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This multi‐method case study examined the roles, functions, capabilities, job satisfaction, strengths, weaknesses and skill gaps of frontline team leaders working on the shopfloor in the Australian automobile industry. The study was conducted in a large automobile manufacturing company employing 4,500 employees and rated as one of the top 22 organisations in Australia according to net revenue. Extensive data were gathered through two surveys involving 121 frontline team leaders and semi‐structured interviews with 100 team leaders, 100 group leaders, and 30 general forepersons. The findings showed that there have been relatively few theoretical and practical efforts to specify the functional requirements of frontline leaders who occupy the first level entry point of leadership positions and hence career progression in the automobile industry. The study proposes a definition for frontline leadership.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a research agenda to underpin leadership development activity in the social housing sector, in the light of an identified need for effective leadership in this sector owing to the continual reform and changes it faces.

A literature review is conducted by searching a number of business and management, along with social sciences, databases and texts with the primary focus being leadership and management in social housing. Secondary focus is based around public sector organisations and agencies such as the police and education owing to lack of research in social housing.

There is a pressing need for leadership development in social housing, yet there is a limited evidence base from which to develop effective development interventions. The most relevant models of leadership appear to be those which focus on inter‐organisational and cross‐sector collaboration, but further research is required to develop a clearer picture of the nature of the leadership challenge within this sector.

The paper is only seen as a first stage as it attempts to draw from what has been already published. The paper develops the own research agenda for a second phase of empirical research in order to continue the debate further.

The paper adds to the discussion and debate around leadership in general but more crucially brings to the surface a number of questions not posed previously that involve the starting‐point for detailed empirical research. Relevant case examples exist within the National Health Service and education, but social housing has remained immune from this up until now.

Outlines the policies of the AA in its training for customer care skills, team leadership abilities and team‐building initiatives. Provides a guide to the implementation of the programme and gives examples of the views of team leaders as to how well the programme was working.

Employee participation is an important construct in contemporary organisations. Recently, the argument has concentrated on whether leader direction and participation can co‐exist. It is argued that leader direction is perceptually acceptable by employees at the strategic level of the decision process but is interpreted as intrusive at the tactical (task) level. This study examined the possibility of any interaction effects between leader direction at the task level and participation, and whether this exacerbated the relationship between participation and favourable work‐related attitudes. A total of 108 middle managers were surveyed using measures for both dimensions of leader direction, participation, job satisfaction, commitment and intrinsic motivation. Separate two‐step moderator regression analysis was conducted to test the hypothesis. Results indicate that while participation predicts significantly all work‐related attitudes, both leader direction variables exacerbated the relationship between participation and job satisfaction. Implications of the results and future research are also discussed.

In recent years, police leadership integrity and standards have been positioned as central to the professionalisation agenda of the police service England and Wales (College of Policing, 2015). The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges for developing innovative, more people-oriented approaches to leadership in a command environment like the police.

A case study approach in one UK police constabulary was adopted. In all, 38 semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior police officers from chief constable to inspector rank. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed.

Police officers drew on managerial and command discourses in their understandings of leadership. Perceptions of the situation, particularly in terms of perceived risk and visibility, influenced leadership practices in the constabulary.

Current research and policy places emphasis on “what works” in police leadership; the meanings of leadership to police officers is overshadowed by a focus on effectiveness. Through the use of semi-structured interviews, this research captures police leaders’ understandings of themselves and their leadership. The findings reveal that, at a time when police leadership needs to become more innovative and people focussed, the pressures and complexities of contemporary policing mean that police officers retreat to leadership that is command-based and driven by the primacy of business needs.

The purpose of this paper is to develop the notion of collaborative practice from theoretical and empirical bases.

The research analysed the concepts of collaboration, reflective practice and the primary task. It also examined the ways of working of 18 primary schools in Wales where the level of student attainment in national test scores was high, despite the pupils experiencing considerable social and economic disadvantage.

From the conceptual analysis, we contend that established models of joint working accord insufficient significance to the work task and that reflective practice is essentially a social process, which requires a task focus to be successful. In the schools we studied, there was a particular way of working which we have called “collaborative practice”. It contributed substantively to their success. Collaborative practice is highly developed and inclusive joint working on a clearly defined main task, or primary task, in a reflective way. There are thus three elements to collaborative practice: collaboration, reflective practice and focus on the primary task. All three elements must be present for collaborative practice to be successful.

The collaborative practice model provides a straightforward framework for analysing work in schools. It also gives a secure foundation on which to base successful practice in educational institutions. The collaborative practice model therefore has implications for research and practice in educational settings, for the practice of educational leaders and managers, and for the professional development of those who work in schools.

Introduces a method to enhance existing mission and vision statements. The format of the initial statement is changed to (1) suggest an action, (2) identify this action only vaguely, and (3) include a social categorization. Discusses some consequences of the Unifying Action Declarations, including examples from experiential group events and from a high tech consulting firm. The resulting “Unifying Action Declarations” allow leaders to use group formation forces to help motivate task performance.

This paper aims to look closely at the actuality of project formation to investigate the performance of project shaping – those acts performed by individuals to make that form of “sense” that constitutes a new project, and to propose a framework for mapping the skills of those individuals who are directly involved in shaping projects.

The paper uses a sensemaking approach from illustrative narratives in order to propose a model of how a project outcome is shaped. The analysis is based on thinking that emerged from the Rethinking Project Management Network and other academic communities.

Significant factors in project formation are: the timing of the conversion of work into controlled project form (the control model of projects), the role of factional interests and power structures (tribal power), the alignment of project scope with a need for transformation (transformation and value), the fast production of tangibles such as project mandates that embody the project essentials (enacted reality), and responsiveness to the dynamics of the wider social context (external dynamics – peripety).

It is apparent that the process of project formation, and the shape each project takes, is highly dependent on the actions of key individuals (shapers' volition). There is further scope for expanding the understanding, within the structure of the framework, of the full array of activities performed by individuals in action as “project shapers”.

The framework developed is of immediate value to those individuals who use their skills to mould a project, providing a conceptual basis they can use to learn and extend their skills.

Much of the interest to date in project formation has focused on instrumental managerial practices of governance. This paper focuses on lessons to be learned from the actuality of project formation – the conversion of work in organisations from a muddle of ambiguity and complexity into that particular form of cohesion and accepted “sense” that is a defined project or programme.

Examines the organization as a system of interrelated competences. Argues that strategic development, rather than following on the making of product‐market choices, might be better achieved through the measuring, improving and monitoring of a range of critical competences.

The paper aims at identifying the knowledge gaps in the existing African leadership studies and argues in support of further research in the field with a view to establishing the link between African culture and leadership practices and their implications for economic growth on the continent.

It reviews the mainstream perspectives in leadership literature in general and African leadership literature in particular as a basis for the development of an integrated goal‐behaviour‐performance model.

Previous studies have seen African culture as either defining the uniqueness of leadership on the continent or constraining leadership development. The paper suggests the presence of both types of impact on leadership. It also offers a conceptual framework that integrates the different perspectives on the relationship between culture, leadership and organizational performance.

The paper is based mainly on limited empirical investigations into leadership styles and functions in Africa. The scarcity of studies in the field therefore imposes limitations on the generalizability of some of the arguments.

The paper encourages research in the field and provides some propositions to guide future empirical investigations. Ideas generated in the paper will guide organizational development strategies and poverty alleviation policies in Africa.

It is one of the recent attempts to synthesize existing perspectives on leadership behaviour in Africa and its implications for economic growth and poverty alleviation.