MIS 64158 Spring 2012 Hogue

If you learn only methods, you'll be tied to your methods, but if you learn principles you can devise your own methods.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Leadership and Managerial Assessment

64158

Spring, 2012

Instructor:                   Mary Hogue, Ph.D.

Office:                         A423

Phone:                         (330) 672-1148

Office Hours:              T 4:30-6:15

E-Mail:                        mhogue@kent.edu

Class meeting:             T 6:35-9:20 BSA 106

Required text:                         No text is required for this class. Assigned articles can be found at                                      the university library website.

Course Objectives: This course offers students the opportunity to develop a better understanding of the concept of leadership and of themselves as leaders who manage others. Specific objectives are for students to:

• develop a thorough understanding of leadership as a process in which the leader, the follower, and the situation are equally important.
• build and practice the skills that will help them to lead others more effectively.

Course Overview: Course objectives will be met through extensive discussion of assigned reading material, in-class exercises, and application of the material to your own lives. The reading material and exercises offer examples of how certain concepts impact leadership. Through discussions led by me, you will gain a better understanding of why the concepts impact leadership.

Becoming a better leader is a life-long learning experience. One of the ways leaders become better is by reflecting on their previous experiences, those that were effective and those that were not. In class, we will work in small groups to help one another reflect on and analyze a previous leadership experiences in order to understand better why the outcome occurred and how those lessons can be used in future leadership experiences.

Course Structure: Long-lasting learning is an iterative process. You must go over the material many times and in many different ways in order to create a memory that can be called on in the future – called on to successfully respond to test questions, but more importantly, called on to help you as you lead others.

With that in mind, this class is structured to provide many ways for you to go through the material. Your first opportunity is reading. Each week we will cover a new dimension of the leadership process, and you will become familiar with the dimension by reading the assigned material before coming to class. Your next opportunity will occur as we discuss the material in class. To learn how to be a better leader, it is not sufficient to read material and memorize concepts. You must learn to integrate the new material with information you already have, and as the semester goes on, with course material you have just learned. Discussions are designed to help you develop a deeper level of understanding than you will have gained when you initially read the material.

Finally, at the end of each class, you will go through the material in small groups, sharing your previous experiences and applying your knew knowledge to help one another understand and use that understanding to become better leaders.

Grade Determinations: Grades will be earned through:

In-class exercises. You will work in groups of 2-3 people to share and examine a personal leadership experience, applying course material to both understand what happened and offer suggestions for improvement.

Points tied to these exercises will be earned in 2 ways. First is through short essay questions within each test. Second is through participation points assigned by your group members (and possibly adjusted by me if I feel point assignments were not fair) and based on your preparedness and your participation.

Tests. There will be three tests. Each will consist of multiple choice, short answer, and short essay questions. Although the tests are not designed to be cumulative, when responding to the short essay questions, you may feel free to pull concepts from previous material to create a more complete response.

Tests will begin at 6:35 and will end at 8:05. No one may begin a test after the first person has finished and left the room. No one may leave the room during testing time unless finished or given permission. Nothing can be on desks during tests. No electronic communication devices (telephone, laptop, etc.) can be turned on and within view during the test.

Tests will be hand-written. It is your responsibility to ensure that I am able to read your responses.

Total points available:             Group participation                                           25

                                                Test 1                                                                100

                                                Test 2                                                                100

Final exam                                                         100

Total                                                                  325

The Following Policies Apply to All Students in this Course

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

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, January 22, 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.

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 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.

      For Spring 2012, the course withdrawal deadline is Sunday, March 18, 2012.

Students needing accessability: 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).

Locating Assigned Reading Material

To locate assigned articles:

1) On the KSU Library homepage, in the box labeled “Research,” click the link that says “Research Databases.”

2) An alphabetical list of all databases will come up. Find Business Source Complete. If you are not able to locate the article with this database, you may need to go to PsychInfo.

3) Make sure that you have the “Advanced Search” open. It has 3 search boxes available instead of just 1.

4) Put the 3 pieces of information on the syllabus schedule into the search boxes (article title, author, journal title), and it should take you right to the article.  To be honest, you can usually find an article with only 2 of the 3 pieces of information, so if you can’t find the article with all 3, it’s possible that either you or I have misspelled something, in which case, try fewer pieces of information.

**If you are working from home, download the Kent VPN (you can find this at the library’s website) and make sure it is connected.

**If you are unable to locate an article, let me know, and I can send my copy to you. Please make every effort to locate articles on your own, contacting me only when you’ve exhausted all other avenues.

Schedule

Following is a tentative class schedule. Changes to this syllabus will be made either in class or through Flashline email. You are responsible for any changes made.

Understanding Primary Parts of the Leadership Process

The Leadership Process at Work

Becoming a better leader