Tone Setting
This assignment is separate from your course project. An important task that leaders perform is setting the tone of an organization. Tone, climate, and culture are several ways that organizational experts talk about the organizational atmosphere, values, beliefs, and norms that can contribute to or hinder productivity in organizations. Various “tones” can be a part of the organizational setting, including trust, mistrust, hope, despair, faith, fear, conflict, and many more.
For this assignment, observe two actual, different leaders in your life as they conduct a meeting, practice, class, or other group activity. As you observe the event, consider the following questions:
- How did the leader make goals clear to group members?
- How were different members and their talents utilized?
- What were some of the positive norms of the group? Negative norms? How did the leader contribute to or reinforce those norms?
- How would you assess the cohesiveness of the group?
- What are your observations of the general tone and climate of the meeting? How did the leader contribute to or reinforce the tone (Northouse, 2009, pp. 120– 121)?
After you have observed the two meetings and considered the reflective questions above, write a summary of your findings. In particular:
- Compare and contrast the two leaders’ tone setting style. Focus on the people issues.
- How did the leaders’ different tone setting style seem to contribute to the norms, reactions, climate, and group outcomes?
Additionally:
- Assess your own tone-setting style.
- Evaluate what you can learn and apply from your observations of the leaders and from the organizational literature to enhance your tone-setting style.
Submission Details:
- Submit your report as a 3- to 5-page Microsoft Word document, using APA style
- Each Covered Heading must contain 3+ credible cited sources and a conclusion summarizing talking points.
- Due by 5/19/25 at 7:30pm CST
Requirements:
1. Make certain to include in text citations from your course text in addition to your outside leadership resources within your main post. This adds credibility to your argument.
[Textbooks]:
Hughes, R. L., Beatty, K. C., & Dinwoodie, D. L. (2014). Becoming a Strategic Leader: Your Role in Your Organization’s Enduring Success (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. 978-1-118-56723-4
and
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2017). The Leadership Challenge, (6th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Wiley. 9781119278962
2. No plagiarism will be tolerated. Must be in 7th Edition APA format with cited sources within the last 5 years.
3. No AI support, score must be 0% and less than < 10% score on Turnitin