Assessment 2: Essay

Topic: What makes a good leader?

Using at least two examples, students should critically explain the effectiveness/ineffectiveness of different leadership characteristics, styles and approaches when organisations instigate change. Students need to ascertain the effectiveness of leadership when implementing change, which should clarify the strengths and limitations of different leadership approaches and styles, and the role of leadership and its inter-relationship with the structure and culture of an organisation.

The essay must identify and explain how the leader has [successfully / unsuccessfully] attempted to change their organisation using relevant theory, thinking and models. The organisation may be based in the private, public or voluntary sector.

The suggested reading for the module can act as a starting point for the essay, but you are required to conduct additional research using a wide range of sources. Please carefully review the Library’s business and management resources for journal articles, databases and other published information.

Instructions

You should employ Harvard referencing and maintain professional levels of writing style, spelling and punctuation. The font size should be 12 point (Times New Roman or Arial) and you should use 1.5 or double line spacing. All essays should be typed and e-submitted on Study Direct. Note the submission date and read the procedure on how to submit your work: See http://www.sussex.ac.uk/tel/submission/students. The process will involve ‘turnitin’, which will check the originality of documents. If students have copied or plagiarised from other sources, this will be detected and dealt with accordingly (see below). A cover sheet should be attached.

Academic misconduct and plagiarism: Students submitting essays and other coursework assessments should be aware that the penalties imposed upon students committing academic misconduct may include obtaining zero marks for the assessment unit, or even more severe penalties. For example, if a student has been found to have copied another student’s work, they will fail the assessment. See http://www.sussex.ac.uk/s3/?id=155 for further information. The most common forms of misconduct that are usually detected are plagiarism and personation. Find out more about them – and how to avoid them – here: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/s3/?id=35