Erin's Blog tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010-05-28:/oconn487/erinsblog//12301 2010-07-31T21:56:39Z Movable Type Enterprise 4.31-en Leadership VIII tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/oconn487/erinsblog//12301.244196 2010-07-31T21:46:10Z 2010-07-31T21:56:39Z Last week's definition: Leadership: the process of motivating people and creating solutions through a series of credible decisions and various strategies to accomplish a vision This week's definition: Leadership: the process of motivating people and creating solutions through a series... oconn487 Last week's definition:
Leadership: the process of motivating people and creating solutions through a series of credible decisions and various strategies to accomplish a vision

This week's definition:
Leadership: the process of motivating people and creating solutions through a series of credible decisions and various strategies to accomplish a vision

This week I did not change my definition mainly because I didn't feel like the reading pertained to me. Although I do believe that ethics are a very important part of making decisions, I didn't agree with the way Kidder (1995) explained it. Kidder (1995) said that really tough decisions come from right versus right decisions. In some ways I agree with this, but I didn't agree with his examples. Take his short-term versus long-term paradigm for example. My values always lead me to choose what is best for the long-term. Therefore, a decision deciding between short-term and long-term would not be difficult for me. Kidder didn't really talk about how values are incorporated in "true" ethical dilemmas. A true ethical dilemma is different for everyone based on their values. If Kidder (1995) would have incorporated values into his article, I would have found it to be much more agreeable.

]]> Leadership VII tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/oconn487/erinsblog//12301.243519 2010-07-24T04:27:55Z 2010-07-24T04:28:41Z Last week's definition: Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of credible decisions and various strategies to accomplish a vision. This week's definition: Leadership: the process of motivating people and creating solutions through a series of credible decisions... oconn487 Last week's definition:
Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of credible decisions and various strategies to accomplish a vision.

This week's definition:
Leadership: the process of motivating people and creating solutions through a series of credible decisions and various strategies to accomplish a vision

This week I added the phrase "creating solutions" to my definition to emphasize how important dealing with conflict is in leadership. As a leader, you may deal with conflict on a regular basis, whether you are involved in it or not. Conflict can range from two co-workers disagreeing to internal conflict over making a decision. Whatever kind of conflict it may be, a leader must recognize that it can sometimes be a good thing. A leader must also try to recognize the root of the problem, so he or she can solve it.

]]> Leadership VI tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/oconn487/erinsblog//12301.243182 2010-07-17T23:28:34Z 2010-07-17T23:43:28Z Last week's definition: Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of credible decisions and various strategies to accomplish a vision. This week's definition: Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of credible decisions and various strategies... oconn487 Last week's definition:
Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of credible decisions and various strategies to accomplish a vision.

This week's definition:
Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of credible decisions and various strategies to accomplish a vision

This week's definition did not change because I didn't think that the readings necessarily pertained to leadership. I had many mixed feelings about the Tatum (1997) article. I was slightly offended that she believes only white people can be racist. Based off of her definition, it is logical. The way she explained it and it made perfect sense. However, the flaw is in her definition. Her definition does not define racism. It sounded like she was describing an entirely different word. Racism already has a definition, and you can't just change the definition to fit your point of view, which is what she did. I did agree on some of her arguments though. The reason we have so much racism still in this society is because of the media. Colored people are constantly being put on the news in a negative way. There isn't a balance of positive and negative information. The Gladwell (2005) article opened my eyes on how I perceive people. I am going to try harder to not judge people by there appearances because appearances do not define people. I feel like the Warren Harding error occurs much too often. I am determined to not let it cloud my judgment. As a leader, I need to make sure I take everyone as they really are, not for what they are wearing.

]]> Leadership V tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/oconn487/erinsblog//12301.242781 2010-07-11T02:14:42Z 2010-07-11T02:22:24Z Last week's definition: Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of credible decisions and various strategies to accomplish a vision. This week's definition: Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of credible decisions and various strategies... oconn487 Last week's definition:
Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of credible decisions and various strategies to accomplish a vision.

This week's definition:
Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of credible decisions and various strategies to accomplish a vision

My definition did not change this week, because I felt that this week's article, "Groups, Teams, and Their Leadership" by Hughes, Richard, Ginnett, Robert, and Gordon Curphy (2006), was already included in it. The words 'motivating people' describe some of the important lessons found in this article. As a leader, you are obviously going to be working with other people, which includes groups and teams. As a leader, you need to motivate those around you. The article discussed social loafing and social facilitation, which in my mind, are a big problem for teams. The key to preventing this is through motivation. A leader must know how to motivate people. Your followers should understand your vision. They should want to bring as much energy to the task at hand as you do. By motivating your team or group, you can solve many of the problems that arise from group work, such as social loafing and facilitation.

]]> Leadership IV tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/oconn487/erinsblog//12301.240480 2010-07-03T21:26:53Z 2010-07-03T21:46:42Z Last week's definition: Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of credible decisions and various strategies to accomplish a vision. This week's defintion: Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of credible decisions and various strategies... oconn487 Last week's definition:
Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of credible decisions and various strategies to accomplish a vision.

This week's defintion:
Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of credible decisions and various strategies to accomplish a vision.

My definition didn't change at all this week. I was only able to find one of the readings because I couldn't access the other. Although I agreed with most of it, The reading by Helgeson (1996) did not influence my definition. I believe that leadership can be found anywhere. Because of this belief, my definition implies that my definition can be used on any leader, no matter where they are located within a company. Therefore, I don't believe it is necessary to include this in my definition. The only thing I really disagreed with in the week's reading was the discussion on teams. The article only advocated one type of team, which was the autonomous team. It also said that "teams are not simply task forces" (pp 21). In my opinion, they can be. there is not only one type of team; there are many. Each different type of team works differently in different situations. Sometimes, task forces are necessary and sometimes autonomous teams are. Which ever team is used, leadership can be found

]]> Leadership III tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/oconn487/erinsblog//12301.239398 2010-06-27T04:13:29Z 2010-06-27T04:45:23Z Last Week's Definition: Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of decisions and strategies to accomplish a vision. New Definition: Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of credible decisions and various strategies to accomplish a... oconn487 Last Week's Definition:
Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of decisions and strategies to accomplish a vision.

New Definition:
Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of credible decisions and various strategies to accomplish a vision.

This week's first reading by Astin and Astin (1996) did not influence my definition mainly because it dealt with team leadership. My definition is solely based off of individual leadership. I felt that this article was describing teamwork rather than leadership. Although I did enjoy the article and did agree on some aspects, on others I did not. The article insinuated that leadership only produced positive change. For me, leadership is about getting results, positive or bad. The way I see it is that as long as people are following you and you are getting results, you are leading. The next reading by Kouzes and Posner (1989) did affect my definition. I agreed strongly with the idea that a person must have credibility in order to be followed. The people you are leading should believe in you. If they don't, they probably won't be following you unless they are forced. In that case, I wouldn't consider it leadership. A leader needs to make credible decisions to become a credible leader. This is why I included the word 'credible' into my definition this week. I also added the word 'various' in front of the word 'strategies.' I made this change because of the "Theories of Leadership Chart." Out of all the theories, I agreed with the Contingency Theory the most. In my opinion, a leader should change his leadership strategy depending on the situation and what type of leadership is needed at a certain point in time. So whether you are the CEO of a major corporation or a leader of a world wide charity organization, you should pick a strategy depending on what is needed and use it to your best advantage.

]]> Leadership II tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/oconn487/erinsblog//12301.238050 2010-06-19T19:47:40Z 2010-06-19T19:56:09Z Last Week's definition - Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of decisions and strategies to accomplish a goal. New definition - Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of decisions and strategies to accomplish a... oconn487 Last Week's definition -
Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of decisions and strategies to accomplish a goal.

New definition -
Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of decisions and strategies to accomplish a vision.

This week I have only changed one word. I replaced goal with vision. This week's reading was all about applying your personal vision to your leadership vision and I couldn't agree more. It is important for a leader to have a purpose, a vision. If you don't know what you want, you can't go anywhere. I bleieve leadership should be driven by your passions and what you want to accomplish. In the reading this week, "Ground Your Leadership Vision in Personal Vision," Robert Lee and Sarah King (2001) tell us that in order to lead, you must find what you are truly passionate about and then fuse that with your leadership vision. I agreed with everything they said in this article because to me, leadership is about getting results. In order to get results, you must have a vision, or an end goal. Because this week's reading was already in accordance with my views on leadership, I only needed to change one word.

]]> Leadership I tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/oconn487/erinsblog//12301.237474 2010-06-13T03:49:53Z 2010-06-13T04:51:11Z Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of decisions and strategies to accomplish a goal. This week's readings really influenced my definition. To me, leadership is a process. It takes many steps that include some hard and... oconn487

Leadership: the process of motivating people through a series of decisions and strategies to accomplish a goal.

This week's readings really influenced my definition. To me, leadership is a process. It takes many steps that include some hard and some easy choices to guide people in the right direction. Different strategies must be used to motivate the people around you to complete a task. This week's readings really influenced my definition. In "Deciding What You Believe" by Robert Terry (2001), I was able to distinguish what I believe leadership is. One that I feel strongly about is that leadership gets results. The whole point in leading people is getting somewhere. Without having an end goal, leading is not even possible. Therefore I have included the phrase "to accomplish a goal" in my definition. In "Base Your Leadership Values on Personal Values" by Robert J. Lee and Sarah N. King (2001), the authors discuss the importance of values in leadership. Values determine your actions. You can find out a lot about yourself by looking what you have done in the past. Different leaders have different leadership styles and strategies, and I believe that these are based off of what their values are, whether they know it or not. This is why I have included the phrase "a series of decisions and strategies" in my definition.

]]> "Leadership That Gets Results" tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/oconn487/erinsblog//12301.236887 2010-06-06T00:42:58Z 2010-06-06T01:01:42Z Only one of the readings really had an impact on my definition, or lack there of one, of leadership. Before coming to this class, I didn't really think about what leadership means to me. It was just another word. It... oconn487 Only one of the readings really had an impact on my definition, or lack there of one, of leadership. Before coming to this class, I didn't really think about what leadership means to me. It was just another word. It was a word with only one definition. However, the article entitled "Leadership That Gets Results" by Daniel Goleman has changed my opinion. Leadership means different things to different people. You can use different strategies to define who you are as a leader. While reading this article, I identified myself with the affiliative style mostly. The part that I liked about this article is that it explained where and when you should use a certain style and when you shouldn't. It is very different from the book we read last week. Last week's book, "Strengths Based Leadership" was all about finding the style that you were best at and then working to be the best at it. This weeks article tells us that using all of the styles is best. I personally believe in a combination of the two. I agree that you should strive to be the best in at least one or two styles. But I also think that having a slightly strong grip on the other styles is extremely beneficial. I think a leader should be able to adapt into any situation they are put into. If you are only able to work as a coercive leader, you won't go very far. As for the other two articles, I really didn't enjoy them. I found that the metaphor of the cathedral had too many holes in it, and the research found in "Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership" had no correlation. Therefore, these two articles did not effect my definition of a leader at all.

]]> Strengths Based Leadership tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/oconn487/erinsblog//12301.236388 2010-05-30T01:59:30Z 2010-05-30T01:59:44Z According to the StrengthsFinder assessment, my top five StrengthsFinder themes were belief, woo, communication, significance, and connectedness. I was not surprised that belief was in the top five because i have always had very strong core values that I like... oconn487 According to the StrengthsFinder assessment, my top five StrengthsFinder themes were belief, woo, communication, significance, and connectedness. I was not surprised that belief was in the top five because i have always had very strong core values that I like to lead my life by. However, I was shocked to find that three out of the five themes were under the influencing category. I have never thought of myself as a person who has much influence over people. I thought I would fall under executing. In terms of being a leader, I view myself as a person who gets things done, and can show other people how to do the same. As I read through the descriptions of woo, communication, and significance, I realized the StrengthsFinder had actually hit the bull's eye with me. The woo theme especially described my personality. I love meeting new people and befriending them. In a group setting where no one knows each other, I am usually the first one to start conversations and bring the group together. This goes hand in hand with my communication them. I am never at a loss for words, and I usually know the right things to say in certain situations. Significance also describes me because I always want to be on people's good side. If I offend people in any way, it deeply affects me. I can not stand the fact that I could have hurt someone. StrengthsFinder helped me realize that I do have a talent for influencing people. Something I had not realized before is now quite apparent to me. Overall, I think taking the StrengthsFinder was extremely beneficial.

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