OGL 481: Pro-Seminar I

Core Assignment 1
Gary Strong
Table 1: Organizing and Reflecting on Key Learnings – and Collecting Key Artifacts
COURSE Key content – textbook / articles / Professional (or personal) Possible artifacts to include in
multimedia presentations / videos application. As a result of professional e-portfolio / website –
your academics: how do you that illustrates tangible connections to
Key learning – concepts, theories, skills, think differently? How do you personal and professional
best practices, applications, cases, behave differently? What can transformation. You will describe the
assignments, discussions, simulations / you do more effectively? How artifacts with your explanation, not
activities, teamwork initiatives, readings, have you changed as a attach them in this space. Make sure to
analysis, other projects, etc. person? save them for Core #2.
OGL 200: Introduction In this course it was my first-time using I think that a big way that I Some good artifacts that I used
to Organizational Planet Jockey in order to learn new styles have changes when it comes throughout this course was of course
Leadership of leadership. Learning how to make high to being a leader in this planet jockey where I used virtual
performing teams, using what is inside course is beginning to simulations in order to get better as a
the team’s hearts in order to help them understand the type of leader leader in the corporate environment. A
better understand their roles, setting you are is dependent on the great exercise that I learned from was
goals, facing conflict and how to deal with approach you decide to take. I one where you had to lead a crisis
it, and making sure everybody on the can more effectively be event and steps had to be taken in
team has a voice that is being heard. adaptive to what exactly each three stages, the pre-crisis, crisis event,
Some key learning for me was Trait vs follower needs in order to and post crisis. There were also online
Relational leadership approaches and pick the best leadership tools that were used that helped depict
how one focuses on the relationship approach. As a person I think what kind of leader that I am such as
between the leader and the follower that I have become more me being expressive and it reveals I
while the other focuses on characteristics empathetic because in this was honest, thoughtful when
that each leader has to solve problems. course I had to learn how to communicating, taking others into
deal with people and read consideration.
them in order to know the
correct way to lead then.
OGL 220: Behavioral In this course I think observations and
Dynamics in understanding who you were leading was
Organizations a key learning. Looking to see if the
leader was being clear with the purpose
of their demands, implying causes and
solutions, being able to share essential
information amongst a group,
encouraging participation, keeping focus,
using systematic procedure, and
clarifying responsibilities is what I
learned in this course.
OGL 240: Introduction
to Project
Management
OGL 260: Resource Some key take-aways from this course
Allocation in was how funds are moved through the
Organizations / economy and there was only three ways
Foundations of that it can be done, expansion of
Finance businesses because of focus on providing and organizations are so
customers in industry empowerment,
and types of investments along with how
technology has advanced investing.
OGL 300: Theory and Key take-aways from this course was
Practice of Leadership understanding customer, employee, and
OR PAF 410: Building shareholder satisfaction. Also
Leadership Skills understanding the different theories and in scenarios being played out
how they work such as employee &
product orientation, situational approach, of them. I am more of a visual
authentic leadership approach, and
adaptive leadership.
From this course I think I
developed an attention to
detail that was focused on
what is being said from me
and the people around me. I
learned to truly understand
the words and intentions that
I was giving along with the
leaders that were present in
my positions.
I think differently from this
course because it taught me
some lessons on how money
moves and why companies
successful. This course has
helped me invest some of my
own money toward different
ventures and helped me look
at the big picture rather than
think small (9-5 job).
I received a in depth
explanation on the different
approaches and seeing them
to advance my understanding
learner rather than just
reading a book, so it helped
There were various videos that were
used in this course between TED talks
and YouTube and some of the best ones
were the ones that focused on
empathy. I did not have a good sense of
what empathy was but the videos
followed by the “notion of self
awareness” exercises helped me get a
perfect grasp on what the concept was.
Not empathy is not only apart of my
everyday vocabulary, but I also know
how to use it in the proper context and
setting.
Investing 101 Articles came in handy
where they gave me the primary lesson
on how money moves, internal growth,
and the importance of reinvesting back
into the firm, company, or organization.
The book Foundation of Finance: The
logic and practice of financial
management was a key tool that I used
as well.
There was a followership
questionnaire that was used to help
with engagement and independent
thinking that was used in the course.
The biggest aid was the simulation
with 4 other people from the class that
were intertwined positions at the head
of a company who were facing

OGL 321: Project There was some key takeaways in this
Leadership, Strategy that were all new for me because I have
and Scope no experience in project management. I
learned about scope management, cost
management practices, communication
management, quality management, HR
management, risk management, and
procurement management.
BIS 345: The key learning from this course was
Organizational Ethics understanding how ethics plays a huge
role in the leadership role and when
considering ethics, a leader is certain to situation where there are no
get positive results from their followers. values or morals behind what
The ability for leaders to apply values and I do now.
morals to everything they do including
their work was the basis of the course.
BIS 343: Social I learned about successful team
Processes in performance, social loafing, sucker
Organizations aversion, free riding, working on a virtual
team how to work with having
productivity, accountability,
coordination, and conflict. I also gained
insight on internal dynamic, decision
making, mental models, creativity,
leadership paradox, more on
transformational leaders, and
encouraging participation management.
BIS 357: Assessment The lessons from this course were
in Organizations focused around the necessity of
performance. The steps leading,
performance while it is still going on, and
the afterwards process that is used to get
better overall. Organizational assessment
me develop my approach
understanding better.
I think this made helped me
prepare for possible jobs that
could come to me in project
management. This course
made it easier for me to be
able to understand the job
after college and also gave an
opportunity to help spark my
interests about the job.
This course changed me by
helping me apply ethics to
everything I do, there is no
This was a good course for
helping me because more
aware that I am a
participative leader and
through this style/approach
it will always encourage my
team’s involvement, purpose,
responsibility, and incentive
to work hard.
This course gave me a chance
to get better with trying to
become a perfect leader. I
received some helpful tools
on how to judge and improve
practices, methods, and
conflicts. I played the COO which was
the head of the operations side of the
business.
The big tools that were used in this
course were the Harvard Business
Simulation that helped me make
decisions from a Project manager’s
perspective and blogs from
professionals in the field they gave
constant fresh views on Project
management.
I think the tool that was the most
effective during this course was
whenever we had to do research and
paper/assignments on our favorite
ethical leader. It gave me the
opportunity to see who’s an ethical
leader and what traits they
used/implemented to become
successful.
Team Campaign for the class was a
useful tool that helped us get a grasp
on participation and how it related to
management. My team did a campaign
for combating pollution in the ocean. It
also helped by providing some hands-
on experience through using virtual
teams because we had to converse on a
webcam with our team for our project.
I used all reading material in this
course as the helpful tools but the best
one was the story of Warren Buffet and
how he was able to turn Berkshire
Hathaway from a poor textile company
to a holding company invested in
 gives the organization a chance to see
what is going right and wrong and if
anything is going wrong, it can be
assessed to be made better.
OGL 481: Pro-Seminar So far, I have learned about structure
I (what have you within an organization, recognizing
learned so far) systems that can be improved, efficient
protocols, hierarchy, structural
imperatives & structural tension, and
reframing overall in the big picture.
OGL 482: Pro-Seminar I will be taking this course next semester
II (when will you be for my last semester of my undergrad at
taking it) ASU.
protocols for the better of an
organization, a team, or
myself.
I can already feel myself
beginning to change when it
comes to creating structure
within my leadership
patterns. Healthy leadership
techniques that can be
implemented using my
preferred approach is what I
aim to get from this course.
I will be taking this course
next semester for my last
semester of my undergrad at
ASU.
multiple industries that is worth
billions of dollars now.
Some tools that are being used thus far
are SEAL approach models(Situation,
Effect, Action, Learning), Relevant TED
talks, movie clips (Lean On Me), and
motivational speakers
I will be taking this course next
semester for my last semester of my
undergrad at ASU.
Table 2: Plus / Delta – Significant Learning Experiences – Structure and Transfer
Pick one of your most significant learning experiences from Table 1. Take some time to deeply reflect on the experience. Respond to the
following questions / sub-questions as explicitly as possible. Use your imagination and creativity here – this is really all about making
connections, and seeing what you can learn about your learning style (and yourself) from the experience!

Describe the task / assignment? What, specifically, did you

In OGL 300 there was a simulation that had me and 4 other members from my
learn? class pick roles within a company as the CEO, COO, CFO, CMO, and CHRO. We
Be sure to address both declarative forms of knowledge all had to pick our own roles before we started, and I chose COO which was the
(things you learned – concepts, theories, ideas, models) as
head of the operational side of the organization. We then went through
well as procedural forms of knowledge(things you learned scenarios weekly that reported satisfaction rating for employees, stakeholders,
how to do – skills). and customers. We received a team rating, an individual effort rating, and a
leadership approach preference. This is where I learned that I am the best at
using the adaptive leadership approach because my ability to be flexible and
react quickly to crisis. I learned how to address, evaluate, and react to
situations that I was not used to but was still able to make decisions correctly
because of the concepts learned in the course.
Why is it important to you? The connection that I can make between this, my other lessons in school, and
What connections can you make between this learning and my real life is that I feel they all are aligned with one another. Whenever I have
other things you have learned (in school – and beyond)? faced a situation, I usually take an approach to it that is not the smartest or
What connections can you make between what you ethical but when I began this degree program, I realized there is so many ways
learned and your life roles and goals? to address every situation. Whether a situation requires a transformational
leadership approach that bases all decision off ethics, values, morals and goals
or an authentic leader which focuses on how genuine they are. Learning how
to problem solve correctly to each situation is why this is so important to me.
What worked for you? What appealed to me about the assignment the most is the fact that it
In terms of process, was there something about the happened on a virtual setting. It made it easier to grasp the concept and truly
assignment structure that appealed to you? How did this understand the purpose of what we are learning. In the future when we do
task / structure of this assignment differ from other have to fill the roles of a CMO, COO, or CEO it gives a brief glimpse of the
assignments? Was it similar to other assignments / tasks everyday crisis that one has to go through and shows how to apply the lesson
that were meaningful to me? What strategies, skills, from the courses to the real world. Other assignments usually just give a
procedures proved effective in the completion of this scenario and ask what you would do but this was different because it was so
assignment / task? Do you see any patterns or hands on, even if it was only virtual it proved to be extremely helpful. Keeping
connections in this regard to your preferred approach to deadlines and focusing on planning stages were patterns that I notice the most
learning – such as following an outline, keeping to as far as making connections between course material and real life.
deadlines, other learning or study skills?
 What can you transfer?
Where can you apply / use these skills and knowledge?
How can you apply what worked for you (above) to other
learning goals or initiatives in your life? Can you connect
or adapt this knowledge / skill to other areas of your life?
What kinds of metaphorical connections can you make?
Can you connect something that was interesting or
important with respect to this knowledge / skill to
something that you are struggling with?
I can apply these skills used to any context where I am in a leadership role. For
example, I am a manager at a retail store and when I took the course back then
I started applying some of the skills I learned to my store to produce better
results out of my employees. The impact from a leader on the employees plays
such a big role when it comes to their development, that is why I bounce
between task and relationship behaviors to help push my employees to
accomplish goals.

What evidence do you have?
Do you have a plan for communicating your learning to
others? Are there any tangible outcomes (and specific
artifacts, in particular) that serve as evidence of this
knowledge / skill?
I have begun to apply my communication to my employees, and I have
received feedback since when I first became apart of the team and it has been
extremely positive. I have spoke to some of our top performers along with
some of our former low performers who have stepped it up and both parties
spoke highly of the new approaches and implementations that I have laid out. I
have created a new system for them to improve through accountability, values,
and flexibility. I think that by the time I end my role at my current position I
will be ready to play on a bigger field and mold multiple teams at a time.

Assignment #1: Questions for Reflection

Prompt #1: Now that you have completed Assignment #1, what were the most important aspects of this assignment? What moved you the
most? Any surprises?

I think that the biggest aspect of this assignment was being able to reflect on all the lessons from all the courses that I learned thus far and
applying them to my tools that I used to learn them with the real world. It is one thing to be able to learn a lesson out of a book but seeing
hands on how it applies to the real world is truly where the learning happens. The biggest surprise that I was not expecting was the block in
table 1 that asked me about the key tools that were used in each course for my learnings. I had to go back to each course and see which
simulations lined up and what reading material was best for each lesson.

Prompt #2: What are your ideas in terms of how to best illustrate your growth and development over the course of your education and
experiences with the Organizational Leadership program? What are your best ideas with respect to specific artifacts / evidence that you
might present (within the context of an e-portfolio) as you consider your growth and development in the Organizational Leadership
Program?

The best way that I would illustrate the growth and development over the course of the OGL program is going from a seed in the ground to
becoming a small tree with the roots being the lesson learned in the course, the branches being the approaches and implementations that I
choose to use, and the leaves sprouting (or not sprouting) would be the results that comes from the decisions I make in the real world. The
best ideas are picking an approach, focusing on the plan to execute task effectively, clearly lay out the plan and roles to the team, empower
the team and help them become better, and take consideration of stakeholder and your followers when making decisions.