GROUP TASK - Leadership Styles

Fifteen percent of the grade for this class will come from a report that displays your understanding of how leadership, culture (as expressed through memory), and ethics intersect.

Leadership Styles (worth 10 of the 15 percent for the task)

Leadership is difficult to define and even more difficult to assess. We will have just seen a movie that has been used in leadership classes in all kinds of settings. You may use it as a source of examples for your observations on leadership.

Kurt Lewin has identified three leadership styles (other researchers have identified different taxonomies and types of leadership styles, but for this assignment we will use Lewin). The three styles are: authoritarian, participatory, and delegatory.

1. Authoritarian leaders prefer to make decisions themselves and may not consult others in deciding how to structure and organize the work of an organization.
2. Participatory leaders tend to be more democratic, inviting the participation of organizational members in making decisions, but keeping control of the final decision process.
3. Delegatory leaders tend to delegate decision making to others, allowing members to make decisions themselves and inviting participation in decision-making at all levels.

While we recognize that truly exceptional leaders may need to adjust their styles in different circumstances, most people may have a natural preference for one style or the other. So, thinking back to an organization you are familiar with, consider the quality of the leaders in terms of one or more of these Lewin styles of leadership ...

1. How would you evaluate the performance of the organization (the term "organization" may well include a team as an organization)?
2. What are the particular strengths and weaknesses of the style(s) being used?
3. What criteria can be applied to determine whether a leader has performed well?
4. Would you apply the same criteria as a yardstick for success, or would you apply different criteria depending on the style?
5. What other aspects of the team might be important to consider in evaluating performance?
6. What type of leader would you most prefer to work for?
7. Why?
8. What type of leader are you most likely to be?

If you have no experience with this kind of an organization, imagine one and discuss it.

Answer at least three of the above questions in your report

This task should be done by your group and your group should turn in a single product that reflects the agreed position of your group on these three questions.

Should you choose to do so, you may, instead of an organization you are familiar with, use the example from the movie as the backdrop to your discussion on leadership.

INDIVIDUAL TASK - Leadership Styles

Add to that discussion a paragraph or two about whether or not anything you learned from 12 O'Clock High could add anything you your organizational understanding (worth 5 of the 15 percent for the task)

This task should be done individually and your group report should indicate each person's individual lesson learned from the movie.

CONDITION FOR GROUP RESPONSE

This task should be done by your group and your group should turn in a single product that reflects the agreed position of your group on the first questions.

To accomplish this task, you may submit a direct response in the Sakai assignments space with the rough equivalent of a 2-5 page paper.

Alternatively, you may attach (or place a link to) a document, a PowerPoint presentation, a Prezi presentation, or anything else that you choose to use to answer the questionsm in the Sakai assignments space.

CONDITION FOR INDIVIDUAL RESPONSES

This task should be done individually, but folded into your group report. Your group report should indicate each person's individual lesson learned from the movie.

STANDARD

Grade	What it means	A description of what it means
A 14.25 or more	Mastery in understanding the organizational perspective in terms of culture, structure, and leadership at the highest level of attainment that can reasonably be expected	Well written with no grammatical errors, well-articulated discussion of the topic; it shows evidence of your having absorbed all of the key points of the organizational module, and that you described them in such quality that one could expect you to teach the module
A- 14.10 to 14.23	A totally acceptable performance demonstrating an adequate level of Understanding Organizational Cultures in these three contexts	An insightful discussion of the topic, with no grammatical errors. It is extremely good, but leaves the reader feeling that your understanding of the issues is perhaps a bit less than professionally sophisticated, in terms of depth of analysis.
B+ 13.65 to 14.09		Really good, but perhaps a bit shallower in terms of your understanding one or more of the contexts; you may have a few grammatical issues in your writing; you may not have used relevant examples to explain your points; you may not have fully addressed all the elements requested
B 12.90 to 13.64		Good, but perhaps a bit shallower in terms of your understanding several variants of the three contexts; you may have several grammatical issues in your writing; you may not have used relevant examples to explain your points; you may not have fully addressed all the elements requested; you did not use terminology that we discussed in the module sessions
B- 12.30 to 12.89		Good, but not as good as it could have been; you may not have fully addressed all the elements requested
C+ 11.85 to 12.29	A marginal performance.	OK, in terms of grasping the essentials, but not good in terms of articulating your understanding in a manner that is easy to read and appreciate
C 11.40 to 11.84		You seem to understand the essential points of the module, but you did not articulate your understanding well enough to do more than the minimum
C- 10.80 to 11.39		It's time to start wondering if you missed something important, if you misunderstood the task, if you did not understand the key elements
D+ 10.35 to 10.79		This is a warning that you are not currently on the right path; you might need to have a discussion with the instructor about this performance
D 9.00 to 10.34		There are indications that you were present and that you sort of grasped what we had discussed, but missed the key points to such a degree that you really need to re-group and catch up
F less than 9	For whatever reasons, an unacceptable performance	If it's unacceptable, it is unacceptable; it should be as obvious to you as it is to the instructor