The module equips students with a range of skills and knowledge essential to thinking and acting effectively as a leader. Students will review concepts and cases enabling the critical evaluation of organisational and team design for high performance.
Increasingly, change and leadership go hand in hand in organisations and leaders constantly need to drive change as part of their role. The module will examine the nature and some of the inherent challenges of organisational change. Students will critically analyse what it means to be a change agent and they will gain the knowledge and understanding needed to design, initiate and lead change in diverse organisational settings.
Organisational culture has been described as the third interdependent element in an organisation alongside its Strategy and Operational model. Students will critically evaluate how Organisational culture can be used by leaders to engage the emotional commitment of workers to the strategy and to the operational logic of different organisations.
Effective leaders need to demonstrate self-confidence and self-awareness. Students will undertake a process of self-evaluation using the Strengthscope tool. They will be able to identify their ‘Significant Seven’ strengths and harness these to construct a personal development plan for career development.
The module will also equip students to perform better in the team-working, cross-cultural contexts that are typical of contemporary workplaces and in settings requiring emotional intelligence, enhanced coaching skills and negotiation skills.
Critical to the value of the module is the encouragement of continuous learning and reflection.
Topic 1 - Introduction to Leadership
· leaders versus managers
· leadership attributes
· introduction to leadership theory
· leadership in a digital world
· introduction to reflective practice for leaders
Learning Outcomes 1,2 and 3
Topic 2 - Organisational Design
· organisational structure
· organisational culture
· authority, power, and politics
· organisational values and ethics
Learning Outcomes 2
Topic 3 Key leadership processes and models
· decision making
· key leadership theories
· leadership styles
Learning Outcomes 2 and 3
Topic 4 - Goal setting and Achievement
· Managing Performance (feedback and appraisals)
· Balanced Scorecard
· Personal Performance
· Strengthscope (Personal Development Plan)
Learning Outcomes 2 and 3
Topic 5 - Motivation and Reward for high performance
· Employee motivation
· Total Reward
· High Performance Work Systems (HPWS)
· Flexible working, zero hours contracts and the gig-economy
Learning Outcomes 2 and 3
Topic 6 - Leading change
· Theories of change
· Leadership in times of change
· Resistance to change
Learning Outcomes 1
Topic 7 – Leadership Skills
· Conflict management
· Emotional Intelligence
Learning Outcomes 1,2 and 3
Topic 8 - Working across Cultures
· Leading across cultures (GLOBE project)
· Communicating across cultures
· Negotiating across cultures
Learning Outcomes 1 and 2
Topic 9 - Coaching Skills
· Coaching and leadership
· The coaching contract
· The GROWS model
· Powerful Coaching questions
Learning Outcomes 3
Topic 10 - Negotiation Skills
· When should we negotiate?
· Preparation and BATNA
· Achieving Win:Win
Learning Outcomes 3
Topic 11 – Diversity and Inclusion
· Business case for diversity
· Moral case for diversity
Learning Outcomes 1,2 and 3
Topic 12 - Breakthrough Leadership – a final session focused on being a leader in action.
Learning Outcomes 1,2 and 3
WebLearn will be used to guide students through additional independent study using case studies, videos, articles and other readings and other online resources such as LinkedIn Learning.
The module summative assessment includes reflective writing and students will have access to a Strengthscope personal assessment report to help them understand their personal strengths
On successful completion of the module students will be able to:
1. Critically evaluate approaches to leadership within business organisations
2. Demonstrate competency in the use of reflection for critical self-evaluation, learning and change
3. Demonstrate competency in critically evaluating their strengths and planning their own personal development for leadership including team working, inclusion, coaching and negotiation.
Assessment Part 1 (30%)
The first assessment will be a group presentation based on a leadership case study. Students will work in groups to produce a recorded video in response to the case study including a reflection on leadership within their group as they prepared their video recording. The case study will be chosen to address LO1. Marks will be split 10% for the overall group and 90% for the individual presentation delivery. (Group Recorded Video Presentation)
Assessment 2 (70%)
The second assessment for this module requires students to undertake a self-evaluation using the Strengthscope tool and to reflect on their knowledge and skills as leaders having completed the module.
Strengthscope enables students to identify their ‘Seven Significant Strengths’, other capabilities which are ‘bubbling under’ and finally those activities which impact their current performance because they are ‘energy drainers’. Students combine this self-audit with theories and concepts drawn from the in-class sessions in order to develop a reflection report and detailed Personal Development Plan (PDP). This assessment addresses LO 2 and 3. (2,500 words)
