HPE 500 Leadership Theories in Practice

This course provides frameworks for understanding the process of directing others in a healthcare environment. Students will develop an understanding of the role of the organizational leader, the essential knowledge and skills the role requires, and the leader’s link to organizational effectiveness. An emphasis will be placed on a system-level approach as a key to leadership. We will systematically examine various approaches to leadership, theories of organizational culture and the unique challenge of leadership in the military health care sector. Since leadership is contextual, students will apply theories to their own personal experiences. Commonalities across different theories of leadership will be emphasized.

 

Course Goals: Students will be able to describe the tasks of leadership and the needed skill sets, as well as describe the patterns of leadership style. Students will be able to characterize prevailing models of an institution’s culture, and to analyze the assumptions of leadership in their own institutions by reviewing classic approaches to leadership, and by describing the mechanisms of institutional behavior that are assumed to result in a desired social outcome (for instance competence of physicians, quality in patient care, and profit for the institution). 

 

Credits

2

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the tasks of leadership, the skills associated with success and how these are articulated in different theories of leadership.
2. Describe contemporary theories and frameworks of organizational leadership.
3. Observe and identify markers of institutional culture and its relationship to leadership theories and framework.
4. Describe how leadership has implemented (or failed to implement) effective mechanisms for individual and/or organizational success.