Books by Marian Iszatt-White
Workshop Papers by Marian Iszatt-White
Proceedings of the Workshop on Social Interaction and Mundane Technologies, Melbourne, Australia, November 2007, Nov 26, 2007
This paper is interested in the extraordinary topic of leadership and its relationship with some ... more This paper is interested in the extraordinary topic of leadership and its relationship with some pretty mundane or ordinary technologies. The social interaction it documents is 'leadership work', outlining some of the complexities involved in the provision of management information, and the utilisation of that information in support of decision-making, managing and motivating. It further considers the role of mundane 'technologies of leadership' -email, Word, Exel, Powerpointin dissemination, coordination and control. Finally it considers how technology is routinely implicated in 'team management' as an aspect of both the 'emotional labour' and 'emotional intelligence' of leaders.
Papers by Marian Iszatt-White
Drawing on the twitter feeds of modern ‘thought leaders’ in the field of science outreach and (in... more Drawing on the twitter feeds of modern ‘thought leaders’ in the field of science outreach and (inevitably) politics, this paper considers the requirement for a synthesis of early, proximal forms of leadership with later, distal approaches to meet the needs of leadership in the digital age. The ability for leaders to influence large numbers of people, at the same time as being required to respond to direct feedback and challenge requires, it is proposed, a new form of digitally-mediated proximal leadership. Again, with current political leaders very much in mind, this raises the question of the purposes to which such extensive influence might be put. Parallels with organisational leadership in the digital age are drawn
UbiComp 2007: Ubiquitous Computing
Industrial health and safety is an important yet largely unexplored application area of ubiquitou... more Industrial health and safety is an important yet largely unexplored application area of ubiquitous computing. In this paper we investigate the relationship between technology and organization in the context of a concrete industrial health and safety system. The system is designed to reduce the number of incidents of "vibration white finger" (VWF) at construction sites and uses wireless sensor nodes for monitoring workers' exposure to vibrations and testing of compliance with legal health and safety regulations. In particular we investigate the impact of this ubiquitous technology on the relationship between management and operatives, the formulation of health and safety rules and the risk perception and risk behavior of operatives. In addition, we contrast sensornetwork inspired and smart artifact inspired compliance systems, and make the case that these technology models have a strong influence on the linkage between technology and organization.
The literature on networked learning has tended to consider both its benefits and its challenges ... more The literature on networked learning has tended to consider both its benefits and its challenges from the perspective of the learner. Building on recent work considering the identity issues raised for educators by the adoption of reflexive pedagogy, this paper explores similar issues of ‘identity undoing’ arising from a move to networked learning. Both approaches have the potential to deliver innovative and creative ways of facilitating leadership learning (the context within which they were utilised by the author) – but only if educators are willing and able to accept the implied role shift. The paper concludes with some thoughts on how educators might need to be supported in making the transition to new educational paradigms
All in-text references underlined in blue are linked to publications on ResearchGate, letting you... more All in-text references underlined in blue are linked to publications on ResearchGate, letting you access and read them immediately.
Based on an ethnomethodologically informed ethnography of further education college principals, t... more Based on an ethnomethodologically informed ethnography of further education college principals, this paper explores the nature and accomplishment of strategic leadership work as an ongoing, processual activity. In particular, the paper focuses on the ‘pre-implementation ’ phase of the strategizing process, and suggests how the practices of clarifying, rehearsing, upholding, adapting and elaborating are integral to maintaining the spirit of the strategy in the face of unforeseen events. In so doing, it adopts the notion of strategy as a ‘perennially unfinished project ’ (Knights and Mueller, 2004: 55), and explicates the constant need for improvisation and adjustment in order to successfully implement, not the letter of a strategic plan, but its intent. It also echoes Suchman’s seminal thesis on plans as ‘resources for situated action [that] do not in any strong sense determine its course ’ (Suchman, 1987: 52).
Leadership, 2009
Within the context of an ethnographic study of leadership in the learning and skills sector, this... more Within the context of an ethnographic study of leadership in the learning and skills sector, this article focuses on the role of leadership in making stafffeel valued (Iszatt-White & Mackenzie-Davey, 2003) and the‘emotional labour’ (Hochschild, 1983) through which leaders’ valuing practices are accomplished. By shadowing college leaders, observation was made of the day-to-day practices through which they sought to give staff a feeling of being valued. The article provides evidence of such‘valuing practices’ before going on to explicate the notion of emotional labour— previously researched largely in the services sector— in the professional context of educational leadership. In doing so, it differentiates professional emotional labour from‘emotional intelligence’ (Goleman, 1995), a more common theme within the management literature. It also explores the role of social identity and value congruence in moderating the‘emotional dissonance’(Ashforth & Humphrey, 1993) which can result fro...
This paper is interested in the extraordinary topic of leadership and its relationship with some ... more This paper is interested in the extraordinary topic of leadership and its relationship with some pretty mundane or ordinary technologies. The social interaction it documents is 'leadership work', outlining some of the complexities involved in the provision of management information, and the utilisation of that information in support of decision-making, managing and motivating. It further considers the role of mundane 'technologies of leadership'-email, Word, Exel, Powerpointin dissemination, coordination and control. Finally it considers how technology is routinely implicated in 'team management' as an aspect of both the 'emotional labour' and 'emotional intelligence' of leaders.
For over 50 years the study of 'leadership-in-action' has been advocated by many leader... more For over 50 years the study of 'leadership-in-action' has been advocated by many leadership researchers, yet in this time few have attempted such a study. Those that have tend to produce findings that, rather than bolstering the field, seem to call into question the very usefulness of 'leadership' as an object of inquiry. In the wake of recent calls for
This paper presents some early findings from a research project on 'leadershi... more This paper presents some early findings from a research project on 'leadership' in the post-compulsory education sector that uses an eclectic mix of broadly 'ethnographic' methods in order to obtain some insight into the real time, real world, everyday, mundane business of 'doing' (Garfinkel 1967) 'leadership' in an educational setting. While leadership theories based on different social, political and psychological
This paper documents early research findings concerning the organization and daily accomplishment... more This paper documents early research findings concerning the organization and daily accomplishment of leadership work within further education colleges across the United Kingdom. By analysing the accounts and experiences, or 'war stories ' (Orr, 1996), provided by college Principals we seek to describe both what leaders actually do and what counts as 'leadership work ' in this specific organizational and educational setting. We focus on the ways in which such 'war stories ' may prove useful in the development of forms of 'professional vision ' (Goodwin, 1994) about leadership work in this sector. In doing so we analyse what particular stories- about business v educational models of organisational change; the importance of 'gut instinct ' and the difficulties of engineering new cultures etc- say about leadership work as everyday practice. To conclude, we reflect upon the extent to which ‘war stories ’ not only provide 'teachable m...
Leadership as Emotional Labour
Leadership as Emotional Labour
This article is the introduction to the special issue on ‘Critical and Alternative Approaches to ... more This article is the introduction to the special issue on ‘Critical and Alternative Approaches to Leadership Learning and Development’. This article reviews the past approaches to researching and theorising about leadership learning and development and proposes a shift towards critical and alternative approaches. This article then describes the various articles in the special issue and how they contribute towards this paradigm
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Books by Marian Iszatt-White
Workshop Papers by Marian Iszatt-White
Papers by Marian Iszatt-White