Students will engage in a critical analysis of leadership theory and practice, based on readings from the first two weeks of class. My primary concern with this analysis paper is that students engage materials in ways that demonstrate at least three dimensions: first, students should demonstrate strong engagement with theories and concepts from the book chapters and readings; second, students should engage these materials critically (what is working, what is not; what are strengths and what are limitations), and third, students should feel free to explore a variety of ideas that relate to change (what does thinking outside the box really look like?).
Readings from the Sections I and II will be used for this paper.
These somewhat broad instructions for paper one are intended to give students great latitude in how they approach the assignment: critical analysis structure, compare and contrast dominate theories, development of an innovative leadership approach, etc.
Make sure that the paper has a well-developed structure and engages reading materials from this class. One of the biggest challenges for students is creating their own analytic structure with a clear purpose or goal. The structure or organization of the paper should include:
1.Introduction that: a) establishes interest, b) establishes the topic of focus, c) provides a clear thesis statement (goal or purpose followed by a brief justification of its importance), and d) a preview of central points or organization of the body of the paper.
2.In the body of the paper, students should think of each first sentence of a paragraph as a “mini-thesis” that establishes the goal or direction of the paragraph. This first sentence is often an argument, position, or strong “stand alone” statement. By stand-alone statement I mean an idea that makes sense on its own.
3.Conclusion–summarized key ideas (sometimes this is a summary of key points learned, or suggests directions for future analysis).
The readings were ch 1-4 from the book:
Leading Change in Multiple Contexts, Hickman, Gill R., 2010
Leadership and the Art of Change. Beach, Lee R. (2006). Intro, Ch 1 and 4
No books by John Kotter are to be used
Some good resources:
Fritjof Capra, The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems (New York: Anchor Books, 1996); The Hidden Connections: A Science for Sustainable Living (New York: Anchor Books, 2002).
Joanna Macy, Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Ourselves, Our World (Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 1998).
Humberto M. Maturana and Francisco J. Varela, The Tree of Knowledge: The Biological Roots of Human Understanding (Boston: Shambhala, 1992).
Donella Meadows, Thinking in Systems: A Primer (White River, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2008).
Margaret Wheatley, Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time (San Francisco: Barrett-Kohler Publishers, 2005, 2007); Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World (San Francisco: Berrett
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