Sidney Allen Moore

DISSERTATION TITLE:

Practices of Relational Leadership in Action Learning Teams

The problem statement that set the course of action for this study was: how could we re-frame leadership in a way that would support greater organizational capacity for facing the complex challenges of the contemporary world? In this paper, I summarize literature regarding the ongoing transformation of worldview from the enlightenment to the postmodern era, as well as key concepts from systems theory. Then, I review a range of literature related to the way organizations and researchers theorize leadership. From the broader field of published study, I select and present the theory of relational leadership as a basis for my research project.The purpose of my project was to document the praxis associated with leadership when viewed from a relational perspective. I set out to construct a study where I could observe and be a part of relational leadership as it unfolded; as groups gave meaning to it through their dialog,interactions, and practices. With that purpose in mind, I framed my research question as:

How does relational leadership unfold and emerge over the course of a project? What are some of the key practices that enable and comprise relational leadership?