The news of the past twelve months has offered a wealth of material for the students in Graziella McCarron’s INTS 204: Leadership Theory and Practice (online) and INTS 404: Ethics in Leadership. The presidential election, Wells Fargo banking scandal, and the challenges surrounding the D.C. subway system have all served as topics for class discussion, in which McCarron challenges students to apply analytical frameworks to leadership issues in the news and in their own experiences.
This semester, in particular, students have engaged with issues both global and local: one group may be discussing the leadership failures that have allowed the Wells Fargo banking debacle to occur while another group may investigate the connection between ethical leadership topics such as moral courage and bullying.
McCarron, who brings her background in international business, organizational coaching, and team training and development to the class discourse, emphasizes reason and research in approaching often-contentious ethical questions. “When we study ethics, we are discussing more controversial topics. The law looks at obedience to the enforceable. Ethics looks at obedience to the unenforceable,” she said, quoting one of her ethical leadership pioneers -- Rushworth Kidder.
She explained, “When students discuss ethics, they often rely on their gut feeling, but something we practice in this course is to have that gut feeling backed up by formal ethical frameworks. Rather than flying into a discussion from a heated, emotional place, they are coming in from a more measured perspective.”
McCarron emphasizes the importance of reasoned discussion and thoughtful participation in both classes, relying on students’ respect for one another to keep often highly-charged discussions constructive and grounded in critical thinking. This principle holds as well for INTS 204: Leadership Theory and Practice, which is offered in a distance learning format. To combat the possibility that the online course might limit interchange and connection, McCarron has crafted assignments that encourage sharing and thoughtful discussion in online forums.
With its flexible format, INTS 204 draws a great diversity of students ranging from those just preparing to enter the workforce to those who have multiple years of diverse work experience. McCarron sees this professional and educational diversity as a benefit to the students. “The course garners a lot of good discussion because of the variety of experiences the students have had,” she said. “It’s refreshing to see such different people interacting around such a range of topics.”
This fall, McCarron also teaches INTS 391: Introduction to Integrative Studies, where she employs similar activities to help students become familiar with a range of learning technology and find the most effective ways to express themselves.
In all her courses, McCarron looks to the students’ growth beyond the classroom. She designs assignments and tasks to help students create pieces of work that could be included in a portfolio to share with a potential employer. While students learn course content, they practice valuable workplace skills, including oral and written presentation, online communication, building convincing arguments, and overall digital literacy.
And McCarron imbues two key themes into her teaching: those of worth and relationships.
“I want my students to appreciate their own worth,” she explained. “They are powerful, smart, caring human beings and they inherently add much value to the world.”
She added, “I want them to consider the importance of relationships. This theme of relationship constantly runs through my courses and ultimately makes the world go around…People used to think about relationships in context of the golden rule: treat others as you would like to be treated. Now though, I think it’s more meaningful to consider Tony Alessandra’s platinum rule: treat others the way they want to be treated. That’s how we build lasting relationships.”
In the spring, McCarron will teach INTS 204 and INTS 404 once again, along with INTS 435: Leadership in a Changing Environment.
November 28, 2016
