Units

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Sample subject outline - Semester 1 2013

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

Rationale

In today's contemporary business environment, professionals need to be empowered to manage their own development and growth. Rather than relying on an organisation or manager to make organisational life meaningful and effective, positive self-leadership training is focused on how an individual can foster change in his or her own personal and work life.

Aims

This unit provides you with the opportunity of developing your knowledge of self-leadership as well as your skill. Positive self-leadership training introduces you to techniques and skills that will make you more effective in your personal and work life, helping to make your life more rewarding and meaningful. As future managers of people and workplaces it is essential that you have well developed leadership skills and knowledge. The self-leadership approach uses a combination of techniques to assist you in setting and achieving your goals in a rewarding way. The approach involves developing greater insight into your own thinking, behaviour and cultural background, at the same time as seeking information and feedback from the environment to increase your personal effectiveness. The material in the unit is underpinned by a philosophy of realistic optimism, whereby you are encouraged to adopt an outlook that is both positive and realistic.

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. Synthesise and evaluate data received from a variety of sources in order to report and make recommendations for self-leadership development;
2. Establish meaningful goal action plans for self-leadership development based upon an analysis and critical evaluation of current skill level;
3. Use models of cognitive, behavioural and emotional change to manage and change your own leadership behaviour and develop your self-leadership skills;
4. Recommend human resource management policies and processes to improve employee self-development and leadership; and


The specific course learning goals and unit objectives that apply to this unit are shown in the assessment section of this unit outline.

Content

The unit content will focus upon theories relevant to self-leadership, including using cues to support the learning process, positive psychology, realistic optimism, cognitive processes, the development of a strengths profile, identification of currently thinking patterns and cultural understanding, using effective goal-setting, self-rewards to assist the goal setting process, analysing and replacing negative self-talk, self-observation, and avoiding self-punishment; and discovering natural rewards and building them into work tasks.

Approaches to Teaching and Learning

Delivery Mode

The QUT Business School seeks to create postgraduate learning environments that help participants better manage family-work-study conflicts. For example, the units in the Master of Business (HRM) program provide a range of delivery options that offer some flexibility with respect to class timetable.Flexible delivery options are supported by educational technologies to both connect you with others in the unit and with unit content. We encourage you to regularly access the HR Program portal, the unit Blackboard site, attend scheduled workshops, engage in on-line activities and make effective use of staff consultation times.

The teaching and learning strategies in this unit are a combination of seminar, on-line activity and action learning. Because the unit is skills based, it is action and reflection oriented and draws heavily on Kolb's (1984) learning cycle. An explicit goal of the unit is that students have the opportunity to practise the skills as well as develop a sound understanding of the conceptual/theoretical background.

Assessment

Students will receive feedback in various forms throughout the semester which may include:

Informal: worked examples, such as verbal feedback on line, personal consultation

Formal: in writing, such as checklists (e.g. criteria sheets), written commentary

Direct: to individual students, either in written form or in consultation

Indirect: to the whole class on line or in workshops

Assessment name: Essay
Description: Discuss a specific area of self-leadership drawing on the relevant literature and use this knowledge to identify the implications for contemporary human resource practice.
Length/Duration: 1,500 words
Formative or Summative: Formative and Summative
Relates to objectives: Unit objectives: 1, 4 and AOL goals: KS (1.1), KS (1.2), CTA (2.1), PC (3.1), SEU (5.1).
Weight: 40%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Week 7

Assessment name: Portfolio
Description: You will develop the self-leadership skills portfolio throughout the course of the unit. The portfolio will contain both self-reflection and feedback from others.You will conduct an analysis of your skills, strengths and areas for improvement and will develop an action plan for skills development.
Length/Duration: 2,500 words
Formative or Summative: Summative
Relates to objectives: Unit objectives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and AOL goals: KS (1.2), PC (3.1), CTA (2.1), SEU (5.1)
Weight: 60%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Week 13

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

References
Course Materials Database (CMD)

Other Resources
The unit will use the Blackboard website extensively.

There are no out of the ordinary costs associated with this unit.

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: 24-Jan-2013