England

Please tell us where you live so that we can provide you with the most relevant information as you use this website.
If you are at a BFPO address please choose the country or region in which you would ordinarily be resident.
Accessibility statement
An image to illustrate Developing leadership module
Leadership is everywhere and is a widely studied and practised concept because it addresses the big questions about the direction of groups, organisations, and societies. In this module, you’ll explore the major concepts of leadership, including personality, skills and behaviours, collective approaches to leadership, ethics, and the influence of technology. You’ll also develop the ability to engage critically with leadership ideas in different contexts, from work to personal life and wider society. As you progress, you’ll be encouraged to reflect on your own perspectives and experiment with new leadership concepts and practices in meaningful ways.
Leadership is a practice and area of study that has persisted for so long for good reason: people find it incredibly appealing as an idea. In addition, people tend, for good or ill, to find the idea of leaders exciting, even bewitching. You'll learn about many of the major concepts of leadership, one of the oldest organisational concepts, with a history stretching back thousands of years.
You will no doubt already have ideas and experiences that are relevant to studying leadership, and you will be able to build on and critique those as you progress through the module.
You'll cover a broad range of ideas, from those that focus on individual leaders and their characteristics, to collective approaches that focus on relationships between people, to how values and ethics play a role in leadership, and to ideas beyond humans that include the places we live in and the technology we engage with.
Block 1 provides a solid foundation for the module, offering a broad overview of historical approaches to leadership and outlining the skills you need to succeed in your studies.

Block 2 focuses on approaches to leadership that consider individual personality traits, skills, and behaviours, as well as how leaders connect with followers.
Block 3 moves on to focus on collective leadership approaches, including how leadership can be distributed, how relationships between people can enact leadership, and ideas that approach leadership in this way from around the world.
Block 4 delves into how values relate to leadership and the world of ethics, expanding what we might consider the point of leadership to be and considering if ethical questions and tensions can really be resolved.
Block 5 looks to push the boundaries of what we might consider relevant to leadership, including the places we live in, the technology we use, how we see, hear, and feel leadership, and how non-human elements can play a role.
On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:
Many of the practices and skills you will gain in this module – a sound understanding of leadership, critical thinking, communication, reflection and finding and interpreting information – will be attractive to employers.
There are specific activities on the module that enable you to reflect on your employability skills, and the module also links with the OU FutureYou platform so that you can take the skills you learn on the module and apply them to other contexts.
You’ll get help and support from an assigned tutor throughout your module.
They’ll help by:
Online tutorials run throughout the module. While they’re not compulsory, we strongly encourage you to participate. Where possible, we’ll make recordings available.
Course work includes:
All of the materials you need will be on the module website, which includes:
You can study this module on its own or use the credits you gain towards an Open University qualification.
B211 is an option module in our:
Understanding leadership starts once a year – in October.
This page describes the module that will start in October 2026.
We expect it to start for the last time in October 2033.
As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations, which are available on our Student Policies and Regulations website.
This is an OU level 2 module, and if you have no previous experience of studying business subjects, it is strongly recommended that you first study a relevant OU level 1 module.
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the module, please speak to an adviser.
The OU strives to make all aspects of study accessible to everyone, and this Accessibility Statement outlines what studying B211 involves. You should use this information to inform your study preparations and any discussions with us about how we can meet your needs.
To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our Disability support website.
StartEndRegister byEngland fee
03 Oct 202630 Jun 202710 Sep 2026£4,088
Studying with The Open University can boost your employability. OU courses are recognised and respected by employers for their excellence and the commitment they take to complete. They also value the skills that students learn and can apply in the workplace.
Over 30,000 employers have used the OU to develop staff so far. If the module you’ve chosen is geared towards your job or developing your career, you could approach your employer to see if they will sponsor you by paying some or all of the fees.
You can pay part or all of your tuition fees upfront with a debit or credit card when you register for each module.
We accept American Express, Mastercard, Visa and Visa Electron.
Please note: your permanent address/domicile will affect your fee status and, therefore, the fees you are charged and any financial support available to you. The fee information provided here is valid for modules starting before 31 July 2027. Fees typically increase annually. For further information about the University's fee policy, visit our Fee Rules.
Level info