The Leadership & Management track
Human resources are increasingly important for organisations to be competitive. But how do you manage employees and teams effectively? Which leadership styles should you use? Become familiar with important theories and research results related to these crucial issues.
In the Leadership & Management track, you will learn what drives individual performance as well as why people succeed or fail in groups and organisations. You are challenged to switch between theory and practice, between the strategic and the operational level, and between the manager’s and the employee’s perspective, helping you to take more effective decisions as a current or future manager.
Courses in the Leadership & Management track
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Theories of Leadership and Management
Discuss and evaluate theories on the impact of leadership on the behaviour as well as the performance of individuals, teams and organisations. You can then use these theories to analyse organisational challenges in terms of leadership and management.
At the end of this course, you will be able to:
- explain important theories related to leadership and management;
- use these theories to analyse and solve problems as well as challenges that organisations face in terms of managing individuals, teams and organisations.
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Leadership
Dive into the main current theories on leadership and research in the field of leadership, as well as address the major outcomes of leadership in terms of employee motivation and behaviour.
At the end of this course, you will be able to:
- diagnose leadership problems, dilemmas and interventions from an ethical perspective;
- find, evaluate and connect leadership-related scientific literature in order to apply it to solve practical questions in specific contexts.
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Managing People Strategically
Draw on up-to-date human resource management theories. How do organisations seek to achieve a competitive advantage through people? What is the role of human resource management policy?
At the end of this course, you will be able to:
- discuss whether strategic people management affects individual well-being;
- analyse the roles of top management, line and project managers, and HRM professionals in managing people strategically;
- evaluate the role that HRM policies and practices can play in promoting ethical and socially responsible work practices.
Business case example: bol.com
Online retailer bol.com has started the SCORE programme to improve the way that store teams cooperate with other professional disciplines in multi-disciplinary autonomous teams. How can management support autonomous teams in effectively delivering on their goals and at the same time give them enough autonomy?
Contemporary issues
During lectures, you will discuss current newspaper headlines and relevant issues. Examples of topical issues are:
- Google is highly ranked as a ‘best company to work for’. The multinational offers employees lots of extras: a complete playground to spend their work breaks, a mind-blowing workspace and luxury lunch menus. Why does Google do so? How does this strategy help to achieve organisational goals? Could it work for your company?
- ING and many others switch to ‘agile working’. They leave their hierarchical structure to implement self-managing teams. What consequences does this approach have for leadership and management? How do you secure an effective work mode, high motivation and focus on the common organisational goal?
Leadership & Management and 2 other tracks
Leadership & Management is one of 3 tracks in our part-time Executive MSc Programme in Management Studies. If you are more interested in the management area of Strategy or Digital Business, read all information on these two tracks.