M&IS 34165 Fall 2006 Mwaka

Instructor:                  Jino Mwaka

Office:                                    A422

Phone:                        330-672-1149

Office Hours:             Thursday 4.00 – 5.45 pm & by appointment.

Course Objectives:

Stimulate students to think about and develop their leadership potential by integrating theoretical as well as practical considerations for effective leadership.  The course will therefore be covered with a student-centered focus.

Text (Required): Daft, Richard L. (2005). The Leadership Experience, South Western, ISBN 0-324-26127-6

Optional Reading(s): Students are encouraged to look at the “Leadership Bookshelf” given in the chapter.

Beach, Leadership and the Art of Change

Howell & Costley, Understanding Behaviors for Effective Leadership, 2^nd ed.

Lussier & Achua, Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development, 3^rd ed.

Gardner Leading Minds.

Rosenbach & Taylor (ed.s), Contemporary Issues in Leadership, 6^th ed.; Military Leadership: In Pursuit of Excellence, 5^th ed.

Course Policies

A.    Every student is responsible for ensuring that she/he meets the requirements for being in this class. Students have responsibility to ensure they are properly enrolled in classes.  You are advised to review your official class schedule (using Web for Students) 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 10, 2006 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.

B.     Students attending the course who do not have the proper prerequisite risk being deregistered from the class. If in doubt, consult your academic advisor.

C.    Class attendance and participation are expected of all students. Students will be responsible for all materials covered in class in addition to the readings from the text. You are responsible for your part of the learning process.

D.    The course withdrawal deadline is Sunday, November 5, 2006.    Withdrawal before the deadline results in a "W" on the official transcript.  After the deadline a grade must be calculated and reported.

E.     Assignments & Make- Ups:

There will be two in-class tests, group project and one individual project.

Students will work in groups; each group will be assigned a leadership case to study, analyze and present to the class. The groups will also participate in class discussions for which they will be graded.

Individual project will entail a portfolio of individual leadership profile. This portfolio will be developed throughout the course. The individual project will serve as the final examination.

Make-up test will only be allowed under the following conditions:

In all these cases, the test should be taken not later than 10 days from the class test date.

F.     Grading and Evaluation

The grades for the assignments will be distributed as follows:

Test 1:                                                 100

Test 2:                                                 100

Group Work:   Class discussions                       25

                        Case Analysis                75

Individual Portfolio                            100

Total:                                                   400

Grading scale:

The plus (+) and minus (-) will be used in assigning letter grades to the students.

G.    Course Schedule:

This schedule offers a general time frame for the class sessions. However, while keeping within the general framework, discretionary changes may be made by the instructor as needed.

H.    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.  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 (0 points) for the work or course.  Repeat offenses may result in dismissal from the University.

I.       Students with disabilities:  University policy 3342-3-18 requires that students with disabilities be provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access equal access course content.  If you have 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 the Student Disability Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit www.kent.edu/sds for more information on registration procedures).

J.      The instructor reserves the right to make changes to this syllabus.