Running head: ROLE OF LEADERSHIP 1

The Role of Leadership in Producing Competent, Purposeful, and Ethical Individuals Through

Education

Amanda Mitchell

Siena Heights University

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The Role of Leadership in Producing Competent, Purposeful, and Ethical Individuals Through

Education

In the ever changing economic and social climate of todays world, it is imperative that

organizations have appropriate leadership to guide them through the potential pitfalls of business.

To ensure that they have appropriate leadership, companies look to the higher education

institutions to provide an education and example of what leadership should look like. Siena

Heights University embodies what it means to be a leader and provides an outline in their

mission statement which reads, the mission of Siena Heights University, a Catholic University

founded and sponsored by the Adrian Dominican Sisters, is to assist people to become more

competent, purposeful, and ethical through a teaching and learning environment which respects

the dignity of all (Siena Heights University, 2017). This paper aims to determine how leadership

is connected to the three main aspects of the mission statement which include being competent,

purposeful, and ethical.

Leadership is defined as the ability to inspire confidence and support among the people

who are needed to achieve organizational goals (DuBrin, 2016, p. 2). Leaders take on many

roles within an organization and are expected to produce what the company needs to be

successful. A leader cannot be successful without a certain set of competencies; at the most basic

level, specific traits and characteristics are necessary to the make-up of a competent leader. Some

of these traits include humility, trustworthiness, and self-confidence. Beyond the basic traits,

there are also more in-depth competencies involved in leadership that allow a leader to

collaborate with their group members and add to the success of a company. Overall, leadership is

viewed as a complicated process that takes many years in an individuals life to produce what is

viewed as a competent leader (DuBrin, 2016).

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Producing competent leaders and fulfilling the competence portion of the mission at

Siena Heights University is accomplished through a specific academic mode employed by the

collaboration between professors and students. This competence can be gained through teaching

tools like group assignments, written assignments, oral presentations by students, facts and

practical knowledge and internships/work placements during higher education (Delia, Mora

Ruiz, & Vila, 2014). Delia, Mora Ruiz, and Vila (2014) also go on in their study to suggest that

students can develop a strong profile of leadership through their studies and that the practices

employed in higher education have a lasting effect on the competencies students possess and take

with them into the companies they work for. Through the combined use of these tools and

collaboration between professors and students, Siena Heights University works to provide

students with an accurate representation of the competence expected upon entering the work

force in a leadership position.

At the most basic level, as provided in the definition of leadership by DuBrin, leaders are

meant to provide the means necessary to produce what an organization needs to be successful

(2016). While the purpose of a leader seems straightforward, it is necessary to understand why a

leader must be purposeful in everything they do. In a study conducted by Black and Magnuson in

2005, a set of female leaders was followed and their behaviors reported on; this study went on to

show that these leaders had a basic desire to focus on the empowerment of their group members.

The authors demonstrated that the purpose of a leader is anchored in their collaboration with

their group members and that neither can truly thrive without the other. By defining their purpose

and what they set out to accomplish, these women provided an example of being purposeful. The

women went on to state that they did not view their positions of leadership as a certain skill set

or position of power, rather a dynamic activity in which they felt compelled to fulfill their
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mission (Black & Magnuson, 2005). Similarly, Siena Heights University focuses on producing

students who can act out of a desire to fulfill their purpose not only in the business world but in

their dealings with everyone they encounter.

To be effective, a leader must always strive to be ethical, or employ the ability to separate

what is right from what is wrong. Leaders employ certain behaviors based on ethics to keep their

group members engaged and build trust. No individual is born with a developed set of ethics and

in the case of a leader, the development of a good sense of ethics takes time (DuBrin, 2016).

According to Svensson and Wood (2007), sustainable leadership ethics should be seen as a

process. In their study, the authors go on to suggest that an ethical leader increases the

engagement of their group (Svensson & Wood, 2007). In the opposite scenario, if a leader lacks a

good sense of ethics, their success will be severely limited and the group cannot be expected to

put their full effort into a collaboration with such an individual (DuBrin, 2016). By providing the

necessary tools and a system of checks and balances, Siena Heights University aims to provide a

prevailing sense of ethics upon their students and contributes to the making of great leaders.

Through academics, examples set by the staff and administration, and a collaboration

between professors and students Siena Heights University aims to produce individuals who are

competent, purposeful, and ethical. This is especially important for leadership students as they

enter the professional world. The lessons learned at Siena Heights University are all-

encompassing of the prime example of the leaders necessary to promote success in the business

and personal worlds.

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Resources

Black, L. L., & Magnuson, S. (2005). Women of spirit: Leaders in the counseling

profession. Journal of Counseling and Development : JCD, 83(3), 337-342. Retrieved

from https://search.proquest.com/docview/219024986?accountid=28644

Delia, D. Q., Mora Ruiz, J., & Vila, L.,E. (2014). Competencies which shape

leadership. International Journal of Manpower, 35(4), 514. Retrieved from

https://search.proquest.com/docview/1651163142?accountid=28644

DuBrin, A. (2016). Leadership research findings, practice and skills (8th ed.). Boston, MA:

Cengage Learning

Siena Heights University (2017). Mission and history. Retrieved from

http://sienaheights.edu/About/MissionHistory.aspx

Svensson, G., & Wood, G. (2007). Sustainable leadership ethics: A continuous and iterative

process. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 28(3), 251-268.

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/01437730710739666