NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
School of Business
Department of Management & Organisation
MNO2311 Leadership in Organisations
Course Instructor :
Session :
Course Description
Dr William Koh
Semester 1, 2007/2008
The 21 st Century has witnessed constant upheavals caused by rapid technological changes, globalisation and changing employee values. It is in this context that leaders must enact effective behaviour in order to bring out the best in their followers and enhance organisational effectiveness. Organisational effectiveness is no longer driven alone by the availability of capital and machines. Increasingly, managers are beginning to realize that they need to harness the creative energies of the people that they work with: Human Capital.
This course is premised upon the philosophy that leadership plays a critical role in organisational success, and that effective leadership is able to bring out the best in every member of an organisation in the context of constant change in the external environment.
We will take a multi-disciplinary approach toward the examination of key issues related to leadership. For instance, in some of the readings, when biographers take a decided political science viewpoint toward leadership, we will use ideas from that discipline to draw important leadership lessons. For others, it could well be from a developmental psychology viewpoint when leaders talked about the life events that shaped their leadership philosophies. Yet others could be from an organisational behaviour viewpoint, talking about how they brought about successful changes in their organisations.
Course Objectives
At the end of the course, students will have deep understanding of the following key issues: What is leadership? What are the forces that shape a leader's behaviours? How does one empower followers? How to be a servant-leader? How to appreciate the situational context in order to bring about changes successfully?

All the above information should equip the BBA students’ with the necessary behavioural skills, values, and body of knowledge to be better leaders for their immediate and long term future.
Key Course Topics
1.
What is leadership? What is the difference between
Leadership and Management? Are leaders born or made?
2. Leadership in the 21 st Century
3. Leadership and Culture
4. Leadership Traits
5. Power, influence and empowerment
6. Transformational Leadership
7. Servant Leadership
8. Dark Side of Charisma
9. The Role of Leadership in Organisational Change
Basic Text
Leadership: Enhancing the lessons of Experience (5 rd Ed.) R.L. Hughes, R.C.
Ginnett, G. J. Curphy, 2005. McGraw-Hill; banded with I believe I can fly: The
Story of Xinmin Secondary, Koh, William, 2003, McGraw-Hill.
Reference Books
1.
Avolio, B J. 1999. Full leadership development, Sage Publications.
2.
Tichy, N.M. and Devanna, M.A. 1990, The transformational leader, John Wiley.
3.
Jay A. Conger and Beth Benjamin. 1999. Building Leaders. Jossey-Bass.
4.
Kouzes, J.M. and Posner B.Z. 1995. The leadership challenge. Jossey Bass.
5.
Bass, B. M. & Avolio, B. J. (1994). Improving organizational effectiveness
through transformational leadership. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.
6.
Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New
York: Free Press.
Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper. 7.
8. Bennis, W. G. & Nanus, B. (1985). Leaders: The strategies for taking charge.
New York: Harper & Row.
9. Block, P. (1993). Stewardship. San Francisco: Bennett-Kochler.
10. Yukl, G. (2002). Leadership in organizations. 5 th edition, New Jersey: Prentice
Hall.
Biographies
1. Powell, C., with Joe Pirsico. 1995. My American Journey. New York: Random
House,
2. R. Grove. 1997.The Disney Touch/Chicago: Irwin, 1997
3. Thomas, B. 1976. Walt Disney. New York: Simon and Schuster.
4. Kotter, John. 1997. Matshushita Leadership. New York: Free Press.
5. Fatima, M. 1990. Higher than Hope: The authorized Biography of Nelson
Mandela. New York: Harper and Row.
6. Shirer, W.L. 1979. Gandhi. New York: Simon and Schuster.
7. Kathryn Spink. 1998. Mother Teresa, a Complete Authorised Biography.
Harper, San Francisco
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8.
No Great Love 1997. (editors: Teresa and Becky Benenate; Mother Teresa;
Thomas Moore), New World Library.
9.
Richard Branson: The Authorised Biography. Mick Brown, 1998, Hodder
Headline
10.
Losing my virginity. Richard Branson, 1999, Crown Publishing Group.
11.
Personal History (Katherine Graham). 1997 Publisher: Knopf Alfred. A
Useful Reference
1. Leaders and the leadership process Pierce, J. L and Newstrom J.W. 2000.
McGraw-Hill.
Methods of Assessment
Class Participation
Learning Journal
Group Project
MCQ Test
10%
10%
15%
40%
Learning from experience 25%
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