Thursday, September 9, 2010
Group Communication - Leadership
In chapter 3 of “Group Communication” the concept of leadership is discussed. I find this chapter in the book to be very important because everyone can be a leader, but not everyone can be a leader who leads his/her team to victory. There are many types of leadership styles such as authoritarian, consultative, participative, and laissez-faire. In high school I got to experience the leadership role when I became the captain of the wrestling team my senior year. As the team leader of the wrestling team, I had many things that I was responsible for; initiating and leading warm-ups in an effective manner, setting up and taking down the mats and chairs for home matches, making sure everyone on the team made weight for matches. After reading through the different types of leaderships I can say that when I was captain of the team, I was a participative leader. Wrestling is not an individual sport. It takes a close-knit family of guys to make a winning team. I worked along side with my teammates to make sure everyone on the team was successful. I might have been the captain but I was in no way more important then anyone else on the team. I think a participative leader is the best type of leadership because even though someone was elected as the leader, everyone is still considered to be equal. Win as one or lose together, no one will outshine anyone.
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Hello! (:
ReplyDeleteI found Chapter 3 of "Group Communication" important and helpful for giving tips about being a good leader with groups too. I agree that the leaders are the people who motivate and guide their group to the top but not everyone can be in that role. There are various leadership styles one could use. I, myself have been placed in a participative leadership role as well. My experience doesn't involve wrestling... well maybe just a bit because I was a design editor for my high schools yearbook. I took on the same leadership tasks that you had with your team. I found myself being equal to everyone in class because we are contributed equally and I was just there for assistance. I do agree that participative leadership is a good leadership style in that it doesn't let any individual hold more power than another. it makes everyone in a group, class or team equal to one another.
This was a very good example of Participative Leadership. Everyone who has participated in a team sport has experienced group leadership either as a leader or team member. Captains and coaches are necessary to provide team structure and effective performance. Your example of a participative leader not only proves that it is important to provide organization to keep the team on task, but also that equal efforts strengthen the team as a whole unit. This support helps the team perform efficiently and demonstrates collaboration. It appears that you have either learned by a good example or possess the innate qualities to determine what makes an effective leader.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, I get confused with consultative and participative leadership, because it seems that both the leader and the members (or team) have power.in a consultative leadership,if a member has an idea that he or she would like to propose, the leader will allow this person to have his idea heard. In a participative leadership, it seems that everyone is a leader, like a team or students working on a project.I believe it is a good experience that everyone gets a chance to be a leader in a group.:)For example, it would be interesting that each member in a group rotate their roles and gets a chance to be a leader.It would encourage people to share their opinion and take responsibility.:)
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