Week 1

MGT 460 Week 1 Discussion question 1

Ethics are the foundation of successful leadership in business and the reputation of a business is impacted by its leaders’ ethical practices.  Find two articles in the Ashford Library to share with the class; one on ethical leadership practices and the other on unethical leadership practices. Summarize your findings on the impact of the respective business’ reputation on the public. 
Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts with constructive ideas, comments, or suggestions.

 

MGT 460 Week 1 Discussion question 2

Discuss a situation when a leader refused to change their leadership style or did not recognize a need for change in order to achieve desired results.  What were the reasons for the change?  What were the results? Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts with constructive ideas, comments, or suggestions.

 

MGT 460 Week 1 Quiz

MGT 460 Leadership Priorities & Practice

Week 1 Quiz (All correct)

 

Question 1

Leaders of balance members’ vested interests with developing a _________.

Clear time line

 Shared goal

Empowered work force

Time for reflection

 

Question 2     

Leaders are people who…

do the right thing

 do things right

 meet others’ expectations

 achieve their career goals

 

Question 3.    

What technology allows employees and group members to take action on their own without waiting for leadership direction?

Web 2.0

 Web pages

Internet

 Web logs

 

 

Question 4.

What style of leadership is demonstrated by those who vary their behaviors based on the situation and follower involved?

Systems leadership

 Organization leadership

 Direct leadership

 Contingent leadership

 

 

Question 5

If the items in a survey measure of leadership are highly related to each other, we would say the measure is _______.

Valid

 Time bound

 Reliable

Performance related

 

Question 6     

It is important to minimize if not eliminate threats to the results of a study in order to consider the results ______.

Reliable

 Valid

 Stable

 Consistent

 

 

Question 7     

What is defined as the perceived or psychological distance that comes from operating and communicating through technology and across cultures and different perspectives?

Perceptual differences

 Virtual distance

 Web trauma

 Interactive orientation

 

Question 8.    

Principled leadership is also known as what type of leadership?.

Tempered

 Flexible

 Adaptive

 Ethical

 

 

Question 9.

 Which research outcome would be considered more desirable?

 A correlation between two variables

 A measurement that changes over time

A measurement that is stable over time

A cause-effect relationship

 

Question 10   

The Mone-London organization model focuses on factors that affect…

 Performance

The Environment

Coaching

 Leadership style

 

 

 

Week 2

MGT 460 Week 2 Discussion Question 1

Discuss an instance when you identified a weakness in the skill set in an employee (or in yourself ).  If you had limited financial resources, where would you look for training to close the gap on these skill sets?  How would the success of the training be measured? Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts with constructive ideas, comments, or suggestions.

 

MGT 460 Week 2 Discussion Question 2

In the “Nurturing Leadership” video, Dr. Warren Bennis states “Terrific organizations led by outstanding leaders have leadership at every single level of the organization. They put a value on mentoring and coaching.”  Compare and contrast the concepts of coach and mentor.  Is one better suited for a particular situation than the other?  What is your experience with coaching and mentoring?

 

 

MGT 460 Week 2 Quiz

MGT 460 Leadership Priorities & Practice

Week 2 Quiz (All correct)

 

Question 1     

What are the three elements of career motivation?

 Appraisal, feedback, and reward

Talent, task clarity, and time

Insight, identity, and resilience

Job satisfaction, task significance, and a clear appraisal

 

 

Question 2.    

What are key personality elements that make a leader resilient?

 Self-esteem, self-control, and self-efficacy

Self-insight, self-identity, and self-enhancement

Self-monitoring, self-regulation, and self-denial

 Self-analysis, Self-assessment, and self-control

 

Question 3.    

Which development process will most likely incorporate an “in-basket” exercise:

On-line training

 Coaching

 Feedback from psychological assessments

Assessment centers

 

Question 4.    

What type of learning style describes leaders who analyze their own and others’ leadership experiences and change their behavior as they observe and experience what works best?

 

Analyzer

Complainer

 Diverger

  Amalgamator

 

 

Question 5.    

What type of learning style describes leaders who explore alternatives, experiment, and then apply what works best?

 

 Accommodator

  Analyzer

 Diverger

Converger

 

Question 6.    

What leadership trait is consistently related to a leader’s performance?

 Goal setting

Self-development

 Consideration of others

Conscientiousness

 

Question 7.    

What leadership traits are considered interpersonal attributes?

Creativity and innovation

Organization and delegation

Voice and innovation

 Communication skills and emotional intelligence

 

Question 8.    

A typical 360-degree feedback report includes:

Item ratings and comments

Performance and development goals

Item ratings

 Development goals

 

Question 9.    

What is likely to increase a leader’s career resilience?

  Substantial cost of living increases in pay

Supervisor’s thanks for excellent performance

 Special parking space for a month

 Guidelines for career development

 

Question 10

What element of career motivation is the spark that ignites striving for a career goal?

 Career identity

 Career direction

 Career goals

 Career insight

 

Week 3

MGT 460 week 3 Discussion Question 1

 

A pet project of top management has been given the green light.  You are assigned the task of leading a cross-functional team that includes a 20 year veteran to the company, a recent college graduate and a wage employee. What are the potential obstacles of your team?  How would you ensure each individual felt like a vital member of the team?   Summarize the steps you would take to build trust in leading this team. Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings with constructive ideas, comments, or suggestions.

MGT 460 week 3 Discussion Question 2

A co-worker has asked four colleagues, including yourself, to complete a 360 degree feedback for them.  In the past, you have had problems with this individual’s ability to meet deadlines on teams you have worked on.  How would you provide constructive feedback to this person without causing any ill will between the two of you?  Evaluate your options according to what you feel to be your chances for success. Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings with constructive ideas, comments, or suggestions.

 

MGT 460 week 3 Quiz (All correct)

 

MGT 460 Leadership Priorities & Practice

Week 3 Quiz (All correct)

Question1          

With regard to feedback, a leader should…

Be clear about what characteristics a subordinate possesses that are dysfunctional

Ask others for feedback

  Provide reports to each subordinate so that subordinates can compare their performance to others

subordinates know when they do not have the capability to improve their performance

 

Question 2.       

What are the two main types of interviews:

 Unstructured and projective

Unstructured and stress

Structured and unstructured

 Structured and situational

 

Question 3.       

A way to undermine trust in leadership is to…

Encourage your direct reports to speak the truth

Explain a situation in different ways to different subordinates so they will understand

Reward direct reports who are contrarians

 Encourage direct reports to challenge leadership

Question 4.       

An overarching goal or strategies for a top leader might be to be sure each vice president understands the meaning of…

Delighting customers

 Monitoring subordinates

 Having detailed roles and responsibilities for each direct report

 Timing announcements to match stock market expectations and report dates

 

Question 5.       

What type of question is focused on understanding how a candidate may behave in a hypothetical situation:

Behaviorally-based

 Job-related

 Job knowledge

 Situational

Question 6.       

What is the best strategy for making recognition an effective motivator?

 Recognize only the people who had substantial input to accomplishing a goal

 Waiting until you are certain that the goal has been achieved

Giving a cash bonus

Recognizing everyone involved in an accomplishment, even those in the back office who were behind the scenes

 

Question 7.       

How often should a leader evaluate a subordinate’s performance?

 

 Once a year when the organization requires a formal performance appraisal form be completed and shared with the subordinate

 Every day if possible

 After major accomplishments have been completed

 Whenever the subordinate acts in a way that demonstrates one or more weakness

 

Question 8.       

How does a goal statement differ from a strategy or tactic statement?

A goal statement indicates what you want to accomplish

A goal statement indicates what you plan to do

 A goal statement indicates what you expect from subordinates

 Strategy is the overall direction of the company whereas a goal statement is what each person needs to do to affect that

 

Question 9.       

One-to-one leadership requires competencies that support…

 Time management

 Setting parameters and controls over human resource practices

Performance management

Distributing and explaining corporate financial reports to employees

 

Question 10.     

Which would not be considered a developmental assignment?

 Being given a highly visible task that is important to the organization’s success

 Being given feedback and asked to use it to improve one’s performance

  Leading a start-up—for instance, a new support department or line of business

Opening a new office

 

MGT 460 week 3 Assignment

Goal Setting Framework

Goal-Setting Framework

The first of six steps of performance management consists of goal setting, as detailed in Chapter Three. Assume that you work for the Los Angeles Tribune, a large but struggling newspaper publisher with distribution throughout the Los Angeles region. Various problems have arisen that need to be addressed:

• The cost of paper is rising
• The cost of distribution is rising
• Circulation revenue is down
• Advertising revenue is down, largely due to free online listings offered by Craigslist and other online advertising services
• Customers are largely in the 40+ age range
• The current number of employees cannot continue to be supported if revenue continues to shrink

You have been selected by the CEO to construct a goal-setting framework that focuses on three of the six issues above. In your APA formatted two- to three-page paper, include a goal statement for each of the three issues you’ve chosen and describe the corresponding strategies, tactics, activities, measures of success, and goal measurements you recommend. Support each with your rationale, citing the textbook as necessary, and be sure to provide specific examples within the activities section. In addition to your two to three pages of written content, a title page and reference page are required.  

For this assignment, it is possible to make reasonable assumptions regarding the organization’s economic situation and business climate. Be sure to specifically mention any such assumptions that you are making within your paper.
 

Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

 

 

 

 

Week 4

MGT 460 week 4 Discussion Question 1

Discuss a time when you have been a member of a team that has not performed well.  Why was the team not effective?  What role did the leader play in the team’s inability to perform?  What steps should have been taken to address the issues? Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts with constructive ideas, comments, or suggestions.

 

 

MGT 460 week 4 Discussion Question 2

In Chapter 4, London and London (2007) outline eight steps to creating and leading a high performance team.  Assume you are the leader of one of the case studies in this chapter and discuss the method you would take to empower your team.
Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts with constructive ideas, comments, or suggestions.

 

 

Week 5

MGT 460 Week 5 Discussion Question 1

Leading Organizational Change

As this week’s material points out, we are living in times of immense change. One of the essential tasks of an organization’s leadership is to lead organizations in a way that ensures that the entire organization is committed to the change and that support mechanisms are in place to sustain change. Research several online industries that are currently stressed by changing marketplaces and demographics: the newspaper and publishing Industries, entertainment media outlets, brick and mortar retail, and even campus bookstores.          
                                                                                                      
1. Choose an organization within one of the industries listed above, or one of your own choosing that is currently impacted by a changing marketplace.

2. How would you apply Kotter’s eights steps toward leading change within that organization?

3. Provide examples of the desired outcomes and support mechanisms you would utilize.

Guided Response: Analyze several of your peers’ posts.  Let at least two of your peers know how their chosen approach would be useful in your scenario as well.  Suggest any approaches you have found that may be helpful in their environment.

 

MGT 460 Week 5 Discussion Question 2

Adaptive work is accomplished by finding a solution to seemingly intractable problems facing leaders; the solution is neither technical, nor obvious. As the material illustrates, leaders must motivate organization members to face demanding situations that arise from the organization’s own culture and values. Using the organization you chose within this week’s first discussion, analyze an adaptive challenge facing this organization.       
                                                                                                                                                    
1. Describe the adaptive work that needs to be accomplished.

2. Analyze your approach to resolving the problem. Be certain to include questions that would arise, and what trade-offs may be required in your analysis.

3. Describe the desired outcome.    
                                                                                                                      
Guided Response: Analyze several of your peers’ posts.  Give advice to at least two of your peers suggesting any approaches you have found that may prove to be helpful in conducting their adaptive work.

 

MGT 460 Week 5 Assignment

Ashford 6: – Week 5 – Final Paper

Final Paper

Focus of the Final Paper
This paper will be an application of the leadership practice concepts learned throughout your degree program to a real-world situation. In an eight- to ten-page paper, discuss one significant organizational challenge, within your organization or an organization you have researched. How did the leadership of the organization address the challenge? Could it have been done more effectively? How would you recommend future leaders strategically plan to avoid encountering a similar challenge within their own organizations? Provide suggestions for overcoming the challenge based on your own research and concepts presented in your degree program and grounded in leadership theory. Some challenges to consider would be (but are not limited to): an ethical challenge, a challenge occurring because of changes in the economy, a globalization challenge, or a challenge of organizational culture. Please request instructor approval of the challenge you would like to use as your focus before beginning your paper.

The Final Paper should, at minimum, include:
1. A description of the organization and its primary stakeholders. Include the vision and mission statement if they are available to the public, and the code of ethics if the company has one (if it is long, an excerpt or description is an acceptable alternative).
2. A detailed analysis of one challenge facing the leadership of the organization.
3. A strategy for overcoming the challenge based on outside research, the textbook, and concepts discussed during your degree studies.

Writing the Final Paper
The Final Paper:
1. Must be eight to ten double-spaced pages in length and formatted according to APA style, as outlined in your approved style guide.
2. Must include a cover page with:

o Title of Paper
o Student’s name
o Course name and number
o Name of paper
o Instructor’s name
o Date submitted

3. Must include an introductory paragraph with a succinct thesis statement.
4. Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.
5. Must conclude with a restatement of the thesis and a conclusion paragraph.
6. Must use at least four scholarly sources to support your analysis and recommendations.
7. Must use APA style as outlined in your approved style guide to document all sources.
8. Must include, on the final page, a reference list that is completed according to APA style, as outlined in your approved style guide.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.