MGMT 1250
Principles of Leadership
2014-15
Instructor
Name
Email | Website
Office | Office Hours
Course
Description
This is a Concurrent Enrollment Course, offering both high school credit through ______________ High
School and college credit through Utah Valley University. Credit from this course is transferable to all
colleges and universities. Contact the receiving institution for how the credits will be applied.
Overviews principles of leadership. Provides students with information on successful leadership styles.
Includes lectures, videos, cases, group activities, and class discussion.
Leadership. What is it? Who has it? Can it be taught? Is it the same as management? How does it affect
organizations? What are the issues for student leaders?
We talk about leadership as though it were a clearly understood concept. While we may not be able to
concisely define it, “we know it when we see it.” Or do we? As leadership scholar James MacGregor Burns
(1978) remarked almost thirty years ago, “Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood
phenomena on earth.” This course is designed to engage students in essential intellectual questions relating
to the areas of knowledge and competence that are fundamental to the study and practice of leadership.
Through discussion, lecture, research, readings and activities, students will review basic myths and principles
of leadership; including leadership theory, the relational leadership model, the context of leadership in
groups, and ethics and leadership. These various components of the course are intended to challenge
students to think critically and imaginatively about the foundations of leadership. Students will be
responsible for crafting their own model of leadership that reflects the material covered in the course.
The philosophy of teaching and learning in this class requires students to be active participants in the
learning process. It is imperative that students come to class prepared to discuss and engage with the
material and other students. Learning can and should be challenging intellectually and requires hard work
and time. Your involvement in helping the course meet your needs as a student leader will be assessed
throughout the semester.
Prerequisites
This class is available to all high school juniors and seniors in good academic standing. High school
prerequisites apply. There are no college prerequisites for this course.
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Learning Outcomes
1. Students will be able to express their knowledge and ideas appropriately in writing and through
verbal presentation.
a. Students will deliver a professional quality presentation to an audience while using
appropriate, supporting technology.
2. Students will be able to utilize appropriate procedures, frameworks, models, and experience to gain
knowledge, solve problems, and make appropriate decisions based on various informational sources
such as data, written and verbal communication, process analysis, and creative thinking.
3. Students will have a functional and integrated knowledge of general leadership concepts and
themes.
a. Students will demonstrate their ability to integrate knowledge from a variety of leadership
perspectives.
4. Students will become more aware of their responsibility to behave ethically in their professional
lives (e.g., clients, customers, employers, society, profession, environment, and community).
a. Students will demonstrate an awareness of a variety of ethical issues in their own personal
and professional lives.
b. Students will demonstrate the ability to use appropriate ethical decision-making strategies
toward plans to resolve their own ethical issues and challenges.
5. Students will apply leadership concepts to developing solutions for realistic problems both in the
classroom and/or the larger community.
Course Topics
1. Defining Leadership:
a. Students will begin to develop a personal definition of leadership and evaluate that definition in
light of their current leadership experience and knowledge. This course will focus on three
major content areas of leadership:
i. Personal Leadership
ii. Organizational Leadership
iii. Global Leadership
2. Personal Leadership Profile:
a. Students will start with examining the self in the context of leadership. They will develop a
personal profile of their own leadership strengths and talents, which will be assisted through
activities such as the Reflected Best Self exercise.
3. Leadership in the Context of Community:
a. Students will begin thinking about their leadership in the context of working with others. The
practical aspects of group development and dynamics will be explored.
4. Leadership Theory:
a. Students will be introduced to leadership theory models, particularly in light of existing
leadership experiences and dispositions. The relational leadership model will be used as a frame
for understanding leadership, and historical views of leadership will be explored.
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5. Leadership Concepts:
a. The following elements of leadership will be given special emphasis throughout the course:
vision, goals, motivation, decision-making, time management, power, team building, conflict,
dealing with change, communication skills, ethics, and diversity issues.
Text | Instructional Material
1. Text: Principles of Leadership: Student Workbook.
2. Text: Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice, (2nd Edition), Peter G. Northouse.
Assignments & Activities
1. Class participation and attendance (100 points):
a. This is one of the most important aspects of learning. One of the best ways to obtain
knowledge is to participate in class discussion and become engaged with the course
materials. For this reason, I expect each of you to come to class having read the assigned
materials, and prepared to discuss your thoughts and express your opinion on the subject.
b. I will not lecture in this class. I will come prepared each day to conduct a class discussion. I
am not a lecturer, I am a facilitator. I promise that I will put forth the time to make the class
enjoyable and interesting, but I expect you to do the same—it is my opinion that each of us
will learn from the materials provided, but that we will learn the most from each other.
c. During our class discussions I expect you to voice your opinion! Even if your opinion is not
the same as mine or anyone else in class. If you don’t have an opinion on the subjects we
are discussing, I expect you to critically analyze the assigned readings and come to class
prepared to develop one. Along these lines: EACH OPINION AND IDEA EXPRESSED BY
ANYONE IN THE CLASS WILL BE RESPECTED! WHILE I ENCOURAGE US TO CULTIVATE AN
ATMOSPHERE WHERE WE AGREE TO DISAGREE, THERE WILL BE NO TOLERATION FOR
DISRESPECT. IF YOU DISRESPECT ANYONE IN THE CLASS, YOU WILL LOSE ALL OF YOUR CLASS
PARTICIPATION POINTS FOR THE TERM!
d. There will be 100 class participation points possible and they will be calculated at the end of
the term based on how much each of you contributes to the daily discussions.
2. Presentations (150 points):
a. There will be two presentations in this class. The first is an individual presentation delivered
in conjunction with one of the assigned lessons in the class. You will watch one of the
suggested films (or one of your own that illustrates the topic of the lesson) and give a 15minute presentation in which you show clips from the movie and share insights on the
lesson topic (50 points).
b. Each of you will also have the chance to participate in a group presentation. In small groups,
you will conduct a presentation that teaches one area of leadership to the class. This
creative, fun—yet educational—presentation should be about 20 minutes long and
introduce the class to new material. It will be graded according to content, creativity, and
cogency (100 points).
i. These presentations may include video clips, group/class activities, or other creative
presentation methods. These group presentations will be scheduled toward the end
of the semester.
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3. Journal (50 points):
a. You will need to purchase a notebook of some kind, to be kept separately from your class
notes. The notebook will be your leadership journal that will include an entry for each day
class is held. You are to write an entry that describes your experience from each class and
identify the major leadership lesson or concept learned that day.
b. These leadership journals will be handed in toward the end of the semester. The leadership
journals will be worth 50 points.
4. Leadership Integration Paper (200 points):
a. In this course you will be expected to submit a 4-6 page leadership integration paper. The
purpose of this paper is to help you synthesize and integrate the concepts covered in the
course. You may choose one of the following options for your paper:
i. Leadership Biography Paper: Select a well-known leader from history and read a
biography on his/her life. After reading the biography, you will submit a paper that
summarizes the reading from a leadership perspective.
ii. Leadership Reflection Paper: Develop a comprehensive model for leadership. This
model will include the following elements: your definition of leadership as it is
informed by material from the course; your personal reflections on leadership; an
explanation of how your understanding of leadership has matured throughout the
semester; and your leadership goals.
iii. Reflected-Best-Self Paper: This paper enables students to identify their unique
strengths and talents by requesting positive feedback from significant people in his
or her life and then synthesizing it into a cumulative portrait of his or her “best self.”
You will meet with 3-5 significant people in your life and ask them to identify your
leadership strengths. Your paper will consist of a summary of this experience
including an explanation of what you discovered through the project.
5. Exams (200 points):
a. There will be two exams in this course. Each exam will be worth a total of 100 points.
Each exam will consist of multiple-choice questions. These questions will be taken from the assigned
reading and in-class discussion.
6. Defining Leadership:
a. Students will begin to develop a personal definition of leadership and evaluate that definition in
light of their current leadership experience and knowledge. This course will focus on three
major content areas of leadership:
i. Personal Leadership
ii. Organizational Leadership
iii. Global Leadership
7. Personal Leadership Profile:
a. Students will start with examining the self in the context of leadership. They will develop a
personal profile of their own leadership strengths and talents, which will be assisted through
activities such as the Reflected Best Self exercise.
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8. Leadership in the Context of Community:
a. Students will begin thinking about their leadership in the context of working with others. The
practical aspects of group development and dynamics will be explored.
9. Leadership Theory:
a. Students will be introduced to leadership theory models, particularly in light of existing
leadership experiences and dispositions. The relational leadership model will be used as a frame
for understanding leadership, and historical views of leadership will be explored.
10. Leadership Concepts:
a. The following elements of leadership will be given special emphasis throughout the course:
vision, goals, motivation, decision-making, time management, power, team building, conflict,
dealing with change, communication skills, ethics, and diversity issues.
Department
Assessment
Class participation
100 points
Presentations
150 points
Journals
50 points
Leadership Paper
200 points
Exams
200 points
Assignments
200 points
Total
900 points
Grading Scale
A = 100-93
A - = 92-90
B+ = 89-87
B = 86-83
B - = 82-80
C+ = 79-77
C = 76-73
C - = 72-70
D+ = 69-67
D = 66-63
D - = 62-60
F = 59-0
Grades and Credit
You will receive the same grade for your high school course as you receive for your college course. Your
grade for this class will become part of your permanent college transcript and will affect your GPA. A low
grade in this course can affect college acceptance and scholarship eligibility.
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University
Academic Integrity
Utah Valley University expects all students to maintain integrity and high standards of individual honesty in
academic work, to obey the law, and to show respect for others. Students of this class are expected to
support an environment of academic integrity, have the right to such an environment, and should avoid all
aspects of academic dishonesty. Examples of academic dishonesty include plagiarizing, faking of data,
sharing information during an exam, discussing an exam with another student who has not taken the exam,
consulting reference material during an exam, submitting a written assignment which was authored by
someone other than you, and/or cheating in any form. Violators of this policy will be subject to disciplinary
action. Cheating will not be tolerated. It will result in a FAILING grade for the course.
In keeping with UVU policy, evidence of academic dishonesty may result in a failing grade in the course and
disciplinary review by the college. Additional information on this topic is published in the student handbook
and is available on the UVU website.
Students with Disabilities
If you have any disability, which may impair your ability to successfully, complete this course, please contact
the Accessibility Services office, 863-8747, BU 146. Academic accommodations are granted for all students
who have qualified documented disabilities. All services are coordinated with the Accessibility Services
office.
Dropping the Class
_________ is the last day to drop the course without it showing on your transcript.
_________ is the last day to withdraw from the class.
If you drop the high school class, you must also withdraw from the UVU class to avoid receiving an E or UW
(unofficial withdrawal).
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