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Complexity leadership theory in implementing information & communications technology (ICT) in vocational education
Author
Ho, Benny Wye Kei
Supervisor
Ng, David Foo Seong
Divaharan, Shanti
Abstract
The Institute of Technical Education (ITE), Singapore, had invested millions of dollars to integrate Info & Communication Technology (ICT) into the training curriculum over the years. In spite of the investment and its (ICT’s) promise to innovate pedagogy, some lecturers are still not harnessing ICT to realise pedagogical innovations.
This qualitative case study examined a vocational institution, ITE, in the process of implementing a new ICT-Virtual Reality (VR), focusing on the interaction patterns and relationships among leaders and followers within the formal and informal hierarchical levels within the school system during the ICT implementation process. The literature suggests that understanding how the heterogenous agents interact, adapt, and self-organise in the process of implementing ICT can explain how the interactive dynamics can combine to the bureaucratic hierarchies in schools to better influence organisation behaviour or create organisational structure and/or the working conditions that nurture ICT-related pedagogical innovation.
The integration of a new ICT into lesson was an interplay between the agents in ITE and ICT. I used Complexity Leadership Theory as the main theoretical framework to elucidate how the agents interacted, adapted and self-organised during the ICT implementation process. The case study methodology adopted for this study included observations of classroom teaching, interviews of the academic staff members and documentary analysis. The data collected was organised and interpreted using Activity Theory.
The findings from the study suggested that the ICT implementation was too complex and difficult to be led by formally appointed leaders in ITE alone. In fact, it was a complex interplay between leaders and non-leaders (or lecturers) and the interaction of forces (i.e., emergence, non-linearity and self-organisation) that led to a successful ICT implementation. Further, the findings suggested that the leadership was not necessarily enacted by formally appointed leaders.
In this ICT implementation, the lecturers were also observed to demonstrate leadership behaviour by influencing the ICT integration dynamics and the eventual outcome. It was therefore pertinent for academic leaders to tap on these interactive dynamics to influence behaviour or create structure. Besides, the working conditions that nurtured pedagogical innovation within the organisation played a part in influencing behaviour too.
This qualitative case study examined a vocational institution, ITE, in the process of implementing a new ICT-Virtual Reality (VR), focusing on the interaction patterns and relationships among leaders and followers within the formal and informal hierarchical levels within the school system during the ICT implementation process. The literature suggests that understanding how the heterogenous agents interact, adapt, and self-organise in the process of implementing ICT can explain how the interactive dynamics can combine to the bureaucratic hierarchies in schools to better influence organisation behaviour or create organisational structure and/or the working conditions that nurture ICT-related pedagogical innovation.
The integration of a new ICT into lesson was an interplay between the agents in ITE and ICT. I used Complexity Leadership Theory as the main theoretical framework to elucidate how the agents interacted, adapted and self-organised during the ICT implementation process. The case study methodology adopted for this study included observations of classroom teaching, interviews of the academic staff members and documentary analysis. The data collected was organised and interpreted using Activity Theory.
The findings from the study suggested that the ICT implementation was too complex and difficult to be led by formally appointed leaders in ITE alone. In fact, it was a complex interplay between leaders and non-leaders (or lecturers) and the interaction of forces (i.e., emergence, non-linearity and self-organisation) that led to a successful ICT implementation. Further, the findings suggested that the leadership was not necessarily enacted by formally appointed leaders.
In this ICT implementation, the lecturers were also observed to demonstrate leadership behaviour by influencing the ICT integration dynamics and the eventual outcome. It was therefore pertinent for academic leaders to tap on these interactive dynamics to influence behaviour or create structure. Besides, the working conditions that nurtured pedagogical innovation within the organisation played a part in influencing behaviour too.
Date Issued
2022
Call Number
LB2806 Ho
Date Submitted
2022