The intellectual capacity of leadership competencies as perceived by past members of a collegiate sophomore leadership course

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine how leadership competencies are remembered and utilized following instruction in a structured collegiate leadership course. The population for this study consisted of experienced collegiate leaders who competed an academic leadership course. The purposive sample included seventy-four students who competed the course during a semester within a three year period. For this longitudinal study, the investigator used a web-based survey. A three-part instrument was used. The first section focused on the comprehension and use of leadership competencies presented in the leadership course. These competencies included: Trait Theory, Theory X/Theory Y, Task v Relationship, Blake and Mouton's Managerial Grid, Motivation, Image, Situational Leadership, Delegation, Teams, Tuckman's Team Development Model, Vision, Power, Transactional/ Transformational Leadership, and Consensus. The second section was the Leadership Skills Inventory (LSI). The LSI consisted of twenty-one statements describing various leadership and life skills. These statements corresponded to five internal scales used for analysis: working with others, decision-making, positional leadership, understanding of self, and communication. The final section of the instrument covered demographics that included gender, year the course was taken, number of collegiate activities, number of leadership courses taken, hours spent per week in student activities, and perceived level of involvement. Comparisons were made between the different classes in regards to self-perceived leadership competency knowledge (retained comprehension) as well as self-perceived leader competency use. Results showed statistically significant differences were found among students one, two, and three years after the course and self-perceived knowledge of Task v Relationship and Blake and Mouton's Managerial Grid. Findings also showed that there was no statistically significant difference between self-perceived leadership competency use and the number of years post collegiate leadership course. Comparisons were also made between the different classes and self-perceived leadership skills (LSI). Findings showed that there was no statistically significant difference between self-perceived leadership skills and the numbers of years post the collegiate leadership course. The research also investigated the relationship between leadership experience and self-perceived use of leadership competencies. Findings showed that as leadership experienced increased, leaders used delegation and visioning more and trait theory and consensus less.