I realized that the field of student affairs administration was a field I wanted to pursue while working orientation for my undergraduate institution my junior year. At the time, I was helping an incoming first-year student navigate the challenging registration process while engaging in active communication with the student about their background and perceptions of the upcoming academic year. This incoming first year student opened up to me about their background stating they were a first-generation college student, and arriving to campus coming from an underprivileged, urban high school. The student expressed their fears and concerns of financial aid, living with a random roommate, and writing research papers for classes outside of their major. …show more content…
At Ohio University there was not much collaboration between offices on events and resources for students, rather the goals of various services on campus were individualized within their direct units. This allowed me to become an expert in the three areas of student affairs I experienced; however, it limited the experience within the field of student affairs. Ohio University allowed for personal advancement within the field in the various departments due to the large number of positions that the institution had in the field of student affairs. Ohio University provided a wonderful template of the positive impact student affairs administrators can have on college campuses. At such a large public research institution senior administrators in student affairs were actively engaged with students on campus. Administrators were showing up to events planned by students on campus, showing support, and they were actively engaged in student discussions occurring on campus. An overwhelming sense of community was built at Ohio University due to the impact that numerous student affair professionals had on campus showing that they cared about …show more content…
I appreciate when the manager above me runs the organization or group with this particular style, and when I am leading or in a management position I strive to follow the democratic style. The reason I believe that this style is best fitting in various situation is because it allows individuals to make decisions as a collective group rather than one individual making a decision. I have confidence that anyone within a working environment has the capability to bring a positive and changing ideal to the table. The democratic style also gives each individual a degree of autonomy while completing routine daily work. I believe it is important to hand the sense of responsibility to individuals, as well as allow individuals to collaborate on bringing various ideals forward. I grew up with a peer of mine always making the decision for my group of friends, and therefore being a more of an autocratic leader. I learned growing up that decisions are better made through a group than one single person because everyone brings different experiences and backgrounds to the decision being made. I worked as a lifeguard growing up for numerous years and the pool was managed through a persuasive management style managed by Brian. While Brian did have the ideals of the employees in mind when making decisions, he did not let the employees have any input on the decision being made, such