Leadership Challenges Research Articles

Challenges of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme: Insights for school leaders and policy makers

Policy makers in the US and several other countries are recommending that more schools offer an International Baccalaureate (IB) programme. However, little is known about the challenges that IB programmes present for teaching and learning particularly those meeting national curriculum. In this study, we examined the challenges of the IB’s Middle Years Programme (MYP), the least understood and researched of the IB programmes. Using a qualitative case study design, we conducted in-depth and semi-structured interviews with school leaders (n=7) and teachers (n=10) from three schools in Australia that previously offered the MYP. We used thematic analysis to generate the findings and the IB’s Standards and Practice framework to organize the reporting of findings. Participants shared perceived challenges related to philosophical factors, organizational dilemmas and complexities with integrating the MYP with Australia’s national curriculum. Understanding the organizational and leadership challenges that schools may face when offering the MYP can help policy makers promote the necessary conditions for successful program implementation.

How Lean transforms relationships to empower employees and increase impact


 
 
 The challenges of humanitarian leadership are well-studied by the social sciences. However, there is untapped potential in applying private sector management principles and best practices to humanitarian work. Some non- profit organisations have fruitful experience applying Lean Management, an innovative management system developed by Toyota, which is not just about manufacturing better cars or improving industrial processes. Lean focuses the organisation on providing more value to its customers which, in the case of the humanitarian sector, are its beneficiaries. Our panel shared their experience of using Lean Management to address common issues in humanitarian operations. Their stories demonstrate the potential of Lean to transform work and relationships by devolving power to lower-level workers and partners. By empowering staff and local entities, it also improves relationships, collaboration, and ultimately the outcomes of humanitarian missions.
 
 

These are our stories: waving not drowning as we navigate Covid:19 as leadership ‘profess-ionals’

ABSTRACT This feminist thinkpiece invites the reader to engage with the narratives of five women leading in education. In this piece we are ‘professing’; admitting openly our stories of leadership and the acute tensions experienced during COVID 19. Our provocation is that leadership can be done differently when the emotional dimension is valued; as women leaders we can be that change. Our stories are positioned within the dominant constructs of what it means to be a leadership ‘professional’. This is a leadership discourse that is resolutely masculine, to ‘man up’, to not acknowledge vulnerabilities, conflicts, and complexity. Consequently, stories like these are too often unheard. But the problem does not go away if you stop talking about it. We problematise the view that to profess leadership challenges is unprofessional – irrational, unobjective, emotional. Whilst the contexts of our stories are different, our narratives are united by our commitment to openness, honesty and reflection. Through our storying we begin to disrupt what it means to be ‘profess-ional’ in our education leadership lives.

Book Review: PR Women with Influence: Breaking Through the Ethical and Leadership Challenges by Juan Meng and Marlene S. Neill

Book Review: <i>PR Women with Influence: Breaking Through the Ethical and Leadership Challenges</i> by Juan Meng and Marlene S. Neill

Advancing leadership in medical radiation sciences: Incorporating systematic leadership education in pre-registration curricula

Advancing leadership in medical radiation sciences: Incorporating systematic leadership education in pre-registration curricula

Leading through complexity in early childhood education and care

Effective leadership influences the process quality of early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs and therefore the academic, health and socio-emotional outcomes for children. Yet, the cultivation of leadership is impacted by the complex nature of ECEC environments and the persistent challenges therein. Complex workforce issues, inadequate preparation for positional leadership roles and few opportunities for professional development for emerging leaders challenge the growth of effective leadership and the development of sustainable leadership for the ECEC profession. This commentary gives an insight into the challenges of leadership within ECEC and leader supply and suggests leadership emergence and enactment is potentially cultivated by broadening theoretical and pragmatic propositions. Complexity leadership theory within complex adaptive systems is presented as a framework for leadership cultivation within ECEC and opportunities for leadership development are highlighted.

In search for the missing link: studying the interrelationship between organizational learning and organizational culture change

PurposeThe interrelationship between organizational learning (OL) and organizational culture (OC) is often assumed at an abstract theoretical level, but there is yet no systematization of scholarly knowledge allowing to conceptualize and understand its precise nature. In this article, we therefore ask “How can we, based on the insights from the dispersed research studying OC and OL, conceptualize the interrelationship between the two concepts?” Our purpose is to create an overview on the past development path and the current status of research interrelating OL and OC, to use it as basis for the conceptualization of this interrelationship and to identify avenues for future research.Design/methodology/approachThis article utilized a systematic literature review methodology by combining bibliometric and content analysis using relevant articles identified from the Scopus database. A two-stage literature review research approach was employed: (1) Bibliometric analysis was used to identify 416 relevant contributions and to present a comprehensive contextual picture of the interrelations between OL and OC research by analyzing the 162 most relevant articles. (2) A subsequent qualitative content analysis of the 45 most relevant academic contributions detailed and solidified the insights.FindingsWe identify four weakly linked thematic clusters on the interrelationship of OC and OL. Based on that, our analysis confirms the theorized bidirectional relationship between OC and OL: OC acts as antecedent, driver and result of OL processes, and OL processes are constrained by and alter OC. We moreover develop three propositions that put knowledge at the center of scholarly attention for understanding this interrelationship in more depth and develop avenues for future research.Practical implicationsOur research has important implications for managers as it shows that mastering leadership challenges is central for the success of OL processes and OC change. We moreover specify the leadership challenges that relate to particular types of OL processes. Managers need to take this interrelationship into account when setting out for OL or OC change processes, and carefully reflect on whether or not the decided OL measures fit the given OC, and the other way round.Originality/valueOur contribution to existing research is threefold: It first lies in analytically mapping out the research field, second in conceptualizing the interrelationship between OC and OL and third in identifying open research questions and topics.

Transformational Leadership in Banking: Challenges of Governance, Leadership and HR in a Digital and Disruptive World

Transformational Leadership in Banking: Challenges of Governance, Leadership and HR in a Digital and Disruptive World

Why Change a Winning Team? Explaining Post-Election Cabinet Reshuffles in Four Westminster Democracies

Incumbent prime ministers who win re-election often reshuffle their cabinet ministers. These post-election cabinet reshuffles have important implications for policymaking and present a puzzle: why would prime ministers alter the ‘winning team’ that has just received an electoral mandate? Existing literature has largely overlooked post-election reshuffles, so offers few compelling answers. At most, a plausible but under-theorised and untested conventional wisdom suggests that electoral success increases prime ministers’ authority over their ministers. This article thus provides the first systematic study of post-election cabinet reshuffles in single-party governments. It argues that re-elected prime ministers use a temporary increase in their authority to pre-empt future leadership challenges by moving or sacking cabinet rivals. Larger election victories should thus produce larger reshuffles. However, analysis of post-election cabinet reshuffles in four ‘Westminster’ democracies since 1945 shows no support for this expectation, suggesting that further work is needed to understand these important political events.

President’s Message: Congratulations and Challenges for New Leadership

President’s Message: Congratulations and Challenges for New Leadership

Swimming against the current: Negotiating leadership challenges for women in Iran

The representation and progression of women in leadership roles is a global issue, but research insights on the enactment of leadership by women stem from a predominantly Western perspective. As leadership is inherently context-dependent, we focus on a specific ‘place’ of leadership enactment and provide a more situated and contextual understanding of the challenges women in Iran face in entering and enacting leadership roles. This study contributes to the understanding of leadership and place by considering the dynamics of place as occurring at multiple levels – societal norms (including religion), organisational and physical (including geographical). For this in-depth inductive study 24 semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed through Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Through the intersection of different spheres of place particular challenges for women arise. The women within our study had to negotiate the complex dynamics of doing gender well and being seen to act in line with the normative conceptions of femininity with dominant masculine expectations of what leadership and how it should be done. While also women Western contexts are constrained and / or supported by cultural (national, societal and organisation) factors as well as place in a physical and geographical sense, the specific nuances in national and societal cultural norms and the ‘harsh’ physical environment in our study provide additional challenges for women to negotiate. This study affords female leaders in Iran a voice and extends previous work on the lived experiences of women in the Middle East and North Africa Region in the under-researched context of Iran.

Abrupt Implementation of Telework in the Public Sector During the COVID-19 Crisis

Abstract. Lockdown regulations during the COVID-19 outbreak resulted in abrupt changes to work situations and presented new leadership challenges. This short report explores how leaders perceived their options for leading transformationally when their teams were forced to rapidly switch to virtual collaboration. We interviewed 20 supervisors using semistructured telephone interviews who described their general leadership behavior before the lockdown and the evaluated possibilities and difficulties of leading transformationally during the lockdown. The article provides insights into the preconditions for transformational leadership in the public sector during change processes. High workload, time pressure, and role conflicts, combined with restricted freedom of action, restrained their options of transformational leadership. Communicative problems further hindered the transfer of transformational leadership behavior to new working arrangements during the Covid-19-crisis. The article derives implications for ways of helping managers to employ the potentials of transformational leadership in virtual settings and during change processes in the public sector.

Why did Pope John Paul II visit Ireland? The 1979 papal visit in context

Pope John Paul II’s visit to Ireland in 1979 was an iconic moment in the history of twentieth-century Irish Catholicism. It has, however, received little detailed historical scrutiny. Based on state archival and hitherto unavailable diocesan material, this article contextualizes the visit by explaining the pastoral and leadership challenges that confronted the Irish hierarchy. Second, this article discusses how close the pope came to visiting Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles. This was of concern not just to the hierarchy but to the Irish and British governments. Third, the organization of the visit, which was closely tied to the pastoral concerns of the Irish bishops, is surveyed. Lastly, the pastoral impact of the visit is considered. If the Catholic hierarchy hoped that the papal visit might arrest the declining institutional influence of the Catholic Church, reverse a quiet but growing faith crisis, or hasten a cessation of violence in Northern Ireland, then those expectations were misplaced. Ultimately, the pastoral impulse of the 1979 papal visit to Ireland was to preserve rather than renew the Irish Catholic tradition at a time when Irish Catholics were fixed on future material advancement rather than fidelity to their spiritual past.

Leadership and Innovation - How Can Leaders Create Innovation-Promoting Environments in Their Organisations?

Abstract Innovation is considered to be among the most relevant success factors for companies in the contemporary business environment. Thus, finding strategies and approaches to foster innovation becomes a crucial challenge for managers and leaders alike. The present paper aims to showcase, how the working environment shaped by the present Covid-19 crisis with its enforced work-from-home-setting influences innovation processes. Therefore, an extensive literature review is conducted, where in a first step the challenges of leadership within a telework-environment are established. The author therein explains the differences between classic approaches towards this mode of virtual collaboration and the pandemic-induced, often mandatory approach to telework utilized throughout the pandemic. This leads to a description of how – especially in times of the Covid-19 pandemic – innovation becomes even more crucial for organizations not only in the medical field, as they need to react to a changing environment and, accordingly, changing customer needs. Leadership challenges of finding ways to create and shape innovation-friendly work environments and organizational cultures given the limitations of the situation, are presented and critically discussed.

Relationship between Transformational Leadership Style and Leadership Thinking of Provincial Administration Leaders

Objectives: The transformational leadership style is accepted as suitable for leading administrative agencies to achieve outstanding results and help organizations cope with challenges. Besides, leadership thinking is also considered to have a very important role in leadership performance in administrative agencies. Therefore, the main objective of the study is to explore the relationship between transformational leadership style and leader thinking to organization's performance. Methods: The article focuses on explaining the views on transformational leadership style, healthy thinking, and the relationship between transformational leadership style and leadership thinking, and at the same time points out the current status of transformational leadership style, transformational leadership, leadership thinking as well as this relationship in practice among the leaders of provincial agencies in Vietnam. Descriptive, inductive, deductive, synthetic, and quantitative statistical methods were applied to interpret the results. Findings: Research results show that transformational leadership style, leadership thinking in the team of leaders of provincial agencies is quite average, there is a strong positive correlation between transformational leadership style. In contrast to leadership thinking, a more transformative leadership style means that it requires an innovative leadership thinking. Novelty:The results achieved when applying a transformational leadership style are quite closely related to the application of leadership thinking to solve leadership challenges. Doi: 10.28991/esj-2021-01307 Full Text: PDF

Theatre as Service … My Experience During the Global Pandemic in Canada

Perhaps the global pandemic (COVID-19) and the death of George Floyd have brought an immense, drastic, and unprecedented turn in human history. Many disciplines are now being intentional about asking critical and ethical questions around race, identity, social justice representation, and systemic change. The same is true for theatre and performance. While events in 2020 stretched and burdened racialized bodies, they also provided opportunities for many racialized bodies to be recognized perhaps because of their knowledge, experiences, identities, and the power and privileges they hold or do not hold. As an African in the Canadian theatre sector and scholarship, I acted in different capacities to address systemic injustice in Canada’s theatre scene during the pandemic. For instance, I co-facilitated some sessions with colleagues from Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour (IBPoC) community for the purpose of creating space for dialogue on issues of concern to this community. In this article, I reflect on how the pandemic produced an initiative that has the potential to address leadership challenges within the performing arts sector.

Graduate training during the COVID-19 pandemic: North American genetic counseling students' challenges, intolerance of uncertainty, and psychological well-being.

The COVID‐19 pandemic has upended genetic counseling (GC) graduate students’ lives, as they have been forced to transition, manage, and acclimate to life during a pandemic. The current study is a first step in understanding their lived experiences during this historic, global event. We investigated academic and personal challenges, intolerance of uncertainty, and psychological well‐being of GC students (n = 248) who trained during the pandemic (GC‐COV cohort) and those who did not (GC‐NoCOV cohort). Participants completed an online survey (July–September 2020) that used validated measures of Intolerance of Uncertainty and Psychological Well‐Being. To assess the academic and personal challenges students experienced during GC graduate training, we developed a 43‐item measure. Principal axis factoring of the items revealed categories of challenges related to the following: Academic & Professional Development, Self‐Regulation & Resilience, Institutional & Program Leadership, and Financial Stability. There was no cohort difference in Psychological Well‐Being. Linear mixed‐effects modeling showed significant cohort differences in challenges. Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that the GC‐COV cohort's Psychological Well‐Being was statistically significantly predicted by Institutional & Program Leadership challenges (p = .029), Self‐Regulation & Resilience challenges (p = .013), and Intolerance of Uncertainty (p = .010). For the GC‐NoCOV cohort, the statistically significant predictor of Psychological Well‐Being was Self‐Regulation & Resilience challenges (p = .029). Our findings demonstrate that GC students training during the COVID‐19 pandemic have experienced various personal, academic, and psychological disruptions and highlight a need to develop resources and implement interventions supporting students’ academic development and psychological well‐being.

Transformative Intervention Strategies for Teacher Leaders During the Pandemic and Beyond

The Covid-19 pandemic has created an unparalleled catastrophe with significant challenges for leadership in schools all over the world. The efforts that schools have put in place for training and preparing for teachers prior to Covid-19 seem to be out of step, thus requiring a reimaging and significant transformation to remain relevant for aspiring teacher leaders. This conceptual paper aims at providing transformative intervention strategies (TIS) to empower teachers to become leaders during Covid-19. Having applied transformative leadership theory and integrative literature review (ILR) as method, this paper suggests that teachers should start with transformative listening and learning, whilst taking advantage of opportunities to be empowered to become leaders. To empower teachers to become leaders during the pandemic and beyond, prospective teacher leaders should embrace opportunities which might come from adjustments and which may enable them to better understand the reasons for transformation. As such, this paper aims to provide transformative intervention strategies to empower teachers to use opportunities afforded to them to become leaders in their schools amid the pandemic and beyond. TIS may assist schools in cultivating an environment where teachers actively work together to display transformative emotional intelligence, transformative autonomy and transformative inclusive leadership. The finding revealed that, if purposefully implemented, TIS may encourage teachers to see the value in growth towards leadership, making the process of transformation in schools that much easier.

An Integrated Framework of Leadership for Healthcare Organizations to Navigate Through COVID-19 Crisis

COVID-19 crisis has strained healthcare systems immensely creating a multi-front challenge to overcome. Healthcare leaders face stressful situations like long arduous hours of work, isolation from their loved ones, immense mental health issues along with fighting false narratives and campaigns by social media. Hence, there is a dire need for leaders to embrace this uncertainty and evolve by adopting a strategic shift in their mindset.&#x0D; To propose an effective functional leadership model of practice during crisis, author has undertaken a qualitative approach to understand the various literature published on crisis management, reviewed the literature on healthcare leadership, contextualized the papers about unique challenges posed by a crisis like COVID-19, and utilize the learnings to design an integrated framework for healthcare organizations to be applied during a crisis.&#x0D; Author presents a systems-based view of leadership challenges in healthcare organizations during a crisis and proposes a unique framework of 3A- Acknowledge, Activate, and Agility which could serve a comprehensive tool of strategic leadership for healthcare leaders to adopt during a crisis. When healthcare organizations adopt the principles embedded within 3A model elements, it would help them realize better patient outcomes, develop compassionate organizational culture, and enhance professional satisfaction within their teams.

Exploring how key performance indicators influence nursing and midwifery practice: A mixed-methods study.

To scope the key performance indicators (KPIs) used in nursing and midwifery across the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland and explore how they influence practice in healthcare organizations. The study adopted a sequential, exploratory mixed-methods design. Phase 1 incorporated a multiple-choice questionnaire completed by 77 Directors of Nursing recruited using voluntary response sampling. In phase 2, 35 nurses and midwives who were working at executive, senior manager and clinical levels, participated in semi-structured interviews. Data collection of both phases was conducted from January 2016 to October 2016. Quantitative data revealed over 100 nursing and midwifery-specific KPIs. National requirements were a deciding factor in KPI selection, while clinical involvement was mainly through data collection. Respondents stated that they used patient experience KPIs, but only one was assessed as valid. Thematic analysis identified two themes: The leadership challenge (including 'voiceless in the national conversation', 'aligning KPIs in the practice context' and 'listening to those who matter'); and taking action (including 'establishing ownership and engaging staff', 'checks and balances' and 'closing the loop'). The large volume of KPI measurement taking place makes meaningful evaluation of performance and quality of care difficult, both in and across organizations. Nurses and midwives require enhanced knowledge of the nature and purpose of KPIs, as evidence gained from KPI data collection is insufficient to lead to improvements in practice. A practice context that encourages collective leadership, where multiple sources of evidence are gathered and everyone is included in KPI evaluation and subsequent decision-making, is key. This study adds to the body of evidence on KPI understanding. It informs the future effective management of indicators that will facilitate the delivery of meaningful care and reduce the cost, time and effort invested in the implementation of KPIs and data management.