MBA 556 Spring 2024
Final exam questions
This is a “take home” test, which means grading will be based on the thoughtfulness of the answers, rather than the recitation of facts. Answers should draw upon concepts from the class readings. The first three questions are worth 20 points each; the answers to these should be about the same length as the answers to the questions on the midterm (1-1.25 pages). The last question is worth 40 points, so obviously the answer should be proportionately longer. Please deposit your answers in the Final exam assignment folder by 11:00 PM Friday, March 15.
1. A number of leaders in the movies we have seen since the midterm would not be considered to be among the most effective. Choose one of these flawed leaders, describe his/her “dark side” characteristics and how he/she might fall into one of Kellerman’s types of bad leader, suffer from narcissistic tendencies, fall short in terms of ethics, etc. (20 points)
2. Pick one of the movie characters who appeared to be in a follower role. Use Kelly’s typology to describe and analyze the type of followership the character displayed and his/her underlying motivations according to the theory covered in class that you believe fits best – Freud, Zaleznik, Howell and Shamir, Sanford, etc. (20 points)
3. Pick two countries with which you are familiar and which have cultures that contrast on a number of dimensions. Use the model presented in Figure 3 of the Yan and Hunt article to analyze how one of the leaders from the movies (your choice) may be perceived differently or be more or less effective in each of the two countries. (20 points)
4. Discuss the role of trust in leadership and how trust fits into various leadership theories. Your answer
should cover what leads to trust in leaders, the importance of trust, effects of trust, etc. (Hint: don’t just
look at readings that have “trust” in the title) (40 points).
