OL 328 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric
Overview
For your final project, you will submit an essay in which you reflect on the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership and how they apply to real-life situations.
Throughout the course, you will develop a leadership development action plan to outline how you will use the five practices to improve the three areas of
leadership you will identify in Module One. In Modules Three and Five, you will complete milestone assignments that will help you assemble your final
deliverable in Module Seven. These milestone assignments are short papers that will summarize the progress you have made on your leadership development
action plan. In Module Seven, you will complete a reflective essay that will allow you to put into practice the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership as well as the
leadership theories and approaches covered in the course. Note that the milestone assignments do not specifically address the last of the five practices
(Encourage the Heart), but you will do so as part of the final project.
In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:
Assess leadership skills and abilities that apply to interpersonal and intra-organizational situations and effectively influence workplace dynamics
Evaluate leadership decision-making strategies for their effectiveness on the achievement of organizational goals
Analyze various leadership theories and approaches for their ability to enhance organizational effectiveness to improve sustainability
Explain the influence of international and cultural differences on leadership strategies and organizational dynamics in fostering shared visions and purposes
Prompt
You have learned about each of the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership and, on a weekly basis, have developed a leadership development action plan to
improve selected leadership areas. Through the milestone assignments, you have analyzed how you will use the leadership practices to assist with the process of
improving your selected areas. Using your milestone submissions, your textbook, your course resources and discussion posts, and your leadership development
action plan, address the following critical elements:
Describe the concept behind each of the five practices with supporting evidence.
Apply each of the five practices to an organization of your choice.
o Identify an organization you are currently a leader of or would like to be a leader of in the future.
o Identify how many employees you are leading or would feel comfortable leading in the future.
o Reflect upon your acquired knowledge of the five practices and write about how the concepts you have learned might be used in the
organization you selected with the quantity of employees you selected.
Select two leadership theories or approaches you learned about in Modules Two through Six and describe how you will apply those theories (with
supporting evidence) to the three leadership areas of improvement you selected in Module One.
Milestones
Milestone One: Model the Way and Inspire a Shared Vision
In Module Three, you will submit a short paper that discusses these two Practices of Exemplary Leadership: Model the Way and Inspire a Shared Vision.
This milestone will be graded with the Milestone One Rubric.
Milestone Two: Challenge the Process and Enable Others to Act
In Module Five, you will submit a short paper that discusses these two Practices of Exemplary Leadership: Challenge the Process and Enable Others to Act.
This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.
Final Submission: Reflection on the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership
In Module Seven, you will submit an essay in which you reflect on the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership. It should be a complete, polished artifact
containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This submission will be
graded with the Final Project Rubric.
Final Project Rubric
Guidelines for Submission: Your final paper should be four to six pages in length (in addition to the cover page and references). It should use 12-point Times
New Roman font, double spacing, and one-inch margins. Citations should be formatted according to APA style.
Instructor Feedback: This activity uses an integrated rubric in Blackboard. Students can view instructor feedback in the Grade Center. For more information,
review these instructions.
| Critical Elements | Exemplary (100%) | Proficient (85%) | Needs Improvement (55%) | Not Evident (0%) | Value |
| Concept Behind Each of the Five Practices |
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and description demonstrates informed understanding of the five practices |
Accurately describes the concept behind each of the five practices with supporting evidence |
Describes the concept behind each of the five practices and provides support but does not describe with accuracy or does not provide supporting evidence |
Does not describe the concept behind each of the five practices |
20 |
| Application of the Five Practices |
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and analysis demonstrates keen insight into the relationship between the concepts and the application of the concepts to an organization |
Accurately applies each of the five practices to a chosen organization |
Applies the five practices to a chosen organization, but the application is incorrect |
Does not apply the five practices to a chosen organization |
30 |
| Leadership Theories | Meets “Proficient” criteria and provides keen insight into how the leadership theories can be applied to areas that need improvement |
Selects two leadership theories, describes how they can be applied to the three identified leadership areas, and provides supporting evidence |
Selects two leadership theories but does not apply them to the leadership areas or does not provide supporting evidence |
Does not select two leadership theories or describe how they can be applied to the three identified leadership areas |
30 |
| Articulation of Response |
Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy to read format |
Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization |
Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas |
Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas |
20 |
| Earned Total | 100% |
