...GM591 PREPARATION GUIDE: LIFE STYLES INVENTORY(LSI) Introduction: Thinking and Behavior "The quest for leadership is first an inner quest to discover who you are” (p.391).[1] --Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner--- Self-awareness is foundational to effective leadership and organization success[2]. Research in leadership and organizational behavior indicates that managers who are blind to who they are, and to the effects they have on other people in their organizations, place their effectiveness and their careers at risk. A frequently cited axiom is "the first commandment of leadership is to know thyself." For example, in their studies of managerial and executive derailment, the Center for Creative Leadership found that successful managers: (1) understand their values, personal styles, and strengths and weaknesses; (2) know the impact of these values, styles, and strengths and weaknesses on their ability to effectively work with others and achieve their goals; and (3) are quick to reflect upon and learn from their own experiences. Despite these advantages, we often resist opportunities to increase our self-awareness or to acknowledge error. We fear that learning something new about ourselves will be painful -- doing so may require us to change our treasured and habitual ways of seeing, thinking, and behaving. Self-awareness is also an important barometer to ensure that even the best leadership practices don't become destructive. As Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner caution...
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...GM591 LSI paper The LSI assignment gave me a chance to see on paper what behavioral and thinking styles I use more of on a daily basis and where I rank compared to others who have taken the same survey. My primary constructive style is affiliate, which fell into the high percentile range, and the one that I scored the most on in any category. My next highest ranking style is humanistic-encouraging, then self-actualizing, and last was achievement at the lowest percentile. Then for my back-up personal thinking style in the Passive/Defensive category dependent is the one that is the highest scoring. The next highest is approval, then conventional, and last is avoidance. I believe that some of the rankings for the constructive style category are pretty accurate in the way that I think and behave at work, as well as in my personal life. With the affiliative style showing up as my highest raw score, that really doesn’t surprise me because I think people are more important; I try my best to be available to answer questions, and provide the most help I can offer. I am also not surprised that humanistic-encouraging shows up as my next highest because it goes hand and hand with the affiliative style in being a leader, thinking people are worth more, and trying to bring out the best in others. What I was most shocked over was how low both self-actualizing, and achievement scored. I am not sure that I totally agree with the results. I believe that my scoring...
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...Learning with Cases INTRODUCTION The case study method of teaching used in management education is quite different from most of the methods of teaching used at the school and undergraduate course levels. Unlike traditional lecture-based teaching where student participation in the classroom is minimal, the case method is an active learning method, which requires participation and involvement from the student in the classroom. For students who have been exposed only to the traditional teaching methods, this calls for a major change in their approach to learning. This introduction is intended to provide students with some basic information about the case method, and guidelines about what they must do to gain the maximum benefit from the method. We begin by taking a brief look at what case studies are, and how they are used in the classroom. Then we discuss what the student needs to do to prepare for a class, and what she can expect during the case discussion. We also explain how student performance is evaluated in a case study based course. Finally, we describe the benefits a student of management can expect to gain through the use of the case method. WHAT IS A CASE STUDY? There is no universally accepted definition for a case study, and the case method means different things to different people. Consequently, all case studies are not structured similarly, and variations abound in terms of style, structure and approach. Case material ranges from small caselets (a few paragraphs...
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