OGL 570
Instructions
In each module, you will have the opportunity to participate in an online discussion forum. This week, you have a
choice of which prompt to respond to.
Hot Tip:
It might be helpful to copy-paste the discussion prompts into an offline document (Word, for example), compose your responses offline, and then return to copy-paste your responses here.
NOTE:
Please include each discussion prompt prior to your responses — or
use topical headings or numbers to make it easy for readers to see that you’ve covered all of the prompts/items.
Write at least 300 words. Word counts are minimums — you may write over the count if you need to.
Respond to
one of the following prompts:
Prompt 1. Low Emotional Intelligence: Go into your memory and recall a situation that arose at work (or in society in general) where you encountered a leader (and/or a co-worker) who displayed actions symbolic of what you currently believe to be a
low level of emotional intelligence. What happened? Explain: What took place; and what were the ramifications? How would you have handled handle the situation differently?
Prompt 2: High Emotional Intelligence: Go back into your memory and recall a situation that arose at work (or in society in general) where you encountered a leader (and/or a co-worker) who displayed actions symbolic of what you currently believe to be a high level of emotional intelligence. What happened? Explain: What took place; and what was the outcome? Did you personally learn anything from the incident? Explain.
PART B
Module 2: Critical Thinking/Application Prompts
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Due Sunday by 11:59pm
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Points 50
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Submitting a text entry box
Instructions
Each week, you will be presented with a series of critical thinking prompts and application prompts.
Please copy/paste the prompts into an offline document (Word, for example) and compose your responses offline (be sure to save your work). Then click on the “Submit Assignment” button above, copy/paste your work into the text box (
please be sure to include the prompts prior to your responses), and click “Submit Assignment” at the bottom of the page.
Each question is generally worthy of,
at a minimum, at least 250 words (2-3 well-written paragraphs) in response for the open-ended types of prompts. Be sure to connect with (and informally
cite in-text) the applicable readings/videos from the module’s learning materials.
A note on in-text citing and connecting with the learning materials:
As a graduate student, it’s
very important that you offer perspectives and arguments that are grounded in the literature –
NOT simply personal opinion or anecdotal evidence. I don’t want a works-cited page, but I do want you to clearly cite your sources in-text for the various connections you’ll be making between the learning materials and your application thereof. For example, one might write,
“While I marveled at the uncanny ability of the psychic to tap into my true personality, the Barnum Effect
(Aronson, 2022, p. 117) could have well explained my feelings…”
Be sure to use these informal in-text cites to make your arguments and to support your perspectives.
Excluding the prompts that are simply requiring you to input data and/or share a screenshot, these are all open-ended prompts/questions, each deserving of a well thought out response. Again, that generally means two to three well-constructed paragraphs (Make sure to answer with
about 250 words on average) per prompt. This must be 250 words per prompt or you will not get a passing grade.
The following exercise includes the following five prompts:
It is said that the most effective leaders are those who understand the value and power of transforming the self before focusing on the organization. That said, it behooves us to examine certain dimensions of self-management that seem crucial to one’s success.
Why Develop Self-Management Skills?
Well-developed self-management skills will help you efficiently communicate with co-workers, management and customers, make the right decisions, plan your time at work most efficiently, and keep your body healthy. By enhancing self-management skills you develop new ways to increase your own productivity as well as the productivity of those you lead. More efficient, effective and profitable productivity is, of course, a focus for any leader. Higher productivity paves the way for, among other things, career promotion and professional advancement.
In the first four prompts below, reflect on your current level of self-management. After completing your self-reflection and establishing your current level of self-management, we can then move on to thinking through how you can develop those skills and even facilitate the skill development of your co-workers.
Positive Stress Management
The first and foremost skill of self-management refers to a personal ability to work successfully with stress and stressful situations. When you develop this self-management skill, you can avoid many mistakes that people usually make when being stressed out.
By bringing management to emotional stress and reactions to stressful situations, you can learn to recognize emotions but manage them, activate the cerebral cortex and apply rational and logical responses. Because a stressful situation usually blocks one’s ability to think and make rational decisions, it becomes difficult to cope even with the simplest tasks at the workplace. Practically speaking, as one’s frustration grows and and emotions get out of hand, productivity goes down and work is compromised. That’s why developing this ability is important; it equips you to be productive and be able to transform stressful situations.
Critical Thinking/Application Prompt 1:
Answer the following questions [treat the bulleted questions below as part of one single prompt]:
· How well do you identify the emotion(s) around stress and manage the emotion(s) appropriately? Explain.
· How well do you respond to stressful situations at work? Explain.
· Are there applications of the information from the 60 Minutes Video on “Mindfulness” that could benefit you and the way you handle stress? Explain.
· If you were to give yourself advice about how you handle stress, what would be your advice?
Problem Solving
Another self-management skill requires you to use your cerebral cortex as a mechanism for making right decisions. Even the hardest tasks and challenges can be efficiently handled if the mental process in your head is always in progress. Problem solving requires one to look squarely at the facts and question potential assumptions so it becomes possible to analyze the situation, review problems, and find effective solutions. Keeping your mind sober and calm allows you to make rational decisions even in the toughest situations.
Critical Thinking/Application Prompt 2:
Answer the following questions [treat the bulleted questions below as part of one single prompt]:
· How would you rank your problem-solving skills today?
· How would your co-workers describe your problem-solving abilities? How would your manager describe them?
· How well do you encourage others to identify problems openly and quickly and without negative repercussions? (In customer service, if you make it easy for a customer to complain about a product or service issue, you more than double the chance for repeat business; if you can actually address the issue, then repeat business expands exponentially.) How easy and safe is it for co-workers to bring problems to your attention?
· When a problem arises, how well do you accept responsibility? Are you likely to cast blame and avoid taking responsibility?
Communication
Your ability to communicate efficiently with other people enhances your ability to share information with fewer mistakes, greater clarity, and to facilitate solutions more economically. Productive employees always can efficiently communicate with their colleagues and management because they comprehensively understand the value of clear information delivered in a timely manner. So be sure you work on developing this skill for self-management. Remember also that listening is a more powerful communication skill than talking and one that is often underutilized. No doubt you’ve heard the adage that you have 2 ears and 1 mouth which suggests you should listen twice as much as you talk.
Critical Thinking/Application Prompt 3:
Answer the following questions [treat the bulleted questions below as part of one single prompt]:
· How well do you communicate? Verbally? Non-verbally? In Writing?
· How developed are your active listening skills?
· Is it easy for co-workers to communicate with you?
· How open are you to resolving conflicts?
· What changes can you make in your life right now to improve your communication skills? Explain.
Physical Health/Activity
Keeping your body in good shape is a critical self-management skill example. When you feel healthy and have a robust nervous system, you can do more things and cope with many challenges. Physical activity (like jogging, fitness, training, biking, tennis, and different sorts of sports, etc.) as well as things such as mindfulness, yoga, meditation, allows you to strengthen your body, keep your muscles up, relax your body and be more productive. And note that we will come back to this topic toward the end of this course.
Critical Thinking/Application Prompt 4:
Answer the following questions [treat the bulleted questions below as part of one single prompt]:
· How would you rate your current physical health?
· How would you rate your current emotional/mental health?
· Do you exercise on a regular basis?
· Do you eat a healthy diet?
· What changes can you make in your life right now to improve both your physical and mental health? Explain.
Critical Thinking/Application Prompt 5:
What is “intelligence”? Currently, human beings are frantically attempting to “download” human knowledge (intellect) into computers. We speak of AI software and AI hardware. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here! Global artificial intelligence spending is expected to break the $480 billion mark in 2026 — representing a 33% year-on-year increase from the $360 billion estimated for 2025. Address the following: Can emotions be downloaded? And is intellect intelligence? — Or is intelligence something entirely different from intellect? Explain. Finally, explain how the amount of money being spent on AI is or is not justifiable. Substantiate your point of view by integrating the resources of your choice.
