Executive Leadership in Practice

Order Description

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The essay itself is a major piece of academic written work that must to be supported by at least eight refereed journal articles. Other books and sources that enable you to develop and support your lines of argument in the essay are expected to be used additionally.
There is no real ‘word limit’ however, students would generally be looking at around 5000 words.
Consistent with the learning objectives for this course, students will need to frame their essays from a multilevel perspective.  This means looking at the topic from the perspective of the global market, the organisation, the work group and the individual.  The student will need to be careful in the selection of the literature they use for their essay to ensure they understand the leadership issues from each of these perspectives.  The importance of the multilevel perspective in leadership will be discussed at several points during the semester as most of the things that we understand about leadership are best interpreted from a mixed-level perspective.
Essay topic:
You will be required to undertake an action plan, then include a number of reflections. With reference to relevant literature, critically reflect on your learning from your action plan and how it has helped you consolidate an effective, personal leadership approach.
In particular, the critical reflection piece should include:
1. An executive summary, summarising the whole report (1 – 2 page summary)
2. A review of the relevant literature (approx 1000 words)
3. Your leadership philosophy and leadership action plan (a template for this will be provided on here)
4. A reflection on your work to complete your action plan (1 – 2 paragraphs)
5. Provide an example of where you have demonstrated leadership, professionally or personally (500 words approx)
6. Describe your experiences in working in and leading teams. Include any specific challenges you have faced (500 words approx)
You will be assessed on how well you are able to analyse and synthesise your knowledge to effectively communicate and critically defend your personal leadership approach.

Your action plan
Details of an action plan include:
1.    Do a Self-Assessment, using a tool: Undertake a self assessment (http://govleaders.org/categories/self-awareness.htm#self_assessment has some, but any kind of self-assessment is okay). Think about your strengths that you would like to cultivate and any weaknesses you may have that you can work on
2.    What is your goal? (Eg. a life mission statement) (see http://govleaders.org/mission-worksheet.htm for some prompting)
3.    Are there any core supervisory skills that you have not yet mastered (e.g. giving feedback, delegating, leading meetings, or hiring/firing)?
4.    What kind of jobs/tasks do you have the least experience with?
1.    Turnarounds
2.    Start-Ups
3.    Big Leaps in Scope/Scale
4.    Projects/Task Forces
5.    Switches between staffer and line manager
6.    Managing in a Crisis

Major essay marking
Element    Grade    Comment
Executive summary    /10
Review of the literature    /30
Leadership philosophy/ action plan    /20
Reflection on action plan    /10
Example/s    /10
Experiences in working in and leading teams/ challenges    /10
Overall: assessed on how well you are able to analyse and synthesise your knowledge to effectively communicate and critically defend your personal leadership approach.     /10
/100
Overall grade  /50 (above divided by 2)