Assignment 1

Based on the readings for this unit, your independent research, and your self-reflection, write a paper that addresses the following prompts:

• What is your definition of leadership?
• How important is it to have a definition of leadership? How does your definition support your perspective on the concept of leadership?
• What is your approach to understanding leadership? Does it start with a definition, or do you simply follow your instincts?
• What is your definition of management?
• What do you see as the differences between leadership and management?

Your paper should be 2-3 pages in length and include a minimum of two sources other than your textbook. Format your paper according to current APA style and formatting guidelines.

Textbook reference

Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2012). The leadership challenge (5th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Rath, T., & Conchie, B. (2008). Strengths based leadership. New York, NY: Gallup Press.

Assignment 2

Consider your own personal environment as related to organization communication. That most likely implies your job and work environment, but might also include organizations you are affiliated with outside of work.

Write a paper (likely 1--2 pages in length) describing the organizations you are involved with (Veterans Affair hospital), and how organization communication impacts the effectiveness of those organizations. End with a statement describing what interests you the most about the subject of organizational communication.

Assignment 3

Choose a communication situation you recently experienced at your workplace or other organization you are affiliated with. Use the human communication process described in your text, starting on page 11, "Human Communication: Message and Constitutive Processes," to analyze why-or why not-a shared reality was experienced as an end result. Summarize your experience and include your analysis as an attachment in this assignment thread. Consider the following items in your analysis:

• Identify the source and the receiver.
• What was the message and what type of message function was it serving?
• How was it encoded?
• How was it decoded?
• What channel was used to transmit the message?
• What type of noise was experienced?
• Comment on the competencies, fields of experience, and culture of the participants involved.
• Identify the communication context of this situation.
• What was the intended effect versus the actual effect of the message?
• Was a shared reality constructed? If not, what needed to change?