Curriculum Development Team

© Copyright 2019 APSS. All Rights Reserved. 1

 Part I

Background

2
 What are the things the
industries/company leaders/job
market are looking for in
engineering/applied science
graduates?

3
 Self-
Leadership

(Levin, 2010)
 Faculty of Health and Social Sciences

Six soft skills named by US Department of Labor

Faculty of Humanities
 Nine
Illustrative
Soft Skills
School of Design

Soft skills were more often listed as

positive attributes where interns
performs exceedingly well.
School of Hotel and Tourism
Management
Do you have any soft skills gap? Will it affect
your future (job) performance and success?
Importance & performance of the top 10 items rated by
employers

(Shah & Nair, 2011)

1. Effective communication 6. Wanting to produce as good a job as

2. Flexible problem solving possible
3. Ethical practice 7. Empathy & intercultural competence
4. Learn from errors and 8. Openness to different views
listen openly to feedback 9. Good team spirit
5. Self-organization and time 10. Be able to set and justify priorities
management
 Part II

Overview of the Course

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Enable students to:
 Understand and integrate theories and concepts of the basic
qualities of effective leaders
 Develop self-awareness and self-understanding
 Demonstrate self-leadership in pursuit of continual self-
improvement
 Apply intrapersonal and interpersonal skills in daily lives
 Connect one’s learning with career and personal growth
 Recognize and accept one’s professional and social
responsibilities
Tomorrow’s Leaders! 15
 Some myths of “Tomorrow’s Leaders”

“I am not
going to be “Too many
a leader in theories”
the future”

“Too long” “Boring”

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 Some truths of “Tomorrow’s Leaders”
Misunderstandings What we really are
“I am not going to be a Self-leadership
leader” • Yes, you might not be a leader of a group
• But you will be the leader of your own life
“Too many theories” • Theories: help us understand concepts structurally
• University subject: evidence-based
“Too long” • It’s a 3-credit subject
• New blended learning approach: less class time
• Varies activities are arranged for experiential learning
“Boring” • Depends greatly on your participation
“It is similar to what • You may learn some of the topics in the secondary
we have learnt in school level
Liberal Studies” • But you will have in-depth discussion on the topics,
and opportunities to reflect on and apply the attributes

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Interactive / active student participation expected

Enjoyable / growth-oriented (class & assignments)

Experiential learning: learning by experience

Emphasis on reflection and
application
Collaborative learning

Academic / personal focus: balanced emphasis

Responsive / demanding - we have expectations!

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 Punctuality Respect Absence
from class
Mobile phone or other
electronic devices usage Lecture
participation
Reasonable
Entering/leaving Responsible
the lecture room Sign up for attendance

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20
 Time Keeper
• Time management

• Bridge to communicate
between lecturer and
group members

Recorder
Group
• Record members’ Group Leader
ideas accurately Coordinator
Encourage
(Fixed Role) interaction

• Report members’
ideas/comments
Reporter
 Part III
Conceptualization
of Leadership in a Service
Economy

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 Leadership:
 A processthat influences others to achieve
organizational objectives without
manipulation (Bass, 1960; Katz & Kahn, 1966)

“Leadership is getting someone to do what they don’t

want to do and to achieve what they want to achieve.”

~ Tom Landry
1924 –2000
(A legendary coach in NFL history)

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Who are Tomorrow’s Leaders?

 Will you work in a service

industry?
 What are the personal qualities
of a “Tomorrow’s Leader” in
your profession?

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Decades ago......
(Shek, Chung, & Leung, 2015)

Manufacturing economy dominated

• Goods produced are expected to be standardized with small
room for deviations
• Little interaction is needed in the production process
• Maximizing efficiency is the priority of leadership
Remarkable transformation in economic structure

Germany
UK 61.4%
US 70.6% PRC Japan
76.7% 51.6%
68.8 %

HK
Singapore 88.8%
70.4%

Australia
67.0%
Services (% of GDP) – 2017
Source: From World Factbook (http://statisticstimes.com/economy/countries-by-gdp-sector-composition.php)
Rethink about your answer to the question…

Will you work in service industry?

Laboratory testing
Medicine research
& development
Technology
innovation
……

(Bell, 1974; Chung & Ip, 2009)

Rethink about your answer to the question…

Will you work in service industry?

Financial service
Logistics service
Product marketing
……

(Bell, 1974; Chung & Ip, 2009)

Rethink about your answer to the question…
Will you work in service industry?

Construction
and
Maintenance
Building
service
……

(Bell, 1974; Chung & Ip, 2009)

Rethink about your answer to the question…
Will you work in service industry?

Ecommerce
Technical support
Operations
……

(Bell, 1974; Chung & Ip, 2009)

Rethink about your answer to the question…

Will you work in service industry?

Government
official
Health care
NGO
……
(Bell, 1974; Chung & Ip, 2009)
Rethink about your answer to the question…

Will you work in service industry?

Language
service
Media
Entertainment
Education
……

(Bell, 1974; Chung & Ip, 2009)

Rethink about your answer to the question…

Will you work in service industry?

Product design
Social design
Advertisement design
……

(Bell, 1974; Chung & Ip, 2009)

Rethink about your answer to the question…
Will you work in service industry?

Hospitality
Tourism
Culture experiences
……

(Bell, 1974; Chung & Ip, 2009)

Why Does Service Economy Matter?
Job nature changes

 The production input of service is knowledge and skills

 Service is intangible  quality of service is subjective
 Service can be personalized and varying across situations
 Creation and delivery of service are complex and require multiple
professional input  collaboration
 Service involves interaction between service provider and
recipient

(Shek et al., 2018)

Why Does Service Economy Matter?
Job nature changes

Qualities for employability and leadership change

It requires：
 Intrapersonal competence
 Interpersonal competence 21st Century
 Cultural competence Skills
 Global outlook

Tomorrow’s Leaders!
(Shek et al., 2018)
 Desired Graduate Attributes by PolyU

Global
Professional Lifelong
Citizenship and
Competence
Flexibility & Learning Leadership &
Responsibility
Responsibility
Adaptability

Innovative
Ethical Effective Critical
Problem
Leadership Communication Thinking
Solving

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 Topics Covered in this Subject

Self-Leadership Lifelong
Self-Understanding
learning

Resilience & Moral Ethical

Spirituality
Stress-Coping Competence leadership

Social Emotional Interpersonal Team- Effective

Competence Communication Building communication

Global
Cultural Competence & Global Citizenship citizenship &
responsibility

Professional Critical Innovative

Competence Thinking Problem Solving
 Positive Psychology Approach
“Our message is…psychology is not just the study of
pathology, weakness, and damage; it is also the study of
strength and virtue (Leadership). Treatment is not just
fixing what is broken; it is nurturing what is best”
(Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000)

All youth have strengths.

Focusing on youth’s strengths instead of weaknesses may result

in enhanced motivation and improved performance.

Failure to demonstrate a skill should first be viewed as an

opportunity to learn the skill as opposed to a problem
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• Everyone can be a leader who leads his/her own life

• Everyone can be a leader in different contexts

(e.g., school, family, peers, etc.)

• Strength-focused: positive youth development

• Reflection is a basic condition of change

• People can change if they want to

• Leadership qualities can be cultivated

• There are special qualities of a good leader

intrapersonal and interpersonal competencies
A Growth Mindset

Everyone can be a leader

We can change

Skills can be learned

(Dweck, 2007)
Self-reflection
 What is self-reflection?
“The examination of one’s own conscious thoughts and
feelings”

“Active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or

supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that
support it and the further conclusion to which it tends”

“Those intellectual and affective activities that individuals

engage into explore their experience, which leads to new
understanding and appreciations”

“A purposeful critical analysis of knowledge and

experience so as to achieve deeper meaning and
understanding”
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(Dewey, 1991; Mann et al., 2009)
Importance of self-reflection capacity
• Reflective learning contributes to graduates’
employability (Fearon, van Vuuren,
McLaughlin, & Nachmias, 2019).

• Personal reflection capacity could help

transform student learning, personal
attributes and graduate skills for the modern
workplace (Artess, Hooley, Mellors-Bourne,
2017).

• Personal literacy of students are vital for

promoting employability impact (Artess,
Hooley, & Mellors-Bourne, 2017; Rust & Froud,
2016)
 Personal Qualities of Effective Leaders

Social Emotional Resilience and Self-Leadership

Competence Stress-Coping

Cultural Competence Moral

and Global Spirituality
Competence
Citizenship

Interpersonal
Team-Building Communication

How strong/weak you are in these qualities?

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Reflective writing: A way to achieve better self-
understanding

1. What 2. Why did it

happen? 3. What might 4. What can I
happened?
it mean to me? do (plan to
(Description of (List at least 3 (Pros and cons) change)
the experience) explanations)

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(Hole & McEntee, 1999)
 Part IV
Conclusion

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 Background and overview of the course

 Leadership qualities in a service economy: 21st

century skills

 Beliefs about leadership based on positive

psychology: skills can be learned; we can
change; everyone can be a leader.

 Self-reflection: the first step of leadership

development.
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 Which living leader do you most
admire? What are the qualities in that
person that are most admirable?

Among all topics of this subject, which

attributes /competences would you
Reflections most like to develop? How would they
be applied to your future career？

What are your goals for the four-year

university education? What is your
plan to achieve these goals?

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“The secret to a rich life is to have more
beginnings than endings.”

~ Dave Weinbaum
A successful businessman & philosopher