Creating a Safe Environment for Women’s Leadership Transformation [US] [2011]

Journal of Management Education October 2011 vol. 35 no. 5 679-712

Gelaye Debebe1 1

The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

Gelaye Debebe, Department of Organizational Sciences and Communication, The George Washington University, 600 21st Street N.W., Washington, DC 20052, USA Email: gdebebe@gwu.edu

Abstract

This study used qualitative data to describe how transformational learning was achieved in a women-only training (WOT) program. The article argues that an environment conducive to transformational learning for women was created from the harmonious coalescing of the presence of all-women participants and instructors with gender-sensitive teaching and learning practices. The integration of these elements created safety and participant willingness to break with habitual patterns. This article contributes to the transformational learning and WOT literatures by proposing a holistic explanation for creating safety and fostering women’s transformational learning in training settings. It also develops an analytic framework that expands current conceptions of the transformational learning process.

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