The Australian enigma (original) (raw)
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20. Cultural mythology and global leadership in Australia
As Sinclair (2005: 175) suggests, ‘Until we unravel and expose the links between being a leader and enacting a particular form of manliness, then, in gender and racial terms, leadership will remain the domain of a homogeneous elite’. Still, there is cause for optimism as the dialogue continues, and in the final lines proffered by Oodgeroo Noonuccal (1994) in her Song of Hope: To our father’s fathers The pain, the sorrow; To our children’s children The glad tomorrow.
Leading in Australia: Results from the GLOBE study
2002
What is the nature of leadership in Australia? Is Australian leadership uniquely conditioned by our national culture? If this is the case, then how are Australian leaders different from their counterparts in other parts of the world? These are the questions that we sought to answer through participation in the 62-nation GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organisational Behaviour Effectiveness program) project. The overarching aim of GLOBE, initiated and led since 1993 by Professor Robert J.
Journal of Educational Administration and History, 2013
In this article, we argue that leadership of schools is a form of performance that has become ritualised and routinised through the official scripting of policy texts that mandate how leadership of schools should occur. Our interrogation of recent policy scripts in Australia reveals that there is limited scope for leadership in schools to occur as accountability mechanisms and policy directives codify the professional expertise that leaders are required to possess, act out and act on.
2000
ABSTRACT This paper reports a comparative study of Australian and New Zealand leadership attributes, based on the GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness program. Responses from 344 Australian managers and 184 New Zealand managers in three industries were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Results supported some of the etic leadership dimensions identified in the GLOBE study, but also found some emic dimensions of leadership for each country.
Telling the Nation: Current Australian Configurations
Cultural Studies Review,8 (2), Melbourne University Press, 2002
So natural is the habit of Australian self-analysis that its very quantity can easily become an occasion for further self-analysis. (Are Australians narcissistic?) There is no sign of a falling off. If anything, the number of books and articles seeking out, identifying or pondering the distinguishing features of Australian culture or the Australian people seems to be increasing. This essay discusses some recent examples, focusing on their underlying assumptions and motivations, and trying to put them into some kind of historical perspective.
A Cultural Change for Leadership Identities: Could Aboriginal Artists Reveal a Different Approach?
Academy of Management Proceedings, 2020
Abstract: Leadership in Australia is at a turning point. It is widely accepted that the intensity of the bushfire season during the summer of 2019-2020is driven by the changes in climate predicted some twelve years ago (Garnaut, 2008). Yet despite knowledge of the societal changes these will bring, attempts to mitigate the impact of climate change with developments in alternative economic and energy models have been stymied by political leaders. The resulting environmental damage suggests that the way in which we identify and promote our leaders has failed the ultimate challenge of our age. In the search for hope and a way forward, alternative leadership models capable of implementing positive change are needed. Under these circumstances, models that harmonise culture and the environment must be sought. Such innovative models of leadership characteristics and identities have been identified in the creative disciplines, particularly within Indigenous societies. As an art critic and writer over thirty years, my research has noted the leadership roles and respect that Australian Aboriginal artists frequently hold within their communities. I propose a starting point for potential disruption to leadership approaches and insights to alternative models. It is through the examining and reflecting on ways in which narrative and culture connect communities to create hope through identifying positive futures and “relatedness” that impactful, progressive leadership may be realised. Relatedness is required to remedy the failing leadership model in Australia. Indigenous methodologies such as Please Knock before You Enter (Martin, 2009) developed a research paradigm “founded on the principles of cultural respect and cultural safety and embedded in Aboriginal ontology, epistemology and axiology”. In Aboriginal communities, art provides a touchstone to the past and innovation toward the future. This paper examines characteristics that may serve mainstream society from the creative models available, particularly focussing on Aboriginal artists who are leaders in their community and cultural contributors at the same time. While there are conflicts visible between these divergent roles, their connectivity to the narratives of their place and people offer significant points of difference to the way in which we select and promote our current political leaders. There is little discussion of leadership models modelled by Aboriginal arts and culture in existing literature to date. In this paper I acknowledge the novel nature of the material under discussion. However, its potential ability to transform the way in which we manage both leadership and crucial environmental decisions at this juncture toward new leadership paradigms is the subject of the explorations below.
Leadership Dilemmas in Australian Higher Education: A Western Australian Case Study
2008
This is a paper that critiques the leadership approach and leadership practices in Australian higher education. Exclusive top-down leadership and decision-making is a key feature of the version of 'managerialism' that is prevalent in the Australian higher education sector. The main tenet of this paper is that the classical hierarchical, top-down leadership mindset is no longer relevant in the turbulent and dynamic organizational environment confronting modern universities in Australia or overseas. We use a qualitative case study of leadership philosophy and practices at Murdoch University to argue that there is a need to reframe and reconceptualize the role of leadership in higher education. Leadership is then redefined to be an important, but not exclusive, part of the organisational strategic and operational decisionmaking process. The adaptability and self-organising capability of the university workforce requires an inclusive, not exclusive, decision-making methodology.