Leadership Theory and Process

Discussion 1: Leadership Theory and Process

Initially, the concept of leadership focused on an individual who organized a group of people to achieve a goal. Today, however, leadership is depicted in a different way. The field focuses not only on an individual leader, but also on members, supervisors, and followers representing a spectrum of diversity. During the evolution of leadership, several theories, models, and perspectives have emerged. As a human and social services professional, it is important to consider how different theories, models, and perspectives of leadership might be used to achieve professional and societal goals.

To prepare:

· Consider the issue you selected for your Capstone Project. Select a leadership theory, model, or perspective and think about how it might be applied to your issue.

With these thoughts in mind:

By Day 3

Post a brief description of your professional or societal issue and the leadership theory, model, or perspective you selected. Then, explain why you chose that theory, model, or perspective, and explain how it might be applied to your issue. Be specific, and use processes of that theory, model, or perspective to illustrate your point.

I have chosen to do my Capstone Project on a national organization the United Way of Central Carolinas (UWCC). An organization that focuses on helping make measurable changes in communities through strengthening the cornerstones for a good quality of life with education, financial stability and health of every person in every community. The reason I chose to focus on UWCC is that it’s a local organization which provides nationwide assistance to every community and family which is a passion for me if I can assist to lead anyone towards a better life.  My strategic plan for this project will be to develop from the perspective of mainly on a social change level. The reason is UWCC deals with strengthening change and resolving issues with the help of partnerships with business, financial institutions, and government agencies which can lead to social change (United Way n.d).

For my Capstone Project, the societal issue that I would like to address is change management is a systematic approach accommodating assessment, preparation, planning and implementation of the changes that accommodate ethical considerations (Burke, 2008). Confidentiality and privacy are essentially social and services professional issues that affect individual performance and ethical considerations. Notably, in professional practices within human and social services, the concern of privacy and confidentiality acknowledges proper consideration, indulging practitioners to embrace fundamental honest articulation towards change management. For example, as a human and social services professional, I would collect relevant information concerning human and socialization concepts. Thus, there would be a need for effective management of clients’ data with consideration to confidentiality and privacy concerns.

References to use

Avolio, B. J., Walumbwa, F. O., & Weber, T. J. (2009). Leadership: Current theories, research, and future directions. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 421–449. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163621

Hegtvedt, K. A., & Johnson, C. (2009). Power and justice: Toward an understanding of legitimacy. American Behavioral Scientist, 53(3), 376–399. doi:10.1177/0002764209338798

Kuhnert, K. W., & Lewis, P. (1987). Transactional and transformational leadership: A constructive/developmental analysis. Academy of Management Review, 12(4), 648–657. doi:10.2307/258070