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Core Assignment 1: Program Reflection

OGL 481

Lindsay Snowden

June 3, 2018
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Table 1: Organizing and Reflecting on Key Learnings – and


Collecting Key Artifacts
OGL 200: Key Course Content: Key Knowledge and Artifacts for Portfolio:
Introduction to This course was a broad Skills: Paper 6: Discusses The
Organizational
Leadership study of leadership within -Concept of buoyancy as Case of the Missing Cutlery
organizations. We learned described by Kevin Allen
about leadership styles, -Leadership styles and
traits, theories, ethics and traits
development. -Leadership in groups

Course Materials: Impact of Course:


-Textbook: Leadership: A Because of this course I
Communication am more aware of the
Perspective. By Hackman, differences between a
M. & Johnson, C. manager and a leader. I
-Online subscription to now know that the traits
the New York Times of a leader are what will
-Planet Jockey (online have a more significant
leadership game) positive impact on
-The Case of the Missing followers than
Cutlery by Kevin Allen management strategies.
The Case of the Missing
Course Activities of Cutlery has had an
Significance: immense impact on my
I particularly enjoyed view and my approach
reading the leadership to leadership. It
articles on the NYT discussed the concept of
website as it helped relate “buoyancy”, or how
leadership to real life. I leaders float because
also enjoyed the Planet their followers believe
Jockey leadership game they should. This
for the same reason. The reading material has
short book by Kevin Allen stuck with me
made a distinct impact on throughout my entire
my understanding of how degree program.
relationships between
leaders and followers can
be the key to success for
an organization.

OGL 220: Key Course Content: Key Knowledge and Artifacts for Portfolio:
Behavioral -interdisciplinary studies Skills: -Discussion Board 1:
Dynamics in
Organizations of behavioral dynamics -Active listening Identifying my personality
within organizations qualities/skills type
-identify behavioral -Gained perspective on -Writing Assignment 2:
tendencies in ourselves “point-of-view” Mental Models & Towers of
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and others -Introduction of mental Perception


-identify and examine models -Discussion Board 6:
social processes and -Introduction of conflict Identifying Goal
human interaction styles Orientation Characteristics,
exploring my leadership
Course Materials: Impact of Course: style, & the Work Values
-Human relations: The art This course caused me Survey
and science of building to seriously reflect on
effective relationships by myself and how my
Vivian Hamilton behavior affects
-Shadows of the interpersonal
Neanderthal by David interactions. This course
Hutchens left a lasting impression
as I still apply the active
Course Activities of listening skills I learned
Significance: in this course. The
-Values Worksheet: In this concept of “Towers of
activity we had to rank a Perception” has also
set of personal values as stuck with me. Because
they applied to ourselves. of this course I’m much
This activity caused me to more inclined to
consider aspects of myself consider things from
that I had not thought on other people’s
before. perspectives before
-Jung Typology Test: This making assumptions. I
test identified crucial also am more conscious
aspects of my personality of how my behavior is
and helped me to being perceived by
understand how certain others and how it
personality traits define impacts situations.
my behavioral responses
in life.
-Listening Skills analysis
instrument: This
assessment helped me to
understand the key
aspects of active listening
and how well or not well I
utilized them in
conversation with others.
-Shadows of the
Neanderthal: This short
story was very impactful. I
enjoyed the metaphor of
the Neanderthals building
towers and only seeing
things from their tower. It
provided powerful
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perspective about seeing


things from other
people’s points of view.

OGL 260: Key Course Content: Key Knowledge and Artifacts for Portfolio:
Resource -Identify the basic Skills: -Nestle Research paper:
Allocation in
Organizations principles of finance -Knowing how to find Multinational corporations
/ Foundations -Understand the U.S. and read company -Freddie Mac Research
of Finance financial system and financial statements Paper: the U.S. Financial
Multinational online and mortgage market and
Corporations -Understanding the -Home Depot Research
-Understand financial mortgage market and paper: Reading financial
documents and associated terms documents and
statements -Understanding the understanding cash flow
-Define and measure risk impact of finances on
vs reward stockholders and
-Understand diversifying investors
and rates of return -Understanding the
-Understand cash flow, importance of company
cost, and capital finances
budgeting
-Be able to understand Impact of Course:
and interpret information This course opened my
on the stock market eyes to the financial side
of leadership and
Course Materials of corporations. One of the
Value: key take-away’s of this
A lot of the materials course for me was
were gathered through knowing how and where
self-directed research to find financial
(I did not care for the text information about a
book in this course) company online. There
was great value to me in
Course Activities of researching the history
Significance: of each company in this
-Nestle research paper: course. I enjoyed
How Nestle became a discovering the history
multi-national and back-story of
corporation companies that I know
-Freddie Mac research have been around for
paper: How the U.S. decades. The
market works, and importance of financial
understanding the activities in terms of
mortgage market stockholders and
-Home Depot research investors is something
paper: How to read that has stuck with me.
financial statements and It has caused me to
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understanding cash flow realize the depth of the


-Johnson and Johnson importance of meeting
research paper: financial goals beyond
Understanding the stock the reason of profit.
market through financial Understanding how cash
statements flow works in a large
corporation and where
to find that information
has helped me to see
the bigger picture in
terms of company goals.
OGL 300: Key Course Content: Key Knowledge and Artifacts for Portfolio:
Theory and -A broad survey of Skills: -Paper 3: Comparing
Practice of
Leadership leadership theory -A clear understanding behavioral and situational
-Differentiating between of the difference leadership approaches
leadership and between leadership - Discussion board 5:
management theories/approaches Humility in leadership
-Being a good follower and how they impact a
-Identify key attributes of leader’s performance
Behavioral Approach
-Identify key attributes of
Situational Approach
-Identify key attributes of Impact of Course:
Leader-Member Exchange The material in this
theory approach course was very
-Identify key attributes of straightforward and
Transformational provided distinct
Approach clarification between the
-Identify key attributes of different leadership
Adaptive Leadership approaches. Learning
-Identify key attributes of the traits of each of
Servant Leadership approach and how they
-To be able to distinguish apply to leadership
between different helped me to
leadership approaches understand the impact
and apply them to life of the approaches on
organizations. Being able
Course Materials of to focus solely on the
Significance: traits, benefits, and
Leadership Theory and differences of each of
Practice by Peter G. the approaches helped
Northouse to emphasize the
learning experience.
Course Activities of
Significance:
Each of the papers I wrote
in this course was
significant because they
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established the difference


between each of the
leadership approaches.

OGL 320: Key Course Content: Key Knowledge and Artifacts for Portfolio:
Foundations -Learn project Skills: -Paper 5: Managing people
Project
management management vocabulary -Understanding key and creating
-Learn phases of project project management accountability/ how to
management terminology build an effective team
-Understand influences -Learning about best -Paper 7: effective practices
on projects practices in project management
-Learn how to effectively -Understanding the
manage projects phases of a project
-Risk mitigation and -Understanding the
management outside influences on a
project
Course Materials of -Learning how to build
Significance: an effective team for
-Harvard Business successful projects
Essentials: managing
Projects Large and Small
-HBR Guide to Project
Management Impact of Course:
-Presentations from What stood out to me in
ProjectManager.com this course was
understanding project
Course Activities of terminology, building
Significance: best practices, and
The reading materials and building successful
the writing prompts were teams. This course really
cohesive, so it made the showed me how
material more concrete, complex project
relatable, and easy to management is and that
remember/understand. there are a lot of moving
parts within a project. I
found myself using the
term “best practice” at
my workplace and
developing my own best
practices. I thought a lot
about the qualities of
team members that
make teams successful
and applied them to my
own workplace. It
became clear to me why
there was a struggle on
the management team,
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but also why our team,


overall, was successful.

OGL 321: Key Course Content: Key Knowledge and Artifacts for Portfolio:
Project -Identify how scope, Skills: -Final Paper: Reviews my
Leadership,
Strategy and resources and schedule -How to manage the project management skills
Scope interacts with and scope of a project and application; reviews
impacts project success -Planning the elements Harvard Business
- How projects managers of a project such as Simulation
impact morale team size, team skill -Paper 5: measuring project
- Managing project scope level, scheduling, and success; material that the
-Dealing with uncertainty meetings professor requested to
in projects -How to deal with risk share with the class
- Demonstrate awareness and uncertainty during a
of the competencies project
needed to successfully -The importance of
manage projects developing a risk
management plan

Course Materials of
Significance:
-Harvard Business Impact of Course:
Publishing Project -My most memorable
Management Simulation learning experience
-Various Project from this course was
Management Blogs learning how to develop
a risk management plan.
Course Activities of During the Harvard
Significance: business simulation,
-Harvard Business there were several times
Publishing Project that uncertainty caused
Management Simulation: chaos during the
While I didn’t feel this project. While the first
simulation was an attempt of a simulation
accurate experience of had the element of
project management, it surprise, re-playing the
did allow the practice of simulation allowed for
making PM choices within careful planning of how
a certain scope, and to address the risk. For
demonstrated what it is me, this was good
like to deal with practice for developing
uncertainty in a project. I risk mitigation and
had no prior experience experiencing the
in project management, different types of
so this simulation was uncertainty that can
interesting experience for arise during a project.
-From this course I also
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me. learned the delicate


balance of completing a
project within the scope.
Through the simulation I
was able to practice
planning different parts
of a project within a
certain scope. This
helped to broaden my
perspective of all the
elements and moving
parts that are included
in the scope of a project.
BIS 345: Key Course Content: Key Knowledge and Artifacts for Portfolio:
Organizational -Understand ethical Skills: -Ethics Case Study 3: Ethics
Ethics
theories and ethical -Understanding ethically in Leadership
systems of thought complex situations -Any of the reflection
-Apply ethical theories within organizations papers: these papers
and systems to complex -How to apply ethical reflect my critical thinking
ethical dilemmas within theories to morally about the ethical theories
organizations complex situations presented in our reading
-Apply critical thinking, -Understanding different material
meta-cognition, and self- ethical theories
evaluation to moral -Applying different
solutions ethical theories to real
life
Course Materials:
-Perusall Online Textbook Impact of Course:
Platform (thoroughly This was one of the first
enjoyed this alternative to courses I’ve taken that
a discussion board!) resembled a philosophy
class. Philosophy and
Course Activities: ethics is something that
-Planet Jockey: Moral goes over my head, so I
Minefield game: Though I was pretty nervous
felt this game was a bit about this course. The
contradictory at times, it Perusall textbook really
was useful in using critical helped me understand
thinking to explain some of the theories
justifications to morally because I could read
complex situations within what other students
organizations. were thinking or saying
-Ethical Case Studies: The about the material. It
ethical case studies was interesting to read
helped to make the about all of the ethical
connection between the theories and see how
theories and real life they were similar or
situations. It required different to each other. I
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critical thinking and found myself applying


consideration of how them in social situations
ethical situations occur in in my workplace and
the real world. realizing that my
-Perusall textbook: I education was
enjoyed using the online influencing my personal
textbook because the life. This course also
other students could helped to open up
comment on the direct philosophical-type
material in the book. I conversations with my
noticed that this format husband, who is a
created more authentic Philosophy major. It was
conversation than a fun to be able to
traditional discussion connect with him on
board. I liked being able educational material
to see what others had to that he is passionate
say about the same about.
material as me. It often
offered a different
perspective or
clarification.
BIS 343: Social Key Course Content: Key Knowledge and Artifacts for Portfolio:
Processes in -Focus on teamwork in Skills: -Reading Essay 1: Building
Organizations
organizational -How to interact and be successful teams
environments part of a successful team -Group Charter: A
-Understanding -Strategies for professional document
psychological contracts participation curated by my team for the
-Focus on social processes -Conflict management group project
in team within within teams -Final Group Project: The
organizations: conflict, -How to work on diverse culmination of the
participation, internal teams semesters work on the
team dynamics, -Developing group project. Evidence of
communication, team psychological contracts the team working well
culture, biases, and team together and applying the
mental models practices learned in the
-Planning and Impact of Course: class to achieve success.
organization within a The strategies and
team materials learned in this
course were
Course Materials: immediately applied to a
-Making the Team: A group project that we
Guide for Managers by had to participate in. I
Thompson Leigh felt lucky to have been
part of such a great
Course Activities: team where everybody
-Group project: The group was involved and
project stood out to me in participated according
this course. It was to their “fair share”.
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something that we Additionally, I was able


worked on all semester. to apply the material to
While I was nervous my current job and
about how much each working with teams. I
team member would thought a lot about the
contribute to the project, psychological contract
once we got everyone on and what motivates
the same page the project people to care about
went very well. Everyone their work. Learning
in my group completed how to build a successful
their portion of the work team and what to look
on time, we agreed easily for in team members
on ideas and who would was helpful and actually
lead each portion of the helped me to identify
project, and the project some flaws in my own
was cohesive. I was very team at work.
satisfied with the work we
turned in and felt very
fortunate to have been
part of such a great team.
BIS 350: Key Course Content: Key Knowledge and Artifacts for Portfolio:
Diversity and -Define and recognize Skills: -Paper 2: Subtle
Organizations
prejudice and -Recognizing and Discrimination and
discrimination understanding implicit Stereotyping
-Intercultural bias -Paper 4: Interviewing
competencies -Managing diversity in someone from another
-Understanding self- the workplace culture (my FAVORITE
identity through heritage, -Understanding the assignment!)
culture, and socialization impact of culture on our -Cultural Intelligence pre &
-Cultural awareness identity and behavior post test
-Organizational -Understanding various -Identity pie chart and
implications of cultural cultures essay
diversity -Gaining perspective on
-Understand and use diversity
models for analyzing
culture to explain cultural Impact of Course:
differences Coincidentally, as I was
-Understand influence of finishing this course the
culture on conflict, “Philadelphia incident”
workplace culture, and with Starbucks
management styles happened. A few days
-How to manage diversity ago we completed the
in the workplace racial bias training in
which all U.S. Starbucks
Course Materials: locations were closed
-A conversation on Race: from 2:30 for the rest of
a collection of videos the day. I found myself
about racial referencing this course
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discrimination by The material during our


New York Times training as it was very
-Hidden America: relevant. The training
Children of the Plains: an was completed in small
ABC documentary about groups, and I feel my
poverty on Indian input of reflection on
reservations and breaking the course material
the social cycle added value to the
-Hidden America: training conversations.
Children of the This course helped to
Mountains: An ABC really broaden my
documentary about perspective on
poverty in the discrimination and
Appalachian Mountains biases. Learning about
and breaking the social implicit bias and the
cycle importance of
-Rich or Poor: Social Class acknowledging white
in America: a video from privilege (as much as we
1950’s about social class might not want to) has
and social mobility had a profound impact
-God Grew Tied of Us: A on the way I view and
National Geographic understand diversity. In
Documentary about conjunction with the
Sudanese refugees racial bias training at my
coming to America and workplace, the impact of
the cultural differences this course material has
they experience left a definite lasting
impression.
Course Activities:
-Haji Kahmal: This activity
was based on a true story
of soldiers in Afghanistan.
They were tasked with
getting an Afghan leader
to help them fight against
Al Qaeda. To do so, they
had to navigate cultural
differences during the
conversation and
communicate with Haji
Kahmal effectively in
order to gain his trust.
This activity was an
interesting venture in
learning to navigate
cultural differences with
respect.
-Cultural Intelligence Test:
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The course and my


understanding of cultural
diversity caused my
scores to differ drastically
by the end of the course.
This test had me score
myself on a scale to
determine how well I
interpreted and modified
m behavior in culturally
diverse situations.
-Identity Pie Chart: This
activity had me create a
pie chart based on what I
considered to be the most
important parts of my
own identity. Though the
pieces of my identity
didn’t change as a result
of the course, the size of
the pieces of the pie did.
BIS 357: Key Course Content: Key Knowledge and Artifacts for Portfolio:
Assessment in -Define what an Skills: -Discussion Board 1:
Organizations
organizational assessment -Understanding the Southwest Airlines and the
is importance of enabling environment
-Understand the organizational
importance of assessments
organizational -Understanding how to
assessments conduct organizational
-Identify the impact of assessments
enabling environments in -Understanding the
organizations impact of enabling
-Determine criteria of environments within
organizational organizations
assessments
-Determine which type of Impact of Course:
organizational assessment So far the material in
is appropriate for this course has caused
different organizations me to look at qualities of
other successful
Course Materials: companies in
-Harvard Business comparison to the
Publishing Articles: I’ve organization I work for.
found the HBP articles to We read an article about
be useful and interesting why Southwest Airlines
in understanding why it’s is so successful in terms
important to assess an of their employees and
organization. The articles creating an enabling
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help to demonstrate environment.


which aspects of an Understanding internal
organization make it parts of their
successful and why organization makes an
assessments are impact on what kind of
important in terms of leader and want to be
performance. and what kind of work
environment I want to
Course Activities: create as a leader.
-YellowDig: I haven’t
completed a yellowdig
blog assignment yet
(there is one due this
week), but I’ve read over
some of the current
entries and I’m looking
forward to this format of
discussion/essay posting,
and seeing the difference
in the experience
between traditional
essays/discussion boards.
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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, Assignment: Cultural Interview
specifically, did you learn? Task Description: Interview someone from a culture
Be sure to address both declarative forms of different than my own and apply learning material from the
knowledge (things you learned – concepts, course. I interviewed a friend from Puerto Rico.
Declarative knowledge: From this interview, I learned
theories, ideas, models) as well as procedural
about cultural diversity, cultural history, mental models
forms of knowledge(things you learned how to do
associated with Puerto Rican culture, and the concept of
– skills). how culture impacts our identity.
Procedural knowledge: From this interview I learned how
to recognize and understand the impact of culture on
individual values and behavior. From this interview, I
discovered that a lot of personality traits I attributed to the
interviewee were a result of her culture. I also learned how
to remain culturally sensitive when asking questions about
another culture. I also learned how to demonstrate a better
understanding of various cultures.

Why is it important to you? The most important thing I learned from this assignment
What connections can you make between this was the impact that our culture has on our identity and our
learning and other things you have learned (in world view. I have known the interviewee from this
school – and beyond)? What connections can assignment for a couple of years, and after learning about
her culture I feel like I understood her personality with so
you make between what you learned and your life
much more depth.
roles and goals?
In terms of my roles and goals in life: this assignment has
helped me as a leader to be more aware of how behaviors,
mental models, and ways of thinking are affected by an
individual’s life experience. It’s important to remain open-
minded this way, especially as a leader who will have to
work with a diverse group of people. As for my goals, my
goal is always to be accepting, welcoming and
understanding. This assignment just broadened my
perspective and enhanced my ability towards that goal
even more.
What worked for you? This assignment appealed to me because it was very
In terms of process, was there something about personal. At the same time, that also made me nervous.
the assignment structure that appealed to you? Fortunately, my interviewee was very open and excited to
How did this task / structure of this assignment share about their culture. I have had similar assignments in
other courses where I had to interview others about myself
differ from other assignments? Was it similar to
(i.e. ask them about my leadership or personality), but this
other assignments / tasks that were meaningful
one was different because I got to choose the questions, it
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to me? What strategies, skills, procedures proved was a very open conversation, and it wasn’t about me.
effective in the completion of this assignment / I enjoyed the freedom of the flow of the conversation in
task? Do you see any patterns or connections in this assignment, but it also helped to have direction from
this regard to your preferred approach to learning the professor.
– such as following an outline, keeping to I think this assignment appealed to me the most because I
deadlines, other learning or study skills? enjoy learning about other cultures; not particularly
because of the learning style.
What can you transfer?
Where can you apply / use these skills and Overall this assignment will help me to be more open to
knowledge? How can you apply what worked for people’s behaviors and belief systems. It has helped me to
you (above) to other learning goals or initiatives see the impact life experiences have on our identity and
in your life? Can you connect or adapt this the way we respond to situations. Open-mindedness as a
knowledge / skill to other areas of your life? leader will help me to be more patient, understanding, and
What kinds of metaphorical connections can you open with my followers. Recognizing cultural and social
differences in people’s identities can also help me to be less
make? Can you connect something that was
defensive as a leader, and more confident in my
interesting or important with respect to this
interactions.
knowledge / skill to something that you are
struggling with?

What evidence do you have? While I mention my learning from school quite often to
Do you have a plan for communicating your others, I’m hoping it’s prevalent in the way I am as a leader.
Managers in my organization usually track professional
learning to others? Are there any tangible
development. So, asking my manager for feedback will
outcomes (and specific artifacts, in particular) provide evidence that my degree program has significantly
that serve as evidence of this knowledge / skill? influenced not only my abilities as a leader, but in my
overall life as well.

Assignment #1: Questions for Reflection (Be sure to include Table 1 and
Table 2 in addition to your responses to these two prompts in your
assignment submission.)

Prompt #1: Now that you have completed Assignment #1, what do you consider to
be the most important aspects of this assignment? What moved you the most? Any
surprises? (insert response here)

The most important aspect of this assignment was reflecting on my past course
material. This assignment has reminded me of the wealth of knowledge I have
gathered throughout my courses and how much I have enjoyed learning about the
different aspects of leadership. Reflecting on course work that I have done in the past
year and a half has also reminded me of the vastness of leadership—it is not only about
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relationships between people within organizations, or relationships between people and


organizations themselves, but is also about the impact of decisions, behaviors, personal
growth, ethics, and finances as well. This reflection has not only awakened the stored
knowledge that I’ve gained throughout my degree program, but refreshed my passion
for it as well!

Prompt #2: What are your ideas with respect to 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?

One of the ways to document my growth through the leadership program would
be to retake some of the personal attribute assessments from my courses and reflect
on the changes. Additionally, some of my courses, like my cultural diversity class,
required me to take the same assessment at the beginning and end of the course in
order to show how our perception or understanding of certain criteria would change by
completion of the course. Presenting this material and reflecting on the change could be
another way to document growth. A final method could be to answer some of the
prompts from my early courses again in order to show the change in my understanding
of the material.

Truly every course in this program has been a learning experience for me, so the
existence of my coursework itself is evidence of growth in the field of Organizational
Leadership. Reflecting on any coursework will then demonstrate the depth of
knowledge gained throughout this degree program.

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