Lead 200

November 19, 2012| Martin Luther King Jr. | Leader Assessment| | | Dawan Robinson Leadership 200 Dawan Robinson November 19, 2012 LEAD 200 Martin Luther King Jr. ’s Biography Martin Luther King Jr. was born January 15, 1929 and passed away April 4, 1968 in Atlanta, Georgia. He faced many challenges during the Civil Rights movement. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assaulted several times by people on the streets. He received hundreds of phone calls, and letters, which was threatening to kill him. During the movement Martin Luther King Jr. had been arrested more than twenty times.One of the most famous threats was made on Martin Luther King Jr. was on January 30th, 1956. A bomb was thrown into Martin Luther King Jr. ’s house, fortunately nobody was seriously injured. Almost everywhere he went he was harassed. In 1964 he was harassed by a group of black Muslims, they threw stones at him in the streets. On the other hand, in 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Chr istian Leadership Conference, which was a organization made to provide new leadership for the now growing civil rights movement. The ideals for this organization he got from Christianity and its effective methods came from Gandhi.From the time he was elected the president of Southern Christian Leadership until the time he passed he traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, going to speak wherever there was injustice, protest, and action. Also, in that time he wrote five books as well as a lot of articles. In these years, he led a big protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that grabbed the attention of the entire world, which gave what he called a union of sense of right and wrong. Martin Luther King Jr. ’s Impact Martin Luther King impacted everyone through a nonviolent protest.He showed love, faith, determination and fearless representation. He didn’t only fight for equal rights but what most people fail to realize is that he was fighting agai nst poverty by recommending that we stop the war in Vietnam and use all of that money to lift our economy so there would be a chance for young Americans of all colors and ages to capture the dream. My personal opinion I felt that when he started speaking out against the war in Vietnam his life was in serious danger. His idea to stop the war and use that money to pull people out of poverty scared the United States government.Martin Luther king demonstrates everything that is good in America. His actions showed that one man or woman can impact the country with a simple message of peace and love through a single nonviolent protest. I would say that Martin Luther King impacted America by teaching us that it’s wrong to discriminate against people. Also, that all people have the right to go to the same school, the same church, and the same restaurants. He fought for the right of his people to be considered equal with each race. What made him stand out to me is that he was a nonviol ent person.He didn't believe in using violence to reach his goal. Many decades later after Martin Luther King Jr. was gunned down on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tenn. , he is still viewed mainly as the black leader of a movement for black equality. Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered as an inspirational speaker, whose leadership came from speechmaking. Speeches like the ‘I Have a Dream' speech at the civil rights march in Washington in August 1963 stimulated people of all races. Martin Luther King Jr. ’s Leadership When people think of Martin Luther King Jr. , they think of a great leader.I think that Martin Luther King’s famous â€Å"I have a Dream† speech shows just what kind of leader he was. He was a man who was very effective at what he did. Martin Luther King Jr. was described by some as having a unique way of getting people to work together rather than fight. Most average leaders will only focus on results, and that would be all. Good leaders focus on the behaviors that will get the results and great leaders focus on the emotions that will drive these behaviors. When thinking of being a great leader you have to be a visionary and be sure to follow that vision.This was back at a time when African Americans had to sit on designated seats on the bus, until King dreamed that America would rise above color. The ability to dream and follow his vision is a powerful characteristic and history shows that some of the great leaders were even greater visionaries. If Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t dream of equal civic rights, we wouldn’t be living in a society where cultural differences are celebrated. Martin Luther King Jr. was a leader who had a lot of self-doubt, and who was aware of his own limitations and his weaknesses.Sometimes he was hesitant to take on the responsibilities that were put on him. For example, during the Montgomery bus boycott, he was worried about the threats to his family. He was more feared rather th an confident and secure in his leadership role. Martin Luther King Jr. ’s ability to deliver a public speech showed his strong leadership, in which that's how he got so many supporters. He was able to persuade thousands of people to believe what he believed in. People began to trust in him and to me that's the number one thing you need as a good leader, the trust of your followers.Nobody wants a modest leader when it comes to getting what they want. Determination and confidence is what made him a fearless leader, who jumped right into the problem and made people love him for his courage to stand up and take on the leadership role. It is recognized that Martin Luther King Jr. ’s leadership styles has proven him to be one of the greatest leaders. Almost in every big city in the United States there is a street or school named after him. This shows how greatly his achievements are misunderstood and most of them are found in black neighborhoods.Throughout this analysis I wi ll be discussing the different variety styles of leadership theories that Martin Luther King Jr. used. He used theories such as, path-goal theory, situational theory, and the servant leadership theory. Path-Goal Theory Defined In addition, when it comes to the path-goal theory it is described to be a leadership concept that the subordinates accept a leader's behavior only so far as they view it as causing an immediate or future benefit. Therefore, a leader's main function is to clear a path to the realization of the ubordinates' goals. They have to decide the behavior patterns that are most relevant in helping the subordinates get what they want. Path-goal theory is used by almost every successful leader. Martin Luther King used path-goal theory, which is designed to show how leaders can help subordinates along the path to their goals by choosing specific behaviors that are best fit to the subordinates needs and to the situation in which subordinates are working. Martin Luther King was a great leader because he was able to direct and motivate subordinates.In my opinion to be a good path-goal leader, a leader has to be focused on being instructive, supportive, participative, and achievement. The leader should be able to adapt and realize what motivates the subordinate. If a subordinate needs to have control on a project, the leader should be participative and provide involvement. On the other hand, if a subordinate has a need for involvement, the leader should be supportive and provide nurturance. The path-goal theory is important because it allows the leader to see what behaviors will affect the subordinate positively and negatively.This theory allows the leader to change their leadership style based on the subordinates’ personality. Martin Luther King wanted people to think differently. I believe that because he wanted people to think differently, helped him remove obstacles for subordinates. It challenged people to make a difference. Most leaders want ed people to do exactly what they’re told, but Martin Luther King wanted people to think outside the box and think differently. Martin Luther King also gave support for subordinates. He supported new ideas that the subordinates came up with and this also helped make things happen, like equality throughout the world.Situational Leadership Theory Defined When viewing the situational leadership theory, it describes this leadership style as belief that effective leadership requires flexibility in leadership styles depending on the situation. In other words, the leader has to adjust his style to fit the development level of the followers he is trying to influence. With situational leadership, it is up to the leader to change his style, not the follower to adapt to the leader’s style. This leadership style may change continually to meet the desires of others in the organization based on the situation. Martin Luther King Jr. s great with using situational leadership. When a d ecision is needed, an effective leader doesn’t just fall into one style, such as using transactional or transformational styles. There are different causes that affect situational decisions, which include the motivation and the ability of the followers. Which, this is affected by causes within the particular situation. With situational leadership, the relationship between the followers and the leader may be another factor that affects leader behavior as much as it does follower behavior in different situations. Martin Luther King Jr. s observation of his followers and the situation will have an affect on what they do rather than the truth of the situation. His perception of his self and other factors such as stress and mood will also change the leaders' behavior in different situations. I believe Martin Luther King follows the situational approach of leadership because he has the ability to adapt to the variety of followers and environments as well as opposing attitudes. I al so believe he was mostly using the coaching style. He was a very supportive person, but at the same time he directed people with his speeches on the direction people needed to go.When looking at the styles approach, I believe he was really relationship oriented. To me this means that he had a lot of concern for the people. When seeing the skills model, motivation was one of the keys to his individual attribute. He had the dream that inspired everybody. He was also great with problem-solving skills and social judgment skills. He was able to get all these people to work with him and follow him to pursue his dream. He was great at adapting to different situations when doing his speeches. He got the vibe from the audiences and adapted from them.He observed his followers and grabbed their attention by relating to the situation at hand, Servant Leadership Defined Servant leadership stresses the importance of the role a leader plays as the factor of the resources of a organization, and tea ches leaders to serve others while still achieving the goals that are set. A servant leader is a servant first, who has responsibility to be in the world, so he contributes to the well-being of people and the community. A servant leader looks to the desires of the people and asks his self how he can help them to solve problems and promote personal development.He puts his main focus on people, because only content and motivated people are able to reach their targets and to achieve the set expectations. Martin Luther King followed the servant leadership theory because he was a servant first who contributed to the well-being of people and the community. He had the ability to be inspired and also inspire his followers. To me Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most inspirational and influential leaders in recent history. He actually preached and practiced servant-leadership.During a time when fear and segregation took over his country, he picked forgiveness and compromise instead of ge tting revenge and retaliating. He was a representative of positive change, trying to heal a country that was in a bad situation and had people that showed prejudice, hatred, and discrimination. Martin Luther King took on a different approach than what others would do, instead of hating the people who disliked him; he chose to love them instead. He insisted Americans to stop judging and start understanding each other. Like most great leaders, he used his words to empower, heal, and reunite people.A lot can be learned in his â€Å"I have a dream† speech, when relating to servant leadership. I would say Martin Luther King used servant leadership because when he was faced with a problem, he looked for solutions that would benefit everyone, not just him. When something went wrong, he would take the blame. When things went well, he shared the credit with others. He told everyone the same story, even when it was difficult. He knew that he didn't have all the answers, so he looked fo r advice from others. He worked hard and inspired others to do the same as well. Martin Luther King, Jr. is a great example of a servant leader.His life shows the great power of servant leadership to totally change an entire nation. Conclusion In conclusion, Martin Luther King, Jr. accomplished many great things during his life. He has impacted my life deeply. If it were not for him, there would be lots of racism in my school. If this happened, there would be too much attention given to misbehaved students and not enough to my education. When I grow up I want to follow in his footsteps. Just like my hero Martin Luther King, I want to win a Nobel Prize. That would be my greatest accomplishment. Luckily, we had Martin Luther King, Jr. to put an end to racism.There is still some racism, but with Martin Luther King Jr. ‘s words in our heart, we can stop whatever racism there is left. Dr. Martin Luther King delivered the speech many wished they could have written and he inspired li ves others were not able to. He also changed the way of thinking of those who were unaware before his â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech. He definitely made a difference, and continues to inspire people, not only for standing up to everyone and anyone but because he fought through obstacles put in his way and never backing down, and always believing he would accomplish his goal until turning his dream into a reality.Work Cited * Donald T. Phillips. â€Å"Martin Luther King, Jr. On Leadership† Inspiration and Wisdom for Challenging Times. January 1999. New York, New York. * Keith, Kent M. â€Å"The Case for Servant Leadership† Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, 2008. Westfield, IN. * Huggins, Nathan Irvin. â€Å"The Journal of American History† Martin Luther King Jr. Charisma and Leadership. Vol. 74. No. 2. September 1987. Pp. 477-481. Mississippi Valley.