MBA 659 - SPECIAL TOPICS:

THE ETHICAL FOUNDATIONS OF LEADERSHIP

ON-LINE COURSE

 WINTER, 2010
Lawrence P. Ulrich, Ph.D.
Lawrence.Ulrich@notes.udayton.edu
COLLABORATIVE WRITING PROJECTS

TOPICS WILL VARY FROM TERM TO TERM.

THE TASK FOR THE FIRST COLLABORATIVE WRITING PROJECT (CWP1).

This first task is fraught with difficulty but it is a very important one to attempt. It will require insight, discernment, discipline and, above all, TEAMWORK. Barak Obama has been President for one year and I think it is safe to say that his Leadership has created a good deal of controversy. You have all been in discussions about his policies and goals.

Your task in your first Collaborative Writing Project is to assess his Leadership. Wait a minute!!! Don't go balistic on me!!! I think that Leadership can be assessed independently of political dispositions --- that's where the discipline in this task lies. I suggest that Leadership, as we are studying it, does not lie in political posturing or political ideology/beliefs. The qualities of Leadership can be found in Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Libertarians or most other political persuasions.

To assess a "Moral" Leader you need a template and that is what this course is trying to help you develop. John Maxwell provides an excellent template in his little book, The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. I have provided 8 of the qualities that he identifies along with his explanations of them on the Course Reading Assignments webpage. They are: (Week 5) Responsibility; (Week 7) Character; (Week 9) Listening, Communication, and Competence; (Week 11) Servanthood; (Week 14) Vision; (Week 15) Courage; and (Week 17) Commitment. If you want to see the full list of his 21 qualities, CLICK HERE. I did not ask you to buy this book --- I try to keep textbook costs for my students under control. But if you would like to buy it, it is available on Amazon for $12.73 for a new copy and $5.99 for a used copy.

Another source for establishing a template would be the material about values from Abraham Maslow on Week 4. I am also linking two articles by Peggy Noonan from The Wall Street Journal to give you a "jump start" on some of the issues you might want to consider in your discussions: "We are Governed by Callous Children" and "Look Ahead with Stoicism --- and Optimism."

What I would like you to do in this assignment is to identify the qualities of Leadership that are most important for the Office of President. You do not have to address all the qualities that Maxwell and Maslow identify. The main part of your teams' task will be to select a reasonable number of qualities (establish the template),  explain why they are significant and whether President Obama is living up to the demands of those qualities. If he is falling short you might suggest what he should do to meet the demands of the template that you have established. Remember that you are limited to about 2,500 words --- so no rambling. And please discipline yourselves to keep your political beliefs at a minimum.

OFF YOU GO!!!

 

THE TASK FOR THE SECOND COLLABORATIVE WRITING PROJECT (CWP2).
THE TASK FOR THE SECOND COLLABORATIVE WRITING PROJECT (CWP2).
In recent months a great deal of attention has been paid to compensation packages for corporate executives. This attention actually goes back to Richard Grasso and the NYSE in 2003. The recent bailouts of financial institutions under George W. Bush and Barak Obama have added a good deal of fuel to the fire of this discussion. Recently the Feds have become more hands-on in attempting to control the compensation packages of corporate executives, especially those whose corporations have received extraordinary federal funds. Recently the Obama Czars (read "Caesars") and the Fed have dictated limits on corporate executives whose corporations have received federal funds. This new practice raises two issues: (1) Is the practice in keeping with the principles of free market Capital and are the Czars and the Fed practicing the virtues of  moral Leadership [Remember what Burns said about the values underlying Moral Leadership?]; (2) What considerations should a Moral Leader contemplate when executive pay becomes an issue in a corporation?

I have selected some articles from The Wall Street Journal to help you begin thinking about these matters. You can organize your thoughts as you see fit. You are expected to give a carefully argued TEAM presentation and analysis. The presentations and analyses should not be  too long --- about 2500 words would be quite sufficient. The links to the articles from WSJ  follow:

"Obama Lays Out Limits on Executive Pay" from The Wall Street Journal, 02/05/09.

"In Merrill Deal, U.S. Played Hardball" from The Wall Street Journal, 02/05/09.

"Judge Tosses Out Bonus Deal" from The Wall Street Journal, 02/05/09.

"Bankers Face Sweeping Curbs on Pay" from The Wall Street Journal, 09/18/09.

"Pay Czar Targets Salary Cuts" from The Wall Street Journal, 10/06/09.

"Czar Blocks Bofa Chief's Pay" from The Wall Street Journal, 10/16/09.

"Pay Slashed at Bailout Firms" from The Wall Street Journal, 10/22/09.

"Fed Hits Banks with Sweeping Pay Limits" from The Wall Street Journal, 10/23/09.

 

Remember that this is a TEAM EFFORT --- NO SLACKERS ALLOWED.

You will notice that this project combines the features of a threaded discussion and the task of writing. The threaded discussion that leads up to the actual writing should contain at least 5 contributions from each member of the team. The merits of the report will be judged on the team discussion and the reflection of that discussion in the final report. The contributions should be CONTENT oriented in addition to any contributions that may be addressing the manner in which the work has been divided or how the report will be assembled. The contributions to this discussion should be made on an on-going basis. You should not wait until the end of the discussion period to make your contribution. Waiting until the end is not fair to the other members of the team and will jeopardize the success to the project.

Your User Name and Password for QuickPlace is the same UN and PW (LDAP NOVELL) you use to check your Lotus Notes e-mail through the Internet. It is also the same as your access to the Threaded Discussions in this course. If you cannot remember them or have other difficulties with QuickPlace, call the Help Desk at 229-3888.

Since the situation is so current you will have to use news magazines and newspapers for your research. I suggest Time and Newsweek and also The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. You probably all get The Wall Street Journal so you can go to WSJ.com as an easy resource. You can also take advantage of the Dow Jones Interactive website, <http://www.sba.udayton.edu/it/dji.asp>, which the School of Business Administration makes available to you. The link to the Dow Jones Interactive website is accessed form the SBA link identified above, but you will probably have to use a computer at the university to access this site.  Much good and accurate information is available from these sources. The library at this site is a particularly valuable treasure trove of references.

The first report is due Thursday, February 25. The second report will be due Sunday, April 25.
 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Go to http://quickplace.udayton.edu/mba659_ulrich
2. Click on your "Team and number." [Team members are identified at the bottom of this page.]
3. Click on your "Team and Number and Activity."
4. Click on "New Post."
5. Enter a brief title in the "Post Topic" box and type your comment(s) in "Contents" box and then click "Check In".
6. To respond to another's comment, point to the "Topic" of the comment and click on "New Response."
7. If you wish to revise your comment, click on the comment "Topic" and click on "Check Out and Edit." When you have finished your editing, click on "Check In."

8. If you receive a prompt about allowing secure or nonsecure items, click on "Yes" to allow nonsecure items.

 
The above directions will work well for making comments as you begin to work with the articles. 
1. When your team is ready to work on a draft, click on Draft Reports. Anyone can make a revision in a draft --- just click on the title of the draft and then "New Revision" at the top of the page, enter the revision and then click on "Check In." Click on "New Response" to offer an alternative or addition to a Draft portion that has been posted. You may want to select someone from your team to put together the final report.
2. When you have the polished version of the essay finished, click on the "Final Report" tab and follow the directions you find there. You can use any version of WORD since I have now entered the end of the first decade of the 21st century.

 

 

 

  TEAM 1

PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP

Bunker, Deland, Frantz, Holden, Knapke, Markwell, Smith

02/18: Last Day for Contributions to Discussion

02/25: Due Date for Final Report

TEAM 2

PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP

Branca, Brennen, Bury, Durst, Guliants, Schmidt

02/18: Last Day for Contributions to Discussion

02/25: Due Date for Final Report

TEAM 3

PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP

Larocca, McWhorter, Moeller, Noiraud, Qiao, Swartz

02/18: Last Day for Contributions to Discussion

02/25: Due Date for Final Report

TEAM 4

EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION AND MORAL LEADERSHIP

Branca, Bunker, Knapke, McWhorter, Moeller, Noiraud

04/18: Last Day for Contributions to Discussion

04/25: Due Date for Final Report

TEAM 5

EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION AND MORAL LEADERSHIP

Brennan, Bury, Deland, Larocca, Qiao, Swartz

04/18: Last Day for Contributions to Discussion

04/25: Due Date for Final Report

TEAM 6

EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION AND MORAL LEADERSHIP

Durst, Frantz, Guliants, Holden, Markwell, Schmidt, Smith

04/18: Last Day for Contributions to Discussion

04/25: Due Date for Final Report

 
TASK:
WRITE AN ESSAY OF APPROXIMATELY 2,500 WORDS.
Teams 1, 2, and 3 will focus on the first issue, "Presidential Leadership" and Teams 4, 5, and 6 will focus on "Executive Compensation and Moral Leadership."
DYNAMICS OF COLLABORATIVE WRITING
1. All members of the team should engage in the discussion. There is no magic number for contributions to the discussion, but about 5 contributions per person would be a decent number to consider. All contributions to the discussion MUST be made by February 18 for the first report and April 16 for the second report. This is necessary to give enough time for the final version to be produced.
2. The team will decide how it will go about generating a draft that will be put in the "Draft" folder. These decisions can be processed in the threaded discussion that precedes the report but the threaded discussion should NOT be limited to the dynamics of drafting the report. The threaded discussion MUST include content, i.e., it MUST address the actual ETHICAL issues of the case.
3. The team will designate  who will refine the final version or how the final version will be written and put it in the "final version" folder.
4. Notify the instructor when the final version is ready to be read.