Students

MMBA8075 – Leadership Excellence: Developing Professional Growth and Impact

2025 – Term 4, In person-scheduled-infrequent, City

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff
Jonathan Robberts
jonathan.robberts@mq.edu.au
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
Admission to MBA or GradCertBusAdmin or GradDipBusAdmin or GradCertMgtPostMBA or GradDipMgt
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

The Leadership Unit is designed to help develop the leader in you, equipping you to inspire and enable others towards change and impact. The unit offers various workshops and activities aimed at self-development, increasing consciousness, and transforming your understanding of yourself, others, and the world. By integrating leadership frameworks, theories, and concepts with practices and tools, this unit offers experiential learning like no other. It is highly recommended that students take it as their first in the MBA.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Critically reflect on and analyse self-leadership skills to facilitate leadership development and growth.
  • ULO2: Diagnose and develop the leadership capabilities required to demonstrate leadership effectiveness and excellence in contemporary organisational contexts.
  • ULO3: Collaborate effectively to critically reflect on and analyse leadership from a practice perspective to increase the potential for impact.

General Assessment Information

Late Assessment Submission Penalty (written assessments) 

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a grade of ‘0’ will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11.55pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical concern.  

For any late submissions of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, students need to submit an application for Special Consideration.

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Professional Practice: Investigating Leadership Perpsectives 40% No Week 10
Skills Development: Reflective Leadership Insights 30% No Week 4
Professional Practice: Group Leadership Development Workshop 30% No In-class, Sunday 2nd November (Week 6)

Professional Practice: Investigating Leadership Perpsectives

Assessment Type 1: Qualitative analysis task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 25 hours
Due: Week 10
Weighting: 40%

 

The purpose of this assessment is for you to explore how leadership is understood and experienced in contemporary settings by conducting and analysing interviews with individuals in leadership roles. This assessment allows you to connect real-world leadership insights with the theoretical frameworks and perspectives introduced throughout the unit. You will deepen your understanding of leadership as a lived and situated practice, and consider how diverse views on leadership can inform your own development.

You will undertake a qualitative analysis task in which you (1) conduct interviews with three leaders or professionals willing to share their views on their leadership experiences, (2) identify common themes or key differences across their responses, and (3) analyse these findings using relevant leadership theories and concepts from the unit. Your written report should present clear, structured insights into how leadership is perceived and enacted, and demonstrate your ability to interpret these insights through an applied theoretical lens.

Skills in focus:

Discipline knowledge Critical thinking Communication

Deliverable: Written report [max. 3,000 words] Individual assessment

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Diagnose and develop the leadership capabilities required to demonstrate leadership effectiveness and excellence in contemporary organisational contexts.

Skills Development: Reflective Leadership Insights

Assessment Type 1: Reflective Writing
Indicative Time on Task 2: 10 hours
Due: Week 4
Weighting: 30%

 

The purpose of this assessment is for you to demonstrate your ability to critically engage with leadership theories, perspectives, and concepts by reflecting on a significant leadership experience or challenge from your professional or personal life. This assessment supports your development as a reflective practitioner by integrating theoretical insights from the unit with real-world leadership practice. Through this process, you will explore your own leadership identity, assess your strengths and areas for growth, and articulate how your understanding of leadership has evolved.

You will develop a reflective essay that (1) describes a meaningful leadership experience or challenge, (2) identifies and justifies the use of relevant leadership theories and perspectives introduced in the unit, and (3) critically analyses how these theoretical frameworks help explain, evaluate, or reframe the leadership situation. You are expected to move beyond description by engaging in deep self-analysis and critique, highlighting how your leadership thinking and practice may shift as a result.

Skills in focus:

  • Disciplinary knowledge
  • Critical thinking
  • Work readiness

Deliverable: Individual written submission [maximum 1,500 words]

Individual assessment

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Critically reflect on and analyse self-leadership skills to facilitate leadership development and growth.

Professional Practice: Group Leadership Development Workshop

Assessment Type 1: Presentation
Indicative Time on Task 2: 10 hours
Due: In-class, Sunday 2nd November (Week 6)
Weighting: 30%

 

The purpose of this assessment is for you to collaborate with your peers to design and deliver an engaging, interactive leadership development workshop that applies core theories and concepts from the unit to foster growth in a specific leadership behaviour, competency, or attitude. This assessment challenges you to translate leadership knowledge into practical, memorable learning experiences while demonstrating effective teamwork, time management, and facilitation skills.

You will work in a group to create and run a 20-minute workshop for your classmates that (1) targets a specific area of leadership development (e.g., active listening, inclusive leadership, psychological safety, ethical decision-making), (2) engages all participants in a dynamic and well-paced session with no lulls, and (3) clearly demonstrates how your own leadership has developed and how the workshop will leave a lasting impression on participants’ future leadership practices. The session must reflect thoughtful planning, application of relevant theory, and a clear link to how leadership development can be sustained beyond the classroom.

Skills in focus are:

  • Disciplinary knowledge
  • Critical thinking
  • Communication
  • Collaboration

Deliverable: Group presentation/workshop (maximum 20 minutes) Group assessment

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Collaborate effectively to critically reflect on and analyse leadership from a practice perspective to increase the potential for impact.

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

Delivery of this unit runs over two blocks. Students should cover the materials over a 10 week period to ensure sufficient reading is conducted to enable them to contribute to the class.

Students are required to participate fully during the block delivery.

All resources/readings are available on Leganto and the iLearn site.

The recommended text is: Keith Grint and Owain Smolovic Jones (2022) Leadership: Limits and Possibilities. London: Bloomsbury and is available through the library.

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit connect.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Academic Success

Academic Success provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:

Student Enquiries

Got a question? Ask us via the Service Connect Portal, or contact Service Connect.

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/. 

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Changes from Previous Offering

Changes to Assessment Tasks. 

Streamlined reading list and learning resources. 

Unit information based on version 2025.07 of the Handbook