Leading Across Cultures: Principles and Practice
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This course looks at questions of leadership in the modern world, in the domains of business, policy-making, and service organizations. As many young people want to make a difference or will go on to jobs in which they will be faced with questions of “changing” the world or simply their organization, the course will attempt to show them how leadership may (or not) make that possible, given the cultural context.The overarching goal of the course is to analyze and develop an understanding of what leadership means, particularly in an intercultural context that is characteristic of our global world, and to provide students with resources to enhance their own leadership abilities.
This course evaluates current theoretical models of leadership and leadership characteristics in the context of the local culture and also identifies commonalities of leadership that are recognized across cultures. Thecourse first presents what makes good leaders and what skills they need to lead effectively. We will survey a variety of approaches to the question and analyze definitions of essential concepts. We will also consider how leadership is defined in different cultural contexts. The rising field of global leadership studies identifies the cultural context as one of the important dimensions in analyzing leadership styles and how leaders meet ethical challenges, negotiate conflict, manage social dynamics through communication and team-building, and bring about change in a global environment. Finally, the course will analyze selected issues that decision makers have to face in different sectors: business, politics, public sector and international affairs. We will assess the best way to lead change, motivate followers and cope with conflicts.- Analyze the complexities of leading across cultures in terms of multidisciplinary and theoretical frameworks.
- Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the moral and ethical responsibilities of leaders in a global environment.
- Evaluate the social dynamics of leadership and importance of building relationships in multiple cultural contexts.
- Observe and identify leadership and communication styles that are culture-specific and styles that are common across cultures.
- Describe techniques to meet the challenges of leading, managing, and negotiating across cultures.
- Analyze one’s personal leadership style in terms of culturally-determined values, beliefs, and practices; identify strengths and weaknesses and describe a personal development plan.
- Demonstrate knowledge and skills required to work on cross-cultural and virtual teams.
This course is run as a seminar with active discussion of readings and case studies. Case studies with broad application and also those pertinent to the local context wherever possible will be used regularly for getting a hands-on approach to the questions at hand. Personal accounts from social partners and policy makers as well as field studies to appropriate business, policy-making and service organizations will give students an opportunity to speak with practitioners.
- Active participation in seminar based on assigned reading - 20%
- Personal Development Journal, exercises and quizzes - 10%
- Mid-term exam - 20%
- Group Project/In-class presentation - 20%
- Final Essay based on group project - 30%
- To understand the course and the readings: How students can describe and explain main ideas and concepts about leadership.
- To reuse and apply the course in order to analyze different ways to lead through history, news, case studies and their personal experience.
- To raise in generality so as to extract from specific situations some broader knowledge on the leadership process.
Class |
Content |
Readings |
Part One: What Makes a Leader? |
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Class 1 |
Introduction to the course; expectations in the classroom
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Required:
Suggested:
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Class 2 |
Leaders and Managers
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Required:
Suggested:
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Class 3 |
Overview of leadership studies
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Required:
Suggested:
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Class 4 |
Personality, Traits and Charisma
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Required:
Suggested:
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Class 5 |
Style and attitudes
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Required:
Suggested:
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Class 6 |
Relations between Leaders and Followers
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Required:
Suggested:
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Part Two: Culture & Leadership |
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Class 7 |
How Culture affects Leadership?
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Required:
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Class 8
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Cultural differences in leadership
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Required:
Suggested:
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Class 9 |
Leading Across Cultures
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Required:
Suggested:
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Class 10 |
Gender and leadership
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Required:
Suggested:
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Class 11 |
Social and Racial backgrounds in leadership
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Required:
Suggested:
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Class 12 |
Midterm Exam |
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Part Three: The Practice of Leadership |
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Class 13 |
Guest Speakers |
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Class 14 |
Envisioning and Implementing Change
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Required:
Suggested:
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Class 15 |
Leadership in Business
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Required:
Suggested:
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Class 16 |
The Leader’s role in Teaming\
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Required:
Suggested:
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Class 17 |
Political leadership: types of leaders and strategies
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Required:
Suggested:
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Class 18 |
Getting involved: Student leaders and the development of leadership
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Required:
Suggested:
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Class 19 |
Analyzing leadership through films
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Class 20 |
Field Study |
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Class 21 |
Media and leadership
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Required:
Suggested:
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Class 22 |
International leadership and global power
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Required:
Suggested:
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Class 23 |
Presentation of Group projects I
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Class 24 |
Presentation of Group projects II
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