THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP AND PROCESSES OF …



COURSE NUMBER: ORLD 602

COURSE TITLE: Theories of Leadership and Processes of Organizations

TEXT TO BE USED:

TITLE: Leadership, Theory and Practice, 5th Edition (Other editions might be acceptable)

AUTHOR: Peter G. Northhouse

PUBLISHER: Sage Publications, Inc.

ISBN: 0-7619-1926-0

TITLE: The BASS HANDBOOK OF LEADERSHIP: Theory, Research, & Managerial Applications

AUTHOR: Bernard M. Bass with Ruth Bass

PUBLISHER: FREE PRESS. 4th Edition

ISBN: 13:978-0-7432-1552-7

TITLE: Cases In Leadership

AUTHOR: W. Glenn Rowe

PUBLISHER: Sage Publications Inc.

ISBN: 978-1-4129-4247-8

Additional Texts (Not Required):

Greenwald, Howard; Organizations: Management Withiout Control

(ISBN) 978-1-4129-4247-8

Morgan, Gareth. Images of Organization: The Executive Edition, 1998

Jay M. Shafritz & J. Steven Ott: Classics of Organization Theory (ISBN) 0-15-506869-5

METHOD OF CONTACT:

By mail: 1102 Spaulding Building By Telephone: W (302) 857-6718

Princess Anne, Maryland 21853 E-mail: Paattoh@umes.edu

I. COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course is a sequel/continuation of the ORLD 601 course. This course further examines leadership theories in depth and its application to research. The course provides insights on how to utilize leadership theories as a theoretical framework and foundation for research. Methods and practices that influence leadership and organizations will be explored. Emphasis on leadership and organizational performance outcomes and how implementations impact emerging global markets will be presented. Also explored will be the human, conceptual, and technical skills required of all policymakers working collaboratively within organizations to achieve individual, organizational and societal goals.

THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP AND PROCESSES OF ORGANIZATIONS

ORLD 602

ASSIGNMENT # 1

Written Assignment # 1

A Leadership Interview

20% Written Assignment # 1-A Leadership Interview: Interview an individual in a leadership position about his or her overall view of leadership and about a particular event or initiative in his or her experience which reflects leadership in practice. It is important to focus on both the individual’s overall concept of leadership, standards for how that general view ought to be implemented and then the respondent’s recollection of a specific incident when the concepts were applied. It is important that you choose a respondent who is able to focus his or her thinking on only those leadership experiences in which he or she was actually the leader. (Due Friday, January 28th) See additional information below.

Note: Due date-Friday January 28, 2011

Some suggestions for completing this assignment:

1. Review any book that contains information regarding basic techniques for conducting interviews. Become familiar with the suggestions on interviewing.

2. Organize your interview beforehand.

3. If the person you select seems unclear as to what kind of recollections you are seeking, you may choose to use the following criteria:

a. The interview does not necessarily need to be restricted to a time when your respondent was an appointed, selected or elected leader. It can be either a time when the respondent emerged as the informal leader or a time when he or she was the official leader or manager. We are investigating leadership, not authority. The two are very different.

b. It can be in any functional area, in a corporate or nonprofit organization, in a public or private institution, or in a staff or line position.

c. Also, it can include (but should not be limited to) any of the following: the startup of a new business, a new product, or service development; the opening of a new service center, agency, or department; an organizational change effort; a quality or productivity improvement effort; or an effort to change public opinion on a particular issue.

d. The experience does not need to have occurred in the respondent’s present organization; it could be a past work/elected/appointed experience. It could have occurred in a club, a professional organization, a school, a youth agency, a business, or any other setting.

e. It can be at any time when the respondent felt that he or she performed at his or her very best as a leader.

Interview Approaches and format:

Questions for the leader: (You can add some of your own questions)

1. The Organization:

a. Where did this take place? Be sure to obtain specifics about the name of the organization, the setting, or location.

b. When did this take place? When did the incident begin? How long did it last? When did it end?

c. Who initiated the project? If you did, indicate your title, functions, or responsibilities at the time.

d. Who was involved directly or indirectly in the effort or project? Results of the effort/project.

e. How did completion of the project or effort affect your position and influence in the organization?

2. The Leader’s Role

a. If you initiated the project, why did you choose to do it? What was your motivation?

b. How did you and or this project challenge the organization?

c. How did you motivate others to achieve high performance level? How did you stimulate them to do better than they ever have before?

d. How would you describe your feelings at the onset of the project?

e. What strategies did you employ to gain the trust and respect of those who worked on the project? How did you empower others who worked with you?

3. The Leadership Issues:

a. In this effort, what were the values or beliefs that you felt should guide everyone’s actions? Were those standards that guided your expectations of people? How others were held accountable for these standards?

b. How did you show others by your own example, that you were serious about these values, beliefs, and standards? Describe the ways in which you lead by example.

c. What planning structures and organizing systems did you utilize to plan, organize, or manage the effort?

d. How did you communicate the project’s accomplishments to the entire organization?

e. How did you get people to focus attention on the essential components of the project?

f. In reflection, what were the elements of your leadership approach that were critical to the project’s ultimate success?

Case Study Reflection and Analysis: (Please review this section carefully before starting your paper). Please also remember to integrate knowledge gained for ORLD 601, ORLD 611, and ORLD 617 with appropriate citations to support your paper

• Your written assignment # 1 is to report on your interview. You may organize the paper as you wish.

• Please review your responses to the questions you chose to ask the respondent. Your paper is to consist of a Summary and Analysis of those answers. You may wish to organize it around key leadership actions taken by your respondent that enabled this to be an exemplary leadership experience. You should also discuss the respondent’s leadership style(s) and the type of leadership theory/theories that you feel supported his/her relationship with his/her subordinates. You may wish to use different themes that emerged to organize your report.

• As part of your conclusion and discussion: How would you personally describe how you felt about the experience based on your current knowledge of Organizational/leadership theories, and knowledge gained from taking ORLD 601, 611 and ORLD 617.

• Describe how your respondent felt personally as the leader of this experience. Please integrate leadership concepts from your readings and other resources as appropriate.

Evaluation Criteria:

1. Breadth and scope of your analysis demonstrate a high level of understanding and conceptualization of the interview.

2. All the major points of your paper are adequately developed and supported.

3. A concise summary is provided as the conclusion.

4. Writing is clear and well organized. APA style is followed

Some good tips for interviewing

Establishing Rapport

• The interviewer should project the positive image of a good person engaged in a harmless but important task.

o good person: the respondent should enjoy talking to the interviewer

o harmless: the interviewer will not harm the interviewee in any way

o important: the interviewer will ask questions that will help to achieve an important goal

• A good interviewer should

o develop trust and mutual respect

o speak and act in ways that are non-threatening

o cultivate a relatively neutral role but be compassionate and sympathetic towards the interviewee (even if you don’t like him or her)

• Techniques for establishing and maintaining trust:

o always be honest

o prove your motivation by interviewing respondents when it is best for them and not necessarily most convenient for you

o always keep your word and don’t promise anything that you cannot keep

• Techniques for establishing and maintaining respect and acceptance:

o always remain neutral

o be aware that the informants are observing and questioning you too

Guiding the Interview

• A questionnaire written to guide interviews is called an interview schedule or interview guide.

• Field researchers typically employ unstructured or semi-structured interviews to ask questions.

• This conversational approach yields flexibility in that an answer to one question may influence the next question the researcher wishes to ask.

• Asking questions:

o What is interesting from the respondent’s point of view?

o What is interesting from the researcher’s point of view?

o Don’t ask sociological questions.

o "Why" questions should be translated into "how" questions.

o "Why" questions often result in justifications.

o "How" questions tell you something about the process.

o Examples:

o "How did you happen to come here/be this?"

o "How did you feel at this time about this point?"

o "How did you talk to ...?"

o "What do you think about ...?"

o "What did you do then?"

o "What did you like the most/the least?"

o Don’t’ ask leading questions. Don’t put the answer into the respondent’s mouth.

o "Don’t you think ..."

o "Don’t you agree ..."

o Probes: elaboration on a specific subject

o sit and wait

o take the last statement and turn it into a question

o make a non-committal response (simply nod your head, etc.)

o ask for examples

o "Was ... this what you expected?"

o "How so/how not?"

o "How did you feel about this?"

o "Could you elaborate on this?"

o "You talked previously about ..., can you tell me more about that?"

o If something is left out at the end of the interview, mention it and find out why it is left out.

o At the end of the interview ask:

"Do you think that important things were left out? Which topics?"

If you were Recording the Interview

• Use a high quality tape recorder to record the interview.

• Don’t use the cheapest tapes available.

• Use external microphones that can be positioned comfortably where they will catch the speaker’s words.

• Write down new questions that pop into your mind.

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