Allen, S. (2019). Exploring Quaker Organising to Consider the Possibilities for Relational Leadership. Quaker Studies, 24(2), 249–270. https://doi.org/10.3828/quaker.2019.24.2.5
https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/journals/article/28888#B30
Sometimes I read an article and think to myself, “Well, that’s it. Roll it up, walk away for today. You’re not going to write anything better than this.”
It’s both discouraging and encouraging at the same time. Yes, I could write crisp, clear sentences that communicate exactly what I’m trying to say, sentences which perfectly encapsulate complex concepts synthesized from multiple scholarly sources, yet condensed in a way that brings greater meaning out of the whole.
Yeah, sure. I’m sure there are days when I might could possibly write sentences like that. Just….not most days. lol
Allen’s article on relational leadership as an aspect of Quaker egalitarian practice caught my eye the other day because of its theme (RLT, one of my research interests). I sat down this morning to “bag and tag” it into my Zotero collection, taking time to read the article through. (If you head to the link above, click to “Full-text” to read the full thing online, or you can download the PDF. I appreciate open-source journals.)
Allen’s article is a master class in clear writing. His literature / thematic review of RLT within Leadership theory artfully and succinctly summarizes decades of research. Here’s one paragraph from the review where he carefully explains one element that distinguishes RLT from standard theories of leadership:
The concept of relational leadership suggests that leadership influence is momentary among evolving relations. As suggested by Wood and Dibben, from a process perspective ‘leadership does not congeal into human subjects, but is always an achievement that is momentary within an ever-evolving field of relations’ (2015: 39). They go on to argue that ‘leadership [is] not given, but [is] always in the process of becoming, on the way in or out’ (Wood and Dibben 2015: 39)—it is an ‘event in the making’ (41). What this means is that because the interactions between people, places, words and actions happen in dynamic interplay (e.g. we physically move around, events change our views and offer us new information, words gain new meanings and associations based on our experiences) so the spaces for leading emerge through and among these flowing relations. Consequently, the possibilities for influence and being influenced are formed and reformed by the changing constellations of our social and physical relations.
Allen, 2019, p. 253
Likewise, his study design is straightforward and clean; his description of abductive data collection and thematic data analysis offer a short yet sufficient explanation of his research methods.
The article continued to impress me as I read his summary of his interview data and the themes he identified. Tying each emerging theme back to the literature review, Allen demonstrates a qualitative investigation of proposed theory, enriching the literature by investigating RLT within the Quaker context where members pride themselves on rejecting power hierarchies.
His analysis sections tie back into the theory, adding useful content to the overall leadership discussion. For example, although Quakers pride themselves on non-hierarchical structures, clearly all of his participants use mental categories of “leadership” — perhaps from an even less reflective stance than if they participated in a community where leadership influence was regularly examined — to help them understand their interactions with certain peers. Allen found that the Quaker members he interviewed were able to hold complex dynamics in mind, but he also questions whether RLT is too mired in capitalist, hierarchical perspectives to offer enough tools to analyze a non-hierarchical society.
I appreciate Allen’s non-fussy approach to “doing qualitative research” – a simple thematic analysis which he then aligns to three core concepts in his literature review. Yes, this is “basic” good research writing. It’s also extremely difficult to do well, and I think Allen’s article represents a great model for anyone looking.
Tip of the hat to Stephen Allen. He brought his A-game to this study.
Learning from Allen’s example
Rather than packing it in for today and going home (though tempting, I’ll be honest), I’m going to jot down some takeaways for my own research.
First, while I can’t go back in time and change my doctoral research choices, I commend Allen and his faculty advisors (assuming he did this at University of Sheffield, probably for a masters or doctoral thesis) for locating his research within a community that naturally offers a unique case to explore for the theory he’s studying. I imagine Allen is a Quaker (or at least raised in the community); he was able to combine a situation he understood with a theory to help him understand it better. I do not feel as confident in my own study context, but I know the “solution” is to persevere and bring as much light to the situation as I can from the interviews I’m conducting.
Second, speaking more specifically to the article itself, I admire Allen’s concise and eminently readable literature and theory review section covering leadership theories. I can return to my own chapter 2 (literature review) discussions to summarize points for greater clarity. (And I should remember that this is likely Allen’s re-write of his actual research, condensing his main points to make them clearer. Dissertation literature reviews are often tasked with being extensive rather than being succinct.)
Third, my chapters will improve (*knocks on wood*) once they are complete and I have a chance to revise them specifically for clarity. I’ve considered hiring an editor to help me with this stage because two brains are better than one, and a good editor is worth double their weight in gold to polish ideas until they are easily understood.
Finally, as I contemplate my adjustment of research methods toward case study and away from formal grounded theory, I found Allen’s thematic analysis to be readable and accessible. I may return to his article as an inspiring example when in the trenches of my own interview analysis and coding.
Lori's Notes 