JAM Camp Themes Within Manhood

Themes within Manhood

Operational Definitions

• Personal & Social Responsibility
  • Personal Responsibility - Personal well-being such as effort and self-direction
    • Effort - Youth maintain the respect for others' opportunities to learn while fully participating in activities. Youth are willing to try new activities and to practice activities they are not skilled (Martinek & Hellison, 2016; Watson & Cocksin, 2012).
    • Self-direction - Youth have demonstrated respect for their peers and the willingness to participate and give effort in a variety of tasks. Youth are able to work independently toward self-identified goals and in cooperation with peers (Martinek & Hellison, 2016; Watson & Cocksin, 2012)
  • Social Responsibility - Social well-being such as respect for others' rights and feelings and caring for and helping others
    • Respecting for others' rights - Youth are able to control their behavior to the extent that they do not interfere with the learning opportunities of others. Youth respect the rights and feelings of others to safely (emotionally and physically) engage in activities but may not participate by choice (Martinek & Hellison, 2016; Watson & Cocksin, 2012).
    • Caring for and helping others - Youth are able to lead learning experiences and assess their peers. Youth demonstrate willingness to positively help peers in the learning process (Martinek & Hellison, 2016; Watson & Cocksin, 2012).

• Leadership & Followership
  • Leadership - “the ability of an individual to influence, motivate and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organizations of which they are members”  (House, Javidan, & Dorfman, 2001, p. 494). “Leadership is a complex process that involves the effort of an individual (i.e., a leader) to help groups identify and achieve personal and group goals” (Gould & Voelker, 2010, p. 2).
    • “A key to motivating followers is the concept of having them realize how important their function is in a broad sense” (Bjugstad, Thach, Thompson, & Morris, 2006, p. 307)
    • “The foundation of a productive follower-leader relationship is mutual trust” (Bjugstad, Thach, Thompson, & Morris, 2006, p. 308)
    • With respect to the task-related behaviours, effective communication skills, guiding group tasks and fostering goal attainment were established as key elements for leader effectiveness (Price & Weiss, 2011; Riggio, Riggio, Salinas, & Cole, 2003; Wright & Cote, 2003). ← Cotterill & Fransen, 2016
    • However, high-quality leaders go further than only preaching what to do and which tactical guidelines to follow; they walk the talk. By behaving like a role model and demonstrating a good work ethic, they set an example for their teammates (Bucci et al., 2012; Dupuis et al., 2006; Holmes et al., 2010). Moreover controlling their emotions and remaining positive during the game were established as key motivational leadership behaviours (Dupuis et al., 2006) ← Cotterill & Fransen, 2016
  • Followership - “the ability to effectively follow the directives and support the efforts of a leader to maximize a structured organization” (Bjugstad, Thach, Thompson, & Morris, 2006, p. 304)
    • Effective followers manage themselves well. This quality refers to the ability to determine one's own goals within a large context and to decide what role to take at any given time (Kelley, 1988).
    • Effective followers are committed to the organization and to a purpose beyond themselves (Kelley, 1988).
    • Effective followers build their competence and focus their efforts for maximum impact. They strive to reach higher levels of performance and expand themselves (Kelley, 1988).
    • Effective followers are courageous, honest, and credible. This implies and requires independent and critical thinking skills as well as the ability to feel comfortable with others (Kelley, 1988).
    • Effective followers exhibit enthusiasm,intelligence, and self-reliance (Kelley, 1988).
    • Followers in high leader-member exchange relationships are delegated with additional tasks, and thus, they can act as agents of the leader. Performing these tasks may cause others to perceive these high leader-member exchange employees as proxies of the formal leader, thus helping them to gain leadership influence over the team (Zhang, Waldman, & Wang, 2012)

• Mental Toughness
  • Control – Control means having a sense of self-worth and describes the extent to which a person feels in control of their life and their circumstances. Also, importantly it describes the extent to which they can control the display of their emotions (Clough, Earle, Sewell, 2002).
    • A Mentally Tough person with high control will usually just “get on with it” irrespective of how they feel and work through emotionally charged situations without seemingly being distracted or derailed. This 'calm' and positive approach can also often lift the spirits of those around them (Clough, Earle, Sewell, 2002).
  • Commitment – Commitment is about goal orientation and 'stickability' and describes the extent to which someone is prepared to set goals and make measurable promises that, once made, they will work hard to deliver on (Clough, Earle, Sewell, 2002).
    • A mentally tough person with high commitment can usually be relied upon to set goals and targets and do what they need to do to achieve them (Clough, Earle, Sewell, 2002).
  • Challenge – Challenge describes the extent to which the individual will push back their boundaries, embrace change and accept risk. It's also about how they see all outcomes – good and bad (Clough, Earle, Sewell, 2002).
    • Mentally Tough people with a high 'Challenge' score view challenges, change and adversity as opportunities rather than threats and will relish the chance to learn and grow in the new and hitherto unknown situation. Someone whose challenge score is high will typically enjoy new places, new people, innovation and creativity and become quickly bored by routine (Clough, Earle, Sewell, 2002).
  • Confidence – Confidence completes the picture and describes the self-belief an individual has in their own abilities and the interpersonal confidence they possess to influence others and deal with conflict and challenge (Clough, Earle, Sewell, 2002).
    • When faced with a challenge, mentally tough people scoring high in confidence will possess the self belief to deal with the situation and the inner strength to stand their ground when needed. Their confidence enables them to represent their view boldly and be comfortable in handling objections (Clough, Earle, Sewell, 2002).