PD2: Leadership
Course No. STSS 4962 Spring 2000, Session 1
Sec. 1 CRN 31929; Sec. 2 CRN 31930; Sec. 3 CRN 31931
Syllabus
Prof. Linnda Caporael
caporl@rpi.edu
TA: Ms. Jill Fisher
fishej5@rpi.edu
Office: Sage 5405, Tel. x8519
Hours: Tues. 2-3 pm & by appt.
Office: Sage 5502
Hours: Fri., 10-11:50 & by appt.
Required Textbook
Goldberg, D. E. (1995). Lifeskills and leadership for engineers. McGraw-Hill. (Bookstore,
facsimile copy)
Fast Company’s Leadership Kit (Bookstore)
Readings packet, Available at Sage 5202
Course Description
This course will not teach you to be a leader in just seven weeks! Rather we use film, selected
readings and discussion to learn to recognize and evaluate good and bad leadership. The
emphasis is on different social and organizational situations and learning some useful tips and
tricks. The course goal is to help you develop an appreciation of leadership styles, contexts, and
decision making. There will be individual and group exercises to improve communication skills
and to develop a clearer understanding of your personal, professional and cultural values.
IDEA Objectives
Essential


Gaining a broader understanding and appreciation of leadership as an
intellectual/cultural activity
Learning to analyze and critically evaluate ideas, arguments and points of view
Important



Acquiring skills in working with others as members of a team
Developing a clearer understanding of and commitment to personal, cultural, and
professional values
Developing skills in oral and written communication
Course policies
Professionalism
This is a professional development course, and one of its requirements is that you know how to
handle yourself in a professional manner. You are expected to know the syllabus, just as you
are expected to know your job. You are expected to be in class on time, just as you would be
expected to be at a meeting at your job on time. Similarly, you would not go to meeting
unprepared to do the work of the meeting, nor would you come to this class unprepared.
Professionalism influences your participation grade.
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Grading
There are no tests, quizzes, or final projects. Assignments are graded on a plus, check, minus
or npy (not passed yet) basis. These notations are for feedback purposes only. Plus means
excellent, thoughtful and well-presented job. Check means within the wide and acceptable
range of variation at the junior and senior college level. Minus means accepted, but could be
improved by greater effort, more thought, or greater care in presentation. If you pass all the
assignments, you receive an A for the course. (If you anticipate any problems getting an A in the
course, see your section leader immediately.) If you do an outstanding job in the course, I will
recommend to the Undergraduate Dean that you be awarded an Academic Citation, which goes
into your permanent record.
Grading:
40% Preparation Notebook
20% Debate preps and presentation
15% Writing assignments
10% Inclass project
5% Project statement presentation
10% Class participation
I expect all work will be completed to a satisfactory level in a timely manner. 5% of your grade
will be deducted for npy assignments that are not revised or submitted. Unprofessional
behavior, e.g., frequently being late to class, will also cause a deduction to your grade.
Academic Dishonesty
Don’t even think about it.
Cheating, plagiarism, lying and other forms of academic dishonesty are a violation of trust in
student-peer and student-teacher relationships. The Rensselaer Handbook defines various
forms of academic dishonesty and procedures for responding to them. You should read this
portion of the handbook—the penalties are severe. Students who hand in the work of others as
their own automatically receive an F; so will those who lend their work to be copied.
Gender-neutral Language
Gender neutral language is required in this course as it is in most professional and scientific
journals. If you have not used gender-neutral language in high school, it may seem odd to you
(just like gender-biased language seems odd to me). You can find tips for writing by visiting the
Writing Center or seeing their web page http://www.rpi.edu/web/writingcenter/genderfair.html (If
you have trouble getting to this page directly, go to
http://www.rpi.edu/web/writingcenter/handouts.html)
Attendance
Participation in class is required and attendance will be taken at every class meeting. If you
must miss a class, you should do so when a film is being shown. It is up to you to tell your
section leader before you miss class. You are responsible for obtaining the worksheet related to
the film and a copy of the film for your own viewing. Some films are available at the library.
Unfortunately, I cannot lend you the department’s video. You may miss one class during nonfilm day, but you are still responsible for the assigned homework.
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Notebook
Preparation and participation will be a critical part of your grade. Your notebook serves two
purposes—it is a record of your learning by engaging with the course materials and the basis for
your class participation. Your notebook will contain your class syllabus, debate preps and
handouts. Notes do not need to be typed, but they need to be legible and make enough sense
that your instructor can understand your point. Your handouts and notes should be neatly bound
in a 3-ring binder or in a folder with your material held together in a binder clamp. Loose notes
or notes in folders will not be accepted.
You are not allowed to let a student copy your notebook pages—that comes under academic
dishonesty. Notebooks will be collected twice in the session; see Schedule at the end of this
syllabus.
Late assignments
Late assignments will not be accepted unless you have a prior agreement with your instructor, a
written excuse from the Dean of Students Office or an excused absence.
Grade appeals
The student handbook lists three reasons for grade appeals. If you wish to appeal your course
grade, you must submit a written appeal letter to the course instructor showing the relevance of
your appeal to the allowed reasons.
Writing assignments (summary)
Your writing assignments are based on standard formulations that you're likely to have to
produce at various times as a professional and as a citizen. The writing assignments are very
short so that you can emphasize the production of good writing. Each assignment requires that
you hand in a handwritten free-write (see Goldberg, ch. 2), a first draft (handwritten or printout)
with corrections, and a polished, type-written final draft. The three writing assignments (an
advocacy memo, a job description, and a networking email) are described in a separate
handout, "Writing Assignments." Assignments turned in for grading should be stapled and
pages should be numbered. Unstapled material will be returned without grading.
Debate preparation (summary)
Debates will give you skill in thinking on your feet, experience talking spontaneously in front of a
group, and practice anticipating counter arguments.
To prepare for debates, you must come to class with both an affirmative statement of position
on the debate question and a negative statement of position. Each statement should be
accompanied by five affirmative points and five negative points. For one each of your "pro" and
your "con" points, you need to have a concrete supporting claim (e.g., example, statistic, etc.).
In making your points, you may draw on examples from film and everyday life as illustrations of
your point, but not as proof of your point. Your points should draw at least on the readings, but
you're also encouraged to use information from the web, journals, magazines, films, etc. Cite
your sources—if anyone questions you, you need to be able to say where you got your
information. There will be a vote at the end of class for the best debate team. Debate
preparations should be typed or legibly written and go into your notebook.
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PD2, Spring 01, 1st Session Schedule
Week
Topics, Readings, and Due Dates
1
Introduction
Jan. 9
Film excerpt "The Last Place on Earth" about Scott and Amundson's race to
the South Pole
Section

C. Wright Mills, “The sociological imagination,”
John Schumacher, “To Change the Way Things Are”
 Goldberg, Ch. 1, 9
 Fast Co. Leadership Kit
Debate prep “Was Hitler a great leader?”

2
Leadership in Families
Jan 16
Film: The Great Santini
 Walking Tour of Troy for next week (Handout)
Section

David Popenoe, "Breakup of the Family: Can We Reverse the Trend?"
Shere Hite, “Bringing Democracy Home”
 Remarks on SB390by Representative Dan E. Ponder
http://www.swans.com/library/art6/zig052.html
 “Aim for the Stars”
http://www.rpi.edu/dept/NewsComm/Magazine/sept99/jackson.html
 Goldberg, Ch. 2
Due: Debate prep “Do traditional families provide superior foundations for
learning leadership?”

3
Leadership in the Community
Jan. 23
Due: Walking Tour of Troy
Guest Lecturer: Mayor Mark Pattison
 “The Right Approach: Reconnecting Troy and RPI.”
http://www.rpi.edu/dept/NewsComm/Magazine/sept99/approach.html
 “National Engineers Week Ideas for your Community”
http://www.eweek.org/2000/Engineers/zoo.shtml Explore this site
thoroughly.
 Crockett, “Transforming Chattanooga into an environmental city,’ in Ecopioneers: Practical visionaries solving today’s environmental problems.
Section

4
Leadership and Society
Jan 30
Due: Advocacy/proposal letter
Film: Courage Under Fire
Section

Read Goldberg Ch. 7
In-class team exercise: Transforming Troy into a Technological Town
Due: Notebooks


J. Platt, “Social Traps”
Goldberg, Ch. 4
“Your future as a professional engineer in the public service,” p. 5 to the
end. (This is a 3-column brochure in the form of a .pdf file. I recommend
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reading on-line; the color makes for poor quality xeroxing.)
http://www.ieaust.org.au/issues/publications.html Click on #4.
Debate prep: Should engineers have a role in public service comparable to
other professionals (e.g., doctors and lawyers)?
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Leadership in Organizations
Feb. 6
Film: Roger and Me
Section

Goldberg, Ch. 6 & 8
Enloe, “The Globe-trotting sneaker.”
Debate prep: Do Nike and other large corporations exploit workers in
developing countries?

6
Leadership and Ethics
Feb. 13
Film: China Syndrome
 Darley, “How organizations socialize individuals into evildoing”
 Wagenaar, “The ethics of not spending money on safety”
 Online Ethics Center: NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers
http://onlineethics.org/codes/NSPEcode.html
Section
Debate prep: Should ethical literacy be part of the performance evaluations
of engineers?
Due: Job announcements, networking email
7
Wrap-up and Course Evaluations
Feb 20
Monday schedule; no class for Lecture or Section 1
Section 2 & 3
(usual times,
2/21 & 2/23)
Due: Notebooks
Course evaluations
Feb. 27
Section 1
(usual time)
Guest speaker, TBA
Due: Notebooks
Course evaluations