Concordia College students may not have solved all the world’s challenges during their “Leadership: Theory and Applications” class this fall, but they did team up to decide what leadership approach might best address them locally.
Then the student groups shared their work with the campus community in the form of presentation posterboards, greeting passers-by and answering questions about their research and their findings.
Dr. Shontarius Aikens, associate professor of management, introduced students to the seven major trends that will shape our world through 2050 and beyond, as identified by the Center for Strategic and International Studies — population, resource management, technology, information and knowledge, economics/economic integration, security/conflict, and governance.
Then he assigned them to choose one, study its impact in the Fargo-Moorhead area, and decide what contemporary leadership framework would be best for approaching the issue.
Three of the groups chose to examine facets of artificial intelligence, one focusing on its use in business, one on its use in education and a third taking a broader view. Others researched responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, making large financial planning decisions after college, and housing in Fargo-Moorhead.
Each group interviewed people from local businesses and organizations, asking about the status of their issue, what’s been done about it and what the future could potentially hold, drawing their results into a presentation.
Students showing “Housing in Fargo-Moorhead” contacted 36 people and interviewed 25 of them. What did they learn from them?
“Individuals think that there is a shortage in housing. Management companies do not,” they wrote, adding that there is a lack of lower-income and student housing, concerns about maintaining a safe environment, and noting that roommates are necessary and living is getting more expensive.
The leadership applications they chose were Path Goal Theory, which defines a goal, clarifies the path to it and removes obstacles, as well as Transformational Leadership, meant to inspire performance and bring people to their fullest potential, and Followership under a leader’s direction.
Several other groups focused on Transformational Leadership or Adaptive Leadership, with its focus on how leaders encourage people to adapt, as both focus on guiding people through changes and fostering growth.