Leadership Analysis Paper
Abstract
Current paper analyses the article “Leadership for sustainability: theoretical foundations and pedagogical practices that foster change” by H. Burns, H.D. Vaught and C. Bauman. The main idea of the article is that modern changing world requires a new model of leadership that would combine classical leadership strategies, previous experiences and environmental awareness (Burns, Vaught, Bauman, 2015) thus leading his or her community towards a sustainable activity.
Facing this requirement, a key role belongs to leadership education which is to prepare leaders to work in collaboration in order to solve complex tasks with prior attention to environmental issues. The authors of the article stress that the very understanding of leadership should be expanded from its traditional meaning in order to get the insight of leadership for sustainability.
This article suggests sustainability leaders becoming a new generation of leadership. However, new pedagogical practices need to be developed to provide a better training for this type of leaders.Leadership Analysis PaperThe authors start their article with admitting the necessity for leaders whose activity would take into account all aspects of current reality. As the global society faces challenges traditional methods unable to solve, the need for active community leaders who would suggest solutions for them becomes of immediate interest (Burns, Vaught, Bauman, 2015). The new problems in society, primarily sustainability issues, requires not simply a broader understanding of leadership, but also leaders able to work in constantly changing global environment. Then the authors reflect on the issue of education, stating that educational institutions are already responding to this requirement by proposing the programs of sustainable leadership and introducing interdisciplinary approach focused on environmental responsibility of leaders in particular.
The educational background of sustainability leadership is also discussed in other scholarly papers, giving the overview of relevant educational programs and outlining their common features (Shriberg, MacDonald, 2013). Since sustainability leadership is a relatively trend in both education and management, training programs for these professionals are mainly focused on experiential learning. Further, the authors try to disclose this concept of leadership through its three key elements. The first element is that leadership being a means of implementing a new way of life and activity based on values of sustainability. The second element relates leadership to living processes, and the third one viewing leadership as “inclusive, collaborative, and reflective process” (Burns, Vaught, Bauman, 2015).
These three elements appear to be interconnected. The first one is explained as recognizing humans as a part of earth and our interconnectedness at all levels, and acting with this idea in mind, i.e. considering one’s activity in terms of its effect on the environment. The second element logically comes from the previous: if to consider the sustainability aware leadership as a lifestyle according to which the person acts, then the very idea of this leadership originates from the system of living processes. This second element is to argue a mechanistic science-based approach, and leads to reconsidering organizations as complicated living systems able to sustain themselves and respond to outer and internal changes. …
