Teaching leadership for improvement : a case study in distance learning effectiveness

Background Leadership is the process of directing the behaviour of others toward the accomplishment of some common objectives. Leadership is influencing people to get things done to a standard and quality above their norm - and doing it willingly. Leading others is not simply a matter of style, or following some how-to guides or recipes. Ineffectiveness of leaders seldom results from a lack of know-how or how-to, nor is it typically due to inadequate managerial skills. Leadership is even not about creating a great vision. It is about creating conditions under which all your followers can perform independently and effectively toward a common objective. Leadership is also a never ending process of self-studies with the purpose to know yourself and your behaviour as individual and in a group better. Understanding group dynamics is essential in order to inspire employees into higher levels of teamwork. It could be argued that for any improvement, leadership forms the main resource basis on which success of change relies. Gotland University has during several years carried out well frequented distance courses in leadership. The typical student is a person with a degree working in some organisation, often in a managerial position. Course assessments have indicated appreciation and a high level of student satisfaction. Purpose The question is if leadership theories and methodologies learnt really are put into use when the course is finished. The main purpose of this research is to explore how current leadership teaching is transferred into practical use in organisations. Another purpose is to see how current management attitudes correspond with the main theories. The results will help to improve the understanding of the practical relevance of different parts of leadership theory. Additionally the role of pedagogy and contextual factors when putting leadership theory into practise are highlighted. Methodology/Approach An alumni database for former students is used for sending a questionnaire asking for the relevance of different topics. Focus is on seeing what parts of theory have been used and to what extent. Based on the first results from the questionnaire a number of interviews are carried out to find out more detailed areas of improvement relating both to what theory to focus on and how to learn. Additionally randomly chosen written reports from courses are used to identify current managerial behaviour. Findings Preliminary findings indicate that theories are being used, but that there is improvement potential (study is still in progress). Limitations The study is limited to the theories used in the current courses. Students are practically all mature students already working. Value Leadership is a practical issue and it is important to know that what is taught is relevant and that it is being used. This paper gives a good indication of the practical relevance of important parts of current leadership theory