Leadership and inter-professional practice

Tim Bryson

Chreim, S., Langley, A., Comeau-Vallée, M., Huq, JL., and Reay, T., (2013) ‘Leadership as boundary work in healthcare teams’, Leadership, 9 (2): 201–228. 

This paper proposes that boundary work is inherent to leadership practices in healthcare settings, and explores this phenomenon in interprofessional healthcare teams. The study focuses on leading through and across boundaries in four interprofessional healthcare teams operating in the area of mental health services. This qualitative study revealed that leadership can be exercised by different members and at different levels within the teams, and that it involves managing the boundaries between roles of different members of the leadership group, between leadership and clinical roles, between different professions, and across the wider environment. The authors consider the implications of their findings to leadership research and practice in healthcare contexts and beyond.

Armistead, C., Pettigrew, P., Aves, S. (2007) ‘Exploring leadership in multi-sectoral partnerships’, Leadership, 3 (2): 211–230.

This article explores some aspects of leadership in the context of multi-sectoral partnerships. It focuses on leadership in practice and examines the way in which managers experience and perceive leadership in such partnerships. The study contributes to the debate on whether leadership in a multi-sectoral partnership context differs from that within a single organization, and proposes that leadership in partnerships was more complex than in single organizations. It is based on the accounts of practising managers working in complex partnerships. The article highlights a number of leadership challenges faced by those working in multi-sectoral partnerships.

Alimo-Metcalfe, B. and Alban-Metcalfe, J. (2005) ‘The crucial role of leadership in meeting the challenges of change’, Vision: The Journal of Business Perspective, 9 (2): 27–39.

This article proposes that one of the most important factors in managing change effectively is the style of the leadership exercised.  The authors undertook research into the nature of day-to-day leadership behaviours of line managers in UK public and private sector organisations. The paper describes the findings from a major investigation, involving over 4,000 male and female managers and professionals, using the Transformational Leadership Questionnaire (TLQ), which resulted in a new model of leadership. It also describes how the authors have used the 360-feedback instrument developed from this research to support culture change programmes.