PhD defence: Roderick Peter Walker

Since the 1990’s, increasing emphasis has been placed on the importance of leadership in the Danish public sector as a way of meeting increasing demands for efficiency and innovation, resulting in massive investment into these kinds of leadership development programmes (LDP’s) from the Danish government. The influence of such programmes on organisational practices, however, remains largely unstudied. The dissertation offers a detailed qualitative study of the organisational influence of a diploma programme in leadership provided for middle-managers within the municipality of Copenhagen. The study focuses on situated practices taking place in both educational and organisational settings, enabling consideration of how these settings inform one another and the implications this has for the managers moving within and between them. The design and application of the diploma programme is seen to encourage participants’ practical engagement with initiatives introduced by the wider organisation of the municipality of Copenhagen, increasing their acceptance of these and their efforts at translating them into their local institution. In this way, the diploma programme is seen to develop followership to the wider organisational agenda, as much as leadership of the local institution.

Primary Supervisor:
Associate Professor Morten Knudsen
Department of Organization
Copenhagen Business School

Secondary Supervisors:
Professor Karen Borgnakke
Department of Media, Cognition and Communication
University of Copenhagen

Assessment Committee:
Associate Professor Lise Justesen (Chair)
Department of Organization
Copenhagen Business School

Professor Bente Elkjær
Danish School of Education
Aarhus University

Associate Professor Gareth Edwards
Bristol Business School
University of the West of England

Thesis:
The thesis will be available here.

Reception:
The Doctoral School of Organisation and Management Studies will host a reception, which will take place immediately after the defence in the kitchen on the 4th floor of Kilen.