The presenter discusses the relationships between systems thinking, leadership and sustainability in complex learning organizations: Implications for new educational leadership research and development.
12. Defining five leadership approaches Integrative In recent times some theorists or researchers include more than one type of leadership variable, and this is referred to as an integrative approach. A good example of the integrative approach is the theories of charismatic and transformational leadership. About two decades ago that is in the 1980’s leadership researchers got very interested in the emotional and symbolic aspects of leadership. These processes helped in explaining and understanding of how leaders influenced followers to make sacrifices for the common good of the entire organization, putting their own materialistic interests in the second place so to speak. The theories of charismatic and transformational leadership describe this important aspect of leadership. Situational The situational approach emphasizes the importance of contextual factors that influence leadership processes (Yukl, 2002, p. 13). The major variables that are examined under this approach included the characteristics of followers, the nature of the work performed by the leader’s unit, the type of organization and the nature of the external environment.
13. More… Trait The term trait refers to a variety of individual attributes, including aspects of personality, temperament, needs, motives and values. Values are internalized attitudes about what is right and wrong, ethical and unethical, moral and immoral. Trait approach was one of the earliest ways for studying leadership. Attributes of leaders such as personality, motives, values, and skills were examined. Behavior The research found that two types of leadership behavior differentiated between effective and ineffective leaders: (a) Task-oriented behavior – Effective managers did not spend their time and effort doing the same kind of work as their subordinates. b) Relations-oriented behavior: For the effective leaders, task-oriented behavior did not occur at the expense of concern for human relations .
14. And the Power-Influence This approach to the stud y of leadership seeks to explain leadership effectiveness in terms of the amount and type of power possessed by leader and how power is exercised. Power is viewed as important not only for influencing subordinates, but also for influencing peers, superior, and people outside the organization such as clients and suppliers. Yukl (2002) defines power as “the capacity of one party (the “agent”) to influence another party (the “target”).
20. Overview of Systems Thinking Skills Inspired by works of Barry Richmond, George Richardson and of course Peter Senge
21. Dr. Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline According to Management Today, “Peter Senge’s advocacy of the learning organization helped begin a revolution in the workplace. And, the relevance of Senge’s work on systems thinking is growing rather than diminishing over time. As more businesses go global, the need to overcome psychological barriers to necessary organizational change increases.”
24. The natural environment – our survival and quality of life depends on a healthy natural environment . Reference: http://www.oursouthwest.com/news/quotes1sd.htm
32. A sustainable community view Rather than the three partially connected circles shown on the previous page, a better picture of a sustainable community is the circles within circles shown below: A view of community as three concentric circles: the economy exists within society, and both the economy and society exist within the environment.
40. A pile of sand is not a system. If you remove a sand particle, you have still got a pile of sand. However, a functioning car is a system. Remove the carburetor and you no longer have a working car.
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45. LEADERSHIP AND SUSTAINABILITY By Michael Fullan, Ph.D. What standards were to the 1990s, leadership is to the future. This shift depicts awareness that standards strategies by themselves are not powerful enough to accomplish large-scale, sustainable reform. System transformation of the type educators now aspire to [become] cannot be accomplished without first ensuring solid leadership at all levels of the system. Establishing the high-quality leadership that will facilitate reform is difficult because we are starting in a hole: we are losing scores of talented people as demographics shift and early retirements mount. These changes, of course, also provide an opportunity for new leaders to emerge, but the turnover is so high that we need to devote massive attention to the leadership "problem.“ Downloaded: July 10, 2010. http://www.cdl.org/resource-library/articles/ldr_sustainability.php
Can you explain why all these circles are overlapping? Why do you think they are so entangled?
There was the underlying assumption that some people were natural leaders who had certain traits that distinguished them from others. It was believed that such leaders had tireless energy, penetrating intuition, foresight and some irresistible persuasive powers. During the 1930s and 1940s hundreds of trait studies were conducted. Behavior trait notes: Instead, the more effective managers concentrated on task-oriented functions such planning and scheduling the work, coordinating subordinate activities, and providing necessary supplies, equipment and technical assistance.
Transformational leadership theory is one of my favorites: There are some guidelines that are provided by Yukl, 2002 about transformational leadership based on the theories and research findings. Transformational leaders: · Articulate a clear and appealing vision. Transformational leaders strengthen the existing vision or build commitment to a new vision. Clear vision of what the organization could accomplish or become helps people understand the purpose, objective, and priorities of the organization. The understand ing of vision depends on how well it is communized to people. It must be communicated repeatedly at every opportunity and in a variety of different ways. When less interactive forms of communication are used (letters or e-mil messages, televised news conference, etc.) it is helpful to provide opportunities for followers to ask questions afterward. · Explain how the vision can be attained: It is not enough to articulate an appealing vision. The leader must also convince followers that the vision is feasible. The leader should not pretend to know all the answers about how to achieve the vision, but instead should inform followers that they will have vital role in discovering what speedy actions are necessary for the attainment of the vision. · Act confidently and optimistically: Followers are not going to have faith in a vision unless the leader demonstrates self-confidence and conviction. Lack of self-confidence is reflected in tentative, faltering language (eg, “I guess, maybe, hopefully) and some nonverbal cues (e.g., frowns, lack of eye contact, nervous gestures, weak posture, etc.) · Express confidence in followers: The motivating effect of a vision also depends on the extent to which subordinates are confident about their ability to achieve it. Research on the “Pygmalion effect” found that people perform better when a leader has high expectations for them and shows confidence in (Eden, 1984, 1990; Eden & Shani, 1982; Field, 1989; Sutton & Woodman, 1989) · Use dramatic, symbolic actions to emphasize key values: vision is reinforced by leadership behavior that is consistent with it. Symbolic action is important to achieving an important objective. It is an important value when the manger risks substantial personal loss, a make self-sacrifice, or does something that are unconventional. The effect of symbolic action is increased when they become the subject of stories and myths that circulate among members of the organization and are retold time and gain over the years to new employees. · Lead by example: One way a leader can influence subordinate commitment is by setting an example of behavior in his or her day to day interaction with subordinates. When a manager asks subordinates to adhere to some standards the manager should also observe the same standard. · Empower people to achieve the vision: An essential part of transformational leadership is to empower people to achieve the vision. Empowerment means delegating authority for decisions about how to do the work to individuals and teams. It also means asking people to determine for themselves the best way to implement strategies or attain objective, rather than telling them in detail what to do. It means asking subordinates to suggest solution to problems if they come to you for help. Empowering also means reducing bureaucratic constraints on how the work is done so that people have more autonomy at the work place. The study of leadership has evolved over several decades from the preliminary traits studies to the contemporary studies of the integrative approach. Research studies spanning over 50 years, has reinforced the importance of looking at leadership effectiveness with different theoretical lenses.
This is an overview of systems thinking skills. It is inspired by works of Barry Richmond, George Richardson and of course Peter Senge. Author: Viktor Vojtko [vojtko(at)vivasystems.cz, http://www.vivasystems.cz]
Energy exists in many forms, such as heat, light, chemical energy, and electrical energy. Energy is the ability to bring about change or to do work. Thermodynamics is the study of energy. First Law of Thermodynamics : Energy can be changed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed. The total amount of energy and matter in the Universe remains constant, merely changing from one form to another. The First Law of Thermodynamics (Conservation) states that energy is always conserved, it cannot be created or destroyed. In essence, energy can be converted from one form into another. Click here for another page (developed by Dr. John Pratte, Clayton State Univ., GA) covering thermodynamics. The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that "in all energy exchanges, if no energy enters or leaves the system, the potential energy of the state will always be less than that of the initial state." This is also commonly referred to as entropy . A watchspring-driven watch will run until the potential energy in the spring is converted, and not again until energy is reapplied to the spring to rewind it. A car that has run out of gas will not run again until you walk 10 miles to a gas station and refuel the car. Once the potential energy locked in carbohydrates is converted into kinetic energy (energy in use or motion), the organism will get no more until energy is input again. In the process of energy transfer, some energy will dissipate as heat. Entropy is a measure of disorder: cells are NOT disordered and so have low entropy. The flow of energy maintains order and life. Entropy wins when organisms cease to take in energy and die.
A science lesson…
The two essential forms of stored thermodynamic potential are "energy" (e.g., a barrel of oil) and "order" (e.g., clean drinking water and deep topsoil). [1] "Entropy" is a measure of the unavailability of energy: the entropy of oil increases as it burns. Entropy can also be thought of as a measure of disorder in a system: polluted water that reduces crop yield has higher entropy than the same water unpolluted, and the entropy of topsoil increases when it erodes, is waterlogged, or is degraded by irrigation that "inevitably leads to the salinization of soils and waters." [2] [3]
What kind of relationship do we have in this illustration?
How is this view different from the prior slide?
Case Studies for Blackboard Online Discussion and Reporting – See Handout #2 Educational Management and Leadership Case Studies