Leadership in vocational education and training: Leadership by design not by default

By Ian Falk, Tony Smith Research report 11 June 2003 ISBN 1 74096 134 X web

Description

The processes of leadership - the event, situation and context - in vocational education and training (VET) are the focus of this report. Leadership in this context is not seen as an attribute of a particular person, but a process that has four stages for solving a problem - the trigger stage, the initiating leadership stage, the developmental leadership stage and the sustainability stage. The study finds effective leadership occurs collectively and continuously.

Summary

Executive summary

Corporatisation of the vocational education and training (VET) sector has led to a broadening of the VET client focus and increased accountability. These changes have contributed to the need for new leadership styles, attributes and processes.

This report describes a research study into leadership in vocational education and training organisations. It seeks to generate new information, theory and knowledge in an area of VET leadership. The purpose of the study is to gain insight into the conditions for and characteristics of effective leadership in vocational education and training now and in coming years.

The study focusses on the processes of leadership, as well as the characteristics of individual leaders, and draws on literature from a wide range of leadership studies. The theory of 'enabling leadership' is used as a framework for the study. This theory suggests that the effectiveness of leadership in VET depends largely on the contexts in which the leadership is exercised.

Five research questions are addressed:

  • What changes have occurred in the roles and responsibilities of VET managers over the last ten years?

  • What factors have brought about these changes?

  • What are the current VET leadership roles and responsibilities?

  • What are the claims on VET managers?

  • How might vet leadership roles and responsibilities change in the next five years?

Data forming the basis of analysis for the study are derived from 49 survey and interview responses and case studies in 12 registered training organisations from a range of VET provision contexts around Australia. Leadership interventions in these contexts are explored through the case studies, and scenarios developed from the data. Four interventions are examined in detail and, in each case, effective leadership was seen to depend on aspects of the context in which leadership was exercised.

The study generated five main findings.

Finding 1

The effectiveness of VET leadership was found to depend on aspects of the particular practical situation which need to be changed through what is termed an intervention. Essentially, leadership in the circumstances of this study depends on how the leaders process ongoing change.

Finding 2

The study found that effective leadership in VET consisted of the relationship between three dimensions:

  • internal organisational roles and responsibilities

  • the external environment (such as learners, community, enterprises and policy)

  • the characteristics and contribution of individuals who carry out leadership roles in the course of an intervention.

That is, effective VET leadership can be seen as a process of enabling interactions between internal, external and individual domains of activity, which requires knowledge and interpersonal expertise on the part of the leaders.

Finding 3

The study found that the characteristics of effective leadership were different for four identified stages of solving a problem (an 'intervention'):

Stage 1      the trigger stage

Stage 2      the initiating leadership stage

Stage 3      the developmental leadership stage

Stage 4      the sustainability stage.

It was evident that in all stages effective leadership was a collective process and a continuous one. Initially leadership was distributed between the core team, then spread to a wider (internal) group, and moved progressively to the broader stakeholders.

Finding 4

While effective VET leadership can occur through unintended means or simply by default, the evidence in this study suggests that effective VET leadership occurs consistently when the contextual factors are analysed and the required leadership profile is designed accordingly.

Finding 5

In response to a line of enquiry in the study about the ability to generalise 'leadership skills', it can be said with confidence that certain components of 'leadership' are 'generic', to the extent that they are perceived to be generally applicable across different situations. These components include interpersonal (including communication) skills, risk-taking, team-building and analytic and decision-making skills. However, these generic skills are found to be transferable only in situations where the contextual factors impacting on the leadership intervention are known and acted upon. To put it simply, it was found that generic skills are only as useful and transferable as contextual knowledge permits.

Conclusion

This study suggests that effective leadership in VET occurs where there is a relationship between the internal organisational roles and responsibilities, the external environment and attributes of the individual leader. The study highlights the importance of context in identifying VET leadership processes.

The study suggests the need for a more complex set of characteristics and processes of effective leadership over the next five years. There is a crucial role for leadership in actively designing learning, social, community and organisational futures rather than simply responding to existing impacts or drivers such as 'policy'. VET leaders who design vocational education and training futures will have attributes such as:

  • risk-taking, initiative and innovative behaviour

  • networking, partnership and alliance building abilities

  • a capacity for futuring-envisioning future trends, strategic resourcing, and being pro-active.

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