Stevens Institute of Technology
Howe School of Technology Management
Syllabus
MGT 619
Leading Across Project & Programs
Semester: Fall, 2012
Day of Week/Time: TBD
Instructor Name & Contact Information:
Peter Dominick, Ph.D.
Babbio 628
201-216-8071
Peter.dominick@stevens.edu
Office Hours: by Appointment
Class Website: TBD
Overview
This course focuses on key leadership skills for addressing the complex challenges posed
by program management, highly-matrixed environments and cross-national
collaborations. It builds upon the principles of self-awareness and reflection that are
introduced in Mgt 612: The Human Side of Project Leadership. Whereas the main
emphasis in that course is self-development, this course challenges learners to think more
broadly about how to develop others, integrate efforts across groups and drive change.
The concepts presented are theory and research driven so that participants can deepen
their conceptual understanding. At the same time, the course calls upon learners to
address real-life challenges they face as program and or director level leaders. Each
session presents effective techniques and uses experiential exercises or assignments to
provide plenty of practice. The course also requires participants to further transfer
learning to their workplaces through focused development planning and coaching
support.
Prerequisites: Mgt. 612 –The Human Side of Project Leadership; Mgt. 609-Project
Management Fundamentals
Relationship of Course to Rest of Curriculum
This course builds upon the principles of self-awareness and reflection that are introduced
in Mgt 612: The Human Side of Project Leadership. Whereas the main emphasis in that
course is self-development, this course challenges learners to think more broadly about
how to develop others, integrate efforts across groups and drive change.
Learning Goals
Participants will learn how to …
1
-
Lead others in complex executive level decision-making by
Recognizing the types of complexity that can obscure sound judgment and
decision-making
Creating an organizational climate that fosters optimal decision-making
Understanding the interaction among individual-level cognitive biases, teamlevel psychological safety, and systems-level influences on decision quality
- Lead organizational change initiatives by
Analyzing the psychology of change and why change efforts fail
Diagnosing and shaping organizational culture
Managing the concerns of multiple internal and external stakeholders
- Identify and develop talent among team leaders and members by
Using proven techniques for selecting effective team leaders and team
members
Understanding the dynamics of talent management and how to leverage
potential
Applying techniques for diagnosing and enhancing team process effectiveness
Learning Outcomes
In relation to leading others in complex executive-level decision making participants
will be able to:
 Identify the presence of asymmetrical information and asymmetrical interests
and their effect on executive decision making.
 Analyze the effect of team psychological safety on team decision making as
well as how to enhance team psychological safety.
 Determine the effects of complex interactions and tight coupling (i.e., systemslevel factors) on the risk of program or project failure.
 Recognize how individual-level cognitive biases interact with team
psychological safety and systems-level factors to effect decision quality
In relation to driving change, course participants will be able to:
 Apply the ‘leadership pipeline’ model of coaching to tailor coaching to meet
optimally meet the needs of team members.
 Apply models of cultural characteristics (e.g., Hofstede, GLOBE) to enhance
plans and approaches for managing cross-national units or culturally diverse
programs
 Identify symbols of their organization’s culture, and analyze what each symbol
conveys about the organization’s culture, whether and how the symbols
reinforce each other, how the symbols (individually or collectively) help shape
the organization’s culture, ways in which the symbols help or hurt the
organization or its individual members, and what symbols need to be changed,
replaced, or retained to create a more desirable organizational culture.
 Apply Kotter’s model of leading change to plan an effective change initiative.
 Identify and analyze stakeholders in their organization/program, and generate a
set of guidelines for managing stakeholders.
In relation to identifying and developing talent amongst team leaders and members,
course participants will be able to:
 Understand the role of transactive memory in team effectiveness as well as
ways to enhance transactive memory.
 Identify and analyze the team dynamics (related to influence and decision
2

making) of project teams and then provide constructive feedback to team
leaders and members.
Identify and analyze the tasks and activities performed on a focal job, along
with the knowledge, skills, abilities, experience, education, and other
characteristics (KSAOs) needed to perform those tasks and activities
successfully. They will then learn how to integrate that information to create a
structured interview to assess those KSAOs.
Pedagogy
This course relies upon experiential learning through simulation and role play, action
learning that requires students to discuss and address work-related challenges, peer-to
peer feedback, and personal development planning. Cases and related reading also
prominent aspects of this courses delivery model
Required Text(s)
Bazerman, M.H., & Chugh, D. (2006, January). Decisions without blinders. Harvard
Business Review. ($3.95)
Bohmer, R.M., Edmondson, A.C., & Roberto, M.A. (2009, May 1). Columbia’s Final
Mission. Harvard Business School. ($7.00 CD ROM)
* Brown, J.T. (2008). Stakeholder management. In J.T. Brown, The handbook of
program management: How to facilitate project success with optimal program
management (pp. 53-74). New York: McGraw Hill.
* Campion, M. A., Pursell, E. D., & Brown, B. K. (1988). Structured interviewing:
Raising the psychometric properties of the employment interview. Personnel
Psychology, 41, 25-42.
Collins, J.C., & Porras, J.I. (1996, September). Building your company’s vision. Harvard
Business Review. ($3.95)
Edmondson, A. (2005, Winter). Promoting experimentation for organizational learning:
The mixed effects of inconsistency. Rotman Magazine, 20-23. ($3.95)
Harder, J. (1999). Primer on organizational culture. Darden Business Publishing. ($3.95)
* House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. W., & Gupta, V. (Eds.). (2004).
Culture, leadership, and organizations: The GLOBE study of 62 societies.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Ibarra, H. (1996, January 31). National cultures and work-related values: The Hofstede
study. Harvard Business School. ($3.95)
* Janz, T. (1982). Initial comparisons of patterned behavior description interviews versus
unstructured interviews. Journal of Applied Psychology, 67, 577-580.
Kotter, J.P. (2007, January). Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail. Harvard
Business Review. ($3.95)
* Langewiesche, W. (2003, November). Columbia’s last flight: The inside story of the
investigation and the catastrophe it laid bare. The Atlantic Monthly, 58-87.
Leadership and team simulation: Everest. (HBSP Product No. 2650). ($12.50)
* Morrison, T., & Conaway, W. A. (2006). Kiss, bow, or shake hands: The bestselling
guide to doing business in more than 60 countries (2nd ed.). Avon, MA: Adams
Media.
* Orpen, C. (1985). Patterned behavior description interviews versus unstructured
3
interviews: A comparative validity study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70,
774-776.
* Peterson, D. B. (2006). People are complex and the world is messy: A behavior-based
approach to executive coaching. In D.R. Stober & A.M. Grant (Eds.), Evidencebased coaching handbook: Putting best practices to work with your clients.
Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Roberto, M.A., & Carioggia, G.M. (2003). Mount Everest – 1996. Harvard Business
School. ($3.95)
* Salas, E., Weaver, S.J., Rosen, M.A., & Smith-Jentsch, K.A. (2009). Managing team
performance in complex settings: Research-based best practices. In J.W. Smither
& M. London (Eds.), Performance management: Putting research into practice.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Schein, E.H. (1996). Three cultures of management. The key to organizational learning.
Sloan Management Review. 38(1), 9-20. ($3.95)
Sorensen, J.B. (2009). Note on organizational culture. Stanford Graduate School of
Business. ($3.95)
Tushman, M.L., & O’Reilly III, C.A. (2002). Shaping organizational culture. In M.L.
Tushman & C.A. O’Reilly III, Winning through innovation: A practical guide to
leading organizational change and renewal. Boston: MA: Harvard Business
School Press. ($3.95)
Vaughan, D. (1997). The trickle-down effect: Policy decisions, risky work, and the
Challenger tragedy. California Management Review, 39(2), 80-102. ($3.95)
* Weekley, J. A., & Gier, J. A. (1987). Reliability and validity of the situational interview
for a sales position. Journal of Applied Psychology, 72, 484-487.
All lecture notes (PowerPoint) and assignments can be found at www.stevens.edu/moodle
4
Assignments
Assignment
Participation - Given the interactive and experiential nature of this course,
Grade Percent
10
active participation is a critical course requirement. You are expected to
keep up with all assigned readings and out-of-class assignments and
thereby be well prepared to participate in all class exercises, simulations,
and group discussions. Expect to spend at least four hours each week
working with course material.
Guidelines for managing stakeholders - Using a framework provided
in class, you will identify and analyze stakeholders in your
organization/program, describe the challenges associated with
managing those stakeholders, and generate a set of guidelines for
managing those stakeholders
Skill development plan- You will select a leadership skill (or skills)
you want to develop, create a detailed development plan, implement
the steps in that plan, and describe how you have measured your
progress over a six-week period.
Analysis of program or project team dynamics- In groups of 5 to 7, you
will participate in a 50-minute leaderless group discussion exercise
(the CTC Corporation Decision Making Exercise. You will then
observe and analyze a video recording of the team’s interactions to
create three written reports: (a) feedback for each team member, (b)
a self-assessment of the participant’s effectiveness, and (c) a detailed
analysis of the team’s interactions and dynamics.
Structured employment interview- For a focal job (e.g., project
manager) in your organization, you will (a) identify all the tasks and
activities performed on the job (as well as their relative importance),
(b) identify the knowledge, skills, abilities, experience, education,
and other characteristics (KSAOs) needed to perform those tasks and
activities successfully, (c) create six structured interview questions
(two each of past behavior, situational, and job knowledge
questions), each designed to assess one of the KSAOs, and (d) create
a scoring guide for each interview question (with examples of poor,
average, and excellent responses).
Final Exam - The final course exam will focus on specific theories and
principles covered in the required readings (including postings on
the course web site) or discussed in class.
Total Grade
10
15
20
20
25
100%
5
Ethical Conduct
The following statement is printed in the Stevens Graduate Catalog and applies to all
students taking Stevens courses, on and off campus.
“Cheating during in-class tests or take-home examinations or homework is, of course,
illegal and immoral. A Graduate Academic Evaluation Board exists to investigate
academic improprieties, conduct hearings, and determine any necessary actions. The
term ‘academic impropriety’ is meant to include, but is not limited to, cheating on
homework, during in-class or take home examinations and plagiarism.“
Consequences of academic impropriety are severe, ranging from receiving an “F” in a
course, to a warning from the Dean of the Graduate School, which becomes a part of the
permanent student record, to expulsion.
Reference:
The Graduate Student Handbook, Academic Year 2003-2004 Stevens
Institute of Technology, page 10.
Consistent with the above statements, all homework exercises, tests and exams that are
designated as individual assignments MUST contain the following signed statement
before they can be accepted for grading.
____________________________________________________________________
I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on
this assignment/examination. I further pledge that I have not copied any material from a
book, article, the Internet or any other source except where I have expressly cited the
source.
Signature ________________
Date: _____________
Please note that assignments in this class may be submitted to www.turnitin.com, a webbased anti-plagiarism system, for an evaluation of their originality.
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Course Schedule
Course Topic
Readings
Week 1 –
Course
introduction
and Overview
of Complex
Systems
Richardson (2008). Managing complex
organizations: Complexity thinking and the
science and art of management.
Emergence: Complexity and Organization,
10 (2), 13-26.
Hannah, S. T., Woolfolk, R.L. & Lord, R.G.
(2009). Leaders self-structure: A
framework for positive leadership. Journal
of Organizational Behavior, 30, 269-290.
You will identify the ways in
which your respective
organizations possess
characteristics of complex
systems and consider the
leadership challenges those
characteristics present.
Week 2 Decision
making in
complex
system
environments
Part I
Bohmer, R.M., Edmondson, A.C., & Roberto,
M.A. (2009,). Columbia’s Final Mission.
Harvard Business School, May.
Langewiesche, W. (2003, November).
Columbia’s last flight: The inside story of
the investigation and the catastrophe it laid
bare. The Atlantic Monthly, 58-87.
Vaughan, D. (1997). The trickle-down effect:
Policy decisions, risky work, and the
Challenger tragedy. California
Management Review, 39(2), 80-102.
You will compare and contrast
case studies of the Challenger
and Columbia Space Shuttle
tragedies as a means to
identify important principles
of group dynamics and
individual cognitive processes
that impact organizational
decision-making and how to
lead teams in such efforts. You
will then be required to relate
case dynamics to program and
or project dynamics in your
own organizations.
Griskevicius, V. Cialdini, R.B., Goldstein,
Week 3 N.J. (2008). Applying (and resisting) peer
Analysis of
influence. MIT Sloan Management Review.
program team
49(2), 84-88.
dynamics
Cialdini, R. & Martin, S. (2006). The power
of persuasion. Training Journal,
December, 40-45.
Mojzisch, A. & Schulz-Hardt, S. (2011).
Process gains in group decision
making: A conceptual analysis,
preliminary data, and tools for
practitioners. Journal of Managerial
Psychology, 26(3), 235-246.
Homework and Assignments
You will participate in the
CTC Corporation Decision
Making Exercise.
Subsequently, you will
observe and analyze a video
recording of the team’s
interactions to create three
written reports: (a) feedback
for each team member, (b) a
self-assessment your
effectiveness, and (c) a
detailed analysis of the team’s
interactions and dynamics.
You will then present your
analysis and feedback to
individual team members.
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Week 4 Decision
making in
complex
system
environments
Part II
Week 5 –
Decisionmaking in
complex
system
environments
(Case
analysis)
Roberto, M.A. (2002). Lessons from everest:
The interaction of cognitive bias,
psychological safety and system
complexity. California Management
Review, 45(1), 136-158, CMR245.
Bazerman, M.H., & Chugh, D. (2006,
January). Decisions without blinders.
Harvard Business Review.
Roberto, M.A., & Carioggia, G.M. (2003).
Mount Everest – 1996. Harvard Business
School.
You will participate in the
Everest Team decision-making
simulation as a means to
experience the challenges of
decision-making in complex
system environments. The
simulation story line
involves a challenging
expedition toward the
summit of Mt. Everest.
You will review and submit an
analysis of the Mount Everest
Case. Your analysis must
apply the principles of
complexity theory and
complex system decision
making covered up until this
point in the course and must
compare and contrast case
events with those you
experienced during the
simulation
8
Week 6 Leading
within and
across teams
Salas, E., Weaver, S.J., Rosen, M.A., &
Smith-Jentsch, K.A. (2009). Managing
team performance in complex settings:
Research-based best practices. In J.W.
Smither & M. London (Eds.),
Performance management: Putting
research into practice. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
Druskat, V. H. & Wolf, S.B. (2001). Building
the emotional intelligence of groups.
Harvard Business Review, March. 81-90,
R0103E.
Week 6 Leading
within and
across teams
Each team member will list (a)
the skills, knowledge, and
experiences shared by all the
team’s members, (b) the
unique skills, knowledge, and
experience of each of the other
team members, and (c) his or
her skills, knowledge, and
experience. The team will
then analyze the team’s
transactive memory (i.e.,
understanding of who knows
what on a team) by noting the
extent to which each member
accurately listed the unique
skills, knowledge, and
experiences of other members.
Salas, E., Weaver, S.J., Rosen, M.A., & SmithJentsch, K.A. (2009). Managing team
performance in complex settings: Researchbased best practices. In J.W. Smither & M.
London (Eds.), Performance management:
Putting research into practice. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Druskat, V. H. & Wolf, S.B. (2001). Building the
emotional intelligence of groups. Harvard
Business Review, March. 81-90, R0103E.
Each team member will
list (a) the skills,
knowledge, and
experiences shared by all
the team’s members, (b)
the unique skills,
knowledge, and
experience of each of the
other team members, and
(c) his or her skills,
knowledge, and
experience. The team
will then analyze the
team’s transactive
memory (i.e.,
understanding of who
knows what on a team)
by noting the extent to
which each member
accurately listed the
unique skills, knowledge,
and experiences of other
members.
9
Week 7 Personal
development
planning
McCall, M. W. (2010). Recasting leadership
development. Industrial & Organizational
Psychology: Perspectives on Science and
Practice. 3(1), 3-19.
Dominick, P.G, Squires, P. & Cervone, D. (2010).
Back to persons: On social cognitive products
and processes of leadership development.
Industrial & Organizational Psychology:
Perspectives on Science and Practice. 3(1), 3337.
With input from the
course instructor you will
create a personal
development plan,
identify development
activities (e.g., articles,
books, courses, web sites,
on-the-job activities and
experiences), and
document your work in
relation to the plan you
established
10
Week 8Managing
stakeholders
Brown, J.T. (2008). Stakeholder management.
In J.T. Brown, The handbook of program
management: How to facilitate project
success with optimal program management
(pp. 53-74). New York: McGraw Hill.
Andrade, L., Plowman, D.A., Duchon, D.
(2008). Getting past conflict resolution: A
complexity view of conflict. Emergence:
Complexity and Organization, 10(1), 23-38.
Using a framework
provided by the instructor,
you will identify and
analyze stakeholders in
your organization/program.
Then generate a set of
guidelines for managing
stakeholders.
Week 9 International
and culturally
diverse aspects
of leadership
House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Javidan, M.,
Dorfman, P. W., & Gupta, V. (Eds.). (2004).
Culture, leadership, and organizations: The
GLOBE study of 62 societies. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage.
Ibarra, H. (1996, January 31). National cultures
and work-related values: The Hofstede
study. Harvard Business School. 496044PDF-ENG
Morrison, T., & Conaway, W. A. (2006). Kiss,
bow, or shake hands: The bestselling guide
to doing business in more than 60 countries
(2nd ed.). Avon, MA: Adams Media.
Using first-hand
observations or secondhand information from
others, you will describe
and discuss characteristics
of cultures where your
organization conducts
business. Compare your
descriptions to data from
Hofstede and the GLOBE
study.
Week 10 Shaping
Program and
organizational
culture
Edmondson, A. (2005, Winter). Promoting
experimentation for organizational learning:
The mixed effects of inconsistency. Rotman
Magazine, 20-23.
Harder, J. (1999). Primer on organizational
culture. Darden Business Publishing.
Sorensen, J.B. (2009). Note on organizational
culture. Stanford Graduate School of
Business.
Schein, E.H. (1996). Three cultures of
management. The key to organizational
learning. Sloan Management Review. 38(1),
9-20.
Tushman, M.L., & O’Reilly III, C.A. (2002).
Shaping organizational culture. In M.L.
Tushman & C.A. O’Reilly III, Winning
through innovation: A practical guide to
leading organizational change and renewal.
Boston: MA: Harvard Business School
Press.
You will find and analyze
50 symbols of your
organization’s culture
(using the ‘symbol
generator’). Describe (a)
what each symbol conveys
about the organization’s
culture, (b) whether and
how the symbols reinforce
each other, (c) how the
symbols (individually or
collectively) help shape the
organization’s culture, and
(d) ways in which the
symbols help or hurt the
organization or its
individual members.
Consider what symbols
need to be changed,
replaced, or retained to
create a more desirable
organizational culture.
11
Week 11 Leading
Change
Collins, J.C., & Porras, J.I. (1996, September).
Building your company’s vision. Harvard
Business Review.
Kotter, J.P. (2007, January). Leading change:
Why transformation efforts fail. Harvard
Business Review.
Kim, C.W. & Mauborgne, W. (2003, April).
Tipping point leadership. Harvard Business
Review.RO304D
Mason, R.B. (2008). Management action
attitudes to change and perceptions of the
external environment: A complexity theory
approach. Journal of General Management.
34(1), 34-53.
You will analyze the K-2
Engineering Holdings Inc.
case study and create
recommendations for
leading an organizational
change initiative.
12
Week 12 Selecting
talent
Campion, M. A., Pursell, E. D., & Brown, B. K.
(1988). Structured interviewing: Raising the
psychometric properties of the employment
interview. Personnel Psychology, 41, 25-42.
Janz, T. (1982). Initial comparisons of patterned
behavior description interviews versus
unstructured interviews. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 67, 577-580.
Orpen, C. (1985). Patterned behavior
description interviews versus unstructured
interviews: A comparative validity study.
Journal of Applied Psychology, 70, 774-776.
Weekley, J. A., & Gier, J. A. (1987). Reliability
and validity of the situational interview for a
sales position. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 72, 484-487.
You will create a jobrelated structured interview
for a focal job (e.g., project
manager) in your
organization. You will (a)
identify all the tasks and
activities performed on the
job (as well as their relative
importance), (b) identify the
knowledge, skills, abilities,
experience, education, and
other characteristics
(KSAOs) needed to perform
those tasks and activities
successfully, (c) create six
structured interview
questions (two each of past
behavior, situational, and
job knowledge questions),
each designed to assess one
of the KSAOs, and (d)
create a scoring guide for
each interview question
(with examples of poor,
average, and excellent
responses).
Week 13 Developing
talent through
coaching and
empowerment
Peterson, D. B. (2006). People are complex and
the world is messy: A behavior-based
approach to executive coaching. In D.R.
Stober & A.M. Grant (Eds.), Evidence-based
coaching handbook: Putting best practices
to work with your clients. Hoboken, NJ:
Wiley.
Silzer, R. Church, H. (2009). The pearls and
perils of identifying potential. Industrial &
Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on
Science and Practice V. 2(4). 377-412.
Complete a case analysis
using the ‘leadership
pipeline’ model to diagnose
issues facing a team leader
and create a plan to coach
the team leader. Then
apply the ‘leadership
pipeline’ model to a
coworker that you have
coached or will coach.
Week 14 –
Exam/Final
The Exam will be
presentation-based analysis
13
Presentations
of a real-life case and or
actual workplace initiative
undertaken by students
14