The Triumph of the Will

Abstract

In this paper some of the most elusive concepts in administrative thought are revisited, most notably that of will but also cognate and related notions such as intention, consciousness, value and depth motivation. Philosophical resources drawn upon include Nietzsche. The writer also draws on his own works and, after considering aspects of contemporary malaise, is led to propose a curricular reform and research direction which would substitute axiological for current epistemological preoccupations. The new agenda would be appropriate to the condition of postmodernity yet congruent with the spirit of Socratic classicism. A directional shift is necessary within the administrative profession because the leadership function has the potential for being either the greatest of applied humanisms or the most devastating of all sociopathologies.

Thinking while leading. Understanding school leaders' everyday thinking

“…On the other hand, while Greenfi eld, and like-minded authors, from time to time have put their critique forward, the preassumptions of the dominant approach have never been completely refuted (T. B. Gronn, 1996;Hodgkinson, 1999).…”

“…The process with which school leaders develop and formulate those ideas is not likely to be a very rational process. This suggests that rather irrational, unpredictable sources like personal creativity should not be neglected as important factors of effective educational leadership (Hodgkinson, 1999).…”

Leaders and Leadership in Education

“…monitoring and evaluation) rather than ask questions about how people experience organisational life, how talk is important in how work gets done (Gronn, 1983;, and how power is exercised (Lukes, 1974). As Hodgkinson (1999) argues: 'despite the assumptions and presumptions of the textbooks, administrative reality is less a field of honour than a battleground of wills, a domain of confused, confusing and conflicting values' (p. 10). While a leader may have authority through their job description, the power relationship is one that is historically and culturally located and structured but, as Anderson (1996) argues, how culture is conceptualised and presented in the field glosses over dynamics.…”