WHU

Strategic Leadership, Group C

Course code
MGMT403
Course type
BSc Course
Weekly Hours
2,0
ECTS
3.0
Term
FS 2024
Language
Englisch
Lecturers
Dr. Steffen Löv, Juniorprof. Dr. Pisitta Vongswasdi
Please note that exchange students obtain a higher number of credits in the BSc-program at WHU than listed here. For further information please contact directly the International Relations Office.

Strategic leadership is the practice of adding value to an organization by influencing, inspiring, and coordinating activities to enhance long-term prospects while meeting short-term requirements. Rather than being an individual activity, leadership is co-construed within social groups at various levels of the organization. Set against the backdrop of leadership theory, students learn about their own leadership style, further developing it as they work through a number of common leadership challenges.

 

Learning topics include:

·         Session 1: Strategy & Strategic decision-making

·         Session 2: Leadership Theories & Leadership in context

·         Session 3: Leading people and teams

·         Session 4: Leadership development

·         Session 5a: Leading through crisis

·         Session 5b: Followership

·         Session 6: Leading Organizational Change (Simulation)

Classroom etiquette

Don’t multitask! Classroom experiments showed that performance on tests drops by 11% when multi-tasking. Further, these experiments showed that test performance drops by 17% when being near to someone who is multi-tasking!

 If you have a question, ask! All slides were prepared according to rigorous textbooks and recent research, but there is no universal truth since leadership involves people. This course aims to enable you to become a responsible leader in the future and provide you with relevant knowledge and tools to accomplish that.

 Attending the first two sessions is not mandatory – you can also read the textbook chapters and articles provided in the Moodle course instead. When you participate, be on time. When preparing only with the written material, you will miss out on the practical exercises and the discussions. All exam questions for sessions 1 and 2 can be answered with the material provided on the slides. But the advice provided during the first two sessions is crucial to achieving the best results in the business simulation in session 3.

Session Guide

Sessions 1 through 5 are separate sessions for each stream (A, B, C).

Session 6 will be a simulation where students of all streams will work in mixed groups.

Date Time
Wednesday, 17.01.2024 08:00 - 11:15
Friday, 19.01.2024 08:00 - 11:15
Thursday, 25.01.2024 08:00 - 11:15
Wednesday, 07.02.2024 15:30 - 18:45
Wednesday, 14.02.2024 08:00 - 11:15
Wednesday, 21.02.2024 08:00 - 18:45
The primary objective of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the basic principles of leadership and help build their leadership repertoire. The theories and practices taught in this course are applicable to various positions in all types of organizations students may enter.

 

The principal aims of the course are:

       To provide students with a broad and critical understanding of the key issues and concepts in leadership.

       To stimulate both appreciation and consideration of current leadership theory and research.

       To allow students to reflect on their experience, extrapolate, and develop better leadership skills.

       To prepare students for future roles in which they must work with individuals and groups in organizations.

Readings are available via the library or directly in the Moodle course. Please note that there is no textbook covering all topics for this course. Given the course’s focus, we will point you to several advanced readings. Thus, you do not need to purchase a textbook for this course. However, if you find a companion textbook helpful, you may use one or more of these books to support your learning:   Raelin, J.A. (2016). Leadership-as-Practice: Theory and Application. Routledge. Robbins, S. & Judge, T.A. (2019). Organizational Behavior. London: Pearson. Landy, F. & Conte, J. (2013). Work in the 21st Century. Wiley.   While Raelin (2016) offers depth about the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of the course, Robbins & Judge (2019) offer an overview of the core topics we touch upon. Landy & Conte (2013) additionally provide insight from the view of Organizational Psychologists. Although these texts offer access to further reading on material central to the course, it will be insufficient to rely solely on these books for course learning. These are not required books. Most leadership and organizational behavior books will cover the core issues we focus on in this course.   For each lecture, the slides contain references to additional literature. You are strongly encouraged to read at least a few original articles per lecture.
In total, you can earn up to 100 points in this course by participating in the final exam (up to 60 points), the business simulation conducted in pre-assigned groups (up to 20 points), and by preparing your strategy for the simulation and reflecting on the result of your group in the business simulation (up to 20 points). More detail will be provided during the first session.

Final Exam (max 60): 60 Single-choice questions, 1 point per question, 60 minutes

Business Simulation (max 20): 10 points for the first “Follower”, 1 point for each additional “Follower” (max 10)

Preparation of Strategy (max 10)

Individual Reflection (max 10): providing feedback on group work (5 points), evaluating outcomes and own contribution (5 points)

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