Implications on Leadership in Education - Essay Example

Structured self-reflection Name of the Student: Name of the Instructor: Name of the course: Code of the course: Submission date: Structured self-reflection The self-reflection model as developed by Branson will be used for the ‘Was it fair to move a child out of a school?’ case. Key leadership behavior My key leadership behavior is the tendency towards comprehensive learning about the behaviors of others aimed at not only understanding them better but also assisting them in solving their diverse problems. This is best epitomized in the case of this difficult child who was bound to mar the reputation of the school in which I had been newly appointed as the first male principle. It entailed a holistic approach through meeting the staff members, conducting formal and informal meetings and chats and including some of the parent group in my enquiries. When dealing with the behavior of an individual, I usually treat him/her as a singular entity rather than judging him/her based on a collective behavior. This is because every individual is different from the other and portrays distinctive values, motives and beliefs. This fact is supported by Begley (2004) who determined that within the realms of administration, there is a need for distinguishing the values as exhibited by an individual from the more collective social grouping, society, organization or profession. This is imperative autonomous and objective decision-making. This is achieved through developing cooperative relationships with those people who are around me as well as providing them with an opportunity to raise their alternative points of view in any particular situation, for instance, members of the staff and parents groups. From here, I am endowed with an ideal platform of weighing their suggestions and making an autonomous decision as a leader. Beliefs I have a belief that extensive consultation ought to be made between the stakeholders of a certain case aimed at generating a formidable solution to a specific problem. This calls for integration of opinions and profound decision of the best course of action to sort out particular issues. These beliefs were evident when I was confronted with the case of the kid who was bound to be expelled from school due to his unruly behaviors whereby I widely consulted with members of the CEO staff as well as the parent. This culminated in the agreement of a contract which had certain conditions and corollaries. This contract was a term old with this particular epoch comprising of appointments and meetings with the mother, the CEO staff and even the counselors. On the other hand, I have a belief that towards the endeavor of treating an individual as a distinctive entity divorced from subjective judgment passed on a collective behavior, there is a need to understand the social status of this individual which tends to inform his behaviors. In the case of this boy, it was fundamental to understand his background whereby his family felt disliked, detested and left out of the wider society because of their social status. Lastly, I have a belief that the values in any given institution are the key pillars in shaping and molding the behaviors of the members therein. Thus, the mere existence of an organization, for instance, a school is determined by how well the values are adhered to. I believe that it’s the mandate of the leader to uphold these values. This fact is supported by Henderson and Thompson (2003) who cited that an organization is only effective as its ability to live its values. In a situation where all the values are eroded from the organization, then, that particular institution will cease to exist in a short while. Values Values have been perceived as the summation of individual or collective priorities and preferences. In this case, the priorities are those things in life that we ought to have than live without. On the other hand, the priorities designate the importance of one preference when juxtaposed with the other (Henderson & Thompson, 2003). Diverse values in my life and professional set-up are evident from the case of the boy who almost everyone thought to be difficult and bound to be expelled from school based on probable short and long-term impacts of his behavior on the school reputation. One of my values is patience which can be perceived as a virtue of waiting without complains or giving up. This was whereby I was patient with this boy to change his attitude albeit the overwhelming perception from majority of the staff that he was difficult to deal with and thus destined outside the confines of the school. This value is coupled with tolerance which is the practice of acknowledging and respecting the practices or beliefs of others. Other values include dignity, respect, truth, acceptance and compassion. Motives Marti, Gil and Barrasa (2009) noted that in recent decades, diverse motives have been recognized and as being linked to the behaviors of managers and leaders, mostly based on the influence that these motives have on subordinates. One of my primary motives being the principle in this particular school is the sense of confidence to defend process and methods put into action. This is whereby I have the urge to protect and defend the different institutional mechanisms put in place to serve diverse ends in the organization. Nonetheless, it is imperative to be cognizant of the fact that the aftermath of the experience with this boy taught me that when I go through processes, my planning ought to be articulate aimed at catering in details for contingencies, be they internal or external. Another motive is the fear for failure which is directly linked to the motive of achievement. This motive has been defined as the desire to surpass some standard of excellence or doing something in a peculiar way (McClelland, Atkinson, Clark, & Lowell, 1958). This particular motive propels me to make personal effort in resolving a particular issue to a successful completion rather than delegating to other co-workers. This is was evident in the case of the kid who was bound to be expelled from school due to his unruly behaviors whereby I personally took the initiative to help the child to feel accepted in the school as well as changing his behaviors despite the inherent perception from other members of the staff that this case was desperate and ought to be ruthlessly dealt with. Self-esteem The final confrontation with this child had adverse effect on my self-esteem. I was greatly upset because of the immense amount of time I had invested in helping this child which ended tragically. This is mostly on my prior belief- which was contrary to that of everyone else- that this child could be set to be straight with the right course of intervention. This case also had detrimental effects on my level of confidence, mostly when I was confronting the mother of the child who could do no wrong in her eyes. The mare failure of salvaging the situation to positive outcomes had diabolical impacts on my confidence level and self-esteem. Self-concept This is at the core of self-reflection and to a large extent influenced by all the tenets explored in the preceding sections. It is the combination of all these tenets, interplay which molds the self-concept. Usefulness of the model as a self - reflection tool in identifying my values This model is integral in values identification because of several reasons. Firstly, it moves from the outer self which is evidently manifest to people, for instance, behaviors and to some extent beliefs towards the inner core of self-concept. It is also apparent that the interplay of these aspects greatly influences the distinctive nature of individuals, their behaviors among other aspects of their life. This is consistent with the inference by Branson (2009) that the beliefs, motives, self-esteem and the self-concept of an individual are not only peculiar to that specific individual but exhibit relative consistency and impact in the same way on all the aspects of life of that individual. Secondly, none of these aspects is mutually exclusive but rather they are all intertwined and extensively affect each other. This is evident in this model of self-reflection as developed by Branson. This is whereby some aspects, for instance, the beliefs and values of an individual directly influence on both short-term and long-term behavior of that particular individual when confronted by a certain impediment. Thirdly, it is imperative to be cognizant of the fact that the integration of the tenets of self-concept, values, beliefs, motives and behaviors which constitute the self as underpinned above is extensively born out of experiences in one’s life and eventually becomes a powerful tool of how he/she perceives, experiences and reacts to the contemporary reality (Branson, 2009). Lastly, this model underpins the distinct nature of individuals, based on the values and beliefs among other aspects. The diversity of these aspects is usually exhibited by value conflict in different institutions. Begley (2004) cited that these value conflicts and ethical dilemmas are epitomized and illustrated by the contested nature of problem-solving in educational systems. For instance, this is exemplified by the approach preference in solving the case of the unruly child in the preceding case study, whereby the principle favored helping the kid change his behaviors while the school community and CEO were happy to relieve themselves of their obligations to the family. Implications on my leadership in education This case taught me to be extensively prepared to rely on my instincts while faced by a difficult situation, engage profound deliberation of policies before embarking on a course of action to suit other people, majority of whom are dogmatic towards a particular outcome. This will be particularly based on a moral ideal which Taylor (1991) perceives as a picture of what a better or higher mode of life would be. On the other hand, this case also taught me that thought and resourcefulness can play a central role in successful resolution of a situation as opposed to relying on gossip and hearsay. References Branson, C. (2009). Leadership for an Age of Wisdom. Dordrecht, New York : Springer. Begley, P.T (2004). Understanding Valuation Processes:Exploring the Linkage Between Motivation and Action. Iowa State Education Association, 32(2), 4-17. Henderson, M. & Thompson, D. (2003). Values at Work: The Invisible threads between People, Performance and Profit. Auckland: HarperCollins Publishers. Marti, M, Gil, F. & Barrasa, A. (2009).Organizational Leadership: Motives and Behaviors of Leaders in Current Organizations. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 12(1), 267-274. McClelland, D. C., Atkinson, J. W., Clark, R. A. and Lowell, E. L. (1958). A scoring manual for the achievement motive. In J. W. Atkinson (Ed.), Motives in Fantasy, Action, and Society(pp. 179-204). Princeton, NY: Van Nostrand. Taylor, C. (1991). The Ethics of Authenticity. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Read More