Hi:
One thing to do with my EMBAs (I have done it for MSc level leadership
development too) is get them to do a speech that is recorded in groups
of 3 or 4 (I randomly assign them to groups). This is the assignment
brief I use (they can use mobile phones too for recording):
"We will use the iPads to record the speech. Each person records their
own speech. Assume one of following scenarios for your speech (if you
wish you can do another realistic scenario and each person can do a
different scenario if they wish???I am just giving you some ideas to get
you thinking of what you could do). Imagine that you are a manager of a
division of a multinational company???
???One of your managers is underperforming. You are pulling him/her in to
give them a ???pep??? talk and put him/her back on track. Prepare a four
minute speech, where you ???lay it out.???
???The new product launch has been a disaster. You are addressing your
team with the goal of turning around the situation. Prepare a four
minute speech, where you explain your thinking.
???The CEO wants to transfer you to another division. You have much to do
still in your current division and cannot imagine leaving; try to
convince your boss to not transfer you. Prepare a four minute speech,
where you inform your boss of your position.
???Because of economic justifications, you have to relocate with your team
to another city that is 100km away. Prepare a four minute speech, to
convince them.
Note: each student in each group records a speech individually for 4
minutes; you have plus or minus one minute leeway. The maximum time for
a speech is 5 minutes (if you are not in the range you will lose marks).
This speech will be delivered in English. You only need to deliver the
speech--no Powerpoints or overheads are needed--and only one person is
visible on the film at any time.
Please use a realistic scenario and realistic names. Also, you are
talking non-stop for 4 minutes. Do not have any interaction with the
supposed person/s you are talking to. Just deliver a speech without
pretending to receive interaction feedback from anyone.
When filming your talks, please ensure that the upper body (chest and
head only) of the person being filmed is visible. That is, I would like
to be able to see the person from the upper abdomen upwards (anything
below the upper abdomen must not appear in the camera). To achieve this
outcome, have the person sit while giving the talk; they can be sitting
at the table, on a sofa, in an armchair, or whatever. They can also
stand if they wish, but please zoom on them such that only the abdomen
upwards is visible."
Then they code it groups for aspects of charisma as indicated in the the
following HBR, which they find an easy read:
Antonakis, J., Fenley, M., & Liechti, S. (2012). Learning charisma:
Transform yourself into someone people want to follow. Harvard Business
Review, June, 127-130.
They code the speeches for each other using the "other sheet" and then
put all together in the "reconciliation sheet". I usually ask them to
score the signaling tactics 0 (did not demonstrate convincingly) or 1
(demonstrated convincingly); however, you can give a more interval level
score to use if you wish.
You could first brief them on the elements of charismatic signaling and
then get them to do the speech; else, they could do it "dry" without
knowledge of them, so you can get a baseline score, then let them read
the article, then get them to record the speech again, leaving the
decision intact but peppering it with more charismatic signaling. In
this way they can see their improvement.
In teaching them film scenes that they can look at the following (which
show a lot of the verbal charismatic signals):
Dead Poet's:
https://youtu.be/KczFTdnJ99sThe contender:
https://youtu.be/b24YF3DPiWMQueen Elizabeth I:
https://youtu.be/l8bFVZAeoN4?t=2m35sAny Given Sunday:
https://youtu.be/m_iKg7nutNYKing Henry V:
https://youtu.be/A-yZNMWFqvMIf you are interested in the science behind all this see (see also
exercises in the Towler and Frese study)--there are nice examples too in
the Den Hartog, and in the Shamir et al. papers, which the students also
appreciate reading (the other papers are academic and useful only to you).
Antonakis, J., Fenley, M., & Liechti, S. (2011). Can Charisma Be Taught?
Tests of Two Interventions. The Academy of Management Learning and
Education, 10(3), 374-396.
Antonakis, J., Bastardoz, N., Jacquart, P., & Shamir, B. (2016).
Charisma: An ill-defined and ill-measured gift. Annual Review of
Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 3(1), 293-319.
Den Hartog, D. N., & Verburg, R. M. (1997). Charisma and rhetoric:
Communicative techniques of international business leaders. The
Leadership Quarterly, 8(4), 355-391.
Frese, M., Beimel, S., & Schoenborn, S. (2003). Action training for
charismatic leadership: Two evaluations of studies of a commercial
training module on inspirational communication of a vision. Personnel
Psychology, 56, 671-697.
Jacquart, P., & Antonakis, J. (2015). When does charisma matter for
top-level leaders? Effect of attributional ambiguity. Academy of
Management Journal, 58, 1051-1074.
Shamir, B., Arthur, M. B., & House, R. J. (1994). The rhetoric of
charismatic leadership: A theoretical extension, a case study, and
implications for research. The Leadership Quarterly, 5(1), 25-42.
Towler, A. J. (2003). Effects of charismatic influence training on
attitudes, behavior, and performance. Personnel psychology, 56(2), 363 -
381.
HTH,
John.
--
__________________________________________
John Antonakis
Professor of Organizational Behavior
Director, Ph.D. Program in Management
Faculty of Business and Economics (HEC)
University of Lausanne
Internef #618
CH-1015 Lausanne-Dorigny
Switzerland
Tel ++41 (0)21 692-3438
Fax ++41 (0)21 692-3305
http://www.hec.unil.ch/people/jantonakisEditor in Chief:
The Leadership Quarterly
Original Message------
Dear OB-netters,
I will be teaching a course on Leadership this year (Master's level, a mixed group of people with industry experience and people who come straight after their bachelor degree) and I am collecting various ideas about best practices.
I am particularly interested in various interactive methods, e.g., simulations, case studies, role-plays, etc. that would fit the course. If you have any activities to recommend, I would be very grateful. Also, I would appreciate if you have a syllabus to share, or your preferred textbook or set of readings.
I would be glad to share the responses with the group,
With many thanks in advance
Tatiana
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Dr. Tatiana Andreeva
Senior Lecturer in Management and Organisational Behaviour
Maynooth University / School of Business, Ireland
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