Introduction
Directed by Zheng Dasheng and Yang Jin, the film, “Beyond the Clouds,” tells the story of Zhang Guimei, a dedicated teacher who has led the way in advancing women’s education in rural China. The film was released on November 24th and tells the story of Zhang’s life-long insistence on creating the Huaping Girls ‘Senior High School in Yunnan, which provides few educational opportunities for girls. Zhang’s leadership is displayed as robust and transformational, guiding her pupils through financial tightness, social conventions, and individual crises. This essay will examine some of the film’s principal leadership themes and approaches from certain events in the film and relate them to the problems and challenges confronting education today. Also, a literature review will be done to develop a theoretical structure of the leadership themes identified, followed by an assessment of these leadership styles. Lastly, the essay will look at the exportation of leadership style from the assessment of the film to China from the perspective of Chinese social-cultural trends.
Leadership Issue and Practice
In the film “Beyond the Clouds,” Hai Qing commands the screen as Zhang Guimei as she confronts the formidable challenge of establishing the Huaping Girls’ Senior High School in the mountainous regions of Yunnan. This decision becomes a defining leadership issue, shedding light on Zhang’s visionary leadership and her commitment to addressing the dire lack of educational opportunities for girls in the region. Zhang’s leadership issue revolves around the recognition of the systemic educational gap for girls in the mountains. The centrally illuminating scene is that which shows her struggling to deal with this fact and going on to make the courageous decision to do something about it instead of accepting this as the way things are. She shows visionary leadership based on a strong social conscience and the power of education to change.
III. Literature Review
The concept of servant leadership, as proposed by Pawar et al. (2020), emphasizes leaders’ focus on serving others and enhancing the well-being of their followers. Zhang Guimei’s act of founding the Huaping Girls ‘Senior High School was very much in keeping with the spirit of servant leadership. However, her dedication to reforming education for girls in the mountains is a servant-leader approach. The leader’s first interest is that of the people. The film shows Zhang’s concern for her students, physically and psychologically. Scenes of her dealing with herself, facing hardships, and giving encouragement to her students are all examples of servant leadership. This framework brings insight into Zhang’s leadership methods by focusing on the leader’s service to the community.
Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky’s adaptive leadership model is also relevant to Zhang Guimei’s journey in “Beyond the Clouds.” Adaptive leadership focuses on mobilizing people to tackle tough challenges and thrive in changing environments (Jerusalem & Hudtohan, 2022). Zhang’s leadership philosophy, as she deals with financial pressure, social realities, and government red tape, fits in with the model of adaptive leadership. Scenes of Zhang giving direction, support, and motivational advice match perfectly with the essence of the path-goal theory. In addition, the film also clearly highlights Zhang’s insistence on providing a caring environment, removing barriers, and giving her students a chance to shine. This is consistent with the path-goal theory, which stresses that the leader should help the subordinates achieve their goals by guiding and supporting them.
Evaluation of Leadership Practices
In Beyond the Clouds, Zhang Guimei portrays a successful leadership style that is at once transformational, servant, adaptive, and path-goal, making it difficult to tease out its precise nature. Zhang decided to establish the Huaping Girls’ Senior High School, which provides the foundation for her leadership practices. This choice fits with the idealized influence aspect of transformational leadership, where the leader inspires others with vision and commitment. Zhang’s influence on her students was distinctive, and she quickly became their idol. She transports them to educate them under demanding conditions. See the changed lives the girls have experienced through this formative practice. It is a glorious example of the dynamic the might of visionary leadership can create in combating educational injustice.
Zhang’s dedication to meeting the community’s educational needs is expressed in the dimension assessment. Setting up the school was irrefutable proof of her sense of responsibility to others. The scenes with Zhang being tested and consoling others reveal the personal role of the leader-servant in the literature review. The servant-leader model asserts itself in providing a caring education community that educates and nourishes their students (Pawar et al., 2020). Further, the model of the adaptive leader is particularly vital when addressing Zhang’s attempts, as she encounters numerous obstacles in establishing the school. The critical element of adaptive leadership is that people are united under pressure and chaos. Zhang’s adaptability is also shown through her flight from financial constraints, social tradition, and bureaucratic obstacles ( Jerusalem & Hudtohan, 2022). Because the problems are so many-sided, her kinds of leadership change in response to changing conditions, and we can see that adaptive leadership has validity even in complex educational environments.
In addition, the path-goal theory offers insight into how Zhang guides her students to educational success. The theory suggests that leaders will clarify the course to success and provide support (Handayanti & Januarty, 2023). This approach is represented in Zhang’s guidance, as in scenes where she provides direction, support, and encouragement. Her leadership style leaves her students with a clear path through the obstacles they face in pursuing their education.
Cultural Transfer of Leadership
In exploring the cultural transfer of Zhang Guimei’s leadership practices portrayed in “Beyond the Clouds,” embark on an imaginative journey, envisioning the adaptation of her transformative, servant, adaptive, and path-goal leadership approaches to the local culture and context in China, specifically within the realms of higher education or K-12 school systems. However, when transplanted into the local Chinese culture, Zhang Guimei’s visionary decision to establish the Huapping Girls ‘Senior High School presents an interesting case. Chinese have solid communal values, so Zhang’s focus on educating girls fits in with cultural norms (Dong et al., 2023). Within the Chinese cultural context, education has never been anything other than a stepping-stone to society and a way of giving back.
The concept of servant leadership, which strives to serve others and increase the well-being of followers, naturally fits with China’s cultural milieu. This notion that a leader is a servant of the greater good fits the Confucian values of humility and selflessness and the greater social harmony known as li (Li et al., 2019). Zhang’s concerns for the community and her holistic support of the pupils would be warmly received in a Chinese cultural tradition that appreciates leaders who prioritize the common good. Also, adapting Zhang’s adaptive leadership approach to the Chinese educational system requires traversing bureaucratic structures, societal conventions, and financial limitations unique to the local setting (Root, 2023). The adaptive approach, which stresses the leader’s flexibility in coping with the difficulties that arise, is consistent with the pragmatic and hardy temperament of the Chinese. This ability to change tactics, deal with complexity, and develop creative solutions fits well with Chinese leadership’s emphasis on adaptability.
Additionally, if applied to the Chinese educational scene, the path-goal theory must take note of cultural expectations and aspirations. Zhang’s guidance, aimed at making clear paths to success and providing required aid, attunes to the Chinese emphasis on academic excellence and a structured route. This cultural cross-fertilization means that China has to accept and digest the Confucian lessons of respect for elders and authority and observance of filial piety to cultivate an educational attitude. However, it is a process that takes time and effort. However, these values, which define Chinese culture, also presume a certain level of hierarchy and authority, which differs from the collaborative and participative nature of the transformative and adaptive leadership styles. The need for clear direction and the desire for collective decision-making become two sides of the same coin. The communication style that Zhang uses in persuading others is well suited to the movie’s depiction of the local situation. However, it might not work in a Chinese cultural context, where indirectness is the norm.
Conclusions
In conclusion, Beyond the Clouds presents a fascinating picture of Zhang Guimei’s inspiring leadership in helping girls in rural China overcome the education gap. From a theoretical perspective including transformational, servant, adaptive, and path-goal leadership, this paper has looked at Zhang’s pioneering decision to found the Huaping Girls ‘Senior High School, her various modes of leadership, and the cultural transmission of these methods in the Chinese setting. Zhang’s firm determination, flexibility, and the power of education to remodel have helped reveal the twists and turns of leading society through difficult times. However, besides testimony to the role played by visionary leaders in education, the film also provides an occasion to think about the cultural underpinnings shaping leadership attitudes and practices in different international settings.
References
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