BA 3345.

HON Introduction to Leading and Managing

(3 credit hours)
by

Padmakumar Nair, Ph.D., Dr. Eng., MBA

Day and Time: Tuesdays, 1.00 to 3.45 PM

Place: SOM 2.802
Instructors: Padmakumar Nair [SOM 2.418] and Jerry Hoag [Exec. Ed.]
Telephone: 972-883-6264
Email: padmakumar.nair@utdallas.edu
Office hours: Tuesdays 3.45 to 5.00 PM or by appointment

Books:
1. “Do the Right Thing: How Dedicated Employees Create Loyal Customers and Large Profits”, by
James F. Parker
Publisher: Wharton School Publishing; 1st edition (November 30, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0132343347
ISBN-13: 978-0132343343

2. Warren Buffett Speaks: Wit and Wisdom from the World's Greatest Investor by Janet Lowe
Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (August 31, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0470152621
ISBN-13: 978-0470152621

3. The Personality Puzzle

Fourth Edition
David C. Funder, University of California, Riverside
ISBN-10: 0-393-92858-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-393-92858-7

Current market and societal realities are forcing us to look at new approaches, to designing
organizations which are innovative and flexible, that demand a rethinking of the traditional
command and control models of managing and leading. Leaders in this rapidly changing, global
environment who cannot meet both the cognitive and behavioral challenges of this new world of
business are unlikely to succeed. This course has been designed by keeping these considerations
in mind at the same time making sure that this course will be action oriented in its delivery method
and reflective in its learning approach.

Students will develop a leadership mindset with the ability to analyze broad organization-wide
issues. They will also gain a better understanding of how their roles relate to the overall
performance of their organization. The course will also help participants develop skills in using their
knowledge to create practical and innovative solutions to actual day-to-day managerial problems
faced by today’s international organizations.

This course will deal with Science, Practice and Philosophy of leadership and management. The
course will start with a general overview of major theories in the areas of leadership and
management. The main focus of this course is on the relationship between individual action and
group performance and ultimately the performance of the organization as a whole.

A major highlight of this course is that we will discuss in detail how Personality and Theory of Life
influence intentions and behaviors. We will also discuss current ethical dilemmas faced by
business and government leaders.

Evaluation: There are several group reading assignments and one group research project, one
individual paper, one mid-term (multiple-choice) exam and a final comprehensive (multiple-choice)
exam.

Group presentations (readings + book chapters) 20%

Mid-term Exam 20%
Comprehensive Exam 20%
Individual Assignment 20%
Final Group Project 20%

Assignments:
Group: In this assignment you will make a group presentation towards the end of the semester. In
addition, somewhere around the 8th week you will make a five minutes pre-presentation to get
advanced feedback from me and your fellow students. The group assignment should be presented
as a power point presentation. Pick an organizational leader who is/was in charge of a company
which has gone through ups and downs during the tenure of the leader. Some of the recent
examples are leaders of Amazon, Sun Microsystems, K-Mart, Boeing, GM, Ford, ABB, Sony, 3M,
Eastman Kodak, DuPont, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Dow Chemical, Caterpillar, IBM, HP, Dell, TI,
P&G, McDonald’s, Merck, AOL and Walt Disney.

After identifying the leader, describe his / her leadership style (transformation versus transactional)
and how his / her style and theory of life influenced organizational success and employee well-
being. As a group you will give a 5 minutes pre-presentation on October 13th and 15 min final
presentation on this topic on December 1st. Also please send me a soft cop of the presentation on
or before Nov. 30th (at least a day before your actual presentation).

Individual: A 2000 to 3000 word essay on “My Ideal Leader”. You should talk about her
personality traits, Theory of Life and examples of effective behaviors. You should explain your
points using real life examples and theories / concepts from psychology and sociology of
leadership.The individual paper (a soft copy only!) is due on November 24th.
CLASS SCHEDULE
Date Content
Week 1 Syllabus, Class expectations, and General Introduction
August 25
2009 MBTI and Big-Five Personality evaluation
Week 2 Personality Psychology of Leadership: Understanding Self and Others
September 01
2009 Reading 1
Reading 2

Week 3
September 08 MBTI feedback
2009 Gandhi movie

Week 4 Personality Psychology of Leadership: Understanding Self and Others

September 15 (Continued…)
2009
Reading 5
Reading 6

Leadership development and Theory of Life

Week 5
September 22 Reading 7
2009 Reading 8

Week 6 Introduction to Leadership Theories

September 29
2009 Reading 9
Reading 10

Week 7 Leader as motivator and Influencer: Self Motivation and Motivating Others
October 06 2009
Reading 11
Reading 12

Week 8 Leader as motivator and Influencer: Self Motivation and Motivating Others
October 13 2009 (contn…)

Pre-presentation of the group project [5 minutes]

Reading 13
Reading 14

Week 9 Leader as Organizer: Leadership as Organizing the Organization

October 20 2009 &
Leader as Decision Maker
 Reading 15
Reading 16

Week 10 Mid-term Exam

October 27 2009
Reading 17
Reading 18

Week 11 Leader as the Ethical Guardian

November 03
2009 Reading 19
Reading 20

Week 12 Leader as “Culture Creator”

November 10 Reading 21
2009 Reading 22

Week 13 Leader as Change Agent

November 17 Reading 23
2009 Reading 24

Week 14 Reflection and Career Guidance

November 24
2009

Week 15 Final Exam

December 01
2009
Final Presentations

List of Readings
The readings can be downloaded from the library website (go to eJournals:
http://www.utdallas.edu/library/collections/journals.htm )

1. Can Leadership Be Taught? Interview and Commentary by J.P. Doh, Academy of Management Learning and Education, 2003, Vol.2,
No.1, 54-67

2. What Leaders Really Do, by John P. Kotter, HBR, Dec. 2001

3. The Dangers of Feeling Like a Fake, HBR, Sept. 2005

4. Leadership that gets results, by D. Goleman, HBR, March-April 2000

5. Ending the CEO Succession Crisis, Ram Charan, HBR, Feb., 2005

6. Developing your Leadership Pipeline, Jay A. Conger and R. M. Fulmer, HBR, Dec. 2003
7. Leadership Development: Perk or Priority, HBR, I. F. Kesner, HBR, May 2003

8. Primal Leadership :The Hidden Driver of Great Leadership, by D. Goleman et al., HBR, Dec. 2001

9. Power is the Great Motivator, by D.C. McClelland and D.H. Burham, HBR, Jan. 2003

10. Learning to Lead at Toyota, HBR, May 2004

11. Why should Anyone Be Led by You, HBR, Jan 2001

12. Level 5 Leadership J. Collins et al., HBR, Jan. 2001

13. The Anxiety of Learning, D. L. Coutu, HBR, March 2002

14. Leading by Feel, HBR, Jan., 2004

15. Five Minds of a Manager, H. Mintzberg Harvard Business Review, Nov. 2003

16. Developing Leaders: How Winning Companies Keep on Winning?, R. M. Fulmer et. Al., Sloan Management Review, Fall 2000

17. How to grow Great Leaders, HBR, Dec., 2004

18. The Smart-Talk Trap, J. Pfeffer and R. I. Sutton, HBR, may-June 1999

19. When Should a Leader Apologize, HBR, April 2006

20. Managing Government, Governing Management, H. Mintzberg Harvard Business Review, May-June 1996

21. The Work of Leadership, R. A. Heifetz and D. L. Laurie, HBR, Dec. 2001

22. Leading for Value, B. Pitman, HBR, April 2003

23. Leadership Made in Germany, Academy of Management Executive, vol.16, no. 1, 2002

24. Speed, Simplicity, Self-Confidence: An interview with Jack Welch, Noel Tichy and Ram Charan, HBR, Sept.-Oct. 1989