A Phenomenological Inquiry of the Lived Experienced of Participants in a Rotational Leadership

233 Pages·2015·1.41 MB·English

by  Christian Cook

University of Calgary
PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository
Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations
2015-09-28
A Phenomenological Inquiry of the Lived Experiences
of Participants in a Rotational Leadership
Development Program at One Diversified Firm in
Canada
Cook Ross, Christian L.
Cook Ross, C. L. (2015). A Phenomenological Inquiry of the Lived Experiences of Participants in a
Rotational Leadership Development Program at One Diversified Firm in Canada (Unpublished
doctoral thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/24947
http://hdl.handle.net/11023/2520
doctoral thesis
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UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY

A Phenomenological Inquiry of the Lived Experiences of Participants in a Rotational
Leadership Development Program at One Diversified Firm in Canada

by

Christian L. Cook Ross

A THESIS
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

GRADUATE DIVISION OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

CALGARY, ALBERTA

SEPTEMBER, 2015

© Christian L. Cook Ross 2015
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Abstract
Many Canadian organizations have adopted job rotation as a leadership development
intervention to ameliorate current and anticipated talent shortages in their leadership ranks.
Corporately structured rotational leadership development programs (RLDPs) provide high
potential employees with opportunities for development through a series of planned rotational
job assignments, often across diverse business units. This research addressed a gap in the
literature identified by the absence of in-depth qualitative research concerning the perspectives
and experiences of RLDP participants in Canada. Understanding the participants’ perspectives
and experiences as they are hired to, move through, and complete a rotational leadership
development program has provided a more holistic perspective of organizational programming
for the purposes of developing leadership capacity through job rotation. Applying a socio-
constructivist worldview and employing the transcendental phenomenological research tradition,
this qualitative study has sought to understand the lived experiences of nine RLDP participants in
one diversified Canadian firm. Four major themes emerged from the data: (1) developing a
strategic mindset, (2) dealing with ambiguity, (3) interacting with systems of support, and (4)
exercising resiliency. Mezirow’s Transformative Learning Theory underpinned the theoretical
framework for the study. In addition to providing scholarly contributions in the important and
distinct research areas of job rotation, leadership development, and adult learning, the findings
contribute to an emerging area of scholarship concerning rotational leadership development
programs and provide future opportunities for extensive research in this novel area.

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Acknowledgements
Dr. Veronika Bohac-Clarke – VBC, your interest in my research and certainly me as a
student, teacher, leader, and person have made my dissertation possible. Your kindness and your
brilliance continue to provide inspiration to me. You have taught me how to research and how to
teach better, to listen better, and fundamentally how to live better. Thank you for guiding me to
see the importance of the journey and not just the destination.
Dr. Ian Winchester – your class was the first in my doctoral program and it means so
much to me to complete this journey with you. I am grateful for your insights and guidance and
I continue to benefit from your encouragement and wisdom in my own learning and teaching
practice. Dr. Ann Calvert – your vision and abilities to straddle the worlds of education and
business, and to do both with such expertise, are an inspiration for me. I thank you for rallying
to support my perspectives and for seeing so early on the value of this research in the ways I
hope for it.
Dr. Kam Jugdev and Dr. David Este – my great thanks to you for your careful review and
examination of my work – each of you have made this paper and certainly this researcher, better
for your efforts.
I wish to thank my amazing colleagues and incredible students who have become such a
core part of my life through the University of Calgary and Mount Royal University – you have
all had a hand in shaping this project and in providing a bedrock for my research foundation as
well as the energy needed to complete it.
I am blessed to have more parents than the average child is awarded. This has always
meant more encouragement, more advice, more individual and collective wisdom, and more love
than traditional structures provide. Mom & John, Dad & Margaret, and Gerry & Linda – your
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love and support has been a constant well from which I have been able to draw. Without so
many contributing to it, I certainly could have drained it dry years ago. Liz, thank you for
joining the parental support team and for being such a fan of your son and me. I thank you for
your encouragement in this and every other challenge Chris and I take on.
I was told at the beginning of this journey that it would be exciting and also isolating. I
believed only half of that at the time. Adwoa, Mikelle & Aaron, Tracy & Max, Christina & Dan,
Carissa & Rob, Hamish & Becca, Jim & Susan, Harris & Leah, Denise, Sanjay & Janet, Heather,
Brenda, Maggie, our awesome PhD cohort, and my friend and mentor, Victoria – thank you all
for your patience, your support, and your seemingly endless encouragement (though I fully
appreciate I tested those ‘endless’ limitations more than once!). Thank you for the big and the
small kindnesses, for listening, and for laughing with me – always when I needed it most. Thank
you for your generosity of time, coffee, walks and most of all, spirit. I look forward to being
more available and even more importantly, more present with you.
My most special thank you to Ed, for encouraging me to keep our feet on the ground, to
walk often, and for your always wise insights and reflections which substantially enabled the
quality and completion of this project.
To the firm which I have been so fortunate to have partnered with to conduct this
research – your openness, willingness to learn to be even better for your stakeholders, and your
candor along the way have never been short of incredible. I could not have hoped for a more
innovative, honest, and learning focused firm to work with. To the research participants who so
willingly gave of your time and shared your experiences with me – thank you. I will continue to
treasure our conversations and each of you as future leaders far beyond the limits of this research
project.
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Dedication
To my husband, Chris Ross:
You are an immeasurable source of support for me and I am ever grateful for your love,
your patience and kindness, your brilliant business perspectives and insights, and certainly your
humour which is what really saw both of us through this incredible journey! Without your
grounding and confidence in me, I would never have taken this on – without your support and
encouragement, I would never have completed it. I consider this work to be our shared success,
and believe that each of our names should stand on it…so I changed mine.
I love you.
Christian L. Cook Ross.
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Table of Contents
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iii
Dedication ....................................................................................................................................... v
Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... vi
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ xii
List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. xiii
Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1
Genesis/Rationale ........................................................................................................................ 1
Researcher’s Background ............................................................................................................ 3
Significance ................................................................................................................................. 5
The Problem ................................................................................................................................ 7
Purpose ........................................................................................................................................ 9
Development of the Research Questions .................................................................................. 10
Research objectives and assumptions. ................................................................................... 10
Research questions. ............................................................................................................... 10
Research Methodology .............................................................................................................. 11
Research Method ....................................................................................................................... 12
Researcher Bias ......................................................................................................................... 14
Risks to and Ethical Considerations for Research Participants ................................................. 15
Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................................. 17
Figure 1. Diagram of conceptual framework. ...................................................................... 18
Definitions ................................................................................................................................. 19
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Organization of the Research .................................................................................................... 23
Chapter 2: Literature Review ....................................................................................................... 25
Introduction and Organization of the Literature Review .......................................................... 25
Theoretical Framework: Transformative Learning Theory ..................................................... 26
Phases of Transformative Learning Theory .............................................................................. 28
Critiques of Mezirow’s Transformative Learning Theory ........................................................ 30
Job Rotation............................................................................................................................... 33
Job Rotation as a Leadership Development Tool...................................................................... 37
Early Career Leadership Development ..................................................................................... 40
Evaluation of Leadership Development .................................................................................... 42
Organizations’ Perspectives of Development ........................................................................... 43
Research of Participants’ Perspectives of Development ........................................................... 47
RLDPs in Canada ...................................................................................................................... 54
Recruitment and Selection for Rotational Leadership Development Programs ....................... 55
Learning How to Lead/Leadership Development ..................................................................... 57
Leadership Theories .................................................................................................................. 59
Great man theory. .................................................................................................................. 59
Trait theory. ........................................................................................................................... 60
Behavioural leadership theory. .............................................................................................. 61
Situational leadership theory. ................................................................................................ 62
Relational approach to leadership and LMX theory. ............................................................. 62
Transformational leadership theory. ...................................................................................... 63
Psychological Contract .............................................................................................................. 64
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Adult Learning Theory .............................................................................................................. 67
Summary of Literature Review ................................................................................................. 70
Chapter 3: Research Methodology and Method .......................................................................... 72
Research Methodology .............................................................................................................. 72
Research Method ....................................................................................................................... 74
Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................................. 74
Biography. ............................................................................................................................. 75
Grounded theory. ................................................................................................................... 75
Ethnography........................................................................................................................... 76
Case study. ............................................................................................................................. 76
Phenomenology ......................................................................................................................... 77
Husserl ....................................................................................................................................... 79
Epoché and Bracketing.............................................................................................................. 80
Research Participants ................................................................................................................ 81
Identification and Selection of Research Participants ............................................................... 86
Figure 2. Program status criteria for participant pool. ....................................................... 88
Conducting the Interviews ........................................................................................................ 88
Data Collection, Storage, and Retention ................................................................................... 90
Thematic Coding and Analysis ................................................................................................. 91
Chapter 4: Research Findings .................................................................................................... 100
Collection of Research Data .................................................................................................... 100
Process ..................................................................................................................................... 105
Major Theme 1: Developing a Strategic Mindset .................................................................. 106
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Seeing across the enterprise/ understanding the interconnectedness of business, field, and
corporate functions. ............................................................................................................. 107
Learning about leadership. .................................................................................................. 111
Major Theme 2: Dealing with Ambiguity .............................................................................. 114
Feedback for performance. .................................................................................................. 115
Navigating the work environment. ...................................................................................... 117
RLDP transitions and preparation for permanent placements. ............................................ 119
Major Theme 3: Interacting with Systems of Support ........................................................... 122
Mentorship. .......................................................................................................................... 122
RLDP cohort(s) and participants. ........................................................................................ 125
Belonging to. ................................................................................................................... 125
Breaking away. ............................................................................................................... 127
Supervisors/managers during rotations. .............................................................................. 129
Major Theme 4: Exercising Resiliency .................................................................................. 131
Appropriate stretches. .......................................................................................................... 131
Learning from mistakes or failure. ...................................................................................... 133
Disorienting dilemmas. ........................................................................................................ 135
Summary of Findings: ............................................................................................................. 139
Table 1. Themes and subthemes..................................................................................... 139
Chapter 5: Analysis .................................................................................................................... 140
Addressing the Research Questions ........................................................................................ 140
Central research question. .................................................................................................... 141
Major Theme 1: Developing a Strategic Mindset. ............................................................. 142
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