Leadership formation : interpreting experience

In this essay we look at leadership development differently, through the lens of philosophical hermeneutics. We show how three aspects of philosophical hermeneutics - focused on accumulating experience of interpretation, engaging in dialogue and interpreting experience - connect with insights from the leadership development literature and lead to principles for a process of leadership formation. The process we describe explains how formation: extends historically through connection with traditions; involves processes of careful, situated dialogic engagement; and encompasses aesthetic engagement with experience in each event of interpretation. Building on these insights, we derive practical implications for educational policy and practice and develop theoretical implications for leadership development debates.PostprintPeer reviewe

‘That’s bang out of order, mate!’:Gendered and racialized micro-practices of disadvantage and privilege in UK business schools

The existence of gendered and racialized inequalities in academia has been well documented. To date, research has primarily addressed the intersectional disadvantages faced by members of minority groups with much less attention paid to the privileges experienced by dominant group members. This paper draws on 21 interviews and 36 audio‐diary entries completed by a diverse group of senior higher education leaders who have successfully navigated the career ladder in UK business schools. By juxtaposing minority with dominant group members' narratives, the study advances intersectionality research, offering a contextualized analysis of the micro‐practices of both disadvantage and privilege in academia. Through a focus on how micro‐practices perform differently for members of different groups, it foregrounds “obvious” as well as nuanced differences that contribute to the accumulation of disadvantage and privilege throughout an individual's career and emphasizes simultaneity as crucial to understanding the workings of gendered and racialized disadvantage and privilege

Anti-dialogic positioning in change stories: bank robbers, saviours and peons

Stories people tell of going through change incorporate and react to others around them. Positions can be taken in stories that tend towards the monological, having a singular perspective and being somewhat sealed off from others. Alternatively, stories can tend towards the dialogical, a multiple, less certain and more interactive mode. We explore multiple stories of an organizational change and analyse a paradoxical situation that emerges. We argue that although the stories may have the appearance of being dialogical, they can be seen as co-existing but self-sealing, or anti-dialogic. We introduce an interruption to the story and discuss a possibility for challenging anti-dialogic positioning in change stories

IDENTIFIKASI KAPASITAS PENANGGULANGAN PADA KAWASAN INFORMAL PESISIR KOTA BANDAR LAMPUNG DALAM MENGHADAPI DAMPAK PERUBAHAN IKLIM

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi karakteristik ketahanan dan kerentanan pada kawasan informal di Kelurahan Kota Karang dan Kelurahan Kangkung dalam menghadapi dampak perubahan iklim. Perubahan iklim menjadi ancaman yang berisiko tinggi di masa depan, kejadian seperti banjir bandang, rob dan krisis air bersih akan terus memburuk pada area pesisir, dan masyarakat informal sebagai kelompok rentan akan sangat terdampak dengan hal tersebut. Metode pada pengumpulan data pada penelitian ini menggunakan metode indeepht interview, literature review dan observasi. Metode analisis data yang digunakan berupa analisis deskriptif kualitatif. Menurut hasil analisis bahwa kawasan tersebut telah berupaya dalam menghadapi berbagai guncangan dan tekanan, serta memiliki karkateristik ketahanan sebagai kapasitas penanggulangan dalam menghadapi dampak perubahan iklim. Namun itu semua belum mampu untuk mengatasi seluruh permasalahan yang ada

Learning from difference and similarity: identities and relational reflexive learning

Within organizations there is reciprocal interplay between identity construction and learning. Processes of learning are enabled and constrained by identity practices; concomitantly, the possibilities for learning are shaped by the identity positions available to individuals. There is a dynamic between the impositions of organizations and people’s freedom to shape their identities and learning plays a crucial role in this. Our purpose in this special issue is to contribute to the understanding of the intersection of identity work and learning as a response to experiences of being different. Experiences of difference include moving into a new role, encountering a disjuncture with others while in a role or a difference in broader life which is reacted to as if it were a problem in an organizational setting. Being different produces a variety of challenges and the papers in this special issue trace how people cope with vulnerabilities, develop resilience and often collaborate in their learning. We focus on how people reflect on their own identity and learn and how, by learning together with people who have similar experiences, micro-communities can support, develop and enhance their insight and identity-positions

Identity dynamics as a barrier to organizational change

This article seeks to explore the construction of group and professional identities in situations of organizational change. It considers empirical material drawn from a health demonstration project funded by the Scottish Executive Health Department, and uses insights from this project to discuss issues that arise from identity construction(s) and organizational change. In the course of the project studied here, a new organizational form was developed which involved a network arrangement with a voluntary sector organization and the employment of “lay-workers” in what had traditionally been a professional setting. Our analysis of the way actors made sense of their identities reveals that characterizations of both self and other became barriers to the change process. These identity dynamics were significant in determining the way people interpreted and responded to change within this project and which may relate to other change-oriented situations

Paradox as invitation to act in problematic change situations

It has been argued that organizational life typically contains paradoxical situations such as efforts to manage change which nonetheless seem to reinforce inertia. Four logical options for coping with paradox have been explicated, three of which seek resolution and one of which ‘keeps the paradox open’. The purpose of this article is to explore the potential for managerial action where the paradox is held open through the use of theory on ‘serious playfulness’. Our argument is that paradoxes, as intrinsic features in organizational life, cannot always be resolved through cognitive processes. What may be possible, however, is that such paradoxes are transformed, or ‘moved on’ through action and as a result the overall change effort need not be stalled by the existence of embedded paradoxes