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.
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There may be extra costs on top of the tuition fee, such as set books, a computer and internet access.
If your income is not more than £25,000 or you receive a qualifying benefit, you might be eligible for help with some of these costs after your module has started.
There may be extra costs on top of the tuition fee, such as set books, a computer and internet access.
If your personal income is £25,000 or less, or you’re on certain benefits, you could qualify for a grant and OU top-up funding to cover 100% of your course fees. Apply online at the same time as you register on your module.
For more information on how to apply, visit our Part-Time Fee Grants for students in Scotland page.
The Open University Student Budget Accounts Ltd (OUSBA) offers a convenient 'pay as you go' option to pay your OU fees, which is a secure, quick and easy way to pay. Please note that The Open University works exclusively with OUSBA and is not able to offer you credit facilities from any other provider. All credit is subject to status and proof that you can afford the repayments.
You pay the OU through OUSBA in one of the following ways:
Joint loan applications
If you feel you would be unable to obtain an OUSBA loan on your own due to credit history or affordability issues, OUSBA offers the option to apply for a joint loan application with a third party. For example, your husband, wife, partner, parent, sibling or friend. In such cases, OUSBA will be required to carry out additional affordability checks separately and/or collectively for both joint applicants who will be jointly and severally liable for loan repayments.
As additional affordability checks are required when processing joint loan applications, unfortunately, an instant decision cannot be given. On average, the processing time for a joint loan application is five working days from receipt of the required documentation.
Read more about Open University Student Budget Accounts (OUSBA).
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.
We know that sometimes you may want to combine payment options. For example, you may wish to pay part of your tuition fee with a debit card and pay the remainder in instalments through an Open University Student Budget Account (OUSBA).
We know that sometimes you may want to combine payment options. For example, you may get support from your employer to pay part of your tuition fee and pay the remainder by credit or debit card.
For more information about combining payment options, contact an adviser.
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 2026. Fees typically increase annually. For further information about the University's fee policy, visit our Fee Rules.
