47
environmental leadership is based on the unique characteristics environmental
problems that require long time to solution, complexity and uncertainty, emotionally charged situations, an incomplete and scattered science base, and the necessity
for integration.
This section discusses the relationship between leadership and environment
issues to be solved by conducting survey and interview students in class. The
authors reviewed successful examples of environmental leaders in Asia with students and used survey questions for young leader’s perspectives on environmental leader. The survey questions are used to discuss how students see today’s
environmental leaders: included important social trends or conditions affecting
today’s environmental leaders, major barriers facing today’s leaders, how leaders
emerge in their individual organizations, and the fi ve characteristic the students
think are most important for today’s leader. Based on this subjective analysis,
more objective statements about leadership were written. The results are summarized in Table 3.2 .
Most of the respondents agreed with statements 2 and 4: “Men and women often
have different environmental leadership skills and styles” and “Different people
lead in the organization at different times.” These responses showed that future
environmental leaders clearly realize the complexity of environmental issues, and
that what are required of them are fl exibility and the ability to work with different
people at different times. In other words, for the development of a sustainable
future, education or training in an organization should be multifaceted. Gordon and
Berry also explained that leaders perceive leadership as a function diffused throughout an organization, not the sole property of a leader based on his/her position or
title, but rather every member of an organization must be prepared to lead when his/
her turn or time comes. More interestingly, the respondents agreed more positively
with statement 7 “Leaders today are more process, rather than product, oriented”
and also with statement 12 “Leadership today is more diffi cult than in the past.”
This is in line with the reason why APIEL puts a high value on communication
among the stakeholders to reach a consensus and promote a clear vision: APIEL
emphasizes the development of “process and participation” leaders rather than
“command and control” leaders.
The most controversial survey results were those for statement 9 “Command
and control leadership is still necessary at times for environmental leadership”
and statement 10 “Environmental leaders cannot lead without authority.” Half of
the respondents seem to agree with these statements. This suggests that participatory, collective leadership in this context is not yet mature and requires time and
energy. The respondents acknowledged that control leadership is still required to
drive change.
Finally, the results for statement 11 verifi ed our strong belief that leadership
skills and styles can be learned, and among these skills, the communication skill is
an important key factor for leadership development. The following section describes
how in-class teaching helps to develop communication and debating skills, using a
case study: China’s challenge for climate change.
3 APIEL Compulsory Course: Environmental Challenges and Leadership in Asia
environmental leadership is based on the unique characteristics environmental
problems that require long time to solution, complexity and uncertainty, emotionally charged situations, an incomplete and scattered science base, and the necessity
for integration.
This section discusses the relationship between leadership and environment
issues to be solved by conducting survey and interview students in class. The
authors reviewed successful examples of environmental leaders in Asia with students and used survey questions for young leader’s perspectives on environmental leader. The survey questions are used to discuss how students see today’s
environmental leaders: included important social trends or conditions affecting
today’s environmental leaders, major barriers facing today’s leaders, how leaders
emerge in their individual organizations, and the fi ve characteristic the students
think are most important for today’s leader. Based on this subjective analysis,
more objective statements about leadership were written. The results are summarized in Table 3.2 .
Most of the respondents agreed with statements 2 and 4: “Men and women often
have different environmental leadership skills and styles” and “Different people
lead in the organization at different times.” These responses showed that future
environmental leaders clearly realize the complexity of environmental issues, and
that what are required of them are fl exibility and the ability to work with different
people at different times. In other words, for the development of a sustainable
future, education or training in an organization should be multifaceted. Gordon and
Berry also explained that leaders perceive leadership as a function diffused throughout an organization, not the sole property of a leader based on his/her position or
title, but rather every member of an organization must be prepared to lead when his/
her turn or time comes. More interestingly, the respondents agreed more positively
with statement 7 “Leaders today are more process, rather than product, oriented”
and also with statement 12 “Leadership today is more diffi cult than in the past.”
This is in line with the reason why APIEL puts a high value on communication
among the stakeholders to reach a consensus and promote a clear vision: APIEL
emphasizes the development of “process and participation” leaders rather than
“command and control” leaders.
The most controversial survey results were those for statement 9 “Command
and control leadership is still necessary at times for environmental leadership”
and statement 10 “Environmental leaders cannot lead without authority.” Half of
the respondents seem to agree with these statements. This suggests that participatory, collective leadership in this context is not yet mature and requires time and
energy. The respondents acknowledged that control leadership is still required to
drive change.
Finally, the results for statement 11 verifi ed our strong belief that leadership
skills and styles can be learned, and among these skills, the communication skill is
an important key factor for leadership development. The following section describes
how in-class teaching helps to develop communication and debating skills, using a
case study: China’s challenge for climate change.
3 APIEL Compulsory Course: Environmental Challenges and Leadership in Asia