PhD Course
PhD Course: The Philosophy of leadership, leadership of the event, and leadership as an art.
Purpose
It is the aim of this course to present a comprehensive view of leadership that clearly distinguishes it from management. The decisive difference is the sense in which leadership can be approached as an art and to do so means that we must understand what an “event” is as such. The course draws on the whole of the European philosophical tradition to shed light on this important aspect of modern leadership.
Course responsible
Professor, Dr. Phil. Ole Fogh Kirkeby, Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy, CBS.
Lecturers
Professor Ole Fogh Kirkeby, Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy, CBS.
Content of the course
The course is divided into three parts.
1. The course will present the philosophy of leadership as a way to conceptualize leadership by contrast to management. In the light of the European philosophical tradition, spanning from ancient Greek philosophy to postmodernism, leadership will be construed as reciprocal relation between the individual and society, more specifically, between the individual’s state of mind and the state of society. Leadership is presented as a way of developing as a human being through an etho-poiesis that pervades the tasks of governing. Leadership raises the challenge of realizing norms and values. The core of the course is constituted by the delineation of the virtues of leadership. The metaphorical content of the verb to lead will be analyzed, and the concepts of value, vision, self-development, reflection, right, and duty will be deconstructed.
2. The concepts of power and force will be explored, and a theory of the capacity to lead “the event” will be introduced. Event-management is a concept of increasing influence, but it needs a theory of the event as such. Here, the contribution of the Stoics will be analyzed in the light of recent thinking by Gilles Deleuze.Theresult of this investigation is both a theory of event-leadership, and a theory of the force of action.
3. We will try to understand what it means to see leadership as an art. This means that we must develop a new language of leadership built on the idea of art as a practice (which is part of its own self-image and metaphorical meaning). The leader must be an artist, and the employees must be treated as autonomous artists too.
Prerequisite
The seminar is designed for PhD students.
Literature
Ole Fogh Kirkeby; The New Leadership (English version of “Det nye lederskab”)
Ole Fogh Kirkeby; The eventum tantum. To make the world worthy of what could happen to it" In Ephemera, Critical Dialoques on Organisations . ISSN 1473-2868 26 p. Oct. 2004.
Ole Fogh Kirkeby; "The Greeek Square, or The Normative challenge of Aesthetics" Ephemera, Critical Dialogues on Organisations ISSN 1473-2868. 22 p. Nov. 2003.
All participants will also receive a complete set of assigned readings in advance.
ECTS: 3
Fee: DKK 1500
Language: English
Participants max: 25
Enrolment deadline: May 1, 2006
Applications to: To reserve your participation in this seminar, please fill out an application form.
Contact information: Tine Buskjær Rasmussen Phone: +45 3815 3782 E-mail: