MBA Application Letter to Study The WritePass Journal

MBA Application Letter to Study Reference MBA Application Letter to Study INTRODUCTION1. PERSONAL HISTORY1.1 FUTURE FOCUS2. REFLECTION ON ACTION2.1 PROBLEMS FACED  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2.2 STRATEGIES USED2.3 LEARNING THEORIES2.3.1 Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory2.3.1.1 EXAMPLE2.3.2  Mayer Cognitive theory of Multimedia Learning2.3.2.1 Example2.3.3 CONCLUSIONReferenceRelated INTRODUCTION 1. PERSONAL HISTORY My name is . I have done my Bachelors of Business Administration as my undergraduate degree. I always wanted to do an MBA and this was the reason I did BBA in my undergraduate degree to form a learning basis in the field of business management. Through BBA I have developed the basic skills in all the fields of management and MBA will help me in enhancing those skills at â€Å"M† level. I chose to do an MBA in University of Wales Institute, Cardiff because it will give me an international exposure and an international point of view of looking into business and because it’s only a one year course. I always felt that the only thing in which I lack behind from others is self confidence. MBA will definitely help me in gaining that confidence and give me an extra edge over others. It will also help me in building up my leadership skills and broaden my horizons and my thinking power in the field of business. 1.1 FUTURE FOCUS I want to establish a career in the IT world. I want to enter the IT world by gaining the most basic job an MBA graduate gets and then want to grow up gradually and consistently. I want to grow from the most basic level even if I get a better opportunity initially because my ultimate aim is to work and gain a capital and then start up my own business. I want to work at every level and gain experience and knowledge in every field which will help me in applying those skills and knowledge when I start up my own business. By working in different designations I will be able to even understand the relations between higher authorities and employees in a company. The graph above shows the level of growth which I expect from myself in the five years from the day I enter the corporate world. 2. REFLECTION ON ACTION 2.1 PROBLEMS FACED  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Due to the change in the entire educational pattern between my home country and the host country there were lot of problems faced by me initially when I came to study my MBA at University of Wales Institute, Cardiff. The major problem faced by me while doing my first assignment was the usage of Harvard Referencing System and it took me a lot of time to understand the thin line difference between as what can be considered as plagiarism and what cannot be considered as plagiarism. It was little challenging to understand as how to refer and cite different texts taken from various sources.  Ã‚   I found it little difficult to understand the difference between two terms paraphrasing and copying. I feel a majority of the students would have faced the same problem as I faced because when I was doing a short assignment on the topic ‘plagiarism’ itself, I came across a survey which showed that more than 50% of the students have plagiarised their statement of purpose while apply ing for admissions. Accessing the electronic resources provided by the university was not much of a problem but sometimes it was difficult to access the few databases as it required registration and all. Another major problem faced by me was it was very difficult for me and my group members to understand our finance assignment. Our finance assignment was different from the theory which was being taught in class. We couldn’t even go and ask our professor about the assignment often as what degree of guidance we take was a part of the assessing criteria. 2.2 STRATEGIES USED By getting involved in Wider Reading. By reading more about the Harvard Referencing System and looking at the examples as how the reference is given if the text is taken from a book, if taken from a journal and so on. Through communication with other people who already know about plagiarism and through in depth discussions about it with seniors who have already faced the same problem and overcome it. Going through the past projects and reports available in the library. Avoiding the usage of google and try and read and collect information from the various sources available in the electronic library. 2.3 LEARNING THEORIES 2.3.1 Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory Kolb’s have developed this theory on the earlier work done by John Dewey and Kurt Levin. According to Kolb Experiential learning theory, learning is a process where knowledge is gained through experience. Kolb’s has divided his learning cycle of experiential theory into four zones. The first zone Concrete experience refers to the stage of doing and experimenting things. The second zone Reflective Observation refers to the process where a person observes the experiment done by him and reflects accordingly. The third zone Abstract Conceptualization refers to the process which runs in the mind of a person where he gets involved in deeper thinking and tries to conceptualize the entire experiment in the most effective way. Last but not the least zone Active Experimentation refers to the process where a person is planning to experiment the concept which has been understood by him for more experiences and learning. In addition to the four zones there are even four different styles of learning which can be utilised to the most when it is used in between the correct zones. Diverger is a style of learning which can be utilised the most when it has enough data and information to observe. An assimilator style is one where enough data is given to make a concept on the basis of information. Converger is a style where the space is given for practicing and testing the concept. Accommodator is a style where a learner is able to accommodate his experiments into more learning and gaining more experience through that learning. (Sugarman, 1985) A nature of a student is very similar to the kolb’s theory because a student acts as an actor as well as receiver. A student experience lot of things in classrooms by listening to lectures, arguments made by other classmates, examples given by lecturers etc. A student reflect on this experiences by   going home and reading more about the topic which was lectured in the classroom, researching on the internet, reading blogs, journals and newspapers and collect as much as information possible. It then builds a broad outline of the topic in his mind and then put that concept in action by making a project on the topic. Such nature of a student is proved by the model formed by Svinciki and Dixon. The data found out by Svinciki and Dixon is attached in the appendix. (Bergsteiner, Avery and Neuman, 2010) On a personal note I totally agree with Kolb’s Experiential Theory as it is true that past experiences or direct experience really help you with learning. I have personally experienced this learning cycle. During my induction week at University of Wales Institute, Cardiff I heard a word â€Å"Plagiarism† from my professor. I didn’t know the meaning of the word and so after my class got over I went home and search the internet and found out the meaning of the word and thus learnt a new concept. Through the process of finding the meaning of the word plagiarism I even came across a referencing system known as Harvard referencing system and learnt about the usage of it. 2.3.1.1 EXAMPLE A case study of Ludic learning space provides us with an example where Experiential Learning Theory has put into practice. The case study learning to play, playing to learn is developed on the basis of two perspectives. Firstly the emergence of ludic learning space by multidisciplinary theories uncovering the hidden principles of play. Secondly the formations of the same learning space through a football league case study where players of different age group, gender etc come together under an examination. As the theory suggests that individuals learn a lot when they are set free, the ludic learning space also gives the players the chance to learn from the experience they gain by playing under no supervisory authority and practice again and again. Through such freedom given to the players they are able to set their own path of learning and thus start the learning cycle. After their play, the players observe their patterns of play and reflect on it by rectifying their mistakes and strengthening their weaker areas and develop themselves more strongly towards the game. They conceptualize their game and then set their own rules and codes of conduct of the game leading to the completion of the Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle. (Kolb Y and Kolb A, 2010)    (Emeraldinsight.com, 1988) 2.3.2  Mayer Cognitive theory of Multimedia Learning According to this theory, Mayer believes in that a person learn more from photographic images and in text images rather than just from plain words. According to Mayer, this theory believes that there are two sections in human brain. The theory assume few things such as an human brain has two separate sections for recording different type of media such as auditory and visual media. It even assume that every section has a limited capacity of recording and thus believes that learning is a simple process of collecting information, filtering it in your mind and then organising and then presenting one’s collected information to others. This can be represented easily in the form of a diagram. (Mayer, 1998) (Stuff4educators.com, 2011) The working memory filters the information from the sensory memory organs such as ears and eyes and short list down the selected words and images which it wants to store in the working memory. Then the working memory starts its process and converts those sounds and images into verbal and pictorial mode respectively. Thus the integrating process starts from those verbal and pictorial modes and the knowledge gets stored into a long term memory format. On a personal note I believe in the lesson which the theory suggest as from personal experience I have seen that it is more easy for me to remember things when presented in pictorial form such as diagrams, pictures, graphical representation etc rather than just in words. It has been always easy for me to recollect the information I read from the pictures during my examination. 2.3.2.1 Example According to a survey done by the Department of Education of the University of Gent in Belgium it is proved that students spent less time on the instructions when given in a visual mode than the students under audio conditions. Students with video inputs provided proved to outperform their friends and other students with audio inputs. (Tabbers, Martens and Merrienboer, 2004) 2.3.3 CONCLUSION The reason behind as why I chose the above two theories is that I strongly believe that the learning model suggested by the two theorist is related to the way in which I have started my learning process. Reference   Sugarman Leonies, 1985, Kolb’s model of experiential learning: touchstone for Trainers, Students, Counsellors and Clients, Journal of Counselling and Development, [e-journal], Vol 64, Issue 4/5p, p264. Available Through : Business Source Premier Database [Accessed December, 1985] Kolb Alice Y and Kolb David A, 2010, Learning to play, playing to learn: A case study of the ludic learning space, Journal of Organizational Change Management, [e-journal], Vol 43, Issue 1, p43. Available through: Swetswise Database [Accessed 2010] Emerald Group Publishing Limitied, 1988 [image online] Available at google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=emeraldinsight.com/content_images/fig/0230230102001.pngimgrefurl=emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm%3Farticleid%3D1838283%26show%3Dhtmlusg=__ROmkVXrzU2Eg-VtAp4_XXdFbijY=h=1541w=1363sz=92hl=enstart=0zoom=0tbnid=7ENiZbCTLKoTHM:tbnh=137tbnw=121ei=rOKZTaHSBYGkugOX6ZHSAwprev=/images%3Fq%3Dludic%2Blearning%2Bspace%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D667%26tbs%3Disch:1um=1itbs=1iact=hcvpx=149vpy=101dur=2576hovh=150hovw=133tx=72ty=169oei=rOKZTaHSBYGkugOX6ZHSAwpage=1ndsp=30ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0 [ Accessed 1st April 2011 ] Richard Mayer, 1998 , Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning [online] Available at learning-theories.com/cognitive-theory-of-multimedia-learning-mayer.html [Accessed   2008] Multimodal Instructions, 2011 [image] [online] Available at stuff4educators.com/index.php?p=1_12_Multimodal-Instruction [Accessed 2nd   April 2011]   Tabbers, Huib K. Martens, Rob L. Merrià «nboer, Jeroen J. G., 2004, Multimedia instructionsand cognitive load theory: Effects of Modality and Cueing, British Journal of Education Psychology, [e-journal], Vol 74, Issue 1, P71 .Available at Swetswise Database [ Accessed 3rd April 2011] Harald Bergsteiner, Gayle C Avery and Ruth Neuman, 2010, Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model : Critique from a Modelling Perspective, Studies in Continuing Education [e-journal] Vol 32, Issue 1, P29. Available at Swetswise Database [Accessed 4th April 2011]

Profit and Prophet - Commonly Confused Words

Profit and Prophet - Commonly Confused Words The noun profit means a benefit, an advantageous gain, or a return on an investment. As a verb, profit means to derive advantage or to gain a profit. The noun prophet refers to a person who speaks by divine inspiration, a person with powers of prediction, or a chief spokesperson for a cause or movement. Examples Globalization has favored the pursuit of profit and the accumulation of private wealth over the provision of public goods.(George Soros, The Bubble of American Supremacy, 2004)Even while Shakespeare was alive, a few unscrupulous writers and publishers tried to profit from his reputation.(Jack Lynch, Becoming Shakespeare, 2007)Because ​Bob Dylan wrote and sang about improving society, some young people in the 1960s saw him as a prophet of change.I felt . . . like some crazy Old Testament prophet going out into the desert to live on locusts and alkali water because God had summoned him in a dream.(Stephen King, Bag of Bones, 1998) Practice Exercises (a) There was another part of Henry Wallace, no less important and certainly no less serious, that was known to few and fully understood by nobody. This was Wallace the mystic, the _____, the ardent seeker of cosmic truth. (John C. Culver and John Hyde, American Dreamer: The Life and Times of Henry A. Wallace, 2000)(b) Some of the bureaucrats were actually quite clever, and played the game well, sometimes even making a _____ on their trades and transactions.(Tom Clancy, The Bear and the Dragon, 2000)(c) I hope Im smart enough and mature enough to _____ from the mistakes I made in the past.(Julia Reed, The House on First Street, 2008) Answers to Practice Exercises:  Profit and Prophet (a) There was another part of Henry Wallace, no less important and certainly no less serious, that was known to few and fully understood by nobody. This was Wallace the mystic, the  prophet, the ardent seeker of cosmic truth.(John C. Culver and John Hyde,  American Dreamer: The Life and Times of Henry A. Wallace, 2000)(b) Some of the bureaucrats were actually quite clever, and played the game well, sometimes even making a  profit  on their trades and transactions.(Tom Clancy,  The Bear and the Dragon, 2000)(c) I hope Im smart enough and mature enough to  profit  from the mistakes I made in the past.(Julia Reed,  The House on First Street, 2008)

The Cold War Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Cold War - Coursework Example During the Cold War where communism spread rapidly in Eastern Europe, China, and Korea the United States were forced to increase noticeably its defense spending. As a result of this increase the power of Military-Industrial complex grew which led to the growth of the middle class in the United States. The US foreign policy and its effect of domestic policy are given below. On March 12, 1947 while addressing the Congress President Harry Truman put forth The Truman Doctrine, "The United States will defend free people and their free institutions at any place at any point in the world where outside communist aggression threatens that nation's internal stability."The Truman Doctrine led to US following a Policy of Containment to deal with the spread of communist regimes, and the policy required the US to react to Soviet initiatives. This policy gave the president too much military power too and since the Truman Doctrine, many US military actions have been undertaken by and with the backin g of a presidential address. Because the need of the quick and on time response to the foreign crisis cannot be undermined and left unattended until the congress decides, example, after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, President Roosevelt appeared before Congress to request a declaration of war.

Feasibility Study For a Hospital in Saudi Arabia Essay

Feasibility Study For a Hospital in Saudi Arabia - Essay Example 1.3 System Overview Responsible Organization Independent Research Foundation (IRF) is the responsible organization. IRF has conducted most of the surveys on their own as well as taken help from Government and Private Organization in establishing the feasibility. IRF is responsible for handling all the investment and making sure that all goes according to the plan. System Name Tabeeb Healthcare Facility System Code BJH-699-I2011 System Category ---- Major Application: General Health Care. The facility provides services of general nature but a Cancer Research facility will also be established. The hospital will be modeled after the famous Princeton Planes Borough Hospital (US). Diagnostics and Cancer research will be given special attention and investment. ---- General Support System: The Investors for this facility will mostly be from all over the world but the facility will provide services for all the locals. As there isn’t much insurance market strength in Saudi Arabia (comp aratively), there will not be much trouble in treating patients from all walks of life. Economic Analysis and Indicators Three economic indicators were used to analyze the investment for Tabeeb Health Care Facility; the Payback period of 2.5 years, NPV of US $20 million and ROI of 13%. The economic analysis shows that to raise capital for establishing the facility, IRF is in no position to raise the capital themselves. Therefore, the most likely sources of capital to all the above scenarios are grants and / or units owned by third parties, such as energy service companies (ie, through the contract or other similar contracts for energy services). As most of the foreign investment floods into Saudi Arabia in the form of oil sector development, our most likely sponsor will be any reputable oil company, preferably, Shell. Lifecycle costs of different scenarios were performed using the reputable software software (NRC 2005). Economic indicators to assess the economic viability were: a si mple payback period, NPV, and ROI. This type of analysis makes more sense as it will be simpler to present and more likely our sponsors will agree to our plan. Agencies typically grant funds by listing projects based on a simple payback period. For life cycle cost analysis, assumptions are made as follows: Projected Life 65 years Cost Inflation Rate 2.25% Discount Rate 7% Debt Term 15 years Interest Rate 4.7% Contingencies 4% (of capital costs) Cost (Energy) Savings 55%-98% 2.0 Market Analysis Recent Studies have shown an upward trend in the demand for health care facilities among the people of Kingdom. Population is increasing at a rapid pace but the health care facilities aren’t matching the population growth rate. Other than the fact that growth rate of health care facilities is not impressive in Saudi Arabia indicating that there will be an increase in the demand for doctors and nurses, everyone needs to see a doctor. Medical and health care facilities have an inelastic d emand. Investments in pharmaceuticals and medical facilities are often always considered an option that people go for. Tabeeb Health Care Facility will be built in the heart of the capital Riyadh. The patient statistics (as they are discussed below) were relatively easy to collect and we have a very good reason to believe that the data is as

The Benefit of Games Essay Example for Free

The Benefit of Games Essay A sound education system is one that seeks the overall development of an individual, both in mind and in body. In fact the main purpose of education is to encourage the growth of a healthy mind in a healthy body. A good career that brings a high income alone does not guarantee a happy life. One must also be endowed with good health. Only a healthy lifestyle with a healthy eating habits and lost of exercise can bring about health. Therefore, games should be made compulsory in schools. Games promote positive qualities like team work and sportsmanship. In games which involves in team like football, volleyball and basketball, players must cooperate with one another to ensure the success of their team. There is no place for selfish desires and personal glory. On the other hand, when the team loses, all the teammates share the blame. Games and sport make the school life interesting. They add variety. Imagine having to study a whole day and then having to sit for exams. It will be both monotonous and boring, just as the saying goes ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. ’ Every game has its own set of rules and regulations. Players must adhere to these rules and regulations. If a player goes against any of them, he will be penalized. Games, thus, help students to be disciplined. Similarly, students become aware that as they grow older, they have to conform to the norms of society. If they do not, they run the risk of being ostracized. Games which are held after school hours will keep students occupied. They will not have time to pursue undesirable activities such as loafing and watching blue movies. This proves the adage, ‘An idle mind is the devil’s workshop. ’ Taking into consideration the numerous benefits games and sports have to offer, it is imperative that they be included in the school curriculum.

Portable Head CT Scan and its Effect on Intracranial Pressure (ICP), Ce

A portable Computed Tomography (CT) is used to manage and diagnose CNS diseases, and acute brain injuries, in the Neuroscience ICU (NICU), for example, Traumatic Brain Injuries(TBI), acute strokes, (transient ischemic attack) TIA’s, and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). CT studies are an important component in the assessment and management of patients with brain injuries. The portable device is designed specifically for head and neck scans for critically ill patients that are at risk for complications and increased morbidity during intrahospital transportation. Researchers have studied and found evidence that substantiates that intrahospital transport of patients with SAH or brain injuries can affect their outcomes. Many hospital protocols dictate the use of portable head CT (pHCT) scanners to monitor and assess critically ill patients in the NICU, to decrease negative effects of intrahospital transportation on patient outcomes. This is an important factor in reduction and pre vention secondary injuries in critically ill patients. The intention of this paper is to conduct a critical analysis of a related research article. The article reviewed is Portable Head CT Scan and its Effect on Intracranial Pressure (ICP), Cerebral Perfusion Pressure (CPP), and Brain Oxygen. First, there will be an identification of the premise of the study through an article synopsis. Second, validity of the study will be described and discussed. Lastly, this paper will discuss how this research is applicable to Neuro ICU at UNM Hospital. Article Synopsis: The authors of this research article were from the Departments of Neurosurgery, Neurology, Anesthesiology & Critical Care, Nursing, and Biostatistics & Epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania... ... The research conducted by Peace et.al. raises a valid hypothesis that warrants further study in order to decrease the risks to patients on NICU and other units, in all hospitals. Studies with significant reliability data, high internal and external validity, are imperative in making changes in hospitals around the world to decrease secondary injury to patient populations and increasing their chances of full recovery from their injuries. Although, this particular study resulted in preliminary data, similar protocols found in this study are implemented by the UNM NICU. Works Cited Peace, K., Maloney-Wilensky, E., Frangos, S., Hujcs, M., Levine, J., Kofke, W.A., Yang, W., & Le Roux, P.D. (2011). Portable head CT scan and its effect on intracranial pressure, cerebral perfusion pressure, and brain oxygen. Journal of Neurosurgery, 114(5), 1479-1484.

Second Shift

A Woman’s Work Is Never Done Traditionally men worked and brought home the bacon while women stayed home and took care of the children and the home. This changed when the new liberated independent women became driven towards acquiring a career, caring for the children and balancing domestic work. Thus women started to complain about being exhausted from working, multi-tasking, and solely taking care of the house-hold, while their husbands worked and bring forth a paycheck and think that is efficient enough and his job is pretty much done. ’I definitely concur with The Second Shift because this essay most women can really relate to, including me. It filters the contribution of what the husband brings to the house-hold versus the woman. It makes me ponder about why our husbands are letting us become husbands†. The author, Ariel Hochschild demonstrates keen examples and stated factual research from her findings on the percentages of husbands that said they should hel p out around the house and the ones that actually did, and furious Wives who not only had to work an eight hour shift; but also took care of the house-hold duties and tended to the children.From the author’s eight year research she concluded that failed marriages were not due to alcohol, physical and or mental abuse, infidelity, or financial problems, but due to the lack of domestic assistance from the husband. Men say that they want a woman to build with but why is she building alone while he frolics in the sun. If wives work a nine to five just like their husbands then the husband should be just as domesticated as his wife. Times have changed and women are not succumbing to the position of home maker anymore. Now a day’s women are solid with a take charge personality; which most men are fancy of.But even the most resilient woman can crumble after a hard day of work and then to come home to a husband watching sports while she has to cook, clean, tend to the kids, groc ery shopping, schools visits, do the laundry, maintain doctor’s appointment and still have a whooping sexual appetite at the end of the night is just out right preposterous. Every house-hold, family, and situation is different; therefore if both partners work then both partners should come to a mutual understanding based on each other’s schedule and split the domestic work evenly.A wife working is of great assistance to her husband financially, so like the old saying goes I scratch your back and you scratch mine. The husbands pay bills in the home and guess what, so goes the wife. They both occupy the same house, so why is the wife doing all the domestic work by herself? By all means the husband should help out in the house a lot more, but let us take a walk down the American road for a second to decipher what could possibly help this problem.If America were concerned with the hindrance that the broken home poses on its citizens the government would offer a helping han d to families, As far as funding programs to offer low costing or free child care, offer family assistance to families that make a little bit above the poverty margin, offer in home cleaning for families with more than one child or any assistance that could alleviate the stress on the woman financially, mentally and physically; While bringing the family structure together and keeping it that way.Who would turn this proposal down if it were given? This help would lead to wives spending more quality time with the kids and the husband. Families could do what they should do; enjoy and spend time together with mom not worrying about what elbow grease is ahead of her. A non-frazzled woman equals a euphoric home. Switzerland government offers a system very close to this, even in England and Canada health care is free, and these countries are not as rich and advanced as America. â€Å"In my opinion America will only help out if you are literally a bum on the street†.If families make more than the marginal poverty line annually then forget about it. America could take a lesson or two from these countries. This sociological and economical methodology could move society on a whole towards a better functionality. Hence this kind of help is like a domino effect in that it would not only help out families, but there will be an extensive percentage drop in divorces, mental illness, teen crimes, parent absence, child neglect and single mothers raising children.In essence, having a family and a beautiful home is a gift from god and should not be classified as the Second Shift; therefore the husbands should step up and assist their wives around the house daily so she does not have to feel this way. He too should have an idea of what it is like to arrive home from work and still have to work. He should have a very vivid idea of what it is like to work all day without any sleep prior to the night before, pick up each child from daycare, cook, clean, shopping and tend to th e kids etc. And let us see how he holds up.This domestic conflict between husbands and wives has been going on years now, and based on Ms. Hochscild’s studies from 1960s to the 1970s women worked fifteen more hours each week than men. Over a year women worked an extra month of twenty four hour days. Over a dozen years, it was an extra year of twenty four hour days. â€Å"Can you believe this? , Women working more hours than men†. Woman I have to credit you because you are so strong, for centuries you bore the struggles of society/mankind in your womb and now you have placed it on your backs.

Different Perspectives on the Practice of Leadership

Matthew R. Fairholm University of South Dakota Different Perspectives on the Practice of Leadership Public administrators need not only practical and intellectual permission to exercise leadership, but also a practical and intellectual understanding of what leadership actually is. Much has emerged in the public administration literature and practice about the need for and legitimacy of public managers exerting leadership in their work, complementing the traditional functions of organizational management and policy implementation.Calling on the experiences and ideas of practitioners, this article offers an empirical understanding—both descriptive and prescriptive— of what leadership actually looks like as it is practiced by public managers. It uncovers five leadership perspectives (ranging from leadership as equivalent to scientific management, to leadership being a whole-soul or spiritual endeavor) held by public managers and discusses their implications for public admi nistration. It legitimizes the notion that leadership is a crucial part of public administration and offers public managers the chance to improve or enhance those legitimate leadership activities.Public administrators not only need practical and intellectual permission to exercise leadership, they need practical and intellectual understanding of what leadership actually is. Training public managers in the skills and techniques of leadership and management has become a major part of public human resource efforts (Day 2000; Sims 2002; Rainey and Kellough 2000; Ink 2000; Pynes 2003). Articles and essays have surfaced in the literature about the need for and legitimacy of public managers exerting leadership in their work, complementing the traditional functions of organizational management and policy and program implementation.Books have emerged to lend more specificity to the topic of leadership in the public sector. Still, in the face of technicism, strict policy implementation, and a fear of administrative discretion, it has often been a significant struggle to discuss the philosophy of leadership in public administration. This article offers empirical insight, both descriptive and prescriptive, about what leadership actually looks like as practiced by public managers, and it supports a growing focus on leadership in the literature (Behn 1998; Terry 1995; Van Wart 2003). The research findings influence ublic administration and the individual public administrator by first growing our basic understanding of leadership, refining our perceived public administration roles consistent with that understanding, and finally, reshaping the professional training of public administrators. These new ideas about how public managers view and practice leadership legitimize the notion that leadership is inherent in and a crucial part of public administration, and it offers public managers the chance to improve or enhance those legitimate leadership activities. The hope s that th e current trend of building leadership and management capacity among practitioners will be undertaken with a more proper focus and with renewed theoretical and practical vigor. Background: The Leadership Apology in Public Administration Public administration traditionally is the study and work of management in public organizations. It is also the study and work of leadership in those organizations. Public administration emerged with a bias toward management science—the expert, the decision maker—but management science has not sufficiently served public administration McSwite 1997). Bennis (1993) suggests that managers Matthew R. Fairholm is an assistant professor in the Political Science Department and the W. O. Farber Center for Civic Leadership at the University of South Dakota. His teaching and training experience spans the public, private, nonprofit, and university settings, including extensive training and consulting in the District of Columbia government and with federal government executives. His academic and professional interests focus on public administration, leadership theory and practice, and organizational behavior.E-mail: [email  protected] edu. Different Perspectives on the Practice of Leadership 577 focus on doing their work right (that is, correctly), while leadership is concerned with selecting the right things— programs, policies, values, goals, etc. —to work on. In today’s environment, it makes more sense for us to describe public administration as the practice and theory that grapples with doing the right things right in the service of society. In short, public administration is the work of management and leadership. In contemporary literature, the concepts of management nd leadership are constantly being defined, compared, and differentiated. 1 A simple way to see the distinction is that if you can count it, you can control it, you can program it, and therefore, you can manage it. If you cannot count it, you have to do leadership. While some still may not see a distinction, the leadership literature today by and large accepts the differences. Notions of leadership, for instance, grounded the government reinvention efforts so prevalent in the 1990s (Ingraham, Sanders, and Thompson 1998).For example, Sanders (1998) argues that leadership is essential in the working and transformation of government. He suggests the key ingredients of leadership in government reinvention include â€Å"single-minded purpose and a strategic perspective with a proclivity for risk †¦ participation and persistence† (55). Behn (1998) says that leadership is required in the world of public administration to resolve its inherent imperfections. He suggests that no matter what we call the work of public managers, managing the systems and procedures are only part of the job.Initiative, motivation, inspiration— the things of leadership—also play a critical role in making government and government organizations work. Behn offers that the question is not whether they should lead, but rather what kind of leadership should public administrators be practicing. For him it is â€Å"active, intelligent, enterprising leadership †¦ that takes astute initiatives designed to help the agency not only achieve its purposes today but also to create new capacity to achieve its objectives tomorrow† (224). Terry’s (1995) view of leadership serves as a backdrop to much of Behn’s discussion.While Behn focuses on the traits and behaviors of public managers, Terry emphasizes a normative, values-laden approach to leadership, dismissing the heroic leadership constructs in favor of the leader as conservator of institutional and organizational values and goals. The idea of public managers infusing values into an organization is not a new one, even if it is often ignored. Selznick (1983) states that the point of leadership is to â€Å"infuse the organization with values. † And Denhardt (1981) says the theory and practice of public administration are integral to the development of the state and its allocation f values in society. It follows, therefore, that public administration must encompass far more than technical concerns (Hart 1984). Fairholm (1991) focuses a discussion 578 Public Administration Review †¢ September/October 2004, Vol. 64, No. 5 of values leadership in the work of public administration, presenting a model of leadership that is consistent with the fundamental constitutional values that guide and shape the work of public managers. Luminaries in the field, such as Follett (1918), Barnard (1938), and Waldo (1980), have also discussed leadership issues in terms of values and relationships.This focus has been renewed in the leadership literature discussing emotional intelligence, or the ability to understand people and act wisely in human relations (Goleman 1995). Nevertheless, for most, leadership is only one of many supporting elements of public administration’s success or efficacy, not a major factor in public administration theory and practice. In fact, some public administration theorists avoid the topic of leadership altogether. James MacGregor Burns (1978) offers a reason. In modern times, he writes, leadership research and theory have been misfounded in social and political thought. Burns emphatically argues that an ncompassing leadership theory has suffered both from an ill-advised intellectual trip â€Å"down a blind alley,† leading only to misguided ideas of authority, and from the inadequacy of empirical data (23). Researchers have denigrated the idea of leadership, he contends, because they misunderstand the evolving nature of authority derived from changing social structures, and because they have missed opportunities to tie in research procedures and focuses from intellectual interests such as psychology, sociology, history, and political science, not just scientific management, Weberian bureaucracy, and the like.Following Burns’s argument, perhaps public administrators are still afraid of the concepts of raw power, authority, and domination, with which a misguided history of leadership theory has endowed us with. Specifically, many in public administration suffer from a preoccupation with traditional arguments surrounding the potential evils of authority. This preoccupation revolves around typical public administration issues and concerns that are described in ways contrary to the focus on leadership found in recent literature. These concerns can be summarized by what ight be termed the â€Å"three D’s†: (1) dichotomy arguments that say leadership looks too much like politics and therefore should be eschewed; (2) discretion arguments that simply define leadership as a maverick and undesirable version of administrative discretion; and (3) domination/ authority arguments that suggest leadership is merely another form of domi nation and authority and, therefore, is inherently dangerous because it tends to create societal units that are dominated by the whims of unchecked (that is, unelected), morally hegemonic â€Å"men of reason† (McSwite 1997).Despite these objections (indeed, perhaps because of them), studying what leadership actually is and how it is applied makes sense in the world of public administration. As Burns once optimistically declared, â€Å"At last we can hope to close the intellectual gap between the fecund canons of authority and a new and general theory of leadership† (1978, 26). Certainly, studying leadership in public administration offers an opportunity to jump the practical hurdles that history and intellectual narrowness have presented. Such endeavors can begin to close an intellectual and practical gap and help complete the field.Beginning to Fill the Public Administration Leadership Gap For public administration, the leadership gap has really only existed in the ac ademic realm. Practitioners have been â€Å"doing leadership† and dealing with authority and influence all along, but without a good model for what they are doing. While some writers in the field have focused on leadership, overall, public administration scholars have done little to help understand what leadership in public organizations is. Van Wart (2003) suggests it is still an area worthy of more thought and especially more research. His eview of public administration articles suggests that leadership itself has not been in the mainstream of public administration literature and that a dearth of empirical research on leadership is evident. Many public administration academics are, at best, ignoring leadership issues and, at worst, rejecting the concept. Practitioners, on the other hand, are trying to gain sufficient training or grounding in leadership to deal with the relationship-based issues they face daily. Because of this practitioner focus, a few universities have sta rted programs explicitly linking leadership and the public sector environment.Increasingly, government agencies are devoting time and financial resources to leadership and management-development programs. 2 Many state governments have committed to offering the nationally recognized certified public manager training to their employees. And most federal agencies have leadership-development programs for senior executives, middle managers, and new recruits with significant leadership potential. You Know It When You See It Even with all of this focus on leadership development, public administration as a field has not devoted sufficient cholarly attention to the topic. People often lump all executive functions or behavior into the word â€Å"leadership. † They disregard the unique leadership techniques that have prompted contemporary leadership scholars to differentiate leadership and management. Thus, they may say that virtually everything done in organizations is leadershipâ€⠀ which also means that nothing is. One reason for this lack of attention is that understanding leadership is hard. In part, this is true because of the many extant management and leadership theories, approaches, and definitions. To some xtent, though, these definitions of leadership simply reflect the theory that each individual researcher has about the leadership phenomenon. One authority on leadership suggests, â€Å"Leadership is like beauty. You know it when you see it. † As Stogdill (1974, 7) suggests, â€Å"there are as many definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept. † Understanding leadership, then, may entail understanding people’s conceptions or mind sets about the phenomenon and framing these perspectives in a useful model. Studying practitioner views n leadership, therefore, is an appropriate and valuable start to understanding what leadership looks like in public administration to public administrators. This article deals with the author’s study focusing on what leadership looks like to public managers. This research develops empirical evidence that different perspectives on leadership exist that shape the behavior of individual practitioners in ways specific to their mind sets. This is a â€Å"personal conceptions† or â€Å"perspectival† approach to leadership study. This perspectival approach reveals the different ways that individual public managers see their eadership activities every day—how they conceive of leadership from their perspective. Therefore, it provides a richer, more meaningful understanding of the concept of leadership and facilitates a more complete analysis of the leadership phenomenon. It also suggests it is likely that practitioner leaders can grow in their understanding of leadership. Importantly, this research better informs the work of public administrators by emphasizing both the leadership and the management responsibilities that are evident as practitioners ply their craft. Leader and Leadership Two main approaches to studying leadership emerge.The most popular is a focus on the leader, suggesting that leadership is best understood by studying specific individuals in specific situations (Bennis 1984; Kouzes and Posner 1990; Carson 1987; Sanders 1998). Proponents of this method focus on the qualities, behaviors, and situational responses of those who claim to be or are given the title of leader. In this first approach, leadership is what leaders are or do, and therefore the meaning of leadership derives from the work of the leader: Leaders define leadership. The second approach recognizes that studying individual eaders may not get you to a general understanding of leadership (DePree 1992; Wheatley 1999; Heifetz 1994; Burns 1978; Greenleaf 1977). This approach rejects the idea that leadership is a summation of the qualities, behaviors, or situational responses of individuals in a position of authority a t the head of organizations. Proponents of this approach accept that leadership is something larger than the leader— that leadership encompasses all there is that defines who a Different Perspectives on the Practice of Leadership 579 leader may be. Hence, the meaning of â€Å"leader† (or who ay be labeled a leader) depends on the leadership techniques displayed, not the position held. This second approach differs from the leadercentric approach mainly by asking the question, â€Å"what is leadership? † instead of â€Å"who is a leader? † This second, more philosophical approach guides this research exploring how public managers view leadership. Applying the Perspectival Approach to Understanding Leadership Paradigmatic, perspectival, or worldview conceptions of how we look at the world are not new in literature. Barker (1992) uses the term â€Å"paradigm† to suggest a system or attern of integrating thoughts, actions, and practices. Graves (1970) d escribes different states of being, each of which determines actions, relationships, and measures of success. Although the states of being are somewhat hierarchically arranged, Graves’s research shows that a person need not necessarily grow to higher levels or states of being. Harman (1998), in reviewing the history of science and knowledge, suggests there are three fundamental ways (perspectives) of seeing and knowing the world and the phenomena of social interaction. Other authors see culture s shaping the way we view things in our everyday experiences (Quinn and McGrath 1985; Schein 1996; Herzberg 1984; Hofstede 1993). McWhinney (1984) explains the importance of looking at paradigmatic perspectives in studying leadership. He argues the different ways people experience reality result in distinctly different attitudes toward change, and understanding these different concepts contributes to new understanding about resistance to change and modes of leadership. Morgan (1998) al so suggests that the way we see organizations influences how we operate within them and even shapes the types of activities that make sense ithin them. The Theory of Leadership Perspectives The research draws on the perspectives outlined by Gil Fairholm (1998). He suggests that people view leadership in at least five different ways. These perspectives not only shape how one internalizes observation and externalizes belief sets, they also determine how one measures success in oneself and others. Thus, Fairholm says, â€Å"defining leadership is an intensely personal activity limited by our personal paradigms or our mental state of being, our unique mind set† (xv). Our leadership perspective defines what we mean when we say â€Å"leadership† and shapes how we iew successful leadership in ourselves and others. He explains that while the leadership perspective that someone holds may not be the objective reality about leader580 Public Administration Review †¢ September /October 2004, Vol. 64, No. 5 ship, people holding that view behave as if it is. Individuals immediately draw on their own conceptions to internalize conversations about leadership. They define leadership for themselves and use their perspective as the basis for judging whether others are exercising leadership. Frustration, confusion, and even conflict may arise because individuals may simply have ultiple, competing, even conflicting conceptions of what leadership is. Fairholm posits five distinct leadership mind sets that emerge from experience and literature from the past 100 years or so. The first is leadership as (scientific) management. This perspective equates leadership with the type of management that draws on the scientific management movement of the early part of the twentieth century, which still has relevance for many even today. In this perspective, much emphasis is placed on managers understanding the one best way to promote and maintain productivity among the employee ranks.Gulick’s (1937) famous mnemonic, POSDCORB (plan, organize, staff, direct, coordinate, report and budget), had great influence on the work of public administrators by legitimizing and routinizing the administration of government and fits squarely in this perspective. The second perspective, leadership as excellence management, suggests that leadership is management but focuses on what has been called the â€Å"excellence movement. † Popularized in the 1980s by Peters and Waterman (1982), Deming (1986), and Juran (1989), this perspective focuses on systematic quality improvements with a focus on the eople involved in the processes, the processes themselves, and the quality of products that are produced. The third perspective is leadership as a values-displacement activity. This perspective defines leadership as a relationship between leader and follower that allows for typical management objectives to be achieved primarily through shared values, not merely directi on and control. Leadership success depends more on values and shared vision than on organizational authority. Although the values-leadership perspective differentiates leadership and management, it still focuses much on the role of the leader in the elationship. The fourth perspective, leadership in a trust culture, shifts the focus toward the ambient culture where interaction between the leader and the led is based on trust founded on shared values, recognizing the follower as having a key role in the leadership relationship. This mind set emphasizes teams, culture, and mutual trust between leader and follower, which are the methods leaders use to institutionalize their values. The last perspective is whole-soul (spiritual) leadership. This perspective builds on the ideas of displacing values and maintaining a culture of trust, as it focuses attention n the whole-soul nature of both the individual leader and each follower. This perspective assumes that people have only one spirit, which manifests itself in both our professional and personal lives, and that the activity of leadership engages individuals at this core level. â€Å"Spirit† is defined in terms of the basis of comfort, strength, happiness; the essence of self; the source of personal meaning and values; a personal belief system or inner certainty; and an emotional level of being. Equating spiritual leadership with the relatively new idea of emotional intelligence may seem atural. Emotional intelligence is indeed related to social intelligence and wise human relations. It involves the ability to monitor one’s own emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use the information to guide one’s thinking and actions (Salovey and Mayer 1990). Emotional intelligence is a useful concept (perhaps for all of the perspectives, but especially from values leadership on), but it involves only a part of what spiritual leaders might use in their larger-scoped task of capturing the spirit (the s oul, the heart, or the character) of followers at the emotional, ut also at the value, intellectual, and technical levels. Whole-soul (spiritual) leadership integrates the components of work and personal life into a comprehensive system that fosters continuous growth, improvement, self-awareness, and self leadership in such a way that leaders see others as whole persons with a variety of emotions, skills, knowledge, and abilities that go beyond the narrow confines of job needs. Spiritual leadership is essentially the linking of our interior world of moral reflection with our outer world of work and social relationships. The theory suggests these five perspectives are distinct ut related hierarchically, leading to a more accurate and comprehensive conception of leadership. This hierarchy suggests that succeeding perspectives encompass and transcend lower-order perspectives, and that individuals must move through simpler perspectives before being able to comprehend and engage in leade rship activities characterized by more complex perspectives. To gain a full picture of leadership, the theory suggests, we should take into account how a â€Å"holarchy† of leadership perspectives offers a compilation of leadership elements that produces a more comprehensive view of the leadership phenomenon Koestler 1970). Within this compilation of leadership elements, some transcend others to such a degree as to make the less encompassing elements look less like true leadership. As we move up the model, the distinctive elements of leadership as differentiated from management become more refined. The Leadership Perspectives Model The leadership perspectives model explains leadership in terms of these encompassing perspectives (figure 1). The model shows five concentric triangles, the smallest of which is scientific management and the largest of which is whole- soul leadership.Thus, in two dimensions, we are able to see how one perspective can encompass and transcend another perspective. For example, values leadership encompasses the ideas of scientific management and excellence management, but transcends them in ways that help us to see distinct activities and approaches that create a line between management theories of the past and leadership ideas in contemporary literature. The leadership perspectives model operationalizes significant elements of Fairholm’s initial theory, illustrating how these constructs, along with operational categories and ey leadership elements, relate. The specific leadership elements are ones that are found in contemporary leadership literature. Overall, the model points the way not only to understand the phenomenon of leadership better, but also to teach leadership and develop individuals in their leadership activities. Key Research Findings This researcher performed a content analysis on 103 essays written by middle managers in the District of Columbia government describing their conception of leadership.Data were also collected from 31 interviews of public managers (balanced in terms of government function, personnel grade level, gender, and ethnicity) in three metropolitan Washington-area jurisdictions — Arlington County, Virginia, Washington, DC, and Prince George’s County, Maryland—as a supplement and verification of the essays’ analysis. The content analysis and interview data reveal the following general findings about the leadership of public managers in terms of the five leadership perspectives. Five Leadership Perspectives.The content analysis revealed four distinct, â€Å"pure† leadership perspectives and one transitional perspective (that is, excellence management). The scientific management, values leadership, trust culture leadership, and whole-soul leadership perspectives were evident as distinct mind sets held by practicing public executives. Fifteen of 103 essays (14. 6 percent) reflected completely distinct leadership perspectives. All persp ectives were evident in mixed or combination forms. The scientific management perspective was identified as the perspective of choice most often, receiving the most hits t 24 percent, while the excellence management perspective received the least at 15 percent. Each hit measures the existence of at least one description or reference to a leadership element in the leadership perspectives model. The evidence for each leadership perspective is reinforced by the analysis of both the essays and the interviews. Excellence management garnered the least concrete support. It is the only perspective that did not have a pure form found in the essays—that is, no one was identified as solely in this perspective—and almost one-third of the essays had Different Perspectives on the Practice of Leadership 581Figure 1 Leadership Perspectives Model 11. Ensure efficient use of resources to ensure group activity is controlled and predictable 12. Ensure verifiably optimal productivity and r esource allocation 13. Foster continuous process-improvement environment for increased service and productivity levels 14. Transform the environment and perceptions of followers to encourage innovation, high quality products, and excellent services 15. Help individuals become proactive contributors to group action based on shared values and agreed upon goals 16. Encourage high organizational performance and self-led followers 17.Ensure cultures conducive to mutual trust and unified collective action 18. Prioritization of mutual cultural values and organizational conduct in terms of those values 19. Relate to individuals such that concern for the whole person is paramount in raising each other to higher levels of awareness and action 10. Best in people is liberated in a context of continuous improvement of self, culture, and service delivery Whole-Soul (Spiritual) Leadership Trust Cultural Leadership Values Leadership Excellence Management 1. Incentivization 2. Control 3. Direction S cientific Management 14. Motivation 15. Engaging people in roblem definition and solution 16. Expressing common courtesy/respect 17. Values prioritization 18. Teaching/coaching 19. Empowering (fostering ownership) 11. Measuring/ appraising/rewarding individual performance 12. Organizing 13. Planning 14. Focusing on process improvement 15. Listening actively 16. Being accessible 17. Setting and enforcing values 18. Visioning 19. Focusing communication around the vision 10. Trust 11. Team building 12. Fostering a shared culture 10. Creating and maintaining culture through visioning 11. Sharing governance 12. Measuring/appraising/ rewarding group performance 13.Inspiration 14. Liberating followers to build community and promote stewardship 15. Modeling a service orientation 13. Developing and enabling individual wholeness in a community (team) context 14. Fostering an intelligent organization 15. Setting moral standards no hits relevant to this perspective. However, the interview data show it to be the most frequently described perspective. This finding suggests that excellence management may be more appropriately labeled a transition or bridge perspective from scientific management to values leadership. This perspective may reflect people’s tendency to mix the ocabularies of management and leadership as they try to express what it is they actually do. People hear the newer 582 Public Administration Review †¢ September/October 2004, Vol. 64, No. 5 terms of leadership, but they may not yet be able to shake off the traditions of management theory and the vocabulary of industrial revolution. The result is a description of leadership that mixes the efficiency and productivity mantra of scientific management with the relationship, teamwork, values, and empowerment vocabulary of recent leadership literature, such as that found in the values-based leadership and emotional intelligence literature.Hierarchical Leadership Perspectives. The five perspectives of leadership tend toward a hierarchy. The public managers described perspectives that related in loosely hierarchical ways—perspectives that encompass and transcend other perspectives. In this sense, the scientific management perspective is of a lower order in the leadership perspective hierarchy. All of the other perspectives encompass and transcend it. Whole-soul leadership is of a higher order, transcending the other four. The interview data verify essay data and confirm the five perspectives relate in a hierarchical manner.Through trial and error, by increasing their awareness of leadership activities, or by increasing their levels of responsibility in the organization, individuals may progress from lower-order perspectives to higherorder perspectives. This suggests that some people may extend their understanding and practice of leadership over time. This could happen if a career is maintained at the same organizational level or if it spans multiple levels. Data illustrate that adopting a new perspective transcends the previous one. For instance, the tools and behaviors of a lower-order perspective may be the building blocks for the ools and behaviors of succeeding perspectives, but they are not adopted unchanged from one perspective to another. As one moves up the hierarchy of leadership perspectives, the tools, behaviors, and approaches one uses are encompassed and transcended and can, at certain levels, be totally sublimated by other tools and behaviors so as to be obsolete or even antithetical to the work of a leader in higher-order perspectives. Distinctiveness through the Operational Categories. The perspectives can be distinguished by understanding how someone describes the implementation (or doing) of eadership, the tools and behaviors used, and the approaches to followers taken in the leadership relationship. The content analysis of all 103 essays suggests that specific leadership elements within the â€Å"approaches to followers† cate gory distinguish a person’s leadership perspectives (such as giving orders, motivating, team building, inspiring). However, the tools and behaviors that individuals describe in â€Å"doing leadership† are more helpful in differentiating leadership perspectives than either of the other two. Table 1 summarizes the number of times a leadership element ithin the operational categories of the leadership perspectives was distinctly described in the essays. A total of 1,343 distinct references to the leadership elements that define the categories outlined in the leadership perspectives model were found in the 103 essays. The interview data reinforce the fact that the operational categories in the model are useful in distinguishing leadership perspectives. Seeing More the Higher Up You Are. The higher in the organizational hierarchy public managers are, and the more time in service they have, the more likely they are to subscribe to higher-order perspectives.Perhaps this is a commonsensical notion, but rarely, if ever before, born out by research (though by no way is it to say that by virtue of promotion individuals necessarily adopt more encompassing views of the leadership responsibilities). Comments from interview subjects validate this idea. One mid-level manager within the whole-soul leadership perspective stated bluntly that â€Å"my views have changed over a number of years. † Another response from a senior executive within the trust culture leadership perspective indicated, â€Å"If you were to ask me five years ago I would have a different answer, I’d have different thoughts. As this individual began to understand different aspects of the job, especially aspects dealing with values and relationships, new ideas and technologies began to emerge and were viewed as successful. These statements, typical of many this researcher received, lend evidence that people can and do move from one perspective to another and that the movement is t oward higher-order perspectives—perspectives that are more encompassing and transcendent than previous conceptions. There may even be a point at which they realize what they thought they were doing in terms of leadership actually urned out to be more managerial in nature. A realization of how leadership differs from management causes them to focus their leadership effort differently. One public administrator confided that â€Å"in this current job, I jumped right into management (there was a lot wrong in that area) and I was frustrated that I hadn’t taken the time to do the leadership. Now I am starting from scratch all over focusing on the ‘leadership piece’ because the office still did not function well. † Gender and Racial Congruence. All five perspectives were evident in male and female public managers at the ame relative frequencies. However, females tended slightly more toward the excellence management perspective, while males tended slightly more toward the scientific management perspective. All five perspectives were evident in African American and white public managers at the same relative frequencies. These facts suggest the leadership perspectives model applies regardless of the gender or race of the person engaging in leadership. Functional Incongruence. The data reveal the functional area of government in which public managers operate may influence leadership perspectives.Public managers in the public safety and justice function tend toward the first three perspectives in the hierarchy: scientific management, excellence management, and values leadership. Public managers in the government support, direction, and finance function revealed all but the trust culture leadership perspective. Public managers in human services and education, economic regulations, and public works reflected all five leadership perspectives, although they tended toward the lower-order perspectives. Different Perspectives on the Practice of Leadership 583Table 1 Summary of Hits Within Each Perspective By Leadership Elements and Operational Categories Leadership perspective Operational categories Leadership elements Scientific management Ensure efficient use of resources to ensure group activity is controlled and predictable Ensure verifiably optimal productivity and resource allocation Measuring, appraising, and rewarding individual performance Organizing (to include such things as budgeting and staffing) Planning (to include such things as coordination and reporting) Incentivization Control Direction Implementation description Tools and behavior Approaches to followersTotal Excellence management Implementation description Tools and behavior Approaches to followers Total Values leadership Implementation description Tools and behavior Approaches to followers Total Trust cultural leadership Implementation description Tools and behavior Approaches to followers Total Whole soul leadership Implementation description Tools a nd behavior Approaches to followers Number of hits Foster continuous process-improvement environment for increased service and productivity levels Transform the environment and perceptions of followers to encourage innovation, high quality products, and xcellent services Focusing on process improvement Listening actively Being accessible (to include such things as managing by walking around and open-door policies) Motivation Engaging people in problem definition and solution Expressing common courtesy and respect Help individuals become proactive contributors to group action based on shared values and agreed upon goals Encourage high organizational performance and self-led followers Setting and enforcing values Visioning Focusing communication around the vision Values prioritization Teaching and coaching Empowering (fostering ownership)Ensure cultures conducive to mutual trust and unified collective action Prioritization of mutual cultural values and organizational conduct in terms of those values Creating and maintaining culture through visioning Sharing governance Measuring, appraising, and rewarding group performance Trust Team building Fostering a shared culture Relate to individuals such that concern for the whole person is paramount in raising each other to higher levels of awareness and action Best in people is liberated in a context of continuous improvement of self, culture, and service delivery Developing and enabling individual wholeness in a ommunity (team) context Fostering an intelligent organization Setting moral standards Inspiration Liberating followers to build community and promote stewardship Modeling a service orientation Total 584 Public Administration Review †¢ September/October 2004, Vol. 64, No. 5 Percent for Percent for element category 39 24 57 54 64 15 15 74 342 11 7 17 16 19 4 4 22 100 18 10 38 25 6 21 14 3 31 9 59 15 13 183 5 32 8 7 100 22 59 17 35 19 81 44 15 61 26 340 10 6 24 13 4 18 8 100 16 7 15 28 23 37 24 77 18 238 6 12 10 16 10 32 8 100 28 12 19 8 20 36 55 51 14 17 240 8 15 23 21 6 7 100 18 51 30 48 28 42 30 13 37 50 0 46 34 Discussion: Implications for Public Administration The leadership perspectives model posited in this study emerges as a valid way to test both the descriptive and prescriptive potential of the perspectival research approach and helps to frame a more comprehensive view of leadership. It is descriptive in the sense that it defines and explores how one may view leadership and positions that perspective into an overarching leadership model. To some, leadership is scientific management, but that perspective may not be as encompassing (as complete a description of the phenomenon) as another perspective.The section of the model from values leadership to whole-soul leadership describes leadership in a more refined manner (and more in line with contemporary literature on leadership, such as emotional intelligence), with whole-soul leadership perhaps being the better overall descriptio n of what transcendent leadership looks like. The model is prescriptive in the sense that it explains which activities, tools, approaches, and philosophies are required to be effective or successful within each perspective. This research suggests that in order to fully understand what leadership is, we have to take into account that some f what we call leadership is often encompassed and transcended by other, more enlightening conceptions. The more enlightened we become in terms of transcending leadership elements, the more able we are to see leadership as distinct from what contemporary literature would distinguish as management. Burns (1978) refused to use the term â€Å"management. † Instead, he used the term â€Å"transactional leadership† to distinguish lower-order organizational technologies from the ideas of higher-order leadership, which he termed â€Å"transforming leadership. † This model adds new light (and support) for why Burns may have chosen to us e eadership to describe his more managerial descriptions of organizational activities, in that some do view management as leadership. However, we are able to understand through this model that some perspectives of what we do are not leadership at all, but rather management—perhaps good management, but management only. In other words, everything we call leadership may not actually conform to the distinctive technologies of leadership. This leadership perspectives model allows public administrators to more easily recognize their day-to-day leadership (and management) efforts and to see those efforts in broader, more encompassing ways.The research and findings based on the model can influence public administration and the individual public administrator by (1) growing their understanding of leadership, (2) helping to refine public administrators’ roles and recognize that their measures of success in these roles will reflect activities consistent with their leadership pers pective, and (3) reshaping the professional training of public administrators. Growing One’s Understanding of Leadership This research suggests that one’s understanding of leadership depends on the perspective that one brings to the question.The perspectival approach to leadership assumes it is possible to expand and grow one’s understanding of leadership, even to the point of realizing what one thought was leadership may more accurately be called management or, as Burns put it, transactional leadership. It does not assume one must necessarily move from one perspective to another, but it does suggest that movement can and does occur. Interview subjects reflected a sincere and reflective approach to leadership, which they felt comfortably fit their views of how they interact with other people and how other people interact with them. These were not xpressions of leadership styles (that is, calculated activities to achieve some specific goal or achieve a particular agenda depending on the situation or follower maturity). Rather, the perspective a person holds defines (1) the truth to them about leadership, (2) the leader’s job, (3) how one analyzes the organization, (4) how one measures success in the leadership activity, and (5) how they view followership. The leadership perspective is the umbrella under which different leadership styles may be pursued or expressed (Hersey and Blanchard 1979). Leadership perspectives, therefore, are not leadership styles to be changed willy-nilly.Rather, leadership perspectives are paradigms and worldviews (leadership philosophies) that need not necessarily change over a lifetime, but may be grown and changed through concerted training efforts, life experiences, and learning opportunities. One interviewee in the public library system suggested the things she did and believed as a first-line manager were totally different than the things she does and believes now as a senior executive. She said that wh at got her to her current position was no longer effective where she currently sits in the organization.As she progressed through different levels of the organization, she also progressed through different perspectives of what leadership meant to her and how she practiced it as a public administrator. Redefining and Refining the Roles of Public Administrators Just as leadership can be viewed in multiple ways, so can the roles of the public administrator. This research reinforces the idea that the perspective of leadership that public administrators accept (implicitly or explicitly) determines their actions and how they measure the relative success or failure of those actions. Therefore, the leadership erspectives within which public administrators operate most likely influences the roles they choose to play. Public administrators who sit squarely in the scientific management perspective accept that the traditional public administration principles of efficiency and effecDifferent Per spectives on the Practice of Leadership 585 tiveness and the activities summarized by POSDCORB fully explain the purposes and processes of their work. To them, technical managerial skill and scientific, reasoned precision must be the purview of public administration without the pressures of political activity, which â€Å"rightly† belong to politicians.Public administrators holding to the excellence management perspective add an emphasis on process improvement and stakeholder involvement to discover and resolve potential problems in efficient and effective processes. These first two perspectives, scientific management and excellence management, focus on the administrative side of the classic public administration dichotomy. Together, they ground the traditional measures of success for public administrators, which the leadership perspectives model suggests may actually be based on transactional management ideas— not leadership at all.However, as we have seen, there are those who claim more for the profession of public administration than the technical and predictable. Many say that the politics–administration dichotomy is no longer relevant, if it ever was. These public administration leaders bring a values perspective to the work they do and recognize their potentially influential place in society (Marini 1971; Waldo 1971; Frederickson 1997). Some focus on the societal impact they can make. Others focus on the organizational impact they can make. Others find meaning in creating great public administrators one by one, either by teaching, mentoring, r going about their public-sector jobs in inspiring ways. These views of public administration may fit more comfortably with the philosophies of higher-order leadership perspectives. No wonder, then, there are still disagreements within the field as to its proper role and stance in society: There are public administrators who honestly measure success and implement leadership from dramatically dif ferent leadership mindsets. They use different tools and engage in behavior and approaches toward others very differently. These perspectives also guide how they view the work of other public administrators, always gauging the success or ailure or the appropriateness of another’s work based on how they conceive of leadership in public administration. Not only does this sometimes cause confusion and frustration within public organizations, where public servants are doing the day-to-day work of government, but it also adds to the confusion and frustration in debates about the field itself. Perhaps these debates might better focus on the perspectives of leadership among public administrators that dictate their values, goals, and behavior more so than the academically defined roles that public administrators are said to play.The perspectival approach to leadership, therefore, may encompass a way to analyze the field of public administration itself. 586 Public Administration Revie w †¢ September/October 2004, Vol. 64, No. 5 Some public administrators who hold to lower-order leadership perspectives may never see a reason to progress through different perspectives. The research findings in this study conclude, however, that there are perspectives of leadership that encompass and transcend lower-order perspectives, that growth and progression is evident in the ways people conceive of leadership, and that moving to igher-order perspectives increases a public administrator’s capacity to cope with increasingly complex issues, organizations, and relationships. Hence, there are ways of conceiving of leadership in public administration that transcend and encompass more limiting perspectives. This translates to public administrators who seem more organizationally sophisticated and emotionally intelligent, as well as more attuned to the personal or individual issues of their jobs. They deal more with people, public issues, and policies (both within the organ izations and outside it) and are able to facilitate more success in an increasingly omplex world. The perspectival approach to leadership also points to a clearer way to understand the different measures of public administration success. The hierarchical nature of the leadership perspectives model suggests the role of public administrators encompasses the technical implementer and skilled mediator roles, but transcends them as well. It suggests that public administrators may rightly play a more facilitative, policy-making, and collaborative role—roles that are more in line with higher-order leadership perspectives—and those roles may be more appropriate (if not necessarily more effective) roles in general.Shaping Professional Training, MPA Curricula Designs, and the â€Å"Oughts† of Public Administration Understanding leadership perspectives as they are applied to the work of public administration can be used not only to refine (and redefine) the field, but also to provide a foundation for training new public administrators. As important as the technical and traditional management skills of public administration are, there is also a need to focus on the recently recognized skills and perspectives of leadership such as relationship building, inspiration, culture creation, values change, creativity, and flexibility.If such a focus is neglected in the training and work of public administration, the field may never get past the continual debates about its legitimacy, usefulness, and place in government and society. In today’s organizational climate, where technology and information are expanding rapidly, along with the knowledge base and professional and personal requirements of the workforce, higher-order leadership perspectives and the public administration roles associated with them may indeed be more effective. Public administrators are often in a better position to suggest new programs and new directions or government. Higher-order mind sets assume, or at least allow for, this function as a part of doing leadership in public administration. The leadership perspectives model helps to redefine the field to focus on public service as an opportunity to engage in leadership within public organizations. It supports our continual efforts to teach others to seek the highest ideals of public service, and thereby to leave to citizens a legacy of trust, integrity, and responsibility, as well as high-quality service delivery and accountability. This implies there are approaches to public administration that hould be adopted over others (such as community building, value shaping, visioning, and stewardship). It implies there are approaches to public administration that are more encompassing and transcendent than others. The research describes what leadership looks like in the work of public administration, emphasizing that the work within public organizations influences the work of public organizations. Public administrat ors can, therefore, better understand their work as leaders inside the organization— not just middle managers, but middle leaders as well (G. Fairholm 2001; M. Fairholm 2002). Remember the one ublic manager who â€Å"jumped right into management,† but then realized he had to start â€Å"from scratch all over focusing on the ‘leadership piece’ because the office still did not function well. † Well-functioning offices are key to welldelivered services and good government. Another public administrator explained that â€Å"leaders need to be modeling behavior, what you want from people you must model. If you want to have a certain type of communication from others you must communicate that way. If you want people to develop people, you must develop people. You must model the work ethic; do what is required o help. I believe in having respect for the position one holds, but I also believe in equality. You need to work to build a community. † This perspective outlines a kind of organizational work that influences how both the internal and external mission of the organization is carried out. The leadership perspectives model clarifies leadership as distinct from discretion or mere uses or abuses of authority. The different perspectives of leadership make the work of public administration look and feel different depending on the different mind sets public managers hold from which they view their craft.These perspectives prescribe how public administration ought to be. Indeed, the â€Å"oughts† of public administration are shaped by the perspective of leadership that one holds. What the leadership perspectives model also offers, however, is that not all perspectives are equal in application. Some perspectives are more encompassing and transcendent than others—that is, some are more operationally useful today than others. Recognizing this potential measure of our work should influence how this work is taught and how individuals are trained.Current (and past) master of public administration programs still teach mostly management skills and techniques. Often programs add the word â€Å"strategic† to the planning function to give it a top-box orientation, but it is still focused on institutional planning and numbers, not values. A course on managerial leadership is emblematic of this approach, and it is not sufficiently comprehensive. MPA curricula and professional development programs would benefit from discussing the descriptions of leadership perspectives and the type of public administration consistent with those descriptions. They should train specific skills, ompetencies, and technologies that the different perspectives demand, including emotional intelligence or other higher-order concepts about values, relationships, and dealing with stakeholders at the emotional level. MPA programs should include leadership specialties or include leadership as a core competency with courses to rei nforce it. The leadership perspectives model itself offers fundamental skills and approaches that can be used as a framework to shape a training and development program or even as part of an MPA curriculum. For example, a five-day leadership training program might use the perspectives to outline each day’s activities.Each day would include a section on implementing leadership from that perspective, coupled with skills-development activities for the leadership elements within the â€Å"tools and behavior† and â€Å"approaches to followers† categories. Each day might then end with the implications for public administration from that perspective. Table 2 outlines such a training design. These curricula and programs should recognize some of the more normative issues about these perspectives and devote attention to answering the questions about how public administration should be thought about and practiced in encompassing and transcendent ways. ConclusionAs public a dministration begins to include discussions of leadership more explicitly in its work and training, the field will not only better understand its legitimate role in society, it will also produce men and women who are competently and confidently prepared to do the work of public leaders. The task of public administration today—both intellectually and operationally—is to better understand these perspectives and ensure the field is adopting the most appropriate and encompassing approaches to and measures of our work in the societies we live in, the organizations we work in, and the individual lives we influence.Overall, the perspectival approach to understanding leadership is a credible and valid way to better understand how people can operate in this complex yet intensely personal world within which public administration finds itself staunchly entrenched. Different Perspectives on the Practice of Leadership 587 Table 2 Generic Leadership Training Program for Public Admin istrators General daily format Day 1: Leadership as Scientific Management Implementation description—what leadership looks like Day 2: Leadership as Excellence Management Implementation description—what leadership looks like Skills development †¢ Measuring, ppraising, and rewarding individual performance †¢ Organizing (to include such things as budgeting and staffing) †¢ Planning (to include such things as coordination and reporting) †¢ Focusing on process †¢ Setting and improvement enforcing values †¢ Listening actively †¢ Visioning †¢ Being accessible (to †¢ Focusing include such things communication as managing by around the vision walking around and open-door policies) †¢ Creating and †¢ Developing and maintaining culture enabling individual through visioning wholeness in a community (team) †¢ Sharing governance context †¢ Measuring, †¢ Fostering an appraising, and intelligent ewarding group orga nization performance †¢ Setting moral standards Follower relationship concepts †¢ Incentivization †¢ Control †¢ Direction †¢ Values prioritization †¢ Motivation †¢ Engaging people in †¢ Teaching and coaching problem definition and solution †¢ Empowering †¢ Expressing common (fostering courtesy and respect ownership) †¢ Trust †¢ Team building †¢ Fostering a shared culture Conclusion Public administration practice—Each day discuss what this leadership perspective tells me about my work. Introduction Day 3: Values Leadership Day 4: Trust Cultural Leadership Day 5: Whole-Soul Leadership Implementation description—what eadership looks like Implementation description—what leadership looks like Implementation description—what leadership looks like †¢ Inspiration †¢ Liberating followers to build community and promote stewardship †¢ Modeling a service orientation Notes References 1. Th is debate centers on some general ideas. Management embodies the more reasoned, scientific, position-based approach to organizational engagement, such as setting and maintaining organizational structure, dealing with complexity, solving organizational problems, making transactions between leader and those being led, and ensuring control and prediction.Leadership embodies the more relationship-based, values-laden, developmental aspect of the work we do in organizations, such as changing organizational contexts, transforming leader and those being led, setting and aligning organizational vision with group action, and ensuring individuals a voice so that they can grow into productive, proactive, and self-led followers (Burns 1978; Kotter 1990; Taylor 1915; Urwick 1944; Zaleznik 1977; Ackerman 1985; Rosener 1990). 2. Examples of these universities and programs include the Farber Center for Civic Leadership at the University of South Dakota, the Center for Excellence in Municipal Managem ent t The George Washington University, the Management Institute at the University of Richmond, and several programs at Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Chicago. Washington, DC has also devoted considerable resources to building and sustaining a public–private partnership with the academic, business, and philanthropic communities to focus on developing management and leadership capabilities in its midand senior-level management tier, though budget cuts now threaten the endeavor (CEMM 1996). See also Wimberley and Rubens (2002) for more on leadership development programs through partnerships.Ackerman, Leonard. 1985. Leadership vs. Managership. Leadership and Organization Development Journal 6(2): 17–19. Barker, Joel. 1992. Future Edge: Discovering the New Paradigms of Success. New York: W. Morrow. Barnard, Chester. 1938. The Functions of the Executive. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Behn, Robert. 1998. What Right Do Public Managers Have to Lead? Public Administration Review 58(3): 209–25. Bennis, Warren. 1984. Where Have All the Leaders Gone? In Contemporary Issues in Leadership, 2nd ed. , edited by William E. Rosenbach and Robert L. Taylor, 5–23. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. ———. 993. An Invented Life: Reflections on Leadership and Change. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Burns, James MacGregor. 1978. Leadership. New York: Harper and Row. Carson, Clayborne. 1987. Martin Luther King, Jr. : Charismatic Leadership in a Mass Struggle. Journal of American History 74(2): 448–54. Center for Excellence in Municipal Management (CEMM). 1996. The Academy for Excellence in Municipal Management. Washington, DC: George Washington University. Day, David. 2000. Leadership Development: A Review in Context. Leadership Quarterly 11(4): 581–611. Deming, W. Edwards. 1986. Out of the Crisis. Cambridge, MA:Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for Advanced Engineering Study. 588 Public Administratio n Review †¢ September/October 2004, Vol. 64, No. 5 Denhardt, Robert. 1981. Toward a Critical Theory of Public Organization. Public Administration Review 41(6): 628–36. DePree, Max. 1992. Leadership Jazz. New York: Dell. Fairholm, Gilbert. 1991. Values Leadership: Toward a New Philosophy of Leadership. New York: Praeger. ———. 1998. Perspectives on Leadership: From the Science of Management to Its Spiritual Heart. Westport, CT: Quorum Books. ———. 2001. Mastering Inner Leadership. Westport, CT: Quorum Books.Fairholm, Matthew. 2002. Leading from the Middle: The Power and Influence of Middle Leaders. Public Manager 30(4): 17– 22. Follett, Mary Parker. 1918. The New State: Group Organization—The Solution of Popular Government. Edited by Benjamin R. Barber and Jane Mansbridge. University Park: Pennsylvania University Press, 1998. Frederickson, H. George. 1997. The Spirit of Public Administration. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass . Goleman, Daniel. 1995. Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books. Graves, Clare. 1970. Levels of Existence: An Open Systems Theory of Values. Journal of Humanistic Psychology 10(2): 31–54. Greenleaf, Robert. 1977. Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness. New York: Paulist Press. Gulick, Luther. 1937. Notes on the Theory of Organization. In Papers on the Science of Administration, edited by Luther Gulick and Lyndall Urwick, 3–13. New York: Institute of Public Administration. Harman, Willis. 1998. Global Mind Change: The Promise of the 21st Century. 2nd ed. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler. Hart, David. 1984. The Virtuous Citizen, the Honorable Bureaucrat, and â€Å"Public† Administration. Public Administration Review 44(Special Issue): 111–20.

Free Essays on Illustrative Composition

I think that if we eliminate crime that we would be better economically. Prisoners in today’s prison system feed of our tax money whether we like it or not. Prisoners today can look forward to hardy meals, television, lifting weights, and playing sports. This in my mind sounds more like a resort than prison. When people are sent to a penitentiary they are there because they did something that was immoral. Therefore the punishment needs to fit the crime. Our prisons need to be cold, boring and strike an impression on the convict of a horrible retched place. But presently that is not how it is. These men or women are having a good time in prison. They’re not doing it for free either. The prison system alone takes $1,500,000 to maintain a year. That includes Recreation, Cable T.V., and other extra events. The prison system is part of the government as a means of reform in a person’s life. Therefore it needs to be harsh and unbending in its reform. So that when these inmates get out they are forever changed and not the same as they where when they came. That is why our prison system needs reform. It cannot continue treating offenders, who statistically 45% are violent offenders according to the Bureau of Justice, like they are.... Free Essays on Illustrative Composition Free Essays on Illustrative Composition I think that if we eliminate crime that we would be better economically. Prisoners in today’s prison system feed of our tax money whether we like it or not. Prisoners today can look forward to hardy meals, television, lifting weights, and playing sports. This in my mind sounds more like a resort than prison. When people are sent to a penitentiary they are there because they did something that was immoral. Therefore the punishment needs to fit the crime. Our prisons need to be cold, boring and strike an impression on the convict of a horrible retched place. But presently that is not how it is. These men or women are having a good time in prison. They’re not doing it for free either. The prison system alone takes $1,500,000 to maintain a year. That includes Recreation, Cable T.V., and other extra events. The prison system is part of the government as a means of reform in a person’s life. Therefore it needs to be harsh and unbending in its reform. So that when these inmates get out they are forever changed and not the same as they where when they came. That is why our prison system needs reform. It cannot continue treating offenders, who statistically 45% are violent offenders according to the Bureau of Justice, like they are....

Biography of Judith Resnik, NASA Astronaut

Biography of Judith Resnik, NASA Astronaut Dr. Judith Resnik was a NASA astronaut and engineer. She was part of the first group of female astronauts recruited by the space agency, and the second American woman to fly in space. She participated in two missions, logging a total of 144 hours and 57 minutes on orbit. Dr. Resnik was part of the ill-fated Challenger mission, which exploded 73 seconds after launch on January 28, 1986. Fast Facts: Judith A. Resnik Born: April 5, 1949 in Akron, OhioDied: January 28, 1986 in Cape Canaveral, FloridaParents: Sarah and Marvin ResnikSpouse: Michael Oldak (m. 1970-1975)Education: Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, doctorate in Electrical Engineering from the University of MarylandInteresting Fact: Judith A. Resnik planned at one time to become a concert pianist. She was accepted at Juilliard School of Music but turned it down to study mathematics. Early Life Born on April 5, 1949, in Akron, Ohio, Judith A. Resnik grew up under the influence of two talented parents. Her father, Marvin Resnik was an optometrist who had served in the Army in World War II, and her mother, Sarah, was a paralegal. Resniks parents raised her as an observant Jew and she studied Hebrew as a child. She was also very much interested in music, planning at one time to become a concert pianist. Many of her biographies describe Judith Resnik as a very strong-minded child, bright, disciplined and talented at whatever she set out to learn and do. Official NASA portrait of astronaut Dr. Judith A. Resnik. NASA   Education Judith (Judy) Resnik went to Firestone High School, graduating as valedictorian of her class. She actually had a place waiting for her at Juilliard School of Music in New York but elected instead to study mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University. While there, she began studying electrical engineering. She did her masters degree work at the University of Maryland. Eventually, she went on to get a Ph.D. in the subject in 1977. While pursuing her graduate studies, Resnik worked at RCA on missile and radar projects for the military. Her research into integrated circuitry caught NASAs attention and played a role in her acceptance as an astronaut. She also did research into biomedical engineering at the National Institutes of Health, with a particular interest in vision systems. During her graduate studies, Resnik also qualified as a professional aircraft pilot, ultimately piloting NASA T-38 Talon aircraft. During the years before her eventual acceptance at NASA, she worked in California, getting ready for the application and tryout process. NASA Career NASAs first class of female astronauts: Shannon W. Lucid, Margaret Rhea Seddon, Kathryn D. Sullivan, Judith A. Resnik, Anna L. Fisher, and Sally K. Ride.   NASA In 1978, Judy Resnik became a NASA astronaut at the age of 29. She was one of six women accepted into the program and went through its rigorous years of training. She often cited the actress Nichelle Nichols (from Star Trek) as an influence on her decision to join NASA. In her training, Resnik focused on all the systems astronauts were required to know, and paid particular attention to robotic arm operations, as well as the deployment of orbiting experiments and solar array systems. Her work on the ground focused on tethered satellite systems, spacecraft manual control systems, and software applications for the remote manipulator systems.   Astronaut Judith Resnik during egress training at NASA. NASA   Resniks first flight took place aboard the space shuttle Discovery. It was also the maiden voyage for the spacecraft. With that mission, she became the second American to fly, following the first woman, Sally Ride. Many viewers of the IMAX film The Dream is Alive first saw her as the astronaut with long, flowing hair, fast asleep on orbit during one of the scenes.  Ã‚   Astronaut Judith Resnik (left) and crewmates aboard space shuttle Discovery in 1984.   NASA Resniks second (and last flight) was aboard the space shuttle Challenger, which was to carry the first teacher to space, Christa McAuliffe. It broke up 73 seconds into launch on January 26, 1986. Had that mission been successful, she would have been one of the mission specialists, working on a variety of experiments. In her short 37-year lifespan, she logged 144 hours and 57 minutes on orbit, worked toward two degrees in science, and pursued both her work and her hobbies (cooking and car racing) with equal intensity.   Personal Life Judith Resnik was briefly married to engineer Michael Oldak. They had no children, and both were engineering students when they met. They divorced in 1975.   Memorial plaque at the Astrononaut Memorial wall in Florida. This Dignity Memorial bears the names of all who have died in space-related mishaps. Seth Buckley, CC BY-SA 3.0 Awards and Legacy Judith A. Resnik was honored many times after her death. Schools are named for her, and theres a lunar crater on the far side of the Moon called Resnik. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers established an award in her name, given to people who make outstanding contributions to space engineering. At the Challenger Centers, a network of museums and centers named for the Challenger 7, she holds a place of interest and honor, particularly for female students. Each year, NASA honors lost astronauts at the Memorial Wall and space mirror at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center in Florida, including the Challenger Seven who died in the 1986 tragedy.   Sources Dunbar, Brian. â€Å"Memorial for Judith Resnik.† NASA, www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/memorial.html.NASA, NASA, er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/resnik.htm.NASA, NASA, history.nasa.gov/women.html.â€Å"Remembering Judy Resnik.† Space Center Houston, 21 Jan. 2019, spacecenter.org/remembering-judy-resnik/.Suleyman, www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/judith-resnik.