MGT401 all assignments – all case and slps

Module 1 Case Assignment

Once you are finished with your research on Ellison and have thoroughly reviewed the background materials on leadership traits, behaviors, and styles, write a 4- to 5-page paper addressing the questions below. For each answer, make sure to cite at least one of the Case Assignment articles listed on this page as well as one of the required textbook chapters from the background materials—for example, Hiriyappa (2009), or Bauer and Erdogan (2012).

1. How would you describe Ellison’s personality and leadership traits? Refer to the specific leadership traits discussed in Hiriyappa (2009) or Bauer and Erdogan (2012).

2. Would you describe Ellison’s behavior as being task-oriented, or people/relationship-oriented? Refer to Hiriyappa (2009) and Bauer and Erdogan (2012).

3. How would you describe Ellison’s leadership style? Consider the leadership styles discussed in the “Types of Leaders/Leadership Styles” section of Chapter 10 of Hiriyappa (2010).

Assignment Expectations

· Follow the assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the instructions.

· Stay focused on the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials

· List supporting references and cite sources in proper format.

· Use appropriate writing style in essay form (organization, grammar, and spelling).

· Include both a bibliography and in-text citations. See the Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper, including pages 11-14 on in-text citations. Another resource is the “Writing Style Guide,” which is found under “My Resources” in the TLC portal.

Module 1 – SLP

LEADERSHIP TRAITS, BEHAVIORS, AND STYLES

For the Session Long Project you will be applying the concepts in the background materials to your own personal experiences in the workplace. For this first SLP assignment you will choose a supervisor that you personally worked for and got to know well, and compare and contrast this supervisor’s leadership characteristics with your own personal leadership characteristics using the concepts from the required background materials. Carefully reflect on your supervisor’s traits, behaviors, and leadership styles. Then write a 2- to 3-page paper addressing the following issues:

1. Overall, is your current role more of a leadership or a management role? How about your supervisor? Are they a manager or leader? Refer to the section on “Differences between Leadership and Management” in Chapter 10 of Hiriyappa (2010).

2. What key differences in leadership traits do you see between yourself and your supervisor? Refer to specific leadership traits discussed in the required textbook chapters.

3. What key differences in leadership behaviors do you see between yourself and your supervisor? Refer to the concepts of being task-oriented, or people-centered/relationship-oriented that are discussed in the required background materials.

4. How would you compare your own leadership style with that of your supervisor? Consider leadership styles discussed in the background text materials such as autocratic style, participative/democratic style, and laissez-faire/free-rein style.

SLP Assignment Expectations

· Follow the assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the instructions.

· Stay focused on the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials

· List supporting references and cite sources in proper format.

· Use appropriate writing style in essay form (organization, grammar, and spelling).

· Include both a bibliography and in-text citations. See the Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper, including pages 11-14 on in-text citations. Another resource is the “Writing Style Guide,” which is found under “My Resources” in the TLC portal.

 

Module 2 – Case

ONE SIZE DOESN’T FIT ALL: SITUATIONAL APPROACHES TO LEADERSHIP

Assignment Overview

https://tlc.trident.edu/content/enforced/90083-MGT 401-SUM2017-1/Modules/Module2/M2-home-hersey-blanchard-situational%20leadership%20model.png?_&d2lSessionVal=KZaoL1X8VPfqoIeGC8ogv13p2&ou=90083For this assignment, first review the background materials with a focus on Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership model. Make sure you are familiar with the four leadership styles covered in the situational approach including Directing, Coaching, Supporting, and Delegating and situations where you are supposed to use these four styles.

Also, familiarize yourself with the more complex Path-Goal model and Fiedler’s Contingency model. You don’t need to know these two models in as much detail as the Situational model to complete this assignment, but make sure you understand the main idea of these models as well as some of their main advantages and disadvantages.

Case Assignment

1. For each of the following situations, explain which of the four leadership styles covered in the Situational model should be used and explain your reasoning with references to Chapter 4 of Avery (2011) and at least one other required reading from the background materials:

A. You are in charge of a team of architects. They are highly skilled but have strong opinions and do not necessarily follow instructions. These architects are independent thinkers who are used to doing things their own way.

B. You are in charge of a fast-food restaurant. The employees are all teenagers who have not yet graduated from high school, and this is the first job for most of them.

C. You are the supervisor of a team of software engineers. They are all highly skilled and highly motivated, and are used to working independently. All of them believe in the mission of the company.

2. Each of the three models (Situational, Fielder Contingency, Path-Goal) covered in this module involves both “inputs” and “outputs.” For example, Situational Leadership involves taking employee commitment and competency as inputs and then—based on the employee information—choosing Directing, Coaching, Supporting, or Delegating as an output. Create a table comparing and contrasting the three models in terms of inputs and outputs, and include a 1- or 2-paragraph discussion of your table.

3. Based on your table in Part 2 above and the readings, which of the three models do you think is most useful? Take into consideration both its ability to adapt leadership styles to realistic situations you may face, as well as ease of use of the model.

Assignment Expectations

· Follow the assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the instructions.

· Stay focused on the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials

· List supporting references and cite sources in proper format.

· Use appropriate writing style in essay form (organization, grammar, and spelling).

· Include both a bibliography and in-text citations. See the Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper, including pages 11-14 on in-text citations. Another resource is the “Writing Style Guide,” which is found under “My Resources” in the TLC portal.

Module 2 – SLP

ONE SIZE DOESN’T FIT ALL: SITUATIONAL APPROACHES TO LEADERSHIP

For the Module 2 SLP assignment you will continue to apply the concepts from the background materials to your own personal experiences in the workplace. Think carefully about Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership model and the four leadership styles of Directing, Coaching, Supporting, and Delegating. Then consider the styles of one or more of the supervisors you have worked with, and reflect upon whether or not their style changed depending on the situation.

After doing some reflecting on your own experiencing and reviewing the background materials, write a 2- to 3-page paper addressing the following issues:

1. Take a look at the four developmental levels D1-D4 discussed in Avery (2004). Which of these levels best describes the developmental level of your supervisor’s full team?

2. How would you describe the tasks required of your supervisor’s full team? Are they structured or unstructured?

3. Overall, how well does your supervisor’s leadership style match with the developmental level of their team and the characteristics of the team’s tasks? Consider the Situational Leadership model for developmental level and the Path-Goal model for task characteristics in your answer.

4. Based on either the Situational Leadership or Path-Goal model, do you have any recommendations for how your supervisor could change their leadership style?

SLP Assignment Expectations

· Follow the assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the instructions.

· Stay focused on the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials

· List supporting references and cite sources in proper format.

· Use appropriate writing style in essay form (organization, grammar, and spelling).

· Include both a bibliography and in-text citations. See the Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper, including pages 11-14 on in-text citations. Another resource is the “Writing Style Guide,” which is found under “My Resources” in the TLC portal.

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Module 3 Discussions

 

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Measuring Transformational Leadership

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Locked before Monday, July 17, 2017 12:00 AM PDT.

There is strong agreement that transformational leadership is an ideal most leaders should strive for. However, measuring and evaluating whether or not someone is a transformational leader is very tricky. Do you think transformational leadership is something that can easily be measured, or more like something that you could describe as “you know it when you see it”?

 

Do a Google search on “transformational leadership questionnaire” or “transformational leadership quiz” and try to find a good questionnaire that measures one’s transformational leadership qualities. Take the quiz, and share the link with your classmates. Discuss how accurate and reliable you think this quiz is, and whether or not it would be useful in the business world. As a follow-up post, try taking one of the questionnaires that your classmates found. Finally, make sure to discuss how the quiz you took relates to the definitions of transformational leadership that you found in the required background readings.

 

Module 3 – Home

 

CHANGE-ORIENTED LEADERSHIP: TRANSFORMATIONAL AND CHARISMATIC LEADERS

 

Modular Learning Outcomes

 

Upon successful completion of this module, the student will be able to satisfy the following outcomes:

· Case

o Explain the concept of transformational leadership.

o Explain the concept of transactional leadership.

o Explain the concept of charismatic leadership.

· SLP

o Apply the concepts of transformational, transactional, and charismatic leadership to your own workplace.

· Discussion

o Describe the challenges and difficulties in measuring transformational leadership.

Module Overview

 

https://tlc.trident.edu/content/enforced/90083-MGT 401-SUM2017-1/Modules/Module3/M3-home-transformational%20leadership.png?_&d2lSessionVal=KZaoL1X8VPfqoIeGC8ogv13p2&ou=90083In Module 2 you learned about customized leadership approaches such as situational and contingency leadership models. The idea of these models is that one leadership size doesn’t fit all. In this module you will be learning about one approach to leadership that some argue is the ultimate approach to leadership, especially during times of organizational change. This approach is called transformational leadership. Transformational leaders go beyond the simple classifications of leadership styles you learned about in Modules 1 and 2, and provide their employees with inspirational motivation, mentoring, and intellectual stimulation. These types of leaders are of course the ones who can best inspire and motivate all of the employees in the organization during times of organizational change when personal sacrifices need to be made in order to meet organizational goals.

Closely related to transformational leadership is charismatic leadership. A charismatic leader is defined as one who provides a vision for the organization, is unconventional in their approach, and takes personal risks in order to reach their vision. Like transformational leaders, charismatic leaders are also considered the ones most likely to be able to successfully carry out major organizational changes.

Finally, in this module you will learn about transactional leadership. This approach is considered somewhat the opposite of transformational leadership. Transactional leaders often treat dealings with their employees as a simple transaction—they reward employees who display the behaviors they desire and punish those who don’t. Transactional leaders are also known to monitor employees for compliance with rules and regulations, and make corrections when they find deviations from rules. This type of approach may be necessary in some situations, but it is not considered the best approach for making major organizational changes or reaching major long-term organizational goals.

Module 3 – Case

CHANGE-ORIENTED LEADERSHIP: TRANSFORMATIONAL AND CHARISMATIC LEADERS

Assignment Overview

Image of Travis Kalanick

Travis Kalanick was the founding CEO of the ride-sharing giant Uber. Under his leadership, Uber has become a globally successful firm with a valuation over $60 billion. Kalanick is in his early forties, but Uber is the third firm that he started. Earlier in his career he founded the file-sharing company Scour which ended up going bankrupt due to lawsuits. He had more success with another file-sharing company called Red Swoosh which he later sold for $19 million.

In spite of all of his accomplishments and success, he has always been a controversial CEO. Recently he was caught on video berating an Uber driver, a video that went viral. He has also faced allegations of fostering a toxic corporate culture. After facing a continuing wave of negative publicity, Kalanick had to step aside as CEO, but remains as a powerful member of Uber’s Board of Directors. He is also still one of their major shareholders, so even though another CEO will be managing the day-to-day, affairs he is likely to remain as a major leader within Uber.

For this paper you should first thoroughly review the background readings and make sure you are clear on the distinction between charismatic, transformational, and transactional leadership. Then do some research on Travis Kalanick’s leadership style. There is no shortage of articles about Travis Kalanick and Uber. But harder to find are articles on what kind of leader he is and how he leads his employees. Here are a few articles to get you started, but if you can find articles that are more recent or have more information about his leadership style, feel free to use them in your paper instead:

Hook, L. (2017, March 10). Uber: The crisis inside the “cult of Travis.” Financial Times, p. 11.[ProQuest]

Reuters. (2017, April 13). Uber CEO Travis Kalanick’s iron grip poses challenge in COO search. Economic Times. Retrieved from http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/uber-ceo-travis-kalanicks-iron-grip-poses-challenge-in-coo-search/articleshow/58168763.cms

Fast Company. (2015, September 25). Travis Kalanick, the fall and spectacular rise of the man behind Uber. South China Morning Post. Retrieved from http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1860723/travis-kalanick-fall-and-spectacular-rise-man-behind-uber

Case Assignment

After you have reviewed the background materials and done some research on Travis Kalanick, write a 4- to 5-page paper addressing the issues below. Make sure to cite both required background readings such as Barine and Minja (2012) or Luthans et al. (2015) as well as specific articles on Travis Kalanick.

1. Does Travis Kalanick meet the definition of a charismatic leader based on what you’ve read? Explain your answer using both the required background textbook readings as well as specific information you found about Kalanick.

2. Does Travis Kalanick meet the definition of a transformational leader based on what you’ve read? Explain your answer using both the required background textbook readings as well as specific information you found about Kalanick.

3. Does Travis Kalanick meet the definition of a transactional leader based on what you’ve read? Explain your answer using both the required background textbook readings as well as specific information you found about Kalanick.

4. Overall, what do you believe are the main benefits and drawbacks of Travis Kalanick’s approach to leadership? Do you think he needs to make major changes in his leadership style?

Assignment Expectations

· Follow the assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the instructions.

· Stay focused on the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials

· List supporting references and cite sources in proper format.

· Use appropriate writing style in essay form (organization, grammar, and spelling).

· Include both a bibliography and in-text citations. See the Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper, including pages 11-14 on in-text citations. Another resource is the “Writing Style Guide,” which is found under “My Resources” in the TLC portal.

Module 3 – SLP

CHANGE-ORIENTED LEADERSHIP: TRANSFORMATIONAL AND CHARISMATIC LEADERS

For the Module 3 SLP assignment you will be again be applying the concepts from the background materials to your own personal experiences. You can write about the same supervisor you wrote about in Modules 1 and 2, or choose a different supervisor that you worked with and got to know well.

Carefully review the concepts and definitions of charismatic, transformational, and transactional leadership. Then write a 2- to 3-page paper addressing the following issues using specific examples from your personal experiences:

1. Describe a situation you experienced in the workplace when a current or past supervisor used a transformational or charismatic approach to motivate their employees. Was it effective?

2. Describe a situation you experienced in the workplace when a current or past supervisor used a transactional approach to motivate their employees. Was it effective?

3. Based on what you’ve read for this class so far as well as from your own experience working with different supervisors, do you think transformational and charismatic leadership can be learned or do you think it something you are born with? To support your answer, use both of the following: your personal experiences and references from the required background materials.

SLP Assignment Expectations

· Follow the assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the instructions.

· Stay focused on the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials

· List supporting references and cite sources in proper format.

· Use appropriate writing style in essay form (organization, grammar, and spelling).

· Include both a bibliography and in-text citations. See the Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper, including pages 11-14 on in-text citations. Another resource is the “Writing Style Guide,” which is found under “My Resources” in the TLC portal.

 

 

Module 4 – Case

MANAGING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

Assignment Overview

https://tlc.trident.edu/content/enforced/90083-MGT 401-SUM2017-1/Modules/Module4/M4-case-action%20research%20cycle%20of%20innovation.png?_&d2lSessionVal=KZaoL1X8VPfqoIeGC8ogv13p2&ou=90083For this assignment, first do a thorough review of the required background materials and read up on each author’s discussion about Kotter’s eight-step model of change, Lewin’s three-step model, and the five steps involved in action research. All of the authors discuss at least one of these models. There are also some videos on some of these models that might help.

 

 

Case Assignment

When you are done reviewing these models of organizational change, take a look at the scenarios described in Questions 1-3. For each of these scenarios, explain which of the three models of change would be most appropriate for this situation. You are required to cite at least three of the sources from the background readings in your paper. Finally, Question 4 is a summary question that you should also answer using the required readings. Your paper should be 4–5 pages in length:

1. A corporation has had recent problems with increased turnover of employees and decreased profitability. However, nobody is sure exactly what the problem is or what to do about it. Senior managers have been arguing for many months about what to do, but it is clear nobody is being objective or has a clear idea about what to do to get the company back on track. Explain which organizational change model would be most suited for this scenario using at least one of the required background readings.

2. A financial services company has been using the same software system for 10 years and employees have grown very accustomed to using this system. The employees are hard-working but very resistant to change. When word leaks out that management is considering a switch to a completely new software system, the employees become very upset as a new system will require a tremendous amount of training and hard work. Management determines that a new system is necessary in order to remain competitive but is concerned about the difficulty in dealing with employees who are so resistant to any type of change. Explain which organizational change model would be most suited for this scenario using at least one of the required background readings.

3. A company has been gradually losing market share to competitors and the CEO believes radical change is needed in order to stay in business. He is concerned that his employees will be resistant to change and may be successful in blocking the necessary changes. The CEO also believes that if he can make a strong enough case that changes are urgently needed, he will obtain a the support of a large enough number of employees and senior managers that will help him overcome any resistance to the needed changes. Explain which organizational change model would be most suited for this scenario using at least one of the required background readings.

4. Conclude your paper with a discussion about which of the three change models you think is the most useful and which one you think is the least useful. Support your answer with references to the required background materials.

Assignment Expectations

· Follow the assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the instructions.

· Stay focused on the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials

· List supporting references and cite sources in proper format.

· Use appropriate writing style in essay form (organization, grammar, and spelling).

· Include both a bibliography and in-text citations. See the Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper, including pages 11-14 on in-text citations. Another resource is the “Writing Style Guide,” which is found under “My Resources” in the TLC portal.

Module 4 – SLP

MANAGING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

For the Module 4 SLP assignment think about a major organizational change that occurred in your workplace. Think carefully about the steps taken by management during the change process, and the organizational change processes and concepts that you read about in the background materials. Then write a 2- to 3-page paper addressing the following issues. Make sure to cite at least two of the required background readings on organizational change in your paper:

1. Describe the change that occurred in your workplace, and list the major steps or stages involved in this change.

2. What stages were successful during this process, and which ones were problematic or handled poorly?

3. Do a side-by-side comparison between the steps you listed in your answer to Question 1 and the steps used in Lewin’s three steps, Kotter’s eight steps, or the five-step approach of action research. What were the key similarities and differences between these models and the ones used in your organization?

4. Based on your answers to Questions 2 and 3, do you think the change process would have gone better if management used Lewin’s three steps, Kotter’s eight steps, or the five-step approach of action research?

SLP Assignment Expectations

· Follow the assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the instructions.

· Stay focused on the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials

· List supporting references and cite sources in proper format.

· Use appropriate writing style in essay form (organization, grammar, and spelling).

· Include both a bibliography and in-text citations. See the Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper, including pages 11-14 on in-text citations. Another resource is the “Writing Style Guide,” which is found under “My Resources” in the TLC portal.