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PERSONAL CONTEXT: THE STORY OF THE WISE SIX-YEAR OLD
In this section I attempt to describe the aspects of my background that are relevant to the study and how my interest and passion in the topic emerged from a young age and was cultivated through career choices. My story starts as a six-year old who lived in a world of possibilities, colours and music. However, a brutal and harsh ‘truth’ was enforced by my first-grade teacher when she insisted that 1+1=2, whereas I thought that 1+1 can be 2, 4 or 100. Surely, the sum of 1+1 can take many forms, depending on what you believe to be possible? I had to unlearn my ideas about possibility and relearn that there is only ‘one truth’, which is 1+1=2. My story continues as a classically trained pianist who searched for the ultimate perfection and mastery of the great classical works through rigorous training.
I resonated in particular with the French Impressionistic works – paradoxical and complex compositions. I believed, as I was taught at school, that there is only ‘one way’ to master these works: technical mastery and a scientific understanding of music. Until one day, when my teacher stood up and started to dance on the music, discarding his conventional teaching methods on phrasing. This allowed me to experience the message and soul of the piece in the moment, as well as to listen to and observe myself whilst playing. Being in the moment allowed me to self-correct with grace as insights emerged. I had to unlearn my belief that there is only ‘one way’ to mastery and relearn that mastery comes with sensing, knowing, seeing, feeling and experiencing the complexity of music in the present moment. Since 2000 I have worked in the field of leadership development as a registered psychologist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).
Part of my function is to conceptualise, design, write and facilitate leadership development programmes. During this period I became particularly interested in what makes some individuals more effective in change leadership than others. From my tacit knowledge at the time, the more effective individual connected to a purpose and often mindfully ask more questions than offer answers. I was also interested in the pockets of excellence and success stories of these individuals and engaged in true dialogue, not only conversation. This gave me an opportunity not only to understand the context but also to participate actively in re-constructing meaning – hence the choice of a constructivist paradigm within the qualitative research methodology. The complexity of the context in which we live and make meaning in a holistic manner requires a mindset of possibility and multiple truths. The wise six-year old was right: 1+1=multiple truths and this is the premise of my study….
POSTMODERNISM AND CONSTRUCTIVISM: MY READING GLASSES
A research philosophy can be defined as the worldview that guides the investigation, research methodology, assumptions, practical considerations and the relationship between knowledge and the process by which it is developed (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2007:100). Finlay (1998:453) argues that when studying constructs characterised by ambivalence, unpredictability and contradictions, and meanings attached to definitions are socially constructed and interpreted in multiple ways, a postmodernist rather than a positive approach is required. Postmodernism is a worldview which postulates that individuals are immersed and flooded with multiple voices and meanings that create a cacophony or symphony of chaos. Thus, it is a study in multiple and often contradictory realities.
It is argued that postmodernism offers a distinctly different approach to the study of leadership and representation of findings as it allows for context and complexity. This implies that my role as researcher was also to search for and capture the inconsistencies, contradictions and multiple representations of what constitutes a mental model in the quantum organisation (Kilduff & Mehra, 1997:453; Tierney, 1996:374). Postmodernism, therefore, appears to be an appropriate research philosophy for this study.
TABLE OF CONTENTS :
- DECLARATION
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- ABSTRACT
- CHAPTER 1: CONTEXTUALISING THE STUDY
- 1.1 INTRODUCTION
- 1.2 THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT: A SOUTH AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE
- 1.3 ACADEMIC CONTEXT: MENTAL MODELS AND LEADERSHIP IN A COMPLEX ENVIRONMENT
- 1.4 PERSONAL CONTEXT: THE STORY OF THE WISE SIX-YEAR OLD
- 1.5 THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
- 1.6 RESEARCH QUESTIONS: AN EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS
- 1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
- 1.7.1 Assumptions
- 1.8 THE STORYLINE
- 2 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY AND DESIGN
- 2.1 INTRODUCTION
- 2.2 POSTMODERNISM AND CONSTRUCTIVISM: MY READING GLASSES
- 2.2.1 Epistemology and ontology
- 2.2.2 Ontological and epistemological rigour
- 2.2.3 Paradigm orientation and theory building
- 2.2.4 Postmodernism and rhetorical structure: my voice
- 2.2.5 Paradigms of enquiry
- 2.2.6 Researchscape: Location of researcher in paradigm of enquiry
- 2.2.7 Researchscape: Location of participants in paradigm of enquiry
- 2.3 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
- 2.3.1 Leadership and qualitative research: complex context and the individual
- 2.4 RESEARCH DESIGN: CONSTRUCTIVIST-GROUNDED THEORY
- 2.5 REFLEXIVITY IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
- 2.6 CONCLUSION
- 3 CHAPTER 3: THE QUALITATIVE RESEARCH JOURNEY AND METHODOLOGY
- 3.1 INTRODUCTION
- 3.2 PHASE 1: GAINING ACCESS TO THE FIELD
- 3.2.1 Phase 1a: Research participant criteria and sampling
- 3.2.2 Phase 1b: Contacting the participants
- 3.2.3 Phase 1c: Getting consent
- 3.3 PHASE 2: DATA COLLECTION
- 3.3.1 Phase 2: Conducting interviews
- 3.4 PHASE 3: DATA ANALYSIS
- 3.4.1 Phase 3a: Transcribing
- 3.4.2 Phase 3b: A close reading of the raw data and voice
- 3.4.3 Step 3c: Coding
- 3.4.4 Computer-aided data analysis
- 3.5 PHASE 4: LINKING THE DATA WITH THE LITERATURE
- 3.6 PHASE 5: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
- 3.7 RESEARCH RIGOUR
- 3.7.1 Credibility
- 3.7.2 Dependability
- 3.7.3 Confirmability
- 3.7.4 Transferability
- 3.8 CONCLUSION
- 4 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS – AXIAL CODES
- 4.1 INTRODUCTION
- 4.2 AXIAL CODING
- 4.3 SELECTIVE CODING
- 4.4 THE CONTEXT: A COMPLEX ENVIRONMENT
- 4.4.1 Understand context
- 4.4.2 The challenge in a complex environment
- 4.5 QUANTUM ORGANISATION
- 4.5.1 Sense of belonging and meaning
- 4.5.2 Interdependence
- 4.5.3 Networked
- 4.5.4 Learning and thinking
- 4.6 MENTAL MODEL
- 4.6.1 Map to navigate
- 4.6.2 Unconscious
- 4.6.3 Culture
- 4.7 LINEAR THINKING
- 4.7.1 Assumption #1: There is only one truth
- 4.7.2 Assumption #2: It is a predictable world
- 4.7.3 Assumption #3: We are separate and disconnected from one another
- 4.7.4 Assumption #4: Survival of the fittest
- 4.8 QUANTUM THINKING
- 4.8.1 Assumption #1: It is a connected world
- 4.8.2 Assumption #2: We are all equal thinkers
- 4.8.3 Assumption #3: The co-existence of multiple truths
- 4.8.4 Making sense of emerging patterns
- 4.8.5 Co-creation
- 4.8.6 Meta-cognition
- 4.8.7 Learning
- 4.9 SENSE MAKING PROCESS
- 4.9.1 Awareness of present moment
- 4.9.2 Acceptance of current reality
- 4.9.3 Questioning
- 4.9.4 Challenge status quo
- 4.9.5 Letting go
- 4.9.6 Knowing that not knowing
- 4.9.7 Talking about not knowing
- 4.9.8 Trusting the knowing
- 4.9.9 Observing
- 4.9.10 Sensing
- 4.9.11 Realising
- 4.10 LEADER IN A COMPLEX ENVIRONMENT
- 4.10.1 Identity
- 4.10.2 Attitudinal orientation
- 4.10.3 Behavioural orientation
- 4.11 CONCLUSION
- 5 CHAPTER 5: LITERATURE REVIEW
- 5.1 INTRODUCTION
- 5.2 COMPLEXITY THEORY
- 5.2.1 Assumptions of complexity theory
- 5.3 THE QUANTUM ORGANISATION
- 5.4 THE LEADER IN A COMPLEX ENVIRONMENT
- 5.4.1 African leadership: An alternative paradigm
- 5.4.2 Ubuntu
- 5.5 MENTAL MODELS
- 5.5.1 Mental models and change leadership in a complex environment
- 5.5.2 The challenge
- 5.6 LINEAR AND QUANTUM THINKING
- 5.7 THE CHANGE WITHIN
- 5.7.1 Quantum thinking mental model
- 5.7.2 Quantum skills model
- 5.7.3 Scharmer’s U-theory
- 5.7.4 Generative dialogue
- 5.7.5 Mindfulness
- 5.8 CONCLUSION
- 6 CHAPTER 6: TOWARDS A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF THE MINDFUL SENSE- MAKING PROCESS OF THE LEADER IN THE QUANTUM ORGANISATION
- 6.1 INTRODUCTION
- 6.2 THE MULTIDIMENSIONAL CONSTRUCTS
- 6.2.1 The quantum organisation
- 6.2.2 Leader in a complex environment
- 6.2.3 Mental models
- 6.3 THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: MINDFUL SENSE-MAKING PROCESS OF THE LEADER IN A COMPLEX ENVIRONMENT
- 6.4 APPLICATION
- 6.5 CONCLUSION
- 7 CHAPTER 7: DISCOVERIES, CONTRIBUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
- 7.1 INTRODUCTION
- 7.2 DISCOVERIES
- 7.3 CONTRIBUTIONS
- 7.4 RECOMMENDATIONS
- 7.5 EVALUATION OF THE RESEARCH
- 7.6 NOTICEABLE SHORTCOMINGS AND LIMITATIONS
- 7.7 OPPORTUNITIES FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
- 7.8 ANTI-CONCLUSION
- 8 LIST OF REFERENCES
- APPENDIX
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MENTAL MODELS OF LEADERS IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN QUANTUM ORGANISATION
