Psychological Foundations of Leadership

Catalog description

Students will examine the social and psychological processes underlying leadership in organizations. PSY 532 Psychological Foundations of Leadership (3) Emerging organizational challenges underscore the criticality of leadership in successful organizational functioning - a trend that is as true for the corporate world as it is for non-profit and governmental institutions. Underlying the need for well-trained, effective leaders is the requirement that future leaders have a fundamental understanding of the psychological processes driving successful leadership. This course provides a broad exploration of the theoretical bases for understanding leadership. Specifically, in this course, students will have the opportunity to learn about the psychological, cognitive, and social foundations underpinning leadership thinking and theory. In particular, course readings and activities will explore traits associated with leadership, psychodynamic perspectives on leaders, skills and styles used by effective leaders, contingency approaches to leadership, the role of power and influence, leader-member exchanges, team-based leadership, transformational leadership, and servant and authentic leadership. By exploring these topics, students will improve their critical thinking about their roles as leaders and expand their skillset to operate more effectively as future leaders. Students will consolidate and demonstrate their understanding of and ability to apply conceptual bases of understanding leadership to analysis of leadership situations and to improving their own capacity for leadership by participating in a number of course activities. For example, students will learn to apply their learning about course topics such as psychological perspectives on leadership to real-world examples of leadership. Moreover, students will gain a deep understanding of the complexities surrounding effective leadership by reviewing representations of leadership in popular culture and carrying out activities that require reflection on those representations. Such deep understanding will be reinforced through exposure to relevant examples, discussion, and cases that emphasize the application of leadership models and theory to practice. Final writing assignments will serve as a vehicle for students to recognize and identify concepts such as leadership styles and types of leadership and to apply them to developing reflective awareness of the psychological processes that drive successful leadership. The conceptual framework for the course will be the psychological principles guiding the development and instantiation of successful leadership.