Doctoral supervision as leadership : a practice-based proposal with special reference to the university hospital setting

Abstract

Leadership issues seem to be strangely absent from discussions about what good doctoral supervision is. The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of doctoral supervision as a form of leadership, with special reference to the university hospital setting. From a personal reflective practice point of view, James Kouzes and Barry Posner's The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® Model is used as a lens through which Anne Lee’s concepts of doctoral research supervision are viewed. Four out of five of Lee’s concepts seem to be leadership-related, when viewed from the perspective of Kouzes &amp; Posner, namely “enculturation”, “critical thinking”, “emancipation”, and “relationship development”. The fifth concept, “functional”, can instead be viewed to reflect managerial skills. Hence, it seems meaningful to view doctoral supervision as a form of leadership. The present concept paper should be viewed as hypothesis-generating, and future studies should examine the proposed hypothesis in a more in-depth fashion, using appropriate empirical methodologies and not as in the present paper mere practice-based reflections.This report has not been externally reviewed. </p