OL 328 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric
Overview
For your final project, you will submit an essay in which you reflect on the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership and how they apply to real-life situations.
Throughout the course, you will develop a leadership development action plan to outline how you will use the five practices to improve the three areas of
leadership you will identify in Module One. In Modules Three and Five, you will complete milestone assignments that will help you assemble your final
deliverable in Module Seven. These milestone assignments are short papers that will summarize the progress you have made on your leadership development
action plan. In Module Seven, you will complete a reflective essay that will allow you to put into practice the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership as well as the
leadership theories and approaches covered in the course. Note that the milestone assignments do not specifically address the last of the five practices
(Encourage the Heart), but you will do so as part of the final project.
In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:
Assess leadership skills and abilities that apply to interpersonal and intra-organizational situations and effectively influence workplace dynamics
Evaluate leadership decision-making strategies for their effectiveness on the achievement of organizational goals
Analyze various leadership theories and approaches for their ability to enhance organizational effectiveness to improve sustainability
Explain the influence of international and cultural differences on leadership strategies and organizational dynamics in fostering shared visions and purposes
Prompt
You have learned about each of the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership and, on a weekly basis, have developed a leadership development action plan to
improve selected leadership areas. Through the milestone assignments, you have analyzed how you will use the leadership practices to assist with the process of
improving your selected areas. Using your milestone submissions, your textbook, your course resources and discussion posts, and your leadership development
action plan, address the following critical elements:
Describe the concept behind each of the five practices with supporting evidence.
Apply each of the five practices to an organization of your choice.
o Identify an organization you are currently a leader of or would like to be a leader of in the future.
o Identify how many employees you are leading or would feel comfortable leading in the future.
o Reflect upon your acquired knowledge of the five practices and write about how the concepts you have learned might be used in the
organization you selected with the quantity of employees you selected.
Select two leadership theories or approaches you learned about in Modules Two through Six and describe how you will apply those theories (with
supporting evidence) to the three leadership areas of improvement you selected in Module One.Milestones
Milestone One: Model the Way and Inspire a Shared Vision
In Module Three, you will submit a short paper that discusses these two Practices of Exemplary Leadership: Model the Way and Inspire a Shared Vision.
This milestone will be graded with the Milestone One Rubric.
Milestone Two: Challenge the Process and Enable Others to Act
In Module Five, you will submit a short paper that discusses these two Practices of Exemplary Leadership: Challenge the Process and Enable Others to Act.
This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.
Final Submission: Reflection on the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership
In Module Seven, you will submit an essay in which you reflect on the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership. It should be a complete, polished artifact
containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This submission will be
graded with the Final Project Rubric.
Final Project Rubric
Guidelines for Submission: Your final paper should be four to six pages in length (in addition to the cover page and references). It should use 12-point Times
New Roman font, double spacing, and one-inch margins. Citations should be formatted according to APA style.
Instructor Feedback: This activity uses an integrated rubric in Blackboard. Students can view instructor feedback in the Grade Center. For more information,
review these instructions.
Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (85%) Needs Improvement (55%) Not Evident (0%) Value
Concept Behind Each
of the Five Practices
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
description demonstrates
informed understanding of the
five practices
Accurately describes the concept
behind each of the five practices
with supporting evidence
Describes the concept behind
each of the five practices and
provides support but does not
describe with accuracy or does
not provide supporting evidence
Does not describe the concept
behind each of the five practices
20
Application of the
Five Practices
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
analysis demonstrates keen
insight into the relationship
between the concepts and the
application of the concepts to an
organization
Accurately applies each of the
five practices to a chosen
organization
Applies the five practices to a
chosen organization, but the
application is incorrect
Does not apply the five practices
to a chosen organization
30Leadership Theories Meets “Proficient” criteria and
provides keen insight into how
the leadership theories can be
applied to areas that need
improvement
Selects two leadership theories,
describes how they can be
applied to the three identified
leadership areas, and provides
supporting evidence
Selects two leadership theories
but does not apply them to the
leadership areas or does not
provide supporting evidence
Does not select two leadership
theories or describe how they
can be applied to the three
identified leadership areas
30
Articulation of
Response
Submission is free of errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, and
organization and is presented in
a professional and easy to read
format
Submission has no major errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
Submission has major errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
that negatively impact
readability and articulation of
main ideas
Submission has critical errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
that prevent understanding of
ideas
20
Earned Total 100%