Learning outcomes

Due to global transformations of for instance markets and competition as well as technology, formal organisations in the private and public sector are continuously left before new challenges. Managers of such organisations find themselves forced to explicate their values, to clarify strategies and develop new ways of organising and mobilising people. This constitutes the main reason why the study of leadership is indispensable, and this, both from a practical and a theoretical point of view. Indeed, much has been said and written about this phenomenon. Contributions include, but are not limited to, biographies of important persons, historical accounts and academic literature. In addition, there is an enormous amount of management literature and newspaper articles, courses and seminars directly or indirectly dealing with leadership issues.

The main goal of the course is to provide a critical overview of the most important traditions and perspectives in the area of leadership research, and to discuss applications at the company level.

After completing this course the participants will be able to:

- Master the concepts, models and perspectives of leadership.

- Form well-founded opinions on different theoretical approaches.

- Apply leadership concepts and models to the analysis of real life situations.

- Identify organisational problems related to leadership issues and to evaluate suitable solutions.

Content

The structure of the course follows Alan Bryman's well established proposal to divide the leadership corpus in four stages: the Trait Approach, the Style Approach, the Contingency Approach and the New Leadership Approach. The initial three approaches represent the classical literature on the subject, and have an introductory character in this course. The final approach, however, concerns contemporary models of leadership and includes themes such as gender and power, culture, ethics, charisma, transactional and transformational leadership, cross-cultural differences in leadership perceptions, authentic leadership, spiritual leadership and servant leadership.

The above body of knowledge is going to be analysed in light of collected empirical evidence and within the following contexts: International business, Global organisations, Management accounting, Marketing and Entrepreneurship.

Instruction

The course is organised as a series of seminars, guest lectures, individual work, and tasks completed in small groups. Participation is mandatory. The differing forms of teaching aim at generating discussion about leadership issues and applications at seminars. Furthermore, they also aim at developing individual skills for critique through written assignments.

The course is given in English.

Assessment

Grades will be given in accordance with the Swedish grading system and, for international students, the ECTS grading system. The following grades will be used: VG (passed with distinction), which corresponds to A or B in the ECTS grading system, G (passed), which corresponds to C, D or E, and U (failed) which corresponds to the ECTS grade F.

The course provides a total of 100 assessment units (AU) consisting of 60 AU for seminars and 40 AU for a written exam or a term paper. To obtain VG as a final grade it is required to have been achieved VG on seminars as well as on the written exam or the term paper.

In addition, any remaining assignments and supplements must be completed and handed in at least within four weeks after the end of the course otherwise this part of the examination has to be redone the following semester, provided there is space in the course.

Attention Swedish students: Only completed courses can be recognised in your degree.