SOURCES OF LEADERSHIP KNOWLEDGE

SOURCES OF LEADERSHIP KNOWLEDGE

·   Parents: The family is the most integral part of every individual's upbringing, thus one of the most important agencies of socialization. The family has the power to influence an individual's self-concepts, emotions, attitudes, and behaviors. Of all the agents of socialization, the family is arguably the most important.

Although the form of the family differs from place to place in all societies it bears the main responsibility for socializing the child from birth through independent adulthood. Within the family the child first develops physical skills, such as walking, and the intellectual skills of speech, math, and writing. The family is also important because it gives the child social and leadership location within society. A child born to an upper class family will be socialized into wealth, power, and social acceptance, while a child born to an impoverished family will learn about day-to-day survival, low pay, and social rejection.

·   Peers: Peer groups are made up of people with similar ages and statuses in society. This group also sets the norms and values by which the individual must abide. Sociologists have found that the peer group, which consists of friends who are approximately the same age and have the same social status, is very influential in shaping the child’s behavior and values. Because children spend so much time with their peers, the peer group provides a great deal of informal leadership socialization.

·   Culture: Though leadership should be universal it is important to note that culture has a powerful effect on how one will lead.

·   Experience: There is an adage that says: Experience is the best teacher. There are some leadership principles which can only be learnt through experience or going through it.

·   Books: Books, which serve as the medium of communication, is one of the agencies of socialization. Through the books, individuals are able to learn and adopt new lifestyles and behaviors which, at the end, become a convention in society.

·   Religion and belief system: Religion is another major agency of socialization, because it embodies the moral principles of society. In this respect, religion has its own set of norms, values, and objectives that regulate the conduct of its members. In every society, religion is an important source of individual direction. The values and moral principles in religious doctrine give guidance about appropriate roles and behaviors.

·   School: The school is the agent of leadership socialization responsible for teaching formal cognitive skills, such as reading, writing, math, and history. The school is usually the child’s first introduction to a formal agent of socialization. Whereas the family regards the child as a unique individual, the school regards the child as a student who is expected to meet objective standards, abide by standard rules, and behave like everyone else. The schools are training ground for roles in the workplace. Schools socialize children by teaching them their formal curriculum but also a hidden curriculum, which are the cultural values of the society in which the schools are found.