Chapter 6 Perceptions of Leadership and Collaboration
6.3 Leadership and Hierarchy: “Rush to The Front Line”
awareness of the differences between cooperative and collaborative ways of working in small groups, between cooperative learning and learning to cooperate or between the learning process and the product that emerged from the small group learning activity. This generalised conflation of ideas associated with the functions and expectations of small group tasks is not unusual among tertiary teachers, as teachers in diverse disciplines around the world have struggled to clarify varied dimensions of student group work (Hesse et al., 2015). This ambiguity over the complex diversity of small group tasks and peer-learner relationships is nevertheless noteworthy in the context of this thesis however, as one of the key goals of QOED is to purposefully shift educational practices associated with dance.
This supports the argument that an explicit metacognition of collaboration is a foundational need for those seeking to teach collaboration within the curriculum (Frith, 2012; Hesse et al, 2015; Rowe et al, 2021). While teachers may possess a tacit or implicit understanding of how diverse forms of peer relationships can be valuable in different contexts, and diverse
functions of small groups can be valuable to achieve different goals, this may not be sufficient when seeking to rationalise the value of collaboration, and therefore the value of equity and diversity, within a learning activity. As the following sections of this chapter illustrate, the absence of clarity can lead to further assumptions regarding the relevance of diversity and equity within collaborative learning activities.
Section 2.3.3). While organisations that value collaboration nevertheless maintain organisational frameworks and positions that enable leaders to function in an executive capacity, such roles are generally less foregrounded and enacted within moments of collaborative activity.
I was therefore surprised by the ways in which the concept of “leaders” remained so central to how my interviewees perceived the functioning of small group tasks. Within this section, I explore how some of my interviewees perceive student leaders as an inevitable aspect of any group formation, their reflections on how they believe these student leaders should behave in groups and the teacher’s role in managing these student leaders. While their views vary in this regard, and in some ways promote the idea that the role of the leader is to sustain differences within the group, the concept of student leaders as an intermediary stage within the educational hierarchy is assumed to be immutable. This underlying perception of the necessity/inevitability of leaders can therefore be seen influencing the ways in which equity and diversity may be envisaged among collaborating learners.
6.3.2 Natural Leaders: “Very Top-Notch”
My interviewees repeatedly emphasised how leaders emerge “naturally”, arguing that some students will lead (and make decisions for) other students, and that some students will desire to be led. For these teachers, the formation of such leader-follower roles is an inevitable outcome of socialising learners. I argue that this perception presents a significant challenge to the disestablishment of hierarchies within education and the implementation of equity within collaborating groups.
For some of my interviewees, this inevitable leader-follower split among learners was a reflection of a broader societal practice. As attested by one interviewee teacher,
No matter how the group is divided, there will basically be leaders in groups. I find that there will always be 1 to 2 leading students in a small group, and there will always be some students willing to follow in this small group. That is, there must be some people in this world who are more enthusiastic and willing to rush to the front line, and we also need some people to be willing to follow to do some auxiliary work.
Within this narrative, it appears that leaders are not necessarily pre-existing, but emerge as the result of any form of socialisation, almost like a pecking-order in chickens. While this
contrasts with early theories of leadership that emphasised there are a certain number of
“born leaders” (e.g., Bernard, 1926; Horner, 1997), it also contrasts with contemporary theories of leadership that emphasise how leadership can be co-constructed (Bass & Bass, 2009). This teacher’s comment regarding people “willing to rush to the front line” and others
“willing to follow and do some auxiliary work” suggests an individual predisposition, the manifestation of which depends on others in the group. Those with an inclination to lead will keep their goals in sight and develop strategies (Akbar-Williams, 2012; Iles, 2001). The auxiliary work of the followers involves a willingness to adhere to set goals and implement the strategies, often without question, particularly within authoritarian frameworks of leadership (Iles, 2001).
For other interviewees, the emergence of a leader was much more explicitly attributed to a categorical hierarchy among students, based on their capability as dance performers. This extends the previously discussed ideal of a top notch student (see Section 6.2.4). One interviewee explained,
In some groups, there will eventually appear one person who is a core member of the group. In class, even if the student is not a class cadre, not a learning committee member, and even her literacy studies are not very good, but her dance performance ability is very top-notch, she will have a strong voice and right to speak, especially as a dance professional. She will play a leading role because the other students can see how professional she is. It is strange that other students are willing to listen and follow her thinking, but they will do so.
This rationalisation of leadership expands upon the ways that skills are valued and form the basis of selection processes and student hierarchies within tertiary dance education in China (see Section 6.2). It justifies the belief that the person perceived to be the better dancer (and with a better body for dance) is inherently more suited to lead other learners in small group tasks. Moreover, this belief is assumed to be shared among learners; while the teacher considers this “strange”, she nevertheless feels certain she nevertheless feels certain that a learner will be so highly regarded by others in the group that they will accept what appears as her innate authority. This again contrasts with early theories of leadership that identify
particular leadership qualities or attributes within an individual (e.g., Bernard, 1926; Horner, 1997) as well as more contemporary theories of leadership that consider leadership to be socially constructed (e.g., Bass & Bass, 2009). This conceptualisation of leadership does however align with the wulun theory of the five relationships (contestably attributed to
Confucius - see Section 2.5.2), which proposes that older, stronger, superior or male
individuals should guide younger, weaker, inferior or female individuals (Ding, 2006; He et al., 2003). While this interviewee found it unusual “that other students are willing to listen and follow” the “top-notch” student, she understood this to be an inevitable outcome of any gathering of students.
It is notable that the interviewees do not consider how this perceived phenomenon of leaders emerging naturally within groups might be influenced by the entrenched hierarchies
perpetuated by the educational institution. While a hierarchical mindset might rationalise such “leader” and “follower” behaviour, this expectation that leader/follower relationships will occur naturally nevertheless maintains existing hierarchical perceptions within learner relationships. This in turn undermines any inclination among learners to engage in more equitable promotive relationships that may enable collaboration. As another interviewee teacher stated, “I think this situation (one student leads others) is quite good. It is a healthy condition”. My interviewees generally shared this sense that the emergence of leaders and followers within small group tasks was both an inevitable and positive social phenomenon.
This expectation, however, can present significant challenges to the educational purpose of developing learner capabilities to effectively collaborate, as it disrupts teachers’ sense of equal status and knowledge when considering creative contributions.
6.3.3 What Leaders Should do: “Mobilise Everyone”
Flowing from their expectation that leaders will naturally emerge in student groups, my interviewees reflected on the role that student leaders should undertake within the groups.
Their views on the functions of leaders ranged from modelling excellence and uniting teams to facilitating group contributions and making decisions in the best interests of the group.
For some, the leader’s role extended from their idea of the top-notch student, suggesting that, as role models, such students were well placed to instil a sense of unity and peer support in groups. As one interviewee teacher explained,
The leader should be excellent in the whole class, not only to be disciplined, but also to have good ideas, and also unite classmates to help others.
This perspective emphasises the popular ideal of leaders “modelling the way” (Huang, 2013) and “leading by example” (Franken et al., 2009). For this teacher, such modelling extends beyond being an excellent and well-disciplined dancer, to being able to contribute ideas that are of value and promote effective cooperation and communication within the group (Huang
& Zhao, 2009). In the context of such leadership expectations in China, this might also require learners to behave morally (Zhu, 2007). Their role in unifying group members and prompting students to support each other suggests a further role as social regulators, guiding the group’s sense of positive social interdependence.
While some interviewee teachers considered the leader to be the one with the “good ideas”, others saw her role as a facilitator of diverse ideas within the group. This presented an opportunity to enhance diversity, as a leader could play a key function in enabling different voices to be heard. As one interviewee teacher described,
This leader’s role is to mobilise everyone, to help them better express their ideas, not to cover the entire group’s ideas with her own ideas.
This reflection aligns with contemporary theories of collaboration, although the processes of social regulation and perspective taking might be considered the responsibility of the whole group and not just a specified leader (Hesse et al, 2015). However, it is of particular note that, from this teacher’s standpoint, a leader is not the person with all of the ideas and might therefore be considered a less authoritarian figure. It might also be considered that this individual, because of their standing as a top-notch dance performer, is better empowered to share ideas beyond the group and within the wider class hierarchy, than an individual learner who may be perceived to be much further down that class hierarchy. In this sense, it could be argued that the leader is undertaking an advocacy role—helping student ideas to be valued on their merit, regardless of the status of the individual presenting the ideas. Within a collectivist perspective of group relations in China, individuals are encouraged to conceive of the self as interdependent rather than independent (Hofstede et al., 2005). This supposedly promotes a social norm in which individuals share and work with others to sustain a harmonious society (Rao, 2007). As such, students might be expected to work with each other and express their ideas. At the same time, within the Chinese education system, students are encouraged to compete for the top position in class or gain a qualification to become part of the elite group (Starr, 2012). So, determining the role of a leader in such a context is complex, and while the
teacher here promotes the idea of enabling diverse voices to be heard, this may not necessarily result in more equitable peer relationships.
Such suppositions extend beyond my interview data however, and subsequent comments presented by the same interviewee introduced caveats that might negate such an
understanding of leaders as simply beneficent facilitators of the ideas of others. For example, she went on to say,
In other words, the leader needs to ensure that the strongest and the best idea in the group represents the group. This is her leadership.
Here, the leader is positioned in a role very different from that of a facilitator of ideas, as she now has executive power to determine which is the “best” idea, which may be presented as a representation of the group’s collective efforts. This reinforces the perception of a leader as an authoritative figure who is best placed to make choices on behalf of the group. That their role is to identify the best idea and ensure this is the direction the group takes, further emphasises the power this role has to determine the actions of others.
6.3.4 Managing Student Leaders: “Do a Better Job”
My interviewees acknowledged that the presence of student leaders in small groups was not always unproblematic and that it could need intervention. Contemporary literature has identified how students can experience dominance or exclusion, and often feel dissatisfied with the social group dynamic and management of workloads within small group tasks (Frash et al., 2004; Rowe, Martin & Giacaman, 2020). How the social regulation of small groups is managed within classrooms has therefore become a key concern of researchers into
collaboration in education (Hesse et al, 2015; Rowe et al., 2021).
Some of my interviewees were not comfortable with the idea of getting involved in the management of groups. As one interviewee teacher explained,
I do not think that I should get involved in this kind of thing when I face university students. I do not think it is very good or appropriate to intervene in her leadership.
For this interviewee, the function of small group tasks was for students to figure out problems for themselves and resolve disputes or leadership issues internally. This follows the common perception that “the best way to learn about working together is by doing it” (Horder, 1995,
p. 158), which has been interpreted by teachers to mean that the function of group tasks is to provide a space in which students resolve all of their internal conflicts (Rowe et al., 2021).
Independent small group tasks have provided space for learners to organise themselves in ways that can allow for their own cultural leadership processes to emerge, particularly among learners from cultural minorities (‘Ofamo’oni & Rowe, 2022). However, in educational contexts with an entrenched social hierarchy, the latter might be carried into small group learning, leading to social tensions and exclusions that cannot be resolved equitably by those within the group (Behfar et al., 2011). Given the emphasis on the inherent superiority of the individuals who emerge as leaders outlined in the previous two sections, the potential for social dysfunction might be a concern with regard to small groups of learners in dance education in China.
Among my other interviewees, however, there was a sense that student groups ultimately remain under the hierarchical control of teachers, and that teachers might therefore
comfortably intervene in group leadership when needed. The interventions shared with me tended to relate to the quality of the product emerging from the group task however, rather than the quality of the leadership, as exemplified in the following reflection:
When the final results of a group work are displayed and it is not good, I would say,
‘If you think about it a little more or take it seriously, the possible results will be better. Can you do it again?’ When they do it again, if a student in this group seems to have more ideas or looks like they can do a better job than the group leader, I will suggest she leads. I would say, ‘Zizi, can you lead everyone to organise the theme again?’ or ‘Do you have a good idea that might lead the group?’ I think in this way I can complete my teaching tasks in the shortest time, but this teaching method may not be good.
As the teacher acknowledges, the main motivation for her intervention in the group’s leadership was the time efficiency of the educational production process. However, the validity of this motivation is questionable in the context of fostering collaboration. It is worth noting that none of my interviewees shared any similar intervention narratives in group leadership that were motivated by perceived poor quality of social interaction. The significant outcome of such an intervention (a change in leadership) inevitably further inhibits a sense of autonomy within the group to establish their own leader, and of the immutable superiority of the teacher’s decision-making.
In the above narrative, it is assumed by the teacher that a group leader is both essential and the crucial factor that will determine the quality and efficiency of the group’s outputs, so other aspects of the social and creative dynamics of the group are not explored. This
assumption presents a further significant challenge to the growth of collaborative leadership within education. When it is assumed that the effective functioning of a group is essentially based on the effectiveness of a group’s specific leader, other more distributed forms of leadership might not emerge.
Moreover, this expectation that a group leader should be assessed on their productivity and the quality of their group’s outcomes can further contribute to an authoritarian leadership style and diminish the possibility of creative differences to emerge. This raises questions as to how these assumptions by teachers regarding the management of group leaders may further inhibit collaborative relationships from being fostered by small group tasks.
6.3.5 Conclusion
Among my interviewees, the shared assumption that leaders are an inevitable and necessary dimension of group activities presents a significant challenge to the emergence of more collaborative activity. The assumption that leaders naturally emerge from within any gathering of individuals in a project is further underpinned by the perception that those leaders will necessarily be the better dancers with better bodies.
The role of such leaders is also understood by teachers as involving decisive actions that establish group ideas and directions. As I explore in the following two sections, such
expectations of decision making can further inhibit collaborative mindsets and the valuing of different perspectives that may emerge. This is evident in the ways that teachers manage the group leaders, taking decisive actions to change leaders based on the quality and productivity of the groups.
It might be argued therefore that the expectations and attitudes of teachers towards the concept of authoritarian leadership are carried into the ways that they perceive small groups engaging in creative tasks. This sustains a normative measurement of what makes a good leader, and an expectation of conformity to the authority of the leader’s decisions. It is hard to imagine how such a mindset can allow a teacher to purposefully teach diversity and equality
as central values within collaborative activity. Thus, it is vital that teachers have a more explicit cognition of collaborative activity.
6.4 The Formation of Groups: “Now Quickly and Freely Group by