BUAD 4970 Syllabus (Dr. Williams)

Leadership London is a seminar-style, site-based course taught in London, England. While professors are responsible for facilitating discussion, the success and failure of those discussions depends on the students.  In general, we strive for class discussions in which 80% of the "air time" belongs to the students, with the remaining 20% being used by the professors to guide those discussions.  Site-based instruction means that we'll use London's resources, institutions, and history to explore the cultural, international, historical, and ethical issues relevant to leadership. 

This course uses stories from classical literature, essays about historical figures, descriptions of current business challenges, and on-site visits to London’s historic sites and resources:

• To teach students contemporary leadership theories
• To have students articulate their views of leaders and leadership
• To have students challenge and defend each others’ views of leaders and leadership
• To have students understand the conditions and experiences by which famous leaders acquired and developed their leadership potential.
• To understand the role that personal character and choice plays in the development of leaders.

By virtue of being in a foreign location, this course also help students:

• To understand the similarities and differences in policies and approaches regarding management practices in England and the United States.
• To understand cultural similarities and differences, and the ways they affect the methods, practices, and objectives of the management of human resources in England and the United States.
• To become familiar with current business news, issues, and topics affecting people who do business in England.

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Grading:

• Hartwick Classic Cases (see class participation and exams)
• Pre-Trip Readings (15%)
• 2 Chapters from Williams & Schnake, 1^st Edition
  • Chapter 1, Management
  • Chapter 8, Global Management
  • Collection of Articles to be Read Before Going to London
• Class Participation (15%)
• Exams (15%)
• Newspapers Articles/Journal (20%), Daily Business News to be Read While in London
• Attendance, Behavior, and Attentiveness on Daytrips to historic and modern leadership-related sites while in London (5%)
• Meeting with Individual Instructors
• Final Paper (30%)

Hartwick Classic Cases (see class participation and exams)

Hartwick Classic Cases are unique in that they combine excerpts from classic works of literature, philosophy, and history with cases on contemporary business leaders. Thus, the class will read from Shakespeare, and about Queen Elizabeth, and Churchill, while also reading about modern leaders, such as Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer, William Agee, former CEO of Bendix corporation and Morris Knudsen Corporation, Lee Iacocca, former CEO of Chrysler Corporation, and Jimmy Treybig, founder and CEO of Tandem computers.

The basic idea behind marrying the study of classic works and modern business leaders is that, "..the solutions to fundamental leadership questions which were discovered by leaders and thinkers in other eras and cultures are preserved for us in texts and traditions that capture the collective wisdom of the human race on the challenge of leadership."

The effectiveness of this teaching approach hinges on careful and repeated reading of the cases. Students need to understand that the primary responsibility for analyzing case belongs to them, and not to the instructor. In good class sessions, students frequently gain a high level of understanding of the text as well as a clear picture of the leadership in classic texts. In the best classes, they also apply the ideas and lessons to themselves.

Grades will be determined by the quality of students’ in-class discussion and participation, by the quality of discussion and participation on daily field trips, and be exams.

Pre-Trip Readings (15%)

Each student will be provided copies of textbook chapters from Williams & Schnake, Management (1^st edition) textbook . These readings include Chapter 1, Management, and Chapter 8, Global Management. Students will also be provided a series of current news articles about British-based businesses.

Grades will be determined by a take-home exam on this material that is due in my office by 5pm on Friday, June 5, 1997.

Class Participation (15%)

Since this is a seminar, students are expected to contribute to class discussion on a daily basis. Students will receive feedback on the quality and feedback of their class participation on the second and third Mondays that class meets. The following scale will be used to rate your class participation.

5 Always participates in class discussions/activities. Comments indicate an understanding of the material and that the student can specifically apply leadership principles.

4 Regularly participates. Can be counted on to participate in most class discussions/activities.

3 Occasionally participates in class discussions/activities. Can be counted on to participate in roughly half of class discussions/activities.

2 Rarely participates in class discussions/activities. Can be counted on to participate in 1/3 to 1/4 of class discussions/activities.

1 Never participates in class discussions/activities. Will not contribute/participate unless called.

Exams (15%)

Exciting and interesting discussion of the class material won’t occur unless students are thoroughly familiar with the cases assigned for each class period. This is why you will receive all of the course materials at the end of April, nearly two months before we meet in London. During this time, you must read, highlight, and take notes on each of the assigned cases and readings. Unlike lecture courses in which students simply show-up for class, seminars require a much higher level of student preparation, involvement, and participation. Furthermore, there will be a 1-hour exam each Monday over the cases and readings to be discussed that week. In all, there are 3 such exams in London.

Newspapers Articles/Journal (20%)

Once we are in London, students are expected to read the daily business news in either the Wall Street Journal Europe, the London Times, the Daily Telegraph, or other daily business periodicals. Each day that class meets (12 in all), students are to cut and paste one business new article (from original London published newspapers, no copies allowed) and then comment on that article in a daily journal entry. The minimum entry is ½ page per day, four days per week. Students should turn in 12 articles and 12 journal entries.

Grades will be determined by the quality of journal entries associated with each article. The article and journal entries are due in my office by 5pm Friday, September 4, 1998.

Attendance, Behavior, and Attentiveness on Daytrips To Historic And Modern Leadership-Related Sites While In London (5%)

The lessons learned from studying the leaders depicted in our Hartwick Classic Cases will be complemented by afternoon visits to London’s many historical sites. Attendance at classes and field trips is mandatory. While in class and on field trip sites, students are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner. Students who fail to conduct themselves in a professional manner, miss class, or class field trips without prior approval of the instructor may be subject to dismissal from the course.

Meeting with Individual Instructors

In addition to time spent in class and on day trips, students will also spend time meeting with individual instructors. What this means is that at least once a week, the students earning business credit will meet with Dr. Williams, the students earning sociology or criminal justice credit will meet with Dr. Thompson, and the students earning education credit will meet with Dr. Thomas. In general, the meetings with individual instructors will occur on Thursdays from noon to 2pm. However, instructors may call for additional meeting times as needed.

Final Paper (30%)

The purpose of this paper is for you to integrate your learning in London with your research and understanding of the business leadership practices in the United States. Select a topic that holds interest for you, and clear it with me before we leave London- the result will be much more satisfying for both of us.

The paper is a chance for you to systematically ponder, catalog, and explore your chosen topic in light of our class discussions and site visits. I encourage you to visit with me both before and after the trip as you work on this report. Your paper grade will be determined both by the quality of your writing, ideas, research, and demonstrated understanding of the issues. I suggest that you outline, write, rewrite, rewrite some more, and use the resources of the CPC for feedback.

Papers (10-15 pages in length) should contain:

• A title page with your name and the date
• A table of contents
• An executive summary
• A well organized report, using headings, sub-headings, figures, tables, etc.
• A list of references in APA style at the end of the paper - the CPC has a useful handout showing reference format for APA style

Papers are due in my office by 5:00 p.m., Friday, September 4, 1998.

Tentative Schedule of Cases & Day Trips

This is a tentative schedule of the leadership cases we’ll be studying and the day trips we intend to take. Take "tentative" seriously. Things are bound to change because of scheduling conflicts. When studying abroad, the key word is flexibility. Expect changes. While we schedule everything 3-4 months in advance, there are always last minutes changes. For example, our visit to Parliament was unexpectedly rescheduled while we were in London last year.

In general, we’ll be in class from 9:30-11:30 each day and then do our day trips in the afternoon between 1pm and 5pm. However, there may be days in which we day-trip first and then do class second. Also, we intend to take the class to an evening performance at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and an evening Jack-The-Ripper Tour walk. These are the only evening activities we have scheduled. Again, none of this will be finalized until we get to London. This is all tentative.