Leadership Development through Workplace Learning in Malaysia Organizations

Abstract

This paper focuses on leadership development of successful leaders via informal workplace learning in several Malaysian organizations. Leadership development, which involves a life-long process of learning beginning from childhood and one's early educational experiences, often continues with experiential learning in the workplace. Though many previous studies have explored leadership development via formal programmes in workplaces, there have been limited studies that narrate the contribution of informal learning in workplaces. Hence, we conducted in-depth interviews with five top management team members (TMT) of organizations in the Malaysian higher education, banking and service industries to understand their leadership development experiences. The results included the overarching theme that leadership development should never be separated from organizational priorities, as leaders are the ones who define an organization's future. The three sub-themes which emerged in relation to leadership development in the context of workplace learning were: (a) the role of informal mentoring in leadership development; (b) observation and reflection during leadership development; and (c) developmental, challenging assignments in leadership development. The findings are presented along with implications for leadership development research and practices in organizations.

Non-profit leadership learning : a narrative research study exploring the transformation of experience into leadership learning

“…These themes directly supported D. A. Kolb's (1984) modes of learning; they simultaneously reinforced Zhang and Brundrett's (2010) argument for the need for informal mentoring to extend learning through experiential modalities (Wahat et al, 2013). By providing mentoring relationships, Wahat et al (2013) posited that learners who engaged in experiential learning activities were better able to contextualize their experience into both how they wanted to learn as well as into how they wanted to lead.…”

“…Kolb's (1984) modes of learning; they simultaneously reinforced Zhang and Brundrett's (2010) argument for the need for informal mentoring to extend learning through experiential modalities (Wahat et al, 2013). By providing mentoring relationships, Wahat et al (2013) posited that learners who engaged in experiential learning activities were better able to contextualize their experience into both how they wanted to learn as well as into how they wanted to lead. Despite research indicating the success of incorporating experiential learning assignments in the workplace, other scholars have found a lack of evidence that experiential learning actually has a direct linkage to leadership learning (DeRue & Wellman, 2009).…”

“…Other scholars have contended that, without the context of the work environment in which one wishes to lead, leadership learning cannot occur (DeRue & Wellman, 2009;Matsuo, 2015;McCall, 2010;Wahat, Krauss, & Othman, 2013;Zhang & Brundrett, 2010). Both Zhang and Brundrett (2010) and Wahat et al (2013) expanded D. A. Kolb's (1984) ELT model and supported the need for workplace mentoring to be included in the experiential learning activity.…”

“…While applications of ELT may differ, researchers agree that D. A. Kolb's (1984) ELT is an appropriate framework for understanding leadership learning (Guthrie & Bertrand Jones, 2012;Ladyshewsky, 2007;Wahat, Krauss, & Othman, 2013;Zhang & Brundrett, 2010). Therefore, to better understand how current nonprofit CEOs learned leadership, D. A.…”

“…As organizations consider the amount of time and money spent on training the next generation of leaders, researchers have examined organizational training programs to see whether they are sufficient to meet this leadership void. A great deal of literature has focused on specific programs that aimed to develop leadership skills and competencies within nonprofit staff members; many scholars have argued that learning within the context of the job was more effective than learning from the classroom (Deaton et al, 2013;Matsuo, 2015;McCall, 2010;Muir, 2014;Wahat et al, 2013;Zhang & Brundrett, 2010). The benefits of these leadership development programs were twofold.…”