For your first assignment, you will examine one of the case studies from your Managing in the Public Sector textbook and determine if the leader in the case study was able to offer a sound solution to the situation presented. You may choose any case study you wish, but it should be one from your own area of specialization. For your convenience, the appendix of the Managing in the Public Sector text lists the cases by subject areas on pages 143–154. This is a great place to start in identifying the cases that best align with your area of specialization.

Steps for Completing the Assignment

• Identify the case study you have chosen on the title page of your assignment, for example, Demonstrating Effective Leadership: Case Study 23 A Speed Bump on Staff.

• In the body of your paper, briefly summarize the case study. In your summary, be sure you identify who the leader is, the issue he or she is facing, and what you believe to be the cause of the issue. Remember, the case studies do not present all of the answers or information. You will need to use the information available and draw your own conclusions about the situations.

  • Please note: If your instructor requires you to submit this assignment to Smarthinking for feedback prior to submitting it in the courseroom, be sure you attach the Smarthinking feedback report along with your assignment.

• Evaluate how effective this leader is in the ability to build relationships within the organization. Support your evaluation with references to at least one peer-reviewed journal or resource. Based on your evaluation, explain how likely the leader will be able to build and maintain strong relationships outside his or her organization with other public service leaders.

• From the information provided in the case study, evaluate how well the leader manages professional responsibilities and priorities. Use examples to clarify and support your evaluation.

• How well does this leader communicate both verbally and in writing? What role does communication have in both creating and resolving the issue?

• Determine if the leader was effective in resolving the issue. Did he or she offer a solution that everyone understood? Explain. Support your decision with references to at least one peer-reviewed journal or resource.

If you would like assistance in organizing your assignment, or if you simply have a question about your assignment, please do not hesitate to ask your courseroom instructor or the Teaching Assistants (in the PSL Learner Success Lab) for guidance and suggestions.

Your completed assignment should be approximately 3–4 pages in length, not including the title page and reference page. You do not need an abstract for this assignment. You must include references to at least three different resources (peer-reviewed journals or other scholarly resource, assigned unit readings, et cetera). Be sure that you follow APA guidelines for style and formatting, as well as for citing your resources in the body of your paper and on the Reference page.

Your final assignment in your first course will bring together all the aspects of leadership that you have examined and discussed over the last nine weeks as you analyze your own leadership qualities to create a portrait of the effective public service leader you aspire to be.

Although this assignment requires you to develop a leadership portrait of yourself, it is important to remember that all academic writing should be done in the third person. There are very few exceptions to this. If you have any questions about this, please contact your courseroom instructor, or post a question in the Ask Your Teaching Assistants area of the PSL Learner Success page.

To complete this assignment, you will need to:

Select and identify one leadership theory or style that you believe best aligns with your own thoughts of what leadership means. You will use that theory or style to analyze your strengths and weaknesses.

Describe the leadership characteristics you already possess; then describe at least two additional leadership characteristics you would like to develop. Explain how these characteristics will allow you to guide, educate, inform, and influence others to manage change in the field of public service.

Explain how your personal and academic experiences will contribute to and guide your development as an effective leader. For example, how will developing academic skills such as evaluating resources and scholarly writing help to strengthen your position of leadership in the field of public service?

Describe how you will use your leadership attributes to build and maintain strong relationships with others in the community.

Identify the main tenets of ethical behavior for a public service leader and analyze how you will use those tenets to guide your leadership.

Explain the importance of diversity and inclusion in the field of public service and analyze how you might incorporate those tenets into your leadership.

Analyze how your personal and academic experiences will contribute to and guide your development as an effective leader. (Hint: you may want to review the media piece on Capella’s scholar-practitioner model. This piece is found in Unit 2, and in the Resources for this assignment).

Summarize how the concepts and information you gained from this course and your own research will guide your continued leadership development.

This completed assignment should be at least 4–6 pages in length, excluding title page and reference page. For this assignment, you will also need an abstract. Use at least three different resources (peer-reviewed journals or sources, assigned unit readings, learner success lab articles) to support your choices and explanations. Be sure you follow APA (6th edition) guidelines for style, format, and citing.