Leadership Challenges Research Articles

Exploration leadership that advancing creative collaboration for teachers

Amidst China's robust push for aesthetic education reform, the emphasis on interdisciplinary and cross-specialty collaboration necessitates alterations to traditional collaboration frameworks, presenting fresh challenges for leadership. While most of today's schools have documented the closely knitted relationship between leadership and teacher collaboration in educational settings, very few attempts have been made to explore what competencies college leaders employ to infuse creative collaboration into the organizational culture and how this creative collaboration affects teachers’ work, especially under the aesthetic education reform in China. This research used qualitative case study and thematic analysis to explore leaders' competencies to promote creative collaboration in the organizational culture. This case study involved 10 participants from one College of Fine Arts in Henan, China, selected through purposeful sampling. Data were collected through 16 semi-structured interviews and the review of relevant documents. Findings reveal that the college dean employs an integrated leadership approach to foster positive creative collaboration among teachers. Findings were organized into the following themes: (i) Clear and decisive, collaboration-oriented organizational decision-making and guidance mechanisms; (ii) People-centric mindset: Fostering open and honest communication, creating a trusting environment; (iii) Maintenance and practice of integrity and responsibility; and finally (iv) Creating resources supporting and common goals to ignite teachers' passion for collaborative engagement. Valuable guidance in the leadership model for fostering positive teacher-creative collaboration for leaders in Chinese aesthetic education reform is provided based on these findings.

Exploring the spiritual foundations of public health leadership

The Covid-19 pandemic has laid bare the challenges of public health leadership. Faced with criticism, threats, and even violence, many public health leaders have left the field. A healthier future for the nation may well rest on training aspiring public health leaders to build deeper capacity for perseverance, healing, and resilience. Reflecting the growing experience of a team of public health educators at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Harvard Chan), this article offers recommendations for public health schools to recognize, and incorporate into leadership education, themes of spirituality—ie, the way people seek ultimate meaning and purpose and deep connectedness to something larger than themselves. Doing so can serve as a foundation for the lifelong journey of leadership. Over the past decade, Harvard Chan has incorporated meaning, purpose, and connectedness themes to complement more traditional coursework addressing research and translation. While many established leadership frameworks address the “what” and “how” of career development, the spirituality framework can support aspiring leaders to more fully understand their “why” and its alignment with challenging work. Such a deeply personal topic, traditionally kept private, has been shared and nurtured in Harvard Chan classrooms through a range of pedagogical strategies including personal reflection, one-on- one coaching, experiential learning, case discussions, and candid conversations with public health leaders. By encouraging a values-based foundation for decision-making in crises and difficult leadership moments, such grounding can help aspiring leaders navigate the challenges of public health leadership that inevitably lie ahead.

Navigating the challenges of female leadership in the information and communication technology and engineering sectors

PurposeThis paper addresses the issue of the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions within the information and communication technology (ICT) and engineering fields. The study examines the complex issue of vertical segregation and gender equality by exploring the barriers that women encounter and the potential coping strategies they adopt to advance in their careers.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs a qualitative approach, conducting semi-structured interviews with 17 women at middle and upper management levels in the ICT and engineering sectors. This approach aims to better understand women's workplace experiences and gain deeper insights into the nature of the barriers they face.FindingsThe study identifies four main factors hindering women's progression toward senior management positions, namely working hours, work-family conflict, social role stereotypes and second-generation bias. The results also offer useful insights into the coping strategies adopted by women to overcome these barriers.Practical implicationsThe study highlights the persisting underrepresentation of women in senior positions, indicating a societal and organizational lag in terms of inclusion and equity. It underscores the importance of developing effective policies to address the challenges faced by employees striving to balance their work and family commitments. Training is recognized as an important tool for raising awareness about gender stereotypes among employees and reducing second-generation bias.Originality/valueThis study provides valuable lessons derived from its findings, including potential strategies that organizations can implement to help women navigate and overcome workplace barriers in the ICT and engineering fields.

Principals in Indian inclusive schools: bridge over troubled waters

PurposeThe international academic literature agrees that principals act as change agents and are vital in creating and promoting an inclusive school culture. In this article, the authors proclaim that Indian schools lack school leadership to accomplish inclusive education (IE) characterized by local needs. The article emphasizes the importance of school principals and discusses how principal vacancies, insufficient training and lack of autonomy jeopardize inclusive and equitable quality education in Indian schools. Contextualized policies, professional standards for principals, research that highlights principals' perspectives and autonomy for principals are required to strengthen principals, who are the primary advocates for IE, to create a more democratic, equitable and just society.Design/methodology/approachThe authors base their arguments and opinions on the latest National Education Policy (NEP, 2020), data/statistics from various educational organizations in India, and research findings of global scholars.FindingsThe data and statistics show that principals in Indian schools do not receive the essential assistance to implement IE successfully. A lack of adequate data regarding the subject of debate is another point made by the authors.Social implicationsUnderstanding the hardships faced by Indian school principals would help readers recognize the leadership challenges for IE in India. Addressing these challenges is one of the best ways to fulfill the equity and inclusion goals emphasized in UN Sustainable Development Goal #4.Originality/valueThis article is the first to emphasize the importance of prioritizing principals in Indian schools, among other agents when trying to achieve inclusion.

Instructional Leadership Practices and Challenges: The Case of Primary School Principals in Liban Jawi Woreda of West Shoa Zone

This study was conducted to assess the practices and challenges of instructional leadership in primary schools of Liban Jawi Woreda of the West Shoa Zone. In order to address this objective of the study, a descriptive survey design was employed. About 114 teachers, seven principals, six vice principals, and one vice head of Woreda Education Office (WEO) participated in the study. Questionnaires, interviews, and document analysis were data gathering tools. The results showed that most of the problems instructional leaders have a communication gap with the stakeholders on issues related to the vision, mission, and goals of the schools and had problems in relation to lack of educational management profession. It was concluded that instructional leaders have a gap in taking a measure to overcome problems. Therefore, the study mainly recommended that Ministry of Education (MOE) and other stakeholders should give training to instructional leaders to overcome their leadership knowledge and skills, and also principals should create communication channels to overcome communication problems.

Women leadership development in local governance in South and Southeast Asia: a critical analysis

PurposeThe main goal of the study is to participate in academic debates and explore women's leadership and related challenges and opportunities in governance, and the extent to which women’s leadership has been enhanced by administrative reforms. The goal is to broaden the scope of action by promoting women's engagement and leadership in local government.Design/methodology/approachThis is a qualitative study that uses inductive content analysis to examine the relationship between administrative reforms and women’s leadership development in the context of local government in Southeast and South Asia.FindingsThere is a positive impact of administrative reforms on women's leadership development. There is evidence that women are preparing for leadership roles in administration, which is a sign of progress in political change and modernization of society. They have been empowered by political and administrative education in a transformative way.Research limitations/implicationsThis article contributes to the literature that expands knowledge about governance, female leadership and administrative reform. They are interrelated because they are precursors to the development of women's leadership in countries.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study can help governments in South and Southeast Asia become more aware of strategies to promote gender balance in governance. The unsatisfactory situation was found to exist because of problems related to socio-political, economic, cultural, and personal development.Originality/valueThis study is the first to highlight the relationship between administrative reform and the development of women in leadership positions in a rarely studied developing country.

Collective Sensemaking: Training the Leadership-as-Practice Development Trainer for Adult Leadership Learning

A gap often exists between adult leadership learning and development practice. This gap seems particularly pronounced when considering training through a collective, practice, and constructionist theoretical lens. Leadership developers need to address this gap in their teaching methods if they are to support learning capable of responding to Complex Adaptive System (CAS) challenges. Drawing from a case-in-point (CIP) train-the-trainer experience hosted by the Kansas Leadership Center (KLC) this study will help trainers understand how primary and keying frames can be used to analyze how facilitators train trainers to use collective sensemaking for adult leadership learning. The case-in-point leadership development method is capable of moving adult leadership learners to make more systemic interpretations of leadership challenges and collectively interrogate cultural assumptions and identity.

Коучинг в управлении развитием образовательной организации в условиях кризиса

The crisis situation, the pandemic, with the closure of the educational space, has stimulated the integration of the virtual environment and digital technology into the educational space and has brought new leadership challenges. We investigated the experience of employees in the educational space (schools with adapted programmes, primary schools and secondary schools) during the pandemic. We found that employees experienced the negative aspect of facing the pandemic requirements for a virtual work environment. They were faced with the challenge of seeking help during the work process. They also had problems with remote work effectiveness, motivation and satisfaction. We were interested in the school leaders' response to work, the role of the leadership in the process of employee adaptation, and how to identify, understand and use the development tool of coaching when working in a virtual environment. A development tool is an aid to the work process, which enhances work performance. The study confirmed that a development-oriented work process depends on a higher utility value of coaching, from a positive employee response to the use of digital technologies in the work process and leaders' support in this. To the extent that employees were more open to using the Internet in the work process, they also reacted more positively to the new working conditions which required shifting online during the pandemic. A more positive response was also present in those where the leader's support was higher. We also detected a more positive response to the work process among employees who expressed an opinion about the higher useful value of coaching during the work process. We found that employees' response to online technologies was quite positive. Employees' response to the virtual work process was positive. Employees were open to the use of online technologies if the role of the employer was supportive. This leads to a better development-oriented work process.

Leadership Challenges and Strategies in Pakistan's Higher Education System

Leadership Challenges and Strategies in Pakistan's Higher Education System

Evolving shared value, sustainability and the leadership challenge: Grootbos Private Nature Reserve

Learning outcomes The learning outcomes of this study are to assess the shared value model and elaborate on new multi-stakeholder approaches to business, where the stakeholders include the founders, investors, partners, employees, clients and the surrounding community; to consider the synergies between community development, environmental stewardship, sustainable business practices and the long-term health of organisations and communities, considering these as the new fundamentals of business; to examine the interconnectedness of vision, strategy, purpose and leadership in creating and evolving the shared value model; to explore the relationship between shared value practices and collective well-being, and a specific reference to nurturing transformative experiences through nature, personal development and community upliftment is made; and to assess Grootbos’ ability to translate their purpose and value proposition into a strategy and sustainable vision with a possibility of Grootbos achieving global impact through its evolving model, beyond the founder. Case overview/synopsis This case study explores the evolution of Grootbos Private Nature Reserve and Foundation, a luxury hospitality lodge and award-winning ecotourism destination, from humble beginnings in the Western Cape of South Africa to a global example of conservation, community, commerce sustainability and transformative experiences. The establishing of Grootbos and its growth and widespread recognition can be attributed to the vision and inspirational leadership of its founder, Michael Lutzeyer. Although much success has been achieved in conservation, community upliftment and individual development of community members within their region, Lutzeyer’s and ultimately, Grootbos’ vision extended well beyond South Africa and aspired to elevate their floral kingdom and model of development and conservation to a global platform of awareness. Although a shared value vision and strategy had transformed the business, placing Grootbos as a leader in transforming their industry and sparking an evolution in the shared value model itself through the interjection of transformative experiences, the larger question remained: How can Grootbos extend the impact, towards people and planetary well-being, beyond the scope of their individual place-based business and their industry? And in terms of the dilemma Lutzeyer and the management team at Grootbos faced: How will this vision and global ambition continue through succession, beyond Luzeyer’s personal drive at the helm? Complexity academic level Experienced leaders within a graduate degree program, executive Master of Business Administration (MBA) or executive education in the areas of leadership development, strategy, shared value and international business. Supplementary material Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS4: Environmental management.

ORGANISATIONAL LEADERSHIP CHALLENGES IN ADOPTING DEVOPS IN NORTHERN NIGERIA SMES

The development and operation issue is rapidly expanding as some organisations in northern Nigeria seek to capitalise on the benefits it can provide to software development organisations and information technology projects. Adopting DevOps, on the other hand, requires significant organisational change, especially where tradition and established processes exist. This study presents the findings of a five-month qualitative diary study following the implementation of DevOps in a Nigerian SME with over 100 employees as part of a large-scale doctoral research project that investigates software development processes and leadership challenges. Based on the study's findings, the case study organisation employs the DevOps approach to develop new software for internal and external use. DevOps appears to be well-known in theory, but it is extremely difficult to put into practise. This difficulty is exacerbated by the need to maintain old systems, a lack of technical leadership, management systems, and resilience. This research also found evidence of job creation, particularly among software developers. Taken together, we argue that DevOps is an interdisciplinary topic that requires all stakeholders to participate in order to communicate and collaborate, and that it would benefit greatly from more leadership and possibly deeper psychological research.

Интересы и влияние США в Латинской Америке

This article explores key areas and issues underlying U.S.-Latin American relations and analyzes current chal-lenges to U.S. leadership on issues of migration, democracy, and the economy. Despite President J. Biden’s assertion that the United States’ influence in Latin America is necessary to address the persistent challenges that prevent the region from realizing its full potential, the United States now faces the challenge of fragmented leadership as a major global player, and Latin American states are developing numerous partnerships with other regions and countries, including Russia and China. According to the article, conclusion dwell upon the fact that many states that are supporters of a multipolar world and strive to take their rightful place in the global system of economic relations, such as the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China, do not ac-cept direct U.S. interference in their internal affairs.

Navigating Global Leadership Strategies for E-Enabling Technology Deployment

Objective: The objective of this research was to explore and understand the experiences of global corporate leaders in adopting e-enabling innovations and the associated leadership challenges. The research aimed to identify the leadership skills, knowledge, and practices that facilitate the transition from traditional operational models to leaner e-enabled approaches.
 
 Method: This qualitative phenomenological research engaged 20 global corporate leaders in an in-depth examination of their leadership experiences. The research focused on how these leaders employed their skills and knowledge to drive the transformation of their corporates into more efficient and interconnected entities through e-enabling technologies.
 
 Results: Four distinct themes emerged from the analysis of the corporate leaders’ experiences. The findings highlighted the significant influence of transformational leadership attributes combined with the e-leadership approach on the successful implementation of information technology initiatives. The leaders’ insights emphasized the transformative effects of their leadership on both corporate strategies and technological decisions. Additionally, the study revealed the identification of best practices and procedures that contribute to effective e-enabling technology adoption.
 
 Conclusion: Embracing e-enabling best practices and employing transformational leadership approaches have a positive impact on the quality of information technology implementations in corporate settings. The research underlines how leaders’ experiences can help them recognize the broader implications of their leadership styles on technology-driven decisions. Consequently, this recognition supports the development of effective strategies for successful e-enabling technology integration. Furthermore, the study highlights the necessity of aligning mentoring, training, and education strategies with corporate goals to enable the adoption of new e-leadership approaches. As organizations continue to navigate complex technological landscapes, the cultivation of 21st-century e-leadership skills become essential for effectively managing changes in team capabilities, processes, and knowledge management.

Globally responsible leadership: The courageous case of Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel has stood out as a global leader during her 16-years tenure as Chancellor of Germany. Her chancellorship included navigating dynamics of human rights issues (support for migrants - particularly Syrian refugees), environmental protections, citizens’ wellbeing, and economic development. This paper examines the nature of her complex leadership journey, successes, and challenges through the lens of responsible leadership theory and serves three purposes. Firstly, it is an effort to provide a window into Merkel’s leadership and the lessons it offers for leading in a world amidst crises, polarization, and complexity. Major insights in this regard include acting with courage, navigating crises with persistence, pursing multilateral collaborations, and building a nonconforming leadership profile. Secondly, it critically examines the relevance of responsible leadership theory as a framework for globally responsible leadership, especially outside the realm of business organizations. In doing so, the paper particularly explores the role of ethical grounding, relational competence, and adaptive and systems capability as key dimensions of responsible leadership. Finally, it identifies some gaps in and blind spots of responsible leadership conceptualizations and offers considerations to expand the field.

Navigating Ethical Dilemmas: Baskaran’s Leadership and the Delicate Balance of Dignity

The intertwining of leadership principles with the ideals of quality has been a subject imperishable interest in artistic narratives. This abstract delves into the significance of Basukarna's leadership trip in the environment of conserving honor and quality. embedded in Indian tradition, the narrative of Basukarna's vengeance showcases the delicate balance leaders must navigate between particular honor and the quality of the collaborative they lead. Through an disquisition of this narrative, we unveil assignments that transcend time and culture, offering perceptivity into contemporary leadership challenges. Basukarna's metamorphosis from a revengeful Napoleon to a strategic leader highlights the transformative power of purpose- driven leadership. Ethical dilemmas he faces emphasize the significance of aligning particular values with collaborative weal. The narrative's central theme of balancing tone and collaborative quality resonates profoundly in ultramodern organizational geographies, guiding leaders in harmonizing particular integrity with collaborative well- being. This abstract encapsulates the substance of Basukarna's leadership and quality, drawing parallels between ancient wisdom and contemporary leadership, and offering a fresh perspective on ethical decision- timber, strategic vision, and the enduring heritage of leaders.

An examination of interaction between transformational leadership and hindrance and challenge stressors for nurses

An examination of interaction between transformational leadership and hindrance and challenge stressors for nurses

Civilian Medical Responder Perspectives to a Federal Military Medical Deployment in New York City during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objectives This study aims to describe the civilian experience and perceptions of the patient coordination and management at the interface of the New York City (NYC) civilian and the military health systems during a large-scale public health emergency. Methods A qualitative study design was implemented with interviews conducted using a basic descriptive approach. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants with experience working during the first wave of COVID-19 in NYC. Inclusion criteria were civilians who worked at the Javits Center, the USNS Comfort, or NYC hospitals, who interfaced with patient transfer and military personnel during the city-wide medical response to COVID-19. Semi-structured video interviews were conducted between July 20, 2021 and March 11, 2022. Results Civilian responders working in the clinical and transfer operations of patients to military facilities in NYC during March and April of 2020 described initial confusion, as well as logistical (patient selection, transfer logistics, patient tracking), communication, and leadership challenges. While the military deployment was felt to be necessary to address the surge capacity in hospitals, the lack of clarity about military medical resources and frameworks for response resulted in confusion about what was being offered by the military deployment. This was balanced by the positive impression of working with military members and the resources that they brought to the response more generally. The need for future trainings and exercises were highlighted. Conclusions Initial challenges with civilian-military roles and responsibilities, regional needs assessment, patient selection, and logistics were ultimately resolved through adaptation of civilian and military leadership. Improvements in patient tracking, medical records, and standard hospital admission and discharge functions for patients in military alternative care facilities were identified as areas for improvement. Civilian government, health care, and military leaders should consider these ideas when planning for future military deployments in support of a domestic medical response.

'It doesn't happen how you think, it is very complex!' Reconciling stakeholder priorities, evidence, and processes for zoonoses prioritisation in India.

Why do some zoonotic diseases receive priority from health policy decision-makers and planners whereas others receive little attention? By leveraging Shiffman and Smith's political prioritisation framework, our paper advances a political economy of disease prioritisation focusing on four key components: the strength of the actors involved in the prioritisation, the power of the ideas they use to portray the issue, the political contexts in which they operate, and the characteristics of the issue itself (e.g., overall burdens, severity, cost-effective interventions). These components afford a nuanced characterisation of how zoonotic diseases are prioritised for intervention and highlight the associated knowledge gaps affecting prioritisation outcomes. We apply this framework to the case of zoonoses management in India, specifically to identify the factors that shape disease prioritisation decision-making and outcomes. We conducted 26 semi-structured interviews with national, state and district level health policymakers, disease managers and technical experts involved in disease surveillance and control in India. Our results show pluralistic interpretation of risks, exemplified by a disconnect between state and district level actors on priority diseases. The main factors identified as shaping prioritisation outcomes were related to the nature of the zoonoses problem (the complexity of the zoonotic disease, insufficient awareness and lack of evidence on disease burdens and impacts) as well as political, social, cultural and institutional environments (isolated departmental priorities, limited institutional authority, opaque funding mechanisms), and challenges in organisation leadership for cross-sectoral engagement. The findings highlight a compartmentalised regulatory system for zoonoses where political, social, cultural, and media factors can influence disease management and prioritisation. A major policy window is the institutionalisation of One Health to increase the political priority for strengthening cross-sectoral engagement to address several challenges, including the creation of effective institutions to reconcile stakeholder priorities and prioritisation processes.

The challenges of leadership and good governance in Nigeria

Since time immemorial, one of the greatest challenges for leaders across the globe has been to the ability to predict the unpredictable successfully. The ones who could do so thrived, while the ones who missed the boat perished. These few years has brought to Nigeria something that, perhaps no one could have predicted. The banditry, corruptions and herds men activities in Nigeria have altered the core of our leadership and good governance completely. With the paper relying solely on the secondary source of data and analyzed its data through textual observations. It examines the challenges of leadership and good governance in the Nigeria. The finding reveals that, electoral malpractice is the main challenges of good governance in this new age. This study concludes that, effective leadership is the key to overcome the current challenges posed on the good governance in the Country. The paper, therefore, recommends among others, that the, electoral commission should be really independent, not by name in order to prevent the executive organ from influencing it. The pose of INEC Chairman should be advertised and the application of men with good moral standing should be considered. The executive should not be involved in the recruitment of INEC Chairman.

Struggling toward symmetry: leadership for restorative justice and deeper learning at an urban charter school

PurposeThis paper features a narrative case study of a leadership team engaged in an effort to transform both culture and instructional practice at an urban charter school. The paper describes the team's effort to align their decision-making with two frameworks selected to anchor the school's institutional change process: restorative justice and deeper learning. Interweaving rich case data with analysis, the paper explores the dilemmas that emerged as leaders struggled to “walk the talk” of these two frameworks, using this to theorize about the synergies between them and to explore the broader leadership challenges involved in transforming schools from authoritarian to humanizing institutions.Design/methodology/approachThe researcher employed an ethnographic approach with the goal of generating a thickly-textured single case study. Data-gathering activities included more than 400 h of participant-observation, in-depth interviewing and artifact collection, conducted over the course of a ten-month academic year. Data analysis was iterative and included frequent member checks with participants.FindingsThe paper finds that restorative justice and deeper learning have powerful epistemological connections that school leaders can harness in order to ensure a coherent approach to change processes. The paper also illuminates several of the core dilemmas that school leaders should anticipate facing when embracing these two frameworks: the dilemma of responding to feedback, the dilemma of power-sharing and the dilemma of balancing expectations with support.Research limitations/implicationsThe case study approach employed in this paper allows for rich understandings of specific phenomena while also providing a platform for exploring the general qualities that these phenomena might illustrate. This approach does not allow for statistical generalizability.Practical implicationsThe paper suggests that it is imperative for school leaders to explore what it means to lead in ways that are coherent with their vision for change, e.g. to cultivate symmetry. Moreover, the paper demonstrates that the value of such explorations lies in the process of grappling with the tensions that arise when humanizing frameworks are implemented within systems that uphold traditional power hierarchies. Additionally, the paper affirms the value of de-siloing the transformation of school culture from the transformation of instructional practice.Originality/valueThis paper offers an unusually textured account of the messy and uncertain processes that constitute the work of school change. This paper also draws together two educational paradigms which are rarely brought into conversation with each other despite their epistemological synergy.