23. The Need to Consider the Context When Offering Bachelor Programs in Leadership

Drawing on recent research and theory, the chapter suggests that not only is leadership a viable field for academic study and professional application, but also that the discipline’s focus will need to become increasingly collaborative, inclusive, and adaptable as a variety of different goals and worldviews will be required to cohere around mutually satisfying common visions. The chapter considers the changing nature of leadership roles in increasingly globalized social, political, educational, and professional environments. The authors argue that historically unprecedented multinational conditions in these spheres call for similarly unique conceptions of leadership and leadership studies, and they assert that previous understandings of these terms have presupposed a level cultural and social commonality between leaders and followers that can no longer be safely assumed.