Course Outline: CSR 309 - Leadership Strategies

CEO - Dr. Richard Feinberg (web.ics.purdue.edu/~xdj1)

Room 320 Matthews Hall

Phone: 494-8301

E-Mail: xdj1@purdue.edu (email all work to this address)

President: To Be Announced

Documents to read

• 10 Secrets to Success
• John is the kind of guy you love to hate
• The pen is mightier than the sword
• The greatness that cannot be taught
• Marine leadership
• A COURAGEOUS PROFILE
• Stressed Out
• Five Great lessons in life; The Important Things Life Teaches You ...
• Mackay Sweet Sixteen
• The Company Man
• 10 Smart questions
• Powell on Leadership
• Lifetime Calculator-How much time do you have left? Go to CCDQ.com… click on tools… find lifetime calculator… e-mail me how many seconds you have left by January 17. Put “seconds” in message subject.
• Suggestions to live by in CSR 309

Required Texts:

 The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes & Posner, 3^rd edition  or later (http://www.kouzesposner.com)

Read Leadership Graffiti

CSR Leadership Strategies – Readings

 Course Philosophy:

Feinberg's Law #1: When the ox bows sharpen the knife

Feinberg's Law #2: Only the lead dog enjoys a change of scenery (Sgt. Preston)

Feinberg's Law #3:

TO BE A LEADER IS TO:

• Experience yourself as being in the center of your own lifetime process.
• Experience life as abundant, filled with expanding opportunities available and appropriate for yourself and others.
• Make experiences and opportunities happen for yourself and for others.
• Recognize that it is all right to exercise your power, to be competent and recognize your competence.
• Not to be afraid of your own power and not to feel guilty about your desire for power.
• Take control of your own life and implement your present and life goals.
• Be at center of your own lifetime processes. (H. Collier, 1979)

Feinberg's Law #4: Your life makes a difference.

Feinberg's Law #5: The formula for success = x + y + 2

x = show up and work hard

y = add value all over

2 = keep your mouth shut

            Feinberg’s Law #6 or Tom Peters Law #1: It’s in your hands so quit whining

            Feinberg’s Law #7: You have 1,816,473,600 seconds left. Tick tock…tick tock…tick tock. What are you going to do with them?

            Feinberg’s Law #8: Stop whining…solve the problem.

Feinberg’s Law #9: Get Over It (Eagles)

Feinberg’s Law #10: Yo!

Before you do anything, please read Assignments 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5

A) Introduction

This course is oriented such that you will become aware that learning is not necessarily abstract but a function of application of knowledge to your immediate environment. You are never outside the scope of the course and as you gain increasing understanding of your behavior as a leader and follower you will gain increasing control over the consequences flowing from your behavior.

We will use your experience in the classroom as the basis for learning about the developing leadership skills. To that end you will be part of an ongoing work group faced with the necessity of completing a variety of tasks, allocating work, making decisions, and receiving differential rewards based on performance. Everything that happens in this course is open for analysis and understanding. My objective is to give you practice in making order from chaos by functioning scientifically and using limited data to make decisions. Throughout the course you will make decisions and face their consequences as a way of learning not only about the concepts but also about your own values, willingness to lead and be lead, and the ability to cope with difficulty and uncertainty.

B) Course Structure

My objective is not to stimulate an organization but to create a genuine organization. I am putting you in a position of an organizational member who must deal with such problems as- how does work get allocated; how does one work with others; how does one motivate and influence others; how does one cope with uncertainty in solving problems which do not have any single correct solutions; how are disagreements between co-workers resolved; how will decisions be made, and how do you get things done effectively in limited resource environments..

Since we have 200+ or more students in class, one of our first concerns will be to structure the class into manageable units. We will eventually organize into task groups of 15+. Most of class time is spent in these groups analyzing cases and doing exercises. Whatever the task there will be an output which is measurable and evaluated (see organization chart).

The leader meets and reports to the president and is held responsible for her/his group's performance. As much as possible, I relate to the group through its leader - so select wisely. These leaders will DETERMINE YOUR FUTURE. You cannot change groups or fire them. You are stuck. One way organizations clarify members work requirements is through a job description. As a result, you can see the requirements of these positions on the teacher, student leader description sheets.

Role Descriptions for Instructor, Students, and Group Managers

Introduction

A central frame of reference of this course is the class as an organization that is similar in many basic ways to all organizations. In order to make the parallels clear and explicit, as well as to achieve our objectives, we attempt to use as many devices as we can which are found in the ordinary organizations. One of these devices is the job description. Written job descriptions are commonly found in organizations to establish the parameters of a job and also to identify expectations. In this course, the descriptions become part of the required system. They clarify our expectations of how the organizations should operate. Consequently, we have written the following role descriptions for the instructor, the student, and the student manager. Objectives for all roles are:

1.   The creation of a social system which will stimulate high individual and group performance, high individual satisfaction, and high individual and group development.

2.   Reinforcement of norms of information sharing, in order to provide the feedback in the system needed to appreciate the relationship between behavior and its consequences.

3.   Reinforcement of norms of risk-taking and experimentation in order to test hypotheses and the usefulness of concepts.

The Role of the Instructor – the CEO

I am the CEO so by definition everything I do is correct and everything I say is clear and everything that I give you is right.

The instructor provides structure through sequences of activities that expose students to particular organizational dynamics. These activities include case analyses, discussions, lectures, and exercises that place the lessons to be learned in sharp relief. The instructor has the responsibility of controlling the rate and degree of conceptual input through assigned readings, lectures, and interventions as a consultant. One of the principal functions of the instructor is to make himself/herself available as a roving consultant to individuals and task groups as needed. Because the instructor also evaluates performance, considerable resistance to acceptance of himself/herself as a consultant is likely. This resistance will only be overcome when the instructor succeeds in proving to individuals and groups that he/she is a source of help and increased satisfaction. The instructor is a role model of leadership and as part of the learning process in the course may choose to BE A REALLY BAD LEADER.  The point and structure of the course has logic that limits maximize the discretion of the instructor. The instructor will change his mind from predetermined plans from time to time in order to respond to opportunities in the class to learn. If the instructor can share with the class what he/she has responded to and what alterations are being made to fit the situation, members of the class will have the opportunity to check their own diagnostic processes.

The instructor will use student group managers to relay instructions, gather information, identify need for help, identify resources, make resources available as needed, and share in-group decision making when appropriate. He/she will identify the extent to which student mangers are held responsible for performance in the groups and will evaluate managers' performances accordingly. The instructor will meet regularly with student managers, using the meeting as a coordinating mechanism for the class.

The instructor will grade students on assignments according to specified criteria. The grading will serve as both feedback on performance and evaluation of it with a genuine attempt to make grading as helpful as possible for subsequent learning and performance. As in organizations you better figure out how your leaders evaluate you.

 The Role of the Student

The student is a member of the class as a whole and also of a small task group composed of fifteen members more or less. He/she is expected to attend all group and class meetings and to come prepared to fully participate in whatever activities have been scheduled. Preparation includes reading in advance of the assignment with enough depth and concentration to provide the student with the background and concepts needed in order to contribute effectively. Since the medium of learning in this course is interaction, students are expected to participate actively in all events and to attempt to influence others as well as allow themselves to be influenced. The student is expected to take responsibility for his/her behavior. The student is expected to recognize the resources in the class and to ask for help from those who can give it, including peers, student managers, and the instructor. The student is expected to use the accumulation of all his/her knowledge and experience, however acquired, to contribute to the achievement of any task undertaken in the course. As part of this responsibility, the student is expected to give feedback to the instructor, peers, and student managers so that they can appreciate their impact and change their behavior if they choose. Students are also expected to give feedback to each other when group grade are distributed and whenever it will contribute to an individual's learning and development.

If unavoidable absences occur, the student is expected to take steps to see that activities planned for the time that he/she is absent can be carried out as scheduled. This may require notification to the people concerned and affected substitution by other persons or other measures as appropriate.

The Role of Student Group Manager/Leader

Student managers will be recruited and appointed through procedures outlined by the instructor. Some criteria for acceptance of the role are willingness to take the job, the time to do it, interest in others, willingness to take responsibility, awareness, a possession or interest in acquiring interpersonal skills, and the ability and willingness to deal with pressures from many sources.

A student manager will meet for a regularly scheduled period every week with the mangers of other groups and the instructor, and at other times as the need arises. The manager at these meetings will share information about the performance of his/her group, problems confronting it, the need for help, resources available to themselves and others. The manager will bring information from the managers' meetings, and from the instructor, back to the group and will be held responsible for the performance of the group in terms of its productivity, the satisfaction of its members, and its process in learning. This responsibility involves diagnosis and understanding of the way the group functions, the needs of the individual members, and an ability to locate resources which can be used to satisfy them.

Functions that the student managers will perform when appropriate will be keeping calendars, reminding the group of deadlines, taking initiative in indicating the need for meetings, keeping track of group administrative arrangements, appraising performance, and giving feedback.

C) Lecture topics- The CEO  reserves the right to change and modify outline in any way to increase learning and experience  

Introduction to course

Introduction to leadership

Leadership workshop (see below)

Selecting leaders 1/30

Forming groups 2/1

Motivating followers

Selling your strengths

Why should they follow you

Time management

Group development

Performance appraisal, feedback and evaluation

Conflict

Negotiations

Power

Leading in a diverse cultural environment

Self Leadership

Readings

The book and all readings are to be read immediately and should be finished by 2/13/2006.

Leadership Workshop

There will be a leadership workshop on Feb 8 from 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. The workshop replaces the last two weeks of class. Attendance at the workshop is mandatory. Make the necessary arrangements to your work and social schedule immediately! Details will follow.

Test

There will be one test on Feb 27.  No make-ups. No Excuse. Period. Test is on book and readings.

D) Assignments & Grading

The grading system in this course is designed to raise issues parallel to those facing any organization trying to allocate rewards. Individual class members are judged partly by their performance on group tasks and partly on individual performance on tasks such as papers, quizzes, and exams. Approximately one third of final grade is based on group projects, one third on individual papers, quizzes and exams, and one third on final paper in which all concepts of the course are used to analyze what happened in the course. There will be ungraded assignments which are required. Failure to turn these in will lower grade by 30 points. Exceptional work on these can raise your grade by 30 points.

Group & Individual Memos

VERY IMPORTANT: All work should/must/needs to be submitted by email as an attachment to xdj1@purdue.edu with the correct subject line ( unless specified differently  When you submit by email you must put the proper subject heading and include your name(s) on actual paper (not just in body of email message) to insure credit.

INDIVIDUAL MEMOS

All memos are to address specific issues of leadership. This is to be an analysis, not more description. After reading your work ask yourself the following question:  Would this impress a stranger? Would this work make a stranger stand up and say…WOW I have got to know this person. WOW I have got to hire this person?

Individual Memo 1 Your first memo is specific to the following questions. After seeing the film and observing class during the first couple of days, address these issues: What is leadership? Why did leadership succeed or fail in the class on that day and how was this similar to the success or failure in the movie? What does the movie tell us about leadership and how does it relate to the class that day? What does the movie tell us about how I can succeed in this class as a leader for the rest of the semester? 2 pages in length. It must be typed. You must address these specific questions and go beyond more descriptions. In addition, I want an essay and not simply answer to questions. Email with “IM1” in subject line.

Individual Memo 2 Film Analysis. Select a recent (last 12 months) movie. You can also select a movie that was released prior to your birth. What do you learn about leadership? List of non-acceptable movies to follow. Email with “IM2” in subject line. It is important that you don’t simply provide a summary of the movie but do a leadership analysis. What is the leadership issue in this movie?

I, Inc. Brochure

This is a real brochure outlining you as a product.

The goal of this brochure is to demonstrate to me that you understand self-leadership. Not e-mailed…turn it in to your group leader. The group leader will turn it in as a group.

"I" Incorporated info and examples

GROUP MEMOS

All memos are to address specific issues of leadership. This is to be an analysis, not mere description.  

Group Memo 1. Select an article from a business magazine or newspaper. Write a leadership analysis of whatever the article is concerning. The article must be recent (last 6 months). The article must be turned in with the paper. One copy of the paper and article turned in class and one copy of the paper emailed with “GM1” in subject line.

Group Memo 2 Case Study - You will be given a case study in leadership to analyze. Email with GM2 in subject line.

LEADERSHIP BLOG (at least one entry per week starting immediately).

A blog is a web diary about your life. It is quite an interesting tool to communicate life events and some blogs are quite fascinating. For this class this is a leadership blog. It should be about the class. How the concepts explain and or illuminate life issues. It is not simply about your life but about your leadership life.

What is a blog- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

An example of a site to start a blog but there are many…

http://www.blogger.com/start

http://www.blogsource.com

This is like your final paper. This is the big assignment. This blog will be available for all to read and I will read all your entries and comment on some. At the end of the semester I will give you an overall evaluation (and this is worth 200 points). Look at this as your final paper. Be careful with this…if you get behind and do al the entries at the end of the semester you will not get and A. Keep up. Do an entry after each class.

What I am looking for is what you have learned as the class goes on. Is there a life event that you now understand as a leadership thing? How did a particular class make you feel and what does that have to do with leadership? Remember this is a leadership class and all your observations and beliefs and feelings need to be discussed and explained in terms of leadership.

You will be graded on the depth of your analysis. You need to do at least one entry per week and if you do one after each class you will impress me more.  It needs to be written well.

I do not care if you are positive or negative… like me or dislike me… like the class or dislike the class… the issue is whether or not you try to understand these things in terms of leadership.

Remember people will be reading this. Each class member will be responsible for commenting on two other blogs. I will give you the names of 2 people. Details to group leaders soon.

The first thing for you to do is read the links below which explain blogging…give you examples of interesting blogs…and instructions for setting up a blog.

Then start a blog. Please e-mail me the address of your blog by 1/18. Put “blog” in the subject heading.

http://www.blogwise.com/

http://www.technorati.com/

http://www.blogcatalog.com/

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1160615,00.asp

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1160614,00.asp

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1109531,00.asp

http://www.websitenotes.com/websitenotes-37-20031121WebBlogsDefinedExplainedandUnderstood.html

http://new.blogger.com/about.pyra

http://new.blogger.com/home.pyra

http://www.mcgeesmusings.net/2003/05/13.html

http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html

Best blogs on the net http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1400401,00.asp

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1118741,00.asp

The Meaning of a life: A Living Obituary (see examples in readings packet)

You will be given the name of another mate in class (random). You will arrange a meeting and then right a living obituary trying to capture the essence of this person’s life and “essence”. You are writing this as describing the life of this person not their death. E-mail with your name and their name ---“living Obituary” in subject line. The examples in the readings are a couple that appeared in a book about the victims of the Sept 11 terrorist attack (read some at www.legacy.com/NYTimes/sept11.asp)

 NEWSPAPER Headlines

You will be given a template for the front page of a newspaper. You will fill in this front page with information about you 20 years from now. More to come on this

 Group Leader

The group leader is responsible for the groups’ performance. They are responsible for evaluating members' individual performance. For those tasks in which the entire group has come up with one product, the teacher assigns a grade to the total project, which is then distributed among the members by the group leader. The leader can use any basis for determining allocations, including asking group members to participate in the process.

The group leader receives for group products whatever grade is given to the group by the teacher since it is assumed that the group's overall performance is partly a reflection of how well the leader did her/his job. The group in turn evaluates the leader's overall performance. This, plus the leaders self-evaluation, and the teacher's evaluation are considered in determining a final grade for each group leader.

Peer Evaluation Procedure

In human organizations it is not uncommon for one's performance and one's rewards to be dependent upon the actions and performance of others. This condition will be replicated in this course through the vehicle of group products that are evaluated by me.

In addition, in organizations we are constantly being evaluated by our peers and frequently groups have the power to give some reward to individual members. This aspect of organizations will also be replicated in the course through a process of peer evaluation and subsequent adjustment of the group’s product grade. As outlined below, the individual members of a group may receive different grades for a given product but the average grade will be that assigned to the group product.

Our purpose with this replication is not merely to stimulate reality but also to highlight several aspects of group functioning. These are:

• peer evaluation and its impact on a group
• group pressure, both positive and negative
• power distribution in a group
• individual influence and potential to resolve problems resulting from the above
• the value and impact of open discussion of differing contributions to group performance
• the impact of differential rewards on group performances and internal relationships
• the possibility of individual learning through knowledge of others' perceptions, feelings, and needs.

We encourage you to establish explicit criteria for peer evaluation and to openly discuss those evaluations so that each member has the benefit of others' perception of his/her actions.

Methods

1.      Group products will be graded by the instructor. Grades will be numerical.

2.      Each group product handed in must be accompanied by instructions from each group for the distribution of the grade in terms of the contribution of each individual member.

3.      Contribution must be indicated by percentage and must average out to 100 percent for the group.

4.      The percentage given to any participating individual member can vary between 70 percent and 120 percent.

5.      A percentage of 0 must be given to group members who do not participate, for any reason whatsoever, in production of a particular group product. This is the only reason which can be used to assign a 0 percentage for individual contribution.

6.      If a 0 percentage is assigned to the group member, the average of 100 percent for the group will be determined by excluding the absent member. (100 percent will be averaged only for active participants.)

7.      Group grades will be returned, together with the grades of individuals, determined by multiplying the group grade times the contribution percentage assigned to the individual.

Example: Group receives a 90 for its case analysis.

Column 1 will be filled out by each group and will accompany the group product. The instructor will grade the product and return it, filling in Columns 2 and 3.

*(As determined by group ahead of time.)

Academic Honesty and Dishonesty

http://www.purdue.edu/oop/policies/pages/human_resources/discrim_pol_resolve_print.html

http://www.purdue.edu/Purdue/integrity/index.html

Cheating

Dishonesty of any kind with respect to examinations, course assignments, alteration of records, or illegal possession of examinations shall be considered cheating.

It is the responsibility of the student not only to abstain from cheating, but in addition, to avoid the appearance of cheating and to guard against making it possible for others to cheat. Any student who helps another student to cheat is as guilty of cheating as the student he or she assists. The student also should do everything possible to induce respect for the examining process and for honesty in the performance of assigned tasks in or out of class.

Plagiarism

Honesty requires that any ideas or materials taken from another source for either written or oral use must be fully acknowledged. Offering the work of someone else as one's own is plagiarism. The language or ideas thus taken from another may range from isolated formulas, sentences, or paragraphs to entire articles copies from books, periodicals, speeches, or the writings of other students. The offering of materials assembled or collected by others in the form of projects or collections without acknowledgment also is considered plagiarism. Any student who fails to give credit for ideas or materials taken from another source is guilty of plagiarism.

Cheating and/or plagiarism is sufficient for an F. See student handbook for University rules.

 Be very careful. I have student work digitized from the past 7 years and have an automatic program that checks your work against past work.

Racism, Sexism, Anti-Semitism

I will not tolerate racism, sexism, anti-semitism, or any other "ism". If you believe that I have exhibited any "ism", bring it to my attention. If I have harmed you or you believe that you have experienced an "ism" in my class, or any CSR class, you can do one of the following:

1.      Talk to the professor.

2.      Talk to me.

3.   Go directly to Head of Department (Richard Widdows in CSR) or Dean of Students office.