Exploration of a New Conceptualisation of Leadership, Utilising an Appreciative Inquiry Approach

220 Pages·2016·2.15 MB·English

Exploration of a new conceptualisation of leadership, utilising an appreciative inquiry
approach
JOHNSON, David
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Exploration of a New
Conceptualisation of Leadership,
Utilising an Appreciative Inquiry
Approach

David Johnson

A Doctoral Project Report submitted in
partial fulfilment of the requirements of
Sheffield Hallam University for the degree
of Professional Doctorate.

September 2015
Abstract
Leadership is said to be pivotal to the future of health and social care organisations
within the United Kingdom. Organisations across the sector face many challenges and
there is an emerging recognition that these challenges are becoming increasingly
complex with many problems perhaps being considered as wicked issues. To
successfully address these difficult problems takes leadership. Defining this slippery
concept has, however, proved problematic. Despite thousands of years of
philosophical debate and over one hundred years of academic research, the concept of
leadership still appears to defy definition. There are many theories, approaches and
models of leadership, often with authentic evidence bases that tell prospective leaders
how they should behave. There are often emerging fads or fashions in approaches to
leadership. This isn't thought to be of great assistance to busy practitioner leaders
working in complex environments. This qualitative study did not seek to identify a new
model of leadership, it sought to explore literature in order to discover commonalities
in leadership approaches, to develop a new conceptualisation of leadership and then,
by utilising an Appreciative Inquiry methodology, explore the relevance of this
approach to gain new insights into how leaders within health and social care
communities consider that they will lead as they move into a difficult and uncertain
future. The study utilised an approach to reviewing literature called Critical
Interpretative Synthesis and explored commonalities across definitions of leadership
regardless of fashion or fad. From this review four components were identified and
called the leadership equation. The leadership equation was used a basis for
appreciative inquiry, semi-structured interviews that asked twelve leaders working in
health and social care organisations from a specified geographical area how they will
lead in the future. The interviews produced data that was thematically analysed and
three themes emerged, each supported by a number of sub-themes. In order to lead
successfully into the future, leaders will need to consider how they behave in relation
to the three themes labelled as Being Human, Being Tough, and Being Visionary. The
study seeks to have relevance for practitioner leaders working in health and social care
organisations within the United Kingdom. It also seeks to have relevance for academic
leadership programme designers who might wish to consider these finding as they
design the next generation of leadership development programmes.
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Acknowledgements and Thanks
To Kate, thank you for your endless support, patience and guidance throughout this
long journey. For listening to my ramblings and rantings, for spending so many
evenings on your own, just for being you. Thank you.
For Tom and Hannah, sorry for being a grumpy Dad at times, you make life worth living.
To Mum and Dad, you have always supported me and always believed in me, whatever
I have tried to do, Thank you.
To Shep for your excellent proof reading, thank you.
For the supervision team
Dr Lee Pollard thank you, you have been my mentor and my role model, you have
given me confidence and supported me is so many ways, more ways that I am sure you
will ever realise.
For Professor Frances Gordon, my inspiration, without your belief I wouldn't have
started the journey, without your expertise and insight I would have got lost so many
(more) times and without your support, I am sure I would have given up a long time
ago. This project is about leadership, you demonstrate all of the qualities that are
mentioned here, you are a true leader and in helping me to get to this point, I have
achieved far more than I ever thought I would. Thank you.
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Contents
Abstract Page 2
Acknowledgements and thanks Page 3
Contents Page 4

Chapter 1 Introduction, Background and Statement of the Problem
Introduction Page 7
Background and Statement of Problem Page 8
Leadership today Page 8
Organisations today Page 11
Leadership in Organisations Page 12
Research question and the Aims of the study Page 14
Objectives of the Study Page 14
Study Structure Page 14
The Researcher Page 15

Chapter 2 Literature Review
Literature Review Introduction Page 19
Approaches to Reviewing the Literature
in Management and Leadership Research Page 19
Critical Interpretive Synthesis Page 26
The Process of the Review Page 28
Findings of the Review Page 33
Leadership: The Difficulty of a Definition Page 33
Synthesizing Argument - Leadership a Constructivist View Page 37
Synthesizing Argument - The Leadership Equation Page 40
Literature Review Conclusions Page 41

Chapter 3 Research design and justification
Chapter Introduction Page 43
Management and Leadership Research Page 43
Scaffolding or Skeleton Page 46
Epistemology Page 48
Epistemological perspective:
Social constructionism/relational constructionism Page 50
Relational Constructionism Page 51
Theoretical Perspective Interpretivism Page 52
Methodology - Appreciative Inquiry Page 54
Method Page 58
Sampling Page 59
Sample Page 61
The interviews Page 63
Face to Face Page 65
Skype Page 65
Time Page 66
Ethical issues Page 68
Ethics and Management Research Page 68
Data Analysis Approach Page 72
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Chapter 4 introduction to the Findings
Themes and Sub-themes Page 75
Being Human Page 76
Being Tough Page 76
Being Visionary Page 77

Chapter 5 Being Human
Introduction to the Chapter Page 78
Being Human - Being Real Page 79
Being Human - Being Parental Page 86
Being Human - Being Authentic Page 92
Being Human - Being Credible Page 102
Chapter Conclusions Page 108

Chapter 6 Being Tough
Introduction to Being Tough Page 109
Being Tough - Being Strong Page 110
Being Tough - Being Resilient Page 122
Being Tough - Being Political Page 129
Chapter Conclusions Page 134

Chapter 7 Being Visionary
Introduction to Being Visionary Page 136
Being Visionary - Being Creative Page 137
Being Visionary - Being a Learner Page 141
Being Visionary - Being Understanding Page 148
Being Visionary - Being Far-sighted Page 151
Chapter Conclusions Page 159

Chapter 8 Concluding Discussion
Introduction to the Concluding Discussion Page 160
The Commonalities and Complexities of Being Human
and Defining Leadership Page 160
Leadership models Page 162
Communication Page 164
Inauthentic authenticity Page 165

Chapter 9 Final Reflections
Introduction to the Chapter Page 170
Reflecting on the Critical Interpretive Synthesis
Approach to the Literature Review Page 170
Reflecting on the Appreciative Inquiry Methodology Page 171
Reflecting on the Interviews Page 172
Reflecting on Data Analysis Page 174
Research Ambiguity Page 177
Limitation of the Study Page 178

Final Conclusions Page 180
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Post Script Page 184

References Page 187

Table
Table 1 Participant Roles Sector and Pseudonym Page 62
Table 2 Showing the Location of the Participant Interviews Page 64
Table 3 Time and Location of Interviews Page 67
Table 4 Content Analysis of Ethical Codes Page 69

Figures
Fig 1 Growth of Leadership book on sales at Amazon.co.uk Page 10
Fig 2 Search Strategy Page 32
Fig 3 The Leadership Equation Page 41
Fig 4 The Leadership Equation plus literature Page 42
Fig 5 Crotty's four elements Page 47
Fig 6 Flow diagram of the Data Analysis Phases Page 74
Fig 7 Higher Order Themes Page 75
Fig 8 Higher Order Themes and Sub-themes Page 76
Fig 9 Being Human Theme and Sub-themes Page 78
Fig 10 Being Tough Theme and Sub-themes Page 109
Fig 11 Being Visionary Theme and Sub-themes Page 137
Fig 12 The messiness of the data analysis phases Page 176
Fig 13 The Researcher's confidence in Data and confidence Page 177
in Supervisory Team's advice during the Data Analysis phases

Appendices
Appendix 1 Literature Quality Check Framework Page 206
Appendix 2 Interview Questions Page 211
Appendix 3 Participant Information sheets Page 213
Appendix 4 Faculty Research Ethics Committee
approval letter Page 220

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Chapter 1 Introduction Background and Statement of the Problem
Introduction
Leadership is considered to be a complex subject; this study explores leadership within
the health and social care sector in the United Kingdom. The introductory chapter aims
to introduce and establish the context in which this study has taken place. It describes
the importance that is often given to leadership in organisations but it also identifies
the difficulty in defining what leadership actually is. The chapter concludes by defining
the research question and the aims and objectives of the study and sets out how the
chapters that follow work.
Leadership is said to be of pivotal importance to the future of health and social care
organisations (Darzi 2008, Ham 2011, Stevens 2014). Many authors (e.g. Alimo-Metcalf,
Alban Metcalf 2006, Vardiman et al 2006, Anderson et al 2009, Amagoh 2009, Hotho,
Dowling 2010, Severinsson, Holm 2012) have identified that organisations which are
considered to have good leadership thrive, even when times are difficult, and
conversely poor leadership is an often cited reason when an organisation fails (Francis
2013). As a consequence, the need to develop leadership capacity has been identified
as an important issue in organisations across the world. This has led to significant
investment in leadership development programmes (Clark 2012). In recent times,
however, there has been growing pressure from stakeholders to justify and
demonstrate a return on this investment (Hotho, Dowling 2010). Leadership is,
however, a complex multifaceted concept, which has been subject to much debate
over millennia, yet disagreement still exists as to how to define it. This study seeks to
explore a new conceptualisation of leadership, and in conjunction with an Appreciative
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Inquiry methodology, identify ways in which leaders perceive that they will lead in
future organisations.
Background and statement of the problem
Leadership Today
Bolman and Deal (2008 p342) describe a common view that the right kind of
leadership is a good thing and something we need more of "as a panacea" to problems
of our world. Indeed in our current times there appears to be a constant cry for good
leaders and for good leadership to lead us out of our difficulties. For example, at an
early stage in the 2010-2015 United Kingdom's Coalition Government's period in office,
when commenting about difficult and austere times ahead, David Cameron (2011), in
his keynote speech to the Conservative Party conference, said
"In these difficult times, it is leadership we need, to get our economy moving, to get our
society working. Leadership works"
It appears to be relatively easy to speak eloquently about the merits of leadership;
philosophers, commentators, researchers and indeed politicians have been studying it
and attempting to do so for millennia. The difficulty is that whilst leadership is a
concept, perhaps like love or democracy, that most people instinctively understand
(Northouse 2013), it becomes really difficult to closely define what 'the right kind of' or
'good leadership' actually is or means (Crainer 1998, Boleman, Deal 2008). Who
decides when, to use Cameron's comments, 'leadership works'. Northouse (2013)
suggests that people are captivated by the concept of leadership. But as they begin to
explore this complex and multi-layered phenomenon, they develop their own
understanding of what it is, and this understanding is often subjective.
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There has been interest in understanding the concept of leadership throughout history.
Early writers include the 6th century BC Confucius and Lao-tzu, with Confucius
identifying the importance of setting a good moral example and Lao-tzu recognising
the need for shared ideas. Ancient Greek and Roman authors also wrote extensively on
the subject, as an example a study by Plutarch dated around 100 BC compared the
attributes of 50 Greek and Roman leaders (Bass, Bass 2008). Since this time there have
been many examples of writers seeking understanding about the subject. During the
late 20th century there appears to have been an explosion of interest with a great
many authors attempting to describe their own understanding of the concept. A brief
history of leadership development in this period is presented here to provide some
context.
Stogdill (1974 p7) carried out a Meta-analysis of 187 leadership studies that had taken
place between 1907 and 1973. In his conclusion he suggested that "There are almost
as many definitions of leadership as there are people who have tried to define it".
In 1991 Fleishman et al concluded that 65 definitions of leadership had been
developed. Four years later Crainer (1995) considered the topic again and discovered
the number had increased to 400 definitions. Eight years after that Bennis and Nanus
(2003) identified 850 different ways that leadership could be described.
The exercise does not appear to have been repeated since this time; however O'Reilly
and Reed (2010) identified, when searching the British Library Integrated Catalogue
that 50% of all available articles with leadership in the title had been written after
1997. This would appear to support the impression of a continuing surge in academic
work and thinking about leadership and it may be assumed that the list of leadership
definition must now be in the thousands.
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