Course Manual

Leadership
Concepts & Practice

PGPM
IIM Kashipur

Term VI: PGP 2019-20

Course Anchor

Dr. Rakesh Kr Agrawal

Indian Institute of Management

Kashipur

Page 1
 INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT
Postgraduate Programme in Management 2018-20

Term 6

Course : Leadership : Concept & Practice

Credit : 1
Instructor : Rakesh Agrawal

Prerequisites :

Participants are expected to have the knowledge of socio-technical processes in organization having
undergone courses in Organization Behaviour, Communication, Human Resource Management, and Strategic
Management, and foundation courses in marketing, and finance.

Course Description:

Leadership is one of the most talked about, researched and written about yet we don’t have a unanimity
on either definition and attributes of leadership. There is always a general refrain that we have a leadership
crises and that there is dearth of leaders, especially good leaders.

Our inability to comprehend leadership, and the wisdom required required to lead, is also the reason for
the inability of the society to produce effective leaders in its various domains. In the absence of a reliable
pipeline towards producing leaders in the society, all kinds of people occupy leadership positions without
being leaders. Many times, becoming a leader to satisfy one’s ego may result is abuse of power and excessive
control, resulting in abusive supervision and showing the dark side of leadership.

The lack of availability of good leaders, or recognizing one when such a leader emerges is an outcome of
the ignorance in understanding as to what is leadership, what a leader does and what kind of impact does
a leader produce in her or his domain. In finding out answers to these questions lies the key of recognizing
and producing effective leaders in various spheres of social life.

This elective course on leadership is a journey towards unravelling the mystery of leadership and insuring
its better comprehension by the participants. It is hoped electing this course will enable the participants
explore and hone their own leadership potential, and eventually acquire competencies and confidence to
become effective leaders in their life domains. It particularly taps wisdom of the sages from across the
world and attempts to integrate this with corporate life.

The course journey is divided into three phases.

 Phase one will introduce the participant to the conceptual underpinnings of the leadership, and
evolution of leadership thought over time. This phase will give the participants an opportunity to
critically evaluate how leadership concept and theory has evolved over time and where does it
stand today, and how various phases have contributed to understanding, explanation and practice
of leadership. Participants will get some experience of their own leadership by working on a
simulation.
 Phase two will focus on the structural make-up and content of leader and the context in which s/he
operates. This phase will educate participants appreciate the attributes required by the leaders in
various social and organizational domains, and what a leader does in an organizational context;
 Phase three as a culminating part of the journey will emphasize on how to be and become an
effective leader, in case one is desirous of the same.
 Parallel to the three phases, the participants will be introduced to stories from literature, history
mythology and the wisdom traditions of the world (wherever possible) to guide their own
development and understanding leadership from a universal perspective. The course will close with
a simulation on Leadership and Teams

Course Objectives:

Page 2
On completion of the course the students will be able to:
 Understand evolution of leadership thought over time and appreciate various theoretical
foundations and the context in which such ideas emerged;
 Evaluate the finer nuances of various theories of leadership and how they differ from each other in
their foundation and application;
 Appreciate the attributes and competencies required to become a leader;
 Differentiate the impact various leadership practices have on the processes and people in various
social and business scenarios through case studies of effective leaders;
 Appreciate & to some extent acquire competence and confidence to practice leadership in any
social context, especially business.

Course conduction methodology:

 Readings and discussion;
 Assignments and presentations;
 Situation analysis, role plays and case-let/case discussions;
 Simulation exercises.
In order for the participants be able to understand and internalize the concepts, they would be encouraged
to critique practice of leadership in various domains and thus be able to arrive at their own ideas of effective
leadership behaviour.

Learning outcomes:
 PLO1a: Demonstrate an awareness of the many perspectives that inform human experience and
understand the responsibilities of a global manager in the business world;
 PLO1b: Identify, analyze, and comprehend the assumptions and underlying premises in a business
situations;
 PLO1c: Apply analytical techniques/models/frameworks to reflect critically on specific business
contexts;
 PLO2: Identify the concerns and consequences of actions and reactions to a given situation
consistent with stated values; Appreciate the use of influence as a leader
 PLO3: Communicate effectively;
 PLO4b: Demonstrate ability to understand management issues from a global and universal
perspective;
 PLO4c: Demonstrate ability to analyze cultural issues in a business organization.

The overall learning outcomes of the course are:

At the culmination of the course, the participants would be able to understand the context, concept &
practice of leadership in organizations, especially in the business ones. They would be exposed to the
theoretical foundation of leadership, its evolution over time to appreciate this evolving concept. In addition
to the above, they would be able to understand their own potential to lead and gain wisdom and confidence
to practice it in due course of time.

Readings (to be finalized)

Main text
 Gary Yukl (2015) Leadership in Organizations, 8th edition, Pearson. (GY)
Other texts
 Kouzes Posner (2006) Leadership Challenges, Wiley India Pvt. Ltd.
 Northouse, Peter G. (2010), Leadership : Theory and Practice, Sage Publications (5th Edition);
 Kotter, John P. (1999), A Harvard Business Review Book;
 HBR’s Ten Must Reads on Leadership, HBSP;
 Mastering Challenges of 21st Century Leadership (Harvard Business Publication);
 Richard L. Daft (2005) Leadership, Cengage Learning.
Journal reference : use following database (consult library for access passwords etc.)
 EBSCO
 Emerald
 HBSP

Assessment Plan
Page 3
 # Component Marks in percentage
1 Assigned topic presentations (group) 15
2 Simulation (team) 15
3 Quizzes and Assignments 20
4. Class participation 10
5 End term exam 40

Course Schedule (Tentative)

Session Topic Reference

Phase 1
Course overview, methodology, expectations etc.
 Concept of leadership & role of a leader
1–2
 Why should anyone be led by you?
 Revisiting some theories of leadership
3-5  Leadership as a Process
6-7  Leadership as a Service
‘The level 5 leadership : The Triumph of
Humility & Fierce Resolve’ by Jim Collins.
Best of HBR, 2001.
 Learning Leadership from Experience -Skills
of Active Listening & Feedback giving
 Adaptive Leadership: The work of
Leadership , Heifetz, 2001
 Simulation of Change management
 Servant leadership: A review and synthesis
by Van Dierendonck, 2011 or
 Reflections on Robert Greenleaf & Servant
leadership , Spears L, 1996
 Implementing Servant Leadership in
Cleveland clinic: a case study in
organisation change, Joe Patrnchak, 2015

Phase 2

Case : to be plugged in
Readings
 ‘Managers & leaders: Are they different?’
 What does a leader do in organizations?
by Abraham Zaleznik
8-9  How does a leader differ from a manager?
 ‘What leaders really do’ by John Kotter
 Leadership practice
 ‘Leadership Challenge’ by Kouzos &
Postner
 ‘Why leaders cant lead’ by Warren Bennis

Levels at which a leader has to operate in

organizational context
 ‘Top 10 attributes of an effective leader’
 Self
10-11 by Mark Hefner
 Team
 Simulation Exercise – Mount Everest
 Business
 Environment
 Exercise
 Strategic Leadership
12-13  Leadership is a conversation’ by Boris
 Leadership across organizational life-cycle;
Groysberg & Michael Slind
 Case : to be plugged in
 Chapter 4 & 11 (GY)
 ‘Leading Change: Why transformation
14 - 15  Leadership & Change Management
efforts fail?’ by John Kotter. HBR 1995.
 Video: In conversation with Sumantra
Ghoshal

Page 4
 Phase 3
 Siddhartha
Revisiting Learnings from History, Literature and
16  Ashoka
wisdom traditions
 Stephen Covey’s works
 Analysis of contemporary leadership (Project
17-18
Presentations)

 Closing application: Leadership & Team

19-20
Simulation: Everest

Note: Simulation exercises will be based on availabilty

Assessment Criteria :

1. Assigned topic presentation and lead discussant (group project)

The participants are expected to have gone through the relevant text and other reference material on
the topic. S/he may choose to make a power-point presentation followed by discussion or would like to
take the participants through the discussion in some other mode. It is expected that at the end of the
discussion time of 15-20 minutes following have been covered:
I. Genesis of the topic and its conceptual and theoretical underpinnings;
II. Gist of the paper;
III. Critical analysis of the concept and its practice as described in the paper;
IV. What is the contemporary standing of the proposition of the topic;
V. How it has contributed to practice of leadership;

Course policies
1. Responsibility for Course Materials: You are responsible for all material covered in class. If you are absent, you
are responsible for obtaining the information you missed.
2. Classroom Behavior: You are expected to participate in class activities in a mature and appropriate manner.
Disruptive or otherwise unacceptable behavior will not be tolerated. Quality of participation would be a premium
rather than quantity.
3. Academic Conduct:
You are expected to practice and uphold standards of academic integrity and honesty. Academic integrity means
representing oneself and one’s work honestly. Misrepresentation is cheating since it means students are claiming
credit for ideas or work not actually theirs and are thereby seeking a grade that is not actually earned. Following
are some examples of academic dishonesty:
i. Cheating on quizzes and examinations. This includes using materials such as books and/or notes when
not authorized by the instructor, copying from someone else’s paper, helping someone else copy work,
substituting another’s work as one’s own, theft of exam copies, or other forms of misconduct on exams.
ii. Plagiarizing the work of others. Plagiarism is using someone else’s work or ideas without giving that
person credit; by indulging in plagiarism, you claim credit for someone good work. Whether students have
read or heard the information used, they must document the source of information. When dealing with
written sources, a clear distinction should be made between quotations (which reproduce information
from the source word-for-word within quotation marks) and paraphrases (which digest the source of
information and produce it in the student’s own words). Both direct quotations and paraphrases must be
documented. Even if students rephrase, condense or select from another person’s work, the ideas are still
the other person’s, and failure to give credit constitutes misrepresentation of the student’s actual work
and plagiarism of another’s ideas. Buying a paper or using information from the World Wide Web or
Internet without attribution and handing it in as one’s own work is plagiarism.
iii. Falsifying records or providing misinformation regarding one’s credentials.
iv. Unauthorized collaboration on computer assignments & unauthorized access use of computer programs,
including modifying computer files created by others and representing that work as one’s own.
v. Unless they specifically indicate otherwise, instructors expect individual, unaided work on homework
assignments, exams, lab reports and computer exercises, and documentation of sources when used. If
instructors assign a special project other than or in addition to exams, such as a research paper, or original
essay or a book review, they intend that work to be completed for that course only. Students must not
submit work completed for a course taken in the past or for a concurrent course unless they have explicit
permission to do so from both faculty members.
4. Attendance: You are expected to be present in the class both physically and mentally and log your presence by
responding to the roll call.

Page 5
5. Late submission: Any late submission beyond the deadline may lead to unpleasant consequences, except in case
of emergencies, with legitimate reasons.
6. Missed exam: There is no make-up for the missed exams unless the student has discussed and made an
arrangement with the instructor for a valid reason beforehand. In all other instances, the student must produce a
valid doctor's note for the day the student missed the exam. Such doctor's note must be produced in the same week
the student missed the exam.
7. Grade Discussion: It is the student’s responsibility to monitor his or her own grades and raise any questions s/he
may have within one week of the grades assigned.
8. Extra Credit: No Extra credit shall be given to make-up for missed quizzes, assignments, exams, project, or poor
performance in the course.

Other components of the evaluation will be detailed later.

Readings

 ‘The transformational leadership’ by John Hall, Shannon Johnson, Allen Wysocki, and Karl
Kepner;

 ‘The level 5 leadership: The Triumph of Humility & Fierce Resolve’ by Jim Collins. Best of
HBR, 2001;

 ‘Managers & leaders: Are they different?’ by Abraham Zaleznik;

 ‘What leaders really do’ by John Kotter;

 ‘Leadership Challenge’ by Kouzos & Postner;

 ‘Why leaders can’t lead’ by Warren Bennis;

 ‘Top 10 attributes of an effective leader’ by Mark Hefner;

 ‘Leadership is a conversation’ by Boris Groysberg & Michael Slind;

 ‘Leading Change: Why transformation efforts fail?’ by John Kotter, HBR 1995.

 Stephen Covey – 7 Habits of Highly Effective People; Principle Centred Leadership

 Devdatt Pattnaik - Leadership

Page 6