Highlights
OVERVIEW:
This course is designed to provide an introduction to leadership in volatile, unknown, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environments, the impact of VUCA environments on uncertainty and anxiety (especially in the context of the current pandemic), and actions leaders can take to reduce uncertainty and support employee mental health. Emphasis in the course is on the practice of leadership. The course will examine topics such as: developing leadership skills, creating a vision, setting the tone, handling conflict, overcoming obstacles, and addressing ethics in leadership. Attention will be given to helping students to understand and improve their own leadership performance. This one week module is intended to provide you with different perspectives on leadership and the ways in which the concept of “Leadership” differs from that of “Management”. The emphasis of the course will be on case studies which will allow us to examine leadership through the conceptual lenses supplied by the assigned readings. The emphasis will be on looking at management (broadly defined) and organizations as complex socio-technical systems.
The main goal for this course is to provide students with an understanding of the theory and concepts underlying the practice of leadership. A secondary goal for this course is for students to develop the basic decision-making skills associated with leadership. In order to facilitate these goals, students will be exposed to a variety of information and experience through readings and business cases.
OUTCOMES OF THE COURSE:
• Students will gain an awareness of their own leadership philosophy, traits, skills, and behaviors.
• Students will gain through real-world observation exercises an understanding of the fundamental ways leadership is practiced in on-going organizations.
• Students will gain through reflection and action activities an understanding and appreciation for ways to improve what they do as leaders.
ABILITY AREAS:
1. Leadership Knowledge& Skills
A. Leadership vs Management: Students will gain a basic understanding of some of the main roles, skills, and tasks associated with leadership and management and be able to differentiate between the two.
B. Students will be familiar with the three main functions/roles of leadership as defined by Kotter:Envisioning, Aligning, and Inspiring. They will be able to define how these functions should be used in various organizational situations as demonstrated in case memos and discussions.
C. Students will be able to demonstrate basic leadership skills in setting an organizational vision, providing alignment through feedback, and motivating improved performance for individuals and teams.
D. Organizational Environment and Leadership: Students will gain a basic understanding of the effect of volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environments on organizational performance, mental health of employees, and the effective approaches to the practice of leadership.
2. Communications:
A. Written: Students will demonstrate an ability to create professional documents (professional memos and training materials).
B. Oral:Students will demonstrate an ability to make short presentations.
3. Interpersonal/Leadership Skills: Students, through a series of case-based role playing/simulationexercises, will develop skills in providing alignment and motivation through performance feedback. Furthermore, students will demonstrate an ability to exercise informal leadership through participation in class discussions and exercises.
4. Ethics: Students will recognize the importance of ethics and ethical issues in leadership and the decision making process.
ASSIGNMENTS, READINGS, & EXERCISES:
You will be working primarily from the readings and cases listed below. Concepts and their application may appear simple on the surface, but typically are more subtle, complex and difficult to apply. To understand the material covered in this course, it is crucial that you read the ARTICLESand the CASESBEFORE JULY 12 so that you can contribute thoughtfully to and learn from the class discussions and exercises. It is also essential that you note and prepare these assignments prior to class meetings in the manner indicated by the syllabus. It is also important that you re-read each case before the class date when it will be discussed.
Lectures will be delivered in both synchronous and asynchronous formats. In other words, I will be recording some short lectures of key concepts and posting them in UR Courses. Other lectures will happen live via Zoom during the scheduled “class seek”, July 6-10. Synchronous sessions will be held 10:00 am to noon CST, and 1:00 to 3:00 pm CST. In addition to short lectures (believe me, you don’t want to listen to me drone on for 4 hours at a time on-line), there will be discussions of reading materials and the case studies. We will also have group sessions where you will provide performance feedback based on the performance coaching cases. Some of this time will be in small groups (break-out rooms will be set up for small group discussions in Zoom). Some time will be as a complete class. While this is a bit of an evolving process, you are expected to check in and participate at these times each day.
GRADING
1. Reading Summaries and Leadership Literature Review (30%of course grade):
Reading Summaries: Each student is required to complete summaries of the 20 course readings marked with Ψ. You choose 10 additional articles or chapters from the reading list for 10 additional summaries. Each summary should be ¾ to one page long. Each completed article summary will be awarded ½ point to a maximum of 15 points.
For each summary, the first section (The Idea in Brief) will summarize the content of the source, presenting its overarching thesis. What is the main content of the source? If this is a research article, what types of evidence does the author use? What is the author’s main viewpoint/argument? How does the source relate to other relevant sources?
The second section for each summary (Implications for Applying the Ideas) will provide practical advice for applying the main ideas (see example on page 8).
Leadership Literature Review: Using the articles included in your reading summaries, write an 8-10 page literature review. The paper should be typed, double-spaced, using 12-point Times-Roman font, and with 2.5 cm margins.(For tips on how to write a literature, refer to the documents included in Topic One of the GBUS 874 URCourses page.) This portion of the assignment is intended to help you develop an integrated understanding of some of the main leadership ideas introduced in this course.
For this literature review, develop an argument for a psychologically safe approach to leadership (envisioning, aligning, inspiring) that encourages/promotes high performance and mental well-being for employees operating in a VUCA environment (see article by O’Driscoll, 2019). In your discussion explain: 1) why team psychological safety is important for performance and psychological well-being, especially in a VUCA environment; 2) What team psychological safety is; 3) leadership actions that support team psychological safety and how they are related to the leadership roles of envisioning, aligning, and inspiring. In addressing these questions consider a) the role of creating and communicating a vision of hope (rather than fear); b) the role of diversity and inclusion to responding effectively to VUCA environments; and c) how hope and psychological safety help leaders to reduce uncertainty, anxiety, and stress for their followers in order to encourage resiliency in employees and organizations. The Leadership Literature Review will be graded and is worth 15 points.
This assignment (summaries and lit review) is due via UR Courses on Monday, November 5, 2020 (one week before the in-class portion of the course).
2. Case Summary &Analysis and Case Memos
Case Summary & Analysis (2 points each to a maximum of 10 points): Students must complete five homework case assignments. For each of these five assigned cases you will be required to prepare a 1-page (maximum) written case summary. The casesummaries should identify major issues in the case and include a brief explanation as to how one of the assigned readings helps to understand what can be done to resolve a leadership issue you have identified in the case.The case summaries, are due at the beginning of the class on Nov 12.
During class we will draft group memos for Trouble at Tessei and House, Hearth, and Home. Completed group memos are due at the beginning of class on Wednesday, Nov 14. The second case memo, regarding “House, Hearth, and Home,” is due at the beginning of class on Friday, Nov 16. The group memos are graded and worth a maximum of 10 points each.
Follow a traditional case format, for example:
To: Phillip Boyer, CEO, Celeritas
From: Student Name
Subject: Identifying and overcoming sources of resistance
Each memo should be typed, double-spaced, using 12-point Times-Roman font, and with 2.5 cm margins. Unless otherwise indicated in class, memos should consist of three parts. The first part (1/2 page) is a summary of one immediate issue in the case. In this section, briefly identify one main issue/point/problem raised in the case that is germane to the readings and the assigned case questions. In this section fully describe who was involved, doing what, in what sequence, with whom and the outcomes that chain of events resulted in. The second (1/2 page) part of the write-up is your analysis. In this section, briefly explain how the case issue described above relates to the specific course concepts. Explain how or why these issues are significant from a leadership perspective. The third part (1 page) consists of your recommendations. Based on the case questions and specific issues you addressed in the previous two sections, briefly outline one possible solution/action for this case. For each write-up assume that you are a consultant writing a memo to the key decision maker in the case. What should the decision maker in the case do? (Additional directions may be provided for each case write-up on UR Courses.)
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