Explain the challenges leaders face due to ongoing remote working in an organisational setting.
Explain the challenges leaders face due to ongoing remote working in an organisational setting.
Leadership exists within organisations should be about developing people to their optimum potential, and guiding and coaching them through the goals of the organisation, as well as developing their personal attributes and capabilities, so that individually they feel supported, and can be the best they can be. Throughout the decades, leadership has developed many traits and styles, and a lot of the way leadership has been shaped and directed has been due to culture, society and the industries themselves. If you go back to the 1950s, manufacturing in the UK was its main industry, with cars and steel being key to UK economic growth. Step forward 20 years, and the manufacturing industry in the UK started to decline with increased global competition into the consumer markets, and the developments of new materials and composites. The service sector was also starting to become more prevalent. Wages were beginning to increase for some, which led to them to look for alternative recreations. This included areas such as retail, hotels and restaurants. It also meant people began to look after their health better. Computers also entered industry, and this changed the way people worked for good.
So what has this got to do with leadership? Well, organisations function on teams, and teams have a central role in organisations as they can improve the creative and innovative potential of that organisation, as well as its overall performance and productivity. Although teams are collectively responsible, the leaders of those teams have a particular role to play. From an historical viewpoint, it is crucial to understand what leadership is, how leaders lead, and of course the concept of leadership. Over the decades, leaders have led in different ways, to meet different needs, and identify different outcomes. As times have changed, and industries have developed, so has leadership. What was once deemed the correct way to lead a team, may not work in today’s society, especially as more emphasis is placed on corporate social responsibility and ethics. As times and organisations change, so does leadership. This module aims to look at leadership styles and traits from traditional to contemporary, taking account of the landscapes and environments and the drivers for leadership change.
This Module Handbook is designed to provide you with specific information about the module and you should refer to the Student Guide, and the Academic Regulations appropriate to your award for additional supporting information.
Module aims
- To develop a critical awareness of leadership theories, models and research and its relationship to other critical organisational behaviour concepts (such as groups, culture. motivation, learning, attitudes etc.)
- To enable students to critically evaluate the usefulness of leadership, followership and related organisational behaviour concepts and apply them with discernment in an organisational context
- To encourage students to reflect on their own leadership propensities and develop insights to enhance their leadership and followership skills within the context of contemporary organisational settings
Module learning outcomes
Conceptualise the role of leadership practices, from different theoretical perspectives, which enhance the performance of a contemporary organization
Propose suitable leadership solutions to achieve results within a complex organizational setting and provide a supporting rationale.
Critically analyse a range of tools which enable leaders to reflect on their own leadership styles and preferences
Synthesize appropriate leadership styles which are most relevant to a variety of organizational contexts.
How you will learn on this module
Opportunities from the students chosen programme route will the utilised, enabling students to learn through the use and analysis of information to reach informed decisions that are influential, effectively communicated to demonstrate a professional and independent approach with leadership acumen. The modular strategy will be a blend of theoretical lectures, practical tutorials and case study analysis/application to encourage active participation throughout.
The following is a weekly teaching plan. Please note this may be subject to change.
| Week beginning | Topic / content |
| 1 | Introduction to module
Assignment 1 Brief |
| 2 | Leadership philosophies |
| 3 | Team Leadership, Gender and Leadership |
| 4 | Authentic and Ethical Leadership |
| 5 | Adaptive, Transactional and Transformational Leadership |
| 6 | Leader-Member Exchange, Servant Leadership
Assignment 2 Brief |
| 7 | Emotional Intelligence and Leadership |
| 8 | Culture and Leadership |
| 9 | Leadership and Change |
| 10 | Entrepreneurial Leadership |
How you will be assessed on this module
| Assessment title | Case Study |
| Weighting | 50% |
| Learning outcomes assessed | 1. Conceptualise the role of leadership practices from different theoretical perspectives, which enhance the performance of a contemporary organization
2. Propose suitable leadership solutions to achieve results within a complex organisational setting and provide a supporting rationale |
Assessment. This is an individual assignment.
At very short notice, recent events have forced businesses across the globe to change how they work. Many organisations have offered some degree of remote working for a number of years now, but to be in a position where the entire workforce has to suddenly work from home is challenging even for the most prepared of organisations.
Remote working has moved from being ‘flexible working’ and an ‘employee benefit’ to a “must-have,” and at least for the foreseeable this is now the new normal. The challenges business leaders have in ensuring there is limited disruption to the workplace, and employees continue to be motivated, engaged and supported is paramount to business success. However, this style of working poses huge challenges to leadership.
Assignment guidelines:
- Explain the challenges leaders face due to ongoing remote working in an organisational setting.
- Evaluate traditional leadership traits and practices, and critically analyse the advantages and disadvantages of each of those styles has when leading teams and projects remotely, explaining the positive impact they have on performance. (LO1)
- Compare and contrast your findings with more contemporary leadership styles and traits, and critically examine – from both an academic and practical perspective – whether both traditional and contemporary leadership have a role within organisations when leading teams and projects remotely to meet strategic business objectives. Propose suitable leadership solutions that you believe will achieve the required organisational results and provide a supporting rationale. (LO2)
| Assessment Criteria | Marks Awarded | Marks Available | |
| 1 | Explain the challenges leaders face due to ongoing remote working in an organisational setting.
|
10 | |
| 2 | Evaluate traditional leadership traits and practices, and critically analyse the advantages and disadvantages of each of those styles has when leading teams and projects remotely, explaining the positive impact they have on performance. (LO1)
|
40 | |
| 3 | Compare and contrast your findings with more contemporary leadership styles and traits, and critically examine – from both an academic and practical perspective – whether both traditional and contemporary leadership have a role within organisations when leading teams and projects remotely to meet strategic business objectives. Propose suitable leadership solutions that you believe will achieve the required organisational results and provide a supporting rationale. (LO2)
|
50 | |
| Additional Comments from Second marker or External Examiner (if required):
|
|||
Would students please note that achievement of the learning outcomes for this assessment is demonstrated against the assessment criteria shown below (which are not necessarily weighted equally). All marks/grades remain indicative until they have been considered and confirmed by the Assessment Board
Master Level Marking Criteria
| No work has been submitted in the time allowed, or the work submitted demonstrates little or no understanding of the task or the subject matter. This may be evident where the work is substantially incoherent, irrelevant or lacking in factual content, or where these shortcomings are present in combination such that the work as a whole is unsound. Major errors of fact, or evidence of substantially poor cognitive or other relevant skills will also lead to a fail.
|
Fail:
Marks below 30% |
| The work shows some knowledge and required skills are present to a degree. There may be appreciable error or omission of facts, poor structure, misdirection to the task, or poor conceptualisation or illustration of the work. Evidence of analysis and evaluation is weak. There will be indications in the work that the candidate is capable of improving it by further application to the task.
|
Fail:
Marks in the range 30% – 39% |
| The work contains sufficient descriptive information. There is some analysis and explanation with appropriate illustration and example, and some attempt to evaluate. The work will generally be coherent and relevant, it will contain some useful proposals or solutions related to familiar solutions and there will be some attempt at originality. It will be communicated clearly.
|
Pass:
Marks in the range of 40% – 49% |
| The work contains all the necessary contextual information. There will be adequate analysis, explanation and conceptualisation, with appropriate illustration and example, and sound attempts to evaluate and judge. The work will be substantially coherent and will contain relevant and feasible proposals or solutions related to familiar situations, some responses to uncertainty or ambiguity and some acknowledgements of the implications of change.
|
Pass:
Marks in the range of 50% – 59% |
| The work will contain complete explanations using most available information. There will be substantial analysis; the ability to recognise evidence, use ideas, conceptualise, evaluate and judge in familiar situations will be clearly demonstrated. Proposals or solutions will be contextually relevant and useful, with substantial evidence of the skill necessary to operationalize them in a variety of situations, including those in which uncertainty, ambiguity or change are present. The work will provide evidence of originality and of useful knowledge transfer to novel situations. It will be coherent and convincing.
|
Pass:
Marks in the range of 60% – 69% |
| The work will clearly demonstrate the ability to analyse accurately, reliably and fully, all relevant information; to use evidence; to conceptualise, evaluate and judge; to propose and operationalise effective solutions, and to show substantial originality and creativity in a variety of familiar situations or in the face of ambiguity, uncertainty or change. It will demonstrate valuable knowledge transfer and propose feasible solutions for a wide range of situations. Evidence of the ability to innovate will be present.
|
Pass:
Marks in the range of 70% and above |
Master of Business Administration (MBA)
Assessment Structure Instructions
Report/ Case Study/ Essay
- All written report should be based on the following guideline:
- Font size : 12
- Font type : Arial/Times New Roman
- Line spacing : 1.5
- Alignment : Justify
- The structure of the report/case study/essay should be as follow:
No cover page needed
- Table of content with proper numbering system and page number
- Main body of the assignment
- Reference list with proper Harvard Referencing according to WGU requirements
- The PDF file submission is recommended in order to prevent the format from running.
- All students are encouraged to use the Turnitin Similarity Checker to check on their work’s similarity rate before the final submission to module submission link.
- The word count is exclusive of table of content, in-text citations, references, appendix, and tables.
- The penalty for exceeding the word count is 5 marks per 1000 words excess, with a 10% leeway above the specified word count before the penalty is applied.
Presentation (PowerPoint Slides)
- The structure of the presentation (PowerPoint Slides) should be as follow:
No cover page needed
- The first presentation slide should consist of:
- Student name and Student ID number
- Module code and module name
- Lecturer name
- Main body of the assignment (presentation)
- Reference list, which is part of the presentation slides with proper Harvard Referencing according to WGU requirements
- All students are required to convert their PowerPoint slides into Note Pages format and save it in PDF file for final submission.
- All students are encouraged to use the Turnitin Similarity Checker to check on their work’s similarity rate before the final submission to Turnitin.
- Total number of presentation slides should not exceed 30 slides including the reference list.
- The in-text citations must be included in both the presentation slides and the note pages.
Explain the challenges leaders face due to ongoing remote working in an organisational setting.
CITATION
