Thumbnail Image
Publication

The Mental Attitude of a Systemic, Constructivist Leader within a Business Organization: A Heuristic Research Project

Reintges, Klaus-Peter
Publication Date
2015-12-07
End of Embargo
Supervisor
Nadin, Sara J.
Lee, Hugh
Keywords
Heuristic inquiry, Humanistic psychology, Positive psychology, Authentic leadership, Systemic leadership, Autopoiesis, Radical constructivism, Systems theory, Practitioner research, Template analysis
Rights
Creative Commons License
The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.
Peer-Reviewed
Open Access status
Accepted for publication
Institution
University of Bradford
Department
School of Management
Awarded
2014
Embargo end date
Collections
Theses
Show all metadata
Files
Thumbnail Image
Thesis_Reintges_Final_260615.pdf
Adobe PDF, 3.2 MB
Additional title
Abstract
This thesis explores leadership from an inverted or inner perspective of a leader. It draws on humanistic, psychological approaches to leadership, and develops a theory of systemic, constructivist leadership. While systemic, constructivist concepts are well known and accepted methods in therapy, counselling, coaching, and organisational consulting, in leadership there is still a gap between theory and practise. In this study systemic, constructivist ideas such as self-organization of human systems, radical constructivism, and systems theory are transferred, through an experiential learning project to leadership practise. Previous research (Steinkellner, 2005) indicated that in addition to the understanding of systemic theory and the application of systemic interventions, the specific mental attitude of a leader is required. So this thesis (1) explores the qualities of the mental attitude of a systemic, constructivist leader, (2) reflects on the transformation of the self of a leader in an experiential learning process, and (3) develops a theory of systemic, constructivist leadership. The methodology is heuristic inquiry, which involves the subjectivity of the researcher, and includes introspective procedures such as self-searching, self-dialogue, and self-discovery (Moustakas, 1990). Its focus on the inner perspective of a leader is unusual, if not unique. Various concepts from humanistic psychology including tacit knowledge (Polanyi & Sen, 2009), awareness (Perls, 1973), and focusing (Gendlin, 2003) were applied to transcend the concept of rationality both in science and in business. The main contributions of this study are: the description of a theory of systemic, constructivist leadership and; the design of appropriate training to implement this.
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10454/7499
Version
Citation
Link to publisher’s version
Link to published version
Link to Version of Record
Type
Thesis
Qualification name
DBA
Notes