دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی از "حامی پروری" تا رهبری تحول گرا؟ یک سفر مردم شناسی از گرجستان تا انگلیس - امرالد 2018

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the ethnographic tradition in the educational leadership literature through providing an autoethnographic critical analysis of the idiosyncrasies of leadership across two different socio-political environments: a Soviet educational establishment and a contemporary UK higher education institution. Design/methodology/approach – In a previous issue, Doloriert and Sambrook (2012) argued that autoethnographic approach could help to uncover some experiences and voices that previously were silenced due to the discomfort they caused. In response to this claim and with consideration of three epistemological possibilities of autoethnography as suggested by Doloriert and Sambrook (2012), the author uses narrative accounts of personal experiences of leadership in Soviet Georgia and in the UK as the main source of data in the attempt to demonstrate how the three epistemological positions overlap and complement each other in the context of a critical autoethnography. Findings – The paper argues that autoethnographic approach can provide a unique opportunity for a simultaneous analysis of the particularities of leadership practice across different socio-political environments, whereas the “three positions” approach could be used as an expedient template for further exploration of educational leadership. The paper also suggests there are some parallels between current leadership practice in the UK higher education and Soviet system of “clientilism”. Originality/value – This paper is one of the first attempts to use autoethnography as an analytical tool for comparing leadership patterns in two contrasting socio-political structures.

Final thoughts

So far this small-scale research investigation attempted to use autoethnographic approach to provide a brief critical reflection on the key aspects of my role as a leader within my current occupation and explicate my leadership styles based on autobiographical narrative of my “journey” from a Soviet school to a higher education institution in the UK. As previously mentioned, the analysis of selected examples from my leadership practice was not intended to serve as a tool for a discovery of best practice or unveiling truth with any level of certainty. Nevertheless, using autoethnographic approach allowed me to make a couple of tentative observations that have implications for both leadership practice and further research into the subject. First, there seem to be a number of similarities in the way leadership relationships have been balanced within the Soviet system of education and that of the UK. We can see that the agenda for education is always constructed by those in power, which, in a way, explains the nature of these similarities. Within both systems educational structures have been controlled and regulated by those who have been in political power aimed at promoting and sustaining a particular version of educational system and the purpose of education, as such. This, consequently, contributed to the process of shaping the leadership traditions within both cultures. As Gunter (2001, p. 8) observed, “leadership can be seen as the process and product by which powerful groups are able to control and sustain their interests”.