND SERVANT LEADERS: PORTRAITS OF SPIRITED
LEADERSHIP AMONGST AFRICAN WOMEN LEADERS

http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/send-pdf.cgi?bgsu1143220309. This is the work of
Faith Wambura Ngunjiri, Bowling Green University, 2006.

Her disseratation focused on African Women in Leadership Positions. The purpose of Dr. Ngunjiri study was to "understand women’s leadership through the lived
experiences of women leaders from Africa. Here study focuses on how these
women leaders navigated the intersecting oppressive forces ranging from gender, culture,
religion, social norm stereotypes, race, marital status and age as they attempted to lead for social justice."

While I have not finished reading the entire disseration it is very interesting see the structure of her disseration and how these women lead in their respective countries and positions despite their obstacles.

The Few, The Absent, The Tempered Radicals

I googled Tempered Radicals and did not find many entries in News. To date there are only 47 entries. Almost every article referred to reviewing the book that Professor Debra Meyerson wrote earlier in this decade. Why is there so little information in a popular search on the topic? Here’s insight from an article written by Mica Schneider in the March 11, 2002 Business Week.

Perhaps the most disquieting tendency the researchers unearthed is that MBAs say they would leave companies whose values they can't stomach rather than staying and trying to exert a positive influence. "Most MBAs indicate that they would simply opt out and find another job," the report says. "The Enron fiasco is showing that there are going to be serious cases where an organization's values are disputed, or disregarded," notes Welsh. "What do we want people to do in those situations? Not run away. We want them to stick up for their values and try to resolve the conflict."

I think the mobility of professionals upward in an organization compounded by opportunities to move to other organizations works against the concept of tempered radicals. Think about it. If you move up the ladder in an organization you are meeting new people (who are also mobile) and if you move to another organization (populated by a mobile population that is advancing or voting with their feet to other organizations) there are not too many people around who have the time horizons of a tempered radical.

Tempered radicals are moving at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crock-pot speed while we and everyone else is moving at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven speed. When we as a class look in the mirror, we see a lot of diversity, unified by a shared mutual tendency to advance to another position and/or institution/organization. I think tempered radicals is a power concept but it is concept that is reflective of the past rather than looking forward.

The romantic in me really hopes tempered radicals are out there but the realist me thinks they channel their energy in today's environment to updating their resumes. I imagine the Internet doesn't help as job search engines and job sites tempt folks. I hope I am wrong on this but somebody think why there are so few entries for tempered radicals if there are so many of them?

Tempering Space - The Final Frontier

I wish I could be profound in the tempered radical change I want to bring about, but my attempt is not very exciting or sexy. Many would raise their eyebrows, but my initial radical idea is to empower my College's departments to be responsible for the space decisions they make. Office space, lab space, etc., is at a premium everywhere, but it seems to be especially true of the College of Science. The College is three years old and have "lived" under a very harsh space autocrat (dictator or czar is a term used around the school). My job is a newly created one; and, I am to help get the space situation tightened up, accurately accounted for and properly utilized. Due to the early way things were done - folks tend to lie, cheat and steal space. Before I came onboard, there was a lot of quid pro quo deal making; punishment for disobedience or whatever personal/academic affronts were perceived - resulting in the loss of space, the forced sharing of space or the moving of staff into inadequate space. It really is a huge mess.

Space issues are found at every school. In fact there is a saying that "faculty will fight over money, but they will kill over space." Unfortunately, a terrible precedent has been set within the College of Science, so I am trying to go about changing the way things are done that - so far, is proving to be challenging. As my husband tells me, I am trying to re-engineer the processes and be a "change-agent."

Without going through the bloody details, when I am informed of a space issue: I always request the issue in writing; I request solutions or suggestions on how to address the situation; ask if the change/request is central to their mission of teaching students or conducting research; and I also make them (this I do enforce) work with EHS (lab safety folks) and Facilities to make sure that the proposed use of the space is appropriate and safe. If there are costs, I make whomever and their department chair look at the cost of work to be done and then ask for ideas on funding (90% of which comes out of my budget - but I want to impress on them the expenses involved).

Now, some of this sounds pretty mundane, but realize that this was never done before (and yes, I work with supposed adults)! My TEMPERED RADICAL goal is to quietly train COS faculty and staff to help be a part of the solution and to realize that their use of space impacts many and involves team approaches, most typically. The efforts are far from sexy or "radical, but the long-term result will be: communication, collaboration, sharing of information on costs; and affirmation of mission. I am also training folks to realize that I will be more of a diplomat on these types of requests instead of using space to yield academic power and control.

Job Shadowing

For my job shadowing experience I chose Chris Clark-Tally from the Alumni Association. Chris is the Associate Vice-President for Alumni Affairs. My job shadowing experience came in three parts: an info session on results from an alumni survey, the Alumni Association Executive Board Meeting, and a follow up interview. Three main ideas in relationing to leadership were to have respect for others and their time; be genuine; and understand that your career is a way of life.

Our discussion closed with Mrs. Clark-Talley sharing Gary A. Ransdell’s view on leadership. She mentioned it is important for her to reflect and read these five principles often:
Leadership is about: VISION, CHANGE, IDEAS, INNOVATION, ACTION, ENGAGEMENT, RISK, AND COURAGE
Effective Positive Leadership Requires: VALUES, INTEGRITY, TRUST, ENERGY, PASSION, LOYALTY, RESPECT, HUMILITY, COMMUNITY, AND PLACE
Effective Leaders Cause Five Conditions to Exist: A SENSE OF URGENCY, A MISSION WORTH ACHIEVING, GOALS THAT STIR PEOPLE AND STRETCH THEIR ABILITIES, A SPIRIT OF TEAMWORK, and a REALISTIC EXPECTATION THAT THE TEAM CAN SUCCEED.
Short-term leadership can be achieved through COERCION or REWARD. Long-term leadership is best achieved through LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY combined with personal STYLE, CHARM, EMOTION, and HUMAN CONCERN.
Be BOLD, be CONFIDENT, be SMART, build CONSENSUS, focus on PRIORITIES that bring dramatic CHANGE, and have FUN!

Good leaders have “sprezzatura,” the ability to do something difficult with apparent ease.

2009 Presidents Roundtable Directory of African American CEOs

In reference to our conversation last class on gender and equity, here is the 2009 Presidents Roundtable of the National Council on Black American Affairs Directory of African American Community College Presidents and CEOs. - Kevin


http://www.brookhavencollege.edu/prt/docs/2009PresidentsRTDirectory.pdf

Job Shadowing

For my shadowing experience I followed the president of the Art Institute of Washington. I had the pleasure of sitting in on an Executive Committee Meeting and then conduct my interview. Although I knew the president fairly well, I thought it would be interesting to see what he actually does on a daily basis.

The committee meeting was fairly standard housekeeping. The issues that were brought to the table were mostly being reviewed and there were very few pressing issues to tackle. The numbers for the school were discussed and, as usual, retention was a key point in the discussion. The president showed that he was trying to coach others to become leaders by pointing out things that were working in helping students. He specifially pointed to cases where a member of the staff went beyond their duties to help students through the process or institute change.

What I am sure more people are interested in is the questions about for-profit v. not-for-profit. I did ask him what his thoughts were and other questions that related to this "debate." The discussion mostly fell along the line that no matter the school, there is always a "bottom line" and the goal of student success. Without student success, no matter the model, the school will fail. The school will fail because it doesn't meet the needs to keep the institution afloat. Even not-for-profit models will fall apart or shut down if there is no students for the school.

What is interesting is to look at particular aspects of the models as they relate to their mission. For-profit institutions like the Art Institute typically have a narrower focus than univerisities or community colleges. Their focused goals allow them to specialize and direct their funds in particular ways that might make their facilities stronger than these larger institutions thus meeting the needs of the students they are targeting. In this way there are benefits to a profit based model that might clearly outweigh similar degree programs at larger colleges or universities. (ex: Graphic Design at Art Institute v. Graphic Design at GMU)

The job shadowing experience was fun. And in a recent survey of my campus, it seems that this broader understanding of the campus is needed by everyone. There are some common complaints that students get the run-around or there is a lack of respect for certain departments within the college. Most of this is due to the lack of understanding of the majority of the employees, both faculty and staff, as to what goes on daily in the institution. I think it will be an important team-building exercise to get more members of the college to participate in this sort of activity to come to a broader understanding of what is required of other positions.

Job Shadow Experience

The Mission Statement of George Mason University (GMU) states that the university will educate the new generation of leaders for the 21st century: men and women capable of shaping a global community with vision, justice, and clarity.
On February 26, 2009, I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Kevin A. Holmes, Director of Undergraduate Recruitment at George Mason University. Mr. Holmes is a dynamic, energetic leader who manages a wide range of individuals and deals with the day to day operations of handling special programs for a busy admissions office.
Before I met with Mr. Holmes, I asked myself the following questions: What is the most important thing I expect to learn from this experience? How can I make adequate use of the time I have with him? How could I determine the type of leadership style Mr. Holmes demonstrated in a just few hours? I was presently surprised.
Reporting directly to the Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management and Dean of Admissions, Mr. Holmes works closely with the senior leadership team. In his position as the Director of Undergraduate Recruitment, he is responsible for the Office of Admissions, which includes a staff of 117. He supervises three assistant directors of admissions, four admissions counselors, twenty client services representatives, and ninety student ambassadors. In his daily leadership activities, he collaborates with the entire campus community, and serves as one of the chief strategists in shaping and implementing an enrollment management plan for the university. These enrollment plans focus specifically on strategies in recruitment and retention that advance the interests of George Mason University students.
Mr. Holmes stated that in order to effectively lead an Admissions Office, an individual must be innovative, energetic, and receptive to change. He explained that a senior leadership position in Admissions at George Mason University office requires a minimum of five years of experience in admissions, as well as an advanced degree. In addition to the experience and education, the position requires exemplary skills in speaking, writing, planning, and problem-solving. Mr. Holmes stated that he received his current leadership position by demonstrating success in recruiting a talented and diverse student body and in leading, motivating, and collaborating with other professionals at George Mason University.
Mr. Holmes is definitely a leader whose unique leadership style has transformed his staff and department into a top notch entity at George Mason University. I hope to emulate his enthusiasm, passion, and professionalism if I decide to become an admissions director in the future.

Job Shadowing

In completing the job shadow, I realized that the best way in learning about leadership is by observing things firsthand. For my job shadow I decided to follow Dean Flagel- Dean of Admissions at George Mason University. There were many things that I learned from this experience. I saw that it is alright to give people jobs before helping them out. As a leader I learned that you can not do everything that people throw at you. As a leader you need to know how to delegate different jobs.

In observing Dean Flagel the different theories which was learned in class became clearer after the job shadow. The three theories which became clearer was Transformational, situational and skills. Looking at situational I saw the Dean Flagel handle two different meeting differently. One group needed to be directed and the other needed support. In Transformational I saw that setting a goal and motivating a staff is key to getting any job done.

Learning from others, in my opinion, is the best way to learn about any topic. Seeing someone complete the job and listening to where they may have made a mistake or done the right thing is the best way to support the reading that is done.

Job Shadowing Experience

I had the opportunity to "shadow" Dr. Linda Schwartzstein, Asst. Vice Provost/Vice President Academic Affairs for GMU. I took a law class from her and have had the opportunity to participate in university-related meetings. I initially found her to be intimidating - she is tall, serious in expression and demeanor, and piercing gaze (but not an unkind gaze). Since I found her to be a little intimidating, I figured what better person to shadow? I am happy I did as I learned a great deal and have an immense amount of respect and admiration for her.

Three characteristics struck me about her:

1. she consciously helps people professionally, as she was helped early in her career. She makes conscientious attempts to "pay it forward" professionally.

2. she is dedicated to her family and does not allow work to get in the way of her family responsibilities and time with her children. She expects her directors (those reporting to her) to follow the same outlook... work should not take away from personal and family time. She believes and supports work-life balance, and she certainly lives it.

3. her guiding principal in decision-making in her role is "Is the issue/concern/decision best for the student(s) at GMU? I find this very refreshing because in my role, I do not hear this philosophy. For me, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that my most important client is the student.

Week 12: Job Shadow Experience

I did my job shadow at Lord Fairfax Community College (LFCC) with Sandi Pope, the Student Activities Advisor. I chose to shadow Sandi because I am unfamiliar with Community Colleges and the field of student activities at the community college level. I never knew that this position was available at community colleges and could be a career possibility in the future. Sandi invited me to an event she was holding on a Friday night, so I would be able to see what types of events she puts on, how well it is attendended by students, and the atmosphere in which Sandi works in. Going to the event was an excellent experience because it showed me how off my impressions of community colleges was. The event was a huge success with between 50-75 students in attendance as well as community members. I could barely find a place to sit, either it be on the floor or a chair!

A few days later I went back to LFCC to interview Sandi, on a day that is usually busy with students coming in and out of her office. The day I went was very quiet due to Chic-Fil-A opening up in town the next day and many of the students camping out in line. They even called Sandi to come and take a video of them in line! The fact that the students felt comfortable to call Sandi on her cell phone and ask her to come and hang out with them for a bit said a lot about the relationship she has with her students.

There were two topics that students visiting her office brought up that interested me. One is the fact that many students are joining the military or army in order to pay for college. One student just joined and will be leaving for boot camp this summer, he does not have a back up plan incase the military does not work out. The other topic was the number of students working more then one job as well as attending college full time. A student worked from 4 -9a.m. took class from 10-2, then some nights worked 4-8. Many students that Sandi works with have to have more then one job in order to pay for their education due. These are two issues that I have not largely encountered as being a student at a four year institution. It was eye opening to hear students talk about these issues openly with Sandi as well as in front of a stranger. I appreciated their honesty. I do believe that the struggles students at Community Colleges are at times different then students at 4 year insitutions. However I think that students attending 4 year institutions will begin to face the struggles of paying for their education as the economy crisis continues.

I enjoyed my job shadow experience and hope to continue job shadowing other members of student affairs.

Week 10: Unethical Leadership in Media

One Example of poor leadership in public life that immediately comes to mind is the case of former New York State Attorney General and Governor Elliot Spitzer. This is a man who raised the profile of the State Attorney General's Office with his crusading approach to fraud and corporate wrong doings in the securities and finance industry and won great popularity because of it. He used this popularity to run for the Governor of New York. Many people had hopes that his fearless political style would help improve the political culture of one of the nations most dysfunctional state government's. However by being caught as a client of a prostitution ring under investigation by the Federal Government, he compromised his ability to lead the state governement and was forced to resign.

Referring to the ethics definiation handout from class last week, laws are: rules, regulations, or thinking of a nation as to what behaviors are acceptable and unacceptable...which are regulary enforced by persons authorized by society. I find it to be unethical leadership when you are a person of great leadership for a state, that people look to improve the political culture and are caught in a great scandal by the Federal Government. If the state's people can have no faith in the leader of their state government, who will they look towards to lead them in the future. By breaking the law in such a scandal, Spitzer lost his faithful followers and for good reason.

Week 11: Job Shadowing

I had the opportunity to job shadow Mark Bumgarner, the Coordinator for Student Services at the Woodbridge campus of the Northern Virginia Community College. It was a great experience. Mark arranged for the job shadowing to occur during a staff training session. This provided me to witness Mark and his staff interact for several hours. They were working on a visions and value statement for student services.

I later interviewed with Mark a week or so later and the training session was a great way to start the interview because it was something he could refer to during the interview session. He was a great host and ambassador of his school. I learned a little more about student services from a veteran so it was time well spent.

If I may offer some suggestions for a job shadowing experience: 1) Arrange for the interview at least a few days later. This enables you and the subject to have soak time and reflect on the experience. 2) Obtain a resume of the person you are shadowing. This will help you in the interview process. 3) Request an opportunity to see the subject interact with others. Mark picked the training session because he thought it would be the best way to see him work with his entire staff. 4) Consider writing a thank you letter and sharing your work with the person you shadow. Mark did not request either of these but if I was being shadowed, I know I would appreciate it.

Ethics in Medical Research

In the editorial section of today's Washington Post, there is a story involving the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Five months after the May 2008 edition of JAMA was published, a professor wrote a letter to JAMA to tell them of a conflict of interest involving a researcher in one of their published articles. It seems that the researcher is on the speakers' bureau of the pharmaceutical company involved in research for an antidepressant drug -- a big no no in the world of medical research. The professor got no response after 5 months, then decided to send the letter again -- only this time cc'ing a reporter at the NY Times and mentioned the allegations again in an article he wrote that was published on the British Medical Journal's website. As a result of this professor's actions, JAMA recently announced a change in its complaint policy. Now JAMA states that they will inform all people who make a complaint that they are not to alert the media of their complaint until an investigation is completed.

The ethical problem in this example is that JAMA failed to investigate any conflicts of interest in their research. If JAMA fails to respond to accusations of conflicts of interest -- particularly after 5 months -- why shouldn't the accuser go to the public to make others aware of their unethical behavior?

Ethics in Leadership

Ethical Leadership is one of the primary tenants of good leadership. In almost all leadership development trainings, leadership courses, and advice from industry leaders, you will hear or be told, to always maintain good ethical standards. Well, if that is the case, then why so many folks violate their code of good ethics?

As I thought about this assignment, I said, I know, I could write about Kwame Kilpatrick, the former embattled mayor of Detroit, who covered up an affair with his personal assistant, however, had a number of incriminating text messages to her that showed that the two were having an affair. When the affair was exposed by a city official, Kilpatrick, used tax payer funds to settle a lawsuit in the hopes that the affair would not be exposed. Unfortunately, the affair and the text messages were exposed to the media, and Kilpatrick was forced to resign and served 4 months in jail. He has supposedly relocated to Dallas, Texas and is looking to start his life over again. I then said, I could write about Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL), who replaced the seat vacated by President Barack Obama. Sen. Burris told a hearing of his peers that he did not have any contact with the offices of then Gov. Rob Blagoavich, who appointed Burris to the senate seat. Well, after further investigation, Burris recanted his original testimony and indicated that he did have contact with Bloagovich's office about fundraising. Burris, came under immense scrutiny, but appears to have weathered this storm. He is being investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee, but I believe his ethics storm has blown over.

Next Monday night, the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) will crown a national champion. Connecticut, Villanova, Michigan State and North Carolina will all be slated for the final four, out of which one will be crowned, the National Champions. While we were in class last week, Yahoo Sports discovered that the University of Connecticut could be in serious violation of NCAA recruitment rules http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=ys-uconnphone032509&prov=yhoo&type=lgns. Last month, the Connecticut Men's Basketball Coach Jim Calhoun, blasted a reporter, because the reporter asked him, how he felt making $1.6 million dollars a year, in a state that has had a significant budget down turn. Calhoun, told the reporter that his program brings 12 Million dollars to the University yearly, do not question my salary! This brought Calhoun under intense scrutiny from university officials and state politicians.

However, this most recent story will probably be the most talked about story during the NCAA Final Four, whether or not Calhoun knew about recruiting violations and to what extent. As a coach with 37 years in the business, 2 NCAA Championships, 805 collegiate wins, and virtually ensured a spot in the Hall of Fame, how could you jeopardize all that you have worked for and that you student athletes have worked for?

If Connecticut wins this year, it may all be for naught? If you read the complexity of the article, you can see how important and how corrupt college recruiting has become. Again, with the outstanding track record that Coach Calhoun has documented, why would allow his program to get involved in something like this? What was his ETHICAL responsibility as a Leader and to his program?

Week 10

Identify one case of improper leadership ethics in the media and critique.

In recent weeks, the leaders of AIG has given some of their employees a bonus. The part that is improper is the money was from the relief that the government gave them. In my opinion, giving some members of your working community more money is unethical. Adding up all the money that people got as a bonus could give many other people jobs. This action goes back to the discussion that we had with Dr. Lucas. One of the questions that was raised was why do people do unethical things? Thinking about this question there are so many possibilities that come to mind and none of them excuse the behavior of the AIG leaders.

No only was the AIG leaders looked at in a negative light but other leaders was also viewed in a negative way. Some people viewed the people that gave AIG the money in a negative light because they are responsible for the bonuses. Some may think that if the money was not given to AIG could have it been used in a better way? One thing that this example shows is that one decision that one company makes can affects others.

Week 10: A 100 year issue

As a historian, I would like to share this site, Falling Blossoms http://www.fallingblossoms.com/ethics/ , for insight into ethics from a long term view. The reason is it has an article, "all executives are unethical doing the right thing the moral case for rightshifting" links together two events separated in time. Both have ethical foundations at the root. The question the author poses to the reader is: If executives truly believe people are being as productive as possible – but that is not the case - do they have any right to believe it?

This really is a concern when you supervise men and women. You are ultimately responsible for everything that happens and you cannot assume or hope things are being done right. Hope is not a strategy! As a leader, you have an awesome responsibility to not only be true to yourself but for the ethics of others. The website author, Marshall Goldsmith, quotes Bertrand Russell:“What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the wish to find out,which is its exact opposite."

Another reason I am sharing this site is there are other articles such as "the ethics of transformational leadership" which allows you to enjoy reading about transformational leadership from an ethical perspective. There is also an underlying theme on the website stressing the role respect plays in ethical leadership.

Week 10-Unethical Leadership at Texas A & M

Identify one case of improper leadership ethics in the media and critique.

In class this past Thursday, Nance Lucas had asked us to identify an individual who we thought was an ethical individual. One of the people that I wrote down was our Compliance staff within the athletic department. Our compliance staff is responsible for enforcing and monitoring the rules and regulations established by the NCAA. If you do violate a NCAA rule, the compliance staff is responsible for reporting the violation. As I was looking for my case, the first article I found relates to compliance issue in higher education. The article, “Rogue Compliance Officer” was posted on Inside Higher Ed on March 27.

The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions recently released a report on major violations at Texas A& M Corpus Christi in men's basketball, women's volleyball, and men's tennis. A women's volleyball player competed after her eligibility expired, men's basketball staff violated rules relating to contacting prospective student athletes, and an international men's tennis player received excess financial aid from the university. The two individuals involved within the case were expected to “to deport themselves in according with the general recognized high standards of honesty and sportsmanship normally associated with the conduct and administration of intercollegiate athletics.”---these individuals clearly did not believe in this statement.

It turns out that the President of the university was previously aware of the situation and instructed his athletic director to take care of the matter and report the violations. The compliance staff and the athletic director did not report the violations and the NCAA punishment resulted in forfeiting games for the men's tennis and women's volleyball in the season this occurred and for men's basketball reduction in recruiting contact. Texas A&M Corpus Christi is on violation with the NCAA till 2013.

The article concludes by saying that no specific punishments were charged to the two individuals involved. However, Paul Dee, Committee on Infractions chair and lecturer at the University of Miami, said “all details of cases of unethical conduct are housed by the NCAA and can be accessed by institutions that may be considering hiring one of them in the future, or otherwise have an interest in their past. This public reprimand by the NCAA and permanent spot on the committee’s list, he noted, could be considered their punishment.” These two individuals were fired from Texas A & M and subsequently are on a black list with the NCAA. Who would hire either of them for a future positions within compliance.

One of the definitions that we received on Thursday, defined ethics as rules or standards that govern behaviors; sentiment of the community. This is a great example of unethical behavior as the rules established by the NCAA were clearly broken resulting in probation for the entire Texas A & M Corpus Christi community.


Here is the link to the article:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/03/27/ncaa

Our Legislators and Bankers - still sleeping together...

The U.S. tax payer is bailing out financial institutions that include banks, insurance, and investment firms. (We won’t discuss the automotive companies…). In light of blatant unethical behavior, Americans are rethinking their support. In the midst of our federal representatives publicly reprimanding larger financial firms for distributing bonuses, redecorating offices, ordering corporate jets, et cetera, it was revealed on March 26 that members of our legislative body continue to accept PAC money from the very banks they publicly chastise. The total sum of money is not huge - in the scheme of things ($2,000 - $250,000), but the amounts serve as a “distraction.”

The scenario, as presented by the media, illustrate the discussions we had in our past class regarding higher education (h.e.) institutes receiving donations from corporate donors that may have questionable practices and policies that run counter to the h.e. mission. Based on this statement, how can our legislators accept funds from the very organizations they criticize? How can financial institutes continue to use tax payer funds to cycle back to legislators who sit on the financial committee, is a majority leader, and so forth? Ethical utilitarianism is not demonstrated very strongly in this regard! Our very leaders are being tasked to confront unethical behavior, yet their behavior does not contribute to the confidence of Americans in their ability and dedication to changing their own.

Leadership Ethics

I found a case similar to the one mentioned in class by Nance Lucas:

http://www.november.org/razorwire/rzold/24/24010.html

This story explains that the college president of Ithaca College was faced with student protesting the contract that the school has with a certain food service company. Their issue was similar to the acceptance of money from an organization that is in the news in some way with questionable practices. The president's decision in this case was to remain with the food service company after much deliberation and research into the allegations and options.

The decision falls on that line of ethics that remains grey. It isn't necessarily that the president acted unethically, actually, I would argue that the president acted in the best interest of the college and with a respectable process. I pulled this article because of the perspective of the writer. It showed me that in any ethical decision, there is always people that will still believe that the wrong decision was made. Just as Nance mentioned, most ethical dilemmas are typically between two possible rights and not necessarily between wrong and right.

The article rolls through with the perspective that the president made the wrong decision. The viewpoint is expressed very clearly in this paragraph:

President Williams has studied the issue to her satisfaction. "Ithaca College administration has conducted extensive research on the issue of private prisons and the relationship of SMS and its parent company, Sodexho Alliance, to the private prison industry." The "extensive research" the president speaks of was done "with open minds, in the spirit of academic inquiry, without any predetermined outcome." Independent and objective specialists were consulted. "We engaged outside experts to provide us with objective information on and analysis of criminal justice issues and prison privatization as well as insights into the food service industry and the implications of different possible decisions." Among the "experts" that Williams consulted with were Professor Michael Jacobson of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice; Strategic Communications, a research and public affairs firm; and John Cornyn of the Cornyn Fasano Group, a food service management consulting firm. It's not surprising that these "objective" experts supported President Williams in her decision to continue funding prisons for profit with student food dollars.

I wanted to sum this up, but each sentence has scathing remarks with regards to the decision and process. The constant quoted words bring an air of sarcasm. The fact that the president took the time and effort to research the matter and weigh all possible implications was obviously not enough for these students.

The other issue that I have with these ethical decisions is the cattiness that ensues once a decision is made that isn't in the favor of a certain group. More often than not the group will target the salary of the president as a new direction to take their gripe. Because the president could not justify spending more college funds on an increased effort (as there is probably better uses, or no flexibility) then the writer decides to mention that the president makes over $400,000 a year. For a major college, that honestly does not sound like much money in relation to some of the numbers that I came across in my search for this article.

This article brings up a true ethical dilemma for the president. It shows that ethical dilemmas typically have winners and losers. In most cases, as Nance also mentioned, losers are sore and will tend to continue their gripes. It is true that as a leader you will not please everybody, but I stand by the president's decision based on the research that took place to justify the decision.

Team Leadership

As most people have stated, teams and team leadership can have both postive experiences/outcomes or negative ones. I think a large part of that also depends on who is on the team and what attitude they bring to the team. I have been on teams where nobody really knows what is going on, even the leader, and I step up as a "leader" to bring order and focus to the group. I also have been part of a team that has thrived due to the leader having order, knowing what our goal was, encouraging diverse thoughts and open communication.

I would lable myself a team leader kind of person....sometimes that's good and sometimes it kicks me in the butt! It mostly kicks me in the butt when I can't seem to motivate the team to do anything or have open communication, this usually occurs with students I work with. It is frustrating when you try hard to get people involved and still not a peep from everyone. The most recently team that I have lead, had one dominate person. This person would always share their opinions, thoughts, and made it uncomfortable for anyone else on the team to share theirs. This is when I would have to make leadership decision number 2: Should I intervene to meet task or relational needs? I did intervene by saying my thoughts and opinions and asking for the teams feedback, making it easier for them to feel comfortable to state their own. It is important to get team collaboration and team discussions because a team is not defined by one person and their input only. If I were to allow only one person to dominate the discussion, then what would the use of the team be?

Team Leadership - what fun!

Leadership in teams is either a rewarding and productive experience or a miserable and disheartening one.

Communicating a vision is vital to a successful team leadership experience. Once a leader states the "end goal" then the team-supporters and the detractors emerge. By "detractors" I mean the individual who refuses to even try to be a team member. We have all worked with this individual - the naysayer, thrives on negativity or conspiracy, or wants control. I define supporters as those willing to give the vision or the mission a try - they are supporters of the team.

I just came out of a team meeting whereby I am the designated "leader". I should note that the committee or team I am "leading" was appointed by someone higher up. Having learned my lesson from the LPI, I stated the goal/mission of the group and asked for input on the best means to achieve the goal. Whereby, I was promptly told that our mission was a "token exercise in futility" designed to make a specific group look good. Wow!!! Once that was out, chaos reigned (debating, arguing, and angst). I think I will go back to the individal who built the team and ask his thinking behind assigning this person to the team. With this fresh experience, I can confidently state that a negative team leader leadership experience may result with the emergence of a "second leader."

On a more positive note, an area to watch in a "team leadership" situation is to make sure an individual does not take on too much of the team's work. Always great to have someone willing to contribute, but there is a danger to having one person shoulder the work - it impacts perspective, could prejudice opinions or results. Finding balance within a team as far as sharing responsibilities, opinions and committment is a primary challenge facing many team leaders.

An ideal team leadership experience typically means working with individuals with different perspectives, initiative, and backgrounds with a shared culture to get something done. The best type of arrangement is when the Leader is available to state the mission, serve as a sounding board - providing ideas, insight and advise. I have been fortunate enough to have experienced this several times in my career, so I know it is not a myth - teams can and do work.

Nonetheless, I cannot wait for my next meeting with the committee of "discord" - and the evuhl naysayer!!! Suggestions on how to manage (as opposed to Lead) this individual?

Week 9-Leadership Critique

Critique your experiences with leadership in teams.

In an ideal work setting, team leadership could be reflective of the exercise that was conducted in class. Team leadership would consist of an analyst, synthesizer, definer, president, interpreter, and emotional stabilizer. One of the factors that affects team leadership is politics.
To me one of the key factors to team leadership is communication. A specific example at Mason relating to team leadership revolves around our Patriot Platoon activities committee. Our committee was brought together to manage and implement activities for the student group. Our committee consists of four members (1 student and 3 staff members). Even though this is a small leadership team it is affective in the responsibilities and roles we play.

To me one of the key issues relating to team leadership is goal achievement and accomplishment. I have not served on many leadership teams throughout my professional career. But the type of leadership team that I prefer to work and be involved on is one that all members are treated as equals. Everyones input is heard in a respective manner and a team that is run as a dictatorship my one individual.

Virtual Team Leadership

I coordinated a team of researchers for a short term consultancy project a year ago. We were conducting research on best practices in creating educational opportunities for all during natural and political emergencies in developing countries. The work involved consultants from the US, Ghana, Ethiopia, and China. The final product was a paper giving detail of all of our recommendations for the World Bank.

One of the biggest challenges in doing this type of project is keeping in regular communication with people in different time zones across the world. It wasn't always possible to have meetings and be able to get everyone's input because we all had our individual work and family schedules. Culture was a big issue as well. When I work in other countries, it is expected that I adapt to the host country culture and ways of conducting business -- or at least make an honest attempt (I always make mistakes...). However in a virtual environment where everyone is still working in their native cultures, whose culture becomes the dominant culture?

This was the first time I had ever done this type of project so I was feeling out the process as I went along. If I had to do it again (and I am sure the opportunity will come again as technology is improving all the time...) I would develop some kind of process norms so that there would be a general understanding of how all involved should interact with each other. I would also have to configure a way to provide training on how to use the online collaboration tools as some people had issues (most of the ones who had issues were American...).

Blog: To be up soon

Hey everyone! It is 4a.m. and I am out sitting at Shack-a-thon for Greek Week and just remembered that I forgot to blog this weekend. I don't have my book on my to make any extra awesome points..so I will blog early Monday afternoon! With the craziness of getting ready for Greek Week it slipped my mind! Sorry for the delay.

Working in Leadership Teams

One of the most difficult things to do in the world of work is to work in a team that is not on the same page. One of the most rewarding things you can do is work in full collaboration with a leadership team to achieve a common goal.

I am asked to work on leadership teams all of the time. In my experience the hardest thing to do is to have people leave their "egos" at the door. Sometimes this can be extremely difficult. However, if handled properly, it can prove to be beneficial, because it gives you insight on how certain "leaders" think, and what their style/s may be when faced in working as a team.

Recently, I was asked to design a team that would serve as an ad hoc committee for a data base that I am designing that will contain data that will be uploaded by member institutions. My team consisted of 7 leaders who all came from different perspectives, but who all had the content/area knowledge that I was seeking to complete the initial stages of developing the first stages of the data base. The team consisted of myself as the project coordinator, the director of MIS (Member Information Services), the director of Research, a researcher, two company vice presidents, two members of the Board of Trustees, and 3 member institutions who would serve as "testers" of the initial soft launch of the project.

Right off the bat, I know that I had to establish the tone to make sure that everyone felt empowered to work in collaboration with one another and to be respectful of every one's input, ideas, thoughts, and feelings. Sometimes, this is not an easy task. There were certain members who were critical of the program design and asked that upon furthure review to change the database after it had been designed and laid out. While this was an easy task to fix, sometimes, this may not always be the case. When working in a leadership team, you must express a vision, a goal, and state a mission to get everyone on the same page, because it you do not, you might find yourself going in circles.

In most work/office situations, team building is key! Coaching, mentoring, mutual collaboration are essential to keep teams congruent and to working towards a common goal. Each experience for me teaches me the valuable experiences that I am going to need in my career and my development as a leader. It is essential that as a team, you establish a clear cut goal up front, and to include everyone on the team in this goal from the on set. These are just a few of important aspects that I have learned from working in a team environment.

Team Leadership

Working in team, in my opinion is one of the hardest things to do. The only team work I have been apart of is for school project and creating programs for the resident advisor position. Before the role play done in class I did not know there was clear roles for each person in a group. After the role play,not only do I understand the roles but the importance each role has in the group.
For example, if you did not have the critic then would be the person who question what was being done in the group; or the analysis who would make sure that whatever decision/suggestion being made will be supported by any group that supports the team. The examples showed the importance of different roles in a group. After thinking about the groups that I have been apart of I saw where people where the critic.
From the readings and the role play I saw that collaboration is key. Another thing that is important is for all group members to understand what the focus is in the group. Without people understand the goals of the group.
I think that the role play done in class helps prepare me in working in teams in a higher education setting. One thing this experience has taught me is that it is okay to speak your mind in a team setting. Without the "critic" the group would not function to the best of its ability. This experience will help me in my future roles in the higher education setting.

Week 9: Experiences with Team Leadership

My personal experience with Team Leadership has been along the continuum from that of Super to Nightmare. The difference is attributable to how the team members were committed to the process. Like any relationship, Team Leadership, has to clearly define upfront what roles the members will assume and there has to be enforcement for the team to achieve success. The Northouse chapter reading makes this case with the Hill Model for Team Leadership figure and the Mc Grath Critical Leadership Functions matrix.

The challenge for a Team is everyone has to understand what the mission is and what they are being asked to contribute. I have witnessed individuals take advantage of others in a Team environment. I have seen individuals really go the extra mile, do really heavy lifting, but not be serving the Team intent with their hard work.

Collaboration and Communication define the best Teams. I have enjoyed working on Teams that took baby steps as a way to approach problem solving. By this, I mean the work was incrementally challenging. If work was not broken down into specific tasks with enforced deadlines, it became difficult to work together. The reason was egos and trust were contained with the incremental process. Whatever can go wrong may go wrong and going slow and easy mitigates the need for a state of urgency brought about by crisis management. Every time I worked on any Team I learned more about myself and of others.

Another important lesson I learned is to enforce deadlines. You have to be accountable to the Team. Finally, Northouse offers a great Leadership Instrument in the Team Leadership chapter reading.

Week 9: Reflection on Team Leadership

I agree with the benefits of team leadership. In my experience, the dialog created by team discussion of goals and solutions far outweighs the individal approach to problem solving. Team leadership allows for ideas from various perspectives to be discussed and a better solution to result.

I have had a lot of experience with the concepts of team leadership in the committees that I have run and other projects which I have been a part of. Although there are obvious benefits to this direction of leadership, the obvious downfalls are what usually come into play when team leadership is put into practice. Rarely do you see a team that works in a neutral way. In my experience, there have always been issues with individual agendas and submissive personalities.

The issue seems to commonly arrise where you have individuals who want something for themselves and not necessarily for the good of the direction of the team. Greed or personal agendas tend to skew a lot of what ends up being discussed or solved. Team leadership requires that there is a particular appointment of the individuals in the team to create a cohesive thinktank with similar goals and objectives.

The other issue that seems to arrise even more often in the teams that I have worked in is the problem of submissiveness. The advantages of team leadership is that the various people involved need to create a dialog with varying perspectives. If individuals sit on the sidelines and don't become involved, then they are useless with regards to the objectives of the team. As many people in the teams that I have been a part of were appointed, they rarely felt the necessity to become fully involved in the mission. The people involved in the team need incentives, and incentives create greed, and we are now in a circle issues.

I enjoy the concepts of team leadership, and I have definately become better at fostering the ideals of a team method, however this type of mentality takes experience in order to get a group dialog really working. Each time I become involved in team efforts, I have noticed that the teams become more productive and I have a better understanding of how to keep people involved and on track toward the issues by playing the roles that we mentioned in class.

Week 7: President Obama and symbolism

Are you familiar with the new symbol of the ARRA?
See: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/03/emblems-to-stam.html

ARRA stands for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The idea is we can link a project with the economic stimulus funding because the ARRA symbol will be visible The administration created this symbol to provide visibility of ARRA projects. This reminds me of FDR's National Recovery Act
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Recovery_Administration

Think the use of emblems like this is powerful but it could be overdone if the administration creates too many. Find it interesting is there are no words attached to the ARRA symbol or the earlier Obama's campaign symbol.
See: http://search.live.com/images/results.aspx?q=obama+campaign+symbols&FORM=BIRE#

These symbols are a new way for people to connect with the country. The symbols augment the American flag and are not replacing it.

HELP on case analysis!

So, I am having a hard time figuring out how to start my paper. I want to make sure I have my constituents right before moving along much further. Are the provosts constituents mainly the Faculty Senate and president? Or is it broader then that? I have no clue! I know that the Engineering Department should be schmoozing me..but other then the Faculty Senate and the President I don't know who I am suppose to schmooze. If anyone has any insights or would like to give examples that they are using, that would be a great help.

Is anyone else having a hard time with this?

The Culture of Obama

The Kezar book states that the leadership process is aligned with culture (Kezar, p. 131).
Right at 50 days, the Obama administration appears to embrace a culture of openness, transparency and technology. Technology is a cultural theme for the presidency; President Obama, an avid user of technology (i.e. his Blackberry) has made technology a cultural theme for his presidency. He set the stage by posting messages and his campaign speeches on the worldwide web. Not surprisingly, one of the first actions taken by the transition team made was to update the computer system and infrastructure at the White House. Communication and information gathering capabilities were greatly enhanced and made accessible.

Additional technology instruments used includes a robust website that is accessible by all - http://www.whitehouse.gov/. President Obama even has a profile on LinkedIn.com! Clearly, the President expects his administration to use technology as a tool to communicate and to share, thereby promoting transparency. Information is not used as a means of control or to perpetuate fear. For the first time, people can easily see legislation the president is reviewing, debating, supporting or not supporting (and why). Even the President’s weekly radio address gets posted onto the web. President Ronald Reagan was called the “great communicator;” President Obama may also be known as the same with the caveat of communicating via technology. Time will tell.

Aside from technology, I think the second most important aspect of President Obama’s leadership culture is the fact that he is an African-American man. He has a unique worldview compared against most Americans. President Obama is a child of a mixed relationship with a cross-cultural upbringing outside of the United States. An eclectic background as this typically means exposure to different religions, cultures and worldviews – including a unique perspective on the United States and its people. Such a background contributes to a sophisticated worldview. His expectation of his advisors to have openness to other opinions and experiences is evident in his hiring choices and even his choice to include various individuals in the inaugural celebration (religious leaders, performers, speakers). The President surrounds himself with people from different backgrounds, lifestyles, and perspectives (even those that are contrary to his). President Obama will have many difficult decisions to make during his presidency. Having a team of varying opinions and perspectives will lead to more effective and complex decision-making.

Anglo Leadership Profile

This was in the reading last week and I thought that it was interesting:

Anglo countries want leaders to be exceedingly motivating and visionary, not autocratic, and condsiderate of others, team oriented, and autonomous. They believe that it is ineffective if leaders are status conscious or prone to face saving.

Dave and I talked about how this reflects on Barak Obama and how citizens choose their presidents. We look for someone who has a vision for the United States and can motivate themselves and others to follow the vision. Barack Obama is very motivating, getting the citizens involved in volunteering, he has a vision for America, he is considerate of others and is team oriented.

This is just a little reflection on the reading, hope you enjoyed it!

Week 6-Elizabeth

The movie that I selected to watch for this week's blog was Elizabeth: The Golden Age. The movie focused on the Golden Age at the time of the Spanish invasion.
A transformational leadership focuses on the following aspects: empower the people, raise consciousness, create a vision, social architects, and building trust and fostering relationship.
I do remember learning about Queen Elizabeth many many years ago but based on the movie I would agree that she models the transformational leadership approach. Transformational leadership embodies a concern for the common good or followers. The Queen in her reign created a vision and a country were freedom existed and established laws protected the countrymen. The Queen on the verge of a Spanish attack went out to the battlefield and charged her troops to defend the land of England. She said that “We would meet the enemy face to face...together no invader will pass...they will not pass....and we will meet in the field of Victory. The Queen was somewhat of a social architect in this challenge to the soldiers-as she provided the troops with an idea for the future and an hope for victory.
The movie opened with a quote from the Queen, “The impossible is far more interesting.”To be this is the idea of raising consciousness or the ability to be different. To me the Queen in the movie showed that she would not conform to the norm or settle for a husband simply based on the fact that she did not have one.
Did the queen empower her people? Yes. I believe that the Queen led my example and those that followed her possessed qualities similar to her: dignified, strong, brave, and full of pride. In class we identified leaders who we thought we transformational leaders: Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa....well I think that Queen Elizabeth could be part of this crew.

Good movie! I would suggest renting it.

Week 6- 12 Angry Men

I really do love this film. It says a lot about the nature of our judicial system both good and bad. I always want to know how often we actually have a jury of our peers that weighs the case put before them like the one in this film does.

For those who aren't familiar with this film, the plot is very simple. There is a murder trial about a boy who might have killed his father. The film begins with the 12 jurors being dismissed for deliberation. The jurors next take a vote to find out where they stand, and Juror Number 8 (Henry Fonda) is the sole juror who claims a decision of "Not Guilty." The movie then progresses with juror after juror moving their decision from "Guilty" to "Not Guilty" for varying reasons.

To start, juror number 1 comes out attempting to lead the group through his attempts to create order out of the mess by calling for votes and creating a system for arguing points. He does more policing than leading. In the end, juror number 8 is mentioned as the "leader" of the group after persuading several others of the reasonable doubt in the case.

The interesting point of this story is that juror 8 stands up for what he believes and in doing so begins to make individuals out of what seems to be a pressured mob. The first vote was cast by show of hands, which psychologically forces many people to side with the visual majority. The second vote was done by secret ballot, requested by juror 8, allowing people to be more honest about their view. The process seems to be the most important aspect for juror 8. He is not really challenging due process, rather he is forcing the jury to remember their obligations to the process.

Juror 8 takes on a transformational leadership role by slowly creating doubt in person after person which allows each one to cone to their own personal terms of the situation and, in turn, lead the arguments against those that find the accused as guilty. One after another, jurors flip their decision after various doubts in the case presented. Each juror also switches to the side of not guilty by putting aside personal politics and reason.

The story also creates interesting circles or groups within the 12 people. As the story goes along, three or four people on the side of guilty are choosing so for various personal reasons that make them very strong and vocal. The majority are quiet and logical, and then there are several that seem to be of differing social classes and race which makes them pull together in their arguments. Though this is a room of 12 white males, the differences between them are striking, and it was juror 8's intention to play on those differences by approaching his point in as many different angles as possible, but each relating to the specific personalities he was contended with.

I also found several side notes to the story quite interesting. Little nuances such as juror 8's occupation as an architect. Could this be a relation to the concept of a leader being a social architect?

Dead Poets Society - Transformational Leadership

There are many movies that capture the true essence of Transformational Leadership. Movies that come to mind are the Great Debaters (Denzel Washington), Coach Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) and Dangerous Minds (Michelle Pheiffer). However, the movie that I chose for this assignment was Dead Poets Soceity.

"Oh Captain, My Captain"!

Dead Poets Society was an exceptional movie. Set in the late 1950's, it is set at a prestigious boarding school for men, with rigid traditions and standards. Professor John Keating (Robin Williams) is introduced as the new English Professor.

Transformational leadership is defined as having the ability inspire and motivate. It has five components; idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectural stimulations, individual consideration and trust/collaboration.

Keating was inspirational, dynamic, and energenic! He also injected humor into his teaching which stimulated his students to think differently and creatively by suggesting news ways of looking at things.

In the movie, one could say that one can see many types of leadership styles. From the opening scene in which Keating comes to class, you can see him invoke his leadership style. His passion for poetry, his students, and teaching them to look at the world in a different light.

Professor Keating from the opening class appears to want to move his students in a new direction. He teaches them to look at poetry differently and to seize the day. Professor Keating "became their inspiration, he made their lives extraordinary". ( A tagline from the movie).

Keating's leadership was compelling, sympatheic, and eloquent. He focused on each student invidually and assisted them in facing both their strengths and weaknesses. Keating broke tradition, but still maintained professionalism, although his teaching style was being noticed by other professors and school administrators.

Professor Keating involved his students in making decisions, they developed a bond of trust. And while he was very influencing and thought provoking, he was not intruding. The culuture of the school was rigid. The school director Mr. Nolan had a profound influence on all of the students. However, his style is nothing like Mr. Keatings, in fact it clashes. Nolan is straight by the book, whereas Keating uses his style to invoke confidence and transformation.

In the movie, Transformational Leadership is so noted as Professor Keating coaches his students through their situations and issues. Futhermore, he uses his influence and skills to listen, learn and develop new and innovative ways to inspire his students. According to Northouse (2001), "This factor is represenative of leaders who provides a supportive climate in which they listen carefully to the individual needs of the followers." You see this demonstrated throughout the movie.

Keating's most profound teaching lesson in my opinion was having his students face conformity! He does an excercise where he tells them to find their own walk, swim against the stream. Keating challenged the process and taught his students how to confront new traditions.

An outstanding movie that shows you leadership skills and methods from beginning to end.

SEIZE THE DAY!

Gandhi

Gandhi was, most certainly, a transformational leader. I use the Kouzes and Posner model of transformational leadership to describe why.

MODEL THE WAY: Gandhi's best exemplifies this through fasting. His first fast (at least as it is shown in the film) was after violence had broken out during the noncooperation campaign against British rule. Gandhi, a proponent of nonviolence, was deeply troubled by the way the violence by Indians against police and British soldiers was perceived by the British and portrayed in international news. He believed that violence only amounted to revenge which leads to more violence. Thus in order to stop violent behavior, Indians must remain noncompliant with British laws that were dehumanizing, but turn the other cheek when faced with violence. Gandhi's willingness to put his life on the line through a hunger strike was perhaps the greatest nonviolent act of resistance which he kept up until, as it was said in the movie, that Indians were offering garlands to British soldiers and Indian police.

INSPIRE A SHARED VISION: In an early part of the movie, Gandhi explained how buying clothes from the British rather than from Indians was making India poorer. He had moved to a small rural village in modest home and chose to wear clothes made from local materials. He then inspired other Indians to get rid of their British garments at a rally and burned them all as a public demonstration of Indian solidarity. Gandhi connected directly with the poor although he was a highly educated man by listening to their concerns about their inability to maintain a livelihood that was taken away under British rule.

CHALLENGE THE PROCESS: Gandhi initiated a salt making campaign. The British had a monopoly on salt making, even the India had its own ocean from which they were able to produce their own salt. Considering that salt is a necessary to sustain life, Gandhi saw it as another way to keep India dependent on Britain. Gandhi led a march to the sea where he and many others began producing their own salt in an act of defiance.

ENABLE OTHERS TO ACT: Once the British learned of the salt making in India, they discussed means by which to encourage violence in India in an effort to lessen the following of Gandhi. Gandhi was arrested, however his absence did not lead to violence. Muslims and Hindus stood together while being beaten, one by one, never lifting a hand to hurt the ones who struck them. Gandhi's followers had the courage to do this in his absence because they felt they were strong enough to do this on their own.

Week 6- Elizabeth

"I may be a women but I have the heart of a man. I am my father's daughter and I not afraid of anything". The movie Elizabeth showed many examples of Transformational Leadership. Elizabeth showed that she had a concerned for her people when she went in front of all the bishops and started that their needed to a "Single Church of England". In order to make her point stronger she practice and try to find the best way to stressed that this act was going to help her people. The biggest ideas that was expressed through out was making sure that Elizabeth married someone. Throughout the movie she would talk about her nation rather than a man for herself. At the end of the movie she made a transitions and declare that she was now married to England.
In order to be a good leader she asked her people what they feel about a certain situation and what they would if they needed to make a decision.

When thinking about the movie, I remembered the speaker and the themes in Leadership which are Reflective,Ethics, and Diversity. I do not see Ethics and Diversity falling into this situation because of the power a queen holds, but there was a lot of time taken to her to reflective on many of the decisions that she had to make. The speaker take about going with your gut feeling which is something that the Queen did. When all the people stated she had to get married, she knew that she did not want to be married but respected her people and welcome in the idea to think about if she would.

The movie showed that many people did not want Elizabeth to be the queen and some even tried to kill her, but she did everything that she could to be the best leader she could and in the end she was known as a great queen.

Week 6: Dead Poets Society

We watched bits and pieces of the Dead Poets Society in class and discussed how Keating, one of the main characters, was a transformational leader. Since we have already discussed Keating, I would like to take this time and talk about the other leader that I see in this movie. Keating is the main leader of the students, he is in a leadership poistion by being appointed the english teacher. I also believe that Neil Perry, a student of Keating's, is another major leader within the story. Perry is the leader of a group of students, whom happen to be the group of students that are most influenced by Keating. I believe Perry is the leader of the group due to the fact that he is the one that everyone goes to for study groups, he is the one that actively seeks out Mr. Keatings old annual, and is the one who wants to bring back the Dead Poets Society and encourages others to join him.

While watching the movie, I kept noticing how natural it came to Perry to be a leader. How he easily could encourage his peers to join his causes, others looked to him first, and how he naturally cared for his peers. Todd, his roommate and in his first year at Welton Academy, also notices how Perry by stating to Perry that he is a person who says things and people listen. While noticing that being a leader seemed to naturally come to Perry, I wondered if he would fit into the "great man" theory.

Neuroticism: Perry's strained relationship with his father plays into his Neuroticism and is also the reason for his committing suicide.

Extraversion: Perry is very sociable and is well known among his classmates, I would say he is one of the more popular kids in the school. He is able to see the positive and is encouraging of his schoolmates.

Opennes: Perry is curious about the Dead Poets Society, Keating is able to open up his creativness and gives him a space which he can express his creativity.

Agreeableness: Perry is trusting of his school mates and Keating, he nurtures Todd who is new and shy by taking him under his wing and accepting him

Conscientiousness: Perry is the student you know will be where he is suppose to be, teachers and classmates would be able to depend on him

According to the Traits Theory, Perry would be seen as a leader. He also has the major leadership traits which are: intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociabilty.

When Neil passes away, the question I had was who out of the group of students will emerge to be the next leader or even will there be another leader?

Week 6: Twelve O’Clock High

Only one out of three airmen survived the air battle over Europe during World War II and the film, Twelve O’Clock High, is a study of leadership under such extremely difficult circumstances. Major General Frank Savage (Gregory Peck) is the new commander of the 918th U.S. Bomber Group stationed in England during World War II. His personal mission is to impose his will on the unit in order to build morale and confidence by committing themselves to a "maximum effort.” The general never defines “maximum effort” as a goal and its elusive meaning haunted me. How can you achieve something unless you know how It is defined (Communication)? He does brand, however, the members of his new unit as “washouts” and goes so far as to have one of the bomber crews paint The Leper Colony as the name on their aircraft.

The movie contrasts the leadership styles of two very different leaders and presents the case of why the first leader does not succeed and why his successor does (Situational Leadership). Gregory Peck, prior to assuming command, confronts the outgoing commander to learn more about the situation and the environment. Frank Savage (note the name) perceives Colonel Davenport as too attached to his men. This perception provides an obstacle (Path-Goal Theory) that Gregory Peck must overcome in his new leadership position.
Peck as Frank Savage believes “A man makes his own luck” and he, therefore, wants to achieve a clean break from the former commanders’ history of poor unit efficiency and performance (Transformational Leadership). The character is often an unconventional, radical and assertive as an agent of change like Robin Williams’ character in The Dead Poets Society. Gregory Peck, however, channels tough love into his approach to change. When the general first arrives at the new command, for example, he reprimands the gate guard for not checking his credentials. This is because the new commander views a lack of discipline in the bomber group as a focal point, and even amends his own personality enough to result in the disciplinarian behaviors required by his new position. General Savage later in the film tailors his leadership style for each situation. To encourage group cohesion, he uses words like we and us in their personal conversation to convert Bishop, a young pilot, to withdraw his application for transfer to another unit.

Savage uses equality and fairness in treating another pilot who is the son and nephew of decorated high-ranking officers to dare to rise above his record of underperformance and underachievement. This dare of a challenge to the young legacy pilot turns him around. The honest assessment Savage gives him in their first meeting coupled with the commitment he makes to the pilot to stick it out and thus discover his own strengths serves to create a foundation of trust (Transactional Leadership). The general’s inner principles emanate from his belief that he can resurrect the 918th Bomber Group through developing esprit de corps. He instinctively knows that when the unit begins destroying enemy targets while reducing its own losses, a sense of pride will permeate the changed high-performance unit (Vision).

The general is successful in effecting change but it extracts its toll on him. He breaks-down before leaving on a mission. The detachment resulting from the more human approach of his predecessor has a trade-off. The bomber crews remember his training and perform their mission almost flawlessly as a testimony to his leadership (Empowerment). I would recommend you consider viewing this film to appreciate how lonely a charismatic leadership can be in wartime.

"My Lords, do whatever you wish. As for me, I shall do no otherwise than pleases me." (Elizabeth I to Parliament)

Elizabeth I is my absolute favorite historical figure which is why I chose to write about the 1998 film Elizabeth, directed by Shekhar Kapur. “Artistic license” is taken to make the story more, well…more “Hollywood;” nonetheless, the film does a nice job of chronicling Elizabeth’s transformation into one of England’s greatest rulers. Elizabeth I ruled England and Ireland from 1553-1603; her period of reign is referred to as the Elizabethan Era or the Golden Age. She was the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. At the age of 3, Elizabeth I was declared illegitimate (upon the execution of her mother) and sent away from London. Elizabeth’s half sister Mary (daughter from Henry VIII’s first wife) ascended the throne while Elizabeth I remained in exile. At age 23, Elizabeth I became Queen of England.

The 1500’s was a terrible time to be a woman and a challenging time to be a female leader. The time period, religious, social and political values, and the obstacles Elizabeth overcame, are important to understanding and appreciating her leadership. Religious upheaval, political loyalty (or disloyalty), and relationships (love, friendship) are the film’s themes and are factors that push Elizabeth to transform from an inexperienced girl to a powerful leader. The movie also hypothesizes that Sir Walsingham was instrumental to the Queen’s education in strategy, politics and “cult of personality” that she develops to gain unwavering loyalty. In essence, there are two leaders portrayed in the film, Sir Walsingham and Queen Elizabeth.

Kouzes and Posners’ five fundamental practices (of transformational) leadership are: model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act and encourage the heart. (Northouse, p. 188-189) The film effectively portrays the five fundamental practices. Historically, the queen had a small privy counsel – or group of advisors. The film portrays Elizabeth initially listening and following the majority of her counsel. After some failures, she decides to trust her conscious and declares that she will lead with her conscious (model the way). Elizabeth’s vision was to have a strong and powerful England that was subordinate to no one or to an entity (the powerful Roman Catholic Church). Her first political move was to separate the Protestant Church and to demand allegiance to England - the crown - versus the Vatican. Her vision was to be independent of the Church and the political allegiances demanded of her. The expectation of the time was for the Queen to find a husband from either Spain or France and to produce a male heir. She refused to marry through her entire reign. She refused to be subject to any man (ergo country), thereby emphasizing her vision and living her belief. Refusing to marry and to produce an heir also illustrates how she challenged the process or values of the day. The film portrayed Elizabeth enabling others to do as they see fit (provided they were in line with her vision); ergo, Sir Walsingham, managed many political scenarios on his own that supported Elizabeth I. Her reign encouraged the heart of her subjects and staff - she granted favor with individual and private audiences, gifts of land and title, and frankly, by sparing lives or remanding prison sentences. Elizabeth’s reign was effective because of her charisma, the time period during which she reigned was ripe for change, and her successful transformation during financially, politically religiously difficult times, inspired her subjects.

Certainly, another interesting essay would be about the leader-member exchange theory (LMX Theory) that existed between Walsingham and Elizabeth – but that will take up too much blog space!!!