DB-FPX8610 establishes the theoretical foundation for students pursuing the DBA leadership specialization track, covering leadership theory with an eye toward the specialization seminar work that follows.
Foundational leadership theory for the specialization track
DB-FPX8610 surveys the major leadership theoretical traditions comprehensively, building the shared theoretical vocabulary and critical evaluation skill the leadership specialization's subsequent seminar courses will build on.
Connecting theory to a leadership specialization research direction
The course requires students to begin identifying which specific leadership theoretical area most interests them for eventual dissertation research, using the broad theoretical survey to narrow toward a genuine, specific research direction.
Key topics in DB-FPX8610
- Comprehensive survey of major leadership theoretical traditions
- Building shared theoretical vocabulary for the specialization track
- Critical evaluation skills applied to leadership theory
- Identifying a specific leadership research interest area
- Connecting leadership theory to the eventual dissertation direction
- Preparing for the leadership specialization's advanced seminar coursework
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Worked example: narrowing from a broad survey to a specific research interest
- Broad survey coverage: Trait, behavioral, situational, transformational, servant, and authentic leadership theories
- Emerging interest: A student finds themselves most drawn to authentic leadership research, particularly its application to leaders navigating organizational crisis
- Narrowing process: Reviewing recent authentic leadership literature to identify a genuine, underexplored gap related to crisis leadership specifically
- Outcome: This narrowing process, started in DB-FPX8610, becomes the seed of the specialization seminar research direction in later courses
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Frequently asked questions
A comprehensive survey of the field's major theoretical traditions gives students the broad conceptual map needed to identify where their own specific research interests genuinely lie, and to understand how a narrower research focus relates to and builds on the broader field — beginning with narrow specialization before this broader grounding risks students choosing a research direction without fully understanding the theoretical landscape and alternatives they might be missing. DB-FPX8610 uses this survey-then-narrow structure because doctoral research benefits from students first seeing the full breadth of a field before committing to a specific research direction, ensuring that eventual dissertation topic choices are genuinely informed rather than accidentally narrow due to limited initial exposure to the field's full theoretical range.
Identifying a genuine research interest and beginning to explore the relevant literature early gives students significantly more time to develop, refine, and test that interest against the actual existing literature before they need to commit to a formal dissertation proposal — waiting until formal dissertation coursework begins to start this exploration process compresses an important, iterative discovery process into a much shorter timeframe. DB-FPX8610 begins this identification process early specifically because finding a genuine, well-grounded research interest that connects personal interest, theoretical significance, and identifiable literature gaps is rarely instantaneous — it typically requires exploring, reading, and reflecting over an extended period, which is exactly why the specialization track structures this exploration to begin as early as possible in the sequence.