The New Role of Parenting in Leadership in a Public Administration Setting

This work seeks to determine whether the act of being a parent influenced a public administrator's leadership style, or in contrast, whether leadership in­fluenced ones parenting style. Although there has been considerable research in both fields as independent disciplines, there is minimal information on po­tential relationships between the two subjects. This is surprising because parents are the first leaders each of us are introduced to throughout child­hood. Similar to leaders, parents must use their experiences as a guide for leading their children, inspire and lead by example, and set clear goals to maintain order within the household. Similar to the way a parent must put the needs of their child before self interests, leaders must remain mindful of the importance of their duty to meet their constituents' best interest while fulfilling the needs of the organization they serve. However, the paucity of published research on the interconnectedness of leadership and parenting leads one to conclude that the role of parenting is historically undervalued as a leadership skill that could be used within the workplace. This study sought to explore the gap between leadership and parenting by asking the primary research question, does a relationship exist between these two subjects, especially in a public administration setting? This project uncovered many interesting findings such as, cross cultural differences in leadership styles be­tween organizations, gender differences in leadership and parenting styles, situational influences on decision making with leadership and parenting roles and the importance of the roles of leadership and parenting to public admin­istration. This work will be of interest to professionals and managers in the fields of public administration, social work, education, and psychology. Additionally, it is directed towards researchers and students of leadership theories.