PAD 515 Week 6 Discussion

Public Leader in Higher Education Transformation

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Public Leader in Higher Education Transformation

Leadership is a means of social influence whereby an individual can enlist the support and help of other people to accomplish a shared task (Bolden, 2003). Studies of leadership have led to the development of leadership theories focused on behavior, charisma, situational interaction, traits etc. Different situations best solved by application of particular leadership theory. A public leader’s responsibility is to focus on alternatives that best serve interests of stakeholders. Leadership theory that a public leader may suitably apply to implement changes and resolve conflicts while working with other stakeholders is the servant leadership theory.

Servant leadership has become popular as the desired leadership theory. Conflict occurs everywhere including institutions such as the universities. Different experiences and personalities lead to a range of methods used to resolve conflicts. Since servant leadership’s characteristics focus on employees instead of the leader, it appears logical that the servant leadership may successfully resolve conflicts. However, little research has been done regarding the effect of servant leadership on conflict resolution strategies (Sirisetti, Oct 2011).

Furthermore, servant leadership is suitable to implement changes at the institutions because it offers the following advantages: (1) Trust engendered by servant leaders catalyze higher degree of worker engagement and improved speed in innovation and change. (2) Development of outstanding corporate culture. (3) Higher worker identification with the workplace. From these advantages it can be seen that servant leadership holds true if applied to Department of Taxation, Department of Defense, or the United Way.

Public leadership from higher levels of government give those on lower levels opportunity to lead because lower level of government is uniquely positioned to represent interests of local people. On the other hand, coordination between the two levels of government and understanding who between the two levels of government has what powers where may be quite challenging. Therefore the two levels of government may experience difficulties with lack of clarity involving these matters.

Competency is a common strategy to both levels of government that can be used to address challenges and enable them to work collaboratively. Here, competency refers to behavioral patterns of an individual that enables him/her to perform his/her tasks competently. The second strategy applicable to both public leaders in levels of government is training and skills development (Bolden, 2003).

References

Bolden, R. G. (June 2003). A Review of Leadership Theory and Competency Frameworks. United Kingdom: Centre for Leadership Studies.

Sirisetti, S. (Oct 2011). Quality Leadership in the Public Sector: Strategies and Challenges. Journal of Commerce, 3(4), 45-48.