ABSTRACT

Multi-academy trusts are groups of schools in England led by an Executive Head Teacher and a Board of Trustees. High profile failures of these organisations raise questions over the way they are strategically led. Leadership studies argue that the absence of strategic thinking is a major detractor from performance & sustainability. However, creating strategy for a single organisation is very different to creating it for a collaboration. This article adopts a schema-based approach to examine the ways in leadership boards approach strategy as learning. Drawing on 42 qualitative interviews it asks: What evidence is there that strategy is a learning activity; What organisational implications are there for this? What are the implications of this for Trustee and CEO development in this area? And what theoretical contribution does this study make to what is known about strategy learning in multi-level organisations? The paper concludes that there is evidence to suggest that respondents view strategy as learning, whilst also suggesting areas for professional development for school leaders. From a theoretical perspective, the paper adds to knowledge on the role of metacognition in a strategy as learning approach to strategic decision-making.

摘要

多学院信托是英格兰由行政校长和董事会领导的学校团体。这些组织的重大失败引发了对其战略领导方式的质疑。领导力研究认为，缺乏战略思维是绩效和可持续性的主要损害因素。但是，为单个组织制定战略与为协作制定战略大不相同。本文采用基于模式的方法来检查领导委员会将战略视为学习的方式。它利用 42 次定性访谈询问：有什么证据表明战略是一种学习活动？这对组织有何影响？这对受托人和 CEO 在该领域的发展有何影响？这项研究对多层次组织中的战略学习有什么理论贡献？该论文的结论是，有证据表明受访者将战略视为学习，同时还建议学校领导者的专业发展领域。从理论的角度来看，本文增加了关于元认知作为战略决策学习方法在战略中的作用的知识。