15.317 | Summer 2009 | Graduate

Organizational Leadership and Change

Part I

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 1 session / week, 3 hours / session

Overview

Part I of this course is the beginning of a two-year LGO leadership journey. The LGO leadership curriculum is hands-on experience that blends theory and practice. The entire leadership curriculum is integrated and woven into the fabric of the entire two year program. The design is based on the principles of first reflecting on prior leadership experiences and then applying lessons learned to further develop your leadership capabilities. The summer session provides a grounding in leadership theories and frameworks. Each class will be action oriented and highly interactive. We will explore alternative approaches to leadership, compare and contrast various leadership styles, and look at a range of leadership tasks/processes.

Course Materials

Calendar

Readings

Study Questions

Lectures

Assignments

A grade for the course will be assigned after the completion of all portions of 15.317. However, class participation and the following summer deliverables are components of the final grade:

Team-based

  1. Mid-summer peer team feedback and cross-team sharing.
  2. Group assessment of leadership and team performance paper.

Individual

  1. Personal leadership reflection and development paper.

Personal Leadership Paper

Length: 4-5 pages double-spaced

The purposes of this assignment are:

  • Reflection on what leadership means to you personally.
  • Identification of where your passion lies and the legacy you would like to leave behind from your two years in LGO.
  • Begin to formulate a project that will help you achieve your goals and objectives.

This paper will document your personal views on what leadership means to you and what specific leadership competencies you want to personally develop over your time in LGO. Your plan to develop these competencies should include working on a project that you feel passionate about and will leave your personal legacy at LGO. The project can involve the LGO program, MIT, or the community at large.

Peer Team Feedback and Cross-Team Sharing

Complete the following surveys, which are meant to serve as mid-term team feedback.

Summer Team Ratings (PDF)
Peer Team Member Feedback (XLS)

Group Assessment of Leadership & Team Performance

Length: 5-6 pages double-spaced

The purposes of this assignment are:

  • Apply the readings on teams and leadership to the analysis of your summer team.
  • Trace the evolution of your summer team.
  • Analyze the group processes and leadership styles in your team.
  • Evaluate your team’s performance.
  • Suggest actions to improve performance in future teams you form/join.

Step 1: Collect data.

Before any analysis can be done, it is necessary to have some data as to what has gone on in your team. Data can come from several sources. You can keep notes during the meetings, documenting what is going on and how you are interpreting what is going on. You can tape record one or more of your meetings. You might do a socio-gram of a team meeting.

Step 2: Analyze the team’s internal process.

In analyzing the team, use all the data available and back up your points. You should provide a dynamic view of your team’s development. How did the group get started? What effect did this beginning have? What were critical events that shaped how the group has evolved? How would you characterize the group at this point in time? What is your prediction about the future? Your analysis should take into account the readings from the class.

Step 3: Evaluate your group performance and suggest ways to improve.

How would you assess the performance of your group? Be explicit on the performance criteria you use and the data used to make your assessments. What lessons do you take away from this group experience that you can use to improve the performance of future groups in which you will participate at Sloan and in your future working environments?

SES # TOPICS SESSION OVERVIEWS KEY DATES
1 Introduction to the two-year LGO journey This session will provide an overview of LGO leadership activities and an introduction to various leadership frameworks. We will use these various frameworks to analyze the leadership style of Dr. Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate, and how the Green Belt Movement was created.  
2 Traits vs. situational leadership; Leading and following The class will begin with a debate on whether two diverse leaders (Bono, a singer/activist, and Dr. Rene Favaloro, founder of the Favaloro Foundation in Argentina) were successful based on particular characteristics they brought to the role or based on the situation they faced. Following the debates, we will examine the role of leaders and followers in a chamber orchestra to see distributed leadership in action.  
3 Distributed leadership This session will focus on the concept of distributed leadership. We will start by discussing the MacGregor article which describes a manager who was extremely successful in taking the concept of delegation to an extreme. We will explore how and why he was successful. We will then look at leading dispersed groups and discuss the Photovoltaic case study.  
4 Team processes This session is focused on team processes. While watching a videotape of a team meeting (actually a classic film), the class will explore the roles and functions of effective teams. Mid-summer peer team feedback and cross-team sharing
5 Transformational leadership Many evaluate leaders based on their ability to transform their organizations. We will use the transformation at IBM as a platform for exploring the various leadership tasks associated with transforming organizations. We will then use a case study to apply the principles of transformational leadership at the plant level.  
6 Don Davis/Bill Hanson Don Davis, retired CEO of Stanley Works, has been a cornerstone of the LGO leadership experience since 1988. In this afternoon seminar, Don will present his leadership mantras. He will also be joined by Bill Hanson, retired VP of Manufacturing for Digital Equipment Corporation (and also LGO industry co-director from 1993-2004). Don and Bill will preview their Fall leadership and ethics seminar.  
7 Leadership development planning and alum panel This session will look at moving forward. The session will begin with an alumni panel who will reflect on their two years in LGO. Then using your 360° Sloan leadership assessment feedback, we will ask each of you to create a plan to strengthen your leadership competencies during your time in LGO. This will be documented in a leadership paper due next week. Individual leadership paper
8 Leadership, ethics, and authority (Leigh Hafrey) In this first session on leadership and ethics, we look at two cases involving a single institution—the British monarchy—across a span of centuries and very different ruling styles and circumstances. Stephen Frears’ film The Queen portrays the tensions among Elizabeth II, the British people, and Prime Minister Tony Blair, in the wake of the death of Lady Diana, Princess of Wales. Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons explores the confrontation between Henry VIII and his chancellor, Sir Thomas More, over the King’s defiance of religious law and papal authority. In both cases, figures in the hierarchy embody multiple forms of leadership, and illustrate the interplay of values and strategy for those who must govern.  
9 Leadership: Innovation and social control (Leigh Hafrey) Our second session on ethics and leadership introduces us to innovation, and the ethics that makes it possible. Stacy Peralta’s early, drop-out surfers wanted only to live free, but generated a sub-culture that directly affected the mainstream. Hagel and Brown’s article suggests that the big-wave surf phenomenon has much to tell us about how best to foster and manage innovation. Against this backdrop, we consider scientific and technical innovation, and the role of business in encouraging or controlling these forces. Bill Joy, former Chief Scientist at Sun Microsystems, argues that “relinquishment” is the only sane response to threats we face in a confluence of bio-engineering, nanotechnology, and robotics; Hawken, Lovins, and Lovins’ Natural Capitalism offers a more positive take on the future.  
10 Leadership reaction course The Leadership Reaction Course (LRC) event is a team leadership exercise held at Fort Devens (U.S. Army Base near Boston) that will provide you with an opportunity to exercise leadership outside of the classroom. Teams of six to seven individuals face a variety of challenges while navigating LRC obstacles. These challenges force the leader to guide their team to work together to assess the problems at hand, use creative problem-solving skills, and implement a solution.  
11 Reflections on summer teams and leadership This session will reflect on lessons learned during the summer team – we will explore those experiences you want to carry forward into the Fall semester and those that you want to leave behind. We provide a forum for you to share your leadership experiences and plans for the next two years. Group assessment of leadership and team performance

SES # TOPICS LECTURE NOTES
1 Introduction to the two-year LGO journey (PDF - 1.3MB)
2 Traits vs. situational leadership; Leading and following (PDF)
3 Distributed leadership (PDF)
4 Team processes (PDF)
5 Transformational leadership (PDF)
6 Don Davis/Bill Hanson  
7 Leadership development planning and alum panel (PDF - 1.2MB)
8 Leadership, ethics, and authority (Leigh Hafrey)  
9 Leadership: Innovation and social control (Leigh Hafrey)  
10 Leadership reaction course  
11 Reflections on summer teams and leadership (PDF)

SES # TOPICS READINDS
1 Introduction to the two-year LGO journey

Ancona, Deborah. “Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty.” MIT Leadership Center, 2005. (PDF)

The Nobel Foundation. “Wangari Maathai Biography.” Nobelprize.org.

The Nobel Foundation. “Wangari Maathai Nobel Lecture.” Nobelprize.org.

Maathai, Wangari. Chapter 6 in Unbowed: A Memoir. Anchor Books, 2007. ISBN: 9780307275202.
2 Traits vs. situational leadership; Leading and following

Background for Leadership Debates (PDF)

Fry, Maddy. “Bono Biography.” @ U2.

BBC News. “Voice of Influential U2 Frontman.”

Captur, Gabriella. “Memento for René Favaloro.” Texas Heart Institute Journal 31, no. 1 (2004): 47-60.

Heifetz, Ronald A. “Mobilizing Adaptive Work.” Chapter 4 in Leadership Without Easy Answers. Harvard University Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780674518582.
3 Distributed leadership

Carlile, Arthur E. “MacGregor.” Organizational Dynamics 5, no. 1 (1996): 50-62.

Fleming, Lee. “Photovoltaic Breakthrough.” Harvard Business School Case. Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-604-034, September 4, 2003.
4 Team processes Ancona, Deborah G., Thomas A. Kochan, Maureen Scully, John Van Maanen, and D. Eleanor Westney. “Team Processes.” Module 5 in Managing for the Future: Organizational Behavior and Processes. South-Western College Publishing, 2004. ISBN: 9780324055757.
5 Transformational leadership

Klein, Janice. Chapters 2 and 3 in True Change: How Outsiders on the Inside Get Things Done in Organizations. Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2004. ISBN: 9780787974732.

Gerstner, Louis V., Jr. Chapters 20-22 in Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance. Harper Collins Publishers, 2002. ISBN: 9780060523794.

Leonard, Frank S. “Hank Kolb, Director, Quality Assurance.” Harvard Business School Case. Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-681-083, March 1, 1981.
6 Don Davis/Bill Hanson  
7 Leadership development planning and alum panel  
8 Leadership, ethics, and authority (Leigh Hafrey)

Bolt, Robert. A Man for All Seasons. Vintage Books, 1990. ISBN: 9780679728221.

Watch

The Queen, directed by Stephen Frears, 2006.
9 Leadership: Innovation and social control (Leigh Hafrey)

Hagel, John, and John Seely Brown. “Innovating on the Edge of Big Waves.” Business Week, January 20, 2008.

Joy, Bill. “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us.” Wired, April 2000.

Hawken, Paul, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins. “Once Upon a Planet.” Chapter 15 in Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. Back Bay Books, 2008. ISBN: 9780316353007.

Watch

Riding Giants, directed by Stacy Peralta, 2004.
10 Leadership reaction course  
11 Reflections on summer teams and leadership  

SES # TOPICS STUDY QUESTIONS
1 Introduction to the two-year LGO journey  
2 Traits vs. situational leadership; Leading and following  
3 Distributed leadership

MacGregor Case

  1. Is McGregor a good leader? Why or why not?
  2. What are the key elements of his leadership style?
  3. Would his leadership style work in all situations?

Photovoltaic Case

  1. Why are the Toledo, Long Beach, and Palo Alto organizations having such a tough time getting along?
  2. How does each organization view the other organizations?
  3. Should Linda Choate keep Palo Alto and Toledo separate, merge Palo Alto with Toledo (closing Palo Alto), or merge Toledo with Palo Alto (closing Toledo)?
4 Team processes  
5 Transformational leadership

Lou Gerstner & IBM Case

  1. Assess Lou Gerstner’s leadership style and actions.
  2. What specific things did he do to orchestrate the turnaround of IBM?

Hank Kolb Case

  1. What is the cause of the problem?
  2. How do you respond to the Greasex problem?
6 Don Davis/Bill Hanson  
7 Leadership development planning and alum panel  
8 Leadership, ethics, and authority (Leigh Hafrey)

  1. How is Diana, alive or dead, a problem for Queen Elizabeth?
  2. What does Tony Blair have to teach the queen, and she him? What values do the two of them espouse, and where do their convictions meet?
  3. How would you describe Diana’s power, in Britain and around the world?
  4. Have you encountered people like Sir Thomas More—or Henry VIII, or Cromwell, or Rich—in your work? How do they function as colleagues? What is their sense of their profession?
  5. Can one speak of multiple spheres in the world Bolt portrays in A Man for All Seasons? If so, does each have its own rules or morals, or do the inhabitants of all of them apply the same standards to their behavior?
  6. “Affection goes as deep in me as you think, but only God is love right through, Howard; and that’s myself (p. 122).” What is a “self” in Bolt’s play, and what roles does it play for all of us in society and in our organizations?
9 Leadership: Innovation and social control (Leigh Hafrey)

  1. To what extent do Peralta’s surf rebels embody an ideal, and what is it?
  2. How do you account for the cult following that surfers like Greg Noll have acquired?
  3. Can we capture and replicate the freshness of innovation without killing it?
  4. As you look at Joy, Kurzweil, and others, what conclusions can you draw about the ethics of science, and its alignment with business ethics?
  5. How does Hawken, Lovins, and Lovins’ vision diverge from the norm of business practice today? Does their argument feel practical to you?
  6. Who decides what our future should look like?
10 Leadership reaction course  
11 Reflections on summer teams and leadership  

Course Info

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Summer 2009
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