Framing the enquiry

AbstractThe conceptual orientation to achieve the book’s critical explanatory purpose is detailed. The research conducted by the authors was underpinned by a critical realist metatheoretical position, justified on the grounds that it facilitates explanation through inferred generative causal mechanisms, of which the subjects of research may be unaware. The theoretical orientation is elaborated to grasp the complex change process through which the national leadership development interventions were mounted and implemented, and to examine how they impacted on senior staff from public service organizations participating in the provision. A structurally based elite perspective on the dynamics of domination is articulated, entailing uses of hard power and soft power in committing symbolic violence, where perpetrators and recipients collude in sustaining domination. It is complemented by a focus on the orchestration of change by elites and their associates, achieved through the expression of corporate agency across different administrative levels within a public service system.