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PA 7305
Leadership of Public and Nonprofit Organizations
Spring 2006

"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other."

John F. Kennedy

Professor L. Douglas Kiel

Office – GR 2.539
Office Hours: Monday and Thursday 5:30-7:00 and by appointment
972-883-2019
dkiel@utdallas.edu

This class examines the theory and practice of leadership. The vast array of leadership theories
are explored for both their relevance and applicability to the world of practice. Espoused theories of
leadership are examined in light of the reality of the challenges leaders face in a complex, pluralistic
and shrinking world. Leadership is also explored in light of the unique challenges of a democratic
polity in which roles are dynamic, power is shared and leaders must rely on influence rather than
command and control.
This course will also serve to develop the leadership competencies of students. This will be
accomplished by a series of in-class individual and group exercises. Students will learn to identify their
own leadership strengths and weaknesses as a means to maintain on on-going review of their own
development as a leader.
The goals of this class are: (1) to introduce students to the study of leadership as an academic
enterprise; (2) to prepare students for effective leadership in the public realm of a democratic polity;
(3) to familiarize students with the intellectual and emotional demands of leadership in the 21st
century, and: (4) to develop the leadership competencies of students.

Texts:

John Antonakis, Anna T. Cianciolo and Robert J. Sternberg (Eds.) (2004). The Nature of Leadership.
Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA.

James MacGregor Burns, (2003). Transforming Leadership: a new pursuit of happiness. Grove Press:
New York, NY.

Barbara Crosby and John M. Bryson, (2005). Leadership for the Common Good: Tackling Public
Problems in a Shared-Power World. 2nd Edition. Jossey-Bass Pub.: San Francisco.

James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner (2003). The Leadership Challenge. 3rd Edition. Jossey-Bass
Pub.: San Francisco.
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Ronald E. Riggio and Sarah Smith Orr (Eds.) (2004). Improving Leadership in Nonprofit
Organizations. Jossey-Bass Pub.: San Francisco.

Kenneth R. Ruscio (2004). The Leadership Dilemma in Modern Democracy. Edward Elgar Pub.:
Northhampton, MA.

Course Requirements: Each student is required to complete the following four assignments: (1) a
personal leadership development plan; (2) an analysis of one of the leadership theories examined in
class; (3) a poetry recitation to the class, and; (4) a group project detailing a plan for resolving a public
policy issue.

Requirement One: The personal leadership development plan will be based on the results of the
Emotional Intelligence Appraisal and the LIFO assessment instrument. The portfolio should be no
more than 5 typed written pages of text but may include, as much supportive documentation as you
think is appropriate. The best way to approach this task is to place your self in the position of an
executive coach. Your role then is to produce a document that you think an executive coach would
produce for you. You will want to identify your own strengths and weaknesses and map out a plan for
leveraging those strengths and improving weaknesses. If you choose to use a published model of
executive coaching, then properly reference and cite that model. Submit the completed plan in a
properly sized three ring binder.

Requirement Two: The analysis of a leadership theory is a 12-15 page analytical paper that examines
your chosen theory in light of its strength, weaknesses and value relative to other leadership theories.
Each paper must include a 2-3 page concluding section on how you might investigate the validity of
this theory from a research perspective. For example, if you are investigating the “servant leadership”
model you will want to show an analyst would go about investigating the reality or validity of this
model. If studies already exist then review those studies for their relative value and for what might be
improved.

Important Note Concerning Requirement Two: Given the amount of required reading for this class
it is not expected that students will conduct research beyond that available in the required class texts.
In short, the required texts should provide you with all of the literature necessary to produce the paper.
This paper is also a means for showing the professor that you have read all of the required
assignments. Therefore, a strong paper will cite information from across all of the required texts. If you
do wish to use additional literature, you may. This paper should use proper academic form as noted in
the appendices of this syllabus.

Requirement Three: Each student will select a poem that you will read to the class. The poem should
take between 2-3 minutes to recite. This is not an exercise in developing your comedic skills. The
poem should have some particular meaning for you. The poem should also not come from any of the
world’s primary religious texts. For non-native English speakers, you may recite a poem in your native
language. A translation of the poem in English though should be provided to the class. Given the
number of students in the class, about four students per class meeting will recite their poems. These
recitations will occur on the dates of Feb. 9, 16, 23 and March 2, 16, 23 and 30.
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Requirement Four: Student groups will develop a plan for resolving a public policy issue. The policy
issue will be one that is currently of concern to the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex. Preparation,
production and presentation of the plan will be done in-class near the end of the semester.

Course Grade: The weight of each of the four course requirements is as follows:
(1) Personal Leadership Development Plan – 30 %
(2) Analytical Paper - 60 %
(3) Poetry Recitation – not graded but required to obtain a grade for the course.
(4) Group Project -10%

Each student must complete all four of the course requirements to obtain a passing grade in the class.

Structure of the Class Meetings: Most class meetings will include individual or group exercises with
report-outs to the entire class. Professor Kiel will make every effort to minimize lecture time and
instead engage students in active learning.

Professor’s Expectations: This is a graduate class. I expect everyone to be fully prepared for each
class and to participate in each class. I also expect each student to prepare two questions for each class
that may serve as the basis for starting class discussions.

Leadership Journals: There are not many quality academic journals that focus solely on the topic of
leadership. Two high quality journals that focus on leadership are Leadership Quarterly and The
Leadership and Organizational Development Journal. Leader to Leader is a high quality practitioner-
oriented journal focused on leadership. Public Administration Review, Administration and Society, The
Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, The Academy of Management Review, The
Academy of Management Journal, The Academy of Management Executive and Administrative Science
Quarterly are all top academic journals that include articles on the topic of leadership. You can access
the full-text of many of the journals noted above through the University’s web site. You will need your
student I.D. to gain such access.
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Class Schedule, Topics and Reading Requirements

Reading Note – Read the entirety of the Burns text and the Ruscio text at your own pace, but you
should complete both books by the end of March.

Jan. 12 Course Introduction – Definitions of Leadership, General Comments

About Leadership, Historical Views of Leadership – Current
Challenges, What is Leadership really About?

1. Emotional Intelligence Appraisal distributed to students.

Jan. 19 Leadership Self-Assessment – Emotional Intelligence Appraisal

and the Life Orientation (LIFO) Instrument

1. “The Emotional Competence Framework” from the EI consortium – provided in class on Jan. 9.
2. Gary Cherniss (2000).“Emotional Intelligence: What it is and Why it Matters,” please retrieve a
hard copy from http://www.eiconsortium.org/research/what_is_emotional_intelligence.pdf
3. Antonakis, et.al. – Chpts. 1, 2, 3, 4

Jan. 26 Guest Speaker

Wendy Haynes, PhD – President-Elect – American Society for
Public Administration
Intro to Theories of Leadership

1. Antonakis, et.al. – Chpts. 5, 6, 7, 8

2. Riggio and Orr- Chpts. 4, 5

Feb. 2 More on Theories and now the Practice of Leadership

1. Kouzes and Posner – Chpts. 1, 2, 3, 4

Feb. 9 NonProfits and Public Leadership

Similarities and Differences Between the Sectors

1. Riggio – Chpts. 2, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

2. Goffee and Jones – “What holds the Modern Company Together,” Harvard Business Review.
Nov.-Dec. 1996. – Provided in Class
3. Kouzes and Posner – Chpts. 5, 6

Feb. 16 Strategy and Alignment – The Tasks of Leaders

1. Antonakis, et.al. - Chpt. 11

2. Riggio and Orr – Chpt. 14
3. Kouzes and Posner – Chpts. 7, 8, 9, 10
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4. Cases provided for Feb. 23 class.

Feb. 23 Strategy and Alignment Exercises

In-Class Exercises and Presentation

1. Kouzes and Posner – Chpts. 11, 12

2. Crosby and Bryson – Chpts. 1, 2, 3

March 2 Leadership Development – A Critical Task of Leadership

**Personal Leadership Development Plans Due**

1. Antonakis, et.al. – Chpts. 9, 10, 12

2. Riggio and Orr – Chpts. 8, 16, 17

March 9 SPRING BREAK

March 16 Leadership Ethics – What, Can and Should We Expect?

1. Antonakis, et.al. – Chpts. 13

2. Riggio and Orr – Chpt. 6

March 23 Leadership Ethics in the Public Arena – Higher Values

1. Crosby and Bryson – Chpts. 4, 5, 6, 7

2. Class Handouts for March 30 class.

March 30 Leading in the Public Arena

1. Crosby and Bryson – Chpts. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

April 6 Developing Your Plans for Public Leadership

Students will use this class period to develop group leadership plans.
These plans will be produced only in-class and will not require
group meetings outside of class.

April 13 Presentation of Leadership Plans

**Analytical Papers Due**

April 20 The Future of Leadership and Leadership Issues

1. Antonakis, et.al. – Chpt. 14

2. Riggio and Orr – Chpt. 3
3. Kouzes and Posner – Chpt. 13