Free Essay Sample: Resilience in Education

What is the meaning of resilience

Higher institutions of higher learning are being challenged with questions on the value and validity of higher education that they offer. Universities that have been in existence for a long period are facing closure or looking for alternative ways of addressing the challenges they are facing. Therefore there is the need to look for ways that the institutions can wake up from the challenges they are facing and continue offering their services effectively (Fitzgerald e al., 2012). Resilience can be defined as the ability of an institution to recover from the previous difficulties it has been experiencing. May it be an institution or a person, there are times when we face difficulties in our lives. The death of loved ones, job losses, and terrorist attacks are some of the traumatic events that human beings experience.

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Despite such experiences, people have to adapt over time to such situations through efforts and involves a number of steps in order to recover fully.

In institutions of higher learning, staff who are involved in the process of delivering the required levels of education. Among the lecturers are the online adjunct instructors who are basically lecturers who teach students on a part-time basis (Spaulding, 2008). These instructors go through a number of challenges and therefore there is the need for them to recover from the difficult situations they find themselves. These instructors earn low wages and benefits as compared to their full-time counterparts although they are the majority in the institutions of higher learning. Such online adjunct instructors are not protected by tenure and therefore may feel less inclined to express their opinions.

Therefore, the online adjunct instructors have woken up from the challenges they are experiencing and adopted. Being assigned many classes is one of the main challenges they face in their course of work. In order to survive, they have sought ways in which they can handle many students in a day despite it being tiring (Deluz, 2013). Also, earning low salaries as compared to other lecturers is another motivation towards attending many classes so that they can at least earn something for a living. The online instructors have adopted a resiliency trait that has helped then use both the external and internal resources within the organization to positively adjust to the challenging situations they find themselves in.

Impact of leadership styles in education

Leadership has a direct effect in every organization and the style of leadership that is adopted directly or indirectly contributes to the success of an organization. This is because the leaders determine the cultures, change tolerance and the level of motivation that the led individuals have (Drowning Pool, 2013). The style that is adopted by the leader at the institution of higher learning will affect the productivity of the people. When a leader adopts a favorable leadership style, then it will be of great importance to the people who are led and the institution itself. For instance, then the top management of an institution of higher learning uses a good leadership style where all the people in the institution are involved in the decision-making process, then there will be increased motivation and the output will be great as well. The impact on the working of adjunct online employees instructors in the institution of higher learning based on the leadership style adopted by the institution’s management.

1. Communication

The leadership style adopted by an institution can affect the level of communication among the online adjunct instructors as well as their productivity at their places of work (Burns, 2015). For instance, bureaucratic leaders are known to slow down the communication process by following that every part of the message follows specific guidelines spelled out by the institution. This acts may hinder the process of the online adjunct instructors to get the required instruction that they need to perform their daily duties. When there exists such leaders who don’t appreciate inputs from others in an institution of higher learning, may be tempted to tamper with information so that it can befit their needs. In the process of the online instructors trying to recover from their past difficulties and then encounter such leaders, it would be hard for them to fully recover as they are not free to do so.

2. Employee input

The style of leadership that I adopted in any institution of higher learning is in a great way going to affect how the online adjunct instructors operate (Robinson, 2010). A leader who adopts the democratic style of leadership accepts the opinions and inputs of the adjunct instructors and uses it to improve their working standards as well as allowing the employees to do whatever they want as far as it is productive thus favoring their efforts to recover from previous hardships.

3. Morale

Motivation among the online adjunct employees is very important in the process of them recovering from their past difficulties. The leadership style adopted by the institution has a great effect in instilling the required morale for the instructors and other employees to recover from their difficulties as they have confidence in the institution's morale (Tracy, 2015). When the democratic style of leadership is adopted within an organization, the online instructors feel that they are part of the institution’s success thus. For the autocratic leaders, it would be hard for them to install the required morale as they don’t accommodate the employee inputs.

4. Goals

Those leaders that set the goals of the employees are known to maximize the productivity of their employees. In the same case, instructors and other lecturers in the institutions of higher learning need those leaders who set goals for them. The type of leadership style that one adopts will in a great way affect how the goals are set (Robinson, 2010). For instance, a transformational leader is more likely to use more energy and inspiration in motivating those that he or she leads thus motivating them to work towards the success of the institution. For the online adjunct instructors recovering from various difficulties in the process of work, it is important for them to have clear goals so that in their wake, they will be focused towards a certain objective.

Conclusion

The leadership style adopted by a leader affects the operations of an organization or institution of higher learning greatly affects the operations of the institution. Therefore, there is the need for the leaders to adopt a leadership style or a combination of leadership styles that will favor and lead to successful operations of the organization. Good leadership styles are also known to bring about good collaborations and lead to a better environment for resilience in case a fall.

References

Burns, J. M. G., & Costanzo, P. (2015). Leadership.

Bourgeois, T. (2006). The hybrid leader: Blending the best of the male and female leadership styles. Winchester, VA: Oakhill Press.

Daft, R. L. (2011). Leadership. S.l.: South Western Cengage learning.

DeLuz, N. (2013). A study of the leadership styles of campus based women's centers in higher education in the southeast United States.

Fitzgerald, T., White, J., & Gunter, H. M. (2012). Hard labour?: Academic work and the changing landscape of higher education. Bingley, U.K: Emerald.

Giuliani, R. W., & Kurson, K. (2007). Leadership. New York: Hyperion.

Kippenberger, T. (2002). Leadership Styles. Chichester: Capstone Pub.

Kippenberger, T. (2002). Leadership Styles. Chichester: Capstone Pub.

Robinson, T. (2010). Examining the impact of leadership style and school climate on student achievement.

Spaulding, S. (2008). Team leadership in the game industry. Boston, MA: Course Technology, PTR/CRM.

Tracy, B. (2015). Leadership.