Leadership in the Public Sector

Lecture 1. Course overview

* Course expectationCourse introduction

* Course requirement

Overview of leadership

Required readings:

* Heifetz, R., (1994). Leadership Without Easy Answers, Chapter 2: To lead or mislead.

* Williams, D. (2005). Real Leadership, Chapter 2: Diagnosis: Determine principal challenge.

Lecture 2. Leadership, authority, and power

Required readings:

* Heifetz, R., (1994). Leadership Without Easy Answers, Chapter 3: The roots of autonomy.

* Barnard, The Functions of the Executive, pp. 215-234.

* Milgram, S. (1974). The Dilemma of Obedience in Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View, pp.1-12.

Political operation as leadership

Required readings:

* Heifetz, R., (1994). Leadership Without Easy Answers, Chapter 4: Mobilizing adaptive work; Chapter 5: Applying power.

* Moore, M. (1995) "Advocacy, Negotiation, and Leadership: The techniques of political management" Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government, Harvard University Press. Cambridge Massachusetts.

* Williams, D. (2005). Real Leadership, Chapter 5: The transition challenge: Moving from one system value to another; Chapter 7: The creative challenge: Doing what has never been done before.

Lecture 3. Managing change

Case: Management Principles and Public School in Washington, DC: Choice of the Superintendent.

Required readings:

* Ostroff, F. (2006) "Change Management in Government", Harvard Business Review, May, pp. 141-146.

* Heifetz, R., (1994). Leadership Without Easy Answers, Chapter 6: On a razor's edge; Chapter 7: Falling off the edge.

* Rosabeth Moss Kanter, "Leadership for Change: Enduring Skills for Change. Masters," HBS 9-304-062.

* Vaill, (2002) Visionary Leadership, in Allan R. Cohen (Ed.), The Portable MBA in Management, pp. 12-37.

* Rogers and Roethlisberger (1991), Barriers and Gateways to Communication, Harvard Business Review, Nov-Dec., pp. 105-111.

Lecture 4. Building Learning Organizations

Required readings:

* Williams, D. (2005). Real Leadership, Chapter 4: The development challenge: Cultivating the latent capability needed to progress.

* Senge, P. (1990) The Leader's New Work: Building Learning Organizations, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 7, Fall.

* Garvin, A. D. (1993). Building a Learning Organization, Harvard Business Review, Jul-Aug., pp. 78-91.

* Argyris, Putnam and Smith, (1985). Theories of Action, Action Science: Concepts, Methods, and Skills for Research and Intervention, pp. 80-102.

* Garvin, Edmondson, and Gino (2008). Is Yours a Learning Organization?, Harvard Business Review, Mar., pp. 109-116.

Essay outline due

Lecture 5. Organizational culture I

Case: Children Hospital, HBS Case 9-302-050

Required readings:

* Schein, E., (2004). Organizational Culture and Leadership, pp. 1-23.

* Pfeffer, J and Veiga, F., (1999). Putting People First for Organizational Success. Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 13, 2, pp. 37-48.

* Anita Tucker, Amy Edmondson, "Why Hospitals Don't Learn from Failures: Organizational and Psychological Dynamics That Inhibit System Change." California Management Review 45, no. 2 (winter 2003)

* O'Toole, J., and Bennis, W., (2009). What's Needed Next: A Culture of Candor, Harvard Business Review, Jun., pp. 54-61.

* Williams, D. (2005). Real Leadership, Chapter 6: The maintenance challenge: Protecting and sustaining what is essential during hard times.

Organizational culture II

Case: Vision and Strategy: Paul O'Neill at ALCOA and OMB. HKS case C16-92-1134.0.

Required readings:

* Schein, E., On Dialogue, Culture, and Organizational Learning, Organization Dynamics pp. 40-51.

* Edmondson, (2008). The Competitive Imperative of Learning, Harvard Business Review, Jul.-Aug., pp. 60-67.

* Weick and Sutcliffe. (2007). Organizational Culture: Institutionalizing Mindfulness, in Managing the Unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty, pp.109-160. Jossey Bass.

* Williams, D. (2005). Real Leadership, Chapter 3: The activist challenge: Calling attention to a contradiction in values; Chapter 8: The crisis challenge: Leading in a period of extreme danger.

Leadership in crisis

Case: Mass Port: The Aftermath of 9/11.

Required readings:

* Williams, D. (2005). Real Leadership, Chapter 3: The activist challenge: Calling attention to a contradiction in values; Chapter 8: The crisis challenge: Leading in a period of extreme danger.

* Heifetz, Grashow, and Linsky (2009). Leadership in Permanent Crisis, Harvard Business Review, Jul.–Aug., pp. 62-69.

Inspirational Leadership

Inspiring people: Inspiring people to general purposes

Case: Winning the Heart and Mind: Reforming the Public School System, HKS Case C15-03-1690.0.

Required readings:

* Berlew, E. D. (1995) "Inspiring other people: Inspiring everyone to general purposes" in Kouzes Posner, The Leadership Challenge, Jossey-Bass Publisher, San Francisco, pp. 121-150

* Principles of Effective Persuasion, HBS case 9-497-059.Heifetz, R., (1994). Leadership Without Easy Answers, Chapter 8: Creative deviance on the frontline; Chapter 10: Assassination.

Decision making

Case: The Last Mission of the Columbia, HBS case 9-304-090

Required readings:

* Gladwell, M. (2005). Chapter 3, The Warren Harding Error: Why We Fall for Tall, Dark, and Handsome, pp. 72-98) in Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Little Brown.

* Davenport, H. T. (2009) Make Better Decisions, Harvard Business Review, Nov., pp 117-123.

* Hammond, Keeney, and Raiffa (2006) The Hidden Traps in Decision Making, Harvard Business Review, Jan., pp. 118-126.

* Charan, R. (2006). Conquering a Culture of Indecision, Harvard Business Review, Jan., pp 108-117.

* Jonah Lehrer, How We Decide, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009, pp 1-27.

* Zimmerman and Lerner, Decisions, Decisions, Government Executive Magazine, 29 September, 2010.

Lecture 7. Adaptive Leadership

Case: The Chilean Mining Rescue (A), HBS case 9-612-046

Required Readings:

* Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard and Arnold M. Howitt. 2010. Acting in Time Against Disaster: A Comprehensive Risk Management Framework. In Howard Kunreuther and Michael Useem (Eds.), Learning from Catastrophes: Strategies for Reaction and Response. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Wharton School Publishing.

* Arnold M. Howitt and Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard. 2009. The Novelty of Crises: How to Prepare for the Unprecedented.In Stefan Sagmeister; David Ulin; Judith Lewis; and Mariana Amatullo (Eds.), The LA Earthquake Sourcebook (pp. 210-217). Pasadena, CA: Art Center College of Design

* Notes from Three Mile Island Profile.

Lecture 8. Travel to a novel land

Case: Leadership in Crisis: Ernest Shackleton and the Epic Voyage of the "Endurance"

Required readings:

* Day and Schoemaker, (2004) Driving Through the Fog: Managing at the Edge. Long Range Planning 37, pp. 127–142.

* Leonard, Herman B. and Arnold Howitt. 2009. "Thích ứng với Điều Mới lạ." In Managing Crises: Responses to Large-Scale Emergencies, Arnold M. Howitt and Herman B. Leonard. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press. 275-281.

* Notes from IMAX, Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure

Class summary

Final essay submission