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 is an Adjunct Lecturer in the University of Adelaide Business School with extensive experience in facilitating management education in Australia, Hong Kong and 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 an elective Entrepreneurship. Lois has background in finance and completed the Chartered Management Accounting qualification in 1982.

Lois' research interests are in Adaptive Leadership and Change, Appreciative Inquiry and Social Entrepreneurship. She is currently using Action Research to explore these topics in Cambodia.

Lois has a background in Organisational Development, Human Resource Management and Finance. She has worked in a variety of public and private sector organisations in the UK and Australia in senior management roles, and is currently working with multi-national companies in Australia and North and South East Asia.

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 in the MBA she works extensively for the University’s Executive Education Division as well as a consultant primarily with senior management teams in multi-national organisations. She has designed and delivered Leadership Development programs for a number of global companies working in the oil sector, electronics, pharmaceuticals, for a large software supplier and several government corporations. She has broad hands-on experience in the areas of organisational change, performance management, finance and customer service.

In early 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. There are currently have 36 students completing years 10 – 12 of high school, 11 students at university and four qualified primary school teacher, three high school teachers one nurse and four midwives working back in their villages. Four other ex-students are running a successful solar business. 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.

Availability for consultation: Please feel free to contact me by email if you have any queries and I will endeavour to respond in a timely fashion. I am available for skype or phone consultation by appointment. Please contact me by email in the first instance.

Intensive 1 (7 – 9 February 2014)

Learning / Leadership / Authority / Management
Emotional Intelligence
Managing Self
Yourself as a ‘system’
Groups and teams
 
Intensive 2 (21 – 23 1 March 2014)

A sustainable world: Leadership responsibility for “the Commons”
Tricky communication
Communication, creativity, conflict and stress
Personal Change
Group projects: sharing your learning


INTENSIVE and WORKSHIOP PROGRAMME / LEARNING RESOURCES

Details of reading and video clips are available in your course pack and on MyUni.

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. Objectives for the course inlcude:

2.1.1	To develop an understanding of leadership theory but more importantly to develop a personal definition of leadership.
2.1.2	To explore the concepts of ‘leadership’, ‘authority’, ‘technical’ and ‘adaptive’ change.
2.1.3	To identify the major challenges facing management in today's complex orgnaisational environment.
2.1.4	To gain a heightened self-awareness
2.1.5	To appreciate the range of communication skills required to effectively lead and manage a diverse workforce
2.1.6	To explore how to interact positively with others, whether they be employees, employers, colleagues, customers or suppliers
2.1.7	To gain awareness of the interpersonal skills required to maximise the benefits from their management studies

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.

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.

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 )

Fundamentals of Leadership (FOL) is a face-to-face seminar course offered in intensive mode and supplemented by communication via MyUni.

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.
Students are expected to prepare for class by watching the video clips, reading the assigned readings, and reflecting on these in relation to their own work contexts. Additional preparation for group work is also required to complete the group project as detailed in the Course Folder.

Class sessions will generally be a mix of content provision (very little), class discussion (a lot) and activity such as role plays or scenario analysis.

Assessment	Percentage of Total Mark
Individual Assignment 1 (due Sunday 9 March 2014)	10%
Individual assignment 1 – peer feedback (due Sunday 16 March)	10%
Presentation of group learning (21 - 23 March 2014)	20%
Summary of your learning journey (group meeting reports x 4)	20%
Individual Assignment 2 (due 13April 2014)	40%

Individual assessment: A minimum of seventy percent (70%) of the total value of a course’s assessment will be devoted to individually submitted work, which will be in the form of assignments, and examinations. In FOL Group assessment tasks have a maximum 30% weighting; the group work will be in the form of a written project and sharing of the group’s learning.

In addition to achieving a course mark of at least 50%, MBA students need to attain an average of fifty percent (50%) across all the individually assessed items, considered as a whole, in order to pass the course.

Statutory obligations in Singapore are such that attendance in person is a compulsory condition of passing a course. Our specific requirements are that students must attend at least 80% of class sessions to be graded for that course.

Students failing to meet 80% attendance requirements will be automatically graded 0% Fail (F) on their transcripts.It is a requirement that students attend ALL tutorials.

Full details of assignments are in your course materials and on MyUni.

Assignment Guidelines Including Referencing Details
A copy of the Postgraduate Programs: Communication Skills Guide will have been given to you at the beginning of your program. This guide will assist you structure your assignments. A copy of the guide can also be downloaded from http://www.business.adelaide.edu.au/current/mba/download/2009MBACommSkillsGuide.pdf

This publication also provides guidelines on a range of other important communication skills including writing essays and management reports, making oral presentations etc.
In preparing any written piece of assessment for your postgraduate studies it is important to draw on the relevant ‘literature’ to support critical analysis. Also essential is to reference the literature used. Correct referencing is important because it identifies the source of the ideas and arguments that you present, and sometimes the source of the actual words you use, and helps to avoid the problem of plagiarism. (Further information on plagiarism is provided later in this course outline.)
The Harvard system is widely used in the Business School. Guidelines for the use of this style of referencing can be found in the Communication Skills Guide.

Return of Assignments and Feedback
The UABS aims to mark and return assignments to students within two (2) weeks of the due date with written feedback. Assignments will be returned by email to the address from which they were received or to your university email address.

Late Assignment Submission:
While the UABS is sensitive to problems that might arise from time to time, students are expected to submit their work by the due date to maintain a fair and equitable system. Extensions will, generally, only be given for medical or other serious reasons. Requests for extensions must be emailed to the lecturer in charge of the course, before the due date. Each request will be assessed on its merits. A late assignment (without prior arrangement) will be penalised by a 5% mark reduction for each day that it is late.

Plagiarism and Other Forms of Cheating
Plagiarism is a serious act of academic misconduct and the UABS adheres strictly to the University’s policy in this regard. Please familiarise yourself with the University’s Policies on Examination and Assessment, including plagiarism and other forms of cheating, which can be found at:
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/230/ & http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/465/
Students must not submit work for an assignment that has previously been submitted for this course or any other course.

ASSIGNMENT Submission
You should submit your individual assignments in line with the instructions provided in the document: FOL Assignment Requirements.

1. Please retain a copy of all assignments submitted.
2. Please attach an ‘Assignment Cover Sheet’, which is signed and dated by you before submission.
3. All group assignments must be attached to a ‘Group Assignment Cover Sheet’, which must be signed and dated by all group members before submission. All team members are expected to contribute approximately equally to a group assignment.

Lecturers can refuse to accept assignments, which do not have a signed acknowledgement of the University’s policy on plagiarism.