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Developing leaders as symbolic violence: reproducing public service leadership through the (misrecognized) development of leaders’ capitals

Developing leaders as symbolic violence: reproducing public service leadership through the (misrecognized) development of leaders’ capitals
Developing leaders as symbolic violence: reproducing public service leadership through the (misrecognized) development of leaders’ capitals
A critical analysis is developed of the part that centrally initiated leadership development plays as a strategic lever for ensuring a steady supply of organizational leaders equipped and willing to meet the goals of widespread service improvement. Selected Bourdieusian conceptual tools are employed to illustrate how centrally initiated development of leaders operates as a form of ‘symbolic violence’: a covert means of perpetuating political elite domination. Organizational leaders misrecognize it as promoting their interest in expanding their influence because they are attracted by the opportunity it overtly offers to build their ‘capitals’. This process operates across two main administrative levels: the central (system) level and the organizational (local) level. The analysis is empirically grounded through the case of UK public services, drawing on a study of public service leaders, policymakers and representatives from national leadership development bodies in the United Kingdom. The findings illustrate how central policy elites endeavour to use leadership development to acculturate organizational leaders capable of responding favourably to a reconfigured and re-professionalized public service field. At the same time, organizational leaders consent to this through its perceived value in expanding their influence and developing their leader-related forms of capital
1350-5076
81-97
Tomlinson, Michael
9dd1cbf0-d3b0-421e-8ded-b3949ebcee18
O'Reilly, Dermot
c8cdf542-089c-41a2-b0e0-4a5cf5eb7380
Wallace, Mike
d6bf03d8-b402-4b2a-8610-a17faca68abe
Tomlinson, Michael
9dd1cbf0-d3b0-421e-8ded-b3949ebcee18
O'Reilly, Dermot
c8cdf542-089c-41a2-b0e0-4a5cf5eb7380
Wallace, Mike
d6bf03d8-b402-4b2a-8610-a17faca68abe

Tomlinson, Michael, O'Reilly, Dermot and Wallace, Mike (2013) Developing leaders as symbolic violence: reproducing public service leadership through the (misrecognized) development of leaders’ capitals. Management Learning, 44 (1), 81-97. (doi:10.1177/1350507612472151).

Record type: Article

Abstract

A critical analysis is developed of the part that centrally initiated leadership development plays as a strategic lever for ensuring a steady supply of organizational leaders equipped and willing to meet the goals of widespread service improvement. Selected Bourdieusian conceptual tools are employed to illustrate how centrally initiated development of leaders operates as a form of ‘symbolic violence’: a covert means of perpetuating political elite domination. Organizational leaders misrecognize it as promoting their interest in expanding their influence because they are attracted by the opportunity it overtly offers to build their ‘capitals’. This process operates across two main administrative levels: the central (system) level and the organizational (local) level. The analysis is empirically grounded through the case of UK public services, drawing on a study of public service leaders, policymakers and representatives from national leadership development bodies in the United Kingdom. The findings illustrate how central policy elites endeavour to use leadership development to acculturate organizational leaders capable of responding favourably to a reconfigured and re-professionalized public service field. At the same time, organizational leaders consent to this through its perceived value in expanding their influence and developing their leader-related forms of capital

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More information

Published date: February 2013
Additional Information: Funded by ESRC: Developing Organisation Leaders as Change Agents in the Public Services (RES-000-23-1136)
Organisations: Lifelong & Work-Related Learning

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 347650
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/347650
ISSN: 1350-5076
PURE UUID: 7ba144b8-0a12-441b-9a6d-1cac5ac36de7
ORCID for Michael Tomlinson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1057-5188

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Date deposited: 01 Feb 2013 10:13
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:40

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Contributors

Author: Dermot O'Reilly
Author: Mike Wallace

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