This module is designed to bring the students up to date with the latest research and thinking in the arena of both leadership studies and leadership development. The module involves lectures and small group work. The idea of leadership development promises much to individuals and organisations but its effects are controversial for both. Despite more than a hundred years of research and an even longer history of practice, it is still unclear whether leaders can be developed at all, and, if they can, whether their development makes a positive difference to organisational performance and the experience of work for their followers. This module is an opportunity to examine different academic and practice approaches to this topic. It explores the research that underpins theories in use, and encourage you to come to your own well-informed conclusions about the contribution that leadership development activities, programmes and events make to people and organisations. The subject is approached in two key ways: by engaging with relevant ideas and theories in the area through reading and thinking about published academic research; and, by carefully examining how leadership development happens in organisations and to individuals, through education, training, and personal development practices.
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