Table of Contents
Class
Schedule with Daily Questions
Class Schedule with Daily Questions
Week 1 Defining Leadership, Evolution of Leadership Theory
Tuesday: Defining Leadership
Read: Gardner, Introduction and Chpt. 1 The
Nature of Leadership
Gardner, Chpt.
2 The Tasks of Leadership
The following site lists very good books and articles on leadership: http://www.leadershipnow.com/
The following site has a list of some quotes about leadership from some well
known individuals: http://www.leadershipnow.com/leadershipquotes.html
Questions for Class Discussion:
1. What is leadership?
2. What are the cultural aspects of leadership?
3. What is the relationship between leadership and management?
4. What are some of the major obstacles to leadership?
5. What are the key elements of the understanding of leadership advanced by
John Gardner?
6. What does it mean to embrace failure?
7. Why is leadership important?
8. What are the main tasks of leadership identified by Gardner?
Thursday: Leadership Theory
Read: Burns, Prologue and Chpt. 1 The Power of
Leadership
Burns, Chpt.
16 Toward a General Theory of Leadership
Burns, Chtp.
17 Political Leadership as Practical Experience
The following site has a good presentation of various leadership
theories: http://psychology.about.com/od/leadership/p/leadtheories.htm
The following site has good links to presentations of major leadership
theories: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/theories/leadership_theories.htm
1. What are some of the key developments in the modern history of leadership
theory?
2. What are some contemporary issues facing leadership theory?
3. What are some of the major leadership theories?
4. How does Burns understand the nature of leadership?
Essay # 1 Write a three page essay in which you explain what leadership is all
about. Try to define leadership and discuss its most important elements,
challenges, and limitations.
Week 2 Personality, Character, Traits
Tuesday: Leadership Traits
Read: Gardner, Chpt. 5 Attributes
The following site has a useful description of the great man theory: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/theories/great_man_theory.htm
The following site has a useful description of trait theory: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/theories/trait_theory.htm
The following site has a useful description of behavioral theory: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/theories/behavioral_theory.htm
The following site has useful description of role theory: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/theories/role_theory.htm
The following site introduces the distinction between leaders who are oriented
towards people versus those who are oriented to achieving the tasks at hand: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/styles/managerial_grid.htm
Questions for Class Discussion:
1. How important is personality to leadership?
2. What are some of the claims of traditional and contemporary trait theories
of leadership?
3. What are the limitations of such theories?
4. How does behavioral theory differ from trait theory?
5. What traits are emphasized by Gardner?
6. What claims are made by the Great Man theory?
7. What are the differences between leaders who are oriented towards people
versus those who are oriented to achieving the tasks at hand?
8. What is meant by the Type A behavior pattern?
Thursday: Different Styles and Followers
Read: Gardner, Chpt. 5 Attributes
Optional: The following
is a site regarding Kurt Lewin's typology of
leadership styles: http://psychology.about.com/od/leadership/a/leadstyles.htm
Questions for Class Discussion:
1. What are some of the different styles of leadership according to Lewin?
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each of those styles?
3. What do leaders need to know about followers?
4. What is involved in a so-called Machiavellian leadership style?
Essay # 2 Write a three page essay in which you discuss the strengths and
limitations of tying to understand leadership in terms of traits possessed by
leaders. What are some of the most important characteristics or qualities
leaders should posses?
Week 3 Importance of Values and Ethics
Tuesday: Values and Leadership in a Democracy
Read: Gardner, Chpt. 7 The Moral Dimension
Burns, Chpt.
2 The Structure of Moral Leadership
Burns, Chpt.
6 Intellectual Leadership: Ideas as Moral Power
Consider the idea of service to others found in Michael McKinney’s essay The Focus of Leadership: http://www.leadershipnow.com/service.html
Consider the role of values found in George Washington’s First Inaugural
Address: http://www.foundationsmag.com/civility.html
Consider the following quotes about the importance of integrity: http://www.leadershipnow.com/integrityquotes.html
Questions for Class Discussion:
1. What is the role of trust in leadership?
2. What is the role of trust in democratic governance?
3. How is trust established?
4. How is trust lost?
5. What is meant by values-based leadership?
6. What are the key elements of an ethical culture?
7. Does leadership require ethics?
8. What are some of the most important values central to leadership?
Thursday: Self-Awareness and Understanding Others
Read: Gardner, Chpt. 7 The Moral Dimension
Burns, Chpt.
2 The Structure of Moral Leadership
Burns, Chpt.
6 Intellectual Leadership: Ideas as Moral Power
Consider the rules of civility that were important to George Washington: http://www.foundationsmag.com/civility.html
Students should look at information about corruption found by the Transparency
International web sites: http://www.transparency.org/
http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi
Also examine Lawrence Kohlberg’s typology of moral development at: http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/a/kohlberg.htm
Questions for Class Discussion:
1. What is the role of self-awareness in leadership?
2. How does understanding others contribute to leadership success?
3. How does one achieve genuine self-awareness?
4. What is the importance of integrity to leadership?
5. What is the importance of civility to leadership?
6. What does Burns
mean when he says ideas have moral power?
7. How does corruption damage
leadership?
8. How does Lawrence Kohlberg explain the different stages of moral
development?
9. What are some of the criticisms of Kohlberg's theory?
Essay # 3 Write a three page essay in which you explain the importance of
ethics to leadership and discuss some of the moral dilemmas leaders sometimes
face.
Week 4 Exercising Power
Tuesday, Leadership and the Exercise of Power
Read: Gardner, Chpt. 4 Power
Consider the five bases for power identified by French and Raven: http://changingminds.org/explanations/power/french_and_raven.htm
Consider some of the other theories about the nature of power found at: http://changingminds.org/explanations/power/power.htm
Questions for Class Discussion:
1. What are the sources of power for individuals and organizations?
2. What are the key elements in French and Raven's sources of power?
3. How does the use of power both help and damage the exercise of leadership?
4. What are some important cross-cultural differences in defining and
exercising power?
5. What are the sources of power corruption?
6. How have attitudes about the use of power been changing?
7. What are some of the competing theories about the nature of power?
Thursday, First Test
NOTE: You will have your first test on Thursday. This test
will count for 1/6 of your semester grade.
Week 5 Contingency Models
Tuesday, Competing Models
Read: Gardner, Chpt. 3 The Heart of the Matter:
Leader-Constituent Interactions
Gardner, Chpt.
4 Context
Also read the articles on the following online sites:
Contingency Theory: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/theories/contingency_theory.htm
Fiedler’s Least Preferred Co-Worker (LPC) Theory: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/theories/fiedler_lpc.htm
Cognitive Resource Theory: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/theories/cognitive_resource.htm
Strategic Contingencies Theory: http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/strategic_contingencies.htm
Situational Leadership Model: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/styles/situational_leadership_hersey_blanchard.htm
Questions for Class Discussion:
1. Explain the key elements of Fred Fiedler's contingency model of leadership.
2. What are the differences between task and relationship motivated
individuals?
3. Evaluate the claims and predictions of the contingency model.
4. Explain the basic claims of the situational leadership model advanced by
Hersey and Blanchard
5. Explain the key elements of the cognitive resources theory advanced by
Fiedler and Garcia.
6. Explain the main claims of the strategic contingencies theory.
Thursday, Exchange and Relationship Theories
Read: Gardner, Chpt. 3 The Heart of the Matter:
Leader-Constituent Interactions
Gardner, Chpt.
4 Context
Also read the article on Leader-Follower (LMX) Leadership Theory at: http://businessmanagement.suite101.com/article.cfm/leaderfollower_lmx_leadership_theory
Examine the article on exchange theory at: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O88-exchangetheory.html
Also examine the article on normative decision making model at: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/theories/vroom_yetton.htm
Questions for Class Discussion:
1. Explain the importance of relationship development to good management and
leadership.
2. What is the role of good management in effective leadership?
3. Explain the key elements of the normative decision model developed by Vroom
and others.
4. What is the role of attribution in the relationship between leaders and
followers?
5. Explain the key claims of the leader-member exchange model (LMX).
6. How does Gardner understand the relationship between leaders and followers?
Essay # 5 Write a three page essay in which you discuss the importance of
the context in which leadership is to be exercised to the likely success or
failure of different styles of leadership. Draw upon some of the
contingency models in developing your observations.
Week 6 Charisma and Transformational Leadership
Tuesday, Charisma
Read: Burns, Chpt. 8 Revolutionary Leadership
Burns, Chpt.
9 Heroes and Ideologues
Read the following article about Max Weber’s understanding of charisma found
at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charismatic_authority
The following site has a list of quotations about charisma from some well known
individuals: http://www.leadershipnow.com/charismaquotes.html
Questions for Class Discussion:
1. What is charisma as understood by Max Weber?
2. How does one become a charismatic leader?
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of charismatic leadership?
4. What are the dangers of charismatic leadership?
5. What is the role of cultural factors in understanding charismatic
leadership?
6. How does Burns understand the nature of charismatic
leadership?
Thursday, Transformational Leadership
Burns, Prologue – The Crisis
of Leadership
Burns, Chpt.
8 Revolutionary Leadership
Burns, Chpt.
9 Heroes and Ideologues
Also read the following online article:
http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/leadership_playlist/2009/12/five-leadership-lessons-from-invictus.html
Examine the following observations about change made by some well known
individuals found at: http://www.leadershipnow.com/changequotes.html
Also consider the following observations about initiative: http://www.leadershipnow.com/initiativequotes.html
Questions for Class Discussion:
1. What is involved in Burns' distinction between transformational and
transactional leadership?
2. What makes transformational leadership possible?
3. What is the relationship between charismatic and transformational
leadership?
4. Does transformational leadership require charisma?
5. What are the requirements of change oriented leadership?
Essay # 5 Write a three page essay in which you discuss what
transformational leadership is all about. Why is this type of leadership
so difficult? What makes it possible? What are the advantages as
well as dangers of charismatic leadership?
Week 7 Working with People
Tuesday: The Challenge of Human Relations, Motivating People, and
Building Teams
Read: Gardner, Chpt. 16 Motivating
Read about Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs at: http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/hierarchyneeds.htm
Consider the ideas about how to build trust in organizations presented by
Stephen M. R. Covey in his article, “How the Best Leaders Build Trust” found
at: http://www.leadershipnow.com/CoveyOnTrust.html
Examine Kevin Daley’s article, “Communicating with Power” found at: http://www.leadershipnow.com/KevinDaley.html
Take a look at some observations about motivation made by some well known
individuals found at: http://www.leadershipnow.com/motivationquotes.html
Questions for Class Discussion:
1. What could leaders learn from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
2. How can leaders build trust in organizations?
3. What do leaders need to know about communicating?
4. What are some of the best ways to motivate people?
5. How does Gardner understand the best ways to motivate followers?
Thursday: Leading Successful Teams
Read: Burns, Chpt. 3 The Psychological Matrix
of Leadership
Burns, Chpt.
4 The Social Sources of Leadership
Burns, Chpt.
5 The Crucibles of Political Leadership
The following articles on building and leading teams: http://humanresources.about.com/od/involvementteams/a/twelve_tip_team.htm
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadtem.html
http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/LeadTeam.html
Consider the following observations about relationships: http://www.leadershipnow.com/relationshipsquotes.html
Questions for Class Discussion:
1. What does Burns say about motivating followers?
2. What can leaders learns from what Burns says about the psychological and
social bases of political leadership?
3. What are the advantages of teams within and between government agencies?
4. What are the questions that should be asked when using a team
approach?
Essay # 6 Write a three page essay on the best ways to go about leading
and building effective teams. What are the key challenges here and how
can they be met?
Week 8 The Importance of Values
Tuesday
Read: Read the online article “Why Leaders Fail” by Mark Sanborn at: http://www.leadershipnow.com/sanborn.html
Examine the observations about “4 Key Contributors to Leadership Failure” by Duncan Brodie
at: http://ezinearticles.com/?4-Key-Contributors-to-Leadership-Failure&id=2539414
Read the article “Catastrophic Leadership Failure: An Overview” by Henry L.
Thompson at: http://www.hpsys.com/Articles/Catastrophic%20Leadership%20Failure%20Overview.html
Also look at the observations about learning from failure found at: http://leadershipchallenge.typepad.com/leadership_challenge/2009/02/failure-the-secret-to-success.html
Check out information regarding ethics in government found on the following web
site: http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/government_ethics/introduction/
Read biographical material on Richard Nixon, his career, and Watergate
Questions for Class Discussion:
1. What do the articles you have read suggest about the causes of leadership
failure?
2. Why do some leaders achieve great success only to experience failure later
on in their careers?
3. How can we learn from failure?
4. What aspects of leadership failure are due to basic ethical shortcomings?
Thursday: Second Test
Note: You will have your second test on Thursday. This
test will count for 1/6 of your semester grade
SPRING BREAK
Week 9 Enhancing Organizational Success
Tuesday: High Performance Organizations
Read: Newell, Chpts. 5, 6
Questions for Class Discussion:
1. What does Pickering (in your Newell text) mean when he talks about
building high-performance organizations?
2. What is such an organization?
3. What is the HPO diagnostic/change model?
4. What are the conceptual change levers and applied levers?
5. How does one use what he calls the seven key diagnostic questions?
6. How does Pickering distinguish productive behaviors from counterproductive
behaviors?
7. How does Linden (in your Newell Text) explain the best ways to bring
about collaboration across organizational boundaries?
8. What are the paths for such collaboration?
9. What barriers must one overcome for successful collaboration?
10. What are good tips for collaborative success?
Thursday: Working Across Organizational Lines and Institutional Barriers
Read: Newell, Chpts. 7, 7.1, 8, 8.1
Questions for Class Discussion:
1. Why must career public servants learn how to work across organizational
boundaries?
2. What are the competing constituencies that agency heads must deal with?
3. What are the challenges civil servants face in
dealing with Congress?
4. What are the challenges civil servants face in
dealing with State Legislatures?
5. How does one get beyond what some experts call a government of strangers?
6. What factors complicate the relationship between career civil servants and
political appointees?
Essay # 7 Write a three page essay on what it
takes to build high-performance organizations? In developing your answer
explain why people in public administration must overcome what some experts
call a "government of strangers." How does one best bring about
collaboration across organizational boundaries?
Week 10 Strategic Leadership
Tuesday
Read: Nahavandi, Chpt.
9; Newell, Chpts. 9, 10
Questions for Class Discussion:
1. What is involved in strategic leadership?
2. What are some of the most different strategic leadership styles?
3. What are the challenges of upper level leadership?
4. What do leaders need to know about performance management?
5. Explain the importance of discipline to strategic leadership.
6. How could modern technology be used to enhance democracy?
7. How could modern technology be used to improve government performance?
8. What could government agencies do to build trust in government?
Thursday Getting Yourself Ready
Read: Nahavandi, Chpt. 10;
Newell, Chpt. 11, Conclusion
Questions for Class Discussion:
1. How has the understanding of leadership evolved in recent decades?
2. What do we not know about leadership?
3. What new challenges do you see on the horizon for leaders in the 21st
century?
4. How can one best go about preparing oneself for becoming a leader?
5. How could the U.S. improve its reputation in the world and build more trust
in American leadership?
6. What are the most important tasks facing our top government leaders at home?
Essay # 8 Discuss the training, knowledge, and
characteristics American leaders will need in the future.
Week 11 Case Studies Presented by Students
Tuesday
Read:
Questions for Class Discussion:
1.
Thursday
Read: Burns, Transforming Leadership
Greenstein, Presidential Difference: Leadership Style
from FDR to George W. Bush
Questions for Class Discussion:
1.
Essay # 9 You are to write a three page essay in which you discuss the
strengths and shortcomings of the leader you have researched for your case
study. How can one best understand this person's leadership? Not
only should you make use of appropriate biographical material for this essay,
you should also draw upon the readings on leadership you have been reflecting
upon all semester.
Week 12 Case Studies Presented by Students
Tuesday
Read:
Questions for Class Discussion:
1.
Thursday Third test
NOTE: You will have your third test on Thursday. This test
will count for 1/6 of your semester grade.
Week 13 Case Studies Presented by Students
Tuesday
Read:
Questions for Class Discussion:
1.
Thursday
Read:
Questions for Class Discussion:
1.
Essay # 10 You will write a three page essay in which you discuss the
most important things you have learned about leadership in this course.
Week 14 Case Studies Presented by Students
Tuesday
Read:
Questions for Class Discussion:
1.
Thursday Case Studies to be listed when chosen
Read: Burns, Transforming Leadership
Greenstein, Presidential Difference: Leadership Style
from FDR to George W. Bush
Questions for Class Discussion:
1.
Classes end April 29
Reading Day: April 30
Exam Period: May 2-6
Final Exam: The final exam will be on Tuesday, May 3
at 8:00 A.M. - 10:30 A.M. The final exam will be worth 1/6 of your
semester grade.
Commencement: May 14
Ten Critical Thinking Essays:
There will be 10 critical thinking writing exercises. These papers will usually
be 3 pages in length and be handed in at the beginning of class on the day they
are due. They are not to be sent as an email attachment. Late
papers will lose points. They will be done in Microsoft Word with a Font size
12 and double spaced. Any documentation for these exercises will be done
according to the Turabian format for a research
paper. Failure to cite sources properly will cost points and may result in a 0
for the paper.
A shorter version of that style manual can be found on the History style
manual at the following web address: <http://www.longwood.edu/history/HDPTSTS2.htm>
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