Do w nlo a d e d fro m: h t t p://i n si g h t. c u m b ri a. a c. u k/i d/ e p ri n t/ 4 1 0 9/ U s a g e o f a n y i t e m s f r o m t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f C u m b r i a' s i n s t i t u t i o n a l r e p o s i t o r y 'I n s i g h t' m u s t c o n f o r m t o t h e f o l l o w i n g f a i r u s a g e g u i d e l i n e s .

This article sheds light on employee wellbeing. We reveal how an 'adapted' action learning intervention (a change laboratory) introduced prior to the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK, enabled learning and action to emerge within an educational programme. We utilise the theoretical lens of activity theory to illustrate the challenges and tensions of promoting and sustaining an employee wellbeing agenda. Follow-up questioning (Q) of key informants, using the insights (Pprogrammed knowledge) generated during the change laboratory provide evidence of learning (L). This provides insight into the learning and action that occured after the initial intervention. We explore employee wellbeing from a sociocultural perspective and illustrate how action and learning are intertwined to produce goal-oriented outcomes. This socio-cultural perspective contributes to the theory of action learning by illuminating how activity is mediated by cultural means, the rules and tools operating in an activity system. This perspective provides a focus upon learning and agency in the workplace and supports a more complicated understanding of 'wicked problems', viewed as the challenges and tensions which emerge in practice as breakdowns, clashes or problems. We argue that these spaces must be protected if employee wellbeing is to become, and remain, integrated within an organisation activity system.

Workforce challenges in the NHS have lead to maternity care assistants (MCAs) playing an ever-increasing role in maternity services. However, with the development of the role of the MCA, it is important to recognize the potential for confusion regarding the tasks and responsibilities to be undertaken by the MCA. In some cases, uncertainty may lead to to role ambiguity and unclear boundaries between these two groups of staff. This article presents findings from a qualitative study into the perceptions of MCAs and midwives as to the role boundaries of the MCA. Findings illustrate that while many MCAs felt confident about the appropriate parameters of their practice, others recounted some instances when they had considered the boundary to be ambiguous. This article examines potential sources of this ambiguity, discusses some wider implications and offers some suggestions for more effective management of role boundaries to prevent ambiguity.

The Problem. There is an urgent need for leadership development in today’s turbulent, organizational context. Methods that support leadership development in collaborative and peer settings as well as spaces and environments where leaders can develop, learn and grow through their collaborative interactions are critical. The Solution. This article explores how an online action learning set established as part of a large-scale management and leadership development intervention provides a space where leadership learning can flourish. The article draws on a theory of practice known as Cultural Historical Activity Theory to identify the micro level details of what occurs when leaders work with others in an online action learning set. The Stakeholders. Human resource development (HRD) researchers, scholars, organizational leaders, practitioners and others interested in contributing to HRD theory.

Across the globe, organisations are facing significant challenges and operating in increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environments. In the context of such complexity, effective leadership is ever more important. Recently, a body of work known as ‘Leadership as practice’ and leadership as practice development has been developed as a useful way of thinking about leadership that is shared across organisational members as opposed to being inherent in the traits of individual leaders. At present methodological approaches for capturing and exploring leadership as practice remain in their infancy. This article contributes to leadership learning by arguing that we can learn a great deal about how leadership unfolds and is developed in practice by utilising a theoretical framework called Cultural Historical Activity Theory. Data from two leadership workshops are drawn upon to demonstrate the value of Cultural Historical Activity Theory for making visible the specificities of leadership that emerge collectively and collaboratively in practice. The article concludes with a critical discussion of what we can learn from the Cultural Historical Activity Theory approach and how this can be applied to the study of leadership, leadership learning and leadership development.

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