SYLLABUS: M&IS 34165

DYNAMICS OF LEADERSHIP

SPRING 2009

KENT STATE UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIP

at Lorain Community College

PROFESSOR: JIM SMAS

ROOM: TBA

TIMES:  TUESDAYS 4:25  - 7:05 PM

HOURS:   TUESDAYS 3:30 - 4:15 PM   UC 112A

E-MAIL:  mjsmas@kent.edu

PHONE: 330-672-1155

NOTE: The material in this syllabus should be considered nominal and is subject to change by the instructor at any given time due to various constraints on the class, such as weather, illness of the instructor, or other such issues. Final exam times are listed in the college catalogue and it is the student’s responsibility to know when these exams are scheduled.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This is an upper level course designed to give the student practical experience in Leadership Principles. A prerequisite for this course is the Principles of Management course.

The principal method of instruction is casework with minimal lecture and examination.

You will form a team during the first 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 has the prerogative of dismissing you from their team if you do not support it by active participation. At the end of the semester, there will be a peer review by your teammates, which could 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. I will run this class much like a graduate class This will be a great class when everyone is prepared and contributes to knowledge. That is what we are after, knowledge, for you and for me. We have to see to it that knowledge is shared among all in the class. Be prepared!

REQUIRED TEXTS:

1. Leadership: Theory and Practice, 4e, Peter G. Northouse, Sage Publishing, 2008.

ISBN:  1-429-4161-X

2. Cases in Leadership, W. Glenn Rowe, Sage Publishing, 2008.

ISBN: 978-1-4129-5017-6

OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE: This course is specifically intended to:

1.    Help you develop skills in influencing others whether or not you have positional authority

2.    Introduce you to the case method of studying leadership principles.

3.    Cause you to reflect on and anticipate places in which and ways in which you will develop and extend your leadership during your career and lifetime.

4.    Learn practical skills about leadership through role plays.

5.    Learn about the various leadership theories by reading the original works of researchers in the field.

TESTS:

There are TWO exams during the semester, a mid-term and a final. Exams may be any combination of essay, multiple choice or T/F type questions and will encompass all materials covered in the interval from the prior exam or the start of the semester.

ASSIGNMENTS, PROJECTS, AND EXAMS

I have given you on the following spreadsheet, a complete listing of the topics and chapters to be covered in each session.  This is a breakdown of how these will work.

1.    Case Competition: Your team will present two (2) cases over the course of the semester. You will compete against another team on the same case. The instructor and the rest of the class will judge the performances of your team using an international case criteria used for the Molson International Case Competition in Montreal.  Each competition has a 100 point value. The winning team will receive all 100 points. The losing team will receive 85 points.  The losing team may gain additional points or lose additional points pending how they  performed. I will demonstrate the technique for you on the first day of class. When you present a case, I expect you to dress as if you are interviewing for a job at a Fortune Five Hundred Corporation. You should use power point slides for your presentation which may not go over 25 minutes.

2.    Case Write Up. Individually, you must hand one case, completely analyzed and typed according to the guidelines set forth in the class. 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 150 points towards your final grade.  You must use a case which has not been used in class as a case competition. There are plenty of cases available in the case book for this. This will be due on April 14^th.

3.    Exams: There will be two exams, a mid term and a final. Each exam is worth 100 points.

4.     Participation Grade:   Your teammates will rate you on the BARS scale to indicate how well you performed with your team. This is worth 50 points. I will also rate your participation during the semester, and this is worth 100 points. Thus the total participation grade is 150 points.

5.    Project: You will do a project due Tuesday, April 28^th, based on the criteria listed below. This should be about 10 typewritten pages. This is worth 200 points towards your grade. This is an individual project. You may not collaborate with your team mates on this project.

6.    Journal: You will complete all the assessments as assigned on the schedule and add the results to a journal which will be collected at the end of  the semester. This is worth 100 points.

7.    Final Exam:  This will count 100 points towards your final grade.

PROJECT TOPICS:

I will allow the following topics for your term project: pick one from the following:

1.    Contrast leadership styles for the past three presidents, including the president elect, Barack Obama.

2.    Shadow and interview a major leader in a non-profit or charitable/ volunteer organization. What makes this person influence people so well? What implications are there for leaders in any organization?

3.    Contrast leadership styles in the military over the past 150 years. Where is this going and what are the implications for future military leaders?

4.    Why did Carly Fiorina’s  leadership style at HP caused to lose her job?

GRADING:

There are a total of 1000 points available to determine your grade. The criteria for grading is divided as follows

1. Exams 2 @ 100 ea                                                                      200 points

2. Journal                                                                                          100

3. Written Case                                                                                 150    

4. Case Presentation                                                                      200

5. Final Project                                                                                 200

6. Participation                                                                                 150

Total Points                                                                                     1000 points

I will use plus / minus grading this semester. Thus the grading for the course is as follows: These are on percentages

92.5 – 100 %  POINTS                                            A

89.1 – 92.4                                                                A –

86.0 – 89.0                                                                B+

82.5 – 85.9                                                                B

79.1 – 82.4                                                                B-

76.0 – 79.0                                                                C+

72.5 – 75.9                                                                C

69.1 – 72.4                                                                C-

<69.0                                                                          D

<59.0                                                                          F         

According to new University Guidelines the grades are converted to your grade point average by the following rules:

A   = 4.0

A-  = 3.7

B+ = 3.3

B   = 3.0

B-  = 2.7

C+ = 2.3

C   =  2.0

C-  =  1.7

D+  = 1.3

D    = 1.0.

F    =  0.0