What is a leader? Someone who is able to stimulate an employee’s willingness to work hard, encourages good ethical behavior, and works with employees to maintain efficiency. They are also open to questions, discussion, and criticism. A good leader is someone who cares about the employee, respects employees (therefore is respected), and is willing to teach them what they need to know.
While I believe my original definition is still true, I have learned there is more to leadership than what I had originally thought. There are many different theories and concepts when it comes to organizational leadership, and over the past 8 weeks, I have learned about several. What do they all mean to me? Actually several different things. Two things I know for certain is that my original thought process and definition was just scratching the surface, and I really need to find another place to work.
In addiiton to the theories and concepts, I also earned that cultures surround us all. Cultures are deep seated, pervasive and complex. Yet according to Edgar Schein (2004), we cannot understand organizational learning, development, and planned change, unless we consider culture as the primary source of resistance to change. Furthermore, if leaders do not become conscious of the cultures in which they are embedded, those cultures will manage them. Cultural understanding is desirable for everybody, but it is essential for leaders if they are to lead.
With his Three Levels of Culture, Edgar Schein (2004) has provided an important contribution to defining what organization culture actually is. He divides organizational culture into three levels:
1. Artifacts These are at the surface, those aspects which can be
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