SYLLABUS

 

M&IS 34165, SECTION 001, CALL # 14153

 

This is an upper-level course designed to give the student practical experience in Leadership Principles. The prerequisite for this course is Principles of Management course, M&IS 21463.  You must have taken that class prior to being registered in this Dynamics of Leadership course.

 

The principal method of instruction is casework along with lecture and examination.  You will                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     form a team during our first class session. This team will be yours for the remainder of the semester. You need to be an active member of the team during group projects and casework. The team (as a group) has the prerogative of dismissing you from their group if you do not support it by active attendance, work, and participation. Teams discuss this with me.  It will be extremely difficult for you to secure another team to join as the semester progresses.  At the end of the semester, there will be a peer review by your teammates, which may seriously affect your grade.

 

At this level of your college career, there should be no prodding by professors to get you to do the work on a daily basis.  This class will be run much like a graduate class. However, if the professor sees people not prepared, reading the cases for the first time in class, and holding up their teams, it is possible that your professor may revert to more classical teaching methods, as distasteful as they may be, to make sure that all students are fully prepared.

 

There are two texts required:

 

1.     Baker, David Lee, ed., Leadership, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin (Primis), Inc., 1^st edition, 2006, paperback, 504 pages, ISBN 0390735884, note that this is a brand new text and is only available through two of our local bookstores, University and Dubois; unavailable online or through the publisher directly.

(Hereinafter referred to as “T”, for Textbook).

2.     Clawson, James G., Practical Problems in Organizations: Cases in Leadership, Organizational Behavior, and Human Resources, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1^st edition, 2003, paperback, 468 pages, ISBN 0130083895, currently this text is out of print so the bookstores may have only a limited quantity; you may wish to check online as well. (Hereinafter referred to as “C”, for Casebook).

 

 

1.     Introduce you to various leadership models and help you develop your own definition of what it means to be a leader.

2.     Introduce you to the related elements of any leadership situation: personal characteristics, strategic thinking, influencing others, designing effective organizations, and managing change.

3.     Enable you to clarify your semiconscious values, assumptions, beliefs, and expectations about what it means to be an effective leader and to explore the functionality of those beliefs.

4.     Expose you to many excellent authors, both current and historical, who have made significant contributions to the subject of leadership.

5.     Assist you to develop skills in influencing others, whether or not you have positional authority.

6.     Cause you to reflect on and anticipate places in which (and methods in which) you will develop and extend your leadership during your career and lifetime.

7.     Help you to learn practical skills about leadership through experiential exercises.

8.     Make it possible for you to anticipate and plan your leadership role within the business world.

9.     Prepare you to be a leader in society.

 

Your professor has given you, on the following spreadsheet, a proposed listing of the topics and chapters to be covered in each session.  This is a breakdown of how these will work:

 

1.     Participation/Attendance (Both Team and Individual): There are two components to this grade. The first, worth 100 points, is an individual award, determined by your unique participation in all class activities.  The second part is a team self-evaluation of each member in the team and his or her contributions to the team effort. This is valued at 50 points.  The total then for this specific portion of the grade is 150 points.

2.     Journal Keeping (Individual): You will be asked to keep a journal to record your results and observations of the experiential exercises assigned for many classes. Journaling is valuable to you throughout your life and the hope is that you’ll continue with this important endeavor long after this class is through and you graduate.  The journals will be collected twice during the semester and reviewed. The value here is 100 points total towards your overall grade.

 

3.     Written Case Analyses (Team): For team projects on Case Analyses: You are to prepare each case individually and be prepared to discuss with your team and in our larger classroom session. Participation will be graded by both your teammates and by your professor.

Collectively, your team must hand in three separate cases, completely analyzed and typed according to the guidelines set forth in the class. All case questions must be answered as well. Note, this is not in outline format, but descriptive paragraphs using the outline ideas presented in class. You must use the long cycle method on this part. This counts 300 points total, at 100 points each, towards your final grade. 

 

4.     Book/Chapter/Movie Reviews (Team): This is a very important part of the class. There are so many excellent books on the market in leadership that it would be impossible to read them all. Also there are many good leadership movies as well.  On movies, you will prepare a report and select various clips or segments to show the class, which demonstrates the leadership principles, or lack thereof, to the class. Thus we will help each other by preparing report(s) on assigned book(s) (or chapters of books) and/or movies and distributing copies to your classmates. You will do this as a team and make a team presentation on one or two books during the semester. You have some free rein here.  Your classmates will grade you on this one. This is worth 150 points towards your grade and in the team projects you will receive whatever the team gets.  There may be individual book/chapter review assignments as well.

 

5.     Midterm Exam (Individual): This will be predominantly a multiple-choice test on terms, definitions, and understanding of the subject matter that will be held on the examination date. It will be a blue book type exam, and all work will be done in the classroom, closed book, individually. This will count 100 points towards your final grade and there may perhaps be 5-10 bonus points available.  You will have one hour and fifteen minutes for this exam.  There will be lecture and possibly some review preceding the exam.

 

6.     Project (Team): You will do a team project that will be due by Tuesday, December 5th, based on the criteria to be determined. This should be not less than five (5) and not more than ten (10) typewritten pages, double spaced, with appropriate margins, footnotes and references, according to proper publication style guides.  Type font must be 11 points or larger.  This is worth 100 points towards your grade.

 

7.     Final Exam (Individual): This is a multiple-choice exam to be held on the examination date. It will be a blue book type exam, and all work will be done in the classroom, closed book, individually. This counts 100 points towards your final grade and there might be 5-10 bonus points available.  It will be comprehensive in nature as it may well include everything covered during this semester.  You will have two hours and fifteen minutes for this exam.

 

There will be two exams; a mid-term and a final.  All tests and other items will occur in class, unless otherwise mentioned or announced.

 

Office hours for the semester will be held (tentatively) according to the schedule on page one of this syllabus.  Should those dates/times not work for your own calendar please call me to suggest alternative times.  It is best to call first for an appointment before just stopping by as I may be with other students or faculty and there could be a bit of a wait.  I prefer calls.  Leave a message if you must.  I check voice mail several times throughout the day but e-mail much less often.  If you are having problems in the course, please see me immediately; don’t wait until semester end.

 

There will be a total of 1,000 points available to determine your grade. The criteria for grading is divided as follows

 

1.     Participation/Attendance: 150 points       See Syllabus Calendar

2.     Journal Keeping:               100 points       1- October 9; 2 - Dec. 4; See Syllabus Calendar

3.     Written Case Analyses:     300 points       See Syllabus Calendar

4.     Book/Movie Review(s):    150 points       See Syllabus Calendar

5.     Midterm Exam:                 100 points       October 16, In class

6.     Team Project:                    100 points       Dec. 4, Due No Later Than 6:15 p.m., In Class

7.     Final Exam:                       100 points       Dec. 11, 5:45 – 8:00 p.m.; Note the Time Change

Total:                                       1,000 points

 

To determine your overall percentage grade, divide by ten (10), and then use the following to ascertain your corresponding final letter grade:

 

A         100 – 90 points

B         89 – 80

C         79 – 70

D         69 – 60

F          Below 60

 

So as not to disturb classmates, your professor expects that there will be no reading or talking during lectures, as well as no eating or chewing gum in class.  Cell phones, pagers and beepers must be turned off upon entering the classroom.  If a student’s device rings during class or an exam the professor reserves the right to ask that student to leave the room for the remainder of that class period.  Please don’t let it happen a second time as other actions may be necessary.  This is in accordance with the University policy on disruptions in the classroom.

 

While this is intended to be a strict overview of this course it is not a contract.  Things happen; accidents, emergencies, weather conditions, catastrophes, and the like, and this syllabus is therefore tentative.  As leaders you need to be flexible to change and understanding of that dynamic.  Your professor will give as much lead time as possible on all changes, so that you have ample time to prepare.

 

Along the same line as things that can happen above, your professor realizes that circumstances may occur in your schedule as well that could preclude your attendance for class activities; such as work commitments and travel out of town, family emergencies/events, accidents, etc.  Advance notice to me will most always be required.  Then notify your team captain.  The only exceptions to this notice are serious illness or death in your immediate family.  Makeups will be available for the two exams only.  If you have team commitments then your team should help carry your weight.  You will need to provide written, original proof of any absence to be excused, usually in the form of a doctor’s note or hospital bill.  It is not realistic to come to me after the exam or event and explain a situation, other than a dire emergency, and expect to have a makeup exam.  You (or your representative) will need to notify me within 48 hours of a missed activity.

 

 

The ability to properly present topics of importance to your classmates, colleagues, clients, stakeholders, and supervisors is essential in both life and the business world.  It is possible that, shall time permit, we will do some exercises in this vital area.  You will each be expected to present to the class, both individually and within teams, sometime during this semester.  Please contact me early on in this course should you have any concerns about presenting in class.

A.    Students attending the course who do not have the proper prerequisite risk being deregistered from the class.

 

Students have responsibility to ensure that 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 19, 2007 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.     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.

 

C.    For Fall 2007, the course withdrawal deadline is Sunday, November 4, 2007.

 

D.    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 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 the Student Disability Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit www.kent.edu/sds for more information on registration procedures).