IB/IR 393 - Leading Across Cultures: Principles and Practice

The rising field of global leadership studies identifies the cultural context as one of the important dimensions in analyzing leadership styles and how leaders meet ethical challenges, negotiate conflict, manage social dynamics through communication and team-building, and bring about change in a global environment.  This course evaluates current theoretical models of leadership and leadership characteristics in the context of the local culture and also identifies commonalities of leadership that are recognized across cultures.  It uses experiential techniques to build students’ personal and intercultural competencies and provide them with a ‘toolbox’ for thinking about and developing their potential as leaders, including the important habit of self-reflection.  Reading is drawn from multiple sources that reflect the interdisciplinary nature of global leadership studies, including professional communication, cross-cultural management, historical and literary depictions of leadership, and organizational studies.