20725 - GLOBAL LEADERSHIP

Basic knowledge of Organizational Behavior

Global Leadership aims at supporting students in becoming aware of their potential for leadership and in the development of the competences that enable effective positive people leadership in global organizations. People leadership is framed as the organizational process for the achievement of relevant and high value added results with and through people. Leadership is analyzed according to the positive leadership framework that interprets leadership as a process focused on setting the stage for people empowerment and development and on enhancing the quality of the work experience for organizational and individual sustainability and growth. Three are the levels of analysis and experimentation for the discovery and realization of students positive and global leadership potential: leading self, leading others, leading within an organization and across cultures. Being a course dedicated to CEMS students, Global Leadership follows up with the overall aim of the CEMS Community that is “preparing responsible leaders contributing to a more open, sustainable and inclusive world”. Therefore all activities will be carried out with particular emphasis placed upon: -the pursuit of excellence with high standards of performance and ethical conduct -understanding and drawing upon cultural diversity with respect and empathy -professional responsibility and accountability in relation to society as a whole” (Cems Vision and Mission statement – https://cems.org/about-

Leadership paradigms are changing in response to the evolution of organizational models.

The necessity to adapt effectively to complex and highly uncertain competitive environments is progressively shifting the focus from structure to people and from pure execution to ownership, problem solving and creativity for product and process innovation with and increasing emphasis on shared responsibility, continuous learning and ethical concern.

The willingness of the leader to lead with courage with the aim of setting the stage for people flourishing and his/her ability to set the stage for people empowerment and ongoing development in a highly inclusive environment where diversity is positively leveraged on, is key in ensuring exceptional organizational performance.

The main determinants of leadership effectiveness are the leader’s abilities to lead him/herself, to connect and constructively interact with his/her followers and to find a dynamic fit with the context in which s/he operates. Considering the globalization of businesses, the complexity and uncertainty of the dynamics that characterize markets and the urgent call for sustainability, leadership abilities must encompass cultural intelligence, the ability to act with integrity and to lead oneself and others in situation where change isn’t the exception rather a constant challenge.

Following up with the Mission of the course,  Global Leadership addresses the concepts and competences that are mostly critical to operate effectively in a leadership role no matter at which level in the organization, in a global environment and taking on the responsibility to act with integrity and with a concern for  sustainability. 

The perspective is that of the global people leader who sets the stage for the achievement of stronger employee performance and improved business results by enhancing his/her own engagement and empowerment and that of the people s/he works with.

The course is structured into three interdependent modules: (1) discovering one’s potential as a people leader and growing as one: understanding the process of leadership and the competences needed for effectiveness in the different phases of one’s progression in an organizational environment (2) leading self for enhanced impact: self-empowerment and the competences for personal impact and (3) leading others for optimal performance in global environments: setting the stage for people’s engagement, empowerment and effectiveness within global and diverse teams.

Two are the main assumptions on which the course has been designed:

-the first, leaders who focus on bringing out the best in themselves and in people in the context in which they operate, can transform the way their organizations functions achieving great results in a sustainable way;

-the second one, leadership competencies are built upon self-awareness and self-leadership abilities which represent the conditio sine qua non for the development of people leadership competencies. This is the reason why participants are provided with opportunities to reflect on themselves and on their interpersonal styles both through self-assessment, class discussions and peer coaching session.

The main contents of the Course are:

·         Making sense of leadership: understanding the concept and its implications to guide self awareness and leadership development

·         The process of becoming a leader and the challenges of the Transition from Individual Contributor to Manager and to Executive

·         Self-awareness as the pre-condition for leadership development: Personality, Character Strengths, Values and Motives

·         Leading Self: focus, energy and stress management that is setting the stage for the Ideal Performance State

·         Leading Others – part 1: creating highly engaging and empowering work environments enlarging one’s leadership behavioral repertoire

·         Leading Others – part 2: promoting effective teamwork in highly diverse teams -   Psychological Safety, Trust, Cultural Intelligence and  Intercultural Communication effectiveness

• Frame Leadership as an organizational process meant to support the achievement of  high value added results with a through people in coherence with the  Business Strategy and the Organizational Model 
• Understand the main challenges of being in a leadership role and of transitioning from an Individual Contributor, to a Middle Management and to an Executive role and raise the awareness of the different competence mix required to be effective
• Set the stage for one's leadership development by enhancing one's self-awareness with reference to the characteristics that influence leadership behavior and impact
• Gain an understanding and leverage on opportunities to practice the competences of leading self, leading others and leading global teams
• Gain a deeper level of clarity on the personal path  for leadership development and effectiveness leveraging both on the theories and models discussed in class and on the first-hand experience of giving high value added contribution to class and small group activities for a rewarding and high quality learning experience.

• Have a thorough understanding of leadership as an organizational process, a formal role/position within the organization and a set of competences and behavioral repertoire for people leadership effectiveness
• Increase the level of self awareness with reference to personal and interpersonal dispositions (personality), Character Strengths, Values and Motives to nourish a reflection on which kind of leader ones wants to be and on the  roles and organizations that might enable the full realization of one's leadership potential
• Be familiar with the different leadership styles and the situations and followers where each style maximizes its effectiveness
• Develop further one's emotional intelligence competences for personal and interpersonal effectiveness
• Understand the determinants of exceptional performance and train oneself in setting the stage for personal and followers' success
• Refine one’s abilities for managing oneself for enhanced impact
• Develop ones abilities to build credibility and trust within a relationship, to communicate effectively in intercultural settings
• Develop and/or strengthen one's ability to learn from experience enlarging one's behavioral repertoire for effective leadership

• Face-to-face lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Exercises (exercises, database, software etc.)
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
• Group assignments
• Interactive class activities on campus/online (role playing, business game, simulation, online forum, instant polls)

Starting from the evidence that “adults are more likely to act their way into a new way of thinking than to think their way into a new way of acting” (Ibarra, 2015) the learning process is built upon both sharing relevant theories and models and on collaboratively crafting opportunities to learn from experience (individual, peer and team-based activities)

Theory and models sharing is meant to enable a thorough and deeper understanding of emerging leadership issues and to “make sense” beyond “common sense” of the emergent and effective leadership dynamics.

Learning from experience that is going through the Experience-Reflection and further Conceptualization cycle, is meant to enable further experimentation for enhanced continuous learning.

To enhance learning effectiveness:

• self-assessment tools are offered to enable increased self-awareness.
• exercises are proposed as opportunities for individual reflection and action on leadership competences
• a small group assignment is given as an opportunity to learn about leadership within the global small team through the activation of  the Action-Reflection-Conceptualization and Intentional Experimentation cycle 
• guest speakers provide insights on how leadership "works" within organizational contexts being also valuable and relevant role models

• Small Group Assignment (40%): it represents a fundamental component of the learning process according to the mission and goals of the course. The small group assignment is in fact an opportunity to deepen the understanding of one of the most up to date emerging issues in leadership and to practice one’s leadership skills within a team that is by nature global. The rigour and appropriate application of tools and concepts discussed during the course will be evaluated together with the overall effectiveness of the presentation of the main concepts and implications.
• Written exam: multiple choice on bibliographical material and on topics discussed in class - slide and notes (60%)
• Peer Evaluation: decrease by 1-3 points /team assignment grade if free-riding behaviors occur
• Class participation: value added and mode (respectful and constructive) 

Global Leadership is a mandatory course for CEMS students. The status of non attending student must be related to a demonstrated inability to attend to be discussed with the Professor responsabile for the course.

The non attending exam will be oral or written depending upon the number of non attending students enrolled in the exam,  and it will consist of multiple choice and/or open ended questions (written), open ended questions (oral) meant to verify the acquisition and the ability to effectively represent and discuss the main concepts about leading in global environment described in the book (see Teaching Materials)

• Slides presented and discussed in class and bibliographical materials uploaded on BBoard or to be searched for (Library or web)
• Material provided by external guests and available on BBoard
• Videos and self-assessment materials highlighted in the slides
• Personal notes

• Hughes, Ginnet, Curphy, Leadership. Enhancing Lessons from Experience, McGrawHill 2019