| dc.description.abstract | This thesis explores leadership in a business setting and how it is
learned, and the role that a teacher may play in the process of learning.
The thesis draws on Stacey's theory of complex responsive processes of
relating in organisations to present a view of leadership as skilled
participation in an ongoing process of interaction rather than as an
individualistic act. The theory is also used to take a view on the process
of learning the skills of leadership.
At the outset, the ideology of mainstream management, and how it is
typically learned, is examined through the study of a narrative account
in relation to relevant literature. A number of issues are explored
which give rise to the author's dissatisfaction with current approaches.
In subsequent sections, a number of typical teaching situations, a
leadership workshop and a strategy workshop, are studied in narrative
form and explored from the standpoint of Stacey's theory.
The argument in the thesis is that while management is concerned with
the coherence of action in an organisation, leadership is to do with
willing and informed participation which derives from the shared
meaning which is made of the situation in which the participants find
themselves. What is different about the argument presented is that
shared meaning arises, not from the act of an individual, but from the
ongoing interaction of all participants. Not all participants in this
interaction are the same; some will be more powerful, while some will
be more skilful in discerning, making sense and interacting with other
participants. To the extent that participants see an individual as skilled
in this way, that person will be seen in a leadership role.
These skills of leadership, and how they are learned, are explored with
particular reference to Foulkes' theory of Group Analysis. | en_US |
