Leadership Case Study A local school management has taken an initiative for youth development in its area. The school has entered into a partnership with the local university. The project is supported by funding from both. The committee formed contains five full-members who attend meetings every month. The main objective of the project is to provide recommendations to the local authorities for youth development for school environments, including academics and extracurricular activities. The five members of the team include a university professor who is an expert in youth development, a school teacher with over 20 years of teaching experience, a vice-principal of an elementary school who has experience in coordinating extra-curricular activities. The fourth member is a coordinator of a mentoring programme which brings in university students to mentor high school students. He has coordinated this programme for five years. The fifth member is a high school student and a participant in the above mentioned mentoring programme. The committee has met four times since it came into existence. They have six more meetings until their work needs to be submitted to the local district authorities for review. So far they have completed a review of research and have an outline for providing recommendations to the district authorities. The first few times the committee met, the discussion was dominated by the school teacher and the vice principal. Their conversation tended to drift into school discipline, budget cuts, etc. The student often remains quiet through most of the discussion. The professor feels they are losing time and need to focus more on the task at hand and making final recommendations for the district. Questions: 1. What leadership styles could be developed in this situation? 2. What are the primary leadership challenges facing the committee? 3. How could the committee make mid-course corrections to be more effective? 4. Which kind of style do you think a leader would need to be effective in this situation?

Question 1

In this scenario, the autocratic leadership style is likely to be developed in the situation described that is typically based on control (Du et al., 2013). This is evident in that; the discussion process is generally dominated by the school teacher and vice principal hence leaving out other significant members of the committee group. Once other members of the committee are left out in the discussion process, then this leaves the autocrats to give orders and expects quick execution without the input from other members. It is appropriate for all the five members of the committee to participate in providing the recommendations to the local authorities for the youth growth for the school surroundings together with academics and extracurricular operations.

Question 2

Leadership progressively presents various problems to various leaders, and their efforts to make things right and these problems are a sign of increasing to another degree, test one and enhance skills in the process (Madsen & Mabokela, 2014). In the case study, the primary leadership challenges facing the committee include, lack of active participation from all the members, poor planning regarding the meeting frequency as they have only met four times since the committee was designed. Also, the conversations had within the past meetings focuses on school discussions, budget cuts and other inappropriate discussions off the main topic. Valuable time is being wasted and hence should get back into focusing on the more on the pending agenda at hand and coming up with appropriate recommendations for the district. The committee should, in turn, come up with a proper schedule that incorporates the major topics to be discussed and allow every member of the committee to participate.

Question 3

Some of the significant ways of making the committee more effective include becoming creative with whatever is being accomplished where they need to think ‘outside the box’ in unexpected but in appropriate ways (Madsen & Mabokela, 2014). There is the need to adjust on the level of participation for effective and detailed recommendations aimed at youth growth for school environments. The high school students, coordinator and school teacher should also be allowed to contribute to the discussions made. Listening to everyone’s opinion will also be significant in becoming more effective where the members should learn to listen to a broad range of people. Focusing on the main points of discussions ought to be their main agenda on every meeting scheduled as it will ensure significant issues are handled appropriately.

Question 4

In the existing situation, democratic or participative leadership style is appropriate as it takes a more balanced technique of handling the actual tasks to be accomplished. The democratic leaders entail team members getting engaged in the decision-making procedure and allowing inventiveness and problem-solving that will, in the end, yield proper recommendations (Du et al., 2013). The main benefit of this style is the all the five members of the team will have a high satisfaction rate as their opinions will be valued. Charismatic leadership styles are also recommended in this scenario as this will inspire, energize and motivate the other members in providing timely feedback to the district authorities.

References

Du, S., Swaen, V., Lindgreen, A., & Sen, S. (2013). The roles of leadership styles in corporate social responsibility. Journal of business ethics, 114(1), 155-169.

Madsen, J., & Mabokela, R. (2014). Leadership challenges in addressing changing demographics in schools. NASSP Bulletin, 98(1), 75-96.