Browsing by Subject "yritysjohtaja"

This qualitative study examines the narratives of high school principals and business leaders who participated in a leadership development project organized in Southern Finland on leadership and leadership development. The study aims to present a temporal and local picture of the experiences and perceptions of the interviewed principals and managers related to leadership and leadership development. The study examines how those in leading positions describe the emergence, construction, development, and future prospects of their leadership in their narratives. In addition, the study examines the activities of principals and managers towards leadership development, and in particular how principals and managers describe the reasons and motivation to participate in leadership development, both within and outside the organization. The research is narrative in nature and is localized in the field of educational leadership research. Leadership is examined through narratively manifested perceptions and leadership development agency. The research material consists of a narrative interview of three high school principals and three business leaders. The analysis of the data was carried out in a data-driven and content-analytical way, based on a paradigmatic-type narrative inquiry. The interviewees narrated their perceptions of leadership on the one hand as leadership manifested in the daily life of an organization built on life and career, and on the other hand as leadership ideals describing their own goals in a future-oriented manner. In terms of leadership perceptions, the results emphasize collective leadership as a goal and as already existing practices, as well as value systems based in human leadership. With regard to leadership developmental agency, the interviewees described the motivational basis of development and the prerequisites required for developmental agency. Development was seen as a prerequisite for the change in the role and operating environment of the leader, and the organizational feedback culture and collegial networks were seen as a prerequisite for developmental agency. Perceptions of leadership differed in part between high school principals and business leaders, but the motivational basis and conditions for leadership development agency were equally present in the narratives.