KENT STATE UNIVERSITY

DYNAMICS OF LEADERSHIP

MI&S 34165—FALL 2010—Section #900—Call #12083

TUESDAYS, 6:15PM-08:55 PM, BSA 100

Instructor:      Dr. Deborah Knapp

Office:            College of Business Administration, Department of Management & Information Systems, BSA A424 (Department website: http://mismain.bsa.kent.edu/)

Telephone:          330.672.1147

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

Office Hours: Tuesdays and Wednesdays 3:30p-6:00p (and if my door is open, come on in!)

MATERIALS

TEXTS

Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. (2007). The Leadership Challenge, 4^th ed. Jossey Bass: San Francisco.

Additional Readings available on Vista/Blackboard/WebCt

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The fundamental purpose of this course is to provide the student with a heightened awareness and increased understanding of: 1) the basic concepts and processes that affect leadership in organizations; 2) how leadership affects organizational functioning; and 3) the importance and complexities of leadership in organizational settings. Through lecture, experiential exercises and class discussions, we shall not only address these issues, but will also consider the contributions of leadership to short- and long-term organizational functioning. Finally, the course will provide a basis for understanding how leadership might assist in moving an organization toward its goals.

COURSE OVERVIEW

This class is devoted to ensuring that you learn about leadership. Your work will consist of reading assigned material, completing additional assignments before attending class, participating in discussions and activities during class, working with a group of classmates to lead a class discussion, and reflecting on your work and reporting those reflections to me via three examinations.

Throughout the course, I hope that you will keep a journal. Within the journal, you can include notes and thoughts on the articles you read, notes and thoughts on the additional assignments, and notes and thoughts from class discussions and activities. For each exam, you may use your journal. This means that for each exam, when I say to put away your notes and books, you may keep one item – your journal – on your desk. The journal can be one spiral-bound notebook. Within the journal, you may keep only the notes you make on the pages provided. You cannot place articles into pockets that the notebook may have. You cannot tape papers onto pages in the notebook. You can use only the notes you write in your journal during your learning process. These notes can be taken while reading assigned articles/chapters and while in class.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Exams

Three exams are scheduled for the semester. All exams will cover all readings, handouts, guest speakers, and lecture material. The format of the exams may include multiple choice, matching, and/or short answer essay questions. Each exam accounts for 20% of your final grade.

Cases and Experiential Exercises

Experiential exercises and cases will provide an opportunity for students to apply many of the concepts covered in this course. In addition to the influence these cases and exercises will have on your participation grade, your case/exercise evaluation grade also depends on the quality and quantity of cases and exercises you complete during the semester. Cases and exercises may be evaluated as groups (to be assigned during the first week of class) 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 discussion concerning the case or exercise is completed. If you are not in class, you will receive a zero for that class period’s case or exercise (only in extraordinary circumstances will make-up cases be allowed). However, you may miss one case without penalty during the semester. Cases account for 10% of your total grade.

Participation

Students will receive credit for class participation, which will account for 5% of your final grade. Obviously, consistent attendance at class is required to earn an acceptable grade for class participation. 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.

Internet Assignment

Students are to find and summarize information relating to course topics that they find on the internet. By using simple internet searches or by using internet sites with which you are already familiar, you should identify a website that relates to the course (you may wish to use your text to select a course-related topic against which to search). Once you find a website that interests you, you will be asked to share your findings with the class by preparing a one- or two-paragraph summary about the site you select and presenting this information to the class (be sure to include the web address of the site that you "visit"). Please do not copy the work of others—once a student has presented a web site, it may not be used again (however, websites with “abundant” content—i.e., that consist of many separate web pages—may allow for more than one student to present a different area of the site; be sure to contact the professor before you use a website that has already been presented). The internet assignment is worth 5% of your final grade.

Group Discussion

Working in teams of 4-5 students, you and your group members will lead the class in the discussion of assigned reading material. The content of your presentation is to be grounded in the assigned reading, but beyond that, the content is up to you. If you require any preparation by your student audience before class, those instructions must be given to me at least two classes before your presentation is scheduled.

Generally, your presentation will be graded on the appropriateness of the discussion (e.g., explaining the material properly) and the quality of the discussion (e.g., are students responding to you and engaged in the discussion? Does the discussion enrich their understanding over and above what is found in the book?). Hence, your group is responsible for researching your topic and presenting material not available in your text but that is pertinent to the chapter’s topic. For a more detailed explanation of the criteria by which presentations will be evaluated, refer to the evaluation form found on Vista/Blackboard/WebCt.

At the beginning of class on its presentation day, each team must provide a work report outlining its presentation, including a reference list of the sources of your outside material. Your group should also provide me with five multiple choice test questions (and the proposed answers to those questions) based on the text and/or your presentation. Each question must contain at least four answer options (e.g., a, b, c, or d) and none of the answer options may be “none of the above,” “all of the above,” “a and b only,” etc. if the questions do include these options, they will not be considered for the final.

Finally, each group member must also complete and turn in the peer evaluation form (also found on Vista/Blackboard/WebCt). As explained in detail on the form, peer evaluations will be used in determining grades for individual group members. The group discussion is worth 20% of your final grade.

GRADES

Grades will be calculated according to performance on the three exams (20% each), group discussion (20%), case/exercises (10%), participation (5%), 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 in 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 September 5, 2010 to correct the error with your advising office.  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: For Spring 2010, the course withdrawal deadline is November 7, 2010.

GRADUATION

It is your responsibility to apply for graduation before the set deadline. If you apply after the deadline you will be assessed a $200 late fee. Please see your academic advisor as soon as possible if you are uncertain as to your progress toward graduation.  The graduation application deadlines are follows:

Graduation Application Deadlines:

May Graduation: Apply before September 15th

August Graduation: Apply before December 15th

December Graduation: Apply before March 15th

To apply for graduation complete the following steps:

1.  Log onto your Flashline account

2.  Click on the Student Tools tab

3.  Look in the Graduation Planning Tool Box

4.  Click on Application for Graduation

5.  If an error message appears, you must contact your advisor.