Is leadership a myth? A ‘new wave’ critical leadership-focused research agenda for recontouring the landscape of educational leadership

2021 ◽  
pp. 174114322110662
Author(s):  
Linda Evans
Keyword(s):  
Educational Leadership ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Leadership Studies ◽  
Departure Point ◽  
Object A ◽  
Critical Leadership ◽  
Critical Leadership Studies ◽  
New Research ◽  
Why Questions

Intentionally provocative, this study identifies weaknesses in mainstream educational leadership scholarship, and draws upon ‘new wave’ critical leadership studies to propose a new, potentially paradigm-shifting, direction for the field. The central argument is that educational leadership researchers, in focusing predominantly on how institutional heads and other formal ‘leaders’ may best ‘do’ leadership, are addressing the wrong questions and setting off from the wrong departure point. The unit of analysis should shift, it is argued, from leadership to influence, within a new research agenda that replaces surface-level, causality-assumptive ‘how?’ and ‘why?’ questions that have shaped mainstream educational leadership research for over thirty years, with more fundamental ‘who? and ‘what?’ questions, aimed at identifying who is in fact doing the influencing. An aspect of such inquiry is leadership scepticism and agnosticism, which confronts the question: Does leadership exist, or is it a myth that we have reified? A highly original feature of the proposed new research agenda is the adoption of the author's theoretical notion of a singular unit of micro-level influence as an ‘epistemic object’ – a concept derived from STEMM research, denoting a vague and undefined potential focus of inquiry that may (or may not) turn out to be significant.

An Approach for Humanizing Leadership Education: Building Learning Community & Stakeholder Engagement

2021 ◽  
pp. 105256292110413
Author(s):  
Shaista E. Khilji
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Development ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Stakeholder Engagement ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Mutual Influence ◽  
Leadership Education ◽  
Leadership Studies ◽  
Leadership Development Programs ◽  
Critical Leadership ◽  
Critical Leadership Studies

In recent years, scholars have become critical of mainstream leadership development approaches. In particular, Petriglieri and Petriglieri refer to the dehumanization of leadership, whereby leadership breaks its ties to identity, community, and context. The purpose of this paper is to present an approach for humanizing leadership using the case example of George Washington University’s Organizational Leadership & Learning (OLL) program. Embedded in the critical leadership studies (CLS) approach, the humanizing principles, and the humanistic leadership paradigm, the OLL program’s leadership learning approach focuses on building a learning community and stakeholder engagement. I describe its pedagogical goals and instructional strategies that help promote a psychologically safe space where learners build trusting relationships, integrate diverse perspectives through respectful dialogues, and develop a sense of the “common good” and culture of equity through issue-centered learning. Using classrooms as “identity spaces” and “leadership learning laboratory” allows learners in the program to practice the co-construction of ideas through mutual influence and interactions. This paper makes a valuable contribution to developing future leadership development programs.

So what is new about leadership-as-practice?

Leadership ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 384-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Collinson
Keyword(s):  
Structuration Theory ◽  
Leadership Studies ◽  
Critical Leadership ◽  
Critical Leadership Studies

This paper returns to the original focus of my earlier 'Leading Questions' article (Collinson, 2017) which questioned Joe Raelin’s (excessive) claims that LAP is a distinct ‘movement’, particularly new and supercedes post-heroic perspectives and is more critical than critical leadership studies. Arguing that Raelin's claims overstate the value of LAP, this rejoinder draws on Giddens’ structuration theory to illustrate my points about structure, practice and resistance in relation to the foregoing responses from Leadership As Practice (LAP) contributors (Raelin et al, 2018).

Context and conditions matter: Stress and strain in the exercise of leadership power

Leadership ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg Krauter
Keyword(s):  
Future Research ◽  
Stress And Strain ◽  
Conservation Of Resources ◽  
Leadership Studies ◽  
Business World ◽  
Workplace Organization ◽  
Self Assessments ◽  
Critical Leadership ◽  
Critical Leadership Studies ◽  
Leader Role

Current research shows that a significant number of leaders suffer from strain which effects their application of power. This is a highly relevant leadership issue in today’s challenging business world. This study applies conservation of resources theory and the critical leadership studies approach to re-think leadership dynamics such as stressors and strain factors and their influence on power-related behaviour. The leader role, leader–member relations, workplace, organization and environment can be identified as resource passageways which create, maintain or limit the development of resources such as power-related behaviour. Research on the self-assessments of 43 German leaders from private sector shows that strain factors, leader role and leader–member relations can influence power-related behaviour. The data also show the importance of clarifying demands and expectations to prevent resource loss, otherwise overtaxed leaders are highly likely to use negative forms of power-related behaviour. The results demonstrate the need to improve understanding of the leader role with its increasing demands to be more flexible, agile and ambidextrous, but also to accept the human limitations of those who take on senior positions. Hence, the study findings demonstrate that context and conditions shape the situation in which leaders are embedded and therefore how to handle power is not only a problem for leaders themselves. The article also discusses the limitations of these findings and outlines possible directions for future research.

scholarly journals Beyond unsustainable leadership: critical social theory for sustainable leadership

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 418-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jem Bendell ◽  
Neil Sutherland ◽  
Richard Little
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Leadership Studies ◽  
Sustainable Leadership ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Critical Leadership ◽  
Critical Leadership Studies ◽  
Critical Social

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to prepare the conceptual groundwork for the future study of leadership for sustainable development. The paper demonstrates the relevance of Critical Leadership Studies to future research on sustainable development policies and practices. A critical approach is also applied to concepts of sustainable development, with three paradigms of thought described. Design/methodology/approach The approach taken is an extensive literature review in fields of leadership and sustainable development, with a focus on some of the broad assumptions and assertions in those literatures. Findings A key finding is that leadership studies drawing from critical social theory can provide important insights into future research and education on leadership for sustainability. This literature shows that some assumptions about leadership may hinder opportunities for social or organisational change by reducing the analysis of factors in change or reducing the agency of those not deemed to be leading. These limitations are summarised as “seven unsustainabilities” of mainstream leadership research. Research limitations/implications The paper calls for the emerging field of sustainable leadership to develop an understanding of significant individual action that includes collective, emergent and episodic dimensions. The paper then summarises key aspects of the papers in this special issue on leadership for sustainability. Practical implications The implications for practice are that efforts to promote organisational contributions to sustainable development should not uncritically draw upon mainstream approaches to leadership or the training of leaders. Originality/value The authors consider this the first paper to provide a synthesis of insights from Critical Leadership Studies for research in sustainability.

The invisible norm: An exploration of the intersections of sport, gender and leadership

Leadership ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Ryan ◽  
Geoff Dickson
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Rugby Union ◽  
Leadership Studies ◽  
Gender And Leadership ◽  
Sport Leadership ◽  
Critical Leadership ◽  
Underrepresentation Of Women ◽  
Critical Leadership Studies ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Insight Into

The gender leadership problem is not the underrepresentation of women, but the dominant presence of groups of men and valued forms of masculinities. We argue that critical leadership studies would benefit by considering sport to explain the nuanced relationships between leadership, sport, men and masculinity and the ensuing invisible norms that marginalise women. In doing so, we respond to calls for critical leadership scholars to examine situated power relations in more reflexive and innovative ways. Sport influences, and is influenced by, the inequalities of gender, class, age and race. The intersection of sport, leadership and gender provides an otherwise unavailable insight into what is normalised, men and the masculine subtext of leadership We examine New Zealand’s relationship with Rugby Union to achieve both of these aims. We conclude that Rugby is anything but benign or irrelevant when it comes to understanding gender and leadership in New Zealand.

scholarly journals Anti-leaders(hip) in Social Movement Organizations: The case of autonomous grassroots groups

Organization ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 759-781 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Sutherland ◽  
Christopher Land ◽  
Steffen Böhm
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Leadership Role ◽  
Stable Set ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
Leadership Studies ◽  
Occupy Movement ◽  
Grassroots Groups ◽  
Critical Leadership ◽  
Critical Leadership Studies ◽  
Movement Organizations

Through the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement, the idea of horizontal, leaderless organization has come to the attention of the mass media. In this article we explore radical, participative-democratic alternatives to leadership through an empirical study of four Social Movement Organizations (SMOs). Whilst there has been some writing on leadership within SMOs, it has mirrored the ‘mainstream’ assumption that leadership is the product of individual leaders possessing certain traits, styles and/or behaviours. In contrast, critical leadership studies (CLS) recognize that leadership is a relational, socially constructed phenomenon rather than the result of a stable set of leadership attributes that inhere in ‘the leaders’. We utilize this framing to analyse how leadership is understood and performed in anarchist SMOs by examining how actors manage meaning and define reality without compromising the ideological commitments of their organizations. Furthermore, we also pay attention to the organizational practices and processes developed to: (a) prohibit individuals from permanently assuming a leadership role; (b) distribute leadership skills and roles; and (c) encourage other actors to participate and take-up these roles in the future. We conclude by suggesting that just because an organization is leaderless, it does not necessarily mean that it is also leadershipless.

Performing Leadership: Towards a New Research Agenda in Leadership Studies?

Leadership ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Peck ◽  
Tim Freeman ◽  
Perri Six ◽  
Helen Dickinson
Keyword(s):  
Research Agenda ◽  
Leadership Studies ◽  
New Research

scholarly journals Is critical leadership studies ‘critical’?

Leadership ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Learmonth ◽  
Kevin Morrell
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Leadership Studies ◽  
Discursive Practices ◽  
Critical Leadership ◽  
Critical Leadership Studies ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Critical Project ◽  
The Way

‘Leader’ and ‘follower’ are increasingly replacing ‘manager’ and ‘worker’ to become the routine way to frame hierarchy within organizations; a practice that obfuscates, even denies, structural antagonisms. Furthermore, given that many workers are indifferent to (and others despise) their bosses, assuming workers are ‘followers’ of organizational elites seems not only managerialist, but blind to other forms of cultural identity. We feel that critical leadership studies should embrace and include a plurality of perspectives on the relationship between workers and their bosses. However, its impact as a critical project may be limited by the way it has generally adopted this mainstream rhetoric of leader/follower. By not being ‘critical’ enough about its own discursive practices, critical leadership studies risk reproducing the very kind of leaderism it seeks to condemn.

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