Management and Leadership

Introduction

This course supports the assessment for Management and Leadership Capstone. The course covers 1 competency and represents 4 competency units.

Overview
Welcome to the Master’s in Management and Leadership (MSML) Capstone course! This is your culminating experience in your master’s degree program and provides you the opportunity to demonstrate the various competencies you have developed.
Getting Started
This course affords you the ability to synthesize prior learning to help a business create a leadership development program for its organization. There are three tasks within the course. You will rely on your previous competencies, critical thinking skills, and experiences to complete the tasks. This course differs from your previous courses in several ways. Since it is an integration of previous courses, you will want to review your notes, portfolio projects, and assessments from those courses as you complete your capstone activities. You will use readings from prior courses as you perform the capstone project. Competency will be demonstrated by the successful completion of three performance tasks.
Watch the following welcome video for an introduction to the course:
Note: To download this video, right-click the following link and choose “Save as…”: download video.
Competencies
This course provides guidance to help you demonstrate the following competency:
• Competency 981.1.1: Capstone
The graduate integrates and synthesizes competencies from across the degree program and thereby demonstrates the ability to participate in and contribute value to the chosen professional field.
Course Instructor Assistance
As you prepare to demonstrate competency in this subject, remember that course instructors stand ready to help you reach your educational goals. As subject matter experts, course instructors enjoy and take pride in helping students become reflective learners, problem solvers, and critical thinkers. Course instructors are excited to hear from you and eager to work with you.

Successful students report that working with a course instructor is the key to their success. Course instructors are able to share tips on approaches, tools, and skills that can help you apply the content you are studying. They also provide guidance in assessment preparation strategies and troubleshoot areas of deficiency. Even if things do not work out on your first try, course instructors act as a support system to guide you through the revision process. You should expect to work with course instructors for the duration of your coursework, and you are encouraged to contact them as soon as you read through this course. Course instructors are fully committed to your success.

Next

Preparing for Success
The information in this section is provided to detail the resources available for you to use as you complete this course.

Learning Resources
The learning resources listed in this section may be referenced to complete the activities in this course. For many resources, WGU has provided automatic access through the course. However, you may need to enroll manually in or independently acquire other resources. Read the full instructions provided to ensure that you have access to all of your resources in a timely manner.

Complete All SKIP All Previously Used Resources
You can access any of the learning resources that you have used throughout your MSML program. You may be prompted to log in to the WGU student portal to access the resources.

Soomo
• Managing Human Capital
Management Communication, including:
• Guffey, M. E., & Loewy, D. (2015). Business communication: Process & product (9th ed.). Standford, CT: Cengage Learning. ISBN: 978-1-305-95796-1
Cengage Course Mate
• Becoming an Effective Leader
VitalSource
• Thompson, A., Peteraf, M., Gamble, J., & Strickland III, A. J. (2018). Crafting and executing strategy (21st ed.). McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN: 978-1-259-73278-2
• Trevino, L. K, & Nelson, K. A. (2017). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right (7th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. ISBN: 9781119298519
McGraw-Hill Connect
• Crafting and Executing Strategy: The Quest for Competitive Advantage
MindEdge
• Change Management and Innovation
WileyPlus
Contemporary Business, including:
• Boone, L. E., Kurtz, D. L., & Berston, S. (2017). Contemporary business (17th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN-13 978-1119320388

CompleteSkipAdditional Preparation
Important Writing Resources
• The following links are resources to help you with your writing:
• General writing questions: The WGU Writing Center: Home Page
• Articulation and organization: Guide to Academic Writing
• Guidance on how to write citations: In-Text Citations
• Sample academic paper (Click to download)
• A place to visit before submitting task 1: Assessment Submission Procedures
• WGU Library: Library
Final Video Presentation

Task 3 in the capstone requires a recorded video presentation of your work. You will be using the Panopto video recording system. As part of the task requirements, you will submit your recording for evaluation. Instructions for using this system are included in the course.

When you are ready to use Panopto, go to the following website, log in using your WGU student portal credentials, and download and install the recorder. Download Panopto.

Capstone Overview
This course is designed to prepare you for the MSML Capstone and culminates in a performance assessment that requires you to apply competencies from throughout the MSML program. The capstone comprises three tasks. First, you will compile an annotated bibliography to serve as a collection of key take-aways from throughout the MSML program. Then, you will create a leadership development program for a specific organization. Finally, you will develop a presentation to communicate your program to decision makers within the organization.

MSML Task 2: Management and Leadership Development Program
For this task you will choose an organization with which you are familiar. You will consider its current leadership and management development processes and its need for a management and leadership development program. Then you will create a suitable management and leadership development program.

Complete All SKIP All Task 2 – The Organization
Your Chosen Organization
Read the requirements for task 2. You will need to identify an organization for which you will create a leadership development program. In developing the leadership development program, incorporate as many aspects of your MSML program as appropriate. Remember, for your chosen organization you would need access to managerial information. Oftentimes students have used the same organization throughout their program, so you may already have identified an organization in your previous coursework. In cases where similar information is used in multiple tasks, please ensure that you are paraphrasing previous content as needed, and avoid duplicating previous coursework to avoid originality concerns.

There are many potential options. If your chosen organization is an operating organization of any type and it has employees or volunteers, it could benefit from a leadership development program. You need to be able to describe the organization. It is important to have a solid understanding of the current business processes for leadership training in order to address the prompts in task 2.

Complete Skip Task 2 – Management and Leadership
Current Management and Leadership Development Program
Familiarize yourself with the relevant aspects of the organization you chose. You will need to discuss an overview of the organization and the current state of the organization’s leadership development efforts.

New Management and Leadership Development Program
You will create a new management and leadership development program, in a proposal targeted towards your organization’s current leaders. Your program will be designed for one of three possible types of participant.

Remember to focus on your intended audience and your program’s expected participants, and tailor your proposed management and leadership development program accordingly, in a professional manner.

Note: It is not required to actually present the created proposal to the organization to meet the requirements of the course.

Complete Skip Task 2 – Metrics for your Program
Metrics
Determine quantitative metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of your new leadership development program. You will need to describe at least three; think about what important indicators would be and what can be feasibly measured.

Complete Skip Complete: MSML Capstone Task 2
Carefully read all the requirements for task 2 and complete the following task:
• MSML Capstone Task 2: Management and Leadership Development Program
For additional guidance in this task, please schedule an appointment with a course instructor.

For details about this performance assessment, see the Assessment tab in this course.