Leadership by Activity Theory and Professional Development by Social Construction

Culture and human development come together as one. Contradictions and challenges abound in the transformation of social practices of leadership and management. Globalization, organizational, and professional development bring local realities together. Research must embrace characteristic discourses in order to constitute a modified perspective to current approaches. Research must direct attention to the predominant conceptions of leaders, contexts, and relations. Leaders are “discoursed objects” capable of individual action, acting rationally in order to structure their contexts. Their ability to relate to others is an individual act and a source to progress. Good discourses displace attitudes, personal properties, and individual acts and highlight relations. One shift of attention goes from transcendental notions of truth, right, and suitability to local–historical constructions of reality. Another shift goes from reality as a singular and independent state to multiple socially constructed realities. In the processes of social construction people create individual worlds where unique relations emerge. Coordinated training and research enable different modes of relating to each other in systemic practice.