Leadership 7.5 credits

The purpose of the course is to provide students with a theoretical understanding of leadership in different contexts. The course is designed to develop the students’ own capability and resources for leadership and a mix of theoretical and practical features in the course will enhance the students’ ability to reflect upon different situations leaders meet in their daily work. The focus of the course is on the role and function of leadership in different settings. The course covers what leaders really do and why people follow them. Key concepts from leadership theories as well as emerging issues within leadership are critically discussed and evaluated during the course. **Connection to Research and Practice** What is leadership and how does it differ from other human activities? It is claimed to be romanticized, a larger-than-life role, and it is claimed to be illusive. In the literature, it is often said that leadership has to do with influence – to get people to do things or to affect them. This characterization raises a number of essential questions: How is this influence exercised; in what circumstances is it used; what it means to be influenced; what are the means to influence; what characterizes successful influence; when and why does it fail; etc. During this course, we will deal with these and similar questions. The course is based on theory. There is a lot of research going on in leadership and the course is an attempt to cover rather broad spectra of leadership theories. Also, we will deal with the more practice-oriented field of leadership and how it is done “out there”. The course will raise issues that can be discussed in relation to ‘successful’ or ‘unsuccessful’ leadership. However, we will not provide a one and only answer to the ‘operational’ question “How can I become a good leader?” The course connects to the JIBS research areas of renewal, ownership and internationalization.