Leadership for team learning: the case of university teacher teams

Abstract

Teacher team involvement is considered a key factor in achieving sustainable innovation in higher education. This requires engaging in team learning behaviors that should result in new knowledge and solutions. However, university teachers are not used to discussing their work practices with one another and tend to neglect any innovation in their tasks. Team leadership behavior is often considered essential for stimulating team learning behavior, but it is unclear how this transpires. Therefore, the present study explores university teacher team members' perceptions of team learning behavior, their assigned task, and leadership behaviors in their team. Interviews were conducted with 16 members of different teacher teams at a university of applied sciences. Findings included that the vast majority of the team learning behaviors only involved sharing ideas; engaging in constructive conflicts and co-constructions was not observed. Only a few teams combined all three team learning behaviors. In these teams, members observed that existing methods and solutions were no longer adequate, with leaders appearing to combine transformational and transactional behaviors, but operating from a distance without actively interfering in the process. Furthermore, these team members shared leadership behaviors while focusing on the team as a whole, instead of solving problems at individual level. This strongly indicates that task perception and specific vertical and shared team leadership behaviors play a role in stimulating teachers in seeking controversy and co-constructing new knowledge.

The role of VET Colleges in stimulating teachers’ engagement in team learning

“…These findings that point towards the need for an ambidextrous team leader confirm the studies of Bucic et al (2010) and Koeslag-Kreunen et al (2017), who found that characteristics of both a transformational and transactional leadership style can contribute to team learning. The findings are also aligned with the review study of Rosing et al (2011), who argued that leaders need to switch between 'opening leader behaviours' (similar to transformational leadership) and 'closing leader behaviours' (similar to transactional leadership) during innovation tasks, for example designing, redesigning and implementing CBE.…”

“…Based on these findings, it is suggested that ambidextrous leadership is needed to stimulate teachers' team learning, which is confirmed by previous research (Bucic et al, 2010;Koeslag-Kreunen et al, 2017). This implies that during certain tasks and challenges teacher teams benefit from control and direction instead of autonomy, while during other tasks and challenges they benefit more from autonomy.…”

“…However, managers' leadership styles can influence how employees respond, as is shown by previous research that indicates that a manager's leadership style can foster team learning (e.g. Bucic, Robinson, & Ramburuth, 2010; Koeslag-Kreunen, Van der Klink, Van den Bossche, & Gijselaers, 2017;Raes et al, 2013). Therefore, to explain the relationship between VET colleges' supportive context and teachers' team learning, not only how team leaders implement team-oriented HRM should be taken into account, but also how they act as leaders.…”

“…Only a few studies have examined relationships between shared leadership -a concept closely related to distributed leadership -and team learning, and these suggest that shared leadership supports team learning (Koeslag-Kreunen et al, 2017;Liu et al, 2014). However, whether distributed leadership stimulates engagement in team learning or whether the relationship is more complex -Day, Gronn, and Salas (2004) for instance suggest a reciprocal relationshipremains unknown.…”

Walk The Talk: Bringing Spirituality to Workplace through Transformational Leadership and Emotional Intelligence in Higher Education Institutions

“…The impression that transformational leadership theory may be valuable in higher education institutions is supported by a meta-analytic review (Balwant 2016). Transformational leadership behaviors appear to upkeep team learning via stimulating spirit at work and team efficacy (Koeslag-Kreunen et al 2018). As the higher education institutions have become increasingly concerned with key performance indicator KPI -led planning and strategy, therefore it is imperative that the leaders of higher educational institutions walk the talk, share responsibility with formal and informal leaders from faculty and staff group and practice what they preach through transformational leadership behavior.…”