College of Graduate and Professional Studies

Doctor of ArtsTL 615 Transforming the Public Agenda

3 CreditsGraduate Term I, Fall 2009

INSTRUCTOR: Richard M. Abel, Ph.D. Meeting Site: Franklin Pierce University at Concord5 Chenell Drive, Concord, NH 03301-5753 http://franklinpierce.edu/directions.htm#concordPhone: 603.228.1155 Fax: 603.229.4580 Instructor Contact Information: 603-298-5549 (office) 603-448-5831 (home) bernerabel@aol.com or abelr@franklinpierce.edu Office Hours by Appointment.

This is a required core course for all DA students.

MEETING TIMES: Seminars will be held at the Concord Center:

Introductory Session—Sunday August 30, 2009 @10am - noon

Seminar 1—Saturday September 12, 2009 @ 9 am – 5 pm

Seminar 2—Saturday October 10, 2009 @ 9am – 5 pm          

Seminar 3—Saturday November 7, 2009 @ 9am – 5 pm

COURSE DESCRIPTION

TL 615 Transforming the Public Agenda 3 credits

This course examines significant historical examples (case studies) of transformational change in American society that did not always produce the outcomes originally envisioned. By studying transformative processes in commerce, technology, government, nonprofits, social institutions and social movements, students consider salient factors that influence public agenda

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transformation, undertake original research on such transformations, and seek to develop a predictive theory of potential outcomes that may be useful in their leadership careers.

This course focuses upon the notion of transformational change in the context of broad socio-cultural, economic, political, historical, and technological currents that affect the wider society, as well as individuals, groups, organizations, institutions, social movements, government, and nongovernmental entities.

Your Active Participation: Our class relies upon each participant sharing her/his work and constructive discussion of assigned readings and the work of others.  I ask you to commit to

Sharing your ideas and interpretations in class and through discussion threads

Getting all assignments in and shared with your class peers on time, and

Making full effort to provide feedback to class members

Please advise me as soon as possible about any schedule conflicts you may encounter so we can make advance arrangements as needed to allow us all to fulfill our obligations .

An online Course Shell & Resource Center will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at www.franklinpierceonline.net .  Online office hours will be posted online.

Assignments will be made for each seminar meeting and for intermediate dates between seminars.  Specific assignments and due dates—including reading, research, writing assignments, and threaded discussions—will be listed on the course shell and sent by e-mail to class members from the instructor during the term.  Students may be assigned to moderate threaded discussions at various times during the course. When it is your turn, you will be asked to prepare discussion questions/talking points to serve as the starting point for that week's threaded discussions. (More specific instructions will be given during the introductory seminar.) Please make it a regular habit to read and participate in threaded discussions.

Please note: Assignments and due dates sometimes need to be changed during the course term, so watch for notices of such changes on the Course Shell and via e-mail, rather than just relying on this version of the course syllabus. Any time there are changes to the course schedule or to specific assignments I will email you to alert you.

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Format for submitting Assignments: Please prepare your course assignments in MS Word 2003 format since some colleagues may be unable to open newer versions of MS Word.

Email each assignment to your instructor, and to members of the class. Also, as instructed, please post your written assignments and projects on the Document Sharing feature of the course shell.

The Feedback Loop: We rely upon the regular input of all class members about assigned readings and individual research and writing projects as a key part of our learning process. Try to make a point of responding constructively to writing assignments class members share with you in a timely manner and to participating regularly in threaded discussions. 

Instructor Feedback: Generally, you can expect feedback from your instructor on all assignments you submit within 48 hours.

Have a question or concern?  Do not hesitate to contact me any time you are unsure of something or want to discuss anything further: bernerabel@aol.com or abelr@franklinpierce.edu and at (603) 448-5831.

ASSIGNED READINGS: REQUIRED

1. The Civil Rights Movement in America edited by Charles W. Eagles, University Press of Mississippi, 1986, 188 pp., pbk, $20.00, ISBN: 0878052984 or 9780878052981 An analysis of significant aspects of one of the broadest public movements in American history, with special attention to its origins and causes, leadership strategies and tactics, tensions in its leadership, politics of the movement, and the roles of the courts, government, and nongovernmental organizations in bringing about change.  So greatly have racial attitudes been changed through this monumental struggle that C. Vann Woodward called the movement America’s “second revolution.”

2.  The Case Study Handbook: How to Read, Discuss, and Write Persuasively About Cases by William Ellet, Harvard Business School Press, 2007, 256 pp. pbk., $24.95 ISBN 1422101584 or 978-1422101582 An introduction to case studies and the approach used in leading graduate programs of business administration for reading cases critically and writing about them from an analytic, academic perspective.  Covers persuasion and argument in the case method, what is a case, how to analyze a case, problems, decisions, evaluations, and discussions; and how to write an effective case-based essay. 

3. Why Smart Executives Fail: And What You Can Learn from Their Mistakes by Sydney Finkelstein. Penguin Putnam, 2003; 336 pp., pbk., $15.00, .ISBN: 9781591840459 Presents detailed case studies of dozens of companies and organizations to uncover factors that may explain why things sometimes go wrong or in unexpected directions, why some executive leaders and their organizations succeed while

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others fail particularly while engaged with such transformational tasks as creating a new venture, managing a merger or acquisition, coping with innovation and change, or developing new strategies in the face of competitive pressures. The author assesses patterns that can signal imminent mistakes, misfires, or failures, and suggests ways to learn from them to avoid similar problems.

See also the following videos from the Course Webliography.  These are optional resources you may wish to access: 

Why Smart Executives Fail Finkelstein seminar 66 minutes< http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8562160660287197858>

Finkelstein interview Short 4 minutes< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWhgcBxS68w >

Finkelstein Video< http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/L002550/ >

4. Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take It Back by Jane Holtz Kay, University of California Press, 1998, 440 pp., pbk., $25.95; ISBN 978-0-520-21620-4  The automobile was once seen as a boon to American life, eradicating the pollution caused by horses and granting citizens new levels of freedom and mobility. Overtime, could the servant have become the master? Today our world revolves around the car—as a nation, we spend eight billion hours a year stuck in traffic.

Asphalt Nation examines our relationship with the car and the economic, political, architectural, and personal consequences—public spaces being transformed to accommodate the auto at the expense of the pedestrian, mass transportation neglected, and the poor, unable to afford cars, seeing their access to jobs and amenities worsen. Now, even drivers themselves suffer, as cars choke the highways and pollution and congestion have replaced the fresh air of the open road.

In Asphalt Nation, Jane Holtz Kay calls for a revolution to reverse our automobile-dependency. Citing successful efforts in places from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon, Kay argues that radical change is not impossible by any means in the prospect of returning to a world of human mobility.

5. The Electric Interurban Railways in America by George W. Hilton and John F. Due, Stanford University Press, 1960, 472 pp. 37 illus. 51 maps, pbk., $39.95 ISBN: 0804740143  *Read Part I only *    Built starting in the 1890s with the idea of attracting short distance inter-urban passenger traffic and light freight, by the 1920s electric-powered light rail mass transportation existed widely across much of America.  From the 1930s to the 1950s, electric interurban and trolley lines were largely abandoned.  The interurban railways present a case study of factors influencing the public agenda that created and then destroyed an ecologically friendly mass transportation technology that, ironically, was more dynamic 100 years ago than it is today—a transportation system many people yearn for.

Part 1 (your assigned reading) presents the rise of the industry, how it adapted technology to provide passenger and freight traffic, its often troubled financial history and interaction with

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government regulators, and attempts to deal with new competition from motor vehicles (cars, trucks, and buses) that led to decline of the industry and the eventual decision to abandon most lines. 

See also, the following video from the Webliography, an option resource: A Streetcar named denial <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJuo2_pcUsE>

6. The Plot Against America A Novel by Philip Roth.  Vintage Books, 2005, 416 pp. paperback, $14.95.  ISBN -10: 14000079497; ISBN-13: 978-1400079490  In this imaginative alternate history, novelist Philip Roth ponders what might have happened to the public agenda if Charles Lindberg defeated FDR for the Presidency in 1940, signed a friendship treaty with Germany and America did not enter World War II.  Philip Roth narrates the tale as a nine-year-old, interweaving historical characters with real and imagined ordinary citizens who confront a public agenda of governmental programs such as the Office of American Absorption that wants to relocate Jewish families like Roth's, thereby breaking up ethnic neighborhoods and removing them from each other and any kind of ethnic solidarity.  The impact of this edict upon Philip and all around him is horrific and life-changing, a credible, fully-realized picture of a public agenda transformed by a political leadership.  

7.  Case studies of social change/public agenda transformation written by FPU D.A. students from previous terms. (Case studies will be available on the Course Shell Document Sharing feature and emailed to class members.) These cases are models of original research by students in prior terms. We will be using these case studies as part of our learning experience about public agenda transformation.

8. Additional articles and short readings, videos and on-line resources for research will be assigned during the term. These will be listed on the course shell and handed out or e-mailed to class members during the term.

Required Materials Available On-Line

9. “On Writing History” by Professor Elspeth H. Brown, University of Toronto

http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/history.html

An excellent introduction to doing historical research; using primary and secondary sources; questions to consider when reading historical documents; asking good historical questions; documenting sources; and how to develop a manageable topic.

10. “Case Studies on Women and Public Policy” by Sally J. Kenny, University of Minnesota.

http://www.iwpr.org/PDF/05_Proceedings/Kenney_Sally.pdf

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Presents an overview of the case study method employed in graduate and professional studies in business, public policy, law, and other disciplines, and considers factors that have led some disciplines to be slower in integrating studies of women, gender, and feminist analyses.

Recommended Readings

Predicting the future: Psychological, Cultural, and Business Influences on the Public Agenda

1. Think Again: Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How to Keep it From Happening to You by Sydney Finkelstein, Jo Whitehead and Andrew Campbell, Harvard Business School Press, 2009. In this sequel to Why Smart Executives Fail, the authors further develop their ideas about why smart and experienced leaders make flawed, even catastrophic decisions, and why people keep belief in decisions even when disastrous results stare them in the face. Think Again offers a model to make better decisions, describing key red flags to watch out for and safeguards we need.

2. Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert, Vintage Books, 2005, pbk. A psychologist looks at the foibles of imagination and illusions of foresight that cause people to misconceive our tomorrows and misestimate our satisfactions. Bringing to light contemporary scientific research in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, philosophy, and behavioral economics, Gilbert reveals what scholars have discovered about the uniquely human capacity to predict the future and how we feel when we get there.

3. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated by David D. Burns Avon, 1999, 736 pp., pbk., $7.99, ISBN: 0380810336 or 978-0380810338

Also see:  http://www.geocities.com/Wellesley/6956/cognitive.html

Cognitive therapy is a psychiatric approach that focuses upon idiosyncratic and negative patterns of thinking –called Cognitive Distortions—that research data and clinical experience have been shown to foster depression and emotional disturbances. (A question for this course:  Can the misperceptions found at the level of individual psychologies affect groups and even societal psychologies?  What might the consequences be for activities that take place on the public agenda?)

Burns presents a model of cognitive behavior and recommends cognitive therapy as a first line defense in dealing with mood disorders.  Of special significance is his list of 10 common “Cognitive Distortions,” and he lays out a plan for recognizing faulty thinking and how such thoughts affect our moods, and how to correct these distortions.  This is a practical encapsulation of the ideas and theories of some of the great pioneers in the field of mental health such as Drs. Albert Low, Albert Ellis, and Aaron Beck.  (For purposes of this course, this work provides a spring board for discussion about the relationship of individual psychological states and collective psychologies and whether the sum of individual cognitive distortions could result in socio-pathologies on the level of shared culture.)  For students interested in delving deeper into cognitive therapy

4.  “Game Theory” (from The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy—on-line resource) http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/game-theory/ Game theory is an application used to study ways in which strategic interactions among rational players produce outcomes with respect to the preferences (or utilities) of those players, none of which may have been intended by any of them.  Contemporary game theory investigates the

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expectations about actions of a number of players or agents whose choices and actions in turn influence each other’s future course of action. (What predictive value does this approach provide us?)

5. public agenda siteD.Yankelovich ,Cyrus Vance (2008) < www.publicagenda.org>  A website from PublicAgenda.org set up to provide information about public agenda issues and current public opinion on fundamental problems facing the country.  Has its distinctive point-of-view, but can be beneficial to those who read it generously yet critically.

Racial equality and civil rights

1. Racial Equality in America by John Hope Franklin, 1993, University of Missouri Press, pbk. ISBN 0-8262-0912-2 Distinguished historian John Hope Franklin's eloquent and forceful meditation on the persistent disparity between the goal of racial equality in America and the facts of discrimination.

In a searing critique of Thomas Jefferson, Franklin shows that this spokesman for democracy did not include African Americans among those "created equal." Franklin chronicles the events of the nineteenth century that solidified inequality in America and shows how emancipation dealt only with slavery, not with inequality. In the twentieth century, America finally confronted the fact that equality is indivisible: it must not be divided so that it is extended to some at the expense of others. Once this indivisibility is accepted, Franklin charges, America faces the monumental task of overcoming its long heritage of inequality.

Transportation

1. Interurban electric railway: almost getting it rightJohn Painter (2007) web.mac.com/spauldingsworld/iWeb/Site/Interurban.html    A short film by a DA student that shows one example where people were making good decisions which allowed one interurban electric railway to hold on, and with changes, continue to exist today, the New Haven Railway.

Research & Writing

1. Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes by Robert M. Emerson, Rachel I. Fretz, and Linda L. Shaw, University of Chicago Press, 1995.  272 pp. pbk., $14.00.  ISBN: 978-0-226-20681-3 Drawing upon years of teaching and field research experience, the authors develop a series of guidelines, suggestions, and practical advice about how to use fieldnotes effectively, strategies for formulating interview questions, and ways to transform direct observations into vivid descriptions that support research findings and convey meanings in their social context.  They explore the conscious and unconscious writing choices that produce fieldnote accounts, and how fieldnotes inevitably influence the arguments and analyses scholars make.  For students who plan to interview respondents

2. “Writing the History Paper: the Challenges of Writing History” from Dartmouth College http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/soc_sciences/history.shtml How to transform facts into evidence, evidence into argument.  Draws upon primary and secondary sources.  Includes a sample paper as a model.  For students seeking additional background on historical research methods

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3. “Guide to Writing History Papers” by Todd F. Carney, Southern Oregon University http://www.sou.edu/history/carney/writing.htm Ideas about doing history—writing a history paper, with attention to structure, style, technique, and models of approach. For students seeking additional background on historical research writing

4. Authoring a Ph.D.: How to Plan, Draft, Write & Finish a Doctoral Thesis or Dissertation by Patrick Dunleavy, Palgrave Macmillian, 2003, pbk. The quality of your writing and your thinking often go hand in hand. Developing these capabilities can be as important as all the rest of your doctoral influences put together—your research ideas, hard work and the quality of your supervision. This book gives a comprehensive treatment of authoring a doctoral dissertation, from the earliest conceptualizing stages through to successful completion and publication.

 5. “Writing Guide” http://www.writing.ku.edu/students/guides.shtml#4 Explains everything you want to know about writing academic essays, avoiding plagiarism, critical thinking/reading/and study strategies, the writing process, writing your research, citing and documenting sources, grammar and usage, writing course papers, theses and dissertations, writing a précis and more.  Additional writing information

6. Writing With Precision: How to Write So That You Cannot Possibly Be Misunderstood, 6th ed. by Jefferson Bates Penguin, 2000, pbk. The bible of clear writing

7. The Craft of Research, 2nd.ed. by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams University of Chicago Press, 2003, pbk. The bible of doing academic research

8. On Writing Cases Well” by Gerry Yemen, Darden Business Publishing, Case: UVA-PHA-0058; 2006, 11 pp. $3.29 (Order Directly from Darden Business Publishing, University of Virginia: order directly from Darden Business Publishing @http://www.store.darden.virginia.edu/ecustomer.enu/start.swe?SWECmd=Start Insights into writing effective case studies for scholarly and instructional purposes.

COURSE RATIONALE

Is societal transformation always a good thing? Does it always turn out as we expected? What influences it? How can we, as leaders, know when transformational change is desirable?  When is it ill-advised? How to influence the course of action?  Is it possible to develop a theory of transformational change that has predictive value to assess the likelihood of success?  How can we assess the potential of organizational and societal transformations and predict the intended and unintended consequence of transformative strategic policies? 

This course will examine significant historical examples (case studies) of transformational change in American society that did not always produce the outcomes originally envisioned.  By studying transformative processes

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in business, industry, government, nonprofits, social institutions, and social movements that sometimes had limited or mixed success, or that brought about unexpected and unforeseen results, a deeper understanding of social transformation will be explored.

ACADEMIC AND COURSE GOALSInterdisciplinary Focus

This course strives to be broadly interdisciplinary, drawing upon such fields as American studies, anthropology, business, economics, history, literature, political science, psychology and sociology.  Students will read academic and popular literature and case studies about transformational change, social policy, group dynamics, and historiography and work to integrate various methodologies and approaches to understanding the dynamics at work.

Case Studies

Case studies in business, technology, and American social and cultural history and related fields provide the factual basis by which students will work to develop a deeper understanding of transformational change in the public realm.  We will consider the elements that may have predictive value for determining when and what kind of transformational change is desirable or necessary, and for assessing likely intended and unintended consequences of carrying out specific transformational strategies at the level of the public agenda.

Original Student Research and Scholarly Evaluation

A central goal of the course is for each student to research and write an original case study of social transformation that has affected the public agenda in government, commerce, education, social movements, nongovernmental organizations, politics, the economy, religion, science and technology, or other social institutions.

A related course goal is for students to prepare a scholarly critique-evaluation of resource materials (books, media, articles, etc.) that may be useful as instructional tools in this and other Doctor of Arts in Leadership courses.

Student-authored case studies and the results of student evaluative critiques will become part of the assigned curriculum in future offerings of this course.

Additional Course Goals

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1.  To facilitate a deeper understanding of the dynamics at play in public agenda transformation.

2.  To master the process of research and writing of case studies of public agenda transformation.

3.  To improve our ability to synthesize significant information and data from a wide variety of sources that results in the ability to formulate original scholarly interpretations which contribute to pure and applied understandings of the subject matter.

4.  To foster the capability to interpret meaningful patterns of thought and behavior in social processes that can result in success or failure, mixed or unanticipated results, and be used to predict likely future outcomes.

5.  To guide the student to understand better the leadership qualities achievable in one’s own career intersection with the public agenda.

TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES

By studying transformational processes at the micro-economic level (in individual businesses, industries, government and the nonprofit service sector, as well as in social institutions and social movements) we will seek insights into transformational change at the macro-or societal level.  By paying special attention to movements that had limited, mixed or unanticipated success, or that brought about unexpected or unforeseen results, we will seek to develop an explanative theory of social transformation that may be useful in predicting the outcomes of contemporary transformational efforts. 

The course will also consider the development of a self-renewing capability in professions and organizations.  We will look just as closely at failures as at successes in social transformation, at how a changing society deals with the demand for greater tolerance of human behavior within an environment where marginalization and relative poverty continue to exist, and at the need to keep justice and more decision-making central to changing public ideologies and values and maintain an appreciation of the consequences of individual actions with a global context.

Major Topics Covered by the Course:

 

The following essential questions will guide our study of Transforming

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the Public Agenda

-What is transformational leadership? How can we evaluate and measure our success?

-How can we better understand the processes at work in public agenda transformation?

-When is social transformation a good thing, and when is it not?

-What can we learn from historical examples, case studies, ethnographic research, research on social change, and approaches like game theory to understand public transformations?

-How can the popular media be a source of information about social movements and transformation we can analyze through systematic academic research?

-When leadership is thrust upon a person by virtue of discovery or knowledge or by dint of circumstance, why are some leaders, organizations, and movements successful and others relative failures at achieving their objectives? What can we learn from organizational and leadership adventures and misadventures that may influence our own course of action?

-How can we use a deeper understanding of transformational leadership adventures and misadventures to predict future outcomes of on-going processes of change? To influence the direction of that change?

Performance-based Objectives (What is it that you will know or be able to do as a result of taking this course?)

1.  Interpretation of Data/Information

You will select and analyze material on social transformation and the public agenda from a variety of sources and through a synthesis of interpretative methodologies.

2.   Posing Leadership Questions

You will develop your own original scholarly interpretation of the leadership processes at work in a variety of public agenda transformations.

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3.  Creative Thinking/Original Research

You will ponder new insights of Leadership you have gained from course readings and incorporate this into an original research project-case study of transformational leadership in the public agenda.  The end product of your research will be a case study that may be used in future offerings of this course.

4.  Ethics in Leadership

You will consider among other salient factors an ethical issue of leadership evidenced in public agenda transformation.  You will be asked to justify your agreement or disagreement with the action taken in a particular case study, and what if anything could be done differently or better.

5.  Leadership and Self

Using the constructs, creative works, texts, discussions and your independent research, you will assess ways you can model or predict outcomes of on-going transformational change, and identify specific times when actions can help influence those outcomes.

 

SEMINARS

Introductory Session—Sunday August 30, 2009 @10am – noon

Topics: Course Introduction: What is the public agenda; The Case Study Approach: Views from the disciplines of business and history;

A. Introduction:  What is the public agenda?  How does the public agenda get transformed?  How can we evaluate the meaning and significance of success, failure, partial or mixed success, and unanticipated outcomes as concepts for evaluating pubic agenda transformation?

General discussion of the thematic concerns of this course and some of the ways to find information that can help answer the questions we pose.

B. The Case Study Approach:  Views from the disciplines of business and history

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Discussion of Ellet and Brown and scholarly methods for constructing and analyzing case studies of transformational change. 

The class will outline key concepts, ideas, approaches, and methodologies found in business and historical case studies that can be applied to the study of public agenda transformation.  

C. An in-class exercise in analyzing a transformational public agenda case study A case study written by a D.A. student may be assigned for classroom discussion.

Seminar 1-- Saturday September 12, 2009 @ 9am – 5 pm  

Seminar 1 Topics: Case Study 1: Transportation: Transformation from electric-powered fixed rail transportation to individual internal combustion (gasoline) powered vehicles in America 1890 -1960; What can we learn from failure?

A. Introduction: Recap of discussion from the introductory session: What is the public agenda?  How does the public agenda get transformed?  How can we evaluate the meaning and significance of success, failure, partial or mixed success, and unanticipated outcomes as concepts for evaluating pubic agenda transformation?

General discussion of the thematic concerns of this course and some of the ways to find information that can help answer the questions we pose.

The Case Study Approach:  Views from the disciplines of business and history. Discussion of Ellet and Brown and scholarly methods for constructing and analyzing case studies of transformational change. 

The class will outline key concepts, ideas, approaches, and methodologies found in business and historical case studies that can be applied to the study of public agenda transformation.   A case study written by a D.A. student may be assigned for classroom discussion.

B. Case Study 1: Transportation: Transformation from electric-powered fixed rail transportation to individual internal combustion (gasoline) powered vehicles in America 1890-1960.

Multi-passenger fixed-rail transportation was once ubiquitous throughout much of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States as well as other regions.  An individual in Portland, ME in 1909 could take the trolley to a downtown station and transfer to an electric interurban train to travel to Boston and other New England towns.  Similarly, electric-powered interurban fixed rail transportation linked most towns of reasonable size

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across the mid-west and on the west coast. Over the next fifty to sixty years particular cultural, economic and political factors shaped a public agenda to replace an emphasis upon fixed rail mass transportation with individual gasoline-powered vehicles, namely the automobile, trucks and buses, setting forth a cultural transformation in American life few in 1909 would have foreseen.

Ironically, today many are calling for the United States to reduce its dependence upon foreign oil, reduce pollutants, and move toward reliance upon cleaner electric-powered vehicles and mass transportation, without realizing that more than 100 years earlier the precursor of such an inter-modal system already existed across a broad geographic range.

Case study one will look at the socio-cultural, economic, technological and related factors that drove transformational change at the societal level to cars, trucks, and buses, without an awareness of its long range social consequences.  Are similar patterns and processes going on today in our world?

C. What Can We Learn from Failure?

Finkelstein’s Why Smart Executives Fail, offers many examples of leadership failures set against the context of seemingly good ideas: action undertaken poorly; misreading of the operating context; miscommunication of goals; and strategy mismatched to needs, among others.  What factors lead some organizations and leaders to succeed and others to fail?

What can we learn from the first five chapters of Finkelstein that might illuminate transformational factors in the public agenda that affected America’s electric interurban railways, and spurred us to embrace the car?

Seminar 1 Assignments:

Before Seminar 1 complete the following readings and be prepared to discuss them fully in class:

1.  Brown, “On Writing History,” an on-line resource

2.  Ellet, The Case Study Handbook (Chapters 1 – 3)

3. Hilton and Due, The Electric Interurban Railways in America *Part 1 only*: (Chapters 1- 8)

4. Finkelstein, Why Smart Executives Fail (Preface, Chapters 1 - 5)

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5. Kay, Asphalt Nation (Introduction: The Late Motor Age: A Defining Decade, Chapter 7, Model T, Model City, Chapter 8, From Front Porch to Front Seat, and Chapter 9, Driving Through the Depression)

Take notes as you read that you can use during class discussion of these readings. Bring to class a list of the key questions, methods, and approaches you find in each text above that you believe will be most useful in analyzing case studies of public agenda transformational change.

We will use threaded discussions during the first weeks of the course to share ideas and concepts we have discovered in the assigned readings above.

__________________________________________________________

 ***Interim Assignment—due date: Tuesday September 22, 2009

1. Read Part II., "The Causes of Failure,” in Finkelstein 

2. Read all of Part 1 and Part 2 of Kay, Asphalt Nation

3. Using insights from Finkelstein’s book, Kay’s book, and suggested methodological approaches from Brown and Ellet, write a 4- 6 page paper presenting your interpretation of corporate and social public agenda actions—and mistakes—found in Hilton and Due’s and Kay’s books that allowed the once-thriving light fixed rails system in America to decline and be replaced by automobiles, trucks, and buses.

Be sure to answer the following :

* Was this change inevitable?

* Or, might history have been altered, and if so, how?

E-mail your paper, and use the document-share feature in the course shell, to your instructor and each classmate no later than midnight, Tuesday September 22, 2009 and post it on the document-share feature on the course shell.

Please note: We will be using the threaded discussion to share our comments, reactions, and responses to each other’s essays.  Sharing our feedback and developing discussion threads based on everyone’s interim assignment essays will be an important part of our course—a vital part of our learning process about the factors that influence the public agenda.

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***Additional Discussion Threads during the weeks between Seminar 1 and 2

Between Seminar 1 and 2, threaded discussions will be posted in successive weeks concerning assigned readings of articles and student case studies from previous terms, to be handed out during Seminar 1 and posted on the course shell.

You will be asked to prepare a brief outline of topics from the perspective of the public agenda, and how you might analyze it as a case study of public agenda issues, according to methods suggested by Ellet, Brown, and others.

You will be asked to comment upon how these articles and case studies might become the foundation of a case study on public agenda issues.

____________________________________________________

SEMINAR 2 —Saturday October 10, 2009 @ 9 am – 5pm                 

Seminar 2 Topics: Writing and Analyzing Business and Historical Cases; Finding Sources of Public Agenda Case Studies in the News Media; Evaluating Student Case Studies; Continuation of Case Study 1: Transportation and the Transformation of American Society and Culture; Case Study 2: The Civil Rights Movement in America

A. Writing and Analyzing Business and Historical Cases

We will use Yemen, Brown, Ellet, and other sources discovered by students to develop approaches and methods for investigating, constructing, and interpreting case studies.

B. Finding Sources of Public Agenda Cases in the News Media; Evaluating Student Case Studies

We will discuss examples of how the general news media can serve as a source of basic information on issues affecting the public agenda.  We will discuss how to identify other important contemporary subjects deserving of serious academic inquiry.

We will examine case studies prepared by D.A. students to evaluate how they identified topics and issues, framed their presentations, and led us as readers to focus upon problems and solutions.

C. Continuation of Case Study 1—Transportation and the Transformation of America

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D. Case Study 2—The Civil Rights Movement in America

Perhaps no social movement has had the profound transformational effect of the Civil Rights Movement from its origins in the aftermath of World War II through the present. 

Large sections of the population were mobilized to achieve or constrain civil freedoms, and profoundly changed attitudes about race, class, and gender in America.  But careful analysis raises many questions about the role of leadership and grassroots, and ways in which the movement took on a life of its own

Each student will imaginatively assume the persona of a person living in the era of the civil rights movement, either as a specific participant in the process, an observer or reactant to the movement, or one situated in opposition to the movement, and will write a short practice case study of transformational change involving leaders, followers, elected officials (both federal and local), and entrenched power-brokers. 

Case study 2 will look through the eyes of a contemporaneous participant at measurable improvements in rights and opportunities but also stagnation and even backward movement; at the consequences of success and failure; at the role of strategic action and irrationality in public affairs; and at how social processes of change can face an unpredictable of array of challenges and events.

Seminar 2 Assignments:

1.  Be prepared to discuss the articles and student case studies assigned before seminar 2.

2.  Read Yemen, “On Writing Cases Well” (will be distributed to you during Seminar 1) and student case studies (written by students in previous terms) that will be assigned for seminar two.

 Write   a 1- 2   page critique of an assigned student case study (your choice of case study) in which you:

(a) frame your own original interpretation (your assessment) of a major issue affecting today’s public agenda you find in the case, according to the criteria Yemen, Brown, and Ellet present, and

(b) tell what you would do to solve the central  problem or  issues (Your Action Plan)

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E-mail your assessment of a key issue/problem and your proposed action plan to solve that problem to your classmates and instructor by Tuesday, September 29, 2009. We will discuss our critiques/solutions in class during seminar two.     

3. Read Part 3 of Kay, Asphalt Nation.  We will discuss in class our assessments of the key factors that influenced the direction of the public agenda about American transportation, and consider Kay’s arguments about where she believes that agenda should be heading today.  Read Kay’s book generously, but critically: Do you agree with her contentions, disagree, partially agree?  How do you feel she handles the evidence while trying to make her point?  What evidence would you rely on to support your view? A discussion thread on the course shell will allow us to begin our discussion of these issues.

4. Read Eagles, The Civil Rights Movement in America and the list of Cognitive Distortions,” http://www.geocities.com/Wellesley/6956/cognitive.html .

Each student in the class will be assigned to play the role in class of an individual character from the book to reveal insight into how that personage-participant would have understood the events going on around him/her. 

You will write a 4 -5 page essay from the point-of-view of your “character” that focuses on (a) how your person would have understood the events at the time, and (b) what leadership actions (s)he would have advocated, and why. 

During out class discussion, we will look closely at the ways leaders at various levels both in government and outside interacted with each other, and the multi-layered leadership dynamics at play.

E-mail your essay from a participant’s point of view to your classmates and instructor by Thursday October 8, 2009.

5.  Research what you consider to be:

(a)  the most pressing transformational leadership issue(s) in your occupational field

(b) identify the leading experts on the subject who have written best about the issue(s).  If no one yet has addressed the issue(s) adequately, identify experts in whom you have the most confidence as potential investigators.

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We will use the threaded discussion to share our ideas and thoughts.

You will also be assigned other discussion threads between Seminars 2 and 3.

SEMINAR 3 — Saturday, November 7, 2009 @ 9am - 5 pm

Seminar 3 Topics: How do we, as individuals, matter within the public agenda?  Presentation of student’s original case studies; Moving toward theories of social change/public agenda transformation

A. Do We Matter? How might a novel like The Plot Against America offer a window into understanding the role of individual people in their struggles with the public agenda? What is the message/theme(s) we should take with us from the novel? How can we as scholars of leadership draw significant meaning from creative literature?

B. Presentation of Student’s Original Case Studies

The capstone of this course, we will look at what we’ve learned about transformational leadership and ways to evaluate and measure success as shown in individual student original research case study projects.

What have we learned in researching and writing our own original case studies about the processes at work in public agenda transformation?  About synthesizing diverse sources of information and interdisciplinary methods of scholarship?  What problems, options and choices did leaders and participants in significant social movements face?  How well did they articulate goals and objectives or understand the context in which they carried out their activities?  What strategies and tactics did they employ and how did they respond to changing circumstances, to failure, to unexpected events? 

When leadership was thrust upon individuals how did they respond? Why were some leaders, organizations, and movements more successful and others less so in achieving their objectives?  What have we learned about the role of ideas, emotions, fears and prejudices, misunderstandings and misconceptions as agents in individual and collective action?  What can we learn from organizational leadership adventures and misadventures that can influence our own courses action?

C.  Theories of Social Change/Public Agenda Transformation

Based on what you have learned, how would you formulate a theory that evaluates and explains the consequences of specific actions that lead to transformation of the public agenda?  What variables are most important

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in evaluating the likely degree of success and unforeseen outcomes of on-going societal transformations?  Can we develop a theory or theories of predictable consequences of transformational change at the societal level, and utilize this in our own strategic thinking and planning?

Seminar 3 Assignments

1.  Read, Roth, The Plot Against America.

A fictional interlude: Through threaded and in-class discussion we will consider: What can we learn from literary fiction about how the public agenda becomes transformed, and its effect on societal groups and individuals?  How much do we matter in our own history?  What effect does chance play in shaping social policy?  What can individuals do to affect change or to adapt to difficult circumstances?

What messages do you think Roth is trying to tell us about the public agenda?  Of what is he fearful?  Do you think he succeeds of fails in giving us ideas to think about for our own times? Use the threaded discussion to present your views.

2. Each student will research and write an original case study of transformational change at the level of the public agenda on a subject of the student’s choice and by synthesizing methodological approaches suggested in class readings.  This will be the major, capstone project of the course. 

Students will e-mail their case study projects to their classmates and instructor in advance of seminar 3 meeting (date for submission of case study will be announced.)  During seminar 3, students will make informal presentations on their case study and what they learned in preparing it. Classmates will evaluate each case and develop solutions or action plans that address key issues/problems in the case.

More specific directions for preparation of this capstone case study project will be explained by the instructor during the term. 

It is hoped that student case studies can become incorporated into subsequent offerings of the course as a teaching-learning pedagogical tool.

3. Extra credit: Read one of the recommended readings from the course syllabus or another work that deals with related subjects and use the threaded discussion to evaluate how well it might work as an addition to or replacement for the assigned readings on this term’s syllabus.

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GOALS OF THE DOCTOR OF ARTS DEGREE PROGRAM

•To prepare leaders for transformational roles in society

•To advance knowledge and applied research, preparing leaders with vision

•To develop practice-focused scholarship, integration of knowledge and reflective and service-based inquiry

•To enhance the leadership values, skills, and knowledge of current and aspiring leaders in professional disciplines

•To inspire the holistic view of leadership as a transformational process

•To engage the process of analyzing and synthesizing content through a transformational leadership perspective

•To foster an understanding of the importance of the arts and humanities in assuming the role of steward of the societal landscape, developing a sense of connectedness and community

EXPECTATIONS OF STUDENTS

Students are expected to read all of the materials required for class, to undertake original research and to engage energetically in the process or scholarly critique and analysis in written and verbal presentations.  Students will also be encouraged to master a pure and applied application of leadership principles and to make contributions to each seminar and online discussion taking leadership roles as appropriate. 

SPECIAL ACCOMODATIONS

In accordance with Americans with Disabilities Act, any person in this course who has a documented disability will be provided with reasonable accommodations designed to meet his/her needs.  Before any such assistance can occur, it is the responsibility of the candidate to see that documentation is on file with Franklin Pierce College.  Please see me as soon as possible to discuss any need for accommodation.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY

Franklin Pierce University expects all students to adhere to high standards of integrity in their academic work.  Activities such as plagiarism and cheating are not acceptable and will not be condoned by the Doctoral

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Program in Leadership, and may lead to failure in the course or removal from the program. 

GRADING  

 Final grades will be based on the following criteria: 

1.   Active seminar participation, attitude and attendance              50%

2.   Completion of all performance-based assignments and

activities with concern for quality, content, originality, and

relevance to goals of the course  25%

3.   Original Course Research Case Study Project                           25%

THROUGHOUT THE COURSE, YOU ARE EXPECTED TO EXHIBIT:   

1. An open mind

2. A willingness to explore the unknown

3. Value of the cohort model

4. An appreciation for and value of excellence

5. A non-judgmental attitude and a creative spirit

   8-10-2009

 

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