A New Form Of Leadership

The book selected for the assignment is, ‘Be a people person: Effective leadership through effective relationships,’ by John C. Maxwell. Mr. Maxwell is an author, speaker, leadership expert who is internationally recognized and a pastor. He wrote books on leadership (The John Maxwell Company, n.d.). He has a doctorate in ministry and started his career as a pastor. After 14 years of preaching the word of God, he devoted himself to speaking and writing. He became a religious leader (Christian Books Previews, n.d.). Maxwell has recognized the role of interpersonal relationships in making and breaking a leader. He has also realized the importance of developing personal skills from the people (Victor Books, 2002). In his book, Maxwell explains how a person who follows can turn to a leader by connecting with people and relating to them from a biblical perspective. The author places 50 percent emphasis on others, 25 percent on self and the remaining 25 percent on God in his approach to the followers (Barnes and Noble, n.d.).

Throughout history, there have been many factors that seem to have influenced the operations of Congress. Some of these factors have been the committee system, seniority, and political parties. These are only a few of the factors that actually have an influence on Congress’s decisions of certain operations.

The inter workings of Congress have been studied extensively by Richard Fenno and David R. Mayhew. Mayhew’s study of Congress took place in Washington, while Richard Fenno conducted his research by following politicians within their congressional district. Mayhew attributes three primary goals to congressmen- getting reelected, achieving influence within Congress and making “good Policy”. Fenno also attributes three basic goals, having influence inside the House than other congressmen. Second, helping their constituents and thereby insuring their reelection, and lastly helping make good policy. The purpose of this paper is to research a member of Congress and to make a direct connection between his activity in Washington and his home district. The paper will answer whether the congressmen is a delegate or trustee. Are the actions a pursuit for reelection? Are the committee assignments a path for movement within the House or outside? What legislation has he/she sponsored or co-sponsored and does it directly reflect his/her districts political view. And finally, do major industries and interest groups within his/she district affect the way he/she votes.

In “Congressional Government”, Woodrow Wilson tries to explain the system of Congress and in it he thoroughly discusses the predominance of Congressional Committees in the legislative body. He argues that our legislature is more analogous to a conglomerate, not a homogenous body and that “we are ruled by a score and a half of ‘little legislatures’”(Wilson p. 323). There is little unity in the House and party organization is not strong according to Wilson. The many distinct, disconnected committees has leads Congress to have weak leadership and therefore decreases decision making. Also Wilson shows how multiple committee jurisdictions creates a system where there is no clear voice on the issue and since committees differ in political ideology broad questions of policy suffer. Lawrence C. Dodd also discusses the committee system in “Congress and the Quest for Power”. In it, he argues that the solution to congressmen’s need for power is a decentralized congress with a committee system that allows members to gain considerable power in their small committees. “Each member wants to exercise power, to make the key policy decisions. … Given this widespread power motive, an obvious way to resolve the conflict is to disperse power”(Dodd p. 335). Dodd argues that the solution to member Congress constantly seeking power is the current

An important point made in Weissert and Weissert concerning Congress and its committee structure is that the majority of the work in Congress is done through committees. They perform the majority of research on issues and possible solutions, get legislation written, re-written and amended, and support it as it moves through Congress and finally gets passed. They are the “workhorses of the legislature” (Weissert and Weissert, 29).

Political parties provide the House of Representatives with organizational structure and discipline. Therefore, they appear to be essential for understanding the relationship between members and constituents. Meinke acknowledges prior literature concerning the influence of parties on representation and in policy-making choices as well as the evolution of extended leadership. However, Meinke suggests that in the representational relationship, parties have a wider scope of influence than previously believed.

Committees, a crucial part of the legislative system, are used as a way where Representatives can represent the interests of their constituents - an elector (Bianco, Cannon, 278); as previously illustrated. The committees that Congresswoman Norton, engages in, are called ‘standing’ committees - permanent and specialize in an area of public policy. Being a part of a standing committee becomes beneficiary in relevance

Constituent opinion, interest groups and political parties all influence the voting decisions of members of Congress in various ways. However, it is ultimately up to each member to decide how to cast his/her vote on any piece of legislation. Explore each of the influences mentioned above and discuss how each could be a potential positive and negative influence on members decisions. Finally, consider these influences in light of the delegate and trustee models of representation introduced by the Framers' fears of democracy and faction. Is there a best path for members to follow in deciding how to

The appearance of the congress has changed significantly since Independence. At its beginning it consisted of a party of Federalists who believed in maintaining a strong central government while it now consists of the Republican and Democratic parties served by self-serving “career” politicians guided by the interest of their districts over the country.

The modern Congress is a reformed Congress (Shaw, 2015:2). The power of the House of Representative was held in the hand of the Speaker in the early 1900s. However, a resolution was introduced by George Norris after leading the progressive Republicans and Democrats into a revolt against Joe Cannon, the Speaker, in 1910. The power was moved to the hands of the committee chairs, which were determined by seniority, after the revolt. (Shaw, 2015:3). The seniority system was challenged in the 1950s and 1960s. As a result, a greater role was placed on the Speaker of the House and the majority party on determining the assignment of the committee chairs. Moreover, the sub-committees had also become more important in the legislature. Later in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the wages of the Congress members and the number of staff had increased as a result of becoming more “professionalized”. The franking privilege, the privilege of sending certain matter

For this reason, Eric R. Seeman argues that “seniority is the single most important determinant of a representative’s power”, which leads to voters reelecting occupants to Congress and establishing rankings. In 1974, the Democratic Party adopted new rules to open the committee chairmanships to all party members and insist other basis than seniority in determining the position

Donald McGannon is quoted as saying “Leadership is an action, not a position” (as cited by Walter, 2013, para. 4). Leadership requires thought, action, interaction, and continues reflection. Bolman and Gallos (2011) speak of viewing leadership through four prospective: Structural, Human Resources, and Symbolic. These varying frames of leadership provide differing strengths and insights to leadership. Thompson (2000) categorizes the structural and human resource frames as more “related to managerial effectiveness” and the political and symbolic frames as more “related to leadership effectiveness”(p. 970). While a leadership prospective can be effected by context and personal preference, as Tully and Freeman (2011) identify, in their study they recommend that leaders must use multiple frames to

The module goes on to address the changes made in the Congressional committee system. Committees are an integral part of our Congressional system without them in place the 435 members of the House and the 100 members of the Senate would be severely hindered in doing their job. Committees have been used in the Congress since the beginning at first the committees were ad hoc bodies put together to address issues and then reported back to their specific bodies as time went by permanent standing committees were formed. Over time members built careers within committees building seniority and power. “By the turn of the century, seniority had become such an iron-clad formula that in both House and Senate party leaders’ real discretion in committee assignments was limited primarily to new members.” (Loomis/Schiller p 156) The power amassed by committee chairmen began to rival party leadership and stifle junior members of committees. Both parties recognized that too much power rested with the chairpersons of committees and worked to place limits on this power and return it party leadership. The Democrat reforms occurred from 1959-1975 and included limiting the number of chairs a member could hold and fixed jurisdiction of subcommittees among other steps. The Republican changes reduced the number of staff personnel and did away with

As a leader I strive to empower peak performance without excessive constraints and reliance on continuous leadership inputs to accomplish the set goals. Leadership is the ability of an individual to empower and develop an organization and its people to achieve its mission with little or no constant involvement from their management. This is achievable by empowering subordinates to be autonomous. This requires a leader to instill the necessary competence in the organizations to ensure proficiency in their respective areas of responsibility.

There are always chances and possibilities to become a good leader regardless the odds against you, gender, age, race, education, previous experience, etc. This paper defines what leadership is and it explains the relationship between leadership and influence. It also highlights the importance of finding opportunities to develop skills and creating strong to become a good leader. It is also emphasized the power of influence that comes from motivating your team, to improve performance and satisfaction and that setting a clear goal is mandatory for good leadership. The conclusion summarizes all the topics under discussion.