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Nancy Campbell, March 2004
American corporations dole out an estimated 15 billion dollars per year on training and consulting for up and coming managers and leaders. Some target high performers and potential leaders within the organization. Others believe that leadership is more about what you do rather than who you are and, therefore, everyone in the organization is capable of becoming a leader. We have been arguing and writing about the science and practice of management since the early 1900’s, and about leadership for at least 2000 years, all in an effort to demystify both. Is management, in fact, a practice, an art, or a science? Are leaders born or made? What do managers actually do? The argument continues.
Nancy Campbell
Abstract:
The construction of the intellectual science of human development, a product of developmental psychology, is a force in motion. With increasing interest in concepts of cognitive, moral and social development, the study of human behavioral development was influenced by the biological, psychological, and philosophical sciences. The frequently debated question of nature vs. nurture represents one of the classical developmental controversies; a debate intended to further enlighten us as to how a healthy person changes over time. This paper explores three worldviews of human development, and the work of a prominent theorist associated with each perspective. The thoughts and feelings expressed in the following are based on personal experiences and assumptions intended to begin a personal dialogue and further my understanding of human development.
Nancy Campbell, October 2003
Introduction
Contemporary theorists agree that past research has only begun to explore adult development theory and offer us explanations of what it means to be an adult. In the attempt to create a universal theory of adult development, theorists continue to debate different perspectives, specifically men and women’s development at midlife and later. Midlife is generally defined as age forty through the late fifties, although more recently late fifties has moved to early sixties. In the past, women’s development focused on the effects of menopause and the postpartental period of women at midlife. More contemporary research emphasizes the diversity of women’s experiences, acknowledging the impact of culture, race, and class within an historical context, and recognizing differences in gender as worthy of separate study and examination. The differences in roles and values attached to gender to a large extent do determine how one comes to perceive oneself, one’s level of confidence and knowledge, and the process of development. Inquiry from this perspective raises questions challenging research methodology and frame of reference, and the impact this research has on social and workplace issues. Daniel Levinson, however, believes that development is basically the same for women as it is for men – we must all pass through the same periods of life. “They (women) go through the same adult development periods as men…but in partially different ways that reflect the differences in biology and social circumstances” (Levinson, 1978, p. 9). These differences, and others, are important to explore more deeply. With this in mind, a number of contemporary theorists, including Gail Sheehy and Gisela Labouvie-Vief, have operated on the premise that the lives and experiences of women need to be the central focus of their studies of life course development. To understand adult development in which men are the focus negates the inequities and differential challenges of women.
Nancy Campbell, March 2004
The intent of this paper is to further investigate the use of Tuckman’s group development model, as it applies to the practice of leadership in teams. The question of effective leadership arises in a different context with the emergence of teams and the expectation that they self-direct and self-regulate. If team members are expected to be empowered and self-directed, then, by definition, they are highly involved in the leadership of their work. As individual contributors expect and accept more responsibility for their work, they take on a stronger role in leading the team.
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