Welcome!

Hi, fellow MQM 421 classmates! Welcome to our group's blog, which will focus on leadership styles and how certain styles affect behavior in an organization.

First, we wanted to give you a quick look at the members in our group:

• Chase Behrendt - Chase is in the MBA program and has an undergraduate degree from ISU in finance and accounting. He currently works as the head administrator for a four-physician orthopedic practice in Bloomington/Normal - and has spent the last seven years in healthcare.
• Traci Finch - Traci is pursuing her graduate degree in communications. She majored in journalism (and social work!) at University of Iowa and now works in State Farm's IT department, performing speechwriting duties and other written/online communications.
• Matthew Fowles - Matt is an MBA student entering his final year with an undergraduate degree in psychology. He is a former college and minor league baseball player at ISU and with the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.
• Angela Minichiello - Angela is a graduate student in Recreation Management on track to graduate in December. Her undergraduate degree in communications with a focus on public relations is from Drake University.

Our blog, as you can probably gather, will offer information and opinions on the many different leadership styles researchers have identified (such as transformational, authoritarian, laissez-faire, etc.) and how these styles manifest into affecting organizational behavior. (If you want a quick refresh on different leadership styles, changingminds.org has a good page here.) For example, we will be looking for real-world examples of leaders who exemplify one or more of these styles; then we will connect that to how their style affects their organization.