MGMT 731

LEADERSHIP/CEO SEMINAR

"Most U.S. corporations today are overmanaged and underled."
John P. Kotter, Harvard professor and author

"Leadership is both the most studied and the least understood topic in all of social science."
Warren Bennis, USC professor and author

"Leadership cannot really be taught. It can only be learned."
Harold Geneen, CEO, ITT

This is an advanced course offered in the general management specialization for graduate students enrolled in the Saturday MBA, the AMBA program, or the FLEX MBA program. It was developed by Jeff Springer, former President of Citizens Bancorp in Laurel, MD and currently Executive in Residence at the Merrick School of Business, and Susan Zacur, Professor of Management and Director of Learning at the Merrick School.

Course Description

This course will focus on the most critical issues pertaining to success in operating at the executive level in business and other organizations. Topics will include vision, knowing the customer, communication for internal motivation and public awareness, ethical responsibilities, decision making, financial management issues, performance maximization, human asset activities, and individual leader behaviors for effectiveness. Course materials will be drawn from business journals, texts, other media, and cases. Invited experts, who are proven leaders, will be featured speakers in the course.

Prerequisites

Completion of all 500 level courses and most 600 level courses.

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Course Objectives

1. To develop an understanding of the complexity of the leader's role in effective organizations.
2. To integrate the functional skills and cross-functional perspective acquired in the MBA curriculum into a leader's perspective.
3. To learn what it takes to effectively run an organizational unit.
4. To gain insight into the art and the science of leadership.

Required Texts

The Absolutes of Leadership- Philip Crosby, 1996 (C )

Contemporary Issues in Leadership - Rosenbach& Taylor, 5th Edition 2001 (R&T)

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Student Responsibilities

1. Assigned readings from required texts and handouts as due.

2. Book Report- on one of the titles provided in the book list or on an another title agreed to in consultation with professor. It is due in final, written form (in whatever length you deem necessary to complete the assignment) by the fifth class meeting. Report will include an executive summary, a chapter by chapter summary, and a discussion of how the book would be helpful to a leader in practice. The executive summary should contain the most salient points of the book and will serve as the basis for a brief oral presentation to the class. The book you choose must be worthwhile, if you don't think the first one you picked meets that criteria, pick another…don't waste time on a book that does not add to your knowledge in a meaningful way.

3. Leadership Journal - this is a tool to help you collect and integrate the knowledge that you will be acquiring during the ten weeks of this course. It is due at the tenth class meeting.

Since leadership cannot be taught, but it can be learned, the Leadership Journal will be the record of your learning. The art of leadership is learned from practice, observation, reflection, heeding the wisdom of mentors and role models, and hearing the feedback of followers, colleagues, and bosses.

Your Leadership Journal should include the following sections:

Self Assessment - based on questionnaires, experiences, and observations from this course and any other sources, specifically state your strengths and your aspirations (what you would like to acquire in terms of knowledge, experience, and competencies) for your career, as you now envision it.

Values Statement - a statement about the values that you personally consider essential to your functioning in any organization…meaning that you would want to work for an organization that holds these values and that you might choose to leave an organization that failed to uphold these values.

Reading Reflections - reflections on the assigned reading and handouts for each week. Select two or three ideas that are most meaningful for you, expand on what they mean to you and why they are significant in light of your past experience and/or in light of your career aspirations. Your journal will eventually contain ten reflective essays, one for each week of readings.

Class Reflections - write about your in-class experiences each week. If you have a guest speaker, summarize his/her key points, if we do a case or exercise, summarize what you gained from your experience, etc. Your journal should include at least eight class reflections.

Other Learning - this is an optional section that may include other readings and sources that you want to keep as part of your journal…or anything else you would like to do with this. You might include a copy of your book report and notes on classmates' reports here.

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Suggested Book List

A Force for Change: How Leadership Differs from Management or The Leadership Factor by J.Kotter

On Becoming A Leader or Why Leaders Can't Lead by W.Bennis

Learning to Lead: The Art of Transforming Managers into Leaders by J.Conger

Leadership is an Art by Max De Pree

Servant Leadership by Robert Greenleaf

Jack: Straight From the Gut by Jack Welch

If Aristotle Ran General Motors by Tom Morris

The Leadership Challenge by J. Kouzes and B. Posner

21st Century Leadership: Dialogues with 100 Top Leaders by L. McFarland, et al.

Bridging the Leadership Gap by P. Meyer

The ABCs of Successful Leadership: Proven, Practical Attitudes, Behaviors, and Concepts Based on Core Values that Result in Successful Leadership by R. Wenderlich

Learning to Lead: A Workbook on Becoming a Leader by J Goldsmith

The Art of War for Executives by D. Krause

The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters by T. Cleary

The Leadership Engine: How Winning Companies Build Leaders at Every Level by N. Tichy and E. Cohen

Action Learning: How the World's Top Companies are Re-Creating Their Leaders and Themselves by J. Noel and D. Dotlich

Leaders: Strategies for Taking Charge by B. Nanus

The 9 Natural Laws of Leadership by W. Blank

The Effective Executive by P. Drucker

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You by J. Maxwell

Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times by Donald Phillips

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Computation of Final Grade

Final grades will be based on the following:

Book Report 20%

Leadership Journal 60%

Class Presentations, Participation, Attendance 20%

Topical Course Outline and Calendar

1. Personal Leadership Behaviors -

C: Intro p. 1-7; Ch. 1, p. 9-25
R&T: p. 5-18

Effectiveness involves setting goals, prioritizing, organizing, and managing time. Leaders must model behaviors they want others to exhibit.

How does a leader act as a professional? What does professionalism really entail? Leaders need to know that this involves behavior at work, in the profession, with colleagues in the field, in networks, in the community, with neighbors, creditors, family, and strangers.

2. Communication Skills for Leaders -

C: Ch. 4, p. 49-53 and Ch. 5, p. 54-59
R&T: p. 19-42

Examination of internal and external perspectives:

· Leaders must be effective communicators in order to motivate people to action.
· They must be ready to respond appropriately in crisis situations
· Leaders need to be trained in how to deal with the media and produce the "sound bites" that will catch the public's attention.
· Preparation of the Annual Report is another communication challenge that requires sound Leadership. Alternative reporting techniques will be examined for their intent and for their effectiveness.

3. Ethics in the Workplace-

C: Ch. 3, p. 35-47
R&T: p. 79-100, 233-240, 261-274

Ethics may be explored in personal and professional terms. Leaders often face dilemmas with far reaching ethical implications that may require careful insight and discussion.

· How do you know an ethical dilemma when you see one?
· What decision rules can help sort through such dilemmas?
· How do you engage minds in discussion of such issues?
· How do you address employees and the public on tough ethical issues?
· How do you create an atmosphere of trust?

4. Knowing the Customer -

C: Ch. 8, p. 85-123

Discussion will stress the importance of knowing the customers' needs and wants, the importance of market research, and the impact of information technology.

· Who are the customers?
· What are their expectations of us?
· How do we satisfy these expectations in an economically beneficial way?
· How do we reach them?
· How do we reach a targeted audience?
· How do we incorporate customer preferences?

5. Vision, Mission, and Strategic Direction-

C: Ch. 2, p. 27-43
R&T: p. 73-78, 111-124,131-142

Leaders must be able to answer the following questions:

· Why does this organization exist?
· What are we going to be?
· What do we believe in?
· Why is a mission important?
· How can the mission help guide an institution?
· How can the mission help the leader guide and make decisions?

The focus will be on what a vision and mission look like, how they are developed, what differentiates good ones that work from perfunctory ones that do not inspire greatness, and examples of those that have served their organizations well in case histories.

6. Effective Decision Making and Problem Solving -

C: Ch. 7, p. 73-83
R&T: p. 65-75, 125-130, 229-232

Examination of two perspectives:

· How does a leader drive down the decisions by helping a group sort through the issues and arrive at a logical decision?
· How does a leader facilitate decision making up the organization to the Board level? How does a CEO provide alternatives and decisions to be made in a way that fosters the most constructive outcome?

We will examine steps in problem solving that leaders find most useful. Case histories will be analyzed for insight.

7. Finance -

C: Ch. 6, p. 61-71

Working With A Lender:

Explore the critical components of the lending decision:

· How does one submit a credit request to a lender?
· What are the critical factors in the credit decision?
· What types of data are essential?
· What are the intangible aspects of the decision?

Financial Management

· Learn how to effectively use a financial plan and budget to drive an organization.
· Understand the importance and management of capital liquidity.

8. Performance Maximization -

R&T: p. 209-228, 281-296, 43-65, 297-310

When an organization is trying to become efficient, there are few, if any, home runs. It is an incremental process, where steady progress is made in the right direction over time. One hopes for a win/win where better results (defined as meeting and exceeding customer expectations) can be achieved at lower cost to the organization.

· What can be learned from case histories of success?
· What is the role of the leader in making this happen?

9. Human Assets: How to Build Top Flight People for the Future and How to Nurture Followers

R&T: p. 143-162, 163-182, 241-260

The way an organization manages its human resources says a great deal about its ethics, its philosophy of business and its potential for renewal, growth, and change.

Leaders need to know the role they can play in developing followers through recruiting, screening, and developing qualified staff. They also need to have a plan for evaluation, reward, and measurement to maintain the motivation of star performers, maximize the performance of average performers, and eliminate non-performers.

Leaders must communicate their vision, be a role model, set standards and define performance measures with their management group.

10. Information Technology -

Readings to be Announced

What does the future hold and how can leaders anticipate challenges from this aspect of the environment?

Leaders must learn about technological challenges on the horizon in their own field and in business in general. Based on current readings and business news, participants will discuss emerging trends.

Web Resources
The National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs is located at UMCP. There are links to many resources at http://www.nclp.umd.edu/ResourceLinks.asp

For non-profit leadership visit The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Non-profit management website at: http://www.pfdf.org

For a listing of quotes by Gandhi see: http://www.mahatma.org.in

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