Organisation and Leadership in a Globalised World

Learning outcome 1: organising and collaboration as a situated, socially accomplished activity of different organisational actors, groups, and stakeholders

Learning outcome 2: views of organisation and how these have affected the notion and practice of managing people

Learning outcome 3: the impact of internationalisation and globalisation as a multi-layered context for organisation and leadership, cultural influences, and identity construction in organisations

Learning outcome 4: knowledge processes, with specific reference to group and team learning

Learning outcome 5: leadership issues and processes

Learning outcome 6: reflexivity as a mode of being and acting as managers and leaders

You are expected to write an essay of no more than 2,000 words (max. 2200; minimum 1800 words).

Essay Question

"Examine leadership behaviour and practice in an organisation of your choice. You should apply leadership theory based on traits, transactional and transformational approaches to support your arguments about the role of leadership in organisations."
You can choose to discuss leadership in any type of organisation such as a for-profit company, a public-sector organisation, a voluntary organisation, or a social enterprise. Get Personalised Assignment help Now!

A requirement for this essay is to describe and interpret what leaders in organisations do and how, based on evidence from your chosen case. Leaders can be active at different levels. For example, you can also look at managers and how they may lead in certain moments. It can be e.g. project teams leaders or entrepreneurs as well as line managers, senior and top managers and CEOs who exert leadership. You should focus on internal issues. For example, for leadership effects on performance, motivation, wellbeing, teamwork, and work in different departments. However, you are allowed to also explain leadership in relation to external stakeholders such as customers, suppliers, and business partners. The latter view is often necessary to understand leadership changes needed in organisations. The focal leadership issues you will analyse will depend on your chosen leadership case.

You will discuss or interpret leadership with at least one leadership theory learnt in the lecture on leadership (i.e. traits, transactional and transformational leadership approaches). It is likely that you may need to interpret different leadership behaviours with more than one theory or model (also added via your further reading).

You should describe the specific organisational context. The type and profile of the company should be brief but is necessary. The context should include briefly e.g. business strategies as a background, as they shape leadership. The essay will cover interventions or programmes that require effective leadership. For example, an intervention for organisational change and how leadership helped the process of change of groups, departments, and individuals. You can also look at programmes such as various types of training programmes to enhance leadership skills in departments and teams. You should add if such programmes are supported by specific HR policies.

Your elaborations may include selected concepts and points of analysis beyond leadership helping to illuminate aspects that are interrelated in the case. For example, leadership may be related to resistance to change, organisational culture or teamwork and collaboration. You should explain all used terms also conceptually, at least briefly, not just merely mention them in one sentence as an ‘add on'. This will support a deeper discussion of different leadership behaviours and practices, after you described events and behaviours.

Final recommendations given by a student can be based on relevant literature too. Whilst any recommendation may be easier to imagine based on analysed unsuccessful or less effective approaches, they can be offered also for positive leadership you have seen in the case study. That is, if the leadership you analysed had been successful overall or in particular moments, you can still make a suggestion as to what might be changed, emphasised or developed because organisations aim to maintain effective leadership also in future.