Cranfield School of Management

Qualifications

MRes in Research Methodology Cranfield School of Management (UK)
MBA in Global Management, with honors Thunderbird School of Global Management (AZ, USA)
BS in Accounting City University (WA, USA), Zürich campus (Switzerland)

Background

Before joining Cranfield for her doctoral research, Linda worked in the industry as a senior internal auditor (Pfizer Inc.) and a senior accountant and treasurer (Kolmar Group AG, Franklin College Switzerland).

Linda has experience in group facilitation (Enterprisers Programme, Cambridge University, UK) and undergraduate lecturing in International Management and in Accounting (Franklin College Switzerland).

Research Topic

Developing authentic leadership: the sensemaking of delegates in the context of executive programs focused on personal growth

Research Issue

Leadership development has grown into a global industry worth more than GBP 34 billion a year. Still, little theoretical understanding is available of the process by which leadership development occurs in individuals.

My exploratory research aims to address this knowledge gap by studying the experience of senior executives engaged in a leadership development program with an emphasis on personal growth. The research is focusing on how personal growth relates to the development of authentic leadership.

Sector

Private and non-profit

Research Methods

Semi-structured exploratory interviews; qualitative analysis (constructivist grounded theory).

Theoretical Perspective

Authentic leadership development (Walumbwa et al., 2008; Avolio, 2005); sensemaking as a holistic process (Magnusson, 2001; Higginson and Mansell, 2008; Weick, 2010; Maitlis and Sonenshein, 2010); post-piagetian views of adult learning and development (e.g. Kegan, 1980; a review in McCauley et al., 2006)

Why I Chose Cranfield

Cranfield provides an ideal environment where to situate my research on personal and leadership development. Cranfield is truly committed to people development, as evidenced by the unique expertise in and cutting edge approach to executive education. The school employs its expertise also in supporting the professional development of its doctoral students, thus offering a unique opportunity to cultivate a range of critical professional skills.

At Cranfield, I feel part of an international academic community that is globally renowned for the quality of its contributions and committed to advancing theory while also benefitting practice.

Published Papers

Florio, L. (2009), Book review of Leadership: The Key Concepts, edited by Marturano, A., Gosling, J. (2008), Routledge. In the Journal of Management Development, Vol. 28 No. 2, 2009, pp.175-177.

Acknowledged for research assistance in: Sully Sully de Luque M., Washburn, N.T., Waldman, D.A., House R.J. (2008), “Unrequited Profit: How Stakeholder and Economic Values Relate to Subordinates’ Perceptions of Leadership and Firm Performance”, Administrative Science Quarterly, 53 (2008): 626–654.