9-1 Final Project Submission: Parts I and II Let’s face it: Leading organizations can be challenging. There are the internal pressures of followers, supervisors, and peers. There are also the external

  9-1 Final Project Submission: Parts I and II

Let’s face it: Leading organizations can be challenging. There are the internal pressures of followers, supervisors, and peers. There are also the external pressures of competition, the community, and other stakeholders. During these demands, it is very important that a leader understand and apply leadership principles within a personal philosophy of leadership. Leadership is more than setting a course and pursuing it. A great leader brings others into the vision, generates synergy and direction, and makes the seemingly impossible, possible. In addition, a leader helps shape other leaders, as the forming of teams, empowerment of other leaders, and reassessments bring the organization to new levels of success.

Part I addresses the following course outcomes:

· Apply past and present leadership principles related to empowerment, emotional intelligence, and the roles of power and influence for leading others within organizations

 · Analyze leadership theories at the individual, group, and organizational levels that inform effective organizational leadership

 · Assess exemplar and anti-exemplar leadership examples for effectively leading present-day organizations

 · Develop a personal style of leadership for influencing transformational change in a contemporary organization

Part II addresses the following course outcomes:

· Apply past and present leadership principles related to empowerment, emotional intelligence, and the roles of power and influence for leading others within organizations

· Analyze leadership theories at the individual, group, and organizational levels that inform effective organizational leadership

· Assess exemplar and anti-exemplar leadership examples for effectively leading present-day organizations

 · Evaluate a leader’s decision making as it relates to producing transformational change in an organization

· Develop a personal style of leadership for influencing transformational change in a contemporary organization

Part I Prompt

 You are a manager in a large company, and you are assigned to a mentor. Your mentor is very excited that you are taking this course and has therefore asked you to develop and share your own personal theory of leadership. Your mentor wants to make sure that your personal development is grounded in theory and practice and so has asked you to first demonstrate the foundation of your leadership approach. To do this, you will choose three theories—a combination of classic and contemporary—that you have studied in this course, in addition to selecting three leaders who exemplify your chosen theories. You will analyze each theory for its strengths and weaknesses and evaluate the leaders you have identified in relation to those theories. You will also identify and discuss three leaders who are anti-exemplary, as they will be used in the analysis portion of your project.

You will use the concepts and lessons from this part of the final project to inform the second part, in which you apply the theories to an organization and articulate your personal leadership philosophy.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

I.  Introduction

 Introduce your three chosen theories and three chosen leaders that you identified, which align with those chosen theories. Be sure to provide a brief explanation of why you have selected these. How do they apply to your personal leadership style or the development of one?

II. Analysis of Established Theories

 A. Theories Review

 1. Summarize the major principles of the chosen theories and the potential impact on empowerment and emotional intelligence.

2. Explain how these major principles look through the lenses of those in the roles of power and influence in an organization.

 B. Theories Critique

1. Analyze the strengths of the three theories and their potential impacts on the individuals, groups, and organizational levels.

2. Analyze the weaknesses of the three theories and their potential impacts on the individuals, groups, and organizational levels.

C. Theories Application

1. Evaluate the effectiveness of the leadership styles of the leaders who exemplify your selected theories. For instance, what aspects of their leadership styles align with your identified leadership theories?

2. Evaluate the effectiveness of the leadership styles of the leaders who are the anti-exemplary of your selected theories. For instance, what aspects of their leadership style(s) do not support your identified leadership theories?

3. Apply the selected leadership theories to your past or present organizational context. This is where you think about the interplay of the selected leadership theories and the individual, group, and organizational levels of your past or present organizational context.

III.  Conclusion: Summarize how the theories can alter organizational decision making in relation to roles of power and influence, especially in relationship to your own personal leadership style.

Part II Prompt

 You are a manager in a large company, and you are assigned to a mentor. Your mentor is very excited that you are taking this course and has therefore asked you to develop and share your own personal theory of leadership. This person wants you to be very detailed in this process and submit a report for review.

 For Part II, you will use your theoretical review and critique from Part I to develop your personal theory of leadership. Additionally, you will articulate how you will apply your personal theory of leadership in your current or future workplace.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

I. Personal Theory of Leadership

A. Introduction: Briefly summarize the theories you analyzed in Part I, focusing on an overview of the key aspects from that analysis that will inform the discussion of your personal leadership style and its application.

 B. Identify aspects of the theories of leadership discussed earlier that you would like to incorporate into your personal theory of leadership. Be sure to include the potential impact on transformational change.

C. Determine how theory and practice intersect in your personal leadership theory. How do the exemplary leaders inform your personal theory of leadership?

D. Differentiate which aspects of your theory are essential to you and which aspects are more flexible and therefore less essential. Be sure to address potential impact on internal and external stakeholders.

 E. Differentiate which aspects of your theory seem the most challenging and the most comfortable to you and why. What are the intersections between these aspects and those you identified as essential and flexible?

II. Application of Personal Theory of Leadership

A. Briefly describe a scenario that occurred in your past or present workplace. What was the impact on internal and external stakeholders?

 B. Describe how your personal theory of leadership can be applied to this scenario. Be sure to address your theory’s influence at the individual, group, and organizational levels.

C. Explain how your personal theory of leadership influenced your decision making in this scenario. How did your decisions impact transformational change in your workplace?

 D. Evaluate the effectiveness of your personal theory of leadership in this application. Be sure to include potential issues or weaknesses of your personal theory as it relates to transformational change.

E. Determine what tool might be valuable for the evaluation of your personal theory of leadership as it relates to transformational change. Be sure to include key features of the evaluative tool that supports the continuous improvement of your personal theory of leadership.

III. Conclusion

A. Summarize your personal theory of leadership. Be sure to make connections to the identified leadership theories, exemplary and ant exemplary leaders, and your past or present organizational context.

B. Describe how your personal leadership theory can be taught to others. Be sure to include how your personal theory of leadership would influence transformational change in a contemporary organization.