In-groups and Out-groups
Groups provide an individual with a sense of belonging. A sports team and sorority are my key in-groups. Participation in the sports team has generated benefits such as quality health and overall well-being. The sorority in the college setting has helped me sharpen my academic, leadership, and career opportunity insights. For instance, the sorority group has allowed me to change my perception of diversity. The group is composed of individuals from distinct backgrounds, and we interact effectively. Initially, I thought that diverse teams always face many challenges due to differences in ideas and opinions. However, our group rarely has such limitations because we understand each other. The union and a gang are some of the out-groups that I familiarize within the social setting. I do not relate to these groups because they do not fulfill my needs, interests, and concerns. The gang group has increasingly changed my view of the world. It has enabled me to understand the priorities that everyone has. While some people put all their efforts and time into building their nations, others are committed to destroying the little milestones achieved. I have learned that we will never have similar priorities.
Leadership Styles
Visionary and transformational leadership are the forms that I respond to positively. Visionary leadership is essential as it incorporates the use of creative and innovative ideas. The leader sees an opportunity and lays down appropriate strategies for meeting the set goals and objectives. This leadership revolves around creating a sense of purpose. As Taylor, Cornelius, and Colvin (2014) state, visionary leaders establish a sense of purpose by linking efforts to successful results. Determination of priorities, alignment of structures, and policies are vital processes that surround visionary leadership. I admire this form of leadership as it allows leaders to drive their organizations to greater heights. The other major style is transformative leadership. It encourages the leader to promote motivation and development of positive traits among the followers by creating an ethical work setting based on rich values and standards.
Democratic leadership is key in today’s bureaucratic environment. In organizational settings with massive complexities across systems and processes, democratic leadership becomes a recommendable style that helps develop uniformity. The leader ensures that the followers take part in decision-making processes to reduce conflicts. Participation in various organizational processes creates a sense of ownership (Kilicoglu, 2018). Leaders are better positioned to lead various forms of change when they involve all the followers in key corporate processes. As a leader managing a team in a project, I would ensure that it utilizes effective communication, takes my time to know my team members and interests, leads by example, and is decisive. I believe that these tactics would enable me to obtain the expected results within the set time and resources.
Deviant Behavior
Robbery is a form of deviant behavior that I am familiar with as one of my close friends has once been involved in it. He developed depression after losing his job, and this led him into the robbery path. I tried to speak him out of it, but I failed to change his behavior until he willingly decided to quit. Robberies attract the use of the anomie theoretical model. It helps in understanding the reasons behind involvement in the robbery. In this case, the loss of a job left the person feeling despaired because the means of achieving a livelihood has been closed.
Broken Social Rules
I observed someone order food that was not on the menu. Everyone around looked at him in disbelief because he held the menu in his hand as he ordered a preferred meal. It is expected that an individual should order food that is on the menu. I was also surprised, and I could not believe that a person can go ahead and order something missing on the menu after reading the menu.
References
Kilicoglu, D. (2018). Understanding Democratic and Distributed Leadership: How Democratic Leadership of School Principals Related to Distributed Leadership in Schools? Educational Policy Analysis and Strategic Research, 13(3), 6-23.
Taylor, C. M., Cornelius, C. J., & Colvin, K. (2014). Visionary leadership and its relationship to organizational effectiveness. Leadership & Organization Development Journa
