V236 Fall 2026: MANAGING AND LEADING ORGANIZATIONS

 

Professor: Rebecca Wells, MSM
Contact: Canvas Inbox is preferred Email: rechapli@iu.edu Phone: (812) 855-5019 (work) Section Number: 11164	Course Meetings: Monday and Wednesday’s, 3:55pm-5:10pm Course Location: PH 019 Office Hours: By appointment only

COURSE OVERVIEW

This course examines core functions of management and the political socio-economic context within which organizations operate in different sectors of employment. This course is designed to provide you with the information you need to successfully lead organizations. It covers topics such as leadership characteristics, ethical and responsible leadership, team and shared leadership, and inspirational/visionary leadership. One focus of this course is how management occurs in public organizations. Throughout this course, you will learn about the foundations for effective leadership, contemporary issues in leadership, and strategic and visionary leadership.

 

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

1. LO1: Core Management Functions:Apply the core functions of management—planning, organizing, leading, and controlling—to organizational situations.
2. LO2: Organizational Context (Structure & Culture):Evaluate how organizational structure and culture shape behavior and performance within organizations.
3. LO3: Self-Awareness & Management Approach: Assess their own management and leadership style, including approaches to decision-making, stress, and creativity.
4. LO4: Motivation, Power & Leadership: Analyze how motivation, power, and leadership influence individual and organizational performance. 
5. LO5: Communication & Team Dynamics: Demonstrate effective communication and collaboration skills in managing teams, including addressing conflict.
6. LO6: Leading Change: Apply principles of change management to lead and manage organizational change efforts.

1. Additional Learning Outcomes of this course: Apply course concepts to real-world and historical events, using systems thinking and strategic insight.

 

How much time should you be spending on this class:  If this is a standard 3-credit semester length class, you are expected to spend an average of 6 or more hours outside of class per week on reading, studying, assignments, etc.  If this is a 6- or 8-week 3-credit class, you are expected to spend at least 12 hours outside of class per week on these activities.

 

How Our Class Meets:

Our class will meet in person as a group in our assigned classroom.

In the event of severe weather, or if I am required to be away from the classroom, class will meet via Zoom. When this occurs, the Zoom link will be posted in the appropriate course module. Students are expected to have their cameras on during Zoom class meetings.

Participation on Zoom should feel much like our in-person classroom discussions. If you would like to contribute to the conversation, simply unmute your microphone and join the discussion—there is no need to use the “raise hand” feature unless you prefer to do so.

I understand that students may occasionally need to miss class for a variety of reasons. However, Zoom links will not be provided as an alternative to attending an in-person class meeting. Zoom will only be used when the class as a whole has been moved online.

 

COURSE METHODOLOGY

Each topic in the sections above will be introduced by the interactive lecture and followed by the interactive class session. Various methods of interactive teaching will used in this course such as small work group, different discussions, guest presentations, role plays, case studies and experimental exercises to ensure the retention of material.

 

Intellectual Inquiry and Debate. In keeping with the University’s adoption of the Chicago Principles, this class will seek to cultivate an environment of free intellectual inquiry, debate, and constructive criticism. The instructor will guide discussions to advance the course's educational objectives, and students are encouraged to listen to one another and engage thoughtfully with differing viewpoints, even when unpopular or controversial views are expressed. The mere expression of views, words, symbols, images, or thoughts that some people find offensive does not violate free speech norms if such expression arises for legitimate academic and/or pedagogical purposes. The class will also seek to cultivate an environment in which people can change their minds, and in which students who are uncertain or need time to formulate their thoughts can claim the space to do so.

 

REQUIRED TEXTS: IU E-Text

• Discovering Leadership- Vantage Learning Platform, SAGE Publications, Inc; Second edition (February 28, 2023) SECOND EDITION ISBN-10: 1071866982

 

DESCRIPTION OF COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Grading and How Assignments, Essays and Attendance Affects your Grade

I use IU’s approved grading system, which can be found here: http://registrar.indiana.edu/grades/grade-values/grading-system.shtml. 

 

Final grades will be calculated as follows. The course is not graded on a curve. There are 30 class sessions (excludes finals week).

 

Assignment	Points	Percentage	Due Date
Pick a Side, Education v Experience	25	3.05%	9/10/26
Iterative Writing Assignment	100	12.20%	9/25/26, 11/6/26
Leadership Interview	50	6.10%	10/2/26
Midterm, one	100	12.20%	10/14/26
Culture Assessment & Review	25	3.05%	11/13/26
Recognize Leadership	100	12.20%	11/20/26
Final	100	12.20%	11/30, 12/2, 12/7, 12/9
Case Study, Group Assignment	100	12.20%	11/18
Knowledge Checks (20 Total)	100	12.20%	Varies
Chapter Quizzes, six	120	14.63%	Varies
Total	720 Points	100%*

 

*Individual percentages are rounded; the assignments total exactly 820 points and therefore 100%.

 

 

 

 

Papers / Essay Assignments

All writing assignments should be written with well-structured sentences, fully address any provided rubrics or prompts, and cite sources where necessary.  All writing assignments should be checked for punctuation and grammar. Within the assignments folder, there will be an instruction sheet for what each paper is to focus on. These papers have set topics for you to write about and there is a rubric in which they will be graded. For each paper, you must have at least three cited resources.  These cited resources can include an interview, articles, textbook, videos, and websites. Your paper must include in-text citation and use APA formatting. Each paper must follow all APA writing standards. Your title page and reference page need to be separate pages and do not count towards your 2-page minimum.  

APA Writing Standards:

All APA standards should be met on all formal essay assignments.

• Document Set up:
  • A title page that include the paper title, author names (the byline), author affiliation, course number and name for which the paper is being submitted, instructor name, assignment due date, and page number
  • Use 12-point Times New Roman font throughout
  • All pages should be numbered in the upper right hand corner
• Document Format:
  • All text should be double-spaced
  • Use one-inch margins on all sides
  • All paragraphs in the body are indented
• Works Cited
  • Works cited should be formally formatted and follow all citation rules
  • Includes the appropriate minimum number of citations

Please submit your original work. All final submissions will be graded against plagiarism standards and tools.

AI Writing Prompts/Tools/Resources:

Using AI to assist in completing assignments in this class is prohibited.  If you do use AI, you will be committing plagiarism* and will be subject to penalties in this class and sanctions by Indiana University.  You are permitted to use the free version of Grammarly and Microsoft Word’s spelling and grammar tool. 

 

*Plagiarism: Plagiarism is defined as presenting someone else’s work, including the work of other students, as one’s own. Any ideas or materials taken from another source for either written or oral use must be fully acknowledged, unless the information is common knowledge. https://studentcode.iu.edu/responsibilities/academic-misconduct.html.

 

Using AI (such as ChatGPT) to help complete assignments will be allowed in the following ways: research, article search, exploration, expanded understanding or definition.

For example: Show me great leadership quotes; What is an example of a toxic leader; What are examples of leadership in a crisis?

If you use AI in an unauthorized manner, you will be committing plagiarism* and will be subject to penalties in this class and sanctions by Indiana University. There is a zero tolerance policy for submitting work that is not your own.

 

WARNING: Submitting any questions, assignments, notes, slides,  or other instructor-produced course materials into Generative AI without permission is a violation of the faculty member’s exclusive rights and will be reported to the Dean of Students as academic misconduct.

 

 

Iterative Writing

Having a writing sample critiqued is a requirement for this course and not completing every assignment phase will mean you earn an incomplete for the course.

 

 

IMPORTANT POLICIES

Exams:

This course will have one midterm exam.  These exams will include multiple-choice, true-or-false, short answer and fill in the blank questions.  Exams will cover material presented in class, readings from the textbook and additional articles or videos as assigned. Midterms are taken in class, on canvas, unless otherwise noted. Quizzes, midterms and Exams cannot be made up.

 

Final:

Your final examination will consist of an individual oral interview conducted by the professor. This assessment is designed to evaluate your understanding of course material, your ability to think critically under pressure, and your professional communication skills.

 

Extra credit:

If 80% or more of class members take the end of course survey before the link closes, I award 10 extra points. Please note the survey window is normally open between weeks 14 & 15 and you must take it during that time.

 

Attendance Policy

I expect you to attend each class meeting and to come a) on time; b) having read the assigned material; c) having prepared any required assignments; and d) ready to participate in discussion or group work with your peers. I will do the same. You are responsible for material covered if you are absent (and please do not ask the question “Did I miss anything important in class last time?”)  Accommodations will be made for university-sanctioned absences; in all such instances, I follow university policy: you must notify me at the beginning of the semester or two weeks in advance; notification must be in writing or via email. Graded coursework must be turned in to me prior to the date of your absence(s).

Knowledge Checks are not eligible to be made up if you miss class.

 

Late Assignments

There may be valid reasons why a student might not submit an assignment on time, but I am not here to judge the merit of excuses that might be provided or attempt to decide if they were truthful. Due dates are as defined in Canvas. I will do my best to announce them and make due dates clear. I will not track, remind or follow you for any of your missed work. Assignments will only be accepted in Canvas on a defined module. No assignments will be accepted via email or Canvas messenger. 

Any points associated with in-class assignments (e.g. quizzes, exams, knowledge checks, presentations, speeches) cannot be made up.

 

Absences from all Classes

Students who have been called away from all classes due to an emergency (serious illness, hospitalization, COVID-19, death of a parent, etc.) or due to military orders will need to provide documentation of the circumstances to their professors and will be expected to contact each professor to discuss making up the work missed.

 

Acceptance of Late Work:
Assignments are designed to support your learning and preparation for subsequent course activities. For this reason, late work will not be accepted. All assignments must be submitted by the posted due date and time to receive credit.

Students are responsible for planning ahead and allowing sufficient time to complete and submit their work. Technology issues, work schedules, competing assignments, or forgetting a deadline generally do not constitute reasons for accepting a late submission.

I understand that serious and unexpected circumstances can occur. If an emergency or documented circumstance prevents you from meeting a deadline, please communicate with me as soon as possible and, whenever possible, before the deadline. Any exception will be considered on an individual basis and is not guaranteed.

Please pay close attention to the course schedule and Canvas due dates throughout the semester. Once a deadline has passed, an assignment will receive a zero unless an exception has been approved.

 

Office Hours: 

If you need to meet outside of class time, I am happy to arrange a separate time for us to meet, either on campus or via Zoom.

 

Canvas: This class is run through Canvas.  As such, you should be aware that I send most of my communications to individual students via my Canvas Inbox, as well as whole class messages and announcements in Canvas. I am aware that students can take off notifications of e-mail communication through Canvas.  However, you decide to personalize your settings, understand that it is your responsibility to read the messages that I send pertaining to this course. You are also expected to read all documents provided within Canvas, so you understand expectations and instructions for assignments.

 

Communication: Canvas Inbox is the preferred method of communication. Please use a professional salutation, proper spelling and grammar, and patience in waiting for a response. Please use Canvas Inbox for communication with your professor. Please allow 24hours minimum and 48hours maximum to respond to your message if you were asking for a response. 

Electronic Devices: Technology is an important component of learning in my classroom.  As such, you can bring laptops, tablets, or other mobile devices to class.  The use of such devices is permitted only for class-related work. When we are having a group discussion, you may be asked to close your computers. Audio and video recording is not allowed unless the professor gives prior approval. Please mute all electronic devices during class.

O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs

 

Student Honor Code

 

Introduction

The O’Neill School takes matters of honesty and integrity seriously.  We expect O’Neill students will, at all times, maintain academic integrity and civil and professional standards of conduct.

Scope

O’Neill’s Student Honor Code applies to all courses and programs offered by O’Neill, and to all students who participate in O’Neill classes and programs, regardless of whether students are admitted to O’Neill. Students studying at O’Neill are expected to continue their commitment to ethical behavior in all their endeavors, including, but not limited to, coursework inside and outside of O’Neill, internships, community service, and overseas study.

 

O’Neill’s Student Honor Code incorporates IU’s Code of Student Right, Responsibilities, & Conduct and extends to matters of civility and professional conduct, including, expectations about class attendance, punctuality, participation in class, and decorum in class and at other school functions.

Academic Conduct Requirements  

All students enrolled in O’Neill courses are subject to the academic misconduct provisions found in the IU Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, & Conduct.  

Academic misconduct is defined as any activity that tends to undermine the academic integrity of the institution.

The IU Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, & Conduct lists and defines many types of academic misconduct, including cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, interference, violation of course rules, and facilitating academic dishonesty.   

Academic misconduct includes the use of any technology or assistance, including AI, that is not permitted by the instructor.

 

Civility and Professional Conduct Requirements

 

O’Neill requires that all students treat others with mutual respect and behave professionally in the classroom and during all academic and non-academic activities.

 

These civility and professional conduct requirements foster an appropriate atmosphere inside and outside the classroom:

• Students must act in accordance with the O’Neill School mission and values.
• Students must regularly attend and be fully prepared for class, including completing readings.
• Students must not behave in a way that interrupts or distracts from teaching or learning. For example, students must be punctual in their arrival to class and be present and attentive for the duration of the class. They must not sleep, do work for another class, or wander in and out of the classroom, pack up, or leave class early (unless an emergency exists).
• Students must abide by the course policy regarding use of electronic devices in the classroom, including a requirement that no electronics are allowed or that students are not permitted to use devices for non-class related purposes.
• Students must responsibly participate in class activities and during team meetings for course assignments.
• Students must attend scheduled meetings with faculty or staff, events for which they have RSVPed, interviews with prospective employers, and student organization meetings.  
• Students must address faculty members, other students, and others appropriately and with respect, whether in person, in writing, or in electronic communications.
• Students must show tolerance and respect for others.
• Students must practice respect and responsible stewardship of the physical resources of the school, refraining from destroying or defacing school property, integrating practices of sustainability, and contributing to a clean and orderly physical environment in all buildings, classrooms, offices, and meeting spaces.   
• Students must comply with the personal misconduct responsibilities within the IU Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, & Conduct.

Reporting 

Students must abide by the O’Neill Student Honor Code themselves and hold their peers to the same standards. Students should report suspected instances of academic, civility, or professional misconduct to the instructor of the course. Students should report suspected instances of personal misconduct to the IU Office of Student Conduct.

 

General IU Policies

https://ud.indiana.edu/policies/academic-standards.html

 

Religious Holidays

It is the policy of Indiana University that professors must reasonably accommodate students who want to observe their religious holidays at times when academic requirements conflict with those observances. This policy is intended to ensure that both faculty and students are fully aware of their rights and responsibilities in the accommodation of students’ religious observances. If a conflict with a religious observance exists, a student must make a request to the professor for a reasonable accommodation for that observance by the end of the second week of the course.  The form must be signed by the professor, a copy retained by the professor, and the original returned to the student. Information about the policy on religious observation can be found at: http://www.indiana.edu/~bfc/docs/policies/ReligiousObservances09.pdf 

 

Academic Misconduct

Academic misconduct is defined as any activity that tends to undermine the academic integrity of the institution. Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to, the following: cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, interference, violation of course rules, and facilitating academic dishonesty. The faculty member may take into account the seriousness of the violation in assessing a penalty for acts of academic misconduct. The faculty member must report all cases of academic misconduct to the dean of students, or appropriate official. The university may discipline a student for academic misconduct.

Source: Indiana University Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct:
http://www.iu.edu/~code/code/responsibilities/academic/index.shtml (Links to an external site.)

 

Note Selling: Several commercial services have approached students regarding selling class notes/study guides to their classmates. Selling the instructor’s notes/study guides in this course is not permitted. Violations of this policy will be reported to the Dean of Students as academic misconduct (violation of course rules). Sanctions for academic misconduct may include a failing grade on the assignment for which the notes/study guides are being sold, a reduction in your final course grade, or a failing grade in the course, among other possibilities. Additionally, you should know that selling a faculty member’s notes/study guides individually or on behalf of one of these services using IU email, or via Canvas may also constitute a violation of IU information technology and IU intellectual property policies; additional consequences may result.

 

Materials: The faculty member teaching this course holds the exclusive right to distribute, modify, post, and reproduce course materials, including all written materials, study guides, lectures, assignments, exercises, and exams. While you are permitted to take notes on the online materials and lectures posted for this course for your personal use, you are not permitted to re-post in another forum, upload to AI, distribute, reproduce content from this course, or sell the instructor’s course materials (including notes and study guides) without the express written permission of the faculty member.

 

Violations of this policy will be reported to the Dean of Students as academic misconduct (violation of course rules). Sanctions for academic misconduct may include a failing grade on the assignment for which the notes/study guides are being sold, a reduction in your final course grade, or a failing grade in the course, among other possibilities.

 

Additionally, you should know that selling a faculty member’s course using IU email, or via Canvas may also constitute a violation of IU information technology and IU intellectual property policies; additional consequences may result.

 

 

SPEA Specific Policies

Communication between Faculty and Students

In order to verify the identity of all parties involved, effective September 1, 2004, all email communication from current SPEA students to SPEA staff must originate from an Indiana University email account. For email communication with SPEA faculty, current SPEA students should refer to course syllabi for instructors’ preferences. This policy applies to current students only. Instructions for forwarding your IUB email to another account can be found at:

http://kb.indiana.edu/data/beoj.html?cust=687481.87815.30

 

Course Withdrawals

Students who stop attending class without properly withdrawing from the class may receive a grade of F. It is important to withdraw from a course within specified timeframes (see chart below). Note that withdrawals after Week 12 of a regular session or Week 4 of a summer session are rarely granted. Poor performance in a course is not grounds for a late withdrawal.

The auto-W deadline is NO LONGER THE LAST DAY OF CLASS (as it was during and post-Covid).  After the auto-W deadline, withdrawal will be significantly limited and you will need permission to withdraw and must meet requirements established by O’Neill.

No withdrawal forms will be processed in the Office of the Registrar after the last day of classes. Any requests for a late withdrawal after the last day of classes must go through the grade appeal process, but each student should remember that in accordance with campus policy, SPEA does not permit a student to withdraw from a course if he/she has completed the course requirements. Grade replacement should be used in this case.  To withdraw, obtain a withdrawal slip (DROP/ADD Form) from the SPEA Student Services window. Instructions for completing it are given on the form.

 

 

Withdrawal Deadlines
Course deleted from record, no grade assigned, 100% refund (Advisor signature IS NOT required)	Week 1 (last day)
Withdrawal with automatic grade of W (Advisor signature IS required)	Week 2– Week 7 (regular session) Week 2 – Week 3 (summer session)
Withdrawal with grade of W or F (Advisor and instructor signatures ARE required)	Week 8 – Week 12 (regular session) Week 3 – Week 4 (summer session)

 

Incompletes
A grade of incomplete (I) indicates that a ‘substantial portion’ of the work in a course has been satisfactorily but not entirely completed by the student as of the end of the semester. The incomplete can be given to a student facing a hardship such that such that it would be unjust to hold the student to the established time limits for completing the work. To be eligible for the incomplete in a SPEA course, the student’s work must be of passing quality, and the student must have completed 75% of the course requirements. Poor performance in a course is not grounds for an incomplete.  SPEA follows the campus guidelines in awarding incompletes which may be accessed at the Office of the Registrar’s website at:

https://registrar.indiana.edu/grades/grade-values/grade-of-incomplete.shtml

 Incompletes must be removed within a time period not to exceed one year after the semester in which the student was enrolled in the course. The incomplete will revert to an ‘F’ if the work is not completed within the allotted timeframe established by the instructor.

 

Students Called to Active Duty

SPEA encourages any student who is in the Indiana Military Reserves and is called to active duty to finish his/her coursework if at all possible. Students who cannot complete their courses have the option of withdrawing with 100% fee refund, but this request must be made within one week of being called to active duty. Students who are called to active duty may qualify for an incomplete (provided that all the above criteria have been met). For further information, please see the Office of the Registrar’s website at:

https://registrar.indiana.edu/policies/withdrawal/military-withdrawal.shtml

 

Final Exam Schedule

If a final exam is given, it must be held on the day and time set in the final exam schedule. If an instructor has changed the final exam date, the student should first consult with the instructor. Students who have more than three final exams in one day or insufficient time to get from one exam to another should consult with their instructors to resolve these conflicts. Exams may not be given in the week before the final exam week. If a student is not able to resolve a final exam problem with the instructor, the student may report the problem to the Director of Undergraduate or Graduate programs. The final exam week schedule can be found at the Office of the Registrar’s website at:  https://registrar.indiana.edu/calendars/exam-schedule.shtml

 

Absence from Final Exams

Students who fail to attend/take the final exam of a class and who have a passing grade up to that point should be given an Incomplete only if the professor has reason to believe the absence was beyond the student's control. If not, the grade of "F" must be awarded.

Students who anticipate absences from final examinations, or who are absent from final examinations for reasons they did not anticipate, should discuss these absences with their professors as soon as possible to make arrangements for the satisfaction of course requirements. Professors may require students who are absent from final examinations to file a written explanation of the absence with the Student Advocates Office (Eigenmann Hall 229W; 812-855-0761). The Dean of Students Committee on Absence will review these written explanations and seek additional information, as necessary, before indicating its findings to the professors involved. The final decision in the dispensation of these matters remains the professors. Where the Incomplete was received because of absence from the final examination, students may request a grade of W instead of taking the examination to remove the grade of I. In such cases, the Dean may ask the Committee on Absence to document the reason for the absence before approving a change of grade from I to W.

 

Counseling and Psychological Services

For information about services offered to students by CAPS:  http://healthcenter.indiana.edu/counseling/index.shtml

 

TimelyCare

Indiana students have free, 24/7 access to virtual mental health care services with TimelyCare. Students do not need insurance to access TimelyCare services. https://www.iu.edu/mental-health/find-resources/timely-care.html#0

 

Religious Accommodation Requests

The "Request for Accommodation for Religious Observances" form must be submitted by the student to the professor no later than two weeks prior to the anticipated absence.  A separate form must be submitted for each absence and for each course. Faculty do not have to consider accommodations for the purpose of allowing students to travel away from Bloomington for religious observance.  Information about the policy is found here: https://vpfaa.indiana.edu/resources/religious-observances-information.html.

 

Accessible Educational Services (formerly Disability Services for Students) 

Securing accommodations for a student with disabilities is a responsibility shared by the student, the instructor, and the AES Office. For information about support services or accommodations available to students with disabilities, and for the procedures to be followed by students and instructors: https://studentlife.indiana.edu/care-advocacy/iub-aes/index.html  

 

Sexual Harassment 

As your instructor, one of my responsibilities is to help create a safe learning environment on our campus. Title IX and our own Sexual Misconduct policy prohibit sexual misconduct.  If you have experienced sexual misconduct, or know someone who has, the University can help.

 

If you are seeking help and would like to talk to someone confidentially, you can make an appointment with:

1. The Sexual Assault Crisis Service (SACS) at 812-855-8900
2. Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at 812-855-5711
3. Confidential Victim Advocates (CVA) at 812-856-2469
4. IU Health Center at 812-855-4011

 

For more information about available resources:  http://stopsexualviolence.iu.edu/help/index.html. It is also important to know that federal regulations and University policy require me to promptly convey any information about potential sexual misconduct known to me to our campus’ Deputy Title IX Coordinator or IU’s Title IX Coordinator.  In that event, they will work with a small number of others on campus to ensure that appropriate measures are taken and resources are made available to the student who may have been harmed.  Protecting a student’s privacy is of utmost concern, and all involved will only share information with those that need to know to ensure the University can respond and assist.  I encourage you to visit http://stopsexualviolence.iu.edu/help/index.html to learn more.

 

IU Culture Centers: https://studentlife.indiana.edu/communities/culture-centers/index.html