HBR Reading Discussion Post #1 HBR Articles can be found in

HBR Reading Discussion Post #1

HBR Articles can be found in the week’s module.

Syllabus Description:

HBR Readings in Executive Development: The HBR discussion will center on a focal Harvard Business Review article that I have carefully selected and curated for this course. EVERYONE MUST READ THE ARTICLE!

All student must provide one response to the posting. You will need to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the article’s importance to our understanding of current trends in executive development and workplace dynamics.  DO NOT SUMMARIZE! Use the readings form the class (i.e., text, PDFs, and videos) to help provide a vocabulary for understanding executive development.

You will be assessed on your ability to clearly identify the problems of the case, provide clear solutions, and generally apply the material from this course to understanding and solving issues in executive development and management more generally.

In addition, you will need to comment on the responses of at least two others (three postings minimum). The purpose of the response is to demonstrate your ability to explain and apply the topics of this course (readings, videos, etc.). Therefore, if all you say is something to the effect of, “I agree!” “She has a point” or “I don’t agree” and fail to provide any further explanation or context, well, then you can expect NOT to get any points for that type of response…sorry, not sorry. 

Purpose: The purpose of the HBR reading is to get you acquainted with what the brightest minds in the world of management are saying. To connect the readings and discussions with real-life applications and to see the difficulties and intricacies of implementation and application.

The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate your ability to explain and apply the topics being discussed in class and in the readings

Finally, this assignment is given with the purpose of helping you to develop your critical thinking. It is meant to help you to look deeper at the world around you and to not take what you see at face value as the “truth”. I want you to approach problems with an open mind and consider all the possibilities when devising a solution. As the Irish Playwright, Oscar Wilde said, “the pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.”

Skills: Skills are behaviors we perform (i.e., things we can do) and that can be learned. With time, they can be refined, and we can become better at executing them. The purpose of this assignment is to help practice the following skills that are essential to developing your Executive Edge:

• Thinking critically about current issues in management
  • Analysis: breaking down ideas into smaller parts
  • Synthesis: assembling and arranging and rearranging ideas
  • Evaluation: making and defending judgments based on evidence
  • Application: thinking of the consequences of decision and how pros/cons on implementation, etc.
• Effective discussion board participation
  • Effectively communicating your message to a broad audience
  • Effectively explain your ideas and offer critical commentary to peers

            Knowledge: Knowledge refers to the recollection of facts and information. This assignment will help you to become familiar with the following:

• Recalling and applying facts and information from the readings, videos, and class discussions
• Information about how what is learned in the classroom applies to real-world contexts
• Knowledge of the interconnectedness of work life
• Knowledge of the crucial role of leadership and management behaviors in affecting employee morale and productivity

Task: All student must provide one response to the posting. Remember, analysis is more than just summary (i.e., describing). Analysis involves breaking down ideas into smaller parts, synthesis involves assembling and arranging ideas, and evaluation involves making and defending judgments based on evidence. The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate your ability to explain and apply the topics being discussed in class.

• Read the article
  • Then read it again
  • Did you understand what you read? Try reading it one more time
  • Take notes…make sure that you’ve got a handle on what the basic ideas are of the article
• Identify the key pieces of information…how are they related to each other?
• Identify some theory or idea from the reading that connects to other ideas we’ve discussed in class.
  • Does it support or contradict the idea?
  • Not everything we read and learn about can be easily applied
• What are some of the problems and solutions?
  • Do you all agree with the solutions, explain yourself
• More importantly, your discussion response will need to focus on four skills:
  • Analyzing can involve some or all of the following
    • Identifying the most important information in the article (facts, experiences, data the author(s) used to support their conclusions).
    • Identifying the key conclusions and inferences presented by the author.
    • Identifying the key concepts needed to understand the article (figuring out the most important ideas needed to understand the author’s line of reasoning).
    • Identifying assumptions underlying the author’s thinking (what’s been taken for granted).
    • Identifying the implications of the author’s line of reasoning (consequences of findings).
  • Synthesizing is the process of putting all those elements of the analysis together with other ideas and thoughts
    • It’s okay if you go outside of the article
    • What other information, ideas, findings, are relevant to understanding the current article?
    • Synthesizing involves integrating various facts and pieces of information.
  • Evaluating is the process of decisions using evidence
    • Based on what has been analyzed and synthesized, what is your evaluation?
    • Are there any other implications the article may have missed? If so, what are they and why are they important?
    • Why are the findings of the article important? What consequences (seen or unforeseen) might they have?
    • What is an unanswered question that came to you from having analyzed and synthesized this article?
  • Application involves thinking about how the information presented can be used and implemented and in many ways is a part of Evaluating
    • If you were in a leadership position and found yourself in this predicament, what would you do?
    • How would you apply (use) what you’ve learned from this class given what the article is about or discusses?
    • Use your own personal work experience, give examples, or use examples of others (if you don’t have much work experience)
• In addition, you will need to comment on the responses of at least two others (three postings minimum).
  • The purpose of the response is to engage your peers in a discussion, provide critical analysis of what they’ve said, and defend your points.
    • Therefore, if all you say is something to the effect of, “I agree!” “She has a point” or “I don’t agree” and fail to provide any further explanation or context, well, then you can expect NOT to get any points for that type of response…sorry, not sorry.

Criteria for Success: Excellent work is characterized by depth of analysis. This means that you took some time to think about the implications of what you read. You tried to connect different aspects of what you’ve learned and provided an explanation. In addition, you did more than just reiterate what was in the article; you connected, contrasted, and evaluated.

I want to you to show me that you understand and can apply the material from this course. Successful assignments (and those earning a higher grade) will have made an attempt to understand and explain all of the course material and demonstrate application of the course material.

Successful work will have the following characteristics:

• Thoughtful responses that explain how you have understood the course material and you don’t just rewrite what the book or article said.
• Provide depth of analysis and evaluation of the major issues raised by the article
  • It needs to be clear you took some time to think about the implications of your analysis and spent time trying to understand and explain yourself.

• file:///C:/Users/17866/Downloads/1–What%20Makes%20an%20Effective%20Executive.pdf