Revised on 13.04.2020
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
NUS Business School
Department of Management and Organisation
BMA5016A Leadership in Organizations (2 Credit Module)
Professor:
Dr. Chia Ho Beng Chiahb@nus.edu.sg; Office: Mochtar Riady Building #8-38
Session: Semester 1, 2012/2013
When I was asked to teach this course, I talked to Lawrence Wong, a person whom I have tremendous respect, and who has been teaching leadership like forever. He helped shape my thoughts about what I wanted to do, and about what aspiring leaders have to do. Thus, I acknowledge here his intellectual and mentoring contributions.
Lawrence helped me explicate the following issues:
1.
What is the real purpose of this module? Is it to transmit leadership knowledge and ensure retention or is it to help people become excellent leaders?
2.
Why is it so that so much has been researched and taught about leadership and yet our experience of excellent leadership is a rarity rather than the norm?
3.
If learning individuals and learning organizations is the cornerstone in excellent leadership, why do we teach leadership in the same way instead of improving the effectiveness?
4.
What prevents smart bright people from becoming excellent leaders? and How can we find practical ways to help them BECOME what they can be?
Other sources of insight for this module come from the Center of Creative Leadership (CCL) where I am an adjunct executive coach, and also from the executive programs on leadership run by London School of Economic, where I am involved as a facilitator. In these programs the focus is mainly on self-awareness and helping executives identify the areas of leadership they wish to improve.
Constraints
The greatest constraint here is time given for this module. It allows us little time to reflect on our actions, decide what we wish to change, then pursue with the support of others to effect those changes. Thus, I can only help you start this journey: I will try to establish connectivity among the participants as a learning or support network. As further support for your growth, please feel free to bounce things off me (nothing solid that can hurt please!). I am always in the telephone directory, and my current mobile number is +65 91877580.
Dr. Chia Ho Beng • Department of Management &Organisation • National University of Singapore
• Mobile 91877580 • Email ChiaHB@nus.edu.sg
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Revised on 13.04.2020
Course Objectives
Thus, this course is the start of a LEARNING JOURNEY for us to find answers to these issues. Let me explain what I see in the key word “learning.” Firstly, excellent leadership is about learning and changing on the part of the leader, and those around them. It is about making personal change that will radiate and cause others to change. Secondly, excellent leadership is about helping your direct reports learn and change. Thus, to become an excellent leader, and be continually excellent, you will have to
1.
Learn to learn and change,
2.
Learn to apply the “technology” involved in learning to learn and change
3.
Learn to help others to learn to learn and change as well as apply the “technology” for learning and change
There are many theories and “technologies” for learning and changing. Knowledge about all of them will not achieve our 3 key objectives. We will instead focus on selected few that I believe gives us the greatest probability of achieving these objectives. Thus, this will not be a textbook “cramping” module. Instead this module will look and feel more like an organizational development intervention. Since we are constraint by time, we will try to maximize our contact time doing things that need contact. There will be no summary of readings (read lectures) you are expected to read on your own. Instead of using the mind as a warehouse, we will try to use our minds as instruments to be played. Hopefully, when we play together (think Jazz jams) we can make good music.
Tentative Course Content
1.
Introduction to leadership
2.
Leadership and self-awareness
3.
Leadership: “Who are you?” and “Who do you want to be”
4.
Leadership, mindsets, change, and emotions
5.
Leadership, teams, and influence
6.
Becoming a leader
7.
Helping others be leaders
Participants
When I designed this course, I assumed that the MBA students, like the batches before them, have a high level of maturity, self discipline, and responsibility. Those who do not meet these criteria does not belong in this class and should seriously consider taking this module under a different instructor. If you check on my reputation, you will likely to find that I am an activist, sometimes controversial, I value integrity in myself and others, and that I have no qualms about calling a spade a spade. In those respect, those who put in cursory effort will get their just reward, and no amount of review, appeal, or political pressure will change that.
Dr. Chia Ho Beng • Department of Management &Organisation • National University of Singapore
• Mobile 91877580 • Email ChiaHB@nus.edu.sg
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Revised on 13.04.2020
In this module, you will learn about yourself, particularly the blind spots and shadow areas.
This will be uncomfortable at times and require all of us to keep things confidential and require all of us to be open and supportive. When you learn to be supportive in class, you will go a long way in being supportive so that others can feel more comfortable in thinking and behaving in different and more effective ways.
Our Organizational Culture
1.
3HTs - High Trust, High Touch, High Task
2.
Maximize our collective potentials
3.
Open and experiential approach to learning
4.
Appreciative Action Learning (Combination of Appreciative Inquiry and Action
Learning)
5.
Maximum participation, creativity, and spontaneity
6.
Collaborative, constructive, and developmental critiques
Assessment
Assessment will be as follows:
1.
Mission statement with rationale and justification
2.
4 Column Exercise
Origins of your 3 Big Assumptions; Testing your 3 Big Assumptions
Action plan to improve your leadership with
SMART goals, Timelines, and Evaluation matrices
Late submission penalties
Wt
25%
25%
25%
25%
Five marks / day will be deducted for final submissions (those on DD/MM). The heavy penalty reflects the short time frame I am given to grade and submit marks.
All work must be submitted to the appropriate bins, in the appropriate file labels.
No other submissions will be accepted (no hard copy, no email attachments).
Please make sure all your assignments appear in the correct work-bins. This is your responsibility .
I will not read your file if it is not correctly labeled nor will I look for your file if it is not submitted in the correct bin. This is your responsibility.
Dr. Chia Ho Beng • Department of Management &Organisation • National University of Singapore
• Mobile 91877580 • Email ChiaHB@nus.edu.sg
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Revised on 13.04.2020
Let me explain why. At the end of each term, the window to submit grade is very short. I have 5 modules that I teach this semester, and have little time to search every possible bin for your CAs (which I have done often). I would hope that at terms end, I can go to each workbin and look at the files and take an inventory of everyone’s work - assignments from participants in 5 modules. That is a lot of assignments in the inventory!!
Final Grade
As in all grading exercises in the Singapore schools, the final grade reflects your performance relative to your peers. Foreign students please take note and consult your Singaporean
counterparts on this issue. This is your responsibility.
I do not want any misunderstandings or to debate this issue when you receive your official grade.
Dr. Chia Ho Beng • Department of Management &Organisation • National University of Singapore
• Mobile 91877580 • Email ChiaHB@nus.edu.sg
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Revised on 13.04.2020
Evolving Reading List
Appreciative Inquiry
Barnett & Pratt From threat-rigidity to flexibility
Journal of Organizational Change Management, 2000, 13,74-88
Hall &
Hammond
Staw, Standelan,
& Dutton
Strong
What is Appreciative Inquiry? http://www.thinbook.com/docs/doc-whatisai.pdf
Threat-rigidity effects in organizational behavior: A multi-level analysis
Administrative Quarterly, 1981, 26, 501-524
Argyris
Notes on Appreciative Inquiry http://www.california.com/~rathbone/strong6.htm
Conversations and Learning Loops
Empowerment: The emperor’s new clothes
Harvard Business Review, 1998
Argyris
Atherton
Brouwer
Compilations by Mark K Smith http://www.infed.org/thinkers/argyris.htm
Theories of action, double-loop learning and organizational learning
The experiential learning cycle http://www.learningandteaching.info/learnng/experience.html# experiential%20learning%20styles
The power to see ourselves
Harvard Business Review, 1964, 42,156-163
Ford & Ford The role of conversations in producing intentional change in organizations
Academy Management Review, 1995, 20, 541-570
Gill Change management and change leadership
Journal of Change Management, 2003, 3, 307-313
Kegan & Lahey The real reason people won’t change
Harvard Business Review, 2001
Liedtka &
Rosenblum
Maccoby
McFarland
Nathans
Shaping conversations: Making strategy and managing change
California Management Review, 1996, 39, 141-157
Interactive dialogue as a tool for change
Research Technology Management, 1996, 39, 57-59
Leadership and learning: The art of asking questions
Harvard Management Updates 2001
Compilations by Hannah Nathans www.iac.wur.nl/iaclo/htmlarea/ docs/msp/DoubleLoopLearning.doc
Double loop learning
Dr. Chia Ho Beng • Department of Management &Organisation • National University of Singapore
• Mobile 91877580 • Email ChiaHB@nus.edu.sg
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Revised on 13.04.2020
Piggot-Irvine
Schon
Senge
Shapiro
Wyrick
Bernhut
Bowling
Brunetti
Facilitating openness and learning partnership in action research http://www.education.up.ac.za/alarpm/PRP_pdf/Piggot_Irvine.pdf
Compilations by Mark K Smith http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-schon.htm
Learning reflection and change
Compilations by Mark K Smith http://www.infed.org/thinkers/senge.htm
The learning organization and leadership
Book Review of “Managing in a Cappuccino Economy” by Argyris
Harvard Business Review, 2000
Understanding learning styles to be a more effective leader and engineering manager
Leadership
Primal leadership: Interview with Goleman
Ivy Business Journal, 2002
Book review of “The Spirit of Leadership: Liberating the Leader in Each of Us” by Owen
Leadership Quarterly,2001, 12, 369-371
The cluetrain manifesto: Customers and employees as people
Total Quality Management, 2003, 14, 243-248
Farkas &
Wetlaufer
The ways chief executive officers lead
Harvard Business Review, 1966
Goffee & Jones What hold modern companies together
Harvard Business Review, 1996
Goleman What makes a leader?
Harvard Business Review, 1998
Goleman Leadership that gets results
Harvard Business Review, 2000
Goleman,
Boyatzis, &
McKee
Primal leadership: The hidden driver of great performance
Harvard Business Review, 2001, 79, 42-50
Hamilton &
Schriesheim
Kets De Vries
Book review of “Leadership & Spirit by Moxley”
Leadership Quarterly, 2001, 12, 373-375
High performance teams: Lessons form the pygmies
Organizational Dynamics, 1999
Kim &
Mauborgne
Fair process: Managing in the knowledge economy
Harvard Business Review, 2003, 81, 127-137
Dr. Chia Ho Beng • Department of Management &Organisation • National University of Singapore
• Mobile 91877580 • Email ChiaHB@nus.edu.sg
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Revised on 13.04.2020
Lichtenstein,
Smith, & Torbet
Mintzberg
Parry & Proctor-
Thomson
Leadership and ethical development: Balancing light and shadow
Business Ethics Quarterly, 1995, 5, 97-116
The MBA menace
Fast Company, 2004, 83, 31-32
Leadership, culture, and performance: The case of the New Zealand public sector
Journal of Change Management, 2003, 3, 376-399
Peffer & Sutton Smart talk trap
Harvard Business Review, 1999
Rapaport
Senge
To build a winning team: An interview with head coach Bill Walsh
Harvard Business Review, 1993
The leader’s new work: Building learning organizations
Sloan Management Review, 1990, 32, 7-23
Simon & Davila How high is your return on management?
Harvard Business Review, 1998
Thomas &
Bennis
Yang & Shao
Leadership Crucibles
Executive Excellence, 2002, 19, p3-4
Shared leadership in self-managed teams: A competing values approach
Total Quality Management, 1996, 7, 521-534
Zaleznik Managers and leaders: Are they different
Harvard Business Review, 1977
Pre-Module Work
1.
Read Course webpage and outline
2.
Complete 360 Leadership Questionnaire(MFLQ) self rating plus 2 other ratings
3.
Do the online Jung type test http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
4.
Do the online Big 5 http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/
5.
Inter-personal skill inventory http://inst.santafe.cc.fl.us/~mwehr/HumanRel/XasScale.htm
6.
Work values inventory http://www.mrs.umn.edu/services/career/career_planning/workvalues2.php
Bring all to the 1 st
session.
Dr. Chia Ho Beng • Department of Management &Organisation • National University of Singapore
• Mobile 91877580 • Email ChiaHB@nus.edu.sg
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