MANAGEMT 7086NA - Fundamentals of Leadership

Ngee Ann Academy - Quadmester 1 - 2016

The course information on this page is being finalised for 2016. Please check again before classes commence.

"To lead is to live with danger. Although it may be exciting to think of leadership as inspiration, decisive action, and powerful rewards, leading requires taking risks that can jeopardize your career and your personal life. It requires putting yourself on the line, disturbing the status quo, and working with organizational and political conflicts. Those who choose to lead take the risks and sometimes are neutralized for doing so." Ronald A Heifitz An essential skill of leadership in our time is the ability to work with people to tackle challenges and changes which are not only techncial in nature but which require people (including ourselves) to change. In Fundamentals of Leadership, we will identify the challenges of leadership in the second decade of the 21st century. We will explore habitual responses to many modern challenges and identify why they often do not work (John Kotter, a leading scholar on Change suggests that around 75% of change initiaties fail). We will explore other responses and use the classroom to help us to understand the role of culture, systems, authority and leadership in people-based change. Positioned at the beginning of the MBA, Fundamentals of Leadership encourages you to think about the nature of what you will study over the whole Program. It also encourages you to explore and develop personal skills central to leadership. By exploring self-awareness, and developing a personal leadership philosophy students will be well placed to broaden their understanding of other individuals and social groups at work.

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Course Details

Course Code	MANAGEMT 7086NA
Course	Fundamentals of Leadership
Coordinating Unit	Adelaide Business School
Term	Quadmester 1
Level	Postgraduate Coursework
Location/s	Ngee Ann Academy
Units	3
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Restrictions	Restricted to Certificate, Grad Dip and Master of Business Administration students only.
Assessment	Exam/assignments/tests/tutorial work as prescribed at first lecture

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Lois Whittall

Lois Whittall, B.A. Hons, (University of Liverpool, UK), MBA (University of Adelaide), FCMA

Office The Business School, Rm 1031, 10 Pulteney St
Telephone: +61 417 871 218
Email: lois.whittall@adelaide.edu.au
Skype name: loisemma

Lois Whittall has been an Adjunct Lecturer in the University of Adelaide’s MBA program since 1998. She has extensive experience in facilitating management education around the world - in Australia, the UK, and a wide range of Asian countries, particularly in Adelaide University’s postgraduate management program in Singapore. Currently, she teaches the core courses Fundamentals of Leadership (FOL) and Managing Contemporary Organisations in the MBA programs both on and off shore, and she teaches Organisational Behaviour, HRM and the Management of Change at undergraduate level. She also works extensively in Adelaide University’s Executive Education program running short workshops in leadership, change and appreciative inquiry. Lois has a distant background in finance and completed the Chartered Management Accounting qualification in 1982. She no longer teaches in finance.

Lois recently completed Ronald Heifetz’s course at Harvard: The Art and Practice of Teaching Leadership. As well as Leadership, her research interests are Change, Appreciative Inquiry and Social Entrepreneurship. She currently uses Action Research to explore these topics across her teaching and consulting and in the complex diverse culture of Cambodia.

Lois has worked at Executive Director and senior management levels in a variety of public and private sector firms in roles encompassing Organisational Development, Human Resource Management and Finance.

Lois’ last full time role was as Executive Director of a small company with about 40 employees. In the five years before she left she worked with her team to more than double the size of the business. At present as well as teaching for the university she designs and delivers Leadership Development programs for a number of large and small firms. Her consultancy experience has been with global companies working in the oil sector, electronics, pharmaceuticals, software development, and government corporations.

In 2005 Lois started a project in Northern Cambodia which provides resources so that young women living in remote communities can finish high school and (if they do well enough) continue with higher education. The aim is to return teachers, doctors, nurses, business people and confident young women leaders to their villages. Working with some of the world’s poorest people in a province still infested with landmines involves a lot of learning especially about culture and leadership and creates an interesting life balance.

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

Course Learning Outcomes

Fundamentals of Leadership, positioned at the beginning of the MBA program, encourages students to explore issues and develop personal
skills central to leadership. By exploring self-awareness, students will be well placed to broaden their understanding of others thoughout the MBA program. Learning Outcomes for the course inlcude:

2.1.1	Articulate a personal definition of effective ethical and moral leadership
2.1.2	Develop a plan for personal change consistent with self-identified leadership strengths and challenges
2.1.3	Identify, diagnose and reframe complicated and complex problems
2.1.4	Identify, source, evaluate, interpret and analyse both primary and secondary data to inform small scale research task

University Graduate Attributes

No information currently available.

Learning Resources
Required Resources

Text Book:
The following two books are required reading for this course:

Heifetz, R.A and Linsky, M., 2002 Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading (Boston: Harvard Business School Press,)

Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey, 2009, Immunity to Change, How to overcome it and Unlock the potential in Yourself and your Organization, Harvard Business Review Press.

Recommended Resources
Additional Reading and References:

Students may wish to read more widely in specific subject areas, something that the BUSINESS SCHOOL wholeheartedly encourages. There are many general texts on management and leadership, and on managerial skills that students may find useful. Perhaps of greatest assistance though are readings from leading academic journals, current business journals and the better newspapers. Relevant journals include:
- Academy of Management Journal (USA),
- Academy of Management Review (USA),
- Administrative Science Quarterly (USA),
- Australian Journal of Public Administration,
- California Management Review,
- Harvard Business Review (USA),
- Journal of Management and Organisation,
- Journal of Conflict Resolution,
- Journal of Management,
- Leadership Quarterly,
- Personnel Psychology (USA)
Full texts of a great many of the articles that appear in these journals can be accessed via the University of Adelaide’s library databases. There are numerous references at the conclusion of each reading which will supplement your learning of particular topics. I will point out additional articles on various topics for those who are inspired to delve more deeply during the course.
Online Learning

Important messages, topic notes, power point slides, case studies, Discussion Boards and other materials relating to the course will be placed on MyUni throughout the course. MyUni can be found at ( www.myuni.adelaide.edu.au )
Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

No information currently available.

Workload

No information currently available.

Learning Activities Summary

No information currently available.

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

No information currently available.

Assessment Detail

No information currently available.

Submission

No information currently available.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

The University of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The University of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator