Global Development Institute Semester 2

2022/23

HRD AND
LEADERSHIP
MGDI60162
Course Unit Guide

2022/2023 Session
Semester 2

Convenor and lecturer

Dr Kelechi Ekuma
[email protected]

Contacts and Office Hours

Dr Kelechi Ekuma
Officee: 2.041 (2nd Floor), Arthur Lewis Building
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 11:15am - 1:15pm GMT
Appointment booking: shorturl.at/dqsAT
Contents Pages

1. Overview and aims of course unit 2

2. Learning outcomes and objectives 3
3. Indicative teaching schedule 4
4. Assessment 5
4.1 Marking criteria 6
4.2 Attendance requirements 7
5. Learning resources 8
5.1 Readings and indicative references 9
6. Note to students with disabilities 10
8. Course unit evaluation 10
 1. Overview and aims of course unit

This course unit examines contemporary theories and practice of leadership

and its implications for socio-economic and human development in an
increasingly interconnected and complex world. It explores critically current
and emerging global agendas pertinent to understanding the dynamics of
leader and follower behaviours in diverse cultural and geopolitical contexts.
The module aims to show that the dominant Global North interpretations of
leadership are limited in their approach when considered in developing
countries' contexts. The purpose of this method is to give voice to Global
South perspectives so that students can appreciate the fluidity of the concept
of leadership, how it is socially constructed, and how leadership practices
vary by geographic region and its implication for international development.
The course unit addresses leadership beyond the individual and
organisational levels by focusing on leadership at societal and global levels,
highlighting how the changing global environment and shifting attitudes
influence the theory and practice of leadership. The main objective of this
approach is to contribute to students' knowledge about contemporary issues
shaping leadership and by so doing develop their capacity to engage with
these issues critically in order to meaningfully respond to them.

The course unit begins by providing a historical overview of leadership and

an assessment of contemporary critical thinking about the subject. The
course unit then proceeds to examine the context and key leadership issues
related especially to international development, namely, globalisation, ethics,
post-colonialism and sustainability. The leadership challenges of initiatives
by the UN and World Bank aimed at promoting international development, as
well as those of regional and State actors are also examined. The unit also
explores the idea of emotional intelligence as well as emerging themes in
public leadership. It concludes by examining approaches and models of
leadership development, highlighting some HRD strategies for building the
capacities and competencies of leaders for meeting the development
challenges of a changing and complex world.

The overarching purpose of this course unit is to ultimately prepare students

to exercise leadership in a global world that is responding to a rapidly
expanding array of complex development issues, including increasing poverty
levels, inequalities, and several other economic and socio-political
challenges. Thus, the case studies that will be utilised in this module will be
mainly drawn from developing contexts. The module enhances learning and
engagement by drawing from real-life examples, participants' lived
experiences and from formal knowledge.

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2. Learning outcomes and objectives
On successful completion of this course unit, students will be able to understand and critically
discuss core issues in HRD and leadership. The module aims are to develop students’ learning in
four broad categories, as briefly described below:

Knowledge and understanding

Understand and critically evaluate the theory and practice of leadership and
its historical and social foundations.
Understand and critically discuss comparative leadership styles and
relational leading.
Develop knowledge about HRD strategic interventions that focus on
leadership and capacity development in international organisations
including the UN and NGO/INGOs.
Understand the relationship between ethics, CSR and leadership in HRD and
development context.

Intellectual skills

Expand students’ knowledge about strategies for developing leadership

capacity in a globalising world.
Critique the societal, political and development context of HRD policy
planning and leadership development.
Critique own leadership knowledge and personal skill requirements.

Practical skills

Prepare leadership plans for specific organisational or country’s contexts.

Conduct research on HRD and leadership using appropriate academic
sources.

Transferable skills and personal qualities

Develop leadership strategies which focus on inclusiveness, diversity,

ethicality and social justice, which helps advance socio-economic and
human development.
Develop key skills necessary to foster and maintain networks, build
teams/groups and lead change and complexity.

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3. Teaching schedule

Indicative session topics (Lectures: Mondays 10am-1:00pm GMT)

Session 1. 06 February 2023:

Introduction to the module: Contextualizing the importance of leadership in global development.
Session 2: 13 February 2023:
Context and challenges of leading development: Complexity and emerging wicked problems.
Session 3. 20 February 2023:
Global leadership competencies and strategies: Meeting the developmental challenges of a
changing world.
Session 4. 27 February 2023:
Leadership skills and challenges in INGOs/NGOs
Session 5. 06 March 2023:
Ethics and values-driven leadership: new agendas for leadership in development context
Session 6.13 March 2023:
Leadership and society: leading international development
Session 7. 20 March 2023:
Public Leadership: Conceptual overview, international challenges and emerging themes
Session 8. 17 April 2023:
Leading social change and development reforms: power and the politics of leadership.
Session 9. 24 April 2023:
Emerging themes in leading development work: insights on the way forward

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4. Assessment

Practical (Group activity and mini-portfolio) 20-minute presentation in

groups of 5-6 on 16 May 2022 (TBC), followed by questions and answers;
plus, a mini portfolio comprising a 500-word reflexive summary and a
personal Leadership Development Plan. Verbal and written feedback will
be provided.
20% of total.

Coursework (Assignment) 3500-word report exploring contemporary

themes in human resource development and leadership submitted on
2pm on Thursday 19 May 2022 via Turnitin®UK GradeMark. Written
feedback will be provided to students.
80% of total.

Important notice

Your presentations can be based on any contemporary issue in leadership

theory and practice. You are expected to work in groups of not more than six
(6) persons and prepare a professional presentation that should not exceed
20 Minutes. The presentations will take place on Monday 16 May 2022 (TBC).
You are strongly advised to keep your presentation length to the instructed
time of 20 minutes, as you will also be assessed on time management.

The 3,500 words individual essay should be submitted online by 2pm on

Thursday 19 May 2022 via Turnitin®UK GradeMark. There will be a choice of 5
questions and students are expected to answer only one.

For the essay, you can draw best practice examples from your professional
experiences to support your answers and arguments.

You must PASS both sets of assessments in order to successfully complete

the module. Please refer to your Programme Handbook for Pass criteria.

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4.1 Marking criteria

The assessment of your assignment for this module is based on the quality of
four key criteria: research, analysis, ability to link theory and practice and
structure. These marking criteria reflect GDI’s grading standards and students’
overall score will be consistent with the GDI’s grade descriptor outlined in the
rubric shown below.

Summary of marks and grade descriptors:

80 % +
Outstanding work in every respect. A comprehensive and complete answer that clearly
demonstrates a deep understanding of the subject and high intellectual quality.

75-79 %
Excellent work in every respect. Comprehensive and clearly demonstrates a thorough
understanding of the subject and clear intellectual quality. Indications of originality and
comprehensiveness.

70-74%
Excellent work. Demonstrates a thorough and critical understanding of the subject and
clear intellectual quality.

60-69%
Thorough, clear treatment showing a good understanding of arguments and context.
Engages with the major issues. Very good work towards the top end of the scale.

50-59%
Provides a competent discussion of relevant material and some evidence of
critical/analytical thought.

40-49%
Adequate treatment of the subject but with little critical insight. Reproduces material
covered in lectures/seminars but adds little from own investigation.

30-39%
Inadequate treatment of the subject. Barely reproduces material covered in
lectures/seminars.

20-29%
Highly inadequate work that reveals very limited knowledge of the subject. Often
irrelevant.

0-19% Very little ability revealed whatsoever.

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4.2 Attendance requirements

Attending all your classes is very important and one of the best ways to help you succeed
in this module. Research has found a clear correlation between student attendance and
overall performance. In accordance with the ethos of the University of Manchester and
the Global Development Institute, you are expected to arrive on time and take an active
part in all your timetabled classes and tutorials. You are also expected to attend and
engage with relevant seminars organised by SEED and GDI, especially the
Development@Manchester Seminar Series, as they will help in your personal and
professional development as well as networking.

The University of Manchester closely monitors the attendance of all students and
continued absence can result in various consequences including the termination of your
registration as you will be considered to have withdrawn from your studies.

International students who are in possession of entry clearance/leave to remain as a

student (student visa) are required to be in regular attendance at the University of
Manchester or maintain acceptable remote engagement levels as a result of COVID-19.
Failure to do so is considered to be a breach of national immigration regulations. The
University of Manchester, like all British Universities, is statutorily obliged to inform the
UK Border Agency of the Home Office of significant unauthorised absences by any
student visa holders.

If you are unable to attend a class for a valid reason (e.g., illness), please contact your
Module Tutors (Dr Kelechi Ekuma or Dr Natalie Cunningham) or the Module Administrator
(Mr Luke Robinson), using the contact details provided in this Guide.

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5. Learning resources

The nature of learning for this course unit requires full engagement with the
course materials and wider reading to facilitate your own critical reflection
about your knowledge of leadership, so you can appreciate what is amiss in
your own leadership skills portfolio. However, we would not want to suggest
that there is a universal theory or dominant theory for good leadership. A key
skill that will be acquired during this module is that of taking responsibility
for your own learning and by taking a proactive, not prescriptive or a passive
approach.

Students are strongly advised to source materials from a range of sources

beyond Blackboard, including journals and the numerous academic
databases hosted by The University of Manchester Library and the
Kantorowich Library

Blackboard (BB) will be used for the distribution of the Module booklet and
teaching and learning materials. It will also be used as an interactive
mechanism between students and tutors, for example, to direct students to
particular readings or to provide news about the course unit or its content.
BB’s discussion board functionality will also be used to encourage knowledge
sharing and community learning and active participation in these fora will be
accredited in marking.

PLEASE NOTE: Blackboard will not be used as a repository for all course unit
learning materials. Some reports will be on BB, but this unit requires reading
beyond BB. Due to copyright reasons, we cannot put journal articles on BB.
You are advised that, once you have fully committed to this unit, it is
important that you undertake all readings assigned. Lecture slides will be put
on BB at least 48hrs before each session.

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5.1 Readings and indicative references

Books
Antonakis, J., & Day, D. V. (Eds.). (2017). The nature of leadership. Sage publications.
Clarke, N. (2018). Relational Leadership: Theory, practice and development. Routledge.
Hickman, G. R. (2010). Leading change in multiple contexts. London: Sage.
Northouse, P.G. (2021). Leadership: Theory and practice, 9th ed. London: Sage. The older edition
(6th upwards) can also be used in the absence of the 9th edition.
Thorpe, R. Gold, J, Mumford, A. (2010). Leadership and management development. London: Gower
Publishing.

Articles and monographs

Ardichvili, A., Nattoch Dag, K., & Manderscheid, S. (2016). Leadership development: Current and
emerging models and practices. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 18(3), 275-285.
Ciulla, J. B. (2005). The state of leadership ethics and the work that lies before us. Business
Ethics: A European Review, 14(4), 323-335.
Collinson, M. (2018). So what is new about leadership-as-practice? Leadership, Vol. 14(3) 384–390
Di Fabio, A., & Saklofske, D. H. (2019). Positive relational management for sustainable
development: Beyond personality traits – the contribution of emotional intelligence.
Sustainability, 11(2), 330.
Döös, M., Johansson, P. and Wilhelmson, L. (2015). Beyond being present: learning-oriented
leadership in the daily work of middle managers. Journal of Workplace Learning, 27(6), pp.408-
425.
Gilley, J., Shelton, P. and Gilley, A. (2011). Developmental leadership. Advances in Developing
Human Resources, 13(3), pp.386-405.
Hughes, C. (2019). Toward a more specific and collaborative understanding of ethical and legal
issues in HRD. In Ethical and Legal Issues in Human Resource Development (pp. 7-30). Palgrave
Macmillan, Cham.
Kim, J., & McLean, G. N. (2015). An integrative framework for global leadership competency: Levels
and dimensions. Human Resource Development International, 18(3), 235-258.
Leftwich, A., & De Ver, H. L. (2018). Leadership and the politics of development. The Oxford
Handbook of the Politics of Development, 276.
Mendenhall, M. E., Osland, J., Bird, A., Oddou, G. R., Stevens, M. J., Maznevski, M., & Stahl, G. K.
(eds.). (2017). Global leadership: Research, practice, and development. Routledge.
Riggio, R.E. & Reichard, R.J. (2008). The emotional and social intelligences of effective leadership.
Journal of Managerial Psychology, 23(2),169-185.
Turner, J. R., & Baker, R. (2018). A review of leadership theories: Identifying a lack of growth in the
HRD leadership domain. European Journal of Training and Development, 42(7/8), 470-498.

Other readings
Grint, K., Jackson, B. and Uhl-Bien, M. (2011). The Sage handbook of leadership. London: Sage.
Buchanan, D., & Badham, R. (2008). Power, politics, and organizational change: Winning the turf
game. Sage.
Head, B. and Alford, J. (2013). Wicked problems: Implications for public policy and management.
Administration & Society, 47(6), pp.711-739.
Klimoski, R. (2012). Context matters. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 5(1), 28-32.

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6. Note to students with disabilities

The University of Manchester welcomes students with disabilities into the

University’s educational programs.

If you have a disability-related need for modifications or reasonable

accommodations in this course, contact SEED’s Disability Advisory and
Support Service (DASS) coordinator – Janice Dodds at
[email protected]. If you anticipate needing any type of
accommodation in this course, please tell me as soon as possible.

7. Course unit evaluation

You will be asked to complete a module evaluation questionnaire to help

us obtain your views on all aspects of the module. The dates of this survey
will be communicated to you in advance and you are strongly advised to
participate. This is an extremely important process which helps us to
continue to improve the delivery of the module in the future and to
respond to issues that you bring to our attention.

Please help us to help you and other students at the University of

Manchester by completing the Module Evaluation survey. We very much
value our students’ views, and it is very important to us that you provide
feedback for continuous improvements and to help us make amendments
where necessary. Your questionnaire response is anonymous.

Good luck and happy learning!

Kelechi Ekuma, PhD

Course Unit Convenor
Januray 2023

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