Developing Leaders in Cyber-Space: The Paradoxical Possibilities of On-Line Learning Developing Leaders in Cyber-Space: The Paradoxical Possibilities of On-Line Learning

ABSTRACT Whereas 'distance learning' has often been seen as the poor relation of face-toface educational encounters, this paper suggests that paradoxically, this mode of delivery can offer significant advantages to those aiming to develop highly situated practices, such as leadership capability. In particular, the 'distance' from the delivering educational establishment becomes 'proximity' or an affordance in terms of where the learning is actually applied, and the constraints of the programme's structure enable greater freedom on the part of participants as they choose which aspects of theory they focus on. The argument presented here is based on research conducted to gain insight into participants' experience of a two-year Masters in Leadership Studies delivered primarily through on-line, webbased technology. We conclude that despite appearing to be a 'transmission' based learning intervention, the on-line mechanism fosters an experience similar to action learning in its engagement with participants' contexts, and also enables a more 'constructivist' approach to learning about the practice, as well as the theory, of leadership

Developing leaders in cyber-space: The paradoxical possibilities of on-line learning

Whereas 'distance learning' has often been seen as the poor relation of face-to- face educational encounters, this article suggests that paradoxically, this mode of delivery can offer significant advantages to those aiming to develop highly situated practices, such as leadership capability. In particular, the 'distance' from the delivering educational establishment becomes 'proximity' or an affordance in terms of where the learning is actually applied, and the constraints of the programme's structure enable greater freedom on the part of participants as they choose which aspects of theory they focus on. The argument presented here is based on research conducted to gain insight into participants' experience of a two-year Masters in Leadership Studies delivered primarily through on-line, web-based technology. We conclude that despite appearing to be a 'transmission'-based learning intervention, the on-line mechanism fosters an experience similar to action learning in its engagement with participants' contexts, and also enables a more 'constructivist' approach to learning about the practice, as well as the theory, of leadership. © 2009 SAGE Publications

Art as experience: An inquiry into art and leadership using dolls and doll-making

This article reflects on an arts-based action inquiry process involving students on an MSc in Management Learning and Change. Following Dewey’s (1934/2005) contention that art is grounded in experience, we adopt a purposefully non-aggrandising perspective on ‘leadership as art’, arguing that this prompts greater critical attention to possibilities for inclusiveness in these realms of human endeavour. We propose the present inquiry, in which participants were invited to create leadership touchstones, or dolls, as a way of learning about leadership and themselves as leaders. Drawing from therapeutic and psychoanalytic perspectives, we explore dolls’ power to provoke, unsettle and evoke strong reactions on the part of their makers, and demonstrate how these dynamics played out in our inquiry. We highlight the conditions which enabled participants to engage with the tensions and ambiguities raised in ways which held open possibilities for reflexivity. We conclude that leadership, like art, can most constructively engage with the human condition when it is able to hold, not collapse, our experience of the uncanny, the abject, and the other—including the ‘other’ within the ‘self’—within the complexities of organisational life.This article reflects on an arts-based action inquiry process involving students on an MSc in Management Learning and Change. Following Dewey’s (1934/2005) contention that art is grounded in experience, we adopt a purposefully non-aggrandising perspective on ‘leadership as art’, arguing that this prompts greater critical attention to possibilities for inclusiveness in these realms of human endeavour. We propose the present inquiry, in which participants were invited to create leadership touchstones, or dolls, as a way of learning about leadership and themselves as leaders. Drawing from therapeutic and psychoanalytic perspectives, we explore dolls’ power to provoke, unsettle and evoke strong reactions on the part of their makers, and demonstrate how these dynamics played out in our inquiry. We highlight the conditions which enabled participants to engage with the tensions and ambiguities raised in ways which held open possibilities for reflexivity. We conclude that leadership, like art, can most constructively engage with the human condition when it is able to hold, not collapse, our experience of the uncanny, the abject, and the other—including the ‘other’ within the ‘self’—within the complexities of organisational life