Indian School of Business

Leading Self and Teams (LSAT)

Sections A, B, C, D

Academic Year: 2024-25 Term: 1 Location: Hyderabad

Instructor:Professor Anand Ramaswamy Vijayasankaran

Affiliation: Indian School of Business Office Hours: By appointment
Email: [email protected]

1. COURSE OBJECTIVES
In today's dynamic business landscape, success is not achieved in isolation. Effective leadership and
teamwork are indispensable for personal growth and organizational prosperity. More specifically,
leading individuals, groups and organizations effectively is the key to managerial excellence. This
demands leaders to possess acute self-awareness, acknowledging their strengths, weaknesses, and
biases. Moreover, leaders need to assemble the skills, talents, and resources of individuals and groups
into combinations that best solve organizational problems. The successful execution of these goals
requires leaders to be able to diagnose problems, make effective decisions, influence, and motivate
others, manage the diversity of their personal contacts, tap into the human and social capital of
organizational members, optimize teams, and drive organizational change. This course is designed to
equip participants with the essential skills and insights necessary to thrive as leaders, team members, and
managers.
The course will accomplish these goals by focusing on many different knowledge-bases and skill sets.
We will examine principles for designing incentive systems, motivating employees, running effective
teams, making good decisions, harnessing diversity, and organizing the distribution of work. Through a
blend of theoretical concepts, cases, and hands-on exercises, students will develop a deep understanding
of their own strengths and limitations, as well as the strategies needed to lead and collaborate
effectively.

(More) Specific Learning Goals

• Diagnose your own tendencies that help—and hinder—your abilities as a leader.
• Interpersonal awareness and working in teams.
• Understand the complexity of managing people.
• Improve your critical and integrative thinking skills. In particular, enhance your analytical
abilities and your capacity to understand and predict the behavior of individuals, groups, and
organizations.
• Improve your ability to communicate, lead, persuade, and make decisions.
• Practice and apply these skills in cases, exercises, and simulations, and in particular enhance
your interpersonal awareness and ability to working in teams.
• Integrate and connect the concepts and skills we learn through self-reflection.
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 • Understand your ethical responsibility as a leader.

To maximize your learning, you should:

• Be prepared. The reading and case preparations take a substantial amount of time.
• Be sure you are able to summarize the assigned readings and apply the materials to case
discussions. Case preparation requires that you are ready at the beginning of class to: (1)
summarize the background facts; (2) identify the pressing issues; and (3) defend your
recommended actions.
• Engage in constructive discourse. Constructive discourse requires that you are willing to
honestly share your own views and that you are considerate of others’ views.

Required Readings
Required readings are in the e-course pack on the LMS and should suffice to prepare for the assessments
set for the course.

2. COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING

Your grade for the course will be determined as a combination of the following. Please read the details
of the grading component below the table.

Component Weight Honor Code (See Appendix I)

Class attendance and discipline (Individual) 10% 0N
Class surveys (Individual) 5% 4N
Mid-term exam (Individual) 20% 4N
Case writing assignment (Group) 12 Angry 15% 2N-a
Men
EIS simulation (Group) 10% 2N-a
Peer Feedback for group assignments 5% 0N
End-term exam (Individual) 35% 4N

1. Class Attendance and Discipline- Individual- (10%)

Attendance: ISB attendance policy
Attendance_Seating_2024-25 (sharepoint.com)

Learning is an interactive process. ISB students are admitted partly based on the experiences they bring
to the learning community and what they can add to class discussions. Therefore, attendance is an
important aspect of studying here. Absence is only appropriate in cases of extreme personal illness or
injury leading to hospitalization, bereavement within the immediate family. Even in situations such as
hospitalization or bereavement within the family, the excuse provided, if any, will only be limited to
class attendance and not for any other components of the course. Please note, voluntary activities such as
job interviews, business school competitions, travel plans, joyous family occasions, etc., are not valid
reasons for missing a class.

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You are required to attend the entire 2-hour class as per the schedule. Late arrival and early departure
are disruptive to the learning environment; you should be present in class before the scheduled start time
and stay till the conclusion of class.

Implications of missing classes/sessions on Grades:

1. If a student misses 10% of the sessions in a course, s/he will automatically obtain a letter
grade lower than that awarded by the faculty for that course.
2. If a student misses 20% of sessions in a course, s/he will automatically obtain a letter grade
that is two levels lower than that awarded by the faculty for that course.
3. If a student misses more than 20% of sessions in a course, the student will automatically
receive an ‘F’ grade or a Fail for that course.
4. For courses that are offered for less than 20 hours, attendance will be counted by sessions
missed. For 0.4 credit courses, a student gets an ‘F’ if s/he misses one or more sessions.
For 0.6 credit courses, a student gets two grade docks if s/he misses one session and an ‘F’
if s/he misses two or more sessions.

However, if a student is forced to miss a session or more due to unavoidable reasons, such as medical
exigency or family bereavement, please refer to the process and guidelines below.

• Any absence on the grounds of medical exigency, loss or bereavement, hardship, or trauma
must be communicated verbally or in writing to the respective Academic Associate/s at the
earliest possible time from its occurrence.
• To regularize attendance for such absences, a formal request must be sent to the Office of
Academic and Student Affairs (ASA) for approval no later than 72 hours after their occurrence.
The respective office email addresses are given below.

Hyderabad – [email protected]
Mohali – [email protected]
• Please note –The student must clearly describe the circumstances leading to his/her absence in
the email, followed by the session/s missed and the total number of hours/days missed. Please
refer to the list of mandatory supporting documents that must be submitted along with your
application for the excuse of absence/attendance regularization.

There would be no grade dock if the student provided appropriate documentation, as requested by ASA.

Class Discipline

Please note that certain behaviours in the classroom impede the learning of other students. These include
1) participating in private conversations with your neighbors during class time, 2) consistently showing
up late to class or late from break, 3) using a mobile phone in class, etc. You will lose points from your
overall score if you violate any of these rules in a particular class.

2. Class Survey (s): Individual (5%)

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You will take part in 2-3 very short surveys during the course that will be used for class discussions. The
grading for the survey is based on just filling in the survey, and everyone who fills in the survey will get
credit. There are no right or wrong answers. The course TAs will email the surveys to you or post them
on LMS. Details of the survey will be discussed during the first session.

3. Group Assignments (30%)

1. Case writing assignment- (Group)15%

The first group assignment is a case write-up based on a video case- “12 angry men”. Case questions
will be posted on LMS after the session on influence (i.e. session 7). The due date for this assignment
will be announced at the end of Session 8. For group case write-up your deliverable is a written
assessment (maximum 3-pages, 12 point, Times New Roman font, double-spaced, 1-inch margins)
written assessment of a case using questions provided for the session and the background reading for the
session (format: please present your write-up in the form of answers to the case questions). You would
be doing these group assignments with your assigned study groups.

Late submission will be accepted only under exceptional circumstances and will be penalized based on
faculty discretion.
2. EIS Simulation – (Group) 10%

In session 9, we’ll do the EIS simulation. You need to submit your outcome right after Session 9. The
class will provide more details about the simulation, submission, and the submission deadline.

4. Peer Feedback (5%)

As per school policy, group assignments have a mandatory peer feedback component. Each member will
score the other members of their study group based on their contributions to the group project. These
scores will then be averaged for each group member. This exercise will be done on LMS.

5. Exams- individual (55%)

The mid-term exam (20%) will cover the assigned readings, any additional handouts, lectures, class
discussions, and exercises covered in the first six sessions (1-6) of the course. The final exam (35%)
will cover the assigned readings, any additional handouts, lectures, class discussions, and exercises
covered in all sessions (1-10) of the course. Both exams will test your knowledge of theories and
concepts as well as your understanding of how these theories and concepts apply to organizational
situations. Both exams are closed book and will be a mix of MCQs and short answer questions.
Additional instructions for the exams will be provided in class. The ASA will communicate the dates for
each exam.

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 Honor Code: Coding scheme for ALL course work

What kinds of collaborative activities are What material can be referred

allowed? to?[1]
References/Coding Can I discuss Can I discuss Can I refer to Can I refer to the
Scheme general concepts specific issues external case-study
[2]
and ideas relevant associated with the material? solutions or
to the assignment assignment with problem set
with others? others? solutions?
4N N N N N
3N- a Y N N N
3N-b N N Y N
2N-a Y Y N N
2N-b Y N Y N
2N-c N N Y Y
1N Y Y Y N
0N Y Y Y Y

As a general rule:
• Students are responsible for submitting original work that reflects their own effort and
interpretation. Remember that any submission should be your own work and should not be
copied in part or verbatim from any other source whether external or internal.
• An honour code violation is an honour code violation. A violation under coding scheme 0N is
not less severe than others. A 0N coding scheme submission is judged against a 0N coding
scheme, and a 4N coding scheme submission is judged against a 4N coding scheme; therefore,
any honour code violation is equally severe irrespective of the coding scheme of the submission.
• Students can discuss cases and assignments with the course instructor and the Academic
Associate for the course.
• Required and recommended textbooks for the course and the course pack can be used to answer
any individual or group assignment.
• Although not all submissions may be subject to academic plagiarism checker (e.g. turn-it-in), in
retrospect, if the Honour Code Committee feels the need, any of the previous submissions of an
individual or a group can be subjected to turn-it-in or any other academic plagiarism checker
technology.
• When in doubt, the student should contact the instructor for clarifications.

[1]
Any referencing needs to be accompanied with appropriate citations.
[2]
A non-exhaustive list includes journal articles, news items, databases, industry reports, open courseware.
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 SESSION SCHEDULE

Session 1: Crafting Your Life and Careers

To Prepare Before Class

• Read your 360 report.

In-Class Exercises
• Crafting your Life Simulation

Readings (to complete after class):

• Christenson, Clayton. “How Will You Measure your Life?” Harvard Business Review 88 (July-
August 2010): 46-51
• Annie McKee. “Happiness Traps: How We Sabotage Ourselves at Work” Harvard Business
Review (September-October 2017): 66-73

Session 2: Understanding Personality and Situations

To Prepare Before Class

• Read The Talent Myth (Malcolm Gladwell)

Our main article is by a prominent social science writer for the New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell (of “The
Tipping Point” and “Outliers” fame), in which he presents general arguments against the management
beliefs and practices at Enron.
• What do you find most compelling in Gladwell's article? Is there anything you disagree with?

In-Class Exercises
• Personality test

Reading (to complete after class):

• T. Menon, & L. Thompson, L. (2016). How to hire without getting fooled by first impressions.
Harvard Business Review

Session 3: Biases and Stereotyping

To Prepare Before Class

• Case: Ann Hopkins

This case describes a legal dispute brought by Ann Hopkins against her employer, Price Waterhouse,
in the early 1980s. Hopkins was a successful project manager who brought in millions of dollars for
Price Waterhouse. When she was nominated for partner, however, she was voted down. She alleges
that she was denied a partnership due to gender discrimination. As you read the case, consider the
following:

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 1. What traits do people commonly associate with (a) effective leaders, (b) females, (c)
males?
2. What impression do you have of Hopkins as a manager?
3. What evidence are current partners using to evaluate Hopkins' performance?
4. Who are Hopkins' supporters? Her foes? Is there any important pattern here?

The Ann Hopkins Web Survey should be completed before session 3.

• Please visit the IAT webpage (run by Harvard) and take the Age “Young-Old” IAT test. The site
will give you the option to either register or continue as a guest; feel free to do either. You are
also free to explore other tests. We will talk about the meaning of typical results in class. Here is
a link to the IAT page.
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/takeatest.html

In-Class Exercises
• None

Readings (to complete after class):

• What most people get wrong about men and women. Harvard Business Review. By Catherine H.
Tinsley and Robin J. Ely

Session 4: Incentives and Motivation

To Prepare Before Class

• Article on ICICI bank incentive systems

In-Class Exercises
• None

Readings (to complete after class):

• Raising the Bar on Goals (Larrick, Wu, & Heath)

• Pay for performance: When does it fail? (Kumar & Pillutla)

Session 5: Judgment and Decision Making

To Prepare Before Class

• None

In-Class Exercises

• Handout for the in-class exercise will be distributed in class.

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 Readings (to complete after class):

1. Outsmart Your Own Biases (Soll, Milkman, & Payne)

This article describes some of the systematic traps in decision making that we are all prone to fall
into and offers tactics for avoiding them. The article suggests a common source of decision
biases—thinking too narrowly about objectives, alternatives, and uncertainty. Thus, many
effective debiasing tactics are aimed at facilitating broader thinking.
• What can you do to encourage broader thinking at the individual, team, and
organizational levels?

2. Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases.
Science, 185, 1124-1131.

Session 6: Team Decision Making and Coordination

To Prepare Before Class

• None

In-Class Exercises:
• Team decision making exercise. Will be distributed in class.

Readings (to complete after class):

• Sunstein, C., & Hastie, R. (2014). Making dumb groups smarter. Harvard Business Review,
92(12), 90-98
• Janis, I. L. (1971). Groupthink. Psychology today, 5(6), 43-46.

Session 7: Managing Ethical Dilemmas

To Prepare Before Class

• Case: Martha McCaskey
This case describes the experience of a young MBA, Martha McCaskey, who is project leader at
a consulting firm named Seleris. The firm specializes in acquiring competitive intelligence for
clients. McCaskey has already built a reputation as a strong performer and is now trying to
deliver on the “Silicon 6” study. But she is starting to feel troubled about the methods she’s
using to uncover information. Consider:
1. As Martha McCaskey, what is your plan of action for finishing the Silicon 6 project?
2. What is troubling Martha McCaskey? Do you agree or disagree with her assessment
of the situation?
3. Was this situation avoidable?
4. Based on Bazerman et al., what psychological and organizational factors may be
influencing her decision?

Readings (to complete after class):

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 • Why Good Accountants do Bad Audits (Bazerman et al.)
This article argues that although biased, self-serving judgments may sometimes be deliberate
attempts to “spin” data (i.e., it is a lie that the person offering the judgment doesn’t believe), such
distorted judgments are often the product of unconscious processes—and the person offering the
judgment does believe it.
1. Read closely the description of studies on page 4 (“The Roots of Bias”) to see how
this can happen. Note that, at the end of this section, it says that “when participants were
assigned the role of plaintiff or defendant only after they’d seen the case material…the
degree of bias was significantly less.” Why?
2. In the next section, see if you can describe what “ambiguity” means. Do most business
decisions have ambiguity? How does ambiguity lead to bias? Does having more
information lead to more bias or less bias?
3. Note the other influences on judgment (e.g., approval, familiarity, etc.) and pay
particular attention to the last one, escalation. Why does it occur?

Session 8: Social Influence

To Prepare Before Class

• None.

In-Class Exercise

• None

Readings (to complete after class):

• Harnessing the Science of Persuasion (Robert B. Cialdini)

o To be effective in an organization, you need to be able to influence the beliefs, values,

and actions of others. What are some of the most fundamental tools for influencing others
and for resisting influence attempts by others (when these are inconsistent with our
ethical principles, goals, or responsibilities)?

o Which tool is more important in what context?

Session 9: Leading Change (EIS simulation)

To Prepare Before Class

• Read EIS simulation instructions.

• Download EIS simulation onto one PC computer in your study group
o Open the simulation to make sure the download worked (but please do not go further than
the initial page)

In-Class Exercises
• EIS change simulation

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Readings (to complete after class)

• The three rules of epidemics. In The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big
Difference. (Gladwell)
• Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail. (Kotter).

Session 10: EIS Debrief and Wrap-up

To Prepare Before Class
• None

In-Class Exercises

Readings (to complete after class)

How to build your network. HBSP Product No. R0512B.

• Krackhardt, D., & Hanson, J. 1993. Informal Networks: The company behind the chart. Harvard
Business Review, 71: 104-111

• Ibarra and Hunter, “How Leaders Create and Use Networks.” Harvard Business Review

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