The course so far has been very informative, although I have heard some of the topics in the past, I think it’s great that this course seems to go more in-depth which I like because I feel that it helps me to better understand things. Leadership is an important topic so I think the more information you get during the semester the better the takeaway will be. In this lesson, I thought learning about the leadership traits more in-depth was much better because it made me try and think about the leaders I have had and what their traits were. I think the course so far all seems to be important information, and I think a lot of it will be useful in the future. I think leadership is a very important thing to learn and know because it can affect you as an employee in good and bad ways, if you have bad leadership then everyone’s morale is low and vice-versa which can affect a workplace.
It seems lately that all of the current events in the country have been about a lack of leadership from our president or from someone in politics. I found it interesting that in this week’s chapter they highlight President Bush’s lack of integrity in relation to us going to war. I was alive in the 90’s so I remember my parents talking about the President Clinton issues. It was just crazy to me to think about how virtually my whole life there have been people who have so much authority and should be looked up to, who have dealt with scrutiny because of their lack of leadership. I’ve always felt that people in positions of power should be held to the highest accountability for their leadership or lack of, because how can we demand Businesses and those in leadership positions to act ethically and show leadership traits like integrity if our highest officials aren’t doing the same. I’ve been lucky to have the opportunity to work for some really great leaders and also a few who weren’t so great, I think the course overall will be able to provide us with the ability to hopefully be better leaders in the future.
Kimberly Danza says
I would like to comment on Integrity and the fact that if our highest officials aren’t behaving ethically how can we expect business and leaders in these businesses to act the correct way.
Integrity is described by Northouse as the quality of honesty and trustworthiness. (pg.25) The fact that exhibiting integrity is taking responsibilities for actions means that you act with a set of principles that determine what is right and wrong.
Children learn by imitation, this imitation learning studied by developmental psychologists is named modeling. (https://psychcentral.com) Modeling can be correlated to emergent leadership. An emergent leader includes being verbally involved, being informed, seeking other’s opinions, initiating new ideas therefore creating followers and influencing individuals in their efforts to reach a common goal. (Northouse, 7th ed, pg.10)
Legitimate power and formal job authority displayed by our highest officials is a position that is based on occupying a position. Occupying does not always mean that the person becomes a real leader. (Nothouse,7th ed, pg.8) These leaders that are not being ethical though are being modeled therefore followed by others.
In a certain way there is a contrast between assigned leadership and emergent leadership. Our highest officials are perceived as experts by business heads and the general population as their assigned position is believed to be given by competence. Expert power as Northouse describes is based on the follower’s perceptions of the leader’s competence. (pg.10) So it will be hard to have Integrity on the lower levels if who must be modeled is operating in non- ethical ways.
References:
Nauret, R. (n.d.). Modeling Behavior for Children Has Long-Lasting Effects. Retrieved January 25, 2020, from https://psychcentral.com/news/2018/05/27/modeling-behavior-for-children-has-long-lasting-effects/14139.html
Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: theory and practice. (7th edition) Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.