Faith
The scenario associated with Jonah’s dilemma is complex because as an aspirational leader, he has always wanted to manage an audit team. Leaders are held accountable not only for meeting corporate goals but also for staying true to whom they are and being examples for their followers. The principle of holiness is at stake in this case because it “holds people accountable by rewarding moral purity and punishing impurity,” as mentioned by (Hill, 2018, p. 24). However, it is important to mention that for a long time, the business sphere has not credited righteousness or punished sins, which means that principles by which faith integration is implemented range from one leader to the next.
Jonah’s case is problematic because he is already experiencing pressure from his co-workers that tell him to “get off his high horse.” Such an attitude is already discouraging because he has always wanted to lead a team. Nevertheless, the principle of having a moral compass, and staying true to himself will get Jonah far in the future (George, 2010). This means that Jonah should follow his gut and do everything he needs to avoid working with a client that operates a chain of pornographic movie theaters. Jonah may delegate his responsibilities as a leader to another employee to maintain good relationships with the client while following his moral and religious beliefs. On the contrary, it is a possibility that the delegation of the responsibility will indicate Jonah’s lack of readiness to become a leader. The idea of judgmentalism is at work in the scenario because it is an imitation of holiness and implies the criticism of other people for inflating self-opinions (Hill, 2018).
If Jonah were to follow Christian guidelines, he would remove himself from the situation of supporting the actions of his client. As mentioned in the case study, Jonah has a strong belief that pornography degrades women, provides a ground for tempting men, and dishonors God. In case if this belief is strong, Jonah should refuse to work on the assignment. This may not only allow him to stay true to his personal beliefs but also to show strong will that not many leaders have. Jonah should prepare himself for the possible backlash he will inevitably get but avoid confrontations and judgmentalism, which goes against the principle of holiness.
In addition to the mentioned violations of holiness, legalism comes into play in Jonah’s case because it reduces holiness to rule-keeping. As pornographic movie theaters are considered legal and do not violate any state or federal laws, it may be hard for Jonah to avoid legalism (Hill, 2018). Because of his strong moral and religious beliefs, it is hard for a newly appointed leader to follow policies and show little emotional sensitivity to different situations. Also, even though an auditing firm is an environment that has rigid procedures and follows strict rules, maintaining holiness as an aspect of health integration is hard for Jonah. Overall, it is advised for Jonah to follow the Christian guidelines, and if his faith dictates that no association with pornography, he should refuse to work with the client. On the contrary, exercising the principle of acceptance and respect for others can also be applied in this case and allow Jonah to remain in his position.
Leadership
According to Hughes, Ginnett, and Curphy (2015), leadership is a process and not a position, which means that an effective leader in any sphere of activity should manage the relationship between himself or herself, followers, and a situation at hand. In this discussion, the different sets of leadership criteria will be explored with regards to a sports coach, a teacher, and a senior pastor. The criteria will be ranked by priority, and the justification of the criteria will be provided. It is also interesting to explore how the identified criteria can be measured and whether they are measurable at all.
The most important characteristic of a coach is the knowledgeability of the sport that he or she trains. This characteristic is ranked as the most crucial because, without it, a coach is unable to teach relevant skills, strategies, and tactics required for making game decisions. Knowledge of a sports coach can be measured through testing as well as evaluations such as monitoring and gathering the feedback of the sports coach’s trainees. Patience is the second most important criterion of a sports coach because it is needed for managing stressful situations and frustrating attitudes of players. “Patience is a virtue” is a principle by which coaches are encouraged to lead because they are required to be wise and understanding while teaching self-control and discipline (Jordan, 2014, p. 189). Communication skills are the third-ranked criteria of a sports coach because without knowing how to talk to trainees, it is impossible to pass the knowledge onto players. It is possible to survey trainees and collect their feedback on whether their coach communicates well.
Concerning effective teacher qualities, self-awareness is identified as the most important trait. According to Meador (2018), teachers must possess a high level of sociocultural awareness and should facilitate positive self-awareness among students to foster an accepting environment and strong relationships between students. While this criterion is essential, it is hard to measure because teachers may have different approaches to self-awareness. The second-ranked quality of effective teacher experiences (i.e., educational attainment and years working in the profession). This criterion was chosen because it can help teachers withstand stress and avoid burnout. After all, strength will come with experience. Measuring teachers’ experience is easy and can be done by reviewing their profiles. The last quality is the ability to negotiate. The criterium was chosen for its importance in recognizing students’ success and seeking areas for improvement. However, negotiation is hard to measure because different teachers implement various strategies.
The first important characteristic of a senior pasted is integrity: being able to decide between right and wrong and lead followers by example. This characteristic was chosen as the most important because it is different from any other quality and cannot be faked. This also means that measuring integrity is hard or even impossible. A personal relationship with God is the second most important characteristic because, without it, a pastor will be unable to lead a congregation of any scope. Again, this relationship is unique and is impossible to measure – it either exists or not. The last criterium is the passion because a pastor should truly believe in what he or she is doing. Passion is a characteristic of any leader, but for pastors, it is especially imperative. As with other qualities, passion is immeasurable.
References
George, B. (2010). True North: Discover your authentic leadership. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Hill, A. (2018). Just business: Christian ethics for the marketplace (3rd ed.). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Hughes, R. L., Ginnett, R. C., & Curphy, G. J. (2015). Leadership: Enhancing the lessons of experience (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Irwin/McGraw-Hill.
Jordan, M. (2014). In a space in a different place: Body, mind, and spirit. Bloomington, IN: Authorhouse.
Meador, D. (2018).Essential qualities of a good teacher. Web.