Leadership development and organizational learning through dialogical process

This chapter is a contribution to the development of dialogical inquiries within the frame of action research and seeks to inspire action researchers interested in leadership development and organizational learning. It demonstrates how action research can contribute to leadership development and organizational learning from within complex organizational contexts as an alternative to top-down implementation of standardized concepts. The chapter presents a dialogically based approach to leadership development and organizational learning used in a project, which involved ten public schools and their related day care centers belonging to a Danish municipality. The action research project took place over a two-year period and involved 45 managers as co-researchers in their management teams. The results of the project were very positive, and the study has shown that this way of working with leadership development has enhanced the level of reflexivity in the management teams and qualified new actions for complex organizational challenges. The inquiry contributed to reflexivity and learning among the managers of both first and second order and has led to improved coordination and collaboration between the participating schools and day-care centers.