New kinds of leadership skills are in demand at local, national, international and global levels. The challenges societies face have increased in complexity. Environmental and energy problems, the dynamics of global security, management of regional crises, provision of cost-effective public services and development of fertile grounds for entrepreneurship and business development are all systemic in nature. This means that various institutions and civic society actors must work together, negotiate and agree on the new ways of doing things.
The Master's Degree Programme in Leadership for Change enables developing the kind of knowledge and expertise that is needed to explain and understand complex phenomena, become a visionary leader, and to change the world. Leadership is understood as a capability to deal with change. Major changes require joint efforts of the government, private companies and other institutions. We bring together the perspectives of business and management from the private sector, the understanding about institutions and governance from the public administration as well as the knowledge of international relations and political processes from the area of politics.
The Faculty of Management at the University of Tampere provides a unique setting for studying multifaceted leadership dynamics. The Faculty offers high-quality academic research and teaching in the fields of business, public administration and politics - and this programme focuses on the intersection of these fields. The aim of the programme is to provide the student with a unique understanding of these different fields with a specific focus on leading the dynamics of societal change processes.
The programme prepares the graduates to work in private, public or the third sector in tasks that involve analysing, planning and steering complex change processes which unfold at local, national, international and global levels. Students learn to carry out academic research on these phenomena, and acquire skills required for a potential academic career.
The programme (120 ECTS) consists of 4 elements:
- Joint programme studies (30 ECTS) form the core of the master’s programme. The focus is on cross-disciplinary perspectives on leadership in complex societal processes. This module also focuses on a variety of important academic and employability skills (e.g. research methods, academic writing and presentation skills, etc)
- The advanced studies module (25 ECTS) enables the students to acquire in-depth theoretical, methodological and conceptual knowledge in their chosen specialisation: business, politics or public administration.
- Through free-choice studies (25 ECTS) students can develop a unique profile to their studies based on individual interests.
- Master’s thesis (40 ECTS) is an individual research project that enables the student to demonstrate his/her in-depth knowledge in the chosen specialisation.
Osaamistavoitteet
Knowledge
- Critically assess the key challenges of leading societal change processes from the perspectives of business, governance and politics.
- Discuss the extent through which current theories, models and approaches of leadership and management are adequate to solve existing problems and dilemmas
- Apply key concepts emanating from the fields of business, governance and politics to real situations (case studies)
Skills
- Grasp the importance of, and the existing mechanisms for, collaborating across multiple sectors of the economy
- Master the ability to communicate and think across disciplinary fields and/or knowledge domains
- Recognise and comprehend the effects of broader societal changes – digitisation, urbanisation, aging, etc.
- Be an active participant of change processes
General competence
- Be able to formulate precise and relevant academic research problems and undertake independent scientific work
- Be able to collaborate with and address multiple stakeholder audiences
- Be able to assess, interpret and critic selected domains of leadership from the perspective of business, governance and politics theories and practice