Resources

Essential Information

Offered:

  • SP1, 2008
  • SP2, 2008
  • SP3, 2008

Core Unit for:

  • N/A

Elective Unit for:

Assessment:

  • Assignment 40%
  • Examination 60%

Pre-Requisites:

  • None

UNIT 430: Leadership


Overview

This unit examines the nature of leadership in the 21st century and the different roles that leaders are expected to fulfil within modern organisations. It uses a combination of theory, concepts and examples to help participants begin to understand the key issues and challenges facing leaders today and take control of their own leadership development. Unlike other areas of the business discipline, most experts and researchers agree that developing leaders requires more action-based than analytical learning. This unit therefore encourages participants to seek out opportunities to practice and implement the theories and concepts discussed.

Aims

After studying this unit you should be able to:

  • explain the characteristics of effective and ethical leadership and the correlation between effective leadership and organisational success
  • identify the key theories of leadership-past, present and future-and evaluate their applicability in the 21st century and the characteristics of your own workplace environment
  • evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of specific leadership styles for different and changing organisational environments and your own particular workplace environment
  • identify the role of leaders in motivating and empowering individuals and achieving organisational and individual success
  • critically evaluate the concept of emotional intelligence, explain how it contributes to effective leadership and relate it to your own leadership behaviour
  • make decisions that realise the strategic purpose of the organisation and appreciate that most leadership issues have a range of different contexts and circumstances that will influence the desirability of specific solutions
  • lead organisational change and liaise effectively with a range of internal and external stakeholders to implement change strategies and foster innovation
  • monitor your own leadership performance to achieve the organisational and individual goals

Topics

  • Effective leadership
  • Leadership concepts and theory
  • Leaders as strategists
  • Leaders as motivators
  • Leaders as communicators
  • Leaders as decision makers
  • Ethical leadership
  • Measuring leadership performance
  • Leading change
  • Emerging leadership issues

Unit Chair

Dr. Joseph Griffin
Ed.D; M. Ed; BSc (Hons), Dip of Trn. and Ass. Systems

Joe Griffin has 30 years experience in education and organisational development. His consulting company, CGM International, specialises in organisational development, leadership and risk management. Since its establishment, Joe has undertaken reviews for numerous private and government organisations, and over the last twenty years he has designed and conducted executive development programs in both public and private organisations in Australia, Asia and the Pacific.

Joe currently lectures through Victoria University for their Public Sector Management Program and lectures in New Venture Leadership for the Swinburne University Masters Program in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. He has also developed Human Resources Policies, that include performance management and professional development needs, and he has established a professional coaching service for executives.

Study Guide Author

Tor Hansen
BA (Hons), LLB, Dip.Mod.Lang., Cert.IV.AWT

Tor Hansen is an experienced writer, researcher and corporate trainer. Tor has worked for Melbourne, Monash and La Trobe Universities to produce, lecture and assess many different undergraduate courses.

Tor is Director of TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd, a consultancy specialising in the provision of corporate training, communications and management consulting services. As a technical writer, Tor believes in producing documents that focus on the target audience, and on achieving outcomes.