ORGL 518: Transforming Leadership

STATED OBJECTIVE:

The purpose of this course is to, through participation, have each student describe and interpret their experience of organizational life from the perspective of health and effectiveness. Students develop a working definition of transforming leadership, both individually and in an organizational context while applying course content in understanding their organizational experiences. Students also select, read, and critique an article on transformational leadership published within the last five years and move towards developing a plan for their transforming leadership practice.

The course examined “the concepts of organizational change, health, and transformation” and brilliantly demonstrated “leading change is a critical skill to support organizations in achieving their goals, mission, and vision.” This immersion course effectively balanced theoretical understanding with practical application. While grounded in peer-reviewed journal articles, this course provided the opportunity to design an individualized organizational change plan based on state of the art organizational change theory.

IMPACT QUOTE:

“We have places of fear inside of us, but we have other places as well—places with names like trust and hope and faith. We can choose to lead from one of those places, to stand on ground that is not riddled with the fault lines of fear, to move toward others from a place of promise instead of anxiety. As we stand in one of those places, fear may remain close at hand, and our spirits may still tremble. However, now we stand on ground that will support us, ground from which we can lead others toward a more trustworthy, more hopeful, more faithful way of being in the world” -- Parker Palmer, from Let Your Life Speak: Listen for the Voice of Vocation.

Competencies Gained:

Transforming Leadership is designed to be an examination of the dynamics of transformation and how leadership can facilitate transformation, both within individuals and in organizations. As a graduate-level seminar, the emphasis placed on students and teacher forming a community of both practice and learning – of praxis – is so all may both engage the current understanding and develop new insights into the theory and practice of transforming leadership.

Course Instructor:

Dave Houglum, Ph.D.

Reference Materials:

James MacGregor Burns. Leadership. (New York: Harper Collins, 1985) ISBN: 0061319759
James MacGregor Burns. Transforming Leadership: The Pursuit of Happiness. (New York, NY: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003) ISBN: 0871138662
Joanne Ciulla. Ethics, the Heart of Leadership-Second Edition (New York, NY: Praeger Paperback, 2004) ISBN: 0275982521
Parker J. Palmer. A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life. (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2004) ISBN 0787971006

Required Films:
Norma Rae (Martin Ritt: 20th Century Fox, 2001) ASIN: B000059HAN
Gandhi (Richard Attenborough: Sony Pictures, 2001) ASIN: B00003CXA4
Malcolm X (Spike Lee: Warner Home Video, 2000) ASIN: B00002ND77