JOE RAELIN is an internationally-recognized scholar in the fields of collective learning and leadership. He is Visiting Professor at the Lappeenranta College of Technology, the PEML Visting Scholar at the Lancaster University Management School, and also holds the Asa S. Knowles Chair of Practice-Oriented Education Emeritus at Northeastern University.
Features informal remarks by Prof. Joe Raelin at the
New Dimensions in Action Learning Conference... more Features informal remarks by Prof. Joe Raelin at the New Dimensions in Action Learning Conference, MIT Sloan School of Management, August 2012. He explains, after distinguishing action learning from project-based learning, the former's value in supporting the development of collective forms of leadership.
In this article the author uses the lens of leadership-as-practice (L-A-P) to analyze the concern... more In this article the author uses the lens of leadership-as-practice (L-A-P) to analyze the concerns of the worker in the contemporary workplace and proposes both new insights and potential remediations through a post-humanistic leadership centered on practice. L-A-P is designed to probe underneath the accepted or "natural" human resource practices to uncover the power dynamics in the workplace that have led to challenges to the worker in the form of burnout, lack of autonomy, and detachment. After introducing the practice approach to the workplace, the paper interrogates the potential value of leadership being viewed as a collaborative agency constituting changes in the trajectory of prefigured work practices that can have affirmative consequences via its ethical and critical approach to human resource development.
In this foreword to Egitim and Umemiya’s Leaderful Classroom Pedagogy, I provide some perspective... more In this foreword to Egitim and Umemiya’s Leaderful Classroom Pedagogy, I provide some perspective to this frame-breaking volume which presents some of the fundamental principles and applications of leaderful practice when used in the classroom. To accomplish a leaderful pedagogy, as the Foreword points out, there has to be a shift in instruction, namely, from vertical pedagogy, wherein knowledge originates from a single source of expertise, to lateral learning that is emergent from a contested interaction among a community of learners.
This essay, through a curation of articles drawn largely from the archives of the Academy of Mana... more This essay, through a curation of articles drawn largely from the archives of the Academy of Management, guides readers through the early foundations, principles, and theory of the new field of leadership-as-practice (L-A-P). The field is shown to have evolved through a history of leadership research culminating in a plural tradition with which the practice perspective is allied. Some of the critical issues in the present and unfolding state of L-A-P are exemplified, including their implications for ongoing leadership practice. The essay ends with some recommendations for future research in the field, along with opportunities for advancing theory and application that such study might afford.
Professor Joe Raelin, the Donald Gordon Visiting Professor of Leadership at the University of Cap... more Professor Joe Raelin, the Donald Gordon Visiting Professor of Leadership at the University of Cape Town, provided the keynote address at SIETAR Japan’s 36th Annual Conference, “Leadership and Collaboration in Intercultural Contexts.” In this review article, Prof. Raelin provides an overview of his talk, presented on November 28, 2021. At the outset he prefaced his talk by explaining how a special kind of leadership, known as leaderful practice, could make an important contribution to intercultural collaboration. The article then divided into four sections: an introduction to leaderful practice, an overview of the foundational field from which leaderful practice springs—known as leadership-as-practice, the applied version of each of these two fields to be called leaderful development, and a sub-application of leaderful development particularly appropriate for intercultural collaboration, that being reflective practice.
This article constitutes an interview between a new researcher of the field of Leadership-as-Prac... more This article constitutes an interview between a new researcher of the field of Leadership-as-Practice (L-A-P), Jenny Robinson, with one of the co-creators of the field, Joe Raelin. It is dedicated to providing an update and refinement of leadership-as-practice “practice theory,” which has gone through a fair degree of transformation since this journal’s first article on the subject in 2008. The call for such an update is precipitated by the need for emerging L-A-P researchers to appreciate the subject’s conceptual boundaries for more consistent and integrated exploration. Not only has the field differentiated from other plural traditions in leadership but from other “as-practice” approaches in the wider management field. Some of the distinctions covered in this article comprise the role of theory in L-A-P, its contribution to leadership research and leadership development, its connection to other related fields such as relational leadership and strategy-as-practice, and its phenomenological, ethical, democratic, and post-humanistic foundations.
This article examines the consumer boycott staged against the J. P. Stevens Company, considering ... more This article examines the consumer boycott staged against the J. P. Stevens Company, considering social class and media factors as partial explanations for its relative failure. These same factors, however, are shown to be potentially contributory to the success of corporate boycotts.
In this age of Enron and WorldCom, how can we jump-start much-needed ethical inquiry within the c... more In this age of Enron and WorldCom, how can we jump-start much-needed ethical inquiry within the corporate world? The engine to do so may well be reflection, especially within its collective form. Because reflection unlocks theory from practice, brings to the surface insights gained from experience, and offers a framework for uncovering hidden assumptions, it serves as a fundamental process for delving into the domain of ethics.
As we move further into the 21st Century, we are becoming more aware that we live in a networked ... more As we move further into the 21st Century, we are becoming more aware that we live in a networked economy and culture, and, as a result, we need to learn how to improve the development of social capital across organizations. Although in nearly all sectors of the economy we have learned that we must rely on stakeholders outside our boundaries to supply us with the necessary knowledge to manage our own operation, the development of collaborative network relationships has not always come easily. For many people, developing the requisite intergroup competence to build and sustain a network is a challenge. At the same time, stand-alone organizations are bound to face devastating inefficiencies if they can’t learn to coordinate services.
In higher education, universities are looking to establish network structures, such as consortia, to formally tie institutional members together looking to share resources. These hubs not only establish instrumental means to bring the parties together but seek to develop a mindset of cooperation underpinned by intrinsic contribution and trust.
This paper critically examines executive professionalization from both power and attribute perspe... more This paper critically examines executive professionalization from both power and attribute perspectives. In particular, it considers whether the growing taste for outside successors in the CEO-selection decision results from professionalization. A database
search finds that neither professionalized power considerations nor executive skills constitutes a critical basis for CHO external selection.
Northeastern University (NU) and the University of Wyoming (UW) are investigating whether the par... more Northeastern University (NU) and the University of Wyoming (UW) are investigating whether the participation of sophomores (with particular attention to women) in formal undergraduate engineering programs that provide work experiences while enrolled (e.g., cooperative education and internships) is related to enhanced self-efficacy. Self-efficacy theory provides an important framework for differentiating the career outcomes of students in engineering. In particular, positive self-efficacy beliefs appear to significantly affect persistence in undergraduate engineering programs. This study found that co-op programs appear to make a significant contribution to the enhancement of work selfefficacy.
The authors of the exchange now reunite to offer some concluding remarks. Our comments arise fro... more The authors of the exchange now reunite to offer some concluding remarks. Our comments arise from a few issues that in the words of one of us “have been left hanging” and thus call out for some expatiation as a way to conclude our story of ethics in the new field of leadership-as-practice. We’re responding in the first-person plural but where we have divergence, we will refer to one another using our first names. We hope that our approach, veering as it does from the point-counterpoint convention, is consistent with our espousal of collaborative and, where supporting conditions permit, emancipatory practice.
The field of leadership-as-practice (L-A-P) is beginning to mature as a theory of leadership in d... more The field of leadership-as-practice (L-A-P) is beginning to mature as a theory of leadership in direct opposition to standard leadership, which views the individual as the mainstay of leadership experience. Nor does it focus on the dyadic relationship between leaders and followers, which historically has been the starting point for any discussion of leadership. Rather, it is concerned with how leadership emerges and unfolds through day-today experience. In this ongoing and evolving activity, questions of ethics arise which challenge what appears to be a flat ontology circumscribing its ethical applications. Using a case analysis, which according to the author takes significant liberties with some of the fundamental ethical principles and practices of L-A-P, this essay seeks to refine and delineate what constitutes business ethics from a leadership-as-practice perspective.
Features informal remarks by Prof. Joe Raelin at the
New Dimensions in Action Learning Conference... more Features informal remarks by Prof. Joe Raelin at the New Dimensions in Action Learning Conference, MIT Sloan School of Management, August 2012. He explains, after distinguishing action learning from project-based learning, the former's value in supporting the development of collective forms of leadership.
In this article the author uses the lens of leadership-as-practice (L-A-P) to analyze the concern... more In this article the author uses the lens of leadership-as-practice (L-A-P) to analyze the concerns of the worker in the contemporary workplace and proposes both new insights and potential remediations through a post-humanistic leadership centered on practice. L-A-P is designed to probe underneath the accepted or "natural" human resource practices to uncover the power dynamics in the workplace that have led to challenges to the worker in the form of burnout, lack of autonomy, and detachment. After introducing the practice approach to the workplace, the paper interrogates the potential value of leadership being viewed as a collaborative agency constituting changes in the trajectory of prefigured work practices that can have affirmative consequences via its ethical and critical approach to human resource development.
In this foreword to Egitim and Umemiya’s Leaderful Classroom Pedagogy, I provide some perspective... more In this foreword to Egitim and Umemiya’s Leaderful Classroom Pedagogy, I provide some perspective to this frame-breaking volume which presents some of the fundamental principles and applications of leaderful practice when used in the classroom. To accomplish a leaderful pedagogy, as the Foreword points out, there has to be a shift in instruction, namely, from vertical pedagogy, wherein knowledge originates from a single source of expertise, to lateral learning that is emergent from a contested interaction among a community of learners.
This essay, through a curation of articles drawn largely from the archives of the Academy of Mana... more This essay, through a curation of articles drawn largely from the archives of the Academy of Management, guides readers through the early foundations, principles, and theory of the new field of leadership-as-practice (L-A-P). The field is shown to have evolved through a history of leadership research culminating in a plural tradition with which the practice perspective is allied. Some of the critical issues in the present and unfolding state of L-A-P are exemplified, including their implications for ongoing leadership practice. The essay ends with some recommendations for future research in the field, along with opportunities for advancing theory and application that such study might afford.
Professor Joe Raelin, the Donald Gordon Visiting Professor of Leadership at the University of Cap... more Professor Joe Raelin, the Donald Gordon Visiting Professor of Leadership at the University of Cape Town, provided the keynote address at SIETAR Japan’s 36th Annual Conference, “Leadership and Collaboration in Intercultural Contexts.” In this review article, Prof. Raelin provides an overview of his talk, presented on November 28, 2021. At the outset he prefaced his talk by explaining how a special kind of leadership, known as leaderful practice, could make an important contribution to intercultural collaboration. The article then divided into four sections: an introduction to leaderful practice, an overview of the foundational field from which leaderful practice springs—known as leadership-as-practice, the applied version of each of these two fields to be called leaderful development, and a sub-application of leaderful development particularly appropriate for intercultural collaboration, that being reflective practice.
This article constitutes an interview between a new researcher of the field of Leadership-as-Prac... more This article constitutes an interview between a new researcher of the field of Leadership-as-Practice (L-A-P), Jenny Robinson, with one of the co-creators of the field, Joe Raelin. It is dedicated to providing an update and refinement of leadership-as-practice “practice theory,” which has gone through a fair degree of transformation since this journal’s first article on the subject in 2008. The call for such an update is precipitated by the need for emerging L-A-P researchers to appreciate the subject’s conceptual boundaries for more consistent and integrated exploration. Not only has the field differentiated from other plural traditions in leadership but from other “as-practice” approaches in the wider management field. Some of the distinctions covered in this article comprise the role of theory in L-A-P, its contribution to leadership research and leadership development, its connection to other related fields such as relational leadership and strategy-as-practice, and its phenomenological, ethical, democratic, and post-humanistic foundations.
This article examines the consumer boycott staged against the J. P. Stevens Company, considering ... more This article examines the consumer boycott staged against the J. P. Stevens Company, considering social class and media factors as partial explanations for its relative failure. These same factors, however, are shown to be potentially contributory to the success of corporate boycotts.
In this age of Enron and WorldCom, how can we jump-start much-needed ethical inquiry within the c... more In this age of Enron and WorldCom, how can we jump-start much-needed ethical inquiry within the corporate world? The engine to do so may well be reflection, especially within its collective form. Because reflection unlocks theory from practice, brings to the surface insights gained from experience, and offers a framework for uncovering hidden assumptions, it serves as a fundamental process for delving into the domain of ethics.
As we move further into the 21st Century, we are becoming more aware that we live in a networked ... more As we move further into the 21st Century, we are becoming more aware that we live in a networked economy and culture, and, as a result, we need to learn how to improve the development of social capital across organizations. Although in nearly all sectors of the economy we have learned that we must rely on stakeholders outside our boundaries to supply us with the necessary knowledge to manage our own operation, the development of collaborative network relationships has not always come easily. For many people, developing the requisite intergroup competence to build and sustain a network is a challenge. At the same time, stand-alone organizations are bound to face devastating inefficiencies if they can’t learn to coordinate services.
In higher education, universities are looking to establish network structures, such as consortia, to formally tie institutional members together looking to share resources. These hubs not only establish instrumental means to bring the parties together but seek to develop a mindset of cooperation underpinned by intrinsic contribution and trust.
This paper critically examines executive professionalization from both power and attribute perspe... more This paper critically examines executive professionalization from both power and attribute perspectives. In particular, it considers whether the growing taste for outside successors in the CEO-selection decision results from professionalization. A database
search finds that neither professionalized power considerations nor executive skills constitutes a critical basis for CHO external selection.
Northeastern University (NU) and the University of Wyoming (UW) are investigating whether the par... more Northeastern University (NU) and the University of Wyoming (UW) are investigating whether the participation of sophomores (with particular attention to women) in formal undergraduate engineering programs that provide work experiences while enrolled (e.g., cooperative education and internships) is related to enhanced self-efficacy. Self-efficacy theory provides an important framework for differentiating the career outcomes of students in engineering. In particular, positive self-efficacy beliefs appear to significantly affect persistence in undergraduate engineering programs. This study found that co-op programs appear to make a significant contribution to the enhancement of work selfefficacy.
The authors of the exchange now reunite to offer some concluding remarks. Our comments arise fro... more The authors of the exchange now reunite to offer some concluding remarks. Our comments arise from a few issues that in the words of one of us “have been left hanging” and thus call out for some expatiation as a way to conclude our story of ethics in the new field of leadership-as-practice. We’re responding in the first-person plural but where we have divergence, we will refer to one another using our first names. We hope that our approach, veering as it does from the point-counterpoint convention, is consistent with our espousal of collaborative and, where supporting conditions permit, emancipatory practice.
The field of leadership-as-practice (L-A-P) is beginning to mature as a theory of leadership in d... more The field of leadership-as-practice (L-A-P) is beginning to mature as a theory of leadership in direct opposition to standard leadership, which views the individual as the mainstay of leadership experience. Nor does it focus on the dyadic relationship between leaders and followers, which historically has been the starting point for any discussion of leadership. Rather, it is concerned with how leadership emerges and unfolds through day-today experience. In this ongoing and evolving activity, questions of ethics arise which challenge what appears to be a flat ontology circumscribing its ethical applications. Using a case analysis, which according to the author takes significant liberties with some of the fundamental ethical principles and practices of L-A-P, this essay seeks to refine and delineate what constitutes business ethics from a leadership-as-practice perspective.
In this second edition of the already invaluable Work-Based Learning Student Handbook, Ruth Helye... more In this second edition of the already invaluable Work-Based Learning Student Handbook, Ruth Helyer and her team have brought the philosophy of work-based learning down to earth to explain its principles and practices not only for students but for anyone who wants to know how work-based learning really works. There are many interconnecting features in work-based learning, but among my nominations for the most critical would be: the deployment of action projects with reflection, reliance on social learning through the assistance of peer learning teams and coaches, learning contracts and assessment, accreditation of prior learning, and the deployment of virtual tools to facilitate learning across space and time. All of these features are covered extensively in this book.
The HR Professional and Employee Career Development, 1988
The author reviews some specific ways in which human resource professionals can assist management... more The author reviews some specific ways in which human resource professionals can assist management in managing other salaried professionals.
Work-based learning is Joe Raelin’s unique way of incorporating a number of action strategies―suc... more Work-based learning is Joe Raelin’s unique way of incorporating a number of action strategies―such as action learning, action science, and communities of practice―into a comprehensive framework to help people learn collectively with others. In this thoroughly updated and revised edition, he demonstrates how to engage our reflective powers to challenge those taken-for-granted assumptions that unwittingly hold us back from questioning standard ways of operating. A well-known popular author, Joe is an avid student of the many traditions that support work-based learning, so he presents an inclusive model that has wide appeal across disciplines and occupations. He provides readers with the most recent updates in the field, such as his coverage of virtual team learning, portfolios, multisource feedback, critical and global action learning, and changes in educational policy. Whether you're an organizational or college educator, this book will help you make learning accessible to everyone―and even contagious within your organization.
SAGE Handbook of Management Learning, Education and Development, 2009
In this chapter, I hope to first locate action learning within the range of prevailing “action mo... more In this chapter, I hope to first locate action learning within the range of prevailing “action modalities” in management development that conceive of practice as having its own epistemology. They all more or less emphasize the value of concurrent reflection on experience to expand and create new knowledge while improving practice itself. I will then succinctly describe action learning both in theory and practice, highlighting and illustrating its prospective outcomes, its project orientation, and its reliance on learning teams. Next, I will survey other selected action modalities, namely: action research, action science, developmental action inquiry, and cooperative inquiry. In the last sections, I will take up three contemporary topics, the emergence of critical theory within the action dimension, which bounds action learning’s humanistic aspirations; the global application and resulting cross-cultural implications of the use of action learning; and the challenge to the action modalities of their not yet having widespread adoption in the field.
Presenting the four Cs of leaderful practice: concurrent, collective, collaborative, compassion. ... more Presenting the four Cs of leaderful practice: concurrent, collective, collaborative, compassion. Professor Joe Raelin challenges traditional notions of leadership by calling for a mutual model that includes everyone in "leaderful practice." Raelin argues that leadership in the twenty-first century requires a complete transformation of all facets associated with conventional leadership. Leaderful practice dispels the idea of leadership "being out in front." Instead Raelin contends, organizations achieving leaderful practice act as communities where everyone participates in leading, not serially but concurrently and collectively. An individual focus is replaced by a collective spirit, the controlling approach becomes collaborative, and finally an atmosphere of dispassion turns into one of compassion. Raelin draws upon a wide-ranging store of past and present examples to illustrate his points—from the practices of New Yorker editor Harold Ross, to those of D. J. De Pree, founder of Herman Miller.
Synopsis: The Global Economy—the flattened networked world—demands a new type of leadership: one ... more Synopsis: The Global Economy—the flattened networked world—demands a new type of leadership: one that is collective and collaborative, where solutions and vision are co-created by everyone. Although foreshadowed in the author's Creating Leaderful Organizations (Berrett-Koehler, 2003), the practical application of collective leadership remains a mystery to many practicing executives and managers. It is evident that the development of leaderful organizations cannot happen overnight; in fact, we need agents to emerge to help us learn how to change longstanding regressive organizational cultures into more leaderful communities. When we say "leaderful," we refer to leadership practices that are collective and concurrent – people can serve as leaders all together and at the same time. Feel free to watch the leaderful video to learn more about the leaderful concept. This fieldbook is designed for these change agents – coaches, facilitators, OD consultants, and weavers-wishing to embark with their clients on a leaderful journey across a range of levels – from individual to network-and adopting a style of collective engagement that matches the democratic processes that they are seeking to produce. The fieldbook presents the most practical of recommendations in the form of an array of exercises that can be adopted immediately across these multiple levels of experience. It also features a set of cases that demonstrate the use of the exercises in each of these levels – individual, interpersonal, team, organizational, and social network.
The Work Self-Efficacy Inventory (WS-Ei) measures a range of job behaviors and practices referrin... more The Work Self-Efficacy Inventory (WS-Ei) measures a range of job behaviors and practices referring to beliefs in one's command of the social requirements necessary for success in the workplace. The WS-Ei's theoretical underpinning is that individuals with higher work self- efficacy are more likely to undertake, and to be successful in, workplace performance. Furthermore, work accomplishments, in turn, increase self-efficacy through a feedback loop tying subsequent performance to augmented self-efficacy beliefs. )
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New Dimensions in Action Learning Conference, MIT Sloan School of Management, August 2012. He explains, after distinguishing action learning from project-based learning, the former's value in supporting the development of collective forms of leadership.
Papers by Joe Raelin
practice perspective is allied. Some of the critical issues in the present and unfolding state of L-A-P are exemplified, including their implications for ongoing leadership practice. The essay ends with some recommendations for future research in the field, along with opportunities for advancing theory and application that such study might afford.
At the outset he prefaced his talk by explaining how a special kind of leadership, known as leaderful practice, could make an important contribution to intercultural collaboration. The article then divided into four sections: an introduction to leaderful practice, an overview of the foundational field from which leaderful practice springs—known as leadership-as-practice, the applied version of each of these two fields to be called leaderful development, and a sub-application of leaderful development particularly appropriate for intercultural collaboration, that being reflective practice.
In higher education, universities are looking to establish network structures, such as consortia, to formally tie institutional members together looking to share resources. These hubs not only establish instrumental means to bring the parties together but seek to develop a mindset of cooperation underpinned by intrinsic contribution and trust.
search finds that neither professionalized power considerations nor executive skills constitutes a critical basis for CHO external selection.
New Dimensions in Action Learning Conference, MIT Sloan School of Management, August 2012. He explains, after distinguishing action learning from project-based learning, the former's value in supporting the development of collective forms of leadership.
practice perspective is allied. Some of the critical issues in the present and unfolding state of L-A-P are exemplified, including their implications for ongoing leadership practice. The essay ends with some recommendations for future research in the field, along with opportunities for advancing theory and application that such study might afford.
At the outset he prefaced his talk by explaining how a special kind of leadership, known as leaderful practice, could make an important contribution to intercultural collaboration. The article then divided into four sections: an introduction to leaderful practice, an overview of the foundational field from which leaderful practice springs—known as leadership-as-practice, the applied version of each of these two fields to be called leaderful development, and a sub-application of leaderful development particularly appropriate for intercultural collaboration, that being reflective practice.
In higher education, universities are looking to establish network structures, such as consortia, to formally tie institutional members together looking to share resources. These hubs not only establish instrumental means to bring the parties together but seek to develop a mindset of cooperation underpinned by intrinsic contribution and trust.
search finds that neither professionalized power considerations nor executive skills constitutes a critical basis for CHO external selection.
efficacy are more likely to undertake, and to be successful in, workplace performance. Furthermore, work accomplishments, in turn, increase self-efficacy through a feedback loop tying subsequent performance to augmented self-efficacy beliefs. )