Leadership

Unit 430

Overview

This unit examines the nature of leadership in the 21st century and the different roles that leaders are expected to fulfil within modern organisations. It uses a combination of theory, concepts and examples to help participants begin to understand the key issues and challenges facing leaders today and take control of their own leadership development. Unlike other areas of the business discipline, most experts and researchers agree that developing leaders requires more action-based than analytical learning. This unit therefore encourages participants to seek out opportunities to practice and implement the theories and concepts discussed.

Aims

After studying this unit you should be able to:

• explain the characteristics of effective and ethical leadership and the correlation between effective leadership and organisational success
• identify the key theories of leadership-past, present and future-and evaluate their applicability in the 21st century and the characteristics of your own workplace environment
• evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of specific leadership styles for different and changing organisational environments and your own particular workplace environment
• identify the role of leaders in motivating and empowering individuals and achieving organisational and individual success
• critically evaluate the concept of emotional intelligence, explain how it contributes to effective leadership and relate it to your own leadership behaviour
• make decisions that realise the strategic purpose of the organisation and appreciate that most leadership issues have a range of different contexts and circumstances that will influence the desirability of specific solutions
• lead organisational change and liaise effectively with a range of internal and external stakeholders to implement change strategies and foster innovation
• monitor your own leadership performance to achieve the organisational and individual goals

Topics

• Effective leadership
• Leadership concepts and theory
• Leaders as strategists
• Leaders as motivators
• Leaders as communicators
• Leaders as decision makers
• Ethical leadership
• Measuring leadership performance
• Leading change
• Emerging leadership issues

Unit Chair

Dr Joseph Griffin

Study Guide Author

Tor Hansen