Leading and Learning Through Myth and Metaphor

Lena Fritzén
Additional contact information
Lena Fritzén: Växjö University

Chapter 12 in Mythical Inspirations for Organizational Realities, 2008, pp 150-162 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract A group of about 20 city council directors takes a study trip to Toronto as part of a leadership-training course, in order to compare the Swedish and Canadian health care systems. The purpose of the course is to discover new organizational improvements that can contribute to improving the Swedish health care system. Even if everyone in the group has much experience with leadership, so far it has proven difficult to put into words the characteristics that leadership for change should embody in a complex organization. Theoretical models from various subject perspectives have been presented and discussed; yet the participants have still not been able to fully reflect on or question their own leadership. The group’s discussions have taken place at the abstract level, which means that the group members’ established ideas of the health care system and their own leadership have not changed at all. After a long trip over the Atlantic, the study trip to Toronto begins with a sightseeing trip to Niagara Falls. During the visit something happens that opens the group up for a different type of discussion. The power of the falls, their sheer height, human beings’ insignificance in contrast to the enormous forces of nature, and a sense of wonder at the beauty of nature all meld together to form a new picture that summarizes the complexity of organizational change and what it means to find oneself on the brink of chaos.

Keywords: Tacit Knowledge; Experiential Knowledge; Professional Expertise; Dialogical Approach; Canadian Health Care System (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-58359-7_14

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9780230583597

DOI: 10.1057/9780230583597_14

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().