Trying out loud: Leadership development as experimentalism

Where does leadership development turn if its heroic ideals are no longer tenable? This study takes leadership practice, not the classroom, as its point of departure. Leadership studies have demonstrated the romance in leadership theory of an individual, stable, and coherent leadership figure, even if this figure does not connect to actual practices. In other streams of research, practice increasingly appears to be a resource for less presumptuous theorizing about leadership. These more situationally sensitive approaches call for equivalent leadership development practices, and extant literature in particular has escaped the confines of the executive management classroom to only a limited extent. While experiential learning has proved an efficient means of instigating and harvesting in-classroom experiences for subsequent reflection and learning, translating these experiences into (later) leadership practice has proved problematic. The mundanity of practice rarely corresponds to the theoretical exposés emanating from classrooms. Using a leadership development program (LDP) as our case, we explore accounts from managers carrying out in-practice experiments and analyze these processes in light of Dewey’s notion of experimentalism. Identifying a series of attributes associated with the experimental intervention, we illuminate some future avenues for situated leadership development as well as offer considerations for leadership development practice.

Analyzing the Link between Distributed Leadership and Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs at Secondary School Level

School head teachers can no longer lead their schools on your own; they are obligated to cooperate with their leadership team members. They assign various leadership functions to teachers and allow them to contribute in decision-making process. In this context, this correlational study was mainly intended to analyze secondary school teachers’ perceptions regarding various functions of distributed leadership and to find out their relative weight in terms of predicting secondary school teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs. Furthermore, the effect of three demographical variables (i.e., gender, experience, school sector) was also studied in predicting teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs. A randomly selected sample of 1335 secondary school teachers completed self-report questionnaire comprising three parts i.e., demographic section, 23 item Distributed Leadership Inventory (Hulpia et al., 2009) and 10 item Teacher Self-efficacy Scale (Schwarzer et al.,1999). Results of descriptive analysis revealed that secondary school teachers perceived themselves as highly self-efficacious. Pearson correlation coefficient showed that all the independent variables related to distributed leadership i.e., support, supervision and coherent leadership team and dependent variable i.e., teacher self-efficacy were found to be substantially related with each other. Standard multiple regression analysis indicated that coherent leadership team variable was the strongest predictor of secondary school teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs. Results also suggested that coherence among leadership team affects secondary school teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs more positively in comparison with all the other independent variables. As regards demographical variables, school sector found to be a significant predictor of secondary school teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs. Finally, this study recommends that school leaders should work in cooperation with all the teachers with a clear view on school goals in a trustworthy and open environment avoiding any role conflicts.

The Status Quo of Sustainable Tourism Development in Phuket. A Qualitative Assessment

Sustainable tourism is an increasingly fashionable term that is strongly correlated with the global age of increased mobility. While there is increasing interest in sustainable tourism, there is no contemporary research that describes the current state of Phuket, Thailand, the mass-tourism destination. An in-depth review of existing literature revealed that sustainable tourism at large receives a great deal of attention in its current state. This paper aimed to go beyond the common theme of sustainable tourism and conducted a thorough analysis about the status quo in Phuket with regard to sustainable tourism. Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews (n=5) with industry experts and later analyzed the content by the means of thematic analysis. The research is specific to Phuket; therefore, the results of this research are not generalizable to other mass-tourism locations. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but it is evident that stakeholders in Phuket recognize the importance of sustainable tourism. Moreover, the lack of accountability, coherent leadership, and consistency resulted in a high failure rate when initiatives were launched to improve sustainable tourism behavior in Phuket.

From defining to measuring productivity: a coherent leadership strategy for effectiveness

Purpose This viewpoint aims to alert managers to the necessity of measuring productivity, gauging their performance and determining efficiency levels, as a coherent leadership strategy for organizational effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach This viewpoint is prepared by an independent writer who aims to add to the ongoing debate on the necessity for productivity measurement to ensure organizational effectiveness. Findings There is an old adage: “What you cannot measure, you cannot manage”. This viewpoint reports on the relationship between productivity measurement, skills development and competitiveness as a coherent strategy for effectiveness. Practical implications This viewpoint provides strategic insights and practical thinking to encourage managers to utilize resources to the optimal and to ensure the effectiveness of their organizations. Originality/value The viewpoint saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Are clinical leads clinical leaders? Optimising primary care-led commissioning and policy making

There is rising demand for general practitioners in the UK to fill leadership roles in clinical commissioning. Function can vary, from providing frontline insights, representing peers or patients, as well as adding credibility, or relationship-building for programme delivery. The term ‘clinical lead’ may, however, be misleading regarding responsibilities, which often lack the authority or strategic tenets defined in leadership. Much of the literature regarding medical managers focuses on single healthcare provider organisations that adopt shop-floor clinicians into a leadership structure. Population commissioning, however, demands additional technical skills in public health, statistical literacy, economics and even ethics, which, while learnable, are not innate to clinicians. Along with biases in the selection of leadership hierarchies, and limitations of traditional project management, further steps are necessary to nurture the competencies for coherent leadership that use implementation science and maximise opportunity for clinician-leaders to bridge the evidence-policy gap. Organisations need to learn to more effectively distribute authority across the political economy of healthcare to appropriate clinical-leaders in policy rather than continued concentrations of executive decision-making. This requires clinicians with the appropriate neutrality and minimum necessary competencies to be selected and developed for population commissioning.

Project Management Toxic Leadership: Implications for Managing a Road-Tunnel Project in Bangladesh

This is a research paper that is focused on assessing the leadership impacts of Project Management (JV Lead Management) on a road tunnelling construction project in Bangladesh in terms of project performance. An interpretive methodology was utilised in order to help understand implicitly the management leadership’s impact on the project. The scope for this research was the off-site supervisory team. The targeted population of interest was made up of 14 lower-managers/engineers located at one off-site main office in the late design stage/early construction phase of a road-tunnelling project.The research outcomes consisted of four4 main themes and the corresponding 11 sub-themes.The paper addresses raised issues and determines outcomes and implications for the continuing project construction management and the paper also indicates that the Project Management and other senior members of the JV Lead Management - both in-country and overseas -may benefit from more effective leadership training focused on utilizing and embracing contemporary project leadership developments.The road tunnel construction management appears to be very weak due to their low level of technical knowledge, style, orientation and strategies adopted by the Project Management, who operate with a demonstrated lack of coherent leadership or oversight practiced by the JV Lead managing entity.

Leadership models for a good governance. insights from some exemplary Italian cases

The paper addresses the theme of responsible and good governance founded on a moral and ethical-based leadership approach. Firstly, the work describes the theoretical framework paying specific attention to ethical leadership theories, responsible leadership and governance. Subsequently it presents the first results of an empirical analysis centered on exemplary case-studies relative to Italian companies, which are included among the best performing ones and have for years built a responsible orientation in their mission and governance models. Findings underline how coherent leadership models based on a positive moral perspective, authenticity, and integrity act in promoting a cultural reorientation inside and outside the company, valorizing relationships with stakeholders, favoring trust and fairness in the interactions with employees and collaborators, and allowing to establish effective models of governance based on the sharing of information, openness and democratic participation