It is time to review the schedule for the placement of your session in the AAACE Agenda. This is the final draft of the Schedule. When you look up your name, use the detail listing to check what days/times you asked to be placed. This is a huge program and we can accommodate necessary changes in day and time now, but may not be able to do so after September 1, 2013 except in emergencies. Please carefully check your placement and send any requests to Ginger Phillips, AAACE Conference Planner with AAACE Session Change Request in the subject line. We will respond to your email, but it may take us up to a week to do so. Thanks for your help in "fine tuning" this agenda!
Leadership Paradox and “Pandora’s box”: The Experiences of Singapore Social Sector Executives with Complex Leadership Challenges
Type of Presentation
Shared
Session Abstract
This session presents the doctoral research findings on how Singapore social sector leaders tackle complex leadership challenges marked by ambiguity and change.
Target Audience
This doctoral research conducted from Teachers College, Columbia University explores the leadership of fifteen non-profit organizational (NPOs) executives in the social service subsector in Singapore. Embedded in a complex human system that is characterized by emergence (self-organization), incompressibility (cannot be prototyped) and unpredictability, these executives are tasked to address leadership paradox in meeting multiple competing demands. Given the paucity of research on Asian NPO leadership, this session will interest educators, researchers and NPO practitioners. The research findings will contribute to the adult and cross-cultural leadership and learning literature. It also informs the practice of cross-cultural leadership training and development.
Learning Outcomes
The participants will be apprised of the findings from this exploratory study that addresses the following research questions:
1. What are the leadership challenges that the Singapore NPO leaders consider as ill-structured?
2. How do they take action and respond to these challenges?
3. How do they make meaning of these challenges?
The interpretations of the findings in light of the theoretical framework, the practical implications and the limitations of the study will be discussed. It will broaden the perspectives on culture, complexity and NPO leadership.
Session Description
The research is based on the assumption that non-profit organizations in the social service sector function in a complex human system that is typified by a large number of nonlinear interacting parts, with unpredictable dynamics as the result of the self-organization of these entities. As anticipated, the interviewees’ depiction of their work environment resonated with the complexity framework. Inherently what follows is the question of leadership in complex environment given that the social problems to be handled are similarly complicated, as embodied in the emic code “opening the Pandora’s box” that was used to describe delving into root-causes of social problems. The discussion will focus on the executives’ actions in facilitating ongoing informal learning, action research, partnering and fostering a “holding environment” for staff development as strategic response to leadership complexity. This study has practical implications on adult learning in non-profit setting.
Efforts are made to try to schedule sessions on the day preferred by the Primary Presenter, though this cannot be guaranteed. Please check your preference.
Thursday November 7