About this course
Leaders in business and non-profit organizations increasingly work across national boarders and in multi-cultural environments. You may work regularly with customers or suppliers abroad, or be part of a globally dispersed cross-functional team, or an expatriate manager on an international assignment. You may be a member of a global online community, or a development aid worker collaborating with an international network of partner organizations. In all of these contexts, your effectiveness as a leader depends on how well you understand and are able to manage individual and collective behaviours in an intercultural context.
In this course together with a team of Bocconi expert faculty and Bocconi alumni we'll explore the theory and practice of international and intercultural leadership and organizational behaviour. Social science research has revealed systematic ways in which our behaviour differs across cultural contexts enabling us to more effectively work across borders. Insights from psychology, neuroscience, sociology and anthropology, from communication studies and from management scholarship allow us to understand what shapes individual and group decision making, what enhances or weakens team performance, and how we can build and use our social networks. And the shared practical experience of international leaders allows us to identify concrete steps to enhancing intercultural leadership competence, and to be cognizant of common leadership challenges.
Learning about organizational behaviour provides a great opportunity to develop your leadership skills and to reflect on your own behavioral tendencies. How do you usually make important decisions? What motivates you and how do you try motivating others? How successfully do you leverage and integrate diverse skills and views in a team? Do you prefer professional relationships with a close-knit group of trusted colleagues, or with a far-flung network of acquaintances from all walks of life?
If you really want to learn how organizations behave and take decisions and at the same time develop leadership skills, then this is the course for you.
We are looking forward to welcoming you and supporting you on this journey of learning and discovery.
COURSE SYLLABUS
Week 1 - Leadership Acumen. International perspective on leadership, common traps & challenges, and opportunities of intercultural leadership.
Week 2 - Navigating Culture. Impact of cultural differences on organizations, decoding culture, culture classifications and stereotyping, developing intercultural intelligence.
Week 3 - Communication. Communication and its impact on leadership identity and relationships, managing communication to improve decision making, steps for developing your intercultural communication skills.
Week 4 - Motivation. Views on individual motivation, cultural differences in motivation, developing motivation and commitment in teams.
Week 5 - Networking. Patterns of interpersonal relationships in/across organizations, strategically developing social networks and social capital, norms for networking across cultures.
Week 6 - Conflict. Effective / defective conflict management approaches, dealing with ethical dilemmas.
Thanks to the participation of our alumni and of the Bocconi Alumni Association, participants will have practical insights on international leadership.
RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND
All are welcome! Some prior exposure to basic issues of organizational behaviour (communication, decision making, motivation, etc.) is useful, but not required.
