Yahya Farooq

Asad Bilal
Sarmad Ashraf
Sonia Durrani
Amna Tahir

How to teach Leadership

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Submitted to:

Sir Musarrat Khan

Submitted By:
Yahya Farooq (MBA-5A, 01-120112-095)
Asad Bilal (MBA-5A, 01-120112-014)
Sarmad Ashraf (MBA-5A, 01-120112-080)
Sonia Khan Durrani (MBA-5A, 01-120102-073)
Amna Tahir (MBA-5A, 01-120112-006)

Date: 9th Dec 2013

This introduction is made as a requirement for the

Partial Fulfilment of the course project, Leadership

Table of Contents

Introduction
__________________________________________

01

Literature Review
______________________________________ 02
Research Question
_____________________________________ 04
Methodology
________________________________________ 04
Discussion
____________________________________________ 05
Findings
______________________________________________ 08
Conclusion
____________________________________________ 10
Bibliography
__________________________________________ 11
Annexure
_____________________________________________ 12

How to Teach Leadership

Introduction:
In todays dynamic and complex environment, newer organization models are
surfacing and an important aspect of all of these new models is leadership. Leadership has
never been emphasized so much as before. More than ever leadership is recognized as central
to determining the success or failure of any organization (Sadler 2003). According to Achua
and Lussier, Leadership is the influencing process of leaders and followers to achieve
organizational objectives through change. With this growth in importance of leaders, the
number of theories about leadership has increased as well. With these new theories and ideas
about leadership came a debate which actually is the base for all the leadership teaching and
development.
Since long it has been said that leaders are born and not made. Although different
people may have said this differently, the overall concept remained the same. However, in
second half of twentieth century and in twenty first century, researchers on leadership have
been more and more rejecting this concept and are of the view that a leadership can be
developed as well. Almost all of the recent literature on organizational models and
management has included leadership as part of it. Also, with this debate (leaders are born or
made) in the research arena, many business schools in world have included leadership as a
permanent part different business programmes. And those which have not included it are all
thinking about having leadership in their programmes as well.

No single course is sufficient for making someone a leader, however, such courses are
aimed at giving the students a first exposure to leader and that they can be directed, towards
becoming a good leader, before they even join any organization. Of course they will have to
be further groomed at the professional level, but it will be much easier if they are already on
the right track and are mentally ready. However, teaching something is a very difficult task,
and embedding something in a person is even more difficult. Its one thing to teach leadership
theories to a person and a totally different thing to put him on the track towards becoming a
great authentic leader. Because of the fact that the target of leadership courses is not to teach
the students about leadership and its theories but actually to put them on a path for becoming
leaders themselves, teachers have the difficult tasks of doing more than just teaching at their
hands. If teachers are able to fulfil this task, it will be a huge achievement, but the question
that remains challenging is that how teachers can teach this course in a way that can inspire
and help students to become leaders.

Literature Review:
William Arthur Ward said, The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. Teaching is a relatively new
field of research and until early 1900s good teaching was inseparable from goodness of the
teacher (R. Killens, 2007). However, with passage of time, the views about teaching are
changing. Work of Dewey (1933), Chan (1964), Turney (1973), Cole (1986) and many others
contributed towards associating new meanings to teaching. By the 1990s, the idea that
teaching effectiveness should be judged by both the extent and quality of student learning
was gaining acceptance (R. Killens, 2007). Teacher quality is a complex phenomenon, and
there is little consensus regarding how it should be defined and measured (Darling
Hammond, 2000; Goldhaber, 2002). Teaching and learning are causally tightly bound
activities, so questioning what is learning? might lead to have a closer look about what
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precisely are the components of teaching (Dessus, Mandin and Zampa, 2008). According to
Merriam Webster, online dictionary, learning is the activity or process of gaining knowledge
or skill by studying, practicing, being taught, or experiencing something: the activity of
someone who learns.
Before jumping onto teaching leadership, it will be a good idea to have a more solid
view of what leadership is. Leadership isn't mystical and mysterious. It has nothing to do with
having "charisma" or other exotic personality traits (Kotter, 1999). The initial theories of
leadership talked about specific traits a leader must possess. However, over 1000 studies done
in the past 50 years were not able to come up with a specific set of traits that all ideal leaders
must have (Bill George et al, 2007). There are different ways of finishing the sentence,
Leadership is. (Northouse, 2010). According to Harry S. Truman, Leadership is the
ability to get men to do what they dont like to do and like it. According Achua and Lussier,
Leadership is the influencing process of leaders and followers to achieve organizational
objectives through change. Yet a new concept in leadership is authentic leadership. In 2003,
Bill Georges book, Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting
Value challenged a new generation to lead authentically (Bill George et al, 2007).
Organizations, public and private, spend millions of dollars and many hours to
develop effective leaders. However, there is little evidence that they produce better leaders
(Allio, 2005). As a result, it is being taught increasingly in many MBA programmes (Sadler
2003). However, making students in leaders is a very difficult task. There have been
suggestions that it cannot be best learned in classroom environments and that only workplace
environments are suitable for this matter (Ackoff, 2005). One of the reasons of different
business schools not offering a leadership course is that they dont even know how to train.
There is a difference between training and simply teaching. Teaching is about learning
theories and training is about doing. It requires some activity in the teacher student

relationship. So for a successful MBA programme activities near to real world should be
included (Schatz, 1997). Another interesting point of difficulty is the use of specific theories
all over the world. MBA's leadership curricula are too heavily western-based, and taught by
academics with too little exposure to other non-western management practices (Mellahi,
2000). An often ignored element is that the perceived teachers quality, students motivational
orientations and the reputation of the educational institute play a very important role in
making a course successful (Dahl and Smimou, 2011). Rethinking leadership as it is, by
having teachers play a vital role, will also strengthen the whole process (Hay and

Hodgkinson, 2006). Interactive multimedia is also helpful for

achieving the desired results (Mishra and Sharma, 2005). Yet
another way to stimulate the development of leaders is the
involvement of inspirational leadership (Harris and Barnes, 2006).
However, once again, the main aim is to make students ready to
become leaders. Hence, it is important that they are not just taught
leadership, but leadership be developed in them. We need more and
better leaders. Conventional leadership programs miss the mark, and

they pander to the organizations that are looking for better leaders.
They may provide leadership literacy, but cannot develop leadership
competence. The best leadership programmes are the ones that
focus on building the skills (Allio, 2005).

Research Question:
The main question for our research is how to teach leadership so that students can
start their journey towards becoming effective and authentic leaders.

Methodology:
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For conducting our research, we adopted a qualitative approach. We interviewed three

professors of leadership from different universities to analyze how to teach leadership in an
effective way and in a manner that the students are set on a path towards becoming a leader.
The interviewees were: Mr. Zaheer-ud-Din, ex-professor Comsats, Islamabad; Mr Abrar
Ahmed, Professor Iqra University Islamabad and Mr Ghulam Yaseen, Professor University of
Wah. Also we tried to seek the hurdles in the process of teaching leadership. The interviews
were around half an hour to one hour and they were semi structured with open ended
questions. Sample set of questions is given in the appendix.

Discussion:
A discussion had been generated through structured interviews with management teachers on
the question of how leadership can be taught, and more importantly, the potential contribution
of management teachers as to paving the path towards leadership development. Although
there were diverse perspectives on the basic questions investigated in these exchanges, a
number of themes and common perspectives emerged. Most of the management instructors
agreed that some aspects of leadership can be taught; although there was dissimilarity in their
views regarding how successfully leadership skills can be taught or developed through formal
courses and coaching. According to many of the teachers, the ability of leadership to be
taught is as dependent on the student as the teacher.
According to one of the management sciences teacher leadership is made up of three different
extents: perspectives, skills and dispositions. Many leadership skills can be educated, and to
some degree perspectives may be developed and enhanced through education. Dispositions
are in born and an added value in humans. The teaching method should focus on skilful
learning the instructor added; Its not about only going through a text book, as reading a
tennis book is only a small part of being an extraordinary tennis player. Leadership is an

example of performance sport. Leadership requires both thinking and doing. Another
instructor told, Instructors can discuss their moments of both achievement and setback;
produce lessons from their own leadership experiences; provide students with personal
coaching and individual mentoring.
When asked from an instructor about his experience as a teacher of leadership, according to
him, Teaching leadership has undergone wide efforts to revise, refine, and revisit academic
tools and techniques. The emergence of leadership education as a prime activity in business
schools and in other educational settings involves serious questions about how such difficultto-define and ambiguous concept can be effectively taught. With so many contradictory
theories of leadership, it is not easy for a teacher to teach leadership. One teacher said, Often
students ask me, Sir, what you do you think? Are leaders born or made? I have to accept my
inability to answer it perfectly.
Several of the teachers argued that some aspects of leadership are part of inborn qualities.
While these characteristics may be improved through various teaching and learning
experiences, there are limits to the role of formal teaching to development of such skills.
This does not inevitably mean that something cannot still be taught, but like language, it may
be more easily internalized early in life. Many of the instructors linked leadership character
to some features of social or ethical responsibility, telling that, leadership has an ethical and
moral aspect beyond the more common definitions that put emphasis on power and
motivation relationships. Leadership teacher role is not limited to teach bookish knowledge
its beyond that. An instructor should teach his students that an effective leader is an authentic
leader.
According to one of the instructor; first concern in teaching leadership that must be
confronted is what outcomes are to be accomplished. Other respondents have a collective

view point that if the teacher seeks only to give students with knowledge about leadership,
then leadership teaching as a course is above all a matter of teaching in the same way one
would teach any course in the social and behavioural sciences or humanities. One would
require mainly focusing on defining an area of knowledge and then engage the students in
thinking about the course. This is not an easy task and should not be considered less valuable
than the choice to support development of other capacities for leadership. In addition to the
ways one communicate knowledge and critical thinking, now leadership instructors must find
ways to let students to experience what it means to take part in leadership roles and
processes.
In short, the instructor must generate learning situations that allow students to put knowledge
into practice and to experience the consequences of their actions through the response of
others. There are several ways to do this in the classroom: articles, role-plays, written case
studies, simulations and others. Teacher must also generate ways for students to apply their
knowledge of leadership outside of the classroom. Here, he must deal to connect many places
the students can experience, not only their own leadership but also the leadership of other
students, administrators, faculty, and staff on campus. The more the instructor can connect the
class room with rest parts of the campus for leadership environment, the more effective
leadership education can be. And students can be sent off campus to experience leadership in
settings where students are delegated with leadership responsibilities in service learning,
internships, and part-time work settings. However, they all agreed, that it is not a simple thing
to do, given the time constraints and other barriers. Eventually, it is the level of motivation of
both the teacher and the students, which can allow such methods of class room learning.
In the answer of question Is it necessary for a teacher of leadership to be a leader himself?
it was answered; leadership is a challenging task and when it comes to teach leadership it is
far more challenging. An experienced leader, teaching leadership as a subject will add value
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to his teaching, as he may teach it on the basis of his experiential approach. He may utilize
more of the practical and authentic examples for certain situations. But its not mandatory to
be a leader for teaching such a course. If the instructor has the intensity, the incredible
competitiveness, the ability to engage students personally and his ability to challenge and
stretch students, he can teach the course as good as expected. There are a lot of those skills
that are built in to things that a person was born with, same goes for the instructor; he might
have such skills or competencies to teach a diverse course.
When asked about the constraints that can hinder teaching the leadership subject, the
common opinion we received is regarding teacher motivation which may becomes crucial
that depends upon a number of factors amongst policy initiatives, generally those related to
teacher evaluation, changes in university curriculum, university governance, university
culture and the absence of career development and workloads. Most important factors
highlighted by the respondents is the willing of students to involve into the subject and act as
a leader.
One of the management instructor argued that while leadership can be taught, not every
student can benefit from such teaching. He suggested that educators need to radically modify
conceptions of leadership as a subject. According to him, Management education is a
holistic undertaking, one that does not let somebody use itself to easy compartmentalization
or quick fixes. Leadership clearly requires personal commitments on the part of the learner.
Being leadership educator, one may encourage, cultivate, develop and promote such
commitments. Students should be committed to themselves and motivated for seeking such
course.

Finding:

Most of the educators agreed that individual personality traits provide at least part of the basis
upon which leadership skills are built. A leadership instructor should first plan for the
outcomes of the study and then needs to provide clear learning opportunities for students in
addition to the approaches to learn from direct experience. Leadership as a difficult social
behavior can be educated by calling interest to more experienced leaders or the incredibly
competent, enthusiastic, inborn talented leadership educators in action. This can also be
accomplished through the use of current media events such as televised events or speeches,
videos, and by getting leaders to campus and class to communicate with students. The
methods of teaching require focusing on generating meaningful experiences from which the
student can learn. Course knowledge is only a little part of effective leadership. Once a
foundation of ideas, about leadership, is internalized (through cases, articles, books, guest
speakers, discussions) it must be practiced or accomplished with feedback. These could be
client-consulting settings, internships, simulation settings, role plays and other experiential
exercises. The dimensions of leadership that an instructor wishes to teach determine the
appropriate methods/ways. For instance, articles, case studies and action learning may be
most helpful for developing strategic thinking. Experiential exercises are most helpful for
teaching and sharpening behavioural skills such as persuasion and communications.
Leadership has an ethical and moral feature besides the power and influence, and students
should be taught the other and fundamental side of leader is An Authentic Leader.
Teachers should be provided a healthy environment to teach such a diverse subject. As, its
not a simple subject to teach teachers should have autonomy to structure the course and they
should be given opportunity to participate while deciding the course curriculum. Moreover
leadership teachers should focus on improving their practice, enhancing professional
knowledge, and building up innovative teaching strategies. Its a subject that requires ongoing
novelty, improvement and development to accompany.
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The management instructors consulted in this observations generally agreed that leadership as
a course requires a particular kind of education; like leadership itself, teaching leadership
must focus on heuristic approaches such as coaching, mentoring, patterning, and, trial and
error experience. They all agreed teaching leadership as a subject in school/university not
very straightforward given the time limitation and other barrier to it. But the motivation and
willingness of teacher and student can make it less complicated. To accomplish the purpose
instructors should also take commitment from students; they should be willing and committed
to seek such a diverse subject.

Conclusion:
Leadership is a difficult concept and hence a difficult subject to teach. Leadership is
best developed at practical settings and hence is very difficult to achieve in a classroom
environment. For a management sciences course, the aim of the class must not be solely to
teach the concepts of the leadership, though it is a starting point. Nor should it focus on
developing a perfect leader. Thus, the aim of the class should be to make the students familiar
with the concepts of leadership and ignite the will in the students to become future leaders.
The challenge for a teacher is to motivate the students and also show the path for authentic
leadership. Yet, the task is not simple and needs an experienced and more importantly a
motivated teacher. Case studies, articles, practical exercises, role plays, story sharing and
similar activities can not only motivate the students, but also smooth the whole teaching
process. Another important aspect to be noted is that it is not about forcing students into
becoming leaders but giving them a choice. The challenge for a teacher is to motivate the
students to think out of the box and prepare them for learning new things and accept the need
for change.

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Bibliography:
Ackoff, R.L. (2005), What Constitutes Leadership and why it cant be Taught, Handbook of
Business Strategy, pp. 193-195.
Allio, R.J. (2005), Leadership development: teaching versus learning, Management Decision
Vol. 43 No. 7/8, pp. 1071-1077.
Dahl, D.W. and Smimou, K. (2011), Does motivation matter? On the relationship between
perceived quality of teaching and students motivational orientations, Managerial Finance
Vol. 37 No. 7, pp. 582-609.
Darling Hammond, L. (2000), Teacher quality and student achievement: a review of state
policy evidence, Education Policy Analysis Archives, Vol. 8 No. 1.
Dessus, P., Manhin, S., and Zampa, V. (2008), What is teaching, Common Innovation in Elearning, machine learning and humanoid (ICHSL 6), pp. 49-55.
Goldhaber, D.D. (2002), The mystery of good teaching, Education Next, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp.
50-55.
George, B., Sims, P., Mclean, A.N. and Mayer, D. (2007), Discovering Your Authentic
Leadership Harvard Business Review Feb 2007, pp. 129-138.
Harris, J. and Barnes B. K. (2006), Inspirational Leadership: involving senior leaders in
developing the next generation, Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 38 No. 4, pp. 196200.
Hay, A. and Hodgkinson, M. (2006), Rethinking leadership: a way forward for teaching
leadership?, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 144-158.

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Killens, R. (2007), Teaching Strategies for Outcomes-Based Learning, Retrieved from

http://books.google.com
Kotter, J.P. (1999), What Leaders Really Do, HBS PRESS BOOK.
Mellahi, K. (2000), The teaching of leadership on UK MBA programmes - A critical analysis
from an international perspective, Journal of Management Development, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp.
297-308.
Mishra, S. and Sharma R.C. (2005), Interactive Multimedia in education and training,
Retrieved from http://books.google.com
Northouse, P.J. (2010), Leadership: Theory and Practice, Retrieved from
http://books.google.com
Sadler, P. (2003), Leadership, Retrieved from http://books.google.com
Schatz, M. (1997), Why we dont teach leadership in our MBA programmes, Journal of
management Development, Vol. 16 No. 9, pp. 677-679.

Interview Questions:

Q1: How would you describe your experience as a teacher of leadership?

Q2: Ignoring the theoretical knowledge, how practical is to teach leadership and more
importantly to develop leadership, in your experience?
Q3: When teaching leadership, what is the main objective with reference to learning?
Q4: Do you think that for university leadership course, more importance should be given to
learning of the matter or the embedding of the matter?
Q5: What are the main factors in your view that are most important while teaching
leadership?
Q6: How important is the role of a teacher in preparing a student for becoming a leader?
Q7: What set of qualities must a teacher have, should he be a leader himself?
Q8: How important is the role of students in this whole process? What role would you want
to have from your students?
Q9: Taking into account the fact that the students aim, especially in our country, is to get a
degree for doing job, how a teacher an influence and motivate a student to make conscious
efforts for becoming a leader?
Q10: To what extent does the inborn talent play a role in this process?
Q11: What is the role of teaching aid materials and equipment has on making a person
become a leader?

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Q12: Books are important in teaching, for a leadership course do you think they are
sufficient?
Q13: what do you think, considering various constrains, the role of practical in class
exercises, articles, role plays, videos, story sharing, projects in a class of leadership?
Q14: What are the main constraints in your view that are most important while teaching
leadership? How to eliminate them?
Q15: Any last suggestions, comments or important points that you will like to share with us?

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