Systemic Leadership in Nordic Kindergartens

This is a scoping review of peer-reviewed journal articles within Nordic Early Childhood Education and Care research from 2014 to 2020. We aim to explore if and how the concept of systemic leadership is employed within Nordic research on kindergartens. Forty-two studies were included. The results show the study types, methods and informants used. Based on a qualitative content analysis, six dominating leadership perspectives were identified in the studies. These can be briefly described as: 1) leadership mirroring the outside world, 2) leadership as a collaborative process among humans, 3) hybrid leadership between solo and distributed, 4) shared formal leadership, 5) leadership as organizational learning and development, and 6) leading in the professional context. These approaches consider the ways in which systemic leadership is employed and they highlight the collective and relational dynamics of leadership beyond the individual leader. Despite a growing body of research, there remains a need for further theoretical and quantitative investigations, and studies that focus on staff without pedagogue education as informants.

Between Shared and Transformative Leadership: The Hybrid Leadership Model of the Cultural Centre “REX”

This study focuses on the analysis of the leadership model established in the Cultural Centre REX in the period between 1994 and 2020. The purpose of the research was to discover what kind of leadership model was developed and implemented in an alternative cultural centre under the influence of the so-cial and political circumstances in this period in Serbia, having chosen REX as the subject of the case study. The main methodology of the research consisted of an empirical study and theoretical analysis of REX’s organisational structure and management in the context of leadership theories, as well as public theories, due to the complexity of the social and political influences of the time.

Lean leadership: Towards continuous improvement capability in healthcare

This research focuses on the role of leadership styles during Lean Management (LM) initiatives in healthcare environments. Specifically, this study examined the role of leadership styles in the development of Continuous Improvement (CI) capability of teams. The empirical evidence was collected by applying a multiple-case design, and consisted of interviews, observations, and documentation. These data sources were used to develop case studies, and to identify leadership behaviours supportive of LM. Through qualitative case analysis, the influence of leadership styles on CI capability was determined. The results show that a hybrid leadership style is associated with higher levels of CI capability, and that the duration of a LM program in itself does not dictate maturity. A mix of both transactional and transformational leadership styles seems a necessary condition for teams to reach higher levels of CI capability. Based on these findings, this paper provides a framework to structure thinking on LM and leadership styles, and concludes with supporting propositions. The current outcomes imply that leaders should be sensitive towards their adopted leadership style, and should adopt a leadership style that combines both transformational as well as transactional elements, when leading LM teams. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Theorising leadership for inclusion in the Irish context: A triadic typology within a distributed ecosystem

Leadership for inclusion is a contested concept with competing definitions suggested by many researchers and educationalists. While broad and narrow interpretations of ‘inclusion’ exist, this article focuses solely on the inclusion of learners with special educational needs (SEN) in Irish mainstream schools. A critical literature review of various different leadership typologies, relevant to inclusive education, is presented, from a practising principal's perspective. This review is used to theorise a hybrid leadership typology, present in schools where children with SEN are included in mainstream classes. The centrepiece of this theoretical model is that any leadership approach, in an inclusive education setting, must be triadic in structure. As a construct, it must be underpinned by a triad of teacher leadership, managerial leadership and values leadership. The argument is advanced that if this triadic structure is to flourish, then a distributed leadership framework is a necessity.

A Multidimensional Measure of Responsible Leadership: Integrating Strategy and Ethics

Research on leadership generally discusses the normative and strategic perspectives of leadership separately. However, in the context of stakeholder theory and corporate sustainability, researchers and practitioners have called for the integration of these two seemingly disparate perspectives to create a hybrid leadership framework. In this regard, theoretical work on responsible leadership (RL) combines the disciplines of ethics and strategy to propose integrative behaviors. Nonetheless, RL mostly has been explored as a one-dimensional concept with stakeholder welfare as the focus. Although this aspect is salient, leaders must display other ethical and strategic behaviors to respond to the changing demands of business. Therefore, we combine such behaviors into one RL framework. Through a strategic lens, we define the first two dimensions of RL as sustainable growth focus and multistakeholder consideration. Furthermore, these goal-setting behaviors are looked upon as genuine when they depend on leaders’ ethical behaviors. Therefore, we consider ethical leadership to be an inherent part of RL through the dimensions of the moral person and moral manager. Across four quantitative studies, we test the construct validity of the suggested four-factor structure of RL as well as its ability to predict relevant organizational outcomes such as individual followers’ moral courage and citizenship behaviors toward stakeholders.

The Chief Registrar role in the UK: leadership capacity and development of hybrid leaders

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to evaluate the first cohort of the Royal College of Physicians' (RCP) Chief Registrar programme in 2016/7. Chief Registrars provide medical leadership capacity through leadership development posts.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted a mixed methods design, comprising a monthly survey of the 21 Chief Registrars in the first cohort, interviews with Chief Registrars, and six cases studies where Chief Registrars and colleagues were interviewed.FindingsChief Registrars enjoyed high levels of practical, professional, and leadership support from their employing organisations, the RCP, and the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management. They had high degrees of autonomy in their roles. As a result, roles were enacted in different ways, making direct comparative evaluation problematic. In particular, we identified variation on two dimensions: first, the focus on medical leadership generally, or quality improvement more specifically, and second, the focus on personal development or organisational leadership capacity.Research limitations/implicationsThe data are limited and drawn from the first cohort's experience. The Chief Registrar scheme, unlike many other leadership fellowships, maintains a high level of clinical practice (with a minimum 40 per cent leadership work). This suggests a clearer preparation for future hybrid leadership roles.Practical implicationsThis paper may offer some support and guidance for Chief Registrars and those who work with and support them.Originality/valueThis study adds to the literature on leadership development for doctors in hybrid roles, and highlights the distinctiveness of the scheme compared with other schemes.