Examining Leadership Theory and Practice for Organizational Sustainability: A Case Study of Microsof

Assignment Expectations

Assignment title: Using examples from ONE organization of your choice, examine how leadership theory and practice has impacted upon organization sustainability.Details of what you are expected to do You are required to demonstrate that you can use academic theory to relate practice in the area of leadership. By examining leadership practices within oneorganization, you will be required to relate academic theory to practice and demonstrate an understanding of how leadership impacts on organizational sustainability. 

You are required to write a 3000 (+/-10%) word individual written assignment This is assignment is intended that 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 organizational context (using sources such as the company website or good quality business websites – BBC news/Forbes etc). 

A good write up would demonstrate a good understanding of the literature and that you have read beyond the scope of what is covered.We are NOT looking for an assignment which focuses predominantly on the organization 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 organization of your choice, examine how leadership theory and practice has impacted upon organization sustainability

a. Critically evaluate one leadership theory and demonstrate how the theory relates to leadership practices occurring within the chosen organization 
•    You can draw on other theories to demonstrate critical analysis, however, we are looking
               for a sound theoretical understanding of one theory.
b. Drawing on academic literature, discuss and critically evaluate three of the following topics for leadership practices and sustainability in the organization 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 and strategic 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, 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). 
Assignment Format 
Your paper must comply with the following criteria: 
•    The overall word limit for the assignment is 3000 +/- 10%, excluding references.
•    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, organized, logical and coherent
•    All references must be cited correctly and listed in the reference list using the Harvard reference
system. 

In terms of conceptualizing ‘organizational sustainability’, we draw upon Colbert and Kurucz (2007) colloquial definition 
of sustainability as being to “keep the business going”. Wales (2013) states another frequently used refers to the “future proofing” of organizations.A brief introduction about Microsoft and not too detailed 200 Words For the theory, use below.
1.    Our example should be (MICROSFT i.e BILL GATE) 
Describe, critically evaluate theory to practice any evidence of them shown in your organization? (600 words) For other topics, use the following below.
1)    Power and influence (600 words)
2)    Leadership development (600 words) 
3)    Sustainable global and strategic leadership (600 words).