Type of Credit: Elective
Credit(s)
Number of Students
This course is designed to help participants understand Confucianism and its relevant concepts and principles on leadership, and its impacts and implications on leadership practices in Chinese Organizations.
For more than 2500 years, Confucianism had a strong impact on the philosophy, culture, society, economy, and politics of China, (also Japan, Korea and Vietnam). It’s core values are also deeply rooted in overseas Chinese communities around the world. With China, and Asia in general, becoming more important and influential in the world, there is renewed interest in understanding Confucianism and its relevance to ethical leadership and economic success.
Given the shocking awakening to the importance of moral and ethical responsibilities of business leaders in the post-Enron era, the new challenges on leadership ethics, and the focus on ESG in recent years, Confucianism also provides a useful framework to re-examine our understanding of leadership, and reflect on our personal leadership behavior.
We shall discuss how we can draw new inspirations from these time-tested ancient wisdoms, and their implications and applications on leadership in the 21st century.
能力項目說明
Course Roadmap:
Part 1: Full-day class meetings on 3 selected Weekends (9/28, 10/26, 11/8; 9:10 am to 6:00 pm), with individual and group assignments between class meetings. The following topics will be covered:
C0: Introduction on course design & learning process
C1: Introduction to Confucianism and its key concepts
C2: Application of Confucian concepts in Leadership
C3: Application of Confucian concepts in Shaping Organization Culture
C4: Application of Confucian concepts in Leading and Managing People
C5: Paternalistic Leadership in Chinese organizations
C6: Doing business with Chinese & Chinese organizations
Part 2: Off-site residential Leadership Camp (8:30 am 11/22 to 6:30 pm 11/23).
The intensive 2-day-1-night camp will be an off-site, live-in group learning experience. The extended contact period with very intense schedule and deep interaction through specially designed experiential learning activities will help students develop deeper insights about managing self and managing others. Students will receive an individual report on personality assessment, and will learn about understanding one-self and others, and appreciate the dynamic of interacting with people of different personalities and diverse background. They will also practice on giving and receiving feedback, and how to open up one-self to others. The camp will help participants develop deeper insights on the applications of Confucianism in shaping one’s leadership through self-awareness, self-reflection, self-discipline, self-confidence, and self-ease, which are essential leadership competency that would be valuable to participants professionally and personally.
The Camp is an important and integral learning experience for this course; students must commit to participate in this off-site study camp, and share additional expenses for meals and accommodation (estimate NT$3,500 +/- 1,000 each based on past years), and taking time off from your regular schedule for full participation during the camp.
We will cover the following topics plus several experiential learning activities in the camp:
L1: Application of Confucian concepts in Leadership Responsibility and Ethics
L2: Application of Confucian concepts in Leadership Development
L3: Case study on Confucian Businessmen (The Shan-xi Merchants)
L4: Challenges of living Confucian concepts in the real world
Class size:
Due to the design and intended purpose of the course, class size is limited to 20-32 students to achieve optimal learning effectiveness. The course will be canceled if less than 20 students registered, and may be expanded if there is strong demand.
Study groups:
In addition to the above scheduled class meetings, the students will be divided into study groups and expected to meet at their own time to work on several assigned cases and a final group research project.
The purpose of the study group is not only completing the assigned tasks but also to practice the concepts and principles we had learnt in class on leadership, organization culture, responsibilities, ethics, inter-personal dynamics etc. Students will experience and learn the challenges and dynamics of peer ranking and ratings for individual attitude, behavior, competency, and contribution to their group.
Final Project:
There will be no final examination for this course; instead each study group is required to submit a self- selected project to integrate and apply what you have learnt in this course.
Course grade and schedule of Assignments:
Group Projects 1-4 20% (5% x 4)
Group Project Final 10%
Personal Reflections 1 - 3 30% (10% x 3)
Personal Final Reflection 20%
Peer Evaluation 20%
Bonus +/- 5%
Before signing up, students should make sure that they are fully committed, and aware that missing any part of the course would severely affect the whole learning experience. Anyone who misses more than one day of class meetings or the camp, or more than one study-group meetings, will not receive a course grade. Late submission of assignments more than one day after due date will also not be graded.
Participation:
The course is designed to provide a rich, high impact and unique learning experience. In addition to acquiring knowledge and skills on leadership and people management; it is intended to impact and shape students’ perspectives, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors as a leader and a professional manager. The classes are purposely scheduled on Weekends to avoid clashes with other courses so you can concentrate with full attention. The course work will be heavy; part of the work involves assigned readings, individual & team researches, group meetings & reports, and writing individual reflections for each class meeting. Those who are not prepared to work hard and fully committed for an intense learning experience should not sign up. In return for your hard work, you will take away valuable learning and insights that can have lasting impact to your future professionally and personally.
Study groups:
In addition to the above scheduled class meetings, the students will be divided into study groups and expected to meet at their own time to work on several assigned cases and a final group research project.
The purpose of the study group is not only completing the assigned tasks but also to practice the concepts and principles we had learnt in class on leadership, organization culture, responsibilities, ethics, inter-personal dynamics etc. Students will experience and learn the challenges and dynamics of peer ranking and ratings for individual attitude, behavior, competency, and contribution to their group.
Final Project:
There will be no final examination for this course; instead each study group is required to submit a self- selected project to integrate and apply what you have learnt in this course.
Course grade and schedule of Assignments:
Group Projects 1-4 20% (5% x 4)
Group Project Final 10%
Personal Reflections 1 - 3 30% (10% x 3)
Personal Final Reflection 20%
Peer Evaluation 20%
Bonus +/- 5%
Before signing up, students should make sure that they are fully committed, and aware that missing any part of the course would severely affect the whole learning experience. Anyone who misses more than one day of class meetings or the camp, or more than one study-group meetings, will not receive a course grade. Late submission of assignments more than one day after due date will also not be graded.
Participation:
The course is designed to provide a rich, high impact and unique learning experience. In addition to acquiring knowledge and skills on leadership and people management; it is intended to impact and shape students’ perspectives, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors as a leader and a professional manager. The classes are purposely scheduled on Weekends to avoid clashes with other courses so you can concentrate with full attention. The course work will be heavy; part of the work involves assigned readings, individual & team researches, group meetings & reports, and writing individual reflections for each class meeting. Those who are not prepared to work hard and fully committed for an intense learning experience should not sign up. In return for your hard work, you will take away valuable learning and insights that can have lasting impact to your future professionally and personally.
Reference books:
1. A Confucian Theory of Leadership, ChaBong Kim
2. The Analects of Confucius, a new-millennium translation, David H. Lee
3. Leadership and Management in China, Chao-Chuan Chen and Yueh-Ting Lee
4. Inside Chinese Business - A guild for managers worldwide, Ming-Jer Chen
5. Reference websites:
> The Analects: http://www.confucius.org/main01.htm
> Mencius: http://nothingistic.org/library/mencius/toc.html
> The Great Learning: http://classics.mit.edu/Confucius/learning.html
> The Doctrine of The Mean: http://classics.mit.edu/Confucius/doctmean.html