• Grenoble Ecole de Management

Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Leadership and Followership

Develop critical thinking and managerial skills while unpacking traditional and modern approaches to leadership and followership.

Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Leadership and Followership

  • 4 weeks

  • 2 hours per week

  • Digital certificate when eligible

  • Open level

Find out more about how to join this course

  • Duration

    4 weeks
  • Weekly study

    2 hours
  • 100% online

    How it works
  • Unlimited subscription

    $244.99 for a whole yearLearn more

Explore the impact of modern leadership styles and followership behaviours

Leadership and power play significant roles in our lives, from shaping societies and governing policies to building multinational organisations.

On this four-week course from Grenoble Ecole de Management, you’ll take a deep dive into traditional and contemporary leadership styles to develop a nuanced understanding of effective leadership practices.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to critically assess leadership and followership, and apply modern frameworks to a variety of settings.

Explore the evolution of leadership

You’ll begin this course by unpacking traditional leadership styles, including authoritarian, transactional, and bureaucratic approaches to leading.

Then you’ll explore contemporary practices, like servant and team-based leadership, which emphasise collaboration, empowerment, and the well-being of team members.

Better grasp these modern methods by turning to other disciplines, such as Aikido, and perspectives, including leadership within Indigenous communities

Grasp leadership ethics

Examine the positive and negative aspects of traditional and modern leadership styles, including liberating, servant, and mindful leadership, as well as dysfunctional, toxic, and narcissistic leadership.

This will help you develop a comprehensive understanding of ethical leadership and recognise the impact different styles have on organisations and individuals.

You’ll also distinguish positive leadership styles and behaviours from negative ones.

Expand your leadership skills with Grenoble Ecole de Management

Throughout the course, you’ll be guided by the specialists at Grenoble Ecole de Management.

With this expertise, you’ll finish the course with enhanced critical thinking in leadership and the practical skills to apply diverse leadership styles ethically and effectively.

Syllabus

  • Week 1

    Introduction to Leadership

    • Welcome

      The objective behind this course is to encourage you to think more critically about both leadership as well as followership in contemporary times. Come and meet your educator and let's get started !

    • Leadership Introduction

      We begin by reviewing the definition of leadership, and some of the conventional frameworks of leadership.

    • Servant Leadership

      We will be covering some of the newer concepts in leadership from contemporary literature. We will consider both positive as well as negative types of leadership in this session.

  • Week 2

    Leadership and Power

    • Leadership and Power

      First we will define the notions of ‘power’ and ‘dependency’. Next, we will explore the different sources or bases of power that an individual might embody. We will close the session with a brief discussion of empowerment.

  • Week 3

    Followership + Failed leadership

    • Followership

      Now, its time for us to shift our attention to followership. Although followership is essential for the creation and sustenance of leadership, it has often been neglected in extant literature.

    • Social constructivist frameworks of leadership and followership

      In this session, we consider the example of three such social constructivist frameworks of leadership and followership.

  • Week 4

    Comprehensive theory of leadership and followership

    • Comprehensive theory of leadership and followership

      In this final session, we will continue on this trend, and explore how leaders and followers influence one another to produce specific outcomes. In other words, we consider a comprehensive theory of leadership and followership.

When would you like to start?

Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.

  • Available now

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Explore a variety of leadership styles and approaches and analyse how they fit with personal preferences
  • Identify the skills required for leadership and assess personal experience and capability
  • Reflect on followership, from the perspectives of both the leader and the follower
  • Evaluate how effective leadership can overcome a variety of common challenges
  • Reflect on personal experience, start a leadership journal and devise an appropriate plan of action to develop leadership skills.

Who is the course for?

This course is well-suited for anyone interested in learning more about modern management practices and how these shape businesses and societies.

Whether you’re considering a career in management or just curious about the concepts and theories behind today’s management practices, this course offers a solid introduction to key ideas and terminology.

Who will you learn with?

Prof Patel is a Senior Professor and Director of the Doctoral School of GEM. She publishes on ethics, cultural dynamics, leadership, gender issues in the workplace, sustainability, and mindfulness.

I'm a weaver and community alchemist + facilitator and coach + lecturer, DBA candidate, and Program Director, MSc Management for Sustainability Transitions at the Grenoble Ecole de Management.

Who developed the course?

Grenoble Ecole de Management

For the past 30 years, Grenoble Ecole de Management (GEM) has established itself in France and abroad as a leading business school through expertise in technology, innovation and entrepreneurship.

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Ways to learn

Choose the best way to learn for you!

Subscribe & save

$244.99 for a whole year

Automatically renews

Develop skills to further your career

  • Access to this course
  • Access to 1,000+ courses
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Tests to boost your learning
  • Digital certificate when you're eligible

Cancel for free anytime

Buy this course

$109/one-off payment

Fulfill your current learning need

  • Access to this course
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Tests to boost your learning
  • Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible

Limited access

Free

Sample the course materials

  • Access expires 28 May 2025

Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)

Sale price available until 2 June 2025 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply.

Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)

Sale price available until 2 June 2025 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply.

Learning on FutureLearn

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  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
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Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
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Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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