Draft Leadership Critique

Effective leaders not only understand and can apply key leadership concepts and principles; they can also compare different perspectives on leadership and make judgments about what others have to say about leadership. Developing these skills of critical evaluation is extremely important both for your success on this programme and in your career.

In many cultures, the notion of criticism or critique can have negative implications. The process of critical evaluation, or taking a critical stance on an issue, does not necessarily mean that you are finding fault with certain ideas or perspectives. It does not mean that you are choosing your favorite idea or adopting the perspective that is most familiar or comfortable to you. Rather, critical evaluation implies that you are thinking clearly and carefully about all of the benefits and limitations of a particular idea, such as a theory found in the literature. Critical evaluation may involve comparing or contrasting the best features of several theories or perspectives found in scholarly literature, and drawing a final, reasoned conclusion about what you believe. A good leader will stay abreast of current thinking found in journals, critically evaluate ideas gained from reading and research, draw some conclusions, but be ready at any time to adjust those conclusions if better ways of thinking about leadership present themselves.

One element of your Final Project in this module is a short critique of leadership concepts and theories. This Individual Assignment will help you prepare for this part of your Final Project., The goal for this Individual Assignment, however, is not to complete this portion of your Final Project, but rather to prepare a draft on which you can receive feedback from your Faculty Member, and use to complete Part 3 of your Final Project.

To complete your Individual Assignment:

• Review the requirements for the Leadership Critique provided in the Final Project guidelines and the assessment criteria for this part of the Final Project provided in the Rubrics
• Review the resources on leadership you found for your Unit 2 and Unit 3 Individual Assignments
• Find at least three or four additional scholarly articles from peer-reviewed journal on leadership theories and models that interest you.
• Include in your draft:
  • A brief description of two leadership theories, concepts or models, including why you find them interesting or relevant to your work
  • A brief discussion of how these leadership theories, concepts or models relate to your personal perspectives on leadership and your practice as a leader; in other words, how might theory inform your practice as a leader
  • References/Works Cited

Your goal is to provide a critical evaluation of the one or two leadership theories, concepts, or models you found. Ask yourself, to what extent are these theories useful to you in explaining your understanding of and experiences with leadership? Do they conflict with your understanding and experiences, and if so, how? Can you use these theories to expand or change you perspectives on leadership, or change or improve you practice? Does one theory make more sense than another, and if so, why?