In this thesis I will examine how leadership is understood and performed within leaderless radically democratic anarchist social movement organisations (SMOs). Although it may seem that 'anarchism' and 'leadership' are fundamentally incompatible and mutually exclusive, this may be due to the fact that the common conception of leadership is as an inherently top-down phenomenon performed by strong, charismatic, often authoritative and hierarchically positioned individuals. However, rather than assuming a stance more readily associated with 'mainstream' leadership theory and suggesting that leadership can only happen if there are individual, permanent and stable leaders to enact it, I instead seek to highlight and build on ideas put forward by Critical Leadership Studies (CLS) scholars: that 'leadership' may best be (re-)conceptualised as an inherently collective phenomenon; a socially constructed process constituted by meaning making and reality definition (Smircich and Morgan, 1982). Drawing on data from a year-long ethnographic investigation of a number of UK-based anarchist organisations, focussing primarily on what went on in meetings and deliberative periods, I will go on to highlight how leadership and meaning making was performed by a range of 'leadership actors' in a more democratic and collective manner. Particular emphasis is placed on examining how actors go about doing 'framing' work, that is, how they discursively construct their proposals and actions in meaningful ways, as well as the democratic and participative practices and processes that are put in place to (a) encourage any member to come forward to do leadership work, and (b) prohibit anyone individual from becoming a more permanent 'leader'. However, although it is essential to understand how individuals articulate and frame their ideas and proposals on a small-scale, I will also step back and examine the reasons why certain actions emerge as meaningful in the first place, and how actors construct a sense of 'who we are'. To do this, I turn to the literature on discourse (Foucault, 1979, 1980) to show that in order for leadership to happen at all, actors must understand, internalise and articulate in line with the various 'rules' of appropriate extrasubjective discourses. In sum, the main contributions of this thesis are (a) highlighting that democratic meetings can encourage a more collective form of leadership and organisation (b) showing how leadership and meaning making (through framing) can be performed in the absence of leaders, and (c) linking this all back to notions of discourse. These three points are inextricably linked, and ultimately this thesis will demonstrate that if we reconceptualise leadership as a process constituted by meaning making, it is possible to see that it may not only be performed in a more democratic and collective fashion amongst a variety of actors, but also that it is not incompatible with the goals, aims, practices and processes of contemporary radically democratic SMOs.

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This study attempts to investigate the effectiveness of a strength-based coaching methodology in enhancing transformational leadership. Transformational leadership is the process whereby leaders engage and influence their followers towards attaining a shared vision through their capacity to inspire, innovate and personalize their attention. A between-subject quasi-experimental design was used to explore the impact of strength based coaching on transformational and transactional leadership behaviours measured in a 360-degree feedback process. Thirty-seven executives and senior managers from a large not-for-profit organisation were non-randomly assigned to either a coaching or waitlist cohort. The coaching cohort received six sessions of leadership coaching involving feedback on leadership and strengths, goal setting and strengths development. The coaching process was manualised (via a six session strengths-based coaching manual) to ensure some methodological consistency between the 11 executive coaches providing the intervention. After 6 sessions of coaching over three months, cohorts then switched roles. The results showed that participants experienced highly statistically significant increases in their transformational leadership behaviour after coaching and this difference was perceived at all levels within the organisation but not by the participants themselves. Adherence to the strength-based protocol was also a significant predictor of ultimate degree of change in transformational leadership behaviour. The results suggest that strength based coaching may be effective in the development of transformational leaders.

This thesis explores the effects of gender-based leader stereotypes on leader-follower relations in terms of the implications of shared identity between the leader and the followers (team and/or gender). Four experiments assessed followers’ attitudes toward their leaders when the leaders’ genders were under conditions of stereotype threat as compared to advantage (Studies 1 and 2), no-threat (Study 3) or control (Study 4). Experimental conditions were invoked using text-based stereotype manipulations. In Study 1 (where stereotypes favoured male leaders, thus implicitly representing threat for females) and Study 2 (where stereotypes manipulated advantage/threat for both genders), undergraduates in mixed-sex teams rated team leaders’ presentations. In Study 3, undergraduates in single-sex teams (under conditions of stereotype threat or no-threat) predicted their team leader’s performance, indicated leader-follower proximity (leader’s prototypicality, leader identification and collective threat), and reported perceived self-efficacy for leadership. Similar measures were obtained in Study 4, where corporate employees selected an effective leader from their work experience, prior to exposure to stereotype manipulations (threat or control). The student studies had three main findings. First, male leaders benefitted from the ratings of high team identifiers (a) in the context of male advantage/ female stereotype threat and (b) when males were under threat relative to the advantage condition. The benefit of team identification was not evident for female leaders. Second, male leaders benefitted from female followers’ ratings under threat compared to the advantage condition. In contrast, female leaders under stereotype threat were downgraded by female followers relative to advantage or no-threat conditions. Third, stereotype threat negatively affected high team identifiers’ self-efficacy for leadership. In the corporate study, male respondents’ choice of an effective leader was more likely to be a male whereas there was no gender difference in the leaders chosen by female respondents. Drawing on role congruity theory and a social identity framework, the thesis analyses and finds evidence suggesting that stereotype threat as collective threat contributed to followers’ relatively negative attitudes toward female leaders in terms of leader-follower relations.

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Afrikaans text / The researcher was approached by the security industry to identify leadership shortcomings and to design a leadership course aimed at supervisory level. The research question YJas: "Is it possible to identify shortcomings in individuals in respect of leadership qualities and to address these shortcomings by means of a leadership training model?" After a background study, a leadership training model was developed ·and a bottom-up needs analysis was executed. The developed questionnaire was distributed and the response was statistically processed and interpreted. The target group was identified. The course was designed, presented and evaluated. The impact of this course will be determined through research after a period of 12 to 18 months by comparing and interpreting personnel statistics on aspects like absence without leave, personnel turnover, sick leave and a number of disciplinary hearings. / Die navorser is deur 'n sekuriteitsmaatskappy genader om leierskap­ tekortkominge te identifiseer en 'n kursus te antwerp en aan te bied wat op toesighouervlak gerig is. Die navorsingsvraag is : "Is dit moontlik om tekortkominge ten opsigte van leierskapkwaliteite te identifiseer en deur middel van 'n leierskap­ opleidingsmodel aan te spreek?" Na afloop van 'n agtergrondstudie, is 'n leierskapmodel ontwikkel en 'n onder-na-bo-behoeftebepaling uitgevoer. Die ontwikkelde vraelys is versprei en die terugvoere is statisties verwerk en ge'interpreteer. Die teikengroep is ge'identifiseer. Die kursus is antwerp, aangebied en geevalueer. Die impak van die kursus sal deur middel van verdere navorsing na 'n periode van 12 tot 18 maande getoets word deur die vergelyking en interpretering van personeelstatistieke met betrekking tot afwesighede sander verlof, personeel omset, siekteverlof en die aantal dissplinere verhore. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / M. Ed. (Didaktiek)

Aux lendemains de la défaite allemande de 1918, Adolf Hitler, le caporal défait de la Première Guerre mondiale, psychiquement en guerre depuis de longues années, écoute attentivement ce qui, dans l'histoire du peuple allemand, sa langue et sa culture, maintient ses espoirs et ses craintes. Au XIXe siècle, le mythe 'völkisch' - l'idéologie du 'Volk' allemand- avait structuré l'identité des Allemands. La défaite allemande de 1918 sonnait la fin de ce mythe, laissant la jeune Allemagne auparavant si sûre de son destin exceptionnel, totalement humiliée. Dans cet 'Umwelt' déboussolée, Adolf Hitler, l'autodidacte de Braunau, aussitôt propulsé sur la scène politique bavaroise, glanait rancoeurs et inquiétudes sociales pour se constituer un discours. La langue qu'il était en train de fabriquer, bientôt fixée définitivement dans 'Mein Kampf', était une langue totalitaire et meurtrière. Totalitaire, en prétendant tout dire et répondre à toutes les inquiétudes d'une époque ; meurtrière par !'opérateur sémantique qui liait dans un même énoncé « Deutschland erwache » à sa haine antisémite «Juda verrecke ». Adolf Hitler fut l'homme d'une seule idée: une lutte mortelle entre Aryens et Juifs était engagée depuis des siècles. De l'issue de cette lutte dépendait le sort du peuple allemand. La victoire du peuple juif signerait l'anéantissement de la race aryenne et plus globalement du monde entier. Pour que le peuple allemand vive, il n'y avait d'autre solution que celle du 'Juda verrecke'. La langue qu'il avait fabriquée ne fut qu'un habillage de son délire paranoïaque, le moyen de propagande le plus puissant qui ait soutenu, pendant presque douze années, les illusions les plus mensongères. La néo-réalité nazie créait les conditions nécessaires pour qu'un peuple se tourne entièrement vers son mythe, renversant en terreur l'autre face qui n'était que ravissement. Face à la mystification du 'Deutsch/anderwache' doublée de l'entreprise meurtrière du 'Juda verrecke', la majorité du peuple allemand avait succombé. / The days following the german defeat of 1918, Adolf Hitler, the defeated caporal from the First World War, psychologically at war for long many years, is carefully listening what, in the german people History, its language and its culture, holds his hopes and his fears together. During the 19th century, the ideology from the german « Volk », the« völkisch » myth, had structured the gerrnan identity.The gerrnan defeat of 1918 called this myth to an end, leaving this young Germany wich before was so sure about it special destiny, totally humiliated. In this totally lost « Umwelt », Adolf Hitler, Braunau's autodidact, was immediatly propelled on the bavarish politic scène, catching every resentment and social anxiety to build himself a speach. The language wich he was building, soon definitively fixed in « Mein Kampf », was a totalitarian and murderous language.Totalitarian, pretending to say everything, to answer to all periods of anxiety .Murderous, by the semantic operator wich bound in one speach « Deutschland erwache » to his antisemite hatred « Judverrecke ». Adolf Hitler was a one idea's man : a deadly fight between Aryans and Jews had been settled for centuries. From the result of this fight was depending the fate of the german people. The jewish victory would give the destruction of the aryan's race and most likely the destruction from the whole world.

Afrikaans text / The researcher was approached by the security industry to identify leadership shortcomings and to design a leadership course aimed at supervisory level. The research question YJas: "Is it possible to identify shortcomings in individuals in respect of leadership qualities and to address these shortcomings by means of a leadership training model?" After a background study, a leadership training model was developed ·and a bottom-up needs analysis was executed. The developed questionnaire was distributed and the response was statistically processed and interpreted. The target group was identified. The course was designed, presented and evaluated. The impact of this course will be determined through research after a period of 12 to 18 months by comparing and interpreting personnel statistics on aspects like absence without leave, personnel turnover, sick leave and a number of disciplinary hearings. / Die navorser is deur 'n sekuriteitsmaatskappy genader om leierskap­ tekortkominge te identifiseer en 'n kursus te antwerp en aan te bied wat op toesighouervlak gerig is. Die navorsingsvraag is : "Is dit moontlik om tekortkominge ten opsigte van leierskapkwaliteite te identifiseer en deur middel van 'n leierskap­ opleidingsmodel aan te spreek?" Na afloop van 'n agtergrondstudie, is 'n leierskapmodel ontwikkel en 'n onder-na-bo-behoeftebepaling uitgevoer. Die ontwikkelde vraelys is versprei en die terugvoere is statisties verwerk en ge'interpreteer. Die teikengroep is ge'identifiseer. Die kursus is antwerp, aangebied en geevalueer. Die impak van die kursus sal deur middel van verdere navorsing na 'n periode van 12 tot 18 maande getoets word deur die vergelyking en interpretering van personeelstatistieke met betrekking tot afwesighede sander verlof, personeel omset, siekteverlof en die aantal dissplinere verhore. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / M. Ed. (Didaktiek)

Leaders bring unconscious information into their personal and working relationships. Some of this unconscious material is communicated through language use, and it is argued that one of the bridges between the unconscious and the conscious is language use. It is postulated that insight is possible into leaders’ understanding, meaning-making and leadership experience by exploring their language use, as the vehicle through which they make sense of the world. Hence, the aim of this study was to explore by developing and describing a systems psychodynamic model of language use as manifestation of leadership anxiety dynamics, to refine this theoretical model, and to explore the utility value of the theoretical model. A qualitative and descriptive research method was selected towards reaching this aim. Hermeneutic phenomenology, using the systems psychodynamic perspective allowed for the description, analysis and interpretation of the experiences of participants. Data was collected through a purposive, convenient sample, in the form of three listening posts, which comprised systems psychodynamic practitioners, business leaders and post-modern discourse analysts. Data was analysed by means of critical discourse analysis and systems psychodynamically informed discourse analysis. Manifesting themes were the language of titles, as potential space, and the language of silence versus non-silence; anxiety and its triggers, anxiety and leadership response, and anxiety and language use; the sources of anxiety, language as unconscious defence and offence and towards a language of vulnerability. The findings indicated that leaders use both conscious and unconscious expressions of language simultaneously. Language use manifested as the carrier of conscious messages (between sender and receiver) as well as the unconscious role of language, to attack (accessing the dark side of language use) or defend against anxieties, and to cover leadership vulnerabilities. Language use as container, as well as transitional phenomenon (a potential space) is a carrier of anxieties. Language use thus has the potential to be used for its defensive, regressive and relational value. In a world of uncertainty and increasing attack on and by leadership, the findings further indicated that the defended leaders should be aware of the conscious and unconscious impact and outcome of language. Language use is useful as a lens to explore, diagnose and raise awareness, because the unconscious reveals itself through language as speech and image, and through the language of relations and relatedness and the language of action and omission. Since leaders operate in a colliquated space, both at individual and systemic level (i.e. as collisions), leadership anxiety could be elevated, resulting in the access of the dark side of language use. However, when these collisions occur, leadership anxiety could be reduced when the leader enters the reflective or potential space by accessing the relational value of language use. The utility value of the systems psychodynamic model was subsequently also confirmed. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / D. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Une approche sociologique de l’autorité en milieu scolaire identifie des échanges entre apprenants et enseignants, fondés sur le principe de don (donner, recevoir, rendre). De ce point de vue, l’autorité n’est plus un pouvoir s’exerçant de manière verticale, hiérarchique. Au contraire, le pouvoir de l’autorité est le garant de la qualité des échanges entre enseignants et apprenants : l’enseignant donne, organise les apprentissages (les savoirs, les mises en situation d’apprentissage) et laisse advenir les retours possibles, rendus par les apprenants – dans un esprit de complète réciprocité. De leurs échanges, apprenants et enseignants tirent des enseignements utiles à l’amélioration de leurs conditions, d’éducation pour les uns et de travail pour les autres. Et, l’autorité des enseignants ne peut plus être pensée comme le résultat d’un charisme ou d’une disposition naturelle. Elle est une compétence professionnelle que l’enseignant ne cesse de travailler pour l’accroître. / A sociological approach of the authority in teaching highlights exchanges between teachers and trainees based on the gift concept defined by M. Mauss (give, receive and return). In this point of view, the authority is not perceived as a power enforced from top to bottom, hierarchically. In fact, the authority is the warrant of the exchanges quality between teachers and trainees: the teacher gives and organizes the teaching (knowledge, teaching practices) and the trainees return their end product. Teachers and trainees learn from these exchanges, improving their respective working and learning conditions. Using this concept, teachers’ authority cannot be conceived as a result of a natural charisma. Teachers’ authority becomes a professional competence that the teacher must acquire and improve lifelong.