Leadership and Values in Language Education - Al Akhawayn ...

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114Proceedings of the 27 th MATE Annual ConferenceIn addition to these competencies required to handle successful multiculturalinteraction, particularly in the context of business and management, sharedleadership places more emphasis on the abilities and traits of character not only tomanage business organisations, including effective human resourcesmanagement, but also the abilities and qualities necessary to operate as a memberof the group. As previously discussed, within the perspective of shared leadershipteam-work and small-group work has become the most effective unit of workorganization and performance. This focus on leadership as a group levelphenomenon has motivated an increasing interest in understanding the dynamicsof communication in small groups. For example, Fletcher and Kaufer (2003:21)state that the “recognition of leadership as a group phenomenon would suggest animportant theoretical and practical link between leadership research and researchon group processes and team work”. To this end the focus has come to be placedon what can be referred to as Group participatory membership competencies.These competencies are generally the knowledge, skills, and personalcharacteristics that help members of a group, team, or organization to lead oneanother and cooperate to make decisions, set common goals and priorities,accomplish and perform the group tasks, and achieve the goals of the group.Following Guggenheimer and Szulc (1998), Owen (1997), and Owen and Stadler(1999), these competencies can be summed up as follows:Group participatory membership competencies1. Openness to change and change management:2. Ability to cope with uncertainties and conflict3. Setting common goals and priorities4. Vision and passion5. Humor and Courage6. Energy, vitality, and enthusiasm7. Building a team, Integrity and trust8. Motivation and creativity9. Appreciation of diversity and toleranceThese competencies highlight the ability and willingness to be open to change,that is, readiness to change one’s practices and help others to deliberately joinchange efforts. However, change introduces uncertainty, ambiguity, confusion,conflict, and fear. Therefore, shared leadership practice requires that members ofthe group are able to overcome these situations of conflict and uncertainty thatmay result from their differing interests, expectations, types and degrees ofmotivation, and their ability levels, as well as the complexity of the group-work
115Proceedings of the 27 th MATE Annual Conferencetask itself. In this respect, a sense of humour on the part of members of the groupmay help to release tension and create a stress-free atmosphere. It may help tosolve communication breakdowns and problems. It also helps to break differentbarriers that may hinder group members’ full expression of themselves. Thissense of humour is therefore an important group membership competency for ithelps to set the ground for open patterns of communication and socialorganisation necessary for a supportive and motivating group climate. Moreover,motivation is another contributing factor to successful shared leadership practice.Being self-motivated is then a prime prerequisite for full expression of passionand self-responsibility. To be motivated and able to motivate one’s peers wouldlikely help innovation and creativity for unmotivated people are unlikely to becreative and productive. Adequate levels of motivation among members of thegroup are important for their practical and playful involvement and necessary foreffective group organization and performance.Furthermore, the ability to accept and appreciate diversity among members of thegroup with respect to their socio-cultural and functional backgrounds is aprerequisite for members to work together and participate in the process ofmaking decisions, setting goals and priorities, and collaborative implementationand evaluation of the group-work tasks. This collaborative effort may reduce thedegree of uncertainty, confusion, and conflict and would therefore makeexpectations clearer and would increase members’ self-motivated and selfresponsibleengagement in the achievement of group common objectives. It is theability to bring a very diverse set of functional backgrounds and efforts together.2. Implications for language classrooms communications2. 1. Learner-centerednessShared leadership practice in second and foreign language classrooms implies aredefinition of teachers’ and students’ roles in terms of power, participation,communication, and social organization patterns established and maintained inthese classrooms. In other words, it implies that leadership and responsibility forthe organization, management, and accomplishment of classroom communicationtasks and events should be distributed among and shared between students andteachers, as well as between students themselves. Within this perspective, theteacher’s role is to act as a peer, whose formal and legitimate leadership isextended beyond explicit control to cover the implicit roles of assisting,supporting, enabling, and facilitating students’ successful and effectiveengagement in classroom experiences, whereby they could practice and developthe competencies and traits of self-organization and self-leadership, which would,
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