BAD 64158 Fall 2009 Knapp

KENT STATE UNIVERSITY

LEADERSHIP & MANAGERIAL ASSESSMENT

BA D 64158—FALL 2009—Section #002—Call #13099

WEDNESDAYS, 6:15-8:55 PM, BSA 208

Instructor:      Dr. Deborah Knapp

Office:            College of Business Administration, BA A424

Telephone:          330.672.1147

E-mail:            dknapp1@kent.edu —the best way to get a quick response!

Office Hours: , Tues, 3:00-6:00pm; Weds, 4:00-6:00pm or by appointment

MATERIALS

Text: No text is required for this class. Assigned articles can be found at the university library website.

Professional Personal Assessment: A psychological testing firm will conduct extensive tests concerning students’ personal abilities, dispositions, etc. concerning leadership. A mandatory $50.00 course fee will be assessed through the Bursar’s Office. All students must participate in this process to receive a grade in the course.

Miscellaneous Course Materials

Various course materials will be available on-line by using your Flashline account under “my courses,” a copy of the syllabus can also be found at the Department of Management & Information Systems website at http://mismain.bsa.kent.edu/

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is designed to provide participants with a broad overview of topics relevant to leadership and to expose students to a variety of leadership perspectives and practices in order to enhance individual development and effectiveness as a leader and manager. The major concepts concerning leadership and management will be presented, explored and integrated in order to assist students in understanding how leadership dynamics and managerial skills can be used to improve organizational functioning and outcomes. Emphasis will be placed on the appropriate use of leadership and management tools in achieving individual, group and organizational goals. Moreover, the course will provide students with individual assessments of personal characteristics that influence leadership styles. Through lecture, class discussions, reflection and synthesis papers, and experiential exercises, the contributions of leadership dynamics and managerial skills to improved short- and long-term organizational functioning will be considered.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

·    To enhance students’ understanding of leadership theories, concepts, contexts, and competencies, enabling them to apply this knowledge through engagement, practice and reflection.

·    To improve students’ understanding of the key principles and practices of leadership that improve leadership and managerial skills.

·    To enable students to apply organizational leadership concepts though critical thinking.

·    To improve students’ evaluative effectiveness with respect to particular organizational leadership and management styles.

·    To improve students’ understanding of their own leadership and managerial styles as revealed by various evaluative instruments and to enable students to assess the validity and usefulness of these instruments.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Leadership Portfolio and Individual Action Plan—The application of class material toward the understanding of leadership dynamics is a major objective of this course. To facilitate this process, each student will compile a “leadership portfolio” and prepare an individual action plan related to improving his or her own leadership abilities. The portfolio will be comprised of various activities and assessments that will be completed at various times during the semester (the leadership portfolio is for students’ use in developing their actions plans and need not be provided to the professor). The paper (action plan) should be based on a reflection of the knowledge you gain concerning your own leadership and managerial abilities and the information you acquire from lectures, discussions, readings, handouts, and experiential exercises (i.e., the contents of your leadership portfolio) The paper should include the following:

·    Your goals concerning your leadership abilities. These may be personal and/or professional. You should start with a personal mission statement and align your goals according to the ideas articulated in that statement (http://www.franklincovey.com/msb/missions/login or http://www.nightingale.com/tMission_ExampleStatement.aspx) for examples and help in developing a personal mission statement).

·    A review of your strengths and weaknesses with respect to leadership abilities based upon the outcomes of your individual assessments and self-reflection.

·    The specific steps you would take to attain your goals, improve your weaknesses and take advantage of your strengths (this is the “action” part of your action plan; i.e., the steps you will take to reach the goals you articulate in the first part of the paper). The basis of your recommendations should be supported by course material and at least five outside sources. These sources must be cited in the development of your plan and included in reference section. Sources may include (but are not limited to) academic journals, practitioner journals, popular business press articles, books, internet sites, or interviews.

·    How these improvements will enhance your future (or current) working relationships and your ability to attain personal and career-related goals.

The purpose of this exercise is to (a) provide a concrete strategy for improving your leadership and managerial abilities, (b) provide added appreciation for the complexity involved in applying the concepts addressed in this course to improved leadership abilities, and (c) provide an additional opportunity to demonstrate your mastery of course content.

Guidelines for papers:

·    All papers must be double-spaced with 1-inch margins in a 12-point font and should be approximately ten to twenty typewritten pages (the page requirement does not include appendices, graphs, figures, tables, etc.; there is no limit to the number of pages devoted to these types of exhibits—however, NO exhibits are required).

·    No plastic covers, special folders, or binders—just staple the paper at the corner.

·    Due Date: the final day of class (Wednesday, December 16^th).

·    The paper is worth 35% of your final grade.

Film Deconstruction and Evaluation—We will be viewing the HBO miniseries Generation Kill as part of our exploration of leadership concepts. For 7 class periods we will view one hour of the 7 hour series. Following each viewing, you are will asked to deconstruct and/or evaluate a specific concept from that day’s screening (with the exception of the first 2 episodes: you will write one paper for the first two combined). Each analysis will be due one week from the screening and should be 1-3 pages in length (double-spaced). Your six papers will account for 25% of your final grade

Journaling—During the course of this class, you will keep a journal (you may do it in a notebook or on the computer). You should have two journal entries per week. The journal should assist you in writing your action plan, either by improving your attempts at self-reflection or by affording you opportunities to begin determining the content of your action plan. However, the content of your journal is up to you. Your musings may include anything to do with the course, your job, your personal life, your career and/or life aspirations, or a simple stream of consciousness. Journals will be turned twice: October 7^th and December 16^th. Your journal will account for 25% of your grade.

Participation—Students will receive credit for class participation, which will account for 10% of your final grade. Attendance is required to earn class participation credit. Each individual will be evaluated on the quality and quantity of her/his participation during class sessions. To receive an acceptable participation grade you must be consistently knowledgeable concerning all assigned readings and you must actively participate in class discussions. Experiential exercises and cases will be used as an opportunity for students to apply many of the concepts covered in this course. In addition to the influence these cases/exercises have on your participation grade, your grade will also depend on the quality and quantity of cases/exercises you complete during class. Cases/Exercises may be evaluated as groups and/or on an individual basis. Generally, cases/exercises will be conducted during class (although some outside work will be required occasionally) and your written work will be collected when the case/exercise discussion is completed. If you are not in class, you will receive a zero for that class period’s case/exercise. However, you may miss two cases without penalty. Participation will account for 10% of your final grade.

Internet Assignment—Students will be expected to find and summarize information relating to course topics that they find on the internet (be sure to include the web address of the site that you "visit"). Also, please do not copy the work of others—once a student has presented a web site, it may not be used again. Information may be from sources found using simple internet searches or from internet sites of which you are aware. You will be asked to share your findings with the class by preparing a one-paragraph summary about the site and presenting this information to the class. The internet assignment is worth 5% of your final grade.

GRADES

Grades will be calculated according to performance on individual action plan (35%), cases, (25%), journal (25%), participation (10%), and internet assignment (5%). Final grades will be assigned as follows:

Registration: Students have responsibility to ensure they are properly enrolled in classes.  You are advised to review your official class schedule (using Student Tools on FlashLine) during the first two weeks of the semester to ensure you are properly enrolled in this class and section.  Should you find an error in your class schedule, you have until Sunday, September 6, 2009 to correct the error.  If registration errors are not corrected by this date and you continue to attend and participate in classes for which you are not officially enrolled, you are advised now that you will not receive a grade at the conclusion of the semester for any class in which you are not properly registered.

Course Withdrawal Deadline: The course withdrawal deadline is Sunday, November 8, 2009.

CLASS PROCEDURES

1.      If my office hours are not convenient for you, please feel free to call for an appointment. Also, the most efficient way to communicate with me is via e-mail. I strongly encourage you to take advantage of the electronic messaging capabilities made available to you by the university!

2.      Please tell me about any problems you are having while there is still time to do something about them!

3.      Each student must turn in an original piece of work (copies will not be accepted; however, you may work together on your case/exercise assignments).

4.      Attendance at class is expected.  If you miss a class, YOU are responsible for obtaining lecture notes and other material from another student. DO NOT ASK TO BORROW MY NOTES! To succeed in this course, you must complete your reading assignments and attend class. Also, please do not e-mail me asking me “what you missed” or “will we be doing a case tonight?”—you need to come to class, if you cannot attend, reread the beginning of #6. Moreover, missed classes will negatively affect your participation grade.

5.      Major grammatical or spelling errors on any written work could result in a significant penalty with respect to the grade you receive.  Carefully proof your papers for errors (you may even want to have a friend read your work). Use grammar and spell check!

6.      Do not come late to class in order to complete an internet assignment or finish an exercise/ assignment. If this is the case, the assignment will not be accepted. Moreover, coming to class shortly before dismissal will result in a lower participation grade.

7.      You must use the internet and World Wide Web to communicate with me and receive an acceptable grade. You must update your FlashLine account as this is the e-mail address to which I will be sending all class correspondence.

8.      While I have attempted to create a course that will be both fun and informative, please do not mistake the levity that will characterize much of our class time as an indication that this is not a serious course or that I don’t take my responsibility as your professor seriously. Occasionally our discussions may veer from a direct path as your fellow students may have questions or interests that may appear to be tangentially related to the topic being discussed. These discussions are important to our exploration of leadership and therefore, I ask that you are respectful of your fellow students’ desire for increased knowledge. Everyone (including me) can benefit from such improvisation.

POLICY ON ACADEMIC HONESTY

Academic honesty: Cheating means to misrepresent the source, nature, or other conditions of your academic work (e.g., tests, papers, projects, assignments) so as to get undeserved credit.   In addition, it is considered to be cheating when one cooperates with someone else in any such misrepresentation.  The use of the intellectual property of others without giving them appropriate credit is a serious academic offense.  It is the University's policy that cheating or plagiarism result in receiving a failing grade for the work or course.  Repeat offenses result in dismissal from the University.

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

University policy 3342-3-01.3 requires that students with disabilities be provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content. If you have a documented disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to make arrangements for necessary classroom adjustments. Please note, you must first verify your eligibility for these through Student Accessibility Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit www.kent.edu/sas <http://www.registrars.kent.edu/disability/> for more information on registration procedures).