PAD5434 Leadership
Instructor: Tom Kramer
Fall, 2010
Work telephone: 850.474.2949
Email address: tkramer@uwf.edu
Office location: 77/105
Overview of the Course
This is an introductory, graduate level course in leadership. Leadership is one of those
phenomena that occurs in all organizations and any time people form in groups. As such
leadership in one sector or type of organization is the same process. The difference in leadership
from one sector, such as the public vs. the for-profit sector, is the context, the norms, the
traditions, etc. that one finds from sector to sector. But the underlying process and principles are
the same. What becomes interesting is to be able to understand the context or situation and then
determine which management and leadership approach makes the most sense in that situation.
Therefore, a good deal of the learning in this course will require that you apply the processes and
principles to your own work setting. I will ask you to do this through questions in various places,
through case analysis, through discussion, and through direct application.
Student Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the course students will be able to:









describe the essential components to leadership and its connection to one's own work
experiencedescribe, compare and contrast the major leadership models
distinguish managing from leading and its implications
describe the unique advantages of participation, delegation and empowerment and how to
use them
describe the difference between power and influence
describe the differences between transactional and transformational leadership
articulate a strategic leadership approach
use different decision-making styles appropriately
describe and implement ethical leadership
assess ones own strengths and developmental needs as a leader

apply the material to your own work setting
Required texts
Northouse, P. (2007). Leadership: Theory and Practice (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Required articles and Instruments
I have six articles for you to read. You will find them throughout the weekly schedule. I also
have seven diagnostic instruments for you to use in evaluating either your own or you
manager/supervisor in an attempt to help you understand your own leadership tendencies and the
models presented in the text. There are six cases that you will be asked to read and respond to.
Finally, I have assigned six applications. Read the file on Work Expectations and Assignments
and on Applications and Insights Explanation.
Special Technology Utilized By Students
Required:
Adobe Acrobat Reader:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
PowerPoint Viewer:
B51F-4910-93FC-4CF2832D3342&displaylang=en
Expectations for Academic Conduct/Plagiarism Policy
As members of the University of West Florida, we commit ourselves to honesty. As we strive for
excellence in performance, integrity—personal and institutional—is our most precious asset.
Honesty in our academic work is vital, and we will not knowingly act in ways which erode that
integrity. Accordingly, we pledge not to cheat, nor to tolerate cheating, nor to plagiarize the work
of others. We pledge to share community resources in ways that are responsible and that comply
with established policies of fairness. Cooperation and competition are means to high
achievement and are encouraged. Indeed, cooperation is expected unless our directive is to
individual performance. We will compete constructively and professionally for the purpose of
stimulating high performance standards. Finally, we accept adherence to this set of expectations
for academic conduct as a condition of membership in the UWF academic community.
Plagiarism seems to be misunderstood sometimes. Plagiarism occurs when you use or copy the
work of another and claim it as your own work, thinking or idea. So, to copy the work of another
student is plagiarism. To go to the web and copy verbatim material and then claim it as your own
is plagiarism. If you use, summarize or paraphrase the work or ideas of someone else then you
must acknowledge it with a proper citation. If you use the exact words of someone else or copy
from a website you must put it in quotations and acknowledge it with a proper citation.
Evidence of plagiarism will definitely mean giving the student no credit for all work in the week
it occurs. Depending on the severity of the offense I reserve the right to fail the student in the
course (which I have done) and report the student for academic misconduct to the appropriate
authority at UWF. Plagiarism is a serious offense.
ASSISTANCE
Students with special needs who require specific examination-related or other course-related
accommodations should contact Barbara Fitzpatrick, Director of Disabled Student Services
(DSS), dss@uwf.edu, (850) 474-2387. DSS will provide the student with a letter for the
instructor.
(Most of the text in the last two sections was copied from one of Dr. Tankersley’s courses with
his permission)
Assignments, Feedback and Structure of the Course
The standard minimum expectation for outside of class work for a 3 hour in-class graduate
course in this division is 3 hours out of class work for each hour in class. Thus the equivalent
total expected minimum weekly time commitment for a 3 hour online course would be
approximately 12 hours per week (replacing the 3 hour period in class and the 9 hours out of
class study).
Please do not get behind in the weekly reading assignments. It will be almost impossible to do
well on the exams if you have not kept current with your reading assignments, and you certainly
will not be able to interact with the class in the weekly forums in a meaningful way if you have
not read the material. If you stay current, you will be familiar with the material and be able to
integrate the concepts on the exam into a meaningful presentation. Attempting to read them in
one lump session to complete exam questions does not seem to work too well......and, you need
to interact with the other class members to make this solid. Otherwise, the concepts do not blend
with each other as they should.........they need some time to simmer between sessions. Trust me
on this one! Keep up to date with the readings.
Structure of the Course on a Weekly Basis
Each week you will have the following work assigned:
1. A chapter from the text by Northhouse with 2-3 questions to answer and submit to the drop
box. We will start with chapter 1 and cover one chapter per week.
2. Discussion forum to answer 1-2 questions that I post. You will also be asked to respond to at
least one other posting from a class member for each question or discussion forum.
3. Either a case to read and respond to, or a diagnostic instrument to fill out and analyze. There
are always 2-3 questions to answer for each case, article or diagnostic instrument.
4. Either an article to read and respond to, or submit an Application/Insight. See the section that
explains the format of the Application/Insight.
The first week starts out with a lighter set of assignments so can work out any bugs. The second
week is also fairly easy. Third week and beyond include assignments as described above.
I will post the work assignment by 8 am on Wednesday of each week in the Content section. (For
the first week I will post the work assignment on Monday, Aug. 23.) You will need to post the
answers to the Discussion Forum by 8 pm Sunday of each week. This will give everyone time
to read them and then respond. Responses or comments to the posting will need to be completed
by Wednesday by 10 am. All other assignments need to be submitted by 10 am of the
Wednesday following the original posting. In other words, you have one week plus 2 hours to
complete and submit the assignments. The next week’s posting will occur at 8 am Wednesday
and every Wednesday thereafter through Dec. 1.
Expectations for Answers to Questions
Some questions from the book and the articles may be answered with one sentence from the
book or article. This is not sufficient but may be necessary. When you give an answer you need
to include a reason for this answer, or some explanation, or demonstrate some
understanding of the concept involved. In short, you need to show me some thinking or
understanding. I will be looking for this and commenting on it in particular in the beginning.
Some questions can be answered in 2-3 sentences, some may take a little more. Rarely would
you submit more that 150 words to a single question for the questions from the book or the
article. Answers to the discussion forum will take more thought and explanation. Some of the
cases will require some deeper thought. The diagnostic instruments will ask you to analyze your
own behavior or that of your boss/manager. The Applications/Insights will take the deepest
thought and analysis. Again, see the section that explains the format of the Application/Insight.
Missing and Late Assignments
My policy here allows for some unforeseen circumstances. Rather than attempting to deal with
late assignments, I will allow you to miss some assignments as follows:
1. You may miss submitting answers to assigned questions at the end of a chapter from the book
once.
2. You may miss submitting questions to the Discussion Forum once.
3. You may miss either one case (of 7) or one article (of 6) - that is one or the other, not both.
4. You may miss submitting comments to one (of 7) of the diagnostic instruments.
5. You may not miss handing in any Application/Insight. Six are assigned and six are required.
These take thought. The first one is due at the end of the third week. I suggest you start thinking
about it now. See the explanation of this assignment under Applications and Insights
Explanation.
Given this policy any assignment that is not submitted on time is treated as missing. If you miss
more than is allowed above then you receive a “zero” for that assignment. If, on the other hand,
you do not miss any or only some of what you are allowed to miss, I will drop the lowest weekly
grade for that type of assignment.
Feedback
My goal is to grade your work and/or give you individual feedback within seven days of the due
date. Getting behind is just as tough on me as instructor as it is on you as student. Having said
that, I may fall behind on occasion. My first priority will be to participate in the Discussion
Forum. If I fall behind it will be with the material submitted to the drop box.
This year I have a teaching assistant, Ms. Pat Gleich. She is working toward her doctoral degree
here a UWF. She took this course last year. She will help with the Discussion Forum and the
grading of some of the other assignments.
Final Exam
The final exam is scheduled for the week starting Wednesday, Dec. 1. I will make the exam
available on Dec. 1 and it will need to be returned no later than Dec. at 10 am. It will be a “take
home” exam of from 5 - 10 questions. The exam is completed on the honor system: open book,
open notes, no proctor, and student works independently of any assistance from others in terms
of their final answers. You are permitted to discuss with each other the content needed to answer
a question, the principles that apply, how to use a theory, and the like in working on each
question. However, the answer submitted has to be written by you in your own words. Answers
that are essentially the same in wording will receive zero points. The exams will require
approximately the same amount of time as a weekly assignment. You will be asked to certify
that you did your own work on these exams without assistance from anyone else on the
final answers that you submit.
Grading
Each assignment will be graded on a 10 point scale. Here is a rubric that I will use:
10 = This answer is essentially complete and accurate
8 = This answer is fairly complete and accurate but lacks some minor details and/or contains some
minor inaccuracies and needs some elaboration or explanation.
6 = This answer is not complete and accurate because it lacks one or more important steps and/or
contains important inaccuracies or is simply only text copied from the book or article.
4 = This answer is clearing incomplete and inaccurate because it lacks multiple important concepts
and/or contains significant multiple inaccuracie.
2 = Almost nothing that answers the question.
0 = Question not answered or completely inaccurate.
The grade you will get for a type of assignment in the end will be a percentage of the maximum
points possible. So, for example, I will give you a numerical grade for the answers to the
questions from the chapters in the book. There are 14 weeks, and you can skip one week. The
Maximum points equal 130. Let’s say you end up with 118 points. Your grade for this
component = 118/130 = 90.8. Each of the components will be scored the same way. These
components will be weighted toward your final grade as follows:
Textbook questions: 15%
Discussion forum: 15%
Cases: 10%
Articles: 15%
Diagnostic instruments: 10%
Applications/Insights: 20%
Final exam: 15%
Final grading scale:
95+ A
90-94 A87-89 B+
83-86 B
80-82 B77-79 C+
73-76 C
70-72 C-
Something like this has worked well before for my courses. If, on the other hand, the distribution
looks overly harsh, I can and will modify it. I don’t expect to give a bunch of grades of “C” in a
graduate course. However, I do give students “C” or worse if they earn it. I have given one or
more grades of “C” in each of the courses I have taught at UWF. I have also given out about half
“A”s. I would be happy to give you all “A” if you earn it.
Below is a summary of the work distribution by week. I will modify it if something seems
wrong, but at this point this is what I have scheduled. The exact questions, cases articles, and
diagnostic instruments will be given to you on a weekly basis when I post each week’s
assignment on Wednesday. But the outline below shows which chapter we will cover each week.
You can also see that the Applications and Insights are due at the end of weeks 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and
13.
Outline
Class
#
1
Aug. 23 –
Sept.1
Topic
Introduction to the course, instructor, classmates. Discussion and
definition of leadership. Characteristics of effective leaders. Reading:
Northouse ch. 1. Discussion forum Article: none
Case:
None Diagnostic Instrument: None Application & Insight: None
2
Sept. 01-08
3
Sept. 08 – 15
4
Sept. 15 - 22
5
Sept. 22 – Sept.
29
6
Sept. 29 – Oct.
06
7
Oct. 06-13
8
Oct. 13 – 20
9
Oct. 20 –27
10
Oct. 27 - Nov.
03
11
Nov. 03 – 10
12
Nov. 10 –17
13
Nov. 17 – 24
14
Nov. 24 – Dec.
01
The Trait Approach Reading: Northouse ch. 2 Discussion forum
Article: None Case: Yes Diagnostic Instrument: Yes Ch. 2
Application & Insight: none
The Skills ApproachReading: Northouse chpt. 3 Discussion forum
Article: No Case: None Diagnostic Instrument: Yes
Application
& Insight: Submit Application/Insight #1 through the dropbox.
The Style Approach Reading: Northouse ch. 4 Discussion forum
Article: Ciampa article Case: No Dagnostic Instrument: Yes Ch. 4
Application & Insight: None this week.
The Situational Approach Reading: Northouse ch 5 Discussion forum
Article: No
Case: None. Diagnostic Instrument: Yes Ch. 5
Application & Insight: Submit Application/Insight #2 through the drop
box.
Contingency Theory Reading: Northouse ch 6 Discussion forum
Article: Tannenbaum Case: Yes Diagnostic Instrument: No
Application & Insight: None this week.
Path Goal Theory Reading: Northouse ch 7 Discussion forum Article:
None Case: None Diagnostic Instrument: Yes Ch. 7 Application &
Insight: Submit Application/Insight #3 through the dropbox.
Leader Member Exchange Theory Reading: Northouse ch 8 Discussion
forum Article: Managing Your Boss Case: Yes Diagnostic
Instrument: No Application/Insight: None this week
Transformational LeadershipReading: Northouse ch 9
Discussion
forum Article: Buckingham article
Case: None
Diagnostic
Instrument: No
Application & Insight: Submit Application/Insight #4 through the dropbox.
Team LeadershipReading: Northouse ch 10 Discussion forum
Article: Katzenbach and Smith article Case: Yes Diagnostic
Instrument: No
Application & Insight: None
Psychodynamic ApproachReading: Northouse ch 11 Discussion forum
Article: No Case: Yes
Diagnostic Instrument: No
Application & Insight: Submit Application/Insight #5 through the dropbox.
Women in LeadershipReading: Northouse ch 12 Discussion forum
Article: Collins articles Case: No Diagnostic Instrument: Yes Ch. 12
Application & Insight: None
Culture and Leadership Reading: Northouse ch 13 Discussion forum
Article: No Case: Yes Diagnostic : No
Application
& Insight: Submit Application/Insight #6 through the dropbox.
Leadership Ethics Reading: Northouse ch 14 Discussion forum Article:
No
Case: Yes Diagnostic Instrument: Yes Ch. 14 Application &
15
Dec. 01 – 08
Insight: None
Final “take home” Examination due by 10 am on Dec. 09