Leadership Theory and Practice Impact on Organizational Sustainability - Individual Assignment

The assignment requires students to demonstrate that they can use academic theory and relate it to practice in the area of leadership. By asking students to examine leadership practices within one organisation, students will be required to relate academic theory to practice and demonstrate an understanding of how leadership impacts on organisational sustainability.

 The individual assignment assesses Intended Learning Outcomes 1-4

Students are required to submit a 3000 (+/-10%) word individual written assignment.

This is an academic assignment and you will be expected to draw on a range of academic, peer-reviewed literature (e.g. journal articles, book chapters) to support your assignment.

As a guide, we would recommend that 80% of the contents of your assignment is drawn from peer-reviewed literature (journal articles and books) and 20% is related to the organisational context (using sources such as the company website or good quality business websites – BBC news/Forbes etc).

Students scoring in the higher marking bands will have demonstrated a good understanding of the literature and that they have read beyond the scope of what is covered in the lectures and seminars. We are NOT looking for an assignment which focuses predominantly on the organisation.

Drawing on a range of academic literature to provide supporting evidence for your discussion, the individual assignment must address the following:

Using examples from ONE organisation of your choice, examine how leadership theory and practice has impacted upon organisation sustainability. 

To do this, you must:

Critically evaluate oneleadership theory and demonstrate how the theory relates to leadership practices occurring within the chosen organisation 

 

You can draw on other theories to demonstrate critical analysis, however, we are looking for a sound theoretical understanding of one theory.

 

Drawing on academic literature, discuss and critically evaluate threeof the following topics for leadership practices and sustainability in the organisation of your choice:

• Power and influence
• Unethical leadership/ the dark side of leadership
• Leadership, gender and diversity
• Leadership self-awareness and resilience
• Leadership development
• Generational expectations of leadership
• Leadership and followership
• Sustainable, global leadership

Credit will be given to those who demonstrate a comprehensive understating of contemporary leadership issues and literature which draws on a wide scope of materials covered within this unit.

The individual assignment will be marked in accordance with the marking guide, see Appendix 1 for the full guide. Please make sure you read this guide and have a clear understanding of the criteria and expectations.

However, please be aware that there are 4 elements to be covered in this assignment – the leadership theory element and the 3 leadership topic areas – please make sure you balance your assignment to reflect these (i.e. do not allocate too much of your word count to any one area but divide word count equally between the 4 elements).

Your paper must comply with the following criteria:

• The overall word limit for the assignment is 3000 +/- 10%, excluding
• You may add a content page if you wish and this is not included in the word count
• Arial or Times New Roman, 12 font type, 1.5 spaced, 2.5cm margins, justified and appropriate use of paragraphs.
• You do not need an abstract or executive summary
• You may use headings/sub-headings where appropriate throughout your assignment.
• Spell checked and grammar-checked with no track changes
• Written in an appropriate, clear style of English
• Well structured, organised, logical and coherent
• All references must be cited correctly and listed in the reference list using the BU Harvard system. The updated guide can be found by following the link below:

Deadline for submission: Thursday 6^thJanuary 2022 at 12 noon

Please note that this is the final time you can submit – not the time to submit! Your feedback and mark for this assignment will be provided via return of the assignment.

Please see the separate rubric for a guide for assessment marking criteria (Appendix 1).

Feedback for the assignment will be provided within three weeks of submission via Turnitin. Individual marks will be released via Grade Centre.

In your interest, a sample of work is second-marked; the sample normally includes all Distinctions and Fails, as well as a selection of other work.  

Disclaimer: The information provided in this assignment brief (version number: 1) is correct at time of publication.  In the unlikely event that any changes are deemed necessary, they will be communicated clearly via e-mail and/or via Brightspace and a new version of this assignment brief will be circulated.