MGMT591 All Weeks Discussions (May 2019)

MGMT 591 Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Week 1 Discussion

CHOOSING A LEADER

Choose a well-known and analyzed leader in business. This will be someone who has a substantial record of being analyzed through published material that can be located in the library or elsewhere. Examples are Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Sam Walton, Jeff Bezos, Carly Fiorina, Howard Schultz, Larry Page, Indra Nooyi, Rupert Murdoch, Meg Whitman, Henry Ford, and Herb Kelleher. Throughout this course, this leader will be the subject of your weekly discussions, so chose a leader in an industry in which you currently or plan to work.

To begin this week’s discussion, imagine your job is to introduce your leader at a large, professional, industry-specific convention. Your chosen leader is the keynote speaker, and you’re responsible for outlining his or her career highlights, education, career trajectory, and future goals for the audience.

MGMT 591 Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Week 2 Discussion

ANALYSIS OF YOUR LEADER

This week you will apply your knowledge of emotional intelligence to further assess your leader’s EQ. In this discussion, assess the “mood” of this leader and also assess the level of emotional intelligence of the leader by applying the analysis on pages 115 – 119 of the textbook. (Chapter 4)

MGMT 591 Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Week 3 Discussion

YOUR LEADER IN THE CONTEXT OF MOTIVATIONAL THEORIES

This week you will examine the motivational concepts from Chapter 8 and show how your chosen leader either applied or missed applying these concepts.

Research a situation your leader faced while at the head of his or her current or previous organization. Using the concepts outlined in Chapter 8, analyze the leader’s actions through the lens of the motivational theories and argue that the leader’s actions were appropriate or inappropriate in the context of the theories.

MGMT 591 Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Week 4 Discussion

YOUR LEADER AND TEAMWORK

This week you will further explore the effectiveness of your leader through an analysis of teamwork in his or her organization. Review this leader’s organization and assess what the group behavior was like under this leader (Chapter 9). How were teams implemented in the leader’s organization? Were they successful? What could have been done better? (Chapter 10)

MGMT 591 Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Week 5 Discussion

YOUR LEADER AND COMMUNICATION AND CONFLICT

This week you explore the communication style of your leader and how your leader has used communication, among other tools, to manage conflict. Using Chapter 11, determine the primary means of communication used by your leader. Was your leader an effective communicator and mediator? Find an example of conflict (Chapter 14) your leader dealt with and use the course concepts to judge its results. Was your leader effective in conflict management? Explain your answer using concepts from this chapter.

Be sure to use actual examples from the literature and cite your sources appropriately. Be sure to include extensive research outside the textbook and also to cite the textbook correctly including page numbers. You are expected to use at least two academic or business sources other than your textbook each week.

Be sure your first post each week directly addresses the prompt above. Your remaining posts should continue to further the depth and breadth of the discussion by responding to your professor or classmates.

MGMT 591 Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Week 6 Discussion

YOUR LEADER AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

This week, you will examine the organizational structure in which your leader currently operates or formerly operated. Using your research, apply applicable concepts from Chapter 15 and report on the organizational structure of your leader’s organization. Based on your research, use the tools in Chapter 16 to characterize the culture of the leader’s organization. What is your estimate on what kind of Organizational Culture Inventory (OCI) result this leader’s organization would see?

Be sure to use actual examples from the literature and cite your sources appropriately. Be sure to include extensive research outside the textbook and also to cite the textbook correctly including page numbers. You are expected to use at least two academic or business sources other than your textbook each week.

Be sure your first post each week directly addresses the prompt above. Your remaining posts should continue to further the depth and breadth of the discussion by responding to your professor or classmates.

MGMT 591 Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Week 7 Discussion

FINAL ASSESSMENT OF YOUR LEADER

This week you will combine your research throughout the class to provide a final, academically-informed and industry-applicable assessment of your chosen leader. Using your research findings and citing proper sources, give a final and comprehensive analysis of your chosen leader.

Be sure to cover important topics such as: What are his or her most notable accomplishments? What is his or her “style” (in the context of motivational and management theories)? What was the greatest conflict your leader faced (Chapter 14)?

Be sure to use actual examples from the literature and cite your sources appropriately. Be sure to include extensive research outside the textbook and also to cite the textbook correctly including page numbers. You are expected to use at least two academic or business sources other than your textbook each week.

Be sure your first post each week directly addresses the prompt above. Your remaining posts should continue to further the depth and breadth of the discussion by responding to your professor or classmates.

MGMT 591 Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Week 8 Discussion

REFLECTING UPON THE ANALYSIS OF YOUR LEADER

In Week 1, you provided an introduction of your leader. You highlighted career accomplishments, education, and other surface-level characteristics. Throughout the course, you have used sophisticated theories and concepts to guide your research to gain further insight into your leader and his or her style, EQ, organization, and other important aspects.

This week, provide some reflection on how your perspective of your leader changed as your analysis deepened and your exploration became more sophisticated.