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Leadership learning through lived experience: A process of apprenticeship?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Stephen Kempster
Stephen Kempster*
Affiliation:
Regional Leadership Development, LEAD Programme, Lancaster University Management School, University of Lancaster, Lancaster, United Kingdom
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Abstract

This paper develops an understanding of underlying influences shaping leadership learning within a single organization. It is not an exploration of leadership but rather an explanation of how individuals learn how to lead. Through in-depth interviews with six directors of a UK multinational public limited company and, using critical realist grounded-theory, underlying causes have been identified that build upon existing research but then goes further to provide a systemic and integrated explanation of leadership learning. A model is suggested to illustrate how causal influences, operating in a particular context, influence how people develop their ability to lead. I argue that the metaphor of apprenticeship captures the essence of how underlying influences shape the long-term process of leadership learning: an apprenticeship perspective has significant implications to the efficacy and effectiveness of leadership development interventions.

Keywords

leadershiplearningapprenticeshipexperienceabilitygrounded theory
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , June 2006 , pp. 4 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2006

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