Bohac-Clarke, Veronika ElizabethCook Ross, Christian L.2015-09-282015-09-282015Cook Ross, C. L. (2015). A Phenomenological Inquiry of the Lived Experiences of Participants in a Rotational Leadership Development Program at One Diversified Firm in Canada (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/24947http://hdl.handle.net/11023/2520Many Canadian organizations have adopted job rotation as a leadership development intervention to ameliorate current and anticipated talent shortages in their leadership ranks. Corporately structured rotational leadership development programs (RLDPs) provide high potential employees with opportunities for development through a series of planned rotational job assignments, often across diverse business units. This research addressed a gap in the literature identified by the absence of in-depth qualitative research concerning the perspectives and experiences of RLDP participants in Canada. Understanding the participants’ perspectives and experiences as they are hired to, move through, and complete a rotational leadership development program has provided a more holistic perspective of organizational programming for the purposes of developing leadership capacity through job rotation. Applying a socio-constructivist worldview and employing the transcendental phenomenological research tradition, this qualitative study has sought to understand the lived experiences of nine RLDP participants in one diversified Canadian firm. Four major themes emerged from the data: (1) developing a strategic mindset, (2) dealing with ambiguity, (3) interacting with systems of support, and (4) exercising resiliency. Mezirow’s Transformative Learning Theory underpinned the theoretical framework for the study. In addition to providing scholarly contributions in the important and distinct research areas of job rotation, leadership development, and adult learning, the findings contribute to an emerging area of scholarship concerning rotational leadership development programs and provide future opportunities for extensive research in this novel area.engUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.Education--Businessrotational leadership development programLeadership Developmenttransformative learning theoryphenomenologyemerging leadersjob rotationdoctoral thesis10.11575/PRISM/24947