Course Syllabus

Contact Information

This table includes information about how to contact your instructor and other important details about your class

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Office Hours: Tues: 6:00pm-7:00pm CST

Wed: 6:00pm - 7:00pm CST 

Phone: (301) 615-3754

Email: mrwilliams@ou.edu

Live Session: Tues, 7:00pm - 8:00pm CST

Zoom link: https://oklahoma.zoom.us/j/94477204381?pwd=elNCMFBzbExwY0N5em1WNThUbDFqZz09

 

Meeting ID: https://oklahoma.zoom.us/j/93639726904?pwd=VXIzSkpyNndZckJSTFRVWlp4em0zUT09

Password: 15898856

Dr. Michael R. Williams

Faculty

Inclusive Leadership (IL) Master of Human Relations 

My philosophy in teaching is to deconstruct many of the basic methods of teaching/education and to apply a revitalizing pedagogical approach to invite learners to engage in various dialogues. This course is my first of many attempts, each module has a variety of integrated learning modes that you will engage in such as pre-class learning activities that include online video lectures, readings, and homework assignments. In- class learning activities take place in weekly interactive lectures and weekly discussion sessions. One mode is not more important than another.  My foundational point for providing excellence in teaching is to encourage peers, students, and institutions to have more dialogue about teaching and its promising practices to liberate ourselves from previous notions of excellence in teaching.

Course Details

For a list of course activities, scroll to the bottom of this page.

Course Purpose 

Leadership in Organizations (LO) examines how leaders formulate complex and effective strategies for equitable policies, practices, and procedures. LO equips students with the framework to develop skills that will allow them to analyze and navigate your current organizations, using past, current, and potential work experiences. The analytical frameworks will help students to understand leadership; the practical experience will help students put that understanding into action.

Inclusive Leadership

In the Inclusive Leadership concentration, you will learn to apply principles of inclusion as a lens to view relationships, processes, and interacting systems. Emphasis is placed on developing leadership competencies for understanding the interacting components of the organization’s systems, applying appropriate ethical frameworks for solving problems, identifying the pro-social and anti-social nature of organizational behaviors, and effectively implementing strategies that create and sustain intercultural awareness. Inclusive leaders espouse pro-diversity beliefs and behaviors; support an organizational culture of belongingness; recognize the unique value of the individual and the collective value of groups, and envision an organizational environment based on morality, impartiality, fairness, and respect. Students will learn fundamental theories of leadership and theories that are relevant to the study of human relations for practical application.

My Pledge to You

As your teacher, it is my responsibility to (among other things):

  • Answer any questions you might have that are not covered by the textbook or another reading
  • Make assignments expectations and requirements clear
  • Provide feedback to you about your work
  • Grade your work as promptly as possible
  • Update your grades on Canvas
  • Inform you promptly of any alterations to the schedule, such as due dates and changes

Course Materials

This course experience includes core learning activities that are foundational to Inclusive Leadership such as (2) research papers, discussion board interactions, reflective written assignments, and live zoom sessions.

Your contributions and participation are vital to the success of your learning experience. Success in the course requires active participation throughout the week in online activities, as well as thoughtful consideration of the materials provided.

Technical Requirements that may be required to utilize technology in this course:

  • A headset or microphone.

  • A webcam.

Grades

Breakdown

Course activities and grades listed for each activity
Activity Description Points
Case Memos (20pts per case study) 100
Annotated Bibliography (10pts per annotation) 100
Discussion Board  (10pts per discussion)  80
Literature Review  (50pts for submission)  50
Live (Zoom) Sessions (5pts per zoom session)  40
Inclusive Leadership as Practice (Topic) ( 25pts for submission)  25
Critical Reflection Assignment  (5pts for submission) 5
Total  400

Scale

Percentage

A = 360-400 pts

Percentage

B = 320-359 pts

Percentage

C = 280-319 pts

Percentage

D = 240-279 pts

Percentage

F = 250 or BELOW

Course Components

Case Memo

or five cases, you will write up a brief memo with analysis and recommendations for inclusive leaders or inclusive leadership in the case. For each memo, you have a choice between the selection of cases below. Please follow the submission guidelines: (20 pts per case study) 100 pts

  1. Your memo should be 1-2 pages (2 pages is the absolute max. length), formatted as Times New Roman 12-point font, single space with one-inch margins on all sides
  • Under-Represented Worker
  • Verizon Wireless & Developing Women Leaders
  • Individualized Celebration for Your Team Members Matter
  • Providing Timely Support is Equally Important
  • On Time Staffing and Inclusive Recruiting and Selection

Annotated Bibliography

This assignment requires research identifying (10) journal articles, books or book chapters or other reference materials on any aspect of inclusive leadership in other words, what would you like to learn more about that would enhance your inclusive leadership skills? These sources will fuel your Inclusive Leadership as Practice (Philosophy). Your annotated bibliography must contain sources that will provide a researcher with a base line understanding of the topic as well as a reference point for a specific area, point of view or historical perspective that you are trying to convey.

 

The Bibliography should contain an opening abstract of no more that 300 words that describes the reference point and the coherent theme in which the citations in the bibliography fit.

 

All citations must be from peer-reviewed journals or books or book chapters from academic publishing sources. Each bibliographic annotation should be between 150-200 words in paragraph form with content that is both informative and evaluative.  (10 pts per annotation) 100pts

Discussion Board

Read discussion board post directions carefully. These posts will vary in length, but they are generally 300 words. In addition to your individual post, you should also comment on 1 other students’ post with critical insight and support (evidence-based replies or peer-review articles). Remember that discussion boards posts can be read by anyone in the class, so consider your audience carefully. Your posts should also be carefully proofread. You will lose points for spelling, grammar, and mechanics mistakes. (10 pts per discussion) 80 pts

Inclusive Leadership as Practice Literature Review

What is your Inclusive Leadership-as-practice or philosophy? Identify a theory presented in our readings that is applicable to the inclusive leader within organizations. Read current (published within the past five years) journal articles about this population and visit organization, government agencies or institute websites around the country to learn best practices in use with inclusive leadership This assignment is 10 pages. A rubric will be added to the Canvas with specific formatting and organizing requirement. 50 pts

  1. Fully describe your leadership as practice or philosophy
  2. Identify and describe three current challenges faced by inclusive leaders who employ the same leadership as practice
  3. Identify and describe three current challenges faced by leaders who employ this leadership as practice in their trajectory to senior leadership in organizations (if desired)
  4. have at least 10 references correctly formatted using APA

Live (Zoom) Sessions

There are (8) required one-hour live session built into the course. Cameras should be enabled. A recurring Zoom link will be posted to the Canvas under the “Announcements” tab. (5 pts per session) 40 pts

Inclusive Leadership as Practice (Topic)

The Inclusive Leadership as Practice topic guides the layout for your plan (philosophy) for inclusive leadership. You are welcome to be creative with this topic proposal and your topic should answer the following questions: 25pts

  1. Do you wholeheartedly believe everyone is created equal?
  2. Do you hold yourself and others accountable to a culture of inclusion?
  3. Are you open to unlearning and relearning from others?

Critical Reflection Assignment

The Critical Reflection is a short essay in which you reflect on one of your own, past experiences in an organization and coupled current understandings from this course. This essay will help you to connect the course learnings with your professional lives. It will also allow you to reflect on successful and failed strategies, which will help you better prepare and respond in the future as an inclusive leader.

Although you will inevitably need to describe what happened during an experience, the analysis should not be a detailed report of everything that happened. Instead, you should focus on analyzing what you should focus on intentionally as an inclusive and why.

A high-quality analysis is one that steps back from a situation, identifies key events and processes, uses course concepts to help structure the analysis, and does so in a well-written fashion. The analysis should be no longer than two pages typed (double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12-point). (5pts for submission) 5tps 

 Exams 

There is no final exam for this course

Course Policies

Communication

It is my attempt to respond to all messages within 24 hours if received Monday through Thursday, and within 48 hours if received Friday through Sunday.

Late Policy

Thus, deadlines are treated seriously in this class. All assignments are due by 11:59 p.m. on the date of the deadline, unless otherwise instructed. Having reliable, alternate sources of technology is highly recommend thus timely submissions of assignments. However, if extenuating circumstances develop, I will consider on case-by-case basis.


University Academic Policies and Student Support

Course Catalog 

Search the OU Course Catalog.

Student Handbook

Please familiarize yourself with the OU Student Handbook.

Online Library

Access digital materials and other resources at OU Libraries.

Academic Misconduct

In addition to the course conduct policies outlined by your professor in the Course Syllabus in the online classroom, please review the Graduate Student Handbook. 

It is the responsibility of each student to be familiar with the definitions, policies, and procedures concerning academic misconduct. The Student Code is available from the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, and is contained in the Student's Guide to Academic Integrity.

This site also defines misconduct, provides examples of prohibited conduct, and explains the sanctions available for those found guilty of misconduct.

Plagiarism 

Plagiarism is the most common form of academic misconduct at OU. There is basically no college-level assignment that can be satisfactorily completed by copying. OU's basic assumption about writing is that all written assignments show the student's own understanding in the student's own words. That means all writing assignments, in class or out, are assumed to be composed entirely of words generated (not simply found) by the student, except where words written by someone else are specifically marked as such with proper citation. Including other people's words in your paper is helpful when you do it honestly and correctly. When you don't, it's plagiarism. 

For more information about plagiarism, watch this video and then take this short course offered by University Libraries.

Reasonable Accommodation for Disabilities

The University of Oklahoma is committed to providing reasonable accommodation for all students with disabilities. Students with disabilities who require accommodations in this course should contact their professor as early in the semester as possible.

Students with disabilities must be registered with the Disability Resource Center prior to receiving accommodations in this course.

If you have a disability and you would like to make a request for reasonable accommodation, please see the Graduate Student Handbook or get in touch with the Accessibility and Disability Resource Center.

Adjustments for Pregnancy/Childbirth Related Issues

Should you need modifications or adjustments to your course requirements because of documented pregnancy-related or childbirth-related issues, please contact me as soon as possible to discuss your options. Generally, modifications will be made where medically necessary and similar in scope to accommodations based on temporary disability.  Learn more about the rights of pregnant and parenting students by consulting the FAQ sheets provided by the Institutional Equity Office.

Title IX Resources  

For any concerns regarding gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, stalking, or intimate partner violence, the University offers a variety of resources, including advocates on-call 24/7, counseling services, mutual no contact orders, scheduling adjustments, and disciplinary sanctions against the perpetrator. Please contact the Sexual Misconduct Office at 405-325-2215 (8-5, M-F) or OU Advocates at 405-615-0013 (24/7) to learn more or to report an incident. 

Religious Holidays

It is the policy of the University to excuse absences of students that result from religious observances and to provide for the rescheduling of examinations and additional required classwork that may fall on religious holidays without penalty. It is the responsibility of the student to make alternate arrangements with the instructor at least one week prior to the actual date of the religious holiday.

Copyright Policy

It is illegal to download, upload, reproduce, or distribute any copyrighted material, in any form and in any fashion, without permission from the copyright holder or his/her authorized agent. The University of Oklahoma expects all members of its community to comply fully with federal copyright laws. If such laws appear to have been violated by any user, the university reserves the right (1) to terminate that user’s access to some or all of the university’s computer systems and information resources and (2) to take additional disciplinary actions as deemed necessary or appropriate. Repeat offenders will be sanctioned and their privileges terminated.

Registration and Withdrawal

If you choose to withdraw from this course, you must complete the appropriate University form and turn the form in before the deadline. If you stop attending the course and doing the coursework without doing the required paperwork, your grade will be calculated with missed homework and examination grades entered as zero. This could result in receiving a grade of F in the course. Deadlines are shown in the Academic Calendar, which is available from the Office of the Registrar.

Student Grievances

In addition to any policies outlined related to submitting an informal or formal grievance by your professor in the Course Syllabus in the online classroom, please review the Graduate Student Handbook for more information about the process of submitting a formal grievance.

 

Course Summary:

Date Details Due