MGMT 1120: Developing the Leader ... - HKUST Business School · To practice business etiquettes (e.g. punctuality, attentiveness, integrity, honesty) ... II. Self-development: Application-based

MGMT 1120: Developing the Leader in You

SPRING 2018

Prof. Roger Levermore Peter Yip Instructor Instructional Assistant Office: Room 5043 Room 5018 Phone: 2358 7743 2358 7892 Email: [email protected] TO BE ADDED Office hours: By appointment Course website: https://canvas.ust.hk/

Class Meetings L1 : Every Tuesday 0900-1150, Room LSK1010 L2: Every Tuesday 1330-1620, Room LSK1010 Please mark your diary: Note: there is one evening panel debate sessions that you must attend; this takes place on a date to be announced shortly (likely to be Monday, 5th March with no class on Tuesday 6th March). Due to evening events and public holidays please check the itinerary at the end of this document to re-confirm class schedule timings. There is no end of course exam. As a precaution against any unnecessary administrative problem and for the sake of good order, you must attend the section you have enrolled. Attendance will be taken by paper copy in the class – usually when class group work is allocated. In addition, PRS devices will be used at the start of each session (usually in the first 5-10 minutes) in order to encourage prompt attendance to class. Note that PRS use is graded. It also acts as a secondary form of attendance being recorded.

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

https://canvas.ust.hk/

2 Updated on 12th March 2018.

Course Overview There are many ways to define leadership – such as innate traits, learned behavior, ability to inspire, and ability to create positive change. Whatever it is, it is generally agreed that leadership is vital in business, non-business or even survival situations. According to management expert John Maxwell, “leadership is leadership, no matter where you go or what you do. Time changes, technology marches forward, cultures vary from country to country but the true principles of leadership are constant.” Some feel that leaders are born and others that they are made. This course is designed with an objective to provide you with a suitable environment to nurture you to develop your leadership skills, values as individuals and responsible citizens and to widen your knowledge of leadership issues. It is therefore a course designed for not just those want to, or will lead, in the future but also those interested in the subject of leadership.

Course Objectives The purpose of this course is to help you recognize, develop and refine the personal characteristics needed to be an effective leader, the kind of leader whom people want to follow. In doing so, this course is about “you”, and we will use a “3P2M approach”: personal, participative, practical, (variety of) methods and materials, for instance self-assessments, self-reflection exercises, videos and class discussions. Intended Learning Outcomes This course acts as a common core course and relates to the ‘social analysis’ dimension of learning outcomes (for full details of this please refer to http://uce.ust.hk/web/about/about_learning_outcome.html). The course also relates to the Management Department learning goals that are detailed at http://www.bm.ust.hk/sbmlearn/file/1389949019_v8.pdf. On completion of the course, the specific course objectives mean that you should be able to:

develop the essential leadership qualities and be aware of the pitfalls

build a trusting relationship with followers through application of leadership skills such as: listening, conflict management and feedback skills

practice ethical behaviors through an understanding of ethical dilemmas

Course Load This is a three-credit course spanning the semester. According to university guidelines, one credit is equivalent to 40 to 50 hours devoted to the course, including class time and course work done outside of the classroom. So you should expect to spend between roughly 7 to 9 hours per week outside of the class time to prepare for class and for completing assignments.

Course Materials Recommended (not required or mandatory) textbook: Leadership: Theory, Application & Skill

Development, Robert Lussier & Christopher Achua: Cengage Publisher (2013), 5th edition

Textbooks referred to, especially for surveys to be completed (for which you will be given a hard copy in class):

o Manning G., & Curtis, K. (2012). “The Art of Leadership (4th international edition)”. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

o Nahavandi, A. (2014), ‘The Art and Science of Leadership’. London: Pearson

Additional materials will be distributed on the course website or in class.

http://uce.ust.hk/web/about/about_learning_outcome.html

http://www.bm.ust.hk/sbmlearn/file/1389949019_v8.pdf


Course Format and Our Mutual Responsibilities Our Respective Responsibilities My responsibilities are: To provide you with relevant course materials

To share with you managerial leadership in real-world settings

To stimulate meaningful discussions and learning experiences

To provide prompt attention to your needs and comments

To provide constructive feedback throughout the course

To evaluate your performance in a transparent and fair manner

To treat you with respect

To make the class as fun and interesting as possible Your responsibilities are: To adequately prepare for classes

To complete your assignments in a professional manner. No plagiarism

To uphold the HKUST Academic Honor Code (http://www.ust.hk/vpaao/integrity)

To share your knowledge with fellow classmates in class and outside class

To practice business etiquettes (e.g. punctuality, attentiveness, integrity, honesty)

To provide me with periodic feedback throughout the course

To treat your classmates with respect

Student Feedback I welcome feedback on my teaching throughout the term. You are encouraged to contact me or Peter any time you have questions, problems, or need advice regarding class matters. Previous course evaluation This course has historically received good feedback from students because it is interactive, tries to put students outside their comfort zones, challenges pre-conceived ideas, has interesting content, inclusion of many examples, and the use of experiential learning. In the most recent runnings of this course (including the last time the course ran in Spring 2017), I received feedback to:

Reduce workload o For example, reduce the overall number of essays from five to lower amount

(for 2017 – this now stands at just two assignments) – this feedback is primarily received by third and fourth year students

o Replace final exam with either a final report based on our leadership experience and/or quizzes in class (limited to 5-10% of overall grade?)

Even more detail for the assignments

Continue to strengthen the ability to encourage every student to participate

Keep on changing group composition most weeks so that we get to know almost everyone in the room

Most of what is learnt can be used in everyday life

http://www.ust.hk/vpaao/integrity


Enforce stricter penalties for non-attendance as this really disrupts the group work we are asked to do; having six per group tended to result in a lot of discussion – more than that limits discussion

Allow even more time to cover the case study discussion and exercises in class

Include more times where we are in new groups

Have clearer slides, including slightly more written details of the real life examples discussed at times in some classes

Ban the use of mobile phones and laptops from the room unless required for class research

Encourage more peer feedback

More in-class exercises, especially the in-depth strategy type that is currently used at the end

Enlarge participation grades for in-class work and reduce for online weekly posts

Include/increase weighting for participation in preparing and then presenting scenario planning; some groups only took it seriously on the day of presentation

More emphasis on the leader role every time a leader is delegated in group work

Even more speaking opportunities for students in class

Differentiate grading further – grading too close together? My response: The course was very enjoyable to teach and I have revised the course to address each one of these concerns. By 2018, I have reduced the number of reflection papers (logs) from six to two, more time to discuss, stricter penalties for non-attendance and an extra round of new teams. I am also putting in extra effort to have clearer/more entertaining slides and I have introduced in-class tests rather than a mid term or end of term test (and the weighting for this element has gone from 40% to 5% in total and will probably be withdrawn in 2018 altogether). I have opened up many more hours to meet students to discuss reflection paper drafts and implemented a no laptop/mobile phone policy in class from spring 2016 term. There has also been a reduction in the weighting of grades for online posts vs in-class participation Assessments I. In-class/out of class engagement

PRS, attendance, participation, involvement 50% II. Self-development: Application-based (all individual assignments)

Leadership Portfolio that includes continuous self-reflection exercises 50%

Total: 100.0% Distribution of course grades will be based on the following school guidelines: Grade Percentage A+, A, A- 10-20% B+, B, B- 25-40% C+, C, C- 35-45% D 5-10%

F 0-5%


Course Evaluation Details

1. Class Participation (50%) - ongoing Your active participation and high level of involvement is a very important part of your learning process to develop the leader in you. Your participation grade will reflect your level of involvement and quality in the following activities: Starting in week 1 (but ‘catch up’ possible for those starting in week 3): Use of PRS (used in the first 5-15 minutes of each class) = 8% (meaning that you need to use PRS at least eight times in order to achieve full grades for this). Note: those that abuse the PRS system (getting class mates to use their PRS when they are away from class) results in a penalty that can see this grade reduce to 0. Also note that in week 4 we will have a PRS review; see who brought them and test that they are working properly

Starting in week 1 (but ‘catch up’ possible for those starting in week 3): Attendance, regular involvement in class discussions for at least ten of the twelve sessions (one of those ten is the evening event) = 21% (in effect this is 2 grades per week apart from the evening session in which it is 3 grades)

Preparation and delivery of the scenario planning group work counts towards 7% of final course grades

Starting in week 1 but ‘catch up’ possible for those starting in week 3: Discussion board on Canvas = 14%

o 1.4 grades for each session (a minimum of ten sessions out of twelve). There is no limit to the amount of entries you make each week but you need to make at least one post for at least ten sessions.

o Please note that the closing date for each CANVAS discussion is FOUR DAYS after that particular lecture session

o Information on what an acceptable post looks like is referred to in classes 1,2 and 3. If you lose internet access of Canvas close to the deadline, please send an email to the course instructor AND TA immediately and no later than one hour after the deadline


2. Leadership Portfolio & project (50%)

There are two pieces of work that comprise the overall portfolio. The first is submitted during the course and help you build up a reflection of yourself. The final analysis – is submitted shortly after the end the course. The divisions are noted in sections “A” and “B” below.

** Note the following rules for submission of both pieces of work** The formatting should be: 12pt, Times New Roman, 1.5 line-spaced, margin–“moderate mode”

(top 2.54cm, bottom 2.54 cm, left 1.91cm, right 1.91cm ), not counting the cover page and appendix, if any.

You will submit your works through Canvas (http://Canvas.com/en_us/home) on or before stipulated date and time in ** word format only – not pdf **. For those who have not submitted work through Canvas before, you will receive information on how to do this before the first submission is due.

Email submissions (unless for late submissions) will not be entertained. Work that exceeds the word/page count will be graded between 0 to 60% depending on

how far the log exceeds the maximum limit. Penalty for late submission: Late pieces of work will receive a penalty of up to 10 points per

24-hour period (so, a piece of work that would have been graded as a 90% but was submitted two days late would receive a grade of 70%). Weekends are included in the accumulation of ‘late’ days.

This course is about developing the leader in you. It is about “you”. Leadership develops daily, not in a day. Developing our leadership skills is very much related to how we actually change our behavior. One of the biggest mistakes a leader can make is not being able to self-reflect. The purpose of setting up various take-home self-reflection exercises is to help you building a habit of self-reflect on what we have done wrong, why we have acted the ways we had, and how differently would we act if we were given a second chance. The academic concepts and frameworks serve as convenient tools to facilitate our self-reflection process, helping us to find out the shortfalls of our behaviors so that we know exactly what behavior we need to change.

Each self-assessment will be graded with reference to your level of in-depth self-reflection (see the marking criteria for more details). These self-assessments play an important role for your self-development into a better leader. There is no right or wrong answer in these self-assessments. You should NOT give “socially desirable” answers (i.e. answers that other people expect from you). Answers should reflect your true self. Besides self-determination and persistence, a critical success factor to develop the leader in you is to take, frequent if not daily, quality time and effort to have an honest conversation with yourself. The evaluation criteria resemble that of the leadership portfolio matrix.

** Try to complete the reflection papers on a rolling basis - various sections immediately after class that week has focused on them **

http://turnitin.com/en_us/home


A: ‘Take-home’ self-reflection exercise: 20% of final grade [no more than six pages in length

using the standard format outlined above]. This is a mid point of the course assignment and designed to reflect on what you have learnt up until half way through the course.

Self-reflection log: This paper combines content in sessions 1-6 To be submitted on Canvas by 1159 AM, Monday 19th March

i. Describe which leadership type(s)/style(s) you have demonstrated in your previous

experiences of leading (at school, work, universities, hobbies, etc). If you have few experiences, then suggest what type of leader style you think you might have. Support your view with two examples from previous experiences (work, studies, school, social etc) and summarizing your leader survey results (relevant leader type surveys are found in the course-related textbooks and on Canvas) [recommended length: 1 pages] – aim to complete after class 2

ii. Describe your cultural standpoints survey results and explain how you have experienced two ‘culture clashes’ (or ‘awakenings’) in work, school, and other aspects of your life. Culture clash can extend to organizational cultures as well as national, regional, continental etc. [recommended length: 1.5 pages] - aim to complete after class 3

iii. Describe your Belbin-type test results. Take two of the four categories and explain how the results are/are not accurate (describe with the help of two supporting examples; one for each category (for example- self and juggler)). 2/3rds page - aim to complete after class 6

iv. Analyse the experiences you have had in team settings; describe two specific examples of team members you have observed that demonstrated negative/positive team member roles discussed in class. [2/3rds page] aim to complete after class 6

v. Detail an example of an experience of good OR bad morale you have had in a team setting? (relate this to factors of good/bad morale as discussed in class – do not include empowerment as one of your examples) (2/3rds page) aim to complete after class 6

vi. Read Table 9-3 (highlighted in class and posted on CANVAS); select what you consider to be the three most important tips from the list and show – by providing personal examples – how these can/might help generate higher performance in a group [1 page] aim to complete after class 6

Further guidance notes:

– RELEVANT TO SECTION 1: There are plenty of surveys that you can search for to help give you an idea of your leader type. Some of posted on Canvas, others are found in textbooks and yet more on the internet. For example, if you think you demonstrate authoritative leader characteristics, you can input 'authoritative leader survey' and at least one good link is provided.

– RELEVANT TO SECTION 2: Remember to 'triangulate' (find more than one source of information) to support the two points you are trying to make. These are a) what cultural mindset do you have and b) culture clashes you have experienced. For b) -


ask yourself how far the clash is a result of a personality clash (and therefore not a culture clash)? OTHER IDEAS

– Compare yourself again the cultural elements of the 'great leader' slides (lectures 1 and 3) and add others as you see fit. Complete the practical exercise focused on in the lecture and assess what your ‘cultural standpoint’ might be; what lessons might you need to learn from it when you are in a cross-cultural leadership situation

– Explain how you have experienced ‘culture clashes’ in work, school, and other aspects of your life You will either have travelled a lot in your life (for instance, coming to HK for exchange) or experienced cultures simply through living in the global city that HK is. There is no need to focus just on nationality clashes – organizational clashes are just at prevalent

Reminder: Work that exceeds the word/page count is in danger of receiving a zero grade

The titles, dates of submission and recommended structures are provided for you below.

B: Course project (encompasses the entire course):

You will write a 6-7 page analysis (Reminder: Work that exceeds the word/page count - using the correct formatting - is in danger of receiving a zero grade):

This should be submitted by 1159AM, Tuesday, 15th May This is worth 30% of your overall course grade.

Details: Overview: The purpose of the final log is:

To reflect on an recent (preferably ongoing) leadership experience

To reflect on your personality and how that relates to your potential leadership style/s

To apply the concepts, themes, and issues raised on this course to that on-going experience.

More specifically:

You can choose any leadership experience you are involved with to reflect upon, such as fundraising for a certain cause, selling a new product in HKUST, a community service activity, organizing an event or competition, or any projects that you are interested in. You can reflect on how leadership occurred (either by yourself or by the leader if it was not you)

You need to explain which project you would like to assess before the end of week 7 (I will comment on your choice)

Previous students who did really well with this portfolio chose their focal point as early as possible (as a leader or a follower) and kept a daily journal/diary that recorded their leader and follower experiences


One part of the report needs to provide a summary of the surveys you have completed that relates to your personality traits/characteristics (not those relating to the team surveys completed for the first self reflection paper) and note the dominant personality traits you have; this includes noting what your ‘moral compass’ score is and the MBTI survey result is one of the surveys that must be included here also) & highlight one or two examples from the leader experience you are reviewing where these dominant personality traits and moral compass trait have been evident.

Your report needs to explain your progress, difficulties, and results and also a reflection on how you applied the leadership concepts learned in the class to the project (such as managing your team; reflecting how your personality related to leadership style etc.). In this way, you can implement everything you learnt in the class into a real action. Student feedback has highlighted that this will be more impactful rather than asking students to memorize and recite every concepts in a final written exam. Develop a detailed action plan on how to improve one of your strengths and address one of your weaknesses

Further guidance notes: Portfolio recommended structure In previous years, we have been asked questions to help add guidance to what you might want to include. The feedback we have given is as follows: The question has been set to allow for individual approaches to succeed. However, a standard report will include:

a. PART 1: A brief description of the project you are focusing on [half to 2/3rds of a page] along with a description of the structure of your report. Include what you see as the leadership functions performed by yourself (if writing as a leader) or the leader of your focus (if writing as a follower). For it to be a leadership experience, there needs to be a team of at least three involved.

i. PART 1A: Explain the functions/roles of team members (an organizational chart can be included in an appendix for you to refer to here). Leadership functions have been discussed and defined throughout the course – remind yourself of what they are/were and explain how these relate to the leader role you are reflecting on. Explain the generic leader functions you performed and not so much the technical nature of the work

ii. PART 1B: Then explain (half to 2/3rds of a page) how successful the project has been/is and how successful you were in your roles (as leader or follower). How successful was/is the project and how successful were you (you can include feedback from followers here if that has been undertaken). Do not get too concerned about the term 'decision-making process' in the question - just write down how successful you were and the project is/was. Measuring success means highlighting strengths and weaknesses. Some of the most successful reports have included surveys and 360 degree evaluation by followers (summarized in an appendix)


b. PART TWO: The second section should call upon the details of the personality surveys you have undertaken that can be outlined in an appendix (appendix is not part of the page limit) - it is possible to reflect on just those surveys that you have found most useful but still list all the survey results you have worked on and explain the ones that are redundant - and why they are redundant. Complete the section with a clear statement noting the dominant personality traits you believe you have. Pick two to three to expand upon by showing how you demonstrated that in the leader role you are reflecting on (note: provide a summary of the surveys in an appendix and consolidate/reflect on those grades at the start of part 2). A reminder - only reflect on a few surveys have to be completed such as; Big 5, MBTI, PDP, moral compass and perhaps 1-2 of any of the others but not Belbin, cross –cultural or those used for log 1 [one page]

c. PART 3: The core of the report is the application of specific reflection points (themes, notions, concepts, tips and other 'hooks' periodically mentioned in class) to your project and the dynamics of the leaders and followers. We advise starting the third section with a sentence that says something like 'there have been four/five themes from the course that I see as being particularly relevant to helping me analyse my leadership/follower experience. These are x,y,z. Then each section should have a sub-headline relating to

these. Make these sub-sections of equal weighting. There are dozens of themes from

the course that could be referred to (such as trust, conflict, cross-culture, team

member roles, morale, motivation, empowerment, vision, scenario planning, listening

skills etc) that help give an insight into your experience - refer to discussions/notes

from class slides to help provide a reason to what happened. Highlight those

words to show a clear linkage with class discussion. The important point is that you back up your analysis with concrete examples wherever possible. No more than four pages long in total.

d. PART 4: The final section should be a conclusion, wrapping up your thoughts and

outlining how you would improve the next time you lead (or experience a leader). Start by saying how you would have improved your leader performance if you were to do it again. Finish by identifying two strengths and two weaknesses (at least) from your observations and develop an action plan (what, how, when/timeline) for how to improve those four in the coming 12-24 months. You need to refer to various practical tips (from active listening, observation, cultural mindsets, conflict management, feedback analysis etc) that the course has highlighted or other tips/advice you have received outside of the course. The best action plans aim for quite a few tangible actions; reflect on how and when to measure them and give a clear guidance on the timeline you aim to put those plans into action. Some of this can be summarized and put into a table (that some place in the appendix and then comment on in the main body of the work). For example, some students have included a review of the Drucker analysis here and write a new one to be performed next semester. Recommendation: one page * note: a title page, contents page, appendix can be included and will not count towards the page limit.

We encourage the use of headings and sub-headings to break up the content a little


Important tips: I suggest you start your leadership portfolio immediately after each class by jotting down your thoughts while your feelings are intense. Doing self-reflective logs is not writing a diary, which is simply a recap of the event. Self-reflections involve the “why, what and how” aspects of our behavior. Add to the portfolio throughout the process as new ideas come to you. The perfect formula for failure (in the course and skills development) is to wait till right before the due date to find something to write. Remember this course is about “you”. The focus of each leadership portfolio is much more on the extent you engage in reflective thinking than the writing per se.

Leadership Portfolio/self-Assessment Rubric for log and final reflection project

Grade descriptor:

90-100: are excellent in all areas (sufficiently focused, supported with clear, strong examples, very well presented and generally well written). Specifically, all aspects of the question answered with argument/opinion provided with good, well written examples to support all parts

86-89: are generally well presented, direct answer to the questions that has been set; well-chosen examples; a tendency to be more descriptive than analytical or shallow analysis occasionally evident. All aspects of the question answered with argument/opinion provided with good, generally well written examples to support at least 75% of the parts of the question

81-85: give a direct answer to the question; reasonable/good examples but expression/presentation might be poor; more descriptive than analytical. Specifically, all aspects of the question addressed with argument/opinion provided with reasonably well written examples to support at least 50% of the parts of the question

77-80: are given where the question has often been directly addressed but with some vague/poorly chosen examples to support it and poorly presented/written; Specifically, all aspects of the question addressed with argument/opinion provided with reasonably well written examples to support at least 20% of the parts of the question

70-76: are given for vague, sweeping statements, and it is sometimes unclear what has been argued but the question has been more or less addressed. Specifically, aspects of the question addressed with argument/opinion provided with sometimes moderately well written examples. Some assignments in this range fail to address the question in quite a few ways and can be quite poorly written

69 and below: a range of problems associated with this assignment possibly including: o Only indirectly addresses the question (or fails to address it at all) o Over page limit (the maximum grade allowed for work over the page limit –

including work that would have been over the limit had the standard formatting guidelines be followed is 60%)

o Contains some plagiarism o Poorly written – difficult to comprehend


Course Schedule Session Date Topic Reading/s upon which this

session is based (voluntary pre and post lecture

reading to add depth to the lecture content)

Work to be completed

1 Tuesday 6th February

Introduction 1

What is leadership? How do leaders become leaders? Difference between leadership in general and

‘effective’ leaders Snapshot/taster for the sessions that run from

weeks 3 onwards especially experiential/simulated learning

Feedback analysis technique

Relates to chapter 1 in the course text:

Who is a leader?

Leadership skills

In class exercises

Various homework, including completion of log within four days of the lecture

2 Tuesday, 13th February

Introduction II

Continuation of the general themes raised in the first week with particular attention on what good/bad leaders are

Are leaders born or made? Brief lecture on leadership theories Group work/action learning

Chapter 1 of the course text, in particular:

Leadership theories

In class exercises


3 Tuesday 20th

February

Big picture: How environments shape leaders and leadership

Culture Western and Eastern leadership styles Gender Political environments Economic and technological environments Diversity Organisational culture Exercise: effective listening skills

Chapter 10 in the course text on Organizational

culture

And chapter 11 on globalisation

In class exercises Various homework, including completion of log within four days of the lecture

MBTI result to be emailed within three days

4

Tuesday 27th February

Teams

Team creation Team roles (positive and negative) Participative management Communication and pressurised decision-

making

Sessions 4/5/6 draw upon content found in chapters 6-8 of the course textbook

In class exercises


5

Monday 5th/Tuesday 6th

March

An evening event on leadership development techniques (practical advice)

No reading required Various homework, including completion of log within four days of the lecture

6 Tuesday 13th March

Teams & conflict management

Conflict management Participative management/empowerment Morale Attitude Change management

Sessions 4/5/6 draw upon content found in chapters 6-8 of the course textbook

In class exercises



7 Tuesday 20th March

Personality & the individual in leadership

Personality traits, individual assessments, EQ,

communication skills etc.

Sessions 7 and 8 draw upon content found in chapter 2 of the course

textbook

In class exercises


8

Tuesday 27th March

Leadership ethics (Integrity)

Focus: different views on how leaders approach ethics: An overview and dilemmas (Western and Eastern)

Sessions 7 and 8 draw upon content found in chapter 2 of the course

textbook

In class exercises


9

Tuesday 10th April

Leadership issues: systems thinking and developing scenario planning work

In class exercises


10 Tuesday 17th April

Leadership issues (vision, trust and sustainability)

See page 371-377 of the core course textbook

In class exercises


11 Tuesday 24th April

Leadership issues: scenario planning session (this is a graded session accounting for 6% of your overall course grade)

Details to be provided In class exercises


12 Tuesday 8th May

Leading in the future

Focus, wellness and meditation Other methods to consider in future

leadership thinking, strategy and skills (including improvisation)

Details to be provided In class exercises


After session 12

No exam!

The instructor reserves the right to revise the syllabus as needed.

Documents

MGMT 1120: Developing the Leader ... - HKUST Business School · To practice business etiquettes (e.g. punctuality, attentiveness, integrity, honesty) ... II. Self-development: Application-based