Leadership, the Financial Sector and Development in Nigeria

Studies have shown that leadership is a vital factor for the realization of organizational goals in the public and private sector of any economy. This article therefore examines leadership, the financial sector and development in Nigeria. The financial sector represented by banks in this article is so crucial to the Nigerian economy in terms of its contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, and in addition to being a vital source of employment. To appreciate the role of leadership in an organization vis-à-vis the financial sector and development in Nigeria, the paper focused on the challenge in some Nigerian banks in 2009, which borders on unethical practice of certain bank executives. This development almost led to the collapse of some notable banks in Nigeria resulting from their inability to meet financial obligations to customers. With the use of secondary data, the paper identified leadership failure of unethical practice (corruption in terms of granting unsecured loans to family members and personal companies to the detriment of bank depositors and shareholders) as the greatest problems militating against banks’ roles as facilitator of development in Nigeria. The study recommends among others the introduction of formal education in ethics as a way of making sure that staff members imbibe ethical practice as a check against abuse of office

Transformational leadership can improve workforce competencies.

Staffing problems can arise because of poor delegation skills or a failure by leaders to respond appropriately to economic factors and patient demographics. Training dilemmas, meanwhile, can arise because of managers' confusion about what constitutes 'training' and what constitutes 'education', and where responsibility of provision lies, with the consequence that they neglect these activities. This article uses Kouzes and Posner's (2009) transformational leadership model to show how managers can respond. Leaders who challenge budgets, consider new ways of working and engage effectively with the workforce can improve productivity and care, while those who invest in appropriate learning will have a highly trained workforce. The author explains how integration of leadership roles and management functions can lead to innovative problem solving

Student Leadership Development: A Focus on Experiential Leadership Orientation Within Higher Education

Higher education is a fertile learning environment for student leaders. Theorists have asserted the worth of student leadership education as a core developmental component within the four-year undergraduate experience (Astin, 1993; Komives et al., 2011; Komives & Wagner, 2009; Kouzes and Posner, 2008; Roberts, 2007). This study utilized a pre-test, post-test design incorporating the Student Leadership Practice Inventory (SLPI) to assess a student life orientation program (N=38) and to evaluate the change in student leadership skills due to the experiential orientation intervention at a small, private, Christian university on the west coast. Some components of the intervention included journaling quiet times (self), dramatic crisis role-play situations (group), and leadership skill teaching (community). Dependent t-tests of the research results revealed significant improvements in three leadership practices: Model the Way, Challenge the Process, and Enable Others to Act, while Inspire a Shared Vision and Encourage the Heart did not change. Based on the study’s findings, a one-week experiential orientation can improve student leadership, particularly when using experiential components that focus on basic understanding, reflection, critical thinking, and experimentation in experiences that focus on self, group, and community. However, these experiential foci may be less modifiable, given the structure of some orientation programs. In the future, program designers should focus specifically on grounding programs in theory of experiential learning and leadership theory. This will make programs theory based, well thought, and intentional, aiding student leaders in their leadership development

Biblical Based Servant Leadership and the Liberian Methodist Church: Lessons from the Christological Hymn in Phil. 2:7-11

Sometimes a biblical understanding of leadership challenges cultural and traditional understanding. It’s the context of the Liberian traditional and cultural understanding of leadership that my research will focus on. My project will show the continued need for servant leadership, which is demonstrated by the portrait of Jesus in the Christological hymn and the Gospel. The theses will focus on contrasting traditional Christian leadership within the United Methodist Church in Liberia with the humility of Jesus’ servant leadership. This research hopes to offer academic authentic transformative ideas of servant leadership and intentional examples to the continuous study of servant leadership. However, the research intent to also provide a fresh look at how cultural and traditional orientations in Liberia, can pose a challenge to the impact of servant leadership and hope to submit practical ways the leaders understand the transformative nature of power (Linthicum, 2003) Therefore, the inquiry will consider scholarly works of literature in the area of servant leadership, primarily drawing resources from Servant of All: Status, Ambition, and The way of Jesus (Hill, 2016), Culture and leadership in Africa: a conceptual model and research agenda (Kuada, J. 2010), the impact of Carmen Christi (Fee, G. 1992), the servant example of Christ in the Gospel, and suggesting applicable knowledge from my research, and personal experience that’s workable within the Liberian context; as opposed to a king and ruler cultural/traditional 4 understanding of Christian leadership (Mansago, 2009). Secondly, this research hopes to contribute to the current scholarship on Christian leadership based on the Christological hymn as it challenges from a cultural or traditional context (Jones, 2012)

Race and gender in teacher preparation programs : how does being a white female inform leadership decisions in creating a culture of excellence for tomorrow's teachers?

Version of RecordTo create a culture of excellence in any organization, an effective leader must understand his or her leadership in all its dimensions. Education has been historically dominated by white women making it imperative that leaders in this field analyze their leadership in terms of gender and race. This becomes critical in the 21st century due to the widening "gap" between white female teachers and their increasingly diverse student population. This growing disconnect created by a "demographic imperative" is a particular challenge to teacher preparation programs where the student population is continuing the pattern of a majority of white, female preservice teachers for tomorrow's diverse classrooms. Current classroom dynamics especially in urban areas are demanding a cadre of teachers capable of understanding multicultural and diversity issues. Demographic shifts in K-12 classrooms call for culturally competent teachers skilled in building community and celebrating differences among students; however, current conditions reveal devastating consequences on our society.Rogers, A. (2009). Race and gender in teacher preparation programs: How does being a white female inform leadership decisions in creating a culture of excellence for tomorrow's teachers? InSight: Rivier Academic Journal, 5(2)

The Road to Effective Leadership

Library leadership is one of the much-discussed subjects in library and information science. Yet, many librarians tend to shy away from using the word “leadership” and the authors wondered why. It seemed peculiar that librarians tend not to associate themselves with the context of leaders or leadership. Whether you are a driven librarian or an ambitious young librarian, or you are an ambitious and driven person, library leadership is a rather remote subject for most librarians and information professionals. Why is that the case? This paper will explore the world of library leaders and leadership by deconstructing the myths of leadership, examining whether there is a difference between a leader and a library leader, and guiding you to become a leader through seven stages of leadership development. One of our professional societies, Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA) changed in 2008 to the Library Leadership and Management Association [LLAMA] in recognition of the growing importance of the issues of leadership and librarians. The LLAMA Annual Report (2008–2009) reported that the name change also presented an implicit challenge to LLAMA: “leadership” needs to move to the forefront of its activities, and resources need to be allocated to reflect and support this shift. Research has shown that millennials and new librarians have not aspired to become leaders. This paper is directed at early career librarians who are wondering about becoming a library leader. We assume that you are curious about leadership and someday you want to be a leader, if you are not one already. The goal is to offer encouragement and guidance to young or newly minted librarians and offer much needed food for thought. The current library leaders who want to create a culture of entrepreneurship and nurture future library leaders are encouraged to join the session to share their views on leadership

Exploring the Use of Courageous Followership in Conversations with Nurses and Their Colleagues

Health care is fraught with communication issues, many of which can lead to patient safety errors and toxic behaviors. Communication in a hierarchical environment has been historically challenging, especially for nurses. Courageous followership, a style of leadership first introduced in the early 1990s, is a duality of “powerful leaders supporting powerful followers” (Chaleff, 2009, p. 3). The tenets of this leadership style empower both the leader and the follower to have the courage: to assume responsibility, serve, transform, challenge, take moral action, speak up to the hierarchy, and listen to the follower. All of these actions are needed in the hierarchical health care environment to empower the staff and the leaders to speak up both for themselves and for their patients. I investigated whether nurses currently utilize the concepts of this leadership style in conversations with their colleagues. Through the use of critical incident technique, stories were collected to understand if this type of leadership is naturally occurring in conversations with nurses and their colleagues. Meaningful incidents, either positive or negative, were collected and analyzed for relevance to this topic. The research showed that positive leadership, CF concepts, and communication can influence and be beneficial to the future health care environment for both staff and patients. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, https://aura.antioch.edu and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.ed

“Leadership Means Moving A Community Forward”: Asian American Community College Students And Critical Leadership Praxis

Asian Americans are underrepresented in both formal leadership positions and leadership research (Foldy & Ospina, 2009) and rarely are Asian Americans viewed as leaders, activists, or agents of social change. Leadership development programs, particularly those focused on social and racial justice, are largely absent from the curriculums and educational experiences of Asian Americans (Omatsu, 2006), and few leadership development programs focus specifically on the needs of Asian Americans (Chung, 2014; Liang, Lee, & Ting, 2002), particularly at the community college level. This study addressed the need for critical leadership development for Asian American community college students, focusing specifically on leadership directed towards social justice. This study utilized a Participatory Action Research (PAR) design that was integrated into an 18-week ethnic studies course at Urban Community College (UCC). The 10 co-researchers in this study were students in a leadership development program at UCC—Asian American Leaders in Alliance (AALIA)—from January-May in 2015. Research data included student blog posts, reflection journals, analytical worksheets, and class presentations. The research team studied critical Asian American leaders participating in alliance building on campus and as allies to Black Lives Matter movements. In their findings, researchers challenged deficit models that portray Asian Americans as unlikely and ineffective leaders and instead focused on the legacies and examples of Asian American leaders who actively challenge systems of racism and oppression. In the PAR processes, researchers also practiced and developed their own critical leadership and alliance-building praxes. Researchers articulated that the goals of critical Asian American leadership are not to produce leaders to take positions in oppressive institutions but instead to direct leadership towards their communities and towards transforming inequitable institutions. In synthesizing the research findings, this study proposes a new model of Critical Asian American Leadership Praxis. The results of this study support the need for and efficacy of targeted leadership development curriculum for Asian American students, particularly at the community college level. This study also affirms the importance of ethnic studies pedagogies and curriculum for Asian American students in transforming both students’ academic and leadership experiences

SCHOOL LEADERSHIP IN THE 21ST CENTURY: SHARED EXPERIENCES OF THE CLARETIAN PRINCIPALS IN NORTHEAST INDIA

Education in the 21st century is rapidly progressing into new frontiers. Leadership of the education sector requires 21st century skills and mind-sets. Building and preparing principals to embrace and implement these new leadership skills is a critical challenge confronting the education sector today. The experiences of challenges, success and constraints faced by the principals in exercising their 21st century leadership skills need to be unearthed and made sense in order to navigate it with real expertise that twenty first century looks for. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experience of principals’ readiness and preparedness for 21st century leadership skills and to describe and interpret them. The study used purposive sampling, semi-structured in-depth interviews for collecting the data, and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith et al., 2009) for analyzing the data. The seven principals of Claretian-run secondary schools in northeast India were the participants of the study.The study brought out nine superordinate themes of experience in four domains of 21st century principal leadership and interpretive findings. A further analysis on four domains and their interpretive findings brought out four key leadership roles demonstrated by the principals, namely; 1) Supervising & managing the teaching and learning of the school 2) Stakeholder engagement 3) Personnel resource management and climate building 4) Innovative practice building & Technology resource management. Two dimensions namely, reflective and Claretian, emerged as factors influencing and guiding the leadership practices. The Four domain leadership findings and the framework of key leadership roles and competency models that emerged are in alignment with the six school leadership theories in the extant literature.Principals showed their readiness in four domains of 21st century leadership skills by demonstrating four key leadership roles and corresponding competency areas and skills. The key leadership roles are dynamically interrelated and permeated across the domains of 21st century principal leadership, while their importance in each domain has been significantly experienced by the principals

Physician-led patient experience improvement efforts: The CONNECT program, an emerging innovation

In 2009, the leadership of the Children’s University Medical Group (CUMG) embarked on an effort to answer the question, “What would it take to promote and foster a culture of service amongst the medical staff?” The challenge was to engage the physician group in leading patient and family experience improvements within Seattle Children’s. In this article, an innovative, physician-designed and led approach to improving the patient experience is described. The effort focuses on encouraging local, grass roots strategies rooted in readily available and validated best practices. In support of that effort, novel tools that were developed and deployed to elicit input, engagement and self-assessment are also described