Introduction
Self-leadership can be explained as leading oneself fundamentally in order to lead others. The successful synthesis of self-leadership is preparing an individual to take up external leadership roles in organizations and society. The service given by a leader is indicative of self-development efforts with an objective of ethical improvement of an individual’s competencies, abilities, and willingness for satisfying the needs of other individuals.
If it is possible for a leader to lead oneself in a productive, positive, and healthy manner then it is at its best in leading other subordinates. The notion for self-leadership is in line with the traits like self-regulation and self-efficiency that are inherent to the concept of the media approach.
This research report will emphasise the interaction of university students’ use of social media on self-leadership and continuous self-improvement that must focus on continuous reflection within an individual’s character and providing services to it for continuously improving qualitative and quantitative character. Along with this, the report will include a comparative study between Chinese and British universities.
Research Questions
- How do critical findings at one level of analysis generalize to the other level?
- How social media motivates self-development and continuous improvement in individuals?
Research Context
The concept of Self-leadership has been raised within the context of recent organizational changes under the course of new project management methodologies like Agile that changed leadership into self-leadership. Till now this concept is limited to the goal achievement of individuals or teams and hence could not become completely available at a broader perspective in a socio-organizational context.
According to the current literature available, the definition of self-leadership can have three major extensions – the first one indicates those self-leaders who guide their directions not only towards their own goals but also towards a large social entity such as organization as a whole. The second definition is available as a form or behaviour that may be according to an individual’s deeper values and therefore would be genuine. The third definition is based on Schein’s concept of leadership (Stewart et al., 2010).
The use of social media develops opinion in leaders about a particular subject and thus could be known as opinion leaders. Such leaders could instigate their peers in news and politics yet the influence of an opinion leader is not clear in social media. Social media is giving a good platform to the opinion leaders for eliciting perceptions on a particular event with a perception of being highly trustworthy. The main context of the research could be seen as understanding the dynamics of the formation of public opinion in the modern world of social media. The factors on which opinion leadership depends are personal characteristics in relation to the use of SNS for influencing people on political and social subjects, social media features like status updates, private messages etc. that are being used by SNS opinion leaders, and the psychological objectives due to which the information has been passed on that also publishes public opinion (Bracht et al., 2018).
Research Methodologies
The research pursues quantitative methods of data collection in the form of interviewing the students in universities on the role of social media in developing self-leadership. The students were asked to give their opinion on the research questions stated above:
- How do critical findings at one level of analysis generalize to the other level?
- How social media motivates self-development and continuous improvement in individuals?
Since the responses for each of these questions would be subjective the responses provided by the student has been quantified for comparing Chinese and British universities. The comparison of the educational system between the UK and China would be done on the basis of certain factors. These are standards followed in primary, secondary, and higher education.
The students answered that social media has conveyed that for easy education, the education system should not be complex and there need to be fewer admission formalities at every level of education. It has been compared that the Chinese system of higher education is less complicated in comparison to the UK. However, the working system is parallel in primary and secondary education. In the UK the universities can be categorized into four types including the open universities available for students whereas China has one system at all levels of education. The education system in China is not exam based but a new basis of quality education has been developed that focuses on the all-round development of students.
In the UK, children get the freedom to choose their own subjects because of which they will study more actively and in a suitable manner. But the course content or knowledge provided is limited in its scope. In China, due to the change in the system, children can get in-depth knowledge of the subject that will make them eligible to participate in international competitions. But at the same time, the duration of primary education is too long.
In Secondary education, students in China suffer more than that in the UK as it is very hard for students to get into college or university as they need to take an entrance exam to go into the senior phase of middle education. For universities, the common entrance exam has become tough.
Again the higher system of education in the UK is more complex UK than in China. The UK follows a full credit system that makes students aware of all kinds of subjects that may not be related to their main subject (Lei, n.d.).
Conclusion
It can be concluded from the report that with the advent of social media in China students can become their own guides of what they like and what they want to become in the future. They can then prepare themselves on the basis of entrance exams conducted in China. As they move from one level to another they can improve upon their knowledge of their main subject by gathering more information through the internet and joining suitable online courses. This way through social media, students can become self-leaders and continue their improvement in knowledge gaining for their entire life.
References
Bracht, E., Junker, N., & van Dick, R. (2018). Exploring the social context of self-leadership-Self-leadership-culture. Journal Of Theoretical Social Psychology, 2(4), 119-130. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts5.33
Lei, L. A Comparison of Educational System of the UK and China [Ebook]. Retrieved 24 March 2020, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED491460.pdf.
Stewart, G., Courtright, S., & Manz, C. (2010). Self-Leadership: A Multilevel Review. Journal Of Management, 37(1), 185-222. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206310383911
