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Leadership development and education are ever evolving to complement the changes and innovative ideas emerging in leadership theory. Recent leadership models include diverse and emerging post-industrial theories such as Adaptive Leadership, Relational Leadership, and Collective Leadership, however, it is not clear how these theories are most effectively taught or learned. How, if at all, does leadership education adapt to teaching and learning post-industrial theories of leadership? More recent models of leadership which include post-industrial approaches have more effectively employed experiential approaches including simulations, case-in-point, and dialogue. The connections between developing leadership competencies for effective leadership and experiential methodology in leadership and management studies are explored.
Keywords: Experiential methodology, Adult learning, Leadership, Post-industrial leadership.
Introduction
The teaching of organizational leadership is unique due to its impact as a social phenomenon and the required set of judgments and actions that are needed in an ever-changing context of variables. Issues and events emerge daily that highlight the consistent need for both ethical and effective leadership. How are these leaders educated and how do they learn to practice effective leadership? This review will explore post-industrial, somewhat decentralized theories, of leadership suited for environments that are unpredictable. In addition, how leadership is being taught and learned with some of the unique challenges for the development of leadership capacity in adult learners is included.
Traditionally university programs have instructed students especially at the graduate level about leadership, including organizational behavior, human behavior or organizational development. Many programs are designed to provide opportunities for students to apply what they learned through case study analysis or essays about films and various course assignments to a degree that students exhibit some knowledge of how to lead, though there is little evidence that verifies the leadership competency or capacity of these learners. Due to the increasing complexity of leadership development, globalization, and economic uncertainty, there is a need to teach students in ways that develop their leadership capacity through a methodology that is experiential and applied (Waller, Reitz, Poole, Riddell, and Muir, 2017). The development of critical thinking skills and leadership praxis is increasingly needed in the university classroom.
Passive approaches to teaching (including lecture) receive recent criticism as ineffective and not helpful for promoting learning at higher levels of analysis. (Fink, L. D....