Introduction
In the five years I have worked at the Career Education Department (CED) at Thompson Rivers University (TRU) it has felt like our department is in a rowboat, full of strong rowers, but all paddling in a different direction with multiple and conflicting end goals in sight. Compared with Ernst Shackleton’s calamitous expedition to the Antarctic in 1914 the CED has a relatively easy course supporting students in their career success. We have individuals on our team with career development expertise that genuinely care for students’ career futures. We may not have the charismatic leadership Shackleton provided his crew, but we do have highly effective leaders when the circumstances are right. So why does it feel like we are in a directionless rowboat when we could be in a world-class ship sailing towards our potential? I believe there are multiple reasons for this, much of which have to do with leadership. We have a team going through significant change (situation) with three presidents in two years; a new Dean, Chair, staff, and programming; and a global labour market crisis. In addition we have unrealistic and conflicting expectations of our Chair (leadership), and our followership (the department) is often ambiguous, opportunistic and divisive. Using a complexivist approach, focusing on modern theories of leadership, such as John Kotter’s work on leadership and management; James Burns’ and Bernard Bass’ writings on transaction, transforming and transformational leadership; and Fiedler's Contingency Model has helped me better understand our multifarious, and at times dysfunctional, dynamics and has provided potential solutions to consider.
Why Use A Complexivist Approach to Analyzing the CED?
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...cational Management Administration & Leadership , 38 (3), 374-393.
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In the world of higher education, we as students who have chosen this profession strive to one day possibly becoming a President of an institution. In the article written by Michael D. Cohen and James G. March, “Leadership in an Organized Anarchy” the authors detail their beliefs that most college presidents face four fundamental ambiguities which strike at the heart of a president’s interpretation of leadership. The four ambiguities are ambiguity of purpose, power, experience, and success. But is Cohen’s and March’s concept true for every president and their institution? To determine this I have decided to compare them to the current leadership of 16th president of the University of North Texas (UNT), Dr. Neal Smatresk.
McNeel, S. (1994). College teaching and student moral development. In J. Rest, & D. Narvaez (Eds.), Moral development in the professions: Psychology and applied ethics (pp. 27-49). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Kohlberg’s theory of moral development shows the different stages of morality as people change as they get older (McLeod). He had three levels which broke down his stages
It’s crucial for companies today to create an ongoing learning environment. This increases organic leadership and motivation within employees. This research will highlight a short overview of the case study CH2M HILL: Reinventing Organizational Careers and an assessment of the challenges of organizational leadership faced by CH2M HILL in both historical and current contexts. In addition, this research will describe what Walstrom should do to address the problems and what I would do to manage my own career if I were an employee of CH2M HILL. Leadership theories will be used to support the assessment and the discussion of strategies Walstrom should employ.
Theories abound around how people develop emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. This essay will examine the theories of five leaders on the subject of development.
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For my self-assessment, I chose to discuss the Middle Childhood, Adolescence, and Young Adulthood life stages. The theories of human behavior that will be discussed are Erikson’s Psychosocial theory, Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning, and Albert Bandura’s social learning theory. I chose these life stages because they are the stages where I have experienced many events that have shaped me into the person I am today. There are a number of factors that have played a role in my development over a period of time and I will discuss them throughout my paper.
Working through the 1950’s and 60’s using longitudinal and cross sectional studies he proposed 6 stages of development (see Appendix 1) identified through the responses of children presented with moral dilemmas. Piaget, his former tutor, proposed only 2 stages of moral development these being the Hetronomous and Autonomous stages.
[3] Mike Schminke, Maureen Ambrose, and Donald Neubaum (2005), “The Effect of Leader Moral Development on Ethical Climate and Employee Attitudes,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 97, 2: 135-151.
Kohlberg’s theory of the stages of moral development has gained some popularity despite being controversial. The claim that the levels form a “ladder,” the bottom being the immature child with a pre-conventional level and the top being a post conventional ethical individual. The sequence is unvarying and the subject must begin at the bottom with aspirations to reach the top, possibly doing so. (7) Research confirms that individuals from different cultures actually progress according to Kohlbergs theory, at least to the conventional level. Kohlberg’s stages of moral development continue to provide a foundation for psychology studies of moral reasoning. (6)
The only way to develop the kind of leaders a changing organization needs is to make leadership a critical criterion for promotion, and then manage people’s careers to develop it.
The moral development of children can depend on many factors. Parenting and upbringing of the child, their environment, social environment, gender, and race are all aspects that can contribute to how a child develops their moral standards and expectations. Many psychologists have tried for several years to develop a theory of how morality is developed. One in particular is Lawrence Kohlberg (1958). His moral development theory is based on the cognitive development of children and it is thought that moral development proceeds and changes as cognitive development occurs (Arnett, 2012).
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What is moral development? In a nutshell, it’s the progression of morality throughout one’s lifetime by means of different stages. There are six of these stages, developed by Lawrence Kohlberg, that help to explain our moral choices and cognitive skills relative to our approximate age. Furthermore, as Kohlberg suggests, everyone reaches stages one through four: Punishment and Obedience, Instrumental Purpose and Exchange, Interpersonal Expectations and Conformity, and Law and order, respectively. Stage1 is characterized by the threat of punishment and the promise of reward. Stage 2 actions are
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