Module Components

• Overview
Assignments

Topics

• What is Leadership?
• Why Do We Need Leadership?
• Chaos Theory
• Leadership Theory
• A Different Approach to Leadership
• Test Your Knowledge of Leadership
• Overview of World War II
• Timeline of World War II
• Test Your Knowledge of WWII

NRSG 696 - Leadership Analysis Cinematic

Module 1: Leadership and World War II

Leadership Theory

Leadership has been defined in a great many ways in the literature. Most commonly, leadership is defined as a process of influence to attain mutual goals. Leadership is sometimes regarded as the outcome of a social process in which interacting individuals coordinate their actions to achieve shared goals. According to this notion, leadership cannot be studied without examining the needs and desires of followers. From an evolutionary perspective, it is not surprising why individuals choose to lead given the obvious benefits. It is more puzzling why people would voluntarily defer to a leader given what is known about the process of evolution through natural selection. Questions about the origins of followership are not normally posed but they are critical in an evolutionary analysis.

Even members of a highly social species like humans frequently experience conflicts of interest in the pursuit of their goals. Leadership is sometimes described in terms of a quantitative trait. Everyone is capable of leading to some degree, but there are clear individual differences in the propensity to lead. Some researchers have argued that leadership is primarily a function of the situation. Everyone could be a leader in the right conditions. By viewing leadership as a strategy of social influence, an evolutionary analysis is consistent with either trait or state explanations of leadership. The empirical literature must decide which of them provides a better account of leadership.

For a quick review, click here to learn more about the major leadership theories.