Professor Peter Gronn

Biography

Professor Peter Gronn holds a personal chair appointment. His research interests include all aspects of leadership, in particular, learning leadership and the development of leaders, distributed leadership, leadership disengagement, selection and recruitment, leadership models and types, and the connection between organisational culture, globalisation and leadership, leadership and organisational learning. His research includes dimensions of power, organisational behaviour, biography, educational and social history, management training, naturalistic and case study research. Professor Gronn has had considerable research experience with respect to the implementation of various state government education policies for the last two or more decades or so. Aspects of policy implementation which have been investigated in ARC-funded and contract research projects have included: the reform and restructuring of school councils, the work of local administration committees, introduction of senior leadership and management teams in schools and training sector workplaces, district provision and school re-organisation, school-based selection of administrators, recruitment of school principals and school leaders, school/police partnerships and programs. He has also supervised the work of numerous students enrolled in Masters projects and Doctoral degrees on the above, and other, aspects of government and workplace policies.

Research Interests

All aspects of leadership, including organisational and political leadership, leadership in human service sector organisations and voluntary agencies; educational leadership, and the leadership of schools, colleges and universities. Particular interests include leadership formation and learning about leadership; leadership recruitment, selection and succession; comparative, inter-cultural and global perspectives on leadership; leadership models and types; organisational culture and leadership. Distributed leadership within and between organisations. Policy, policy analysis and policy processes, in particular public sector agency partnerships, the New Public Management. Social Capital. Power. Organisational behaviour. Biography. Educational and social history. Management theory and the history of management. Management training. Ethnographic and case study research.

Professional Associations

• Member, Institute of Public Administration Australia
• Member, Australian College of Educators
• Member and Fellow, Australian Council of Educational Leadership
• Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, Manufacture and Commerce

Community Service

• Foundation editor (1995-2000) Leading & Managing .
• Editorial board member Administrative Science Quarterly (1991-2).
• Section editor Second International Handbook of Leadership and Administration (kluwer, 2002).
• Current member of the following journal editorial boards: International Studies in Educational Administration, Australian Journal of Education, School Leadership & Management, Leadership Quarterly, Leadership and Organization Development Journal, Leadership, Educational Management, Administration & Leadership, Leadership and Policy in Schools .
• Member of the editorial board for the forthcoming Biographical Encyclopedia of Educational Thought (Continuum, 2006).
• Guest editor of special issues of: Educational Management & Adminsitration (1994), Australian Journal of Education (2003), Leadership Quarterly, (2006).

Supervision

Conflict between teacher unions and the state

Mid-career training of technical teachers from industry

Adult illiteracy

Management training and retraining

Several biographies

Management education and M.B.A. programmes

Doctoral thesis topics supervised have included:

Women in management

Professional development at the Australian Institute of Management

Military elites and schools

Results-based emergency management training

Administrative induction

Eugenics in Australian education policy

The management of Vietnamese education

Curriculum change in Australian and Chinese schools

School principals and staff termination

Teacher participation in SDA school decision-making

Low-fee independent schooling

Strategic management in non-government schools

Publications

Books

Gronn, P. (2003). The New Work of Educational Leaders: Changing Leadership Practice in an Era of School Reform . London: Sage/Paul Chapman.

Gronn, P. (1999). The Making of Educational Leaders London: Cassell.

Reports

Gronn, P., Allix, N. & Penna, C. (2004). "Part of a Wheel"?: An Evaluation of the Police Schools Involvement Program. Contracted report presented to Crime Prevention Victoria, Monash University: Faculty of Education, 105 pp.

Ingvarson, L., Anderson, M., Thornton, N., Jackson A. & Gronn, P. (2005). Standards for School Leadership Project: Issues Paper and Consultation Questionnaire. Melbourne: ACER/Teaching Australia, 23 pp.

Ingvarson, L., Anderson, M. & Gronn, P. (2006). Standards for School Leadership: A Critical Review of Literature. Melbourne: ACER/Teaching Australia, 126 pp.

Refereed Conference Papers

Lacey, K. & Gronn, P. (2005). "How sad, too bad": Patterns of resilience among aspirant principals. Paper presented to the annual conference of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders (Gold Coast).

Book Chapters

Gronn, P. 2006). Aesthetics, heroism and the cult of "the leader". In E. Samier & R.J. Bates (Eds). Aesthetic Dimensions of Educational Administration and Leadership. London: Routledge, pp. 191-205.

Gronn, P. (2006). Global diffusion of knowledge. In K. Christensen & D. Levinson (Eds). Exploring Global Perspectives on the United States Congressional Quarterly Press. (In press)

Gronn, P. (2005). Corporal punishment. In A. Brown-May & S. Swain (Eds). The Encyclopedia of Melbourne, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, p. 174.

Gronn, P. (2005). Head of the river. In A. Brown-May & S. Swain (Eds). The Encyclopedia of Melbourne, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, p. 329.

Gronn, P. (2005). School sport. In A. Brown-May & S. Swain (Eds). The Encyclopedia of Melbourne, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, p. 677.

Gronn, P. (2004). Distributed leadership. In J. MacGregor Burns, G.R. Goethals & G. Sorenson (Eds). Encyclopedia of Leadership , Vol 1. Barrington, MA: Berkshire/Sage, pp. 351-355.

Gronn, P. (2004). Methodologies of leadership research. In J. MacGregor Burns, G.R. Goethals & G. Sorenson (Eds). Encyclopedia of Leadership , Vol 3. Barrington, MA: Berkshire/Sage, pp. 995-1000.

Gronn, P. (2003). Greatness and service: Antinomies of leadership? In E. Samier (Ed.). Ethical Foundations for Educational Administration . London: Falmer, pp. 253-275.

Gronn, P. (2003). Leadership's place in a community of practice. In M. Brundrett, N. Burton & R. Smith (Eds). Leadership in Education . London: Paul Chapman, pp. 23-35

Gronn, P. (2003). Without leadership? In B. Davies & J. West-Burnham (Eds). Handbook of Educational Leadership & Management: The Ultimate Guide for Every School Leader & Manager? Key Ideas in Education Leadership & Management . London: Pearson Education, pp. 60-66.

Gronn, P. (2003). Distributing and intensifying school leadership. In N. Bennett & L. Anderson (Eds). Rethinking Educational Leadership: Challenging the Conventions . London: Sage, 60-73.

Gronn, P. (2003). Thom. In R. MacMillan, J. Ryan & J. Li (Eds). Theory and Inquiry in Educational Administration: The Greenfield Legacy . Halifax, NS: Althouse Press, pp. 79-97.

Gronn, P. (2002). Introduction, to the "Organisational leadership and learning" section. In K. Leithwood & P. Hallinger (Eds). Second International Handbook of Educational Leadership and Administration . Dordrecht: Kluwer, pp. 557-559.

Gronn, P. (2002). Distributed leadership. In K. Leithwood & P. Hallinger (Eds). Second International Handbook of Educational Leadership and Administration . Dordrecht: Kluwer, pp. 653-696.

Gronn, P. (2002). Leader formation. In K. Leithwood & P. Hallinger (Eds). Second International Handbook of Educational Leadership and Administration . Dordrecht: Kluwer, pp. 1031-1070.

Gronn, P. (2000). From lucky country to clever country: leadership, schooling and the formation of Australian elites. In T. Seddon & L. Angus (Eds.), Beyond Nostalgia: Reshaping Australian Education. The Australian Council for Education Research, Camberwell, Victoria. 70-90.

Articles

Day, D.V., Gronn, P. & Salas, E. (2006). Leadership in team-based organizations: On the threshold of a new era. Leadership Quarterly, 17(3), 211-216.

Gronn, P. & Lacey, K. (2006). Cloning their own: Aspirant principlas and the school-based selection game. Australian Journal of Education, 50(2), 102-121.

Lacey, K. & Gronn, P. (2006). Juggling crystal balls. Principia (February), 4-8.

Gronn, P. (2005). Questions about autobiographical leadership. Leadership, 1(4), 481-490.

Allix, N. & Gronn, P. (2005). "Leadership" as a manifestation of knowledge. Educational Management, Administration & Leadership, 33(2), 181-196.

Gronn, P. (2004). Review of A Great Australian School: Wesley College Examined , by A. Lemon, Victorian Historical Journal, 75(2), 251-253.

Gronn, P. & Hamilton, A. (2004). "A bit more life in the leadership": Co-principalship as distributed leadership practice. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 3(1), 3-35.

Gronn, P. & Lacey, K. (2004). Positioning oneself for leadership: Feelings of vulnerability among aspirant principals, School Leadership & Management, 24(4), 405-424.

Lacey, K. & Gronn, P. (2004). Watch this space: Forthcoming research on leadership aspirations of Australian teachers, Curriculum Leadership, 2(11): 1-2 http://cms.curriculum.edu.au/leader/newcms_articles.asp?item_id+12375

Day, D., Gronn, P. & Salas, E. (2004). Leadership capacity in teams, Leadership Quarterly, 15(6), 857-880.

Gronn, P. (2003). Leadership: Who needs it? School Leadership and Management , 23(3), 267-290.

Pashiardis, P., Ribbins, P. & Gronn, P. (2003). An introduction to the making of secondary school principals on selected small islands. International Studies in Educational Administration , 31(2), 2-13.

Gronn, P. & Ribbins, P. (2003). Evolving formations: Principal-making in small island societies. International Studies in Educational Administration , 31(2), 76-94.

Gronn, P. & Rawlings-Sanaei, F. (2003). Recruiting school principals in a climate of leadership disengagement. Australian Journal of Education , 47(2), 172-184.

Gronn, P. (2002). Designer-leadership: The emerging global adoption of preparation standards. Journal of School Leadership . 12(5), 552-578.

Gronn, P. (2002). Distributed leadership as a unit of analysis. Leadership Quarterly , 13(4), 423-451. (One of 5 articles short-listed for the 2002 LQ best paper award.)

Gronn, P. (2001). Crossing the great divides: Problems of cultural diffusion for leadership in education. International Journal of Leadership in Education , 4(4), 401-414.

Gronn, P. (2000). Distributed properties: a new architecture for leadership. Educational Management and Administration, 28(2), 317-338.

Ribbins, P. & Gronn, P. (2000). Researching principals: context and culture in the study of leadership in schools. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 20(2), 34-45.