Lesson 2 - Special entrepreneurial skills for activities in the fields of social – cooperative production

Step 1 of 6

Special entrepreneurial skills for activities in the fields of social – cooperative production and / or in that of creative industries.

As we already discussed in the first lesson, the special structural characteristics of the postmodern capitalistic transformation requires productive activities that will be more socially oriented, highly innovative and creative trying to put differentiation to the front and organized rather in a corporatist way, horizontally or vertically.

All these aspects re-define “entrepreneurship” and bring forward skills and abilities that were not of such a significance in previous phases of systemic development.

Features of Democratic Leadership

First, there is a conceptual difference between leadership and authority. Authority is formalized power conferred upon an individual to engage in certain activities sanctioned by some person or institution with the power to confer the authority. For example, if you are elected to the Senate, the citizens of your state have conferred upon you the power to represent them. In the private sector, a board of directors confers upon the CEO certain powers to implement board policies.

Leadership, on the other hand, can be thought of as the power of an individual to influence others in belief or action. A leader may or may not have formal authority, and someone with authority may or may not lead. In other words, leadership isn't a position or office one holds but a behavior.

Democratic leadership attempts to manage with democratic principles, such as self-determination, inclusiveness, equal participation and deliberation. The following three features characterize democratic leadership:

  1. Distribution of responsibility - A manager that leads democratically will distribute responsibility among his group to facilitate participation in decision-making.
  2. Empowering group members - Leaders must empower their members so that the members can accomplish their responsibilities. Empowerment includes training and education necessary for delegated task completion.
  3. Aiding group decision-making process - A major role of a democratic leader is to responsibility among his group to facilitate participation in decision-making. members can accomplish their responsibilities. Empowerment includes providing training and education necessary for delegated task completion. ensure democratic deliberation in making group decisions. This means that a leader should act as a facilitator and mediator between group members and ensure that a psychologically healthy and respectful environment is maintained.

In the following, we provide a table and a specific example that will be needed in order to check the fifth exercise of the present module.

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