“Dialogue – possible between leader and follower?” - Ashridge

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Of relevance to leaders might be some further understanding, generated through empirical study, of the benefits of dialogue and how traditional roles of leader and follower might impact such encounters. Then, challenging such an entitative view of leader and follower as independent operators in a system of exchange might serve to suggest that dialogue is in fact more realisable within the remit of the emerging relational leadership view. 24
Research questions, methodology and ontological perspective Having undertaken an initial literature review as described above, I was then naturally asked by the University to state my research questions. Having stated these I would then propose a methodology that would fittingly ‘answer’ the questions. At first I willingly applied this process and proposed the following research questions based on the gaps I perceived within the literature: • Is the phenomenon of I-Thou dialogue possible within a leadership context, and if it is, what is the experience like? • What are the implications for the way in which a leader consequently sees his / her role and the process of leadership? Sub-questions would include: • What do the different forms of dialogue feel like for a leader? • What aides the realisation of I-Thou dialogue in a leadership context? • What gets in the way of realising I-Thou dialogue in a leadership context? • What does an experience of I-Thou dialogue bring to leaders? I then put my mind to considering the most appropriate methodology. It was at this point that I realised that in order to be congruent to my subject matter I wanted to aim towards a research method that embraced the qualities inherent in the subject matter I was exploring. I was also pressed into rigorously considering my own beliefs around ontology and epistemology. I noticed then an uncomfortable mismatch between my beliefs and the standard accepted process described above. To explain, the phenomena I wish to explore, leadership and dialogue, are subjectively determined and socially constructed. As such I am interested in finding out how others encounter the concepts and make meaning regarding them. I am interested in the way people experience dialogue in a leadership context and conversely how they experience leadership whilst in dialogue; and the construction of these phenomena in relation to each other. Using Bradbury and Lichtenstein’s words, who draw inspiration from Martin Buber (1958), I am interested in ‘the space between people and phenomena in organisational life’, (2000:551), and indeed the relation between myself as researcher and the 25
Page 1 and 2: “Dialogue - possible between lead
Page 3 and 4: 2. Background It is difficult for m
Page 5 and 6: 3. Literature Review a. Dialogue Th
Page 7 and 8: Figure 1: the historical developmen
Page 9 and 10: Both sets of authors have in common
Page 11 and 12: academic work linking the two areas
Page 13 and 14: accessible to a pragmatic individua
Page 15 and 16: and Uhl-Bien, 1995) and charismatic
Page 17 and 18: many of their propositions are cert
Page 19 and 20: to leadership theory” (2008:253).
Page 21 and 22: i. Inhibitions to leader-follower d
Page 23: can easily grow into a feeling that
Page 27 and 28: A methodology which has grown in us
Page 29 and 30: My experiences of co-operative inqu
Page 31 and 32: • The very ambiguous and uncertai
Page 33 and 34: • As the above points indicate, i
Page 35 and 36: Where next? The process of co-opera
Page 37 and 38: References Anderson, R., Baxter, L.
Page 39 and 40: Habermas, J. (1984), The theory of
Page 41: Stewart, J. and Zediker, K. (2000),

“Dialogue – possible between leader and follower?” - Ashridge

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