Christine D. Townsend

Leadership Education: Fantasy or Reality?

Leadership is a word that spins through personal and professional conversations. Observations of leaders during the “September 11” national crisis revealed people wanted direction and sought comfort from their leaders. During the crisis, leaders quickly became heroes with noble causes. However, leaders remain, in day-today activities, common people striving to improve organizations and activities. Employers request “leadership” be included as a part of the perfect applicant’s resume. Members of struggling student and volunteer organizations call for the emergence of leaders who can increase member involvement. And political candidates continually reference “leadership experience” in their campaign marketing strategies. Clearly, in 2002, leadership continues to be a concept of interest. Although leadership is an important topic and successful leaders are emerging, questions continue to surround this dynamic concept. Leadership educators are on the cusp; they hold the educational keys to unlock the mysteries of leadership. Leadership educators are hired to provide programs, teach leadership concepts, and develop leaders. But, has this group reaped the rewards from known facts, research, and development efforts? Are leadership educators focusing on methods to steer the discipline forward? Are leadership educators driving fantasy programs or factual programs? To seek the answers to these questions, leadership educators are challenged to seek answers to contemporary questions such as: 1. What is the true purpose for leadership education and do leadership organizations deliver what they promise? 2. Is leadership different among diverse cultures? 3. What are the best teaching/learning environments for leadership education? Recently leadership educators and researchers have revealed several findings to support and expand productive leadership education development. The implications of recent research results, when blended into program objectives, may ensure positive and productive results.

Teaching Leadership: Do Students Remember and Utilize the Concepts We Teach?.

The purpose of this study was to determine how leadership competencies are remembered and utilized following instruction in a structured collegiate leadership course. The population for this study consisted of experienced collegiate leaders who completed an introductory leadership theory course. The purposive sample included 74 students who completed the course during a semester within a three year period. For this study, a three-part instrument was used. The study focused on the comprehension and use of leadership competencies presented in the course. Comparisons were made between the different classes in regards to self-perceived leadership competency knowledge (retained comprehension) as well as selfperceived leader competency use. Results showed statistically significant differences were found among students and self-perceived knowledge of Task v. Relationship and Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid. Findings also showed that there was no statistically significant difference between self-perceived leadership competency use and the number of years post collegiate leadership course.

Assessing Perceived Student Leadership Skill Development in an Academic Leadership Development Program

This research evaluated learning outcomes of a leadership development program at a large, southern land grant institution. The program is an interdisciplinary, semester-long class where experience and theory are juxtaposed to offer leadership training and development. Through an intensive research project, the program exposes students to four practical skills and four adaptive skills related to leadership development. The research outcomes of this study found that students did perceive to have gained the intended leadership skills as related to the four practical and four adaptive skills set forth by the program curriculum. As leadership programs continue to grow, these programs must be assessed and evaluated to continue to garner merit within the academic community.

The Relationship of Gender and Organizational Setting to Transformational and Transactional Leadership Skills of Selected College Student Leaders

The purpose was to examine the development of transformational and transactional leadership skills among Generation X collegiate student organizational officers and members. This study looked at the organizational structure of each group and member’s gender to determine if these variables were related to leadership style. In this correlational study 190 college students between the ages of 18-22 from two different leadership organizations were given the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Bass & Avolio, 1995). Significant relationships were found between the transformational leadership scores and gender. It was found that female student leaders tended to be more transformational than male student leaders. Males had a tendency to portray transactional leadership skills. The type of organization did not influence what type of leader emerged. Although Generation X attributes suggest all members are more transformational, it was concluded that gender continues to have a significant impact on the development of student leader transformational leadership skills.

The Relationship of Leadership Practices to Culture

The relationship of leadership to culture is explored in this study. The study was designed to determine if significant relationships existed between specific leadership practices and different cultural profiles. The treatment for this correlational study consisted of 15 teams with an assigned formal leader for each team. Significant relationships were found between the variables in 14 of the 20 relationships examined. It was concluded that different leadership practices resulted in different cultures.