leadership and management class

Important! Read First

Choose one of the following two assignments to complete this week. Do not complete both assignments. Identify your assignment choice in the title of your submission.

Note that while there are two options for the Critical Thinking assignment, there is only one rubric. Review the rubric to confirm you are meeting the assignment requirements.


Option #1: Leadership and Communication

This assignment will not only help you improve your leadership and communication skills, it will also establish the foundation for other courses you take at CSU-Global.
For this assignment, research the topic of leadership and communication.   Make sure you address the following questions:

  1. What communication strategies are associated with effective leadership?
  2. What are some barriers to effective communication that a leader should overcome?

Be sure to evaluate the sources you find via the library or open web for credibility.  To make this assignment more meaningful for you, base it on your job or other life experience (perhaps as a volunteer for an organization or as a student at a university) as much as possible. 

Your assignment will be 3-4 pages, in addition to the title and reference pages.  Include all elements listed below in your paper. View the sample paper – Does your paper look like this? to see how these elements should appear. Keep in mind that this assignment structure reflects that of most Critical Thinking assignments at CSU-Global.

Title Page 
You can use the APA Template Word document, which is already formatted in APA style. Just replace the informational placeholders with your information. Write directly into this template and save it as your own paper.

Introduction 
This section is where you include your thesis statement. Follow the instructions on Writing an Effective Essay (one of your required readings this week). Again, tie your paper to an issue at your job or in your life that addresses leadership and communication. Use Page I of this module, Leadership and Communication, to help you. Ask yourself two important questions: Who is the audience and what is the message?

Body of the Paper 
In this section, answer the two questions:

  1. What communication strategies are associated with effective leadership?
  2. What are some barriers to effective communication that a leader should overcome?

If you use sources from the library or open web, be sure to include in-text citations.

Conclusion
In this section,

  1. Restate thesis
  2. Summarize main body points
  3. Return to the hook to bring the essay full-circle

References 

See sample paper and the CSU-Global Guide to Writing and APA Requirements to construct your Reference list.

Option #2: Leadership Communication Case Study Analysis

This assignment will not only help you improve your leadership and communication skills, it will also establish the foundation for other courses you take at CSU-Global.

For this assignment, analyze the following case, which is related to leadership communication:

Ben Williams is the CEO of a public relations firm. He has four direct reports who are in charge of different components of his firm including operations, human resources, finance, and administrative support. On a semiannual basis, the firm surveys the employees to assess their level of satisfaction with the leadership.

Williams has noticed a trend in survey results over the last year. Comments and scores indicate the staff is unhappy with the level of communication from the top down. Williams does not understand why this is an issue.

Currently, Williams communicates with staff when there is a problem or if he believes they need to make a change. He does this by telling them exactly what they need to do, but not why they need to do it. Staff often find out about new projects when others have already begun working on them. Williams does not like electronic communications, nor does he believe that meetings are useful. However, as he reviews this trend, he realizes he must change the way he communicates.

For this assignment, research the topic of leadership and communication.   Make sure you address the following questions:

  1. What communication strategies are associated with effective leadership?
  2. What does Williams need to differently to communicate effectively as a leader?

Be sure to evaluate the sources you find via the library or open web for credibility. 
Your assignment will be 3-4 pages, in addition to the title and reference pages.  Include all elements listed below in your paper. View the sample paper – Does your paper look like this? to see how these elements should appear. Keep in mind that this assignment structure reflects that of most Critical Thinking assignments at CSU-Global.

Title Page 
You can use the APA Template Word document, which is already formatted in APA style. Just replace the informational placeholders with your information. Write directly into this template and save it as your own paper.

Introduction 
This section is where you include your thesis statement. Follow the instructions on Writing an Effective Essay (one of your required readings this week). Use Page I of this module, Leadership and Communication, to help you. Ask yourself two important questions: Who is the audience and what is the message?

Body of the Paper 
In this section, answer the two questions:

  1. What communication strategies are associated with effective leadership?
  2. What does Williams need to differently to communicate effectively as a leader?

If you use sources from the library or open web, be sure to include in-text citations.

Conclusion
In this section,

  1. Restate thesis
  2. Summarize main body points
  3. Return to the hook to bring the essay full-circle

References 

See sample paper and the CSU-Global Guide to Writing and APA Requirements to construct your Reference list.

Posted Fri Jun 19, 2015 at 11:21 am