OMGT 5253 – Fall 2023 8W1
Long Writing Assignment and Video
Think back on your life and work experiences involving leadership wherein you were either THE leader, A leader, or a follower of a leader. Identify a scenario where multiple leadership principles covered in the course were illustrated either by their presence, partial presence, or absence. The scenario should cover a period of time rather than a particular incident.
For the scenario you have chosen, explain the context sufficiently to set the stage, but do not consume a disproportionate amount of the length of the paper by simply explaining the context. This is not a story telling exercise—you have to do some story telling to establish the context, but don’t get carried away–it is the application of the leadership theories and principles that is the purpose. Focus on those elements of the context that are most pertinent to the points, observations, and conclusions you make.
Using the material in Northouse, the two Maxwell texts, “Lincoln on Leadership,” the videos, other material provided, and your supplemental readings, show how principles discussed in those sources were demonstrated (successfully or unsuccessfully) in your scenario, how well the leader (which could be you or someone else) executed those principles, the effect of the leader’s approach and actions on the followers, and the degree to which the organization’s goals and objectives (relevant to the scenario) were accomplished, both in the short term and the long term. Using the principles in the texts and other material you have read, describe the style and methods of the leader involved. Identify how additional principles, in retrospect, could have been applied to good effect that may have been absent, underutilized, or misapplied. Note and describe especially skillful or effectual applications of leadership principles that the leader may have made. Conclude with your “takeaways” from the scenario—what did you learn about leadership in retrospectively examining the scenario, how would you advise others to apply the same lesson(s), and how did it change (if it did) how you will exercise leadership in the future? With the exception of the conclusion being at the end, the foregoing is NOT intended to be an outline of the organization of your paper! If you try to organize it by following the order of the requirements in this paragraph (like some of you have done in the short writing and the discussion board assignments), it will likely be a very confusing and disconnected paper!
Avoid choosing a vindictive scenario where you feel you were perhaps victimized or mistreated in such a way that the paper becomes a “venting” of your grievances. I expect your analysis to be dispassionate and from a third person perspective (although if you are the subject, you can refer to yourself in the first person). In other words, stand back and look at the situation as someone who is now more knowledgeable about leadership than you might have been then, as though you are a consultant brought into assess the situation and make recommendations.
Length should be between 2,500 and 5,000 words (10-20 pages, double-spaced). Use APA format except for citations and line spacing. To avoid any confusion, I will explain here how we will do citations. Create a reference list in the order that you cite the references. That will go at the end of your paper. In the text, when you cite a reference, put the reference number from the list in parentheses, along with the page number or numbers—like this: (1, 98-99). Each reference only appears in the reference list once, so if Northouse turns out to be your first reference, then it will be number “1” and every time you use it as a reference, the first number in the parentheses will be the number “1.” Title page, table of contents and executive summary are appropriate, but neither they nor the reference list affect the page or word count.
Create a video that captures the essence of your paper as though you were explaining it to a senior leader who “hired” you as a consultant to examine the scenario. The video should be no longer than four minutes nor less than three. You may use visual aids in your video, but they should be used as an enhancement rather than the primary means of communicating. Display of the visual aids should not constitute the majority of the length of the video. For the mechanics of making and posting the video, there’s an item entitled Recording and Submitting a Presentation under References and Resources in the left hand bar of your blackboard page. That should have all the information you need to actually make and upload the recording. If you have some difficulties doing this, please don’t call me–I won’t be able to help. Call the Blackboard Help Desk. Along those lines, I suggest you NOT wait until 11 PM the night it’s due to start on it–Murphy’s law says you’ll definitely have glitches in that case, and you’ll have no time to work them out. Please note that the video must be submitted separately from the paper under a separate assignment listing.
Some tips on the video. First, I recommend you do not try to emulate my videos—they would not get a good grade! Dress and choose a setting as you would if you were really a consultant—something more than a T-shirt and your pets lounging on your couch behind you! Do some practice runs before you finalize it. Scripting and/or reading rarely results in a good performance for most of us. It’s much better to commit your ideas and logic sequence to memory and then speak extemporaneously so that you project authenticity. For Operations Management students, consider this a practice for the final video you’ll be required to make for graduation from the program.
In the interest of broadening all of our “libraries” of leadership experiences, all of the videos will be made available for all the students in the class to see.
Due date for both the paper and the video is Thursday, 10/05/2023 at 11:59 PM CST.
