Contributing Towards Positive Social Change, Essay Example

In my KAM assignment, I would like to examine how transformational leadership would impact not only the organization itself, but the society, as well. My research would focus on a new theory of leadership, originating from transformational leadership theory, which could help current and future leaders of NGO-s, schools, and governments create a better collaboration with the society, stakeholders, customers, and different interest groups.

My focus on the 7C-s of the Social Change model (Wagner, 1996) would examine the importance of aligning group, individual, and community values, as I clearly believe that the model would lead to increased social justice, equality, and progress. Just like Walden making sure that the values of the organization are clearly communicated and defined in the mission statement, other companies and groups could implement the same process. The main goal of my KAM project is to – reviewing the related literature – create an implementation framework for social change leadership.

I selected the topic based on the value it would create for leaders of today’s organizations. I believe that organizations (for-profit and non-profit) have a significant role in delivering social change, therefore, providing leaders with a tool to implement effective tools and norms to become change vehicles and create long lasting benefits for the society would contribute towards the well-being of the entire society. By examining the presence of the 7 C-s of social change leadership within Walden, I would like to research the most effective ways of implementing policies, collaboration tools, discussions, and communication methods that can make the organization become a vehicle for social change.

Through my research, I would like to prove that developing leaders’ skills and knowledge can have an impact on the outcomes of the organization, which, in turn, would lead to benefits created for the entire community. Community benefits can easily be converted into social justice development, therefore, one person’s vision for change can impact the entire society.

One of the main sources I would like to research, is related to higher education: “Leadership Reconsidered: Engaging Higher Education in Social Change” (Astin & Astin, 2000). The authors emphasize the importance of change in higher education leadership. The article reviews the traditional management approaches of higher education: hierarchical and individualistic. None of the above leadership attitudes involve collaboration and alignment of goals, visions, and values. Unlike at Walden, within many universities and colleges, administration and rules have a higher importance than collaboration and focusing on students’ aspirations. By comparing the leadership attitude of Walden with traditional universities’ and colleges’, I hope to prove that transformational and social change leadership would not only benefit the society, but also have a positive impact on the performance of the organization as well.

As a conclusion, I believe that the research undertaken within the KAM project would create value for organizations being involved in education: not only colleges and universities, but also charities that focus on empowering individuals to help them improve their social status, and become leaders who can successfully promote social justice, collaboration, shared values of equality, empathy, self-awareness, authenticity, and respect. Further, I would like to reveal the major aspects of gaining commitment for a vision, and the most important obstacles for implementing social change leadership in organizations. I aim to provide a tool for all leaders to become more effective vehicles of positive change on an organizational, community, and society level.

References

Astin, A. W., & Astin, H. S. (2000). Leadership Reconsidered: Engaging Higher Education in Social Change.

Wagner, W. (1996). The social change model of leadership: A brief overview. Leadership, 11.