Assessment tasks
This TMA is based on your selection of a leadership example. In order to complete this TMA you need to have material that identifies a leadership example and gives insight into how aesthetics informs the person and/or practice. You may base your answer one of the following:
a leader, group of leaders or leadership practice you know about through researching them (that is, they are not known to you)
your own experience of being a leader and practicing leadership
a leader, group of leaders, or leadership practice you have observed first-hand.
You will have collected some examples in your studies to help you justify and substantiate your choice throughout the assessment. In the case of publicly known leaders, groups or organisations these could include:
interviews
media stories
newspaper articles
recordings or texts of speeches
a visual representation.
If you focus on your experience, then the evidence will take a different form, for example:
your own written reflections
your own observations
your own account of conversations with leaders and followers
a visual representation of your own experience.
It is important to include a reference list at the end of the report referencing all your sources.
Part A
Part A will be marked out of 70.
Question 1
Provide a brief description of the leadership example you have selected and explain why you have done so (200 words). (5 marks)
Question 2
Analyse the leadership example in respect of aesthetics using two concepts drawn from Block 6.
Question 3
Using at least one concept from Block 6, offer written advice to the leader(s) or related organisation within your leadership example about how they could develop and improve leadership practice drawing on aesthetics.
In contrast to previous TMAs, you may distribute 1,800 words between questions 2 and 3 as you deem appropriate; your answer to both questions combined can earn up to 65 marks.
Guidance to students
Question 1
For the first question you should give a brief description of the leadership example you are going to focus on. Do not go into excessive detail but provide enough to give a sense of this individual, group and/or leadership practice and the context in which the example you use exists (or existed). You should also provide justification for why you chose the example, that is, why it is particularly relevant to leadership and aesthetics.
Please note that you are unable to choose works of art (meaning fiction, paintings, sculpture, dance, theatre, music, and so on) as examples of leadership being practiced – that is, an exploration of leadership from fictional characters in a film, play, or musical – but you can state that real people in your example draw on forms of art in their practice. You can also state that you intend to explore the presentation of real leaders, groups or organisations as aesthetic presentations.
Question 2
This part of the TMA requires you to use concepts in the block to analyse an example of leadership based upon the evidence you have selected. There are many concepts in Block 6, and you are required to use two. A concept can mean a theory of aesthetic leadership or an aspect of a theory of aesthetic leadership from Block 6. A critique of a particular leadership theory or the idea of leadership in general will not count as one of these two concepts but can be drawn upon in addition to your two chosen aesthetic leadership concepts.
It does not matter which two aesthetic leadership concepts you select; however you should choose those which you think offer insight into your chosen leadership example from an aesthetic perspective. You have already completed several tasks related to this TMA in your TMA builder activities.
In writing this part of the TMA you need to demonstrate an understanding of the concepts you choose and your ability to apply these concepts to a real case. You should use the evidence to explore and analyse the leadership using concepts to inform your analysis. Long descriptions of what a leader has done without reference to concepts will not attract many marks, nor will long descriptions of concepts without application to leadership.
Ways of understanding language, visuals and music can be drawn upon in Question 2, in relation to practices of leadership and the uses of forms of art from people in your example.
Question 3
In answering this question think of yourself as offering advice to the leader or related organisation on how leadership might be improved from an aesthetic perspective (note, if you are focusing on your own leadership practice, you may be offering developmental advice to yourself). The particular advice should be grounded in at least one concept from Block 6; this can be a concept already used in Question 2, but it does not need to be. Your answer to this question will draw upon both your analysis in Question 2 and the evidence you have collected for this TMA. You should seek to use the concept you select to offer practical and tangible advice to the individual leader, group or organisation, showing its practical relevance for their development. Think of yourself as a coach to this person, group or organisation, who are looking for ways of developing themselves. Do not spend an excessive number of words describing the concept; instead focus on the practical implications of the concept you have chosen.
Works of art can, but do not have to be drawn upon in this question, as part of your developmental advice to an individual or group.
You may use any material from Block 6 to answer this part of the question. However, the discussion of the four forms of arts-based leadership development from Reading 1 (pp. 34–35) is particularly relevant. You can use one of these (that is, skills transfer, projective techniques, illustrations of essence or making) as a way of shaping your thinking and the logic of your argument.
Note that unlike other TMAs, in TMA 05 you can distribute your 1,800 words between Questions 2 and 3 as you deem appropriate. This is to reflect the development content within the block, meaning that if you want to focus as much, or more, on the future developmental aspects of aesthetic leadership, you will be able to write more for Question 3 and less for Question 2.
