I am quite positive that at least one person has engaged in leadership roles or carried out leadership duties without even acknowledging it. For instance, an student may have delegated the members of their group to complete a particular portion of their project assigned from their class.
In high school, I had my share of leadership roles that I had to carry out. I was President of a couple clubs and my responsibility was to delegate, direct, and be a positive influence to the officers and members of the specific club. I did my best to achieve the goals of the clubs I was leading with the consideration of the feelings of the members and officers that were apart of it.
Referring to the Group Communication text, I have distinguished myself as a participative leader. The way I lead has always been cooperative with the members of my group, which are usually high school volunteers. For instance, when I worked summer camps as a recreation leader for the City of Santa Clara, I liked to ask the volunteer(s) for their opinions or input about a certain activity we could play with the participants of that camp. I also try get them to share their ideas regarding new games because it may be beneficial to the level of fun the participants are having.
In addition to a participative leader, I know that a laissez-faire type leadership is when the leader chooses to be the least helpful to their group members, unless they ask the leader for help. They expect their group members to fend for themselves and carry out the duties they are assigned. I also know that an authoritarian leader is a person that has absolute control on making decisions for their group members and does not adhere to their ideas or opinions. Yet, I did not know what consultative leader entitled. I found out that it is a leader that bases their decisions on the suggestions of their group members. I find this technique beneficial to the leader if they cannot think of an idea at that particular moment, so it helps them narrow down their final decision on which ideas to carry out. However, I have dealt with leaders like this and it is very irritating sometimes because I put out my idea to the leader and in the end of making the decision, the leader just shuts my idea down without even referring to it. I just find it pointless for a leader to ask for a group member's opinion and not even consider it.
Overall, I enjoy the concept of being a participative leader the most because it allows the leader and their member to use their brains as one great force to solve a problem or build new ideas. As a participative leader, I am able to gain mutual respect amongst my group members and not worry having to make decisions on my own.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your experiences with the authoritarian leaders. These type of leader I had experienced with also doesn't listen to the group member ideas or discuss much with them. They tends to order their member around. It's not always bad having an authoritarian leader sometimes. It depends how good that leader decision making skill is and how he/she instructs the group. It's bad when the leader ideas is not effective and still order out the group to go with it. I been in lot of groups that have leaders that are like this.A group where there a participative leader often do well. I have only been in a few groups that where the leaders are like this; it much more enjoyable working these type of leaders than authoritative ones. Anyways, you examples are well describe and convincing.