In recent years, research has supported the need for undergraduate business students to be exposed to the attributes of leadership and the responsibilities of being a leader in the world of business (Kosicek, 2008; Getz, 2009). The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a cumulative development in leadership competency building amongst undergraduate business students in a Canadian university as they progress through each of their four years within their program. Results were to inform the necessary curriculum design changes thus ensuring this needed leadership foundation. Data was collected using focus groups comprised of students from all four years. A series of open ended questions were asked with respect to the areas of content, continuity, connection and flow from year one organizational behavior, to year two human resource management, to year three management skills leading up to a new year four leadership capstone course. Results revealed deficiencies in all areas and therefore strongly supported the need for better coordination, integration, and sequencing to produce the scaffolding for successful leadership competency building. The new fourth year capstone course will allow the students to apply first, second and third year principles of transactional leadership capabilities to the identification and improvement of their transformational leadership capabilities. The course will require students to build a leadership learning portfolio (LLP) comprising a number of reflections on their four-year commerce program journey, in and outside the classroom (courses; career building experiences; community engagement initiatives; exchange and cross-cultural experiences; volunteer work; professional relationship building).
