Mobbing, Transformative Leadership, and the Struggle for Justice

• In Event: Reconsidering Fairness Technologies: A Call for Critical Leadership Study of Mobbing and Managerialism

Abstract

Mobbing thrives in and contributes to cultures of distrust. To nurture leadership worthy of trust, our preparation program fosters cultural humility among aspiring leaders. Candidates are required to: develop an ethical leadership stance through commitment to the dialectic of reflection; examine their cultural identities and how their identities inform their work; and project and review ideas through critical consciousness, self- awareness and inquiry to address power relationships with others that are respectful, collaborative and socially just. Through a practice of inquiry, these aspiring leaders raise questions about the organizational, group and individual dynamics at play in school climates steeped in historical, social, political, economic, and cultural contexts.

Of transformative leadership, Shields & Hesbol (2020) suggest we strive for justice and democracy offering critique of inequitable practices. In this notion of transformative leadership lies tensions of political clarity as well as that of a liberatory educator. Students in our program are challenged to ask: How do leaders ethically advance change in the challenging, dynamic, complex cultural context of city schools? Or as Glass (2004) suggests, good intentions cannot stop authoritarian ideologies from ‘infecting even the most intimate recesses of learning environments.’ So the work requires of leaders a relentless vigilance, ongoing questioning and incessant challenging in the effort to make schools serve as positive forces in the struggle for justice. He states “What is crucial is moral and political clarity about the aims and methods so that the broader struggle for justice and democracy is served without moral and political inconsistency” (p.18).

Author

• Khaula Murtadha, Indiana University - Purdue University at Indianapolis
  Presenting Author