The first part of your assignment may be written in the first person (using ‘I’) since it is a personal reflection. You are advised to focus on one or two specific experiences of leadership – either where you were in a leadership role, or where you could observe ‘leadership’ in action even if you were not a ‘leader’. These experiences might be drawn from your work experience or from other experience (voluntary work, student experience in working in a group, parenting, sport or other leisure activities). The experience should be one where you were an active participant. You should describe the situation and evaluate the leadership process using relevant theory and concepts drawn from the academic literature on leadership. In suggesting areas for your own development you should focus on skills or attributes that you think you need to develop, based on analysis of the experience. You should situate this reflection within the concepts and theory discussed in class and/or through your reading for the module.
The second part of the assignment requires you to critically evaluate the leadership of Marissa Mayer, who is the outgoing CEO of Yahoo, and a former GOOGLE VP. She was praised at Google for developing products including Gmail, Google Maps, and Google News. At Yahoo her leadership has been criticised for contributing to declining profits after her appointment in 2012. In July 2016 it was announced that Yahoo would be selling its core business to Verizon. You should consider the effectiveness of Marissa Mayer’s leadership qualities from the perspectives of trait and behavioural theories, situational and contingency theory, transformational and transactional leadership, distributed leadership, ethical leadership and critical leadership perspectives. You should also consider the extent to which there has been ‘gender bias’ reporting of Marissa Mayer’s leadership.
You should read widely on theories of leadership, styles of leadership and critical leadership, and apply these critically to Marissa Mayer. You should also incorporate a regard for the ethics of leadership. In critically evaluating Mayer you may want to compare her style with other leaders, in the Tech industry. Have a look at the following two links which will introduce you to competing perspectives on Mayer’s leadership:
Marissa Mayer’s – contrasting views on her leadership
Marissa Mayer – A case study of poor leadership

Learning Outcomes for the module
At the end of this module, students will be able to:

Knowledge
1.Explain a variety of theories of leadership.
2. Explain competing positions regarding the ethics of leadership.
Thinking skills
3. Critically evaluate case studies of organisational leadership.
4. Critically reflect on their own experience of leadership (whether as a formal leader or as a participant).
Subject-based practical skills
5. Analyse different styles of leadership and show an understanding of why/how different styles of leadership might be effective.
Skills for life and work (general skills)
6. Demonstrate the ability to reflect on their own practice in working with others, and how this might be developed.