Cross-Cultural Leadership: Social Identity and Leadership in a Global Society

Old maps of a “flat” world show the area of origin as the center or middle of the Earth, illustrating the mindset of societal and cultural preeminence. The purpose of this course is to explore the influence of society and culture on leadership, with a particular focus on the nations of Western Europe. Defining leadership as the process of leaders and followers acting together within a given context to achieve a common goal, the course examines how social values and cultural mores of nations (contemporary context) shape individual thought and impact leader-follower behaviors, attributes, relations and interactions within and across national boundaries. Through personal observation and investigation of concepts, patterns, and issues that shape society and cultural values, students will learn the importance of society and culture to effective leadership in a global setting and understand how to assess social structure and culture when making leadership decisions.


The Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany
LDSP 330