Units

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Sample subject outline - 6 Week Teaching Period - 1 2013

Note: Subject outlines often change before the semester begins. Below is a sample outline.

Rationale

It is widely recognised that self awareness provides a foundation for understanding ourselves as leaders and is a key attribute that characterises truly great leaders. This unit is included in the program to provide an opportunity for students to increase their understanding of themselves and how their interactions with others impact on their effectiveness as leaders in complex business environments. Personal development is explored in the context of cultural understanding and ethics.

Personal Leadership Development and Change is positioned in the early phases of the MBA program to assist students to benchmark where they currently are as a leader and to identify opportunities for growth and development throughout the MBA program and beyond. Throughout the program, students will have the opportunity to revisit, review and extend their development goals in later leadership units in the program.

Aims

The mission of the MBA and associated programs is to provide world class, graduate business education and stimulating real world learning opportunities to develop current and future business leaders and managers to confidently lead in complex environments.

The aim of this unit is for students to increase their understanding of themselves and how their interactions with others impact on their effectiveness as leaders in a complex business environment.

Objectives

Course Learning Goals (Postgraduate)

The QUT Business School has established the Assurance of Learning (AOL) Goals to meet contemporary industry needs and standards. Achieving these learning outcomes will assist you to meet the desired graduate outcomes set at QUT - aligned with other internationally renowned business schools. Students will develop the following capabilities relevant to a contemporary global and sustainable business environment:

Have knowledge and skills pertinent to a particular discipline (KS)

1.1 Well-researched knowledge and critical understanding applied to issues at the forefront of a specialised discipline area
1.2 Ability to select and use effectively a range of tools and technologies to locate and/or generate information appropriate to the disciplinary context

Be critical thinkers and effective problem solvers (CTA)

2.1 Apply logical, critical and creative thinking and judgement to generate appropriate solutions to problems in the disciplinary context

Be professional communicators in an intercultural context (PC)

3.1 Ability to create and present professional documents and/or reports using high levels of analysis/synthesis/evaluation for a range of contexts and audiences
3.2 Ability to orally communicate and justify ideas and information, at a professional level, for a variety of contexts and audiences, including peers and discipline specialists

Be able to work effectively in a Team Environment (TW)

4.1 Operate effectively and with flexibility to achieve common goals in collaborative settings, using a range of skills, including leadership, negotiation, reflection, proactivity and support for team members

Have a Social and Ethical Understanding (SEU)

5.1 Apply knowledge of the ethical, social and cultural dimensions relevant to business situations, including appropriate standards or codes of practice, to provide courses of action

Unit Objectives
Upon completion of this unit, you should be able to:
1. Demonstrate insights into their particular world view and how this view impacts on those they work with. KS 1.1 (MBA 1), PC 3.1 (MBA 3)
2. Critically analyse the impact of culture (both national and organisational) on individual and organisational performance. KS 1.1 (MBA1), CTA 2.1 (MBA 4), PC 3.1 (MBA 3)
3. Apply ethical frameworks to decision making. SE5.1 (MBA 2)
4. Prepare a self-development and personal change plan incorporating feedback. KS 1.1 (MBA 1), CTA 2.1 (MBA 4), PC 3.1 (MBA 3)

Content

• Personal mastery (special attributes)


• Personal development, ethics and culture; self analysis


• Models of change and coaching


• Understanding organisational culture


• Power and influence


• Leadership development


• Common ethical dilemmas and decision-making


• Using feedback for personal development


• Work-Life balance


• Self development plans

Approaches to Teaching and Learning

This unit adopts a blended learning approach and as such, includes a variety of teaching and learning approaches.

Three hour face-to-face class sessions are supplemented by a textbook and a range of online materials that are designed to support and extend learning prior to, during and after class sessions. Online materials are available in the unit Blackboard site. Given the importance of the unit Blackboard site to the teaching and learning strategy used in this unit, a computer or tablet device with internet access is strongly recommended for all students.

The principal purpose of the lectures and readings is to build upon the key concepts that were introduced through the Preparation for Class activities and readings. The purpose of the case study work, experiential learning tasks and all assessment tasks is to help the student develop their understanding of the concepts and enable them to be applied within a range of business contexts.

There is an expectation that the student will participate in class sessions, to take advantage of the opportunity to discuss important issues with their instructor and their peers in an informal environment. These sessions also provide students with an opportunity to hone important generic skills that are in high demand in the business.

It is expected that students have completed all Preparation for Class activities and readings identified in the unit Blackboard site prior to coming to class to be able to maximise the learning opportunities of the class sessions.

A variety of learning activities designed to engage students in their learning will be incorporated into the lectures/workshops. Such learning activities may include short lectures, class discussions, debates, role plays, group work, guest speakers, student presentations, simulations, case study analysis, videos, readings, wikis, media/current events reports, web searches, etc.

There is a commitment to critical inquiry and intellectual debate in regard to the material covered. Students are encouraged to relate the theories and research discussed to situations known to them and will be encouraged to share their experiences relating to the topics explored in this unit with the class to enrich the overall learning experience of all students.

Expanding the awareness of Australian management policies and practices into intercultural and international perspectives is fostered within this unit. Typically, students enrolling in this unit have extremely varied backgrounds. There is diversity of professional background and socio-cultural background. Students are reminded that this is to their advantage and they have much to learn from one another. To this end, students are strongly encouraged to be sensitive to cultural, gender-related and international issues.

Assessment

A further Guide to the Assessment Items is available from the unit Blackboard Site: http://blackboard.qut.edu.au

At the end of the teaching period the Faculty Academic Board determines students' grades. The Unit Coordinators provide the detailed assessment results to the Board, working through the relevant School. These results are advisory in nature and do not necessarily constitute the final grades awarded by the Board. In its decision the Board compares results both within units and programs, using as a guide a set of standard distribution criteria. These criteria enable the Board to systematically compare student performance, but are not applied in a prescriptive fashion.Students will receive a variety of formative feedback throughout this unit.

Informally, feedback will be given verbally in class through class discussions and during the debriefing of learning activities.

Direct feedback will be available to those students who request a private or group consultation session with the lecturer.

Formal feedback will be received on both formative and summative assessment tasks through a Criterion Reference Assessment sheet which will also include written feedback on the assessment task. The Criterion Reference Assessment Sheet will be available in the Blackboard site at the commencement of the unit. Students will receive feedback on their formative assessment task prior to their summative assessment task being submitted.

Assessment name: Assignment
Description: Each student is required to submit a personal profile using the various frameworks and instruments discussed in class in modules 1, 2 & 3. These frameworks should outline what the student has discovered about him/herself from the self-analysis process that has occurred and discuss the implications of this understanding for career development and leadership.

The purpose of this profile is to assess the learner's self awareness and provide a foundation for the creation of a Personal Development Plan undertaken in Assessment Task 2. Students who do well in this piece of assessment will demonstrate that they have laid an early foundation of self understanding as the basis for continuing learning and change, by demonstrating an understanding of the theories covered and how they assist self analysis, (showing how personality, personal values, attitudes and behaviour impact on their leadership effectiveness). Student strengths as well as weaknesses should be discussed.

The profile should be presented in typed format and can be supported by diagrams, and other illustrations and brief journal extracts to help clarify the ideas presented.

Length/Duration: 1500 words
Formative or Summative: Formative and Summative
Relates to objectives: Relates to learning outcomes:Unit objectives: 1 and 3
AOL goals: KS 1.1, CTA 2.1, PC 3.1
Weight: 40%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Week 4


Assessment name: Self Development Plan
Description: The purpose of this self development plan is to assess the learner's ability to identify areas for improvement and their ability to design a development plan to address the areas identified. This provides a platform for integrating previous learning gained from other units in the program as well as from the workplace.

The Self Development plan will consist of:

- The areas of personal, cultural or ethical understanding and behaviour that need to be addressed.
- The reasons why these particular areas have been chosen.
- The strategies used required to develop the particular competencies or attitudes identified and why they have been chosen.
- An assessment of Tthe barriers to self-development and risk mitigation tactics to reduce impacts.
- The time line over which the plan will extend. It may pay to use SSMART goals

To support the assertions made in the plan, a reflective journal should be kept over the period from the beginning of the contact time to the submission of the plan. For assessment, you are required to select three entries. Writing a reflective journal is a technique which is designed to increase self-awareness and understanding by recording personal events and by reflecting on aspects of those events in terms of one's emotional reactions, and one's behaviours. It is a critical element of learning and personal development, and is essential to the process of learning from experience.

It is important to remember that these extracts from your Reflective Journal are also an assessment item and therefore require more formal structure that would be the case if the journal was being written for you alone. You have to explain your behaviour, emotions and reflection for the reader to appreciate what you have understood and learned. The journal provides an opportunity for you to practise the action-observation-reflection model of learning.

Over time, behavioural patterns often begin to emerge and dysfunctional reactions and patterns become visible. Once a greater understanding of these dysfunctional behaviours is achieved, new behaviours may be practised and an assessment of their impact can be made and reflected upon.

There is no set ratio for the word spread between the Plan and Reflective Journal, though 50:50 is a guide. You may decide to integrate Journal extracts through your Plan or keep the Journal Extracts in a separate section and make references to them in the Plan.

Length/Duration: 2000 words (including reflective journal extracts)
Formative or Summative: Summative
Relates to objectives: Unit objectives: 1, 2, 3 and 4
AOL goals: KS 1.1, CTA 2.1, PC, 3.1, SEU 5.1
Weight: 60%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Week 7


Academic Honesty

QUT is committed to maintaining high academic standards to protect the value of its qualifications. To assist you in assuring the academic integrity of your assessment you are encouraged to make use of the support materials and services available to help you consider and check your assessment items. Important information about the university's approach to academic integrity of assessment is on your unit Blackboard site.

A breach of academic integrity is regarded as Student Misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties.

Resource materials

Prescribed Text:


• Dubrin, A J (2010) Leadership. Research Findings, Practice and Skills. 6th ed. Cengage Learning: USA.
  
  This publisher also has an eBook version of this textbook available through their Cengage Brain or Vital Source platform. This platform is currently available for IOS and Android devices, Mac and PCs. Before purchasing this book as an eBook, please be aware that this publisher only allows a 2 year license for this textbook in eBook format. Individual chapters of the book can also be purchased.



• Greene, J. and A. M. Grant (2003). Solution-Focused Coaching: A Manager's Guide to Getting the Best from People. London: Pearson Education Limited.


Other Resources
GSN497 Blackboard site
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Risk assessment statement

There are no out-of-the-ordinary risks associated with lectures or tutorials in this unit. You should, however, familiarise yourself with evacuation procedures operating in the buildings in which you attend classes and take the time to
view the Emergency video.

Disclaimer - Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of semester.

Last modified: 17-Jan-2013