Despite the
proliferation of academic approaches to understanding ‘skill’, there remains a
general tendency to ignore the complex interweaving of skills in work as it is
accomplished. The concept of skill often ignores both how most jobs are
multi-skilled as well as the way in which skills mesh together. This is both in
the individual sense and as part of a team: the skills involved in coordinating
work, in responding to contingencies, in ensuring levels of ‘awareness’ amongst
a team etc.. Our observational approach
recognises skill as a form of knowledge; knowledge which is often partly
informal, tacit and involves an understanding and acquisition of the culture in which a
particular work activity is accomplished.
Our aim in 'explicating leadership' is to draw on our previous [and parallel] research in a variety of
settings - the police, financial services, the NHS, design, - as well as
initiating investigations in a number of new domains - to investigate issues in
leadership that may serve to focus and inform ongoing debates surrounding
organizational knowledge, skill, and learning cultures. Through
observing leadership in a range of settings - settings where apparent problems
have already been addressed or where particular technologies have matured - we
hope to raise questions about the character of leadership in the post-compulsory education
sector in interesting and relevant ways.
