For the Week 3 Discussion, imagine the following scenario:
You are part of a team at your organization where you are employed currently or at an organization with which you are familiar. This team is made up of members of the different departments at the organization. The executive director has tasked each member of the team to independently research the following two questions (respond with one full paragraph for each question):
(1) What theory of leadership most closely aligns with our current practice within our organization and do you think it is most appropriate or would another serve us better?
(2) What leadership theory would you recommend that might be more effective, and why? (Note: if you think the current leadership theory is a good fit and is effective, explain why you think it is working and should remain in place).
On your own, you will have to conduct research on leadership theories and present a 2-paragraph summary of the central ideas of a leadership theory you believe is most appropriate for the organization.
You cannot believe your luck. The very week that you have to summarize leadership theories for work happens to be the very same week that leadership theory is being discussed in the first class of your Walden program!
You already have been provided with four chapters that review theories of leadership. Now all you need to do is read them and select the page (or pages) that you think captures best the central idea of leadership most appropriate for your organization.
(Hint: As you review and think about the required readings, you will likely find a page or a passage that grabs your attention. Often this is because it says something you can "see and feel" about leadership in your organization (good or bad). This would be an ideal passage to focus on for this assignment!)
Paraphrase the passage that you believe is the most important to the chapter you have chosen. To paraphrase, you must take the main ideas from the chapter you selected and summarize why the passage is important-in your own words.
It is not appropriate to repeat verbatim what the authors have written. See the document titled Academic Integrity for more instruction on how to paraphrase. This document can be located by clicking on the Learning Support Docs link in the course navigation menu in the online classroom.
Be sure to format your post as if it were a business e-mail. For guidance on writing a business e-mail, see the document titled How to Write a Business E-mail, which can be located by clicking on the Learning Support Docs link in the course navigation menu in the online classroom.
With these thoughts in mind:
Post your business e-mail to the team that contains the following:
A summary that paraphrases the central idea of the leadership theory that you think is most appropriate for your organization (or an organization with which you are familiar). Provide a rationale to support why you think the leadership theory is appropriate for your organization and include specific lessons that can be learned from the theory, based on your observations and experience. Be sure to include the appropriate citation and reference for the reading from which you are paraphrasing.
You might want to start your summary like this: "Based on my analysis of various leadership theories, I think the passage that best captures the central idea of a leadership theory that is particularly relevant and important to our organization is found in Ulrich, Smallwood, and Sweetman (2008) on page X." Then, include the appropriate reference at the end of your summary. For example:
Reference:
Ulrich, D., Smallwood, N., & Sweetman, K. (2008). Defining leadership code. In The leadership code: Five rules to lead by (pp 1-24). Boston, MA: Harvard Business School.