Leadership In Australia Research Articles

Reasons and remedies for under-representation of women in medical leadership roles: a qualitative study from Australia

ObjectiveTo elicit medical leaders’ views on reasons and remedies for the under-representation of women in medical leadership roles.DesignQualitative study using semistructured interviews with medical practitioners who work in medical leadership...

Simply the Best Workplaces in Australia Redux

In 2003 the Business Council of Australia (BCA) commissioned Daryll Hull and Vivienne Read to undertake field work on the “best” workplaces in Australia, as defined by BCA members, using BCA criteria of “excellence” (Hull and Read 2003). This seminal work resulted in the formulation of a framework of fourteen attributes for best workplaces within the Australian work environment. In the decade since this work was published there have been other studies on workplace productivity and workplace leadership in Australia. This article restates and reviews the original BCA research, then opens up additional research topics in the area of excellence in workplace leadership.

Identity and Muslim leadership: the case of Australian Muslim leaders

Drawing on data from 30 in-depth interviews with prominent Australian Muslim leaders, this paper argues that the concept of identity could bring together and explain the sources and dynamics of struggles over the Muslim leadership in Australia. The paper will demonstrate that identity definition lies at the centre of competitions and contestations around the Australian Muslim leadership. From within, sub-groups such as Muslim youth and Muslim women contest the incumbent leadership, striving to impose a new image and definition of the Muslim identity in the Australian public sphere. From without, stakeholders such as the Australian government and the Australian media influence the dynamics of the Muslim community leadership by supporting a group of Muslim leaders over others—a process aiming to define who Muslims are in the Australian context.

Heroic leadership in Australia, Sweden, and the United States

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to draw from data collected as part of the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) and present cases of democratic and heroic leadership from three countries, discussing to what extent successful school principals in each of their research sites (Melbourne, Australia; Umeå, Sweden; Arizona and Texas in the USA) carry old and new perspectives of heroism in their leadership. In particular the paper explores two questions: first, how do school principals describe aspects of heroic and post-heroic leadership in their practices? and second, how do these heroic and post-heroic leadership practices meet contemporary demands such as accountability standards and build inclusive and collaborative school communities in challenging contexts?Design/methodology/approach– Multiple-perspective case studies involving semi-structured individual and group interviews with principals, teachers, students, parents and school board members were used to understand the contribution of principals and other leadership to school success.Findings– The definitions of heroic and post-heroic leadership are inadequate in defining successful principal leadership. The Australian, Swedish and American principals showed characteristics of both heroic and post-heroic leadership. They showed heroic qualities such as: inspiring and motivating others; challenging the status quo; showing integrity in conflicting situations; putting duty before self; taking risks to champion a better way; showing courage to stand up to those in authority; advocating for students in struggling neighbourhoods under the scrutiny of both district and public expectations; and, showing uncommon commitment. Yet our principals showed post-heroic leadership such as involving others in decision making and recognising that school success depended on collective effort, and being sensitive to community needs through a deep respect for the local culture.Originality/value– The research shows that we may need to redefine and recast our images of who school principals are today, and what they do to generate academic success for students. Both heroic and post-heroic images of leadership are needed to explain successful school leadership.

Instructional and transformational leadership: alternative and complementary models?

Instructional and transformational leadership are two of the most important, and enduring, leadership models, as noted by Hallinger (1992). However, they are different in one important respect. Instructional leadership is primarily about the direction of leaders’ influence because of its focus on improving teaching and learning (Bush, 2011; Bush and Glover, 2014). The processes by which improvement occurs are secondary to this orientation. In contrast, transformational leadership is mainly about how leaders exert their influence on followers. Leaders are thought to inspire their colleagues to increase their followers’ commitment to organizational goals (Leithwood et al., 1999). A link between instructional and transformational approaches is possible if organizational goals focus on learning but this is by no means inevitable. The first article in this issue, by Paul Calderella, compares the effects of instructional and transformational leadership on student achievement. Drawing on a survey of 590 teachers in 37 elementary schools in the Intermountain West of the USA, the author compared the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale to assess their relative impact. He concludes that instructional leadership is more effective than transformational leadership practices, partly because its specific focus is on student achievement, as noted above. In the second article, David Dunaway discusses superintendents’ perceptions of the school improvement process in the South-Eastern USA, drawing on the business model developed by Edwards Deming. The author received 226 valid responses to his online survey and notes a lack of fidelity between superintendents’ beliefs about the process and how they perceive those tasked with implementation He concludes that further research is required to establish if the improvement process led to improved teaching and learning. Scott Marsh’s article is the first of three to focus on leadership in Australia. He examines leadership for learning in Australian independent schools. He identified 10 key elements of this theme, through an extensive literature review, and used this to develop questions for an online survey of teachers in seven independent schools in Sydney. He received 293 replies (a 47% response rate) and concludes that they reflect a distributed view of leadership and a positive attitude towards team work. The second Australian article, by Sue Saltmarsh, addresses the role of the principal in fostering parent-school engagement. The data from 22 focus groups of parents in New South Wales show that parents regard the principal’s role as the key to the success of parent–school relations. The author notes that, despite recent interest in distributed leadership, as also noted by Scott Marsh, the parents confirmed the persistence of a top-down view of the single-handed leader. Whether Educational Management Administration & Leadership 2014, Vol. 42(4) 443–444 a The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permission: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1741143214526830 emal.sagepub.com

Managerial Rhetoric, Accountability, and School Leadership in Contemporary Australia

On an international scale, public administration is undergoing considerable restructuring as principles of private enterprise are becoming the orthodoxy. At the same time, economic instability (or crisis) is gripping both national and global financial markets, suggesting a flaw in the system or even that capitalism has reached it limits. Crises in capitalism are frequently met with shifts in the rhetoric of management. In this article we mobilize an emerging research program (Relational Administration) to argue that contemporary discourses of school leadership in Australia have a hybrid—part normative part rational—management rhetoric as a result of the unique economic conditions compared with many developed nations. With particular attention to the role of accountability in constituting and sustaining this hybrid rhetoric, we craft an argument for greater attention to sociogeographic location and temporality when thinking of, with, and through leadership.

Setting a course: A critical review of the literature on nurse leadership in Australia

Nurse leadership capability that is constructed, nurtured and supported from pre-registration level into the mature career stages intuitively appears to offer benefit for all health stakeholders. Literature suggests such effective nurse leadership impacts positively on not only the quality of clinical care, but also the working environment in which nursing is conducted. Yet a coordinated strategic impetus to develop this leadership capability throughout the nursing profession in Australia remains elusive to quantify. Australia produces many outstanding nurse leaders despite this apparent lack of strategic direction, and yet perhaps due to this lack of cohesive direction nursing leadership is arguably not embedded within and across the culture of the profession; or within health organizations generally. This paper seeks to critically explore the recent literature on nursing leadership in Australia, and to highlight the necessity to strengthen leadership capability across the stratified layers of the nursing workforce.

Setting a course: A critical review of the literature on nurse leadership in Australia

Setting a course: A critical review of the literature on nurse leadership in Australia

The Gendered Shaping of University Leadership in Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom

AbstractThis article analyses career trajectories into university management in Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom (UK), skills required to operate effectively and the power of vice‐chancellors (VCs) and their impact on the gendered shaping of university leadership. It is based on qualitative research with 56 male and female senior managers. The research found that the typical career path was modelled on male academic careers. Not surprisingly, in South Africa and the UK the perception of the top university leader was of a man but in Australia, where more women have been VCs, there was no such assumption. Characteristics valued in university leaders in Australia and South Africa were ‘soft’ leadership traits, but in the UK ‘hard’ aggressive and competitive leadership prevailed. VCs are enormously powerful and can shape the gender balance in management teams and thereby potentially broadening leadership styles beyond the predominant transactional model to include transformational leadership.

The Gender Gap in Union Leadership in Australia: A Qualitative Study

Women make up close to half of all trade unionists in Australia, but senior leadership positions and the culture of unions evade a corresponding feminization. Through interviews and focus groups with women at various levels of the paid official hierarchy across a diverse group of unions organizing in different sectors, this article reports on the representation of women in the senior and strategic leadership positions of unions. Despite high levels of commitment to union work and enjoyment of many aspects of the job, women working within the union movement keenly feel that they are under-represented in senior roles and they view sexism and a ‘masculinist’ culture as alive and well within unions. They believe that this has a strong impact on union ‘business’, such as union collective bargaining agendas.

VET leadership for the future – characteristics, contexts and capabilities

This paper examines leadership in Australia’s vocational education and training (VET) sector. VET leaders make a vital and growing contribution to learners, industry and society, yet research on their work is limited. This has direct implications for ensuring leadership is most effective, and for framing evidence-based capacity development. The current research draws together reviews of complex and often competing contexts, analyses of prior research, and results from a national survey of 327 practising VET leaders. Analysis of what VET leaders report doing in their jobs suggests that while they are attuned to the education-focused demands of their roles, they now need new capabilities to respond to internal and external developments. To identify the powerful forces which shape leadership, the study established criteria seen to mark out effective performance in each role. It highlighted a set of indicators identified by VET leaders as those most important in making judgements about the effective delivery of each role. Identifying indicators of effective performance is important, as it is these which, ideally, drive leaders’ aspirations and behaviours. The future capacity of VET in Australia will be underpinned by the capability and regeneration of its leadership. New programmes need to focus on concrete ‘change management’ skills, working through complex real-world problems and leading change in ambiguous environments. The more authentic and active modes of learning were advocated by VET leaders, who expressed an overwhelming preference for practice-based and self-managed, as opposed to formal, forms of professional learning.

Theory and practice of successful school leadership in Australia

As part of the International Successful School Leadership Project, an updated model of successful school leadership based on Australian case studies is described. This model attempts to capture the relationship between the characteristics of the school leader (who they are), the interventions they initiate (what they do), and the way they respond to the context in which they operate. The model is interrogated by exploring three areas of our continuing research: the role of instructional leadership, sustainability of success, and the preparation of future school leaders.

Constructing Leadership in Child Care: Epistemological Beliefs and Transformational Leadership

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE (ECEC) in Australia are currently a focus of social and economic policy. However, early childhood leadership in Australia is yet to develop a clear identity that will enable the field to develop to its full potential. In this paper we investigate a unique theoretical framework for constructing leadership identity, based on transformational leadership and epistemological beliefs. Using semi-structured interviews, 15 childcare directors from a large metropolitan area in Australia were asked to describe their beliefs about knowing in the context of their leadership practices. The findings showed that leaders (n = 5) who espoused predominantly evaluativist beliefs about knowing were more likely to describe transformational leadership behaviours in the context of childcare leadership. A number of leaders held mixed beliefs (n = 9) about knowing and described their leadership practice in ways that reflected both transactional and transformational leadership styles. Finally, one leader described predominantly objectivist epistemological beliefs and transactional beliefs about leadership. These preliminary findings show that there seems to be a relationship between core epistemological beliefs and beliefs about leadership practices and offers a new way to characterise leadership in ECEC in Australia.

Leading praxis: exploring educational leadership through the lens of practice architectures

In this article we investigate educational leadership as a site of practice, utilising the notion of ‘practice architectures’ as our lens. The latter shifts Etienne Wenger's more individualising notion of ‘learning architectures’ to a broader study of the systems and organisations that prefigure educational practices and potentially, leading praxis. Drawing on three forms of educational leadership in Australia, Norway and Sweden, we explore how possibilities for changes to the practice conditions of schools and universities may be engendered in ways that are nurturing of ‘leading praxis’. We critically examine what practice architectures as a concept may reveal about leadership practice and in turn, praxis. We argue that leadership and educational leaders are particularly important to investigate, for as the key ‘architects of practice architectures’ they are in a position to influence the conditions in which praxis may flourish or be constrained.

From leader to leadership: clinician managers and where to next?

Individual clinician leadership is at the forefront of health reforms in Australia as well as overseas with many programs run by health departments (and hospitals) generally focus on the development of individual leaders. This paper argues, along with others, that leadership in the clinician management context cannot be understood from an individualistic approach alone. Clinician managers, especially in the ranks of doctors, are usually described as 'hybrid-professional managers' as well as reluctant leaders for whom most leadership theories do not easily apply. Their experiences of leadership development programs run by health departments both in Australia and internationally are likely to be based on an individual leader-focussed approach that is driving health care reforms. These approaches work from three key assumptions: (1) study and fix the person; (2) give them a position or title; and (3) make them responsible for results. Some would argue that the combination of these three approaches equates to heroic and transformational leadership. Several alternative approaches to leadership development are presented to illustrate how reforms in healthcare, and notably in hospitals, must incorporate alternative approaches, such as those based on collective and relational forms of leadership. This does not mean eschewing individual approaches to leadership but rather, thinking of them differently and making them more relevant to the daily experiences of clinician managers. We conclude by highlighting several significant challenges facing leadership development for clinician managers that arise from these considerations.

Successful School Leadership in Australia: A Research Agenda

The Australian education context is characterised by increasing public scrutiny of school performance and an expectation that all schools should, within contextual boundaries, produce high level student outcomes. Whilst discussion of successful schools and successful school leadership is a relatively recent phenomenon, it is now an important concept for research, policy and practice. This paper reports on models of successful school leadership developed over the past decade, and associated issues of instructional and sustainable leadership, and leadership preparation. © Common Ground, David Mark Gurr, Lawrie Drysdale, Helen Goode.

Women’s Politics and Leadership in Australia and New Zealand

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Clinical nursing leadership – perspectives on current topics

Clinical nursing leadership – perspectives on current topics

Leading for quality: questions about quality and leadership in Australia

This article is situated in the context of recent policies for teacher quality in Australia. Discourses on quality have crossed many domains of public policy, including education. A feature of these discourses has been an emphasis on improving teacher quality and raising professional standards. The article uses critical discourse analysis to explore the implications of quality discourses for educational leadership. In so doing, it analyses how recent educational policies construct discourses on quality and professional standards, discourses which position educational leaders in particular – often contradictory – ways. Such positionings offer different ways of understanding leaders and how best they might lead for quality. The article concludes by raising questions about quality and leadership, questions that highlight the need to rethink educational leadership within a quality policy framework.

Blair and Howard: Predominant Prime Ministers Compared

Political leaders matter again. The study of political leaders, particularly prime ministers, has been an under-researched area, yet the leadership discourse is back on the agenda. This article puts prime ministerial predominance into this context using comparative analysis to examine prime ministerial leadership in Australia and the UK and evidence from the tenures of Tony Blair and John Howard. The article contends that similar centralising tendencies, personal projection and autonomy from established structures were evident in the tenures of these two prime ministers. Ultimately, this created dislocation (of varying degrees) between the leaders, followers and the wider electorate.