30262 - LEADERSHIP SKILLS

Basic knowledge of Organizational Behavior. Although this is not a pre-requisite, please keep in mind that the course is taught exclusively in English; therefore complete fluency in English is required. During the course, the students are shown movies in English without subtitles, assigned academic readings in English and administered tests/exams for which dictionaries are not allowed.

The course Leadership Skills provides you with the opportunity to challenge yourself with setting up the pre-conditions for optimal performance to be achieved with and through the people you are working with. It improves your ability to build and manage constructive relationships and to get to high value added results managing not only your own, but also other people’s performance. The determinants of optimal performance, that is competence, motivation and positive psychological states, are explored with the aim of both improving your ability to engage yourself and the people you are working with and your effectiveness when managing problem/underperforming people. Leadership skills give you the opportunity to reflect and act upon change: change is one of the relevant dimensions of leadership and becoming a leader requires you to go through a personal and professional transition. Leadership skills gives you the resources needed to specifically manage the transition from Individual Contributor to Manager providing you with greater self-awareness and therefore increased effectiveness.

• What is leadership? What are its value added and challenges?
• The main theories of leadership: trait,  behaviors, situational approach, as well as new-age theories of leadership.
• Influence and persuasion.
• Corruption / Ethical leadership.
• Creativity.
• Designing and leading teams.
• Minorities, women and leadership.
• Organizational culture and leadership in multicultural environments.

• Know and understand leadership-specific terms.
• Have an understanding of yourself as a person and a leader in terms of personality traits, leadership capacity, and proclivity to biases that dampen leadership potential.
• Know best practices for acting and leading in different situations (conditional on a variety of factors).
• Know how to manage people in a multicultural and dynamic environment.

• Choose the most appropriate leadership style given the situation.
• Be persuasive in your communications with people with whom you are working.
• Stimulate creative work among people with whom you are working.
• Draw on benefits and overcome challenges associated with teamwork.
• Develop sensitivity to different cultures.

• Face-to-face lectures
• Group assignments
• Interactive class activities (role playing, business game, simulation, online forum, instant polls)

Weekly lectures are supplemented with engaging slides, example videos, class activities, and group project assignements. One-on-one consultation can be provided during the office hours. 

100% of the grade: a final exam at the end of the course that rely on multiple choice and
open questions, primarily based on what has been discussed in class. Students have to earn a minimum grade of 18/30 to pass the course.

• Class participation: given the interactive nature of much of the class content, instructors might decide to award with a participation bonus (1 point max bonus) those students who enrich the classroom through their contributions to discussion. A pre-requisite to earn a bonus point is participation in every single lecture.

100% of the grade: final exam at the end of the course that rely on multiple choice and open
questions, based on the readings specified on the syllabus. Students have to earn a minimum
grade of 18/30 to pass the course.

Readings to be prepared for each session are specified on the course syllabus.