Effect of Camping on Leadership Qualities of Physical Education Personnel

Camping is a place where people, students, troops etc. live for a specific time in tents or huts. Camp means living together in a group away from the homes, institutions, hostels etc. for outdoor education (Dictionary). Actually it is as old as human beings. Man had his start in the out-of doors, when he was completely dependent upon nature for his food, shelter and body coverings or clothes. The knowledge of the out-of doors was essential to his survival (Benson, 1951). Camping is a carefree type of outdoor activity. It can be carried out alone, or in company with others. It is healthy, and it can be very cheap. There is no age limit. There is the inherent desire in the camper to enjoy an outdoor life, to savor the delights of nature, to live simply. The benefits of camping are obvious: a healthy open-air holiday and the inculcation of a spirit of independence and self-reliance. But the benefits of camping are not confined to the camper himself, for a good camper is essentially a good citizen. A good camper helps and assists his fellow campers, appreciates his native countryside, and combines a freedom of mind with a self-imposed discipline. These qualities in themselves make camping worthwhile (Arnold, 1963). Leadership has been defined as an activity of influencing people to strive willing in group objectives. Another definition of leadership is influencing people to follow the achievement of a common goal (Roy, 1991). Good leaders are made not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience. Good leaders are continually working and laurels (Jago, 1982). Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 2007). Leadership is the ability to build up confidence & zeal among people and to create an urge in them to be lead. To be a successful leader one must possess foresight, drive, initiative, self-confidence and personal integrity. Different situation may demand different types of leadership. Leadership is the act of influencing other people to cooperate toward some common goals which they come to find desirable. A group leader provides channel to the unutilized energy and creativity in the group (Singh, 2003). What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by those they respect and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect, they must be ethical. A sense of direction is achieved by conveying a strong vision of the future (U.S. Army, 1983). Through this all the queries came into the researchers mind whether training camp enhances leadership quality or not, this study has been conducted.

2

The objective of the study was to see the effect of camping on leadership qualities of physical education personnel.

Selection of subjects: The subjects selected for the study were 75 male students aged 19.7 ± 2.1 years of Bachelor of Physical Education from Lakshmibai National University of Physical Education, Gwalior. The subjects were selected who were going for a leadership training camp at Pachmarhi (M.P.). Research design: One group Pretest-Posttest randomized group design was used for the study. Collection of data: For the collection of data, Collaborative Leadership Self-Assessment Questionnaire (constructed by Robert Wood Johnson) was used to assess the leadership quality. CLSQ was especially designed for adolescents and adults. It consists of 64 items which covers six important factors of leadership i.e. developing people (DP), self-reflection (SR), assessing the environment (AE), creating clarity: visioning and mobilizing (CC), building trust (BT) & sharing power and influence (SP). The subject had responded to the 4 point scale such as Seldom; Sometime; Often and Almost Always. The data were recorded before and after the leadership training camp. Statistical Analysis: In order to analyze the data ‘Paired t-test’ was employed. The level of significance was set at 0.05

The analyses of data pertaining to all the important factors of leadership i.e. developing people (DP), self reflection (SR), assessing the environment (AE), creating clarity: visioning and mobilizing (CC), building trust (BT) & sharing power and influence (SP) are shown in table 1.

It was evident from the data analysis that the value of calculated t- ratio of all the six factors of leadership 6.93, 7.55, 8.26, 9.02, 10.02, 10.04 respectively, were found significant at 74 df with the tabulated ‘t’ value 1.92, thus indicating that there was a significant effect of camping on the leadership qualities of physical education personnel.

The result of the study was indicating that there was a significant effect of camping on the leadership qualities of physical education personnel on all the six factors i.e. developing people (DP), self reflection (SR), assessing the environment (AE), creating

an activity which gives numerous opportunities for an individual to help people, teach them new skills, help others to become successful in whatever they are doing and every day is a new experience for all the individuals. It is a cooperative venture since everybody irrespective of colors; cast and creed live together for a certain amount of time. Under the variable Self Reflection, an individual is able to learn how his good emotions will improve the work performance whereas bad emotions can result in deteriorating relationship and as a result no work will be done. An individual develops an understanding of non-verbal communication and is able to understand the group dynamics. As a result of living in nature during camping an individual is able to understand the needs of the community and will be able to solve problems. The individual will be able to understand the different views of the problems and help in solving them effectively. The individual is able to encourage people to act on information rather than assumption. Camping gives numerous opportunities for an individual to prepare personal vision for the community and also is able to communicate this in situations which demand it. The individual is able to make action plans within the stipulated time with added responsibilities in order to ensure that the community vision can be achieved. Trust is built through camping since the individuals live together and they learn how to speak out what is on their minds and also to be able to do what they say they will do. During camping people learn that trust is essential for successful collaboration. As a result of camping individual develops self confidence and people learn to make decisions which affect them. An individual develops confidence in the capabilities of others and is able to influence others to produce the results. Hence it was seen that camping was one of the best means through which leadership can be able other than providing recreation, fun & enjoyment to the individuals.

Arnold, Richard (1963). Modern Camping. Nicholas Kaye, London. Benson, Reuel A. and Goldberg, Jacob A. (1951). The camp counsellor. Mc Graw-hill book company, America. Gillett, D.P., Thomas; G.P., Skok; R.L. & McLaughlin, T.F. (1991). The effects of wilderness camping and hiking on the self-concept and the environmental attitudes. Journal of Environmental Education, 21, 33-44. Hare, A. Paul (1953). Small group discussions with participatory and supervisory leadership. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 48(2), 273-275.

28(3), 315-336.

Northouse, G. (2007). Leadership theory and practice. (3rd Edi.). Sage Publication, Inc. Thousand Oak, London. Oxford Dictionary. Roy, S.S. (1991). Sports Management. Friends Publications, Delhi. Singh, Ajmer; Bains, Jagdish; Gill, Jagtar Singh and Brar, Rachhpal Singh (2003). Essentials of Physical Education. Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi. U.S. Army (1983). Military Leadership. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington.