Course specification for MGT8038

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MGT8038 Leadership Development

Semester 1, 2020 Online
Short Description: Leadership Development
Units : 1
Faculty or Section : Faculty of Business, Education, Law and Arts
School or Department : School of Management and Enterprise
Student contribution band : Band 3
ASCED code : 080307 - Organisation Management
Grading basis : Graded

Staffing

Examiner:

Other requisites

Students are required to have access to a personal computer, e-mail capabilities and Internet access to UConnect. Current details of computer requirements can be found at .

Rationale

This course on leadership development focuses on the dyadic relationship between individuals and their leaders. Contemporary business problems are increasingly complex and the notion of leadership has become more important given the pace and dynamics of discontinuous environments, hyper-competition, globalisation and the movement of people and goods across boundaries. Many of these boundaries have shifted as well as given synchronous learning and multiple interactive modes through virtual networks making the task of leadership more complex. This is an interesting dilemma for leaders of any sized organisation given that recent research has indicated that the task of leaders – to build and develop people at work and create the next group of leaders - hasn’t changed dramatically. What has changed is the context in which leadership development occurs, from the more stable contexts of the past to the more dynamic and innovative, the latter reflecting new structures and processes. Also, there has been a significant shift from the old behavioural leadership approaches to a more ‘relationship focused’ and servant approach to leadership applied within a specific context. This course accordingly seeks to answer some fundamental questions: 1) how do modern leaders prepare their people for dynamic change? 2) what leadership skills are required to equip future managers? and, 3) what leadership processes help grow the relationships between managers and workers?

Synopsis

While this course focuses on dyadic relationships, students will learn about their own leadership style and how these can be adapted to help meet the overall goals of the work institution. The course is a journey of narratives about what contemporary leaders have learned from past leadership approaches. For instance, the transformational leader style is grounded firmly in a behavioural and inspirational approach to developing people at work. The course introduces multiple contexts in which leadership skills can be practiced. For example, in highly discontinuous environments, we will learn that a fixed style may not be flexible enough to forge change that requires more adaptive leader skills. Similarly, within a context where the culture and organisation code reflects many competing interests and power plays, we will learn that the dyadic relationship is less about a transformational approach and more about an authentic and servant leader interaction. Students will focus on the value of coaching and building personal relationships such that mentoring is part of being an authentic leader. Taken together, the leadership skills learned will be invaluable for dealing with multiple and changing environments. It is envisaged that the approach on the individual will augment other leadership approaches offered across the program of study such as team and strategic leadership.

Objectives

On successful completion of this course students should be able to:

  1. reflect on the theoretical value of leadership theories past and present;
  2. critically review and think constructively about which leader theories help build adaptive leader-member relationships;
  3. apply a range of leadership skills to real world problems across national and international contexts;
  4. communicate to a range of audiences the value of leadership skills about a given context;
  5. work with a range of leadership ideas to plan and formulate an applied leadership project.

Topics

Description Weighting(%)
1. Leadership theories past and present 20.00
2. Content perspectives of leader development 30.00
3. Specific issues in leadership contexts 30.00
4. Applied processes for leadership development 20.00

Text and materials required to be purchased or accessed

ALL textbooks and materials available to be purchased can be sourced from (unless otherwise stated). (https://omnia.usq.edu.au/textbooks/?year=2020&sem=01&subject1=MGT8038)

Please for alternative purchase options from USQ Bookshop. (https://omnia.usq.edu.au/info/contact/)

Northouse, P 2019, Leadership: theory and practice, 8th edn, SAGE Publishing, Los Angeles, California.

Reference materials

Reference materials are materials that, if accessed by students, may improve their knowledge and understanding of the material in the course and enrich their learning experience.

Student workload expectations

Activity Hours
Directed ¾«¶«´«Ã½app 80.00
Independent ¾«¶«´«Ã½app 85.00

Assessment details

Description Marks out of Wtg (%) Due Date Notes
ASSIGNMENT 1 100 50 23 Apr 2020 (see note 1)
ASSIGNMENT 2 100 50 11 Jun 2020

Notes

Important assessment information

  1. Attendance requirements:
    There are no attendance requirements for this course. However, it is the students' responsibility to study all material provided to them or required to be accessed by them to maximise their chance of meeting the objectives of the course and to be informed of course-related activities and administration.

  2. Requirements for students to complete each assessment item satisfactorily:
    To satisfactorily complete an individual assessment item a student must achieve at least 50% of the marks. (Depending upon the requirements in Statement 4 below, students may not have to satisfactorily complete each assessment item to receive a passing grade in this course.)

  3. Penalties for late submission of required work:
    Students should refer to the Assessment Procedure (point 4.2.4)

  4. Requirements for student to be awarded a passing grade in the course:
    To be assured of receiving a passing grade a student must achieve at least 50% of the total weighted marks available for the course.

  5. Method used to combine assessment results to attain final grade:
    The final grades for students will be assigned on the basis of the aggregate of the weighted marks obtained for each of the summative assessment items in the course.

  6. Examination information:
    There is no examination in this course.

  7. Examination period when Deferred/Supplementary examinations will be held:
    There is no examination in this course, there will be no deferred or supplementary examinations.

  8. ¾«¶«´«Ã½app Student Policies:
    Students should read the USQ policies: Definitions, Assessment and Student Academic Misconduct to avoid actions which might contravene ¾«¶«´«Ã½app policies and practices. These policies can be found at .

Assessment notes

  1. Harvard (AGPS) is the referencing system required in this course. Students should use Harvard (AGPS) style in their assignments to format details of the information sources they have cited in their work. The Harvard (AGPS) style to be used is defined by the USQ Library's referencing guide at .

Date printed 19 June 2020