Course Content and Outline

Overall goal of this course is to understand the implications of leadership within organizations. To do so, we will draw from several theoretical perspectives and schools of thought including organizational behavior, work and organizational psychology, sociology, as well as business and economics. We will illuminate the effects and interplay of three levels of analyses: the individual, team and group, and the organizational level. We will discuss, for example, how personality and job attitudes affect employee behavior; what kinds of leadership styles exist, and when they are most effective; why teams may be more effective in some cases but not in others; why diversity is both a blessing and a challenge for teams and organizations as well as how organizational structure and culture affect its members. 

 

Course Handling and Grading

This seminar-like course takes place every Winter Term and depending on Covid-19 regulations will be either held online, in hybird fashion, or completely in person. It consists of two different segments: (1) a lecture part, including a theoretical introdcution to the topic by the lecturer and a student group presentation, and (2) a practice part, allowing students to apply their acquired theroetical knowledge in case studies, group or individual exercises, or role play. 

Teaching materials including both the lecture slides from Professor Weiss and the mandatory readings will be provided via Blackboard. To facilitate the participants’ understanding of the lecture-type contents, the use of this course’s discussion forum in Blackboard is highly recommended.

The final grade of this course consists of a group presentation (including discussion contributions) and a paper. Depending on the further development of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting regulations, the group presentations are scheduled to take place in-class. Personal attendance is mandatory (also applies for online course). 

Course Eligibility and Application

This course is primarily directed at students enrolled in the following program: Master of Science in Management & Marketing (M&M), first semester. 

This course is restricted to exchange students enrolled in one of the following Masters of Science at the School of Business and Economics of FU Berlin:

• Master of Science in Management & Marketing (M&M)
• Master of Science in Finance, Accounting, Taxation & Supplements (FACTS)
• Master of Science in Business Information Systems (Wirtschaftsinformatik)

Only the permanent students of the Master of Science in Management & Marketing, who are in their third semester of the program and prevented from going abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are also eligible to take this course.