One of the toughest group settings I have ever found myself in was Air Force ROTC Field Training. Field Training is a 5 week course for young college students in the ROTC program to learn how to become officers in the US Air Force and particularly how to lead people in a field setting. Our textbook defines leadership as the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of goals (Robbins & Judge, 2009, Ch. 12). Now, imagine yourself dropped into the environment I was put in. I am one of 400 or so cadets in this encampment, over one thousand miles away from my home. My only communication with my family or the outside world is via hand written letters. It is the middle of the Summer in Southern Alabama, and the heat is so intense it was melting the shoe polish off of my shoes. I am constantly being yelled at by military drill instructors about all of the things I am doing wrong. And now, I am suddenly tasked with being the flight commander for the 20 other cadets in my flights that all come from different backgrounds, and all of whom I am meeting for the first time. In this research paper, I will talk about a few of the core concepts that I feel I applied very well to help me be the best leader I could be in this situation.
Trait Theories
In Lesson 6, Dr. Fischer explores the ideas of whether leaders are born or made. In some cases certain traits such as extroversion, conscientiousness, openness, and emotional intelligence can suggest that leaders can in
There are numerous definitions of the word “leadership” and it can mean many things to many people. For the purpose of this assignment I feel the best definition of leadership is “…the art and science of motivating, influencing, and directing airmen to understand and accomplish the Air Force mission in joint warfare."1 When taking over a new command it
Training is one of the most important roles at a law enforcement agency. It is never-ending as “concepts, theories, philosophies, practices, procedures, and techniques are constantly changing to meet social needs” (Iannone et al, 2009, p. 60). Without training, even the best officer will turn into one that is not respected by his peers or society. Gone are the days when an officer is sent to the training academy and has no more except for yearly inservice. This can be accomplished with field training after the academy, roll call training, inservice, emailed updates from the training staff, and outside the agency training. It does not always have to be expensive. Most think that the effectiveness of training can’t be measured, but successful training can easily be seen through “higher morale, less job stress with its high economic cost, greater esprit de corps, a lessened need for punitive discipline, greater effectiveness, in crime suppression, increased public support and confidence, fewer errors, better
19). Still a part of the Great Man Leadership era, these trait theories just went a step further in attempting to pinpoint exactly which traits of these “great men” were consistently associated with the leaders, in an effort to more clearly define what a great leader was. This was again a further attempt to be able to identify a leader early on and predict which individuals were born to become leaders. It is thought that a major flaw with these theories was the failure to account for external factors, such as the environment in which the individuals were brought up in, as well as the situations they experienced (Horner, 2007, p. 270). Still today we do continue to study the characteristics of leaders in order to better define and understand what makes someone a good leader.
This essay addresses operational challenges and ways for improving functional training skills for progressive changes for all Soldiers of the California Army National Guard (CAARNG). By improving the current operational practices and providing continuous training that uses standardized approaches and practices for CAARNG NCO’s will assist in the development of inexperienced NCO’s and the retention of highly experienced NCO’s.
Throughout time the question of “ Are leaders born or made?” continues to be debated. This question has been part of several myths that try to explain what makes a person a leader. According to the trait approach theory, it sets a benchmark for what certain traits an individual must possess in order to make them a leader. Before leadership traits were considered innate. However, as time has progressed research has indicated that situations differentiate leaders from non-leaders. Therefore, an individual does not possess certain traits, rather it is the relationship between the person and its society that make him/her leader. All leaders must have a set of skills that help them lead subordinates to reach an overall vision. A vision must originate from both the leader and its followers, and it is the leader's job to articulate the vision. Furthermore, leaders demonstrate the capacity to lead their followers and
“Leadership is the process of leaders inducing followers to act for certain goals that represent the values and motivations, the wants and needs, the aspirations and expectations of both leaders and followers” To be able to do this, a person must come up with their own leadership philosophy. Throughout this paper, I will tell you the leadership philosophy I will have for my organization. I will explain how I came up with this philosophy. Also I will tell what leadership traits, and characteristics that I believe are important for a leader to possess and how they apply to my leadership philosophy for the success of my organization. In conclusion I will summarize my interview with a squadron commander about their most challenging issue and
Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps The most important title a student at my age can have is cadet. One of my favorite classes to take in high school was Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps or (JROTC). In this class I have learned more things than I have in any other class and learned many things that a lot of other students have not. I am more than thankful to have belonged to such a great organization that teaches us so many important things that many others believe aren’t important.
Many may measure leadership in success, however, leadership is also measured in personality. The phrase “born to be a leader” holds true when considering the qualities a leader must possess. To be an effective leader, first it must be understood that respect, logical problem solving, and confidence without arrogance is key; these qualities are present in the leaders of the novel The Lord of the Flies as well as in modern leaders of today’s society.
Did you know that the Air Force Academy only has a 12.3% acceptance rate? Because the Air Force Academy has such a competitive admission policy, candidates need to be physically fit, well educated, and have a vision of what to do as a graduate.
As a growing debate, the question at hand is whether great leaders are born with specific leadership traits, or if one can be taught certain traits over time. According to (Wikipedia.com) the approach of listing leadership qualities, often termed "trait theory of leadership", assumes certain traits or characteristics will tend to lead to effective leadership. I believe that leadership traits such as honest, competent, initiative, inspiring, hardworking, intelligent, and the ability to lead the masses, are some of the leadership traits one should possess. Within this paper, I will examine the overall concept of leadership traits, while observing the traits that were, or can be associated with successful leaders.
Our daily operations consist of grooming students to become quality officers in the United States Air force, upon graduating from college and commissioning. To be in this position you have to want to lead from the front and be the example because you are molding the future leaders of the military. Being in this position we have a lot of influence over the cadets, who would be considered our followers, we teach them, complete paperwork for them and give them training that is needed to successfully complete the program. We do not have one leader in this organization, we are all responsible for leading our young cadets as well as our team members. Everyone contributes their knowledge, experience, time and effort into making sure our mission
The Reserve Officer Training Corps, or ROTC, has been an interesting experience for me so far. This is my first semester being in cadet status as a simultaneous membership program (SMP) cadet and I am currently a military science (MS) two student. I am assigned to the 132nd Brigade Support Battalion Company E (FSC) (173) in the Wisconsin National Guard and before this, I was in the Army Reserves for about four years as a Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic (91B). I achieved the rank of specialist (E-4), and the funny thing is that a couple of months before I contracted to become a cadet, my unit was wanting me to attend Warrior Leadership Course (WLC) to become a sergeant (E-5), but since I knew that my desired career path is to become a commissioned officer, a noncommissioned officer slot wasn’t right for me since I would be a
“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors” (1930, p. 104). It is an extreme point of view in the nature versus nurture debate, but one I agree with. Though genetics predispose individuals to certain qualities that make them “natural born leaders”, how the world nurtures those qualities determine if they become leaders or not. For decades there were no female leaders, not because women are inherently worse leaders, but because society did not support their existence. Everything about us is an intricate interaction between our genetics and our environment, yet we are all capable of learning certain skills given enough practice. Leadership, like any other life skill, can be taught. However, I would push the idea further and argue that even traits can be taught. One criticism Norhouse (2016) has of the trait approach is that you can’t train IQ or extraversion because they are “largely fixed psychological structures” (p. 32), but that is not necessarily true anymore. Recent studies have shown that even in middle adulthood, our brains are making new connections and our five-factor
Moreover, the trait approach gives a deeper understanding of the leader element in the leadership process by emphasising exclusively on the leader, (Gore et al, 2011). The trait theory does not offer hypotheses about the role of situational variance or characteristic of the followers. Instead, this approach provide information about leaders, and about which traits cause which behaviours and that certain set of traits are central to the leadership process and play an indispensible part of effective leadership.
To begin this essay I would prefer to give a little scenario by asking ourselves, can all managers go on to be a leader? For several years, the concern whether leaders are born or made is an issue of great controversy. From different opinions however, it could be a little bit of both hence proving that any manager can go on to be a great leader as well. Among other definitions, Maxwell (1993, p.11) has defined leadership as an ability to influence others. He also defined a leader as a person who influences a group of people towards the achievement of a goal or goals.