The Development of Management and Leadership Capability and its ...

Need for buy-in from participants
This research reports an attempt to introduce a competence-based development
programme into an NHS Trust. The initiative was ultimately unsuccessful because of
resistance from participants (Currie 1999). An ethnographic study of what happened
concluded that unless there was congruence between the context of the organisation as
perceived by the participants and the development initiative being introduced the
initiative was likely to be unsuccessful. Unless there is buy-in from the group, the
programme will be ineffective.
Importance of the ethos and practice of the organisation
A similar study on middle managers in the FE sector (Boyatt and Currie 2001) also
found that a competence-based approach was not effective because it was at odds with
the ethos and practice of the organisation. It has to be concluded that tailoring
programmes to the particular context is essential if they are going to work. Not only
does the content of the programme need to be appropriate to the way in which people
see themselves and their organisation, but also its legitimacy needs to be established
at the outset through negotiation with participants about the content and process of the
course. Imposition of a pre-determined framework does not work.
Organisational context also affects learning itself
The context of the organisation affects learning in a number of ways. Research by
Antonacopoulou (2002) found that a restricted view of learning at the organisational
level limits individual learning and that individuals’ learning is directly affected by
the organisation’s practices. Where the organisation's culture, even when it purports
to promote learning, actually discourages learning because of the boundaries it sets to
the processes of learning, learning is reduced.
5.4.2 Effects of transformational leaders
A recent study by Bono and Judge (2003) uses a strong evidence-base to show that
transformational leaders do affect the extent to which individuals perceive their activities to
be important, feel more job satisfaction, are more willing to help out, and do better at a
simple task. Similarly, Shamir et al (1998) found that leaders who emphasised collective
identity had followers who were more likely to see their work as fulfilling, important and
enjoyable. More research is needed into how effective training programmes can be
developed to enhance these capacities in leaders.
It is also important to involve line managers in development activity if it is to be effective
(see box).
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