KENT STATE UNIVERSITY

DYNAMICS OF LEADERSHIP

MI&S 34165—FALL 2012—Section #003—Call #15684

MONDAYS AND WEDNESDAYS, 11:00am-12:15 PM, BSA 217

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: Mondays, 4:30-6:30pm, Wednesdays, 12:15pm-3:15pm or by appointment

MATERIALS

Required Readings: available on Blackboard (see course schedule for a detailed listing of required readings).

COURSE PREREQUISITES

PREREQUISITE: M&IS 24163 Principles of Management (students that do not have the proper prerequisites risk being deregistered from the class).

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

The fundamental purpose of this course is to provide the student with a heightened awareness and increased understanding of:

1) The concepts and processes that determine effective leadership;

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 quizzes, examinations and reflective case analyses.

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, the additional assignments, and 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 and while in class.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Exams

Two exams are scheduled for the semester. Exams will cover any readings, handouts, guest speakers, audio/visual media, class discussions, and lecture material. The format of the exams may include multiple-choice, matching, and/or short answer type questions. Each exam accounts for 15% of your final grade for a total of 30%.

Film Deconstruction and Evaluation—We will be viewing the HBO miniseries John Adams as part of our exploration of leadership concepts. Following each viewing of film segments, you be will asked to deconstruct and/or evaluate a specific concept from that day’s screening. These analyses will be guided by one of the required readings (see course schedule for reading assignments). Each individual analysis will be turned in AT THE BEGINNING OF the next class period. Only typed copies will be accepted. Your individual papers will account for 15% of your final grade.

Before you leave class on the day of the screening, each group will make an appointment to BEGIN a discussion with the members of your assigned group (using the chat application on blackboard) concerning the individual assignment discussed above. You must record your session; it should last at least 20 minutes. During the next class meeting you will continue the discussion you began on chat. Come to an agreement as to the conclusions for the assignment. Each group will write a one to two page (maximum) analysis about the specific assignment. Be sure to back up your conclusions with examples (this will be turned at the beginning of the next class period. Only typed copies will be accepted. Your group papers will account for 15% of your final grade.

Quizzes

There will be five quizzes throughout the semester. Each quiz may include multiple choice, matching, and/or fill-in-the blank type questions. Your lowest quiz score will be dropped. Each quiz will account for 5% of your final grade for a total of 20%.

Group Discussion

You and your group members will lead the class in the discussion of assigned reading materials and/or film segments. The content of your presentation is to be grounded in the assigned readings/film segments, but beyond that, the content is up to you.

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 of the assigned material?). For a more detailed explanation of the criteria by which presentations will be evaluated, refer to the evaluation form found on Blackboard.

Your group should also provide me with two multiple choice test questions (and the proposed answers to those questions) based on the assigned material. 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 complete and turn in the peer evaluation form (found on Blackboard). As explained in detail on the form, peer evaluations will be used in determining grades for individual group members. Students will not receive a grade until the peer evaluation form is completed and received by the professor. The group discussion is worth 10% of your final grade.

Participation

Students will receive credit for class participation. 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. In addition, each group may wish to create a discussion board and post various threads/questions to their members. Beginning a thread or contributing to the discussion of that thread will positively affect your participation grade, especially for those of you less comfortable speaking in class. Participation accounts for 5% of your total grade.

Internet Assignment

Students will be expected to find one website that relates to the course and summarize information they find at the site. You may use simple internet searches to find a website or present websites of which you are already aware. You will be asked to share your findings with the class by preparing a one-to-two paragraph summary about the website and present this information to the class. On the assigned day of their presentations, students will remain seated and the instructor will display the students’ websites to the class. Students will describe the websites (e.g., what information can be found on the website, who might use said information, and/or how the information might be used) to the class. Students will provide a TYPED COPY of the summary VIA E-MAIL to the instructor BEFORE the beginning of class on the day it is scheduled to be presented (be sure to include the web address (URL) of the website that you "visit"). The internet assignment is worth 5% of your final grade.

GRADES

Grades will be calculated according to performance on the two exams (30%), Film Deconstruction and Evaluation (15% individual, 15% group); quizzes (20%); group discussion (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 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 9, 2012 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 4, 2012.

GRADUATION

If you are eligible to graduate, it is your responsibility to apply for graduation before the set deadline (May Graduation: Apply before September 15^th August Graduation: Apply before December 15^th December Graduation: Apply before March 15^th). 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. 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; and 4). Click on Application for Graduation. If an error message appears, you must contact your advisor.

CLASS PROCEDURES

1.   If my office hours are not convenient for you, please feel free to call for an appointment. In addition, 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 of the work of others 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 with questions such as “what did I miss?” or “will we be doing a case tonight?” —you need to come to class. If you cannot attend, reread the beginning of #4. Moreover, missed classes will negatively affect your participation grade (it IS possible to receive a failing participation grade). Finally, before you are tempted to ask “What did I miss?” please consider the following (tongue-in-cheek) responses to said query:

o  Nothing. When we realized you weren't here we sat with our hands folded on our desks in silence, for the full two and a half hours.

o  Everything. I gave an exam worth 40 per cent of the grade for this term and assigned some readings due today on which I'm about to hand out a quiz worth 50 per cent.

o  Nothing. When you are not present how could something significant occur?

o  Everything. Contained in this classroom is a microcosm of human existence assembled for you to query, examine and ponder. And you weren't here.

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). Also, try reading your work aloud. Doing so will assist you in quickly identifying awkward phrases and poor sentence structure. 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.      A few words on the cultural climate of our class: Occasionally our discussions may veer from a direct path as your fellow students may have questions or interests that may appear to be related only tangentially to the topic being discussed. However, these discussions are important to our exploration of course content (and universal learning) and therefore, I ask that you are respectful of your fellow students’ desire for increased knowledge. Everyone (including me) can benefit from such improvisation. I insist this class be conducted in an environment wherein questions, comments, and intellectual interaction are encouraged. Moreover, I expect class members to treat their fellow classmates with courtesy, civility, and respect. Finally, I have attempted to create a course that will be both fun and informative. However, please do not mistake the levity that will characterize much of our time together as an indication that this is not a meaningful, important course or that I don’t take my responsibility as your professor seriously.

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 http://www.registrars.kent.edu/disability/ for more information on registration procedures).