Rethinking Leadership module (BU41009)

The world is constantly evolving, and so are the challenges and opportunities that leaders face. By being informed about contemporary leadership, you can better understand and adapt to the changing landscape of business, technology, society, and global trends.

Rethinking Leadership helps you understand the strategies and practices that foster diversity, empower individuals, and develop teams that can thrive in a multicultural and globalized world. With increased public scrutiny and demands for corporate social responsibility, contemporary leadership places an emphasis on ethics and responsible decision-making.

The module provides you with the tools, insights, and strategies necessary to navigate the ever-changing landscape of leadership, make informed decisions, build inclusive teams, nurture talent, and lead with ethics and responsibility. You will do this by considering the following topics:

• etymology and the language of leadership
• history of leadership research
• leadership models
• philosophies and styles
• criticisms of the mainstream approach — challenging the Western hegemony/dominance in theoretical thinking; looking ahead using more modern leadership concepts

What you will learn

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• critically evaluate the impact (good and bad) of leadership in an organisation
• review and evaluate the recent developments in the academic and practitioner leadership literature
• contrast and critique the problems with this current leadership thinking in the context of the World Economic Forum’s 4th Industrial Revolution
• understand, evaluate, and critically analyse current sustainable leadership practices in an organisation
• Understand, evaluate, and critically analyse leadership models, philosophies, and styles in the organisational context
• present information from independent research using a variety of methods both orally, through presentations, and written via accessible reports and reflection

Assignments / assessment

• Group presentation (20%)
• Individual blog post (30%)
• Individual reflective essay (50%)

This module does not have a final exam.

Teaching methods / timetable

Over the semester you will prepare to engage in short lectures by accessing a number of valuable readings and materials relevant to the module content.

You will then expand on these through group work and assessment (group and individual) in longer tutorial seminars.

Lectures will run weekly throughout the semester, and seminars will also be weekly with the exception of the first and final weeks of teaching.