Leadership
versus Dominance of Mankind
By Carl R. ToersBijns
“Leadership is not
domination, but the art of persuading people to work toward a common goal”–
Daniel Goleman
Traditionally
speaking, men are social creatures in a most complex social world. What we do
and how we do it based on numerous factors that make us a different kind of
animal apart from the others in this world. Human beings are in many ways,
smarter than most members of the earth’s inhabitants but for some reason, have
engaged in continued conflict at the fundamental domestic levels or fighting
wars with each other that will eventually decide the fate of their survival.
We must all admit
there is a hierarchy and a pecking order in this world we live in that is undisputable
a daily influence of our lives. We organize our social skills, needs and
desires based on social influences along with cultures, traditions and customs.
The pecking order can
be based on many factors that maintain a class order as well. These factors are
well known but center on intelligence, strength, wealth and social position in
society or government. Regardless of intent, the pecking order is established
for one reason, protection; protection from others as well as themselves.
Protection designed to provide either a means to be self-sufficient and
independent or to avoid an unbalanced dependence on others. Thus we have what is commonly known as a
predator and prey situation.
Is such a pecking order appropriate or is it
flawed? What is the basis of such a concept and what establishes the rules of
engagement to make it orderly and fair or does it have to be fair. Is the
pecking order consistent or is it open for a competitive comparison of nature
thus competing with other force that coexists in the same dimension or
continent? The answers aren’t clear without looking at this a little bit
deeper.
Does the order posses aggression as a means or
a tool? It appears that every pecking order has a balance of “master and
subordinate” concepts. This is the key to the organizational purpose of a
society.
How it functions, copes and manages daily
living is based on a master and subordinate concept that develops other
elements needed to stabilize this process. Once can say that differences in
cultures or ideas will create different societies established with different
rules as well as customs and traditions to meet their statutory and religious
based views.
Thus this social arrangement becomes another
reason to divide the human race into smaller groups or interactions setting up
its own pecking order and reasons for dominance. As such society becomes a
complex system of building blocks with each a different set of rules and social
expectations.
So how does dominance play into societal
development? Observations of human being has confirmed there are at least three
types of people within a social organization, the leaders, the workers and the
followers alas another hierarchy in place to establish order.
Dominance is a prevalent factor in many
different scenarios in life. The fact is that when you observe humans you will
observe this quality of dominance frequently as it plays a significant and
prominent part of any social organization or setup. Therefore, it is fair to
say that both the hierarchy and the act of dominance are relevant to our
society.
Another relevant fact
observed are the traits of leadership and dominant functions of humans that are
observed taking a lead in an assignment or role within our societies. Therefore
one may ask is leadership a major characteristic of being a dominant character
or is this assumption that is flawed in some manner.
Dominance can be
divided into several groups within society and within the human interactions as
well. Dominance can police behaviors or resolve or create personal strife or
stress. It can take charge of most decision making processes that include where
you live, what you do for a living, who your sex partner is and whether you
remain single or married with children. It also determines whether you are
aggressive or passive and other personal traits well accepted to be human
behaviors and characteristics.
These are all human
developments of domestication and impact daily life to the fullest and are in
constant need for guidance and quality of life decisions that impact all those
decisions and lead a reasonable safe and comfortable quality of life. There is
a need to prevent looseness or direction within the group(s).
Hence we identify the
word leadership and its purpose within our social structures but part of the
problem is that leadership in its own definition is vague and can be broken
down to several types of concepts. However, for this purpose, we will focus on
social leadership.
For example, social
leadership can be defined as maintaining law and order between individuals
within a group providing protection for some when faced with a threat or
predation. It is this type of leadership that is most commonly identified with
the concept of leadership or leaders.
Leaders that are
either appointed or self appointed to provide control, management or guidance
of those things that are important to use whether tangible or intangible items
within our world. Along with this leadership must come a careful balance to
avoid a volatile vision of being master and slave relationships within the
social groups.
Leaderships must be
composed of mutual relationships such as partnerships sharing the burden and
maintaining control over those social interests within each group. It must rely
on social input and diverse thinking to seek what is best for the group and not
individuals.
Leadership can develop
during critical responses or daily and routine tasks and functions of society.
Thus it is fair to say
that leadership is prompted by the need for an initiative or action to do
something to either protect someone or maintain control or acquire something
that is needed to exist, to survive or to manage in order to maintain the most
human needs of our lives.
It could be concluded
that leaders do not have to be dominant or sitting at the head of the table
type of positions but rather, a characteristic that is mutually and
co-operative in nature and acceptable in all social formats that exist at the
time of need or purpose.
December 11, 2012
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