Introduction
Leadership and Management is a very diverse and occasionally controversial subject area populated by a very wide spectrum of books, academic journals, conferences, training courses, professional consultants, gurus, and random bloggers. With this in mind, it is important to be selective and critical in the sources you use for supporting your own study
Organisations of all types are crying out that they need more leadership, that they need more people to lead at all levels of the organisation, and that they need people who can work effectively with others. In many cases, we are asked to be leaders and managers even when we have no formal management authority over others. You have probably already realised the need for leadership and good team working when you have worked in groups and teams in the past.
This module is about enabling you to understand what is involved with leading, managing, and working co-operatively with others, with the aim of building on your practical skills and abilities in these areas.
As well as hoping to stimulate your interest in the subject itself, this module is also geared towards preparing you for life after graduation, in two ways:
- A school of thought says it’s hard to lead others if you don’t start by leading yourself. Therefore, the module will help you to consider what this involves and to reflect on how effective you are at leading yourself. This will include you making significant progress in being able to learn without being taught – to lead yourself in learning rather than be led by a subject expert.
- You will also be using the knowledge base that you build up on the subject of leadership and management in order to consider how you aim to lead and manage others in the future. This will help you to leave UKCBC with some definite ideas about the kind of manager you want to be and ways in which you aim to continue developing your leadership and management skills and knowledge in the future. You may also tailor your learning on this module to a particular career interest.