My Synthesis

I can definitely say that I have learned a lot about leadership. The midterm was a perfect way to really identify situations where leadership is seen. Watching the movie Mona Lisa Smile assisted me in identifying not only the differences in the leadership theories we have discussed but noticing the characters that may be in the background. I saw leadership in the background character and I feel this is what clarified my overall synthesis of leadership. Leadership is created and learned with the will and personality of a person. I feel that it is important to understand that a person may have the traits of a leader but they may not use them and they fall into the background. Someone that has the traits or does not but who has the will to learn and determination can be an effective leader. It is significant to understand from the theories that leadership must be effective. The path-goal theory describes a goal that must be achieved. In order to reach the goal having a relationship with the people that are helping you is important. Trust is definitely key in leadership not only with a leader and follower but trust must be within a leader.

From the first class I have definitely opened my mind about leadership. I am excited to learn about how I will develop with my skills. I am definitely task oriented and I need to work on my relationships. I really did not believe leadership could be studied or analyzed in so many ways. Transformational leadership was one my favorite theories because I understood the difference between managing and leadership. The only thing I do not agree with is the moral aspect. Although I feel people should be moral in there intentions it does not necessarily mean you are not an effective leader if you are not moral. The synthesis I created will maybe change at the end of the class. I am still a bit confused about the 360 degree behavioral based leadership and I still feel that I need to apply and research more on how to look at the theories in a situational matter. Overall, the class has definitely opened my eyes and the activity we did about combining all the theories into one paradigm was very interesting. I enjoyed it because I got to hear others opinions about how they explained the different leadership theories. This activity has left me wanting to learn more about leadership...