Supervisor: Jens Rennstam [619451]

Supervisor: Jens Rennstam
Examiner: Tony Huzzard
Training Organis ational Soldiers
Leadership and Control in Trainee Programs

by
Anna Piela
Annika Theiss
May 22, 2015

MSc Managing People, Knowledge and Change

i Abstract

Title Training Organis ational Soldiers: Leadership and Control in
Trainee Programs
Authors Anna Piela and Annika Theiss
Supervisor Jens Rennstam
Submission Date May 22, 2015
Purpose The purpose of our research is to provide a more critical
perspective on leadership and leadership development within the
context of trainee programs. Therefore we aim to understand how
leadership is con structed in trainee programs and how companies
make use of trainee programs to control trainees.
Methodology We based our research on a qualitative research design and
combined an interpretive and a critical stance.
Theoretical Perspective As a theoretical background for our study we provided an
overview of the existing literature on trainee programs in
connection to leadership, identity and control.
Empirical Foundation The empirical material for this thesis was mainly generated by
eight semi -structured interviews with trainees from a trainee
program in a globally operating retail organisation located in
Sweden. Furthermore, we added survey answers, company
documents and notes from conversations with the HR team to our
empirical basis.
Main Findings We found that leadership is constructed as something solely
positive in the trainee program and that the leadership discourse is
used to trigger the trainees’ identity work. This discourse can, on
the one hand, be supportive of the trainees’ ide ntity work and, on
the other hand, lead to struggles and uncertainties. In both cases it
functions as an organisational control mechanism which de – and
reconstructs the trainees’ identities in accordance with the
organisational objectives.
Keywords Train ee Programs, Leadership, Leadership Development, Identity,
Control

ii

iii Table of C ontents
1 Introduction ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………………. 1
1.1 Background ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……………. 1
1.2 Problem Statement ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ….. 3
1.3 Research Aims and Questions ………………………….. ………………………….. ……………….. 3
1.4 Outline of the Thesis ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. .. 4
2 Literature Review ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………. 5
2.1 Dominant Leadership Approaches Underlying Trainee Programs ………………………. 5
2.2 Trainee Programs as Leadership Training ………………………….. ………………………….. . 7
2.3 Construction of L eader Identity in Trainee Programs ………………………….. ……………. 9
2.4 Possible Control Mechanisms in Trainee Programs ………………………….. ……………. 13
2.5 Chapter Summary ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ….. 15
3 Methodology ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………. 17
3.1 Metatheoretical Starting Point ………………………….. ………………………….. ……………… 17
3.2 Research Design ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……. 17
3.3 Data Analysis ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……….. 20
3.4 Reflexivity ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……………. 21
3.5 Chapter Summary ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ….. 23
4 Findings ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……………………… 25
4.1 Case Presentation ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ….. 25
4.2 Trainee Program – Construction Site of Leadership ………………………….. ……………. 26
4.2.1 Fuco’s Positive Construction of Leadership ………………………….. …………………… 26
4.2.2 Trainees’ Construction of Leadership and Fuco’s Influence …………………………. 29
4.3 Trainee Program – Controlli ng Trainees’ Identities ………………………….. ……………. 32
4.3.1 Leadership Discourse as Identity Work Trigger ………………………….. ……………… 33
4.3.2 Supporting Trainees’ Desired Identity ………………………….. ………………………….. . 36
4.3.3 Trainees Struggling with the Desired Identity ………………………….. ………………… 37
4.3.4 Identity Control through Deconstructi on and Reconstruction ……………………….. 40
4.4 Chapter Summary ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ….. 45
5 Discussion ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………………… 47
5.1 The Positive Notion of Leadership in Trainee Programs ………………………….. ……… 47
5.2 Leadership Discourse as Trigger for Identity Work: Support and Struggle ………… 48
5.3 Leadership Discourse as Control: Identity Deconstruction and Reconstruction …… 50
5.4 Trainees – Organisational Soldiers ………………………….. ………………………….. ………. 53

iv 6 Conclusion ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………….. 55
6.1 Practical Implications ………………………….. ………………………….. …………………………. 56
6.2 Limitations ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………… 57
6.3 Suggestions for Further Research ………………………….. ………………………….. ………… 57
References ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………………………. 59

v List of F igures
Figure 1 Trainee Programs as a Form of Control ………………………….. ………………………….. ….. 45

vi

1 1 Introduction
1.1 Background
Leadership means success in today’s society. It has become the missing element that
organisations, both in the public and private sector, have found to guarantee their survival in
today’s fiercely competitive business environment (Ford, Hearding & Learmonth, 2008, p. 9).
Good leaders hip is perceived as the Holy Grail of effectiveness and efficiency. Adding to this
increased organisational performance, it even has the power to achieve social change as well
as a satisfied society (Alain, 2012). Admittedly leadership may be a component i n achie ving
these progressive outcomes but the concept has also become a grandiose buzzword cultivated
in books and articles.
The grandiosity of leadership seeks to disregard matters of substance while loading the
concept with positive connotations that se rve groups , organisations as well as individuals and
their self -esteem (Alvesson, 2013). In the promotion of these positive notions, there is a
predisposition to hide some of the unfavourable characteristics of the phenomenon while
reinforcing the positivi ty in society. This grandiosity is even manifested in academia as
scholars promote leadership as the solution to a number of organisational problems and as a
source of various opportunities. For example, leadership has been associated with higher
employee engagement and financial performance (Barrick, Thurgood, Smith & Courtright,
2015), better job performance (Vidyarthi, Anand & Liden, 2014), and increased employee
motivation and creativity (Zhang & Bartol, 2010). Thus , the demand for leadership is in
accordance with the supply of literature supporting the claimed significance of leadership in
different areas. Consequently, the number of courses tailored towards developing leadership
capability, such as trainee programs, has also increased (Ford, Hearding & Learmonth, 2008,
p. 9).
Influenced by the grandiose buzzword ‘leadership’, many graduates seek to start their
professional careers in a trainee program, the number of which has ra pidly increased in
Sweden over the p ast few years (Brydolf, 2013). Usually, the programs target graduates to
develop their skills, to build organisational loyalty and most importantly to increase their
leadership competence in order to ensure their career advancement and the future success of

2 the company (Garavan & Morley, 1997). During this moulding process, the organisation
holds significant power in shap ing the participants’ identity (Carden & Callahan, 2007) as
their sense of self is partly shaped and constructed within the organisational context
(Alvesson, 2009, p. 190) and its organisational discourses around leadership (Alvesson &
Willmott, 2002).
The leadership discourse employed in trainee programs is influenced by broader soc ietal and
academic discourses around the concept (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2012). The existing
literature on leadership has been positioned within a number of different camps , of which we
recognise two: the traditional approach and the more critical ambiguity -centred approach to
leadership. The traditional approach has strived to discover how leadership can be employed
in organisations as the solution to a variety of problems with the direction of solely
accountable heroic leaders or post -heroic leaders , who promote a more shared leadership
model (Crevani, Lindgren & Packendorff, 2007). The traditional le adership approach
dominated by positive and p owerful discourses can be countered with a more critical
perspective on leadership (Alvesson & Spicer, 2011). Alvesson and Spicer (2011) for
example suggest that there are inherent ambiguities in leadership, which are embedded in the
followers and the context, and should not be denied. Here, the discourse -driven nature, the
cultural context , and the power and politics of leadership need to be acknowledged resulting
in a more cryptic definition of the concept ( Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2012).
Literature recognises that these leadership discourses are significant in managers’ identity
work (e.g. Sveningsson & Alvesson, 2003; Sveningsson & Larsson, 2006; Ford, Hearding &
Learmonth, 2008; Carroll & Levy, 2008). Espec ially, the excessive positivity of the
traditional leadership approach is identified to extend its implications to individuals’ sense of
self and self -esteem, which is mediated by the discourses organisational members are exposed
to (Collinson, 2012). The organisational discourses around leadership thus direct individuals’
identity work as they provide frameworks and norms for organisational members to position
their self -definition (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002). Especially newcomers into the
organisation, su ch as trainees, engage in considerable identity work and form a self -definition
with respect to their surroundings and the organisational expectations (Ashforth & Mael,
1989). During this socialisation process, identity can be used as a dimensio n of organi sational
control as suggested by Alvesson and Willmott (2002), according to whom organisational
practices can inform indivi duals’ sel f-identities . In particular , positive leadership discourses

3 are identified as a source of identity regulation, on the one h and, controlling organisational
members’ behaviour but , on the other hand, providing them with support in the identity
construction process (Alvesson, 2009, p. 207).
Our interest in this research lies in understanding the interplay between these three comp lex
and ambiguous concepts: leadership, identity and control. We want to examine what
implications leadership construction in trainee pr ograms has on trainees’ identities and how
trainee programs can be used as means to achieve organisational control.
1.2 Prob lem Statement
Today, the organisational literature on leadership appears to be endless (Heracleous, 2003, p.
54) and also the topic of leadership development seems to gain in importance, which is
reflected by the increasing availability and popularity of t rainee programs (Brydolf, 2013).
However, the number of studies taking a more critical stance towards leadership, leadership
development and trainee programs in particular is comparably small. Therefore , we want to
contribute with this thesis to the small but emerging (Bresnen, 1995) critical perspective on
leadership and leadership development. By qualitatively studying the construction of
leadership in trainee programs and how this can be understood in terms of control, we
combine an interpretive and a cr itical approach. This is done to enable us, on the one hand, to
understand not only the trainee programs’ but also the trainees’ perspective s on leadership
(interpretive) and, on the other hand, to introduce our view on the connection between
leadership di scourse and organisational control (critical). The subject of this qualitative study
is a management trainee program in a globally operating retail organisation located in Sweden
and in this thesis we refer to it with the pseudonym ‘Fuco ’.
1.3 Research Aims an d Questions
Our research aims to understand how leadership is constructed within our research context,
what its controlling effects are , as well as the interaction between leadership, control and
identity construction. To achieve this purpose , we use the following research questions:

4 1. How is leadership constructed in trainee programs?
2. How do companies use trainee programs to control trainees?
We recognise that the answers to our research questions might be interesting to four groups.
First, we have a personal interest in studying trainee programs, as this is a possible option for
starting our own careers. Second, by not only considering the managerial perspective but also
the views of trainees, we can enhance participants’ own understanding o f their situation in
traineeships. Third, we hope to give some practical advice to the particular company we
study , but also to provide practitioners in general with useful insights into the connection of
leadership construction and control in trainee prog rams. Last, scholars should be listed as our
main interest group. While the phenomena of leadership, leadership development and
especially trainee programs increases in popularity, there is only a comparably small body of
work that is critically reflecting on them. Therefore we want to enhance the scholarly
understanding of these concepts from both an interpretive and a critical vantage point.
1.4 Outline of the T hesis
Our thesis is structur ed in six main chapters; introduction, literature review, me thodology,
findings, discussion and conclusion. After the introduction of our study in this chapter , we
develop the theoretical basis for our research in the literature review. This second chapter
provides an overview of the existing literature on trainee programs in connection to
leadership, identity and control. In the third chapter we present the methodology applied in
our research by introducing our metatheoretical starting point, our research design, our data
analysis approach and finally our understanding and re alisation of reflexivity. Chapter four
display s the findings from our data analysis. After the description of the context our research
takes place in, we continue with answering our research questions by highlighting the themes
around leadership constructi on, identity and control in trainee programs. We employ the
subsequent discussion chapter to further elaborate on these themes and to present trainee
programs in a new light with the help of an analogy related to training soldiers . Finally, the
sixth chapt er consists of some con cluding remarks on our research and we show in how far
our s tudy has practical implications, address the limitations of our research , and provide
suggestions for further research.

5 2 Literature Review

This section frames our research p urpose and explores the existing literature on leadership,
identity and control. We start by examining the different approaches and criticisms around the
concept of leadership as recognised by academia and move on to introduce trainee programs.
By elaborat ing on them with the notion of leadership development, we begin to examine the
meaning of identity in regards to our research context. Finally, we discuss the traditional
views on control as identified in prevailing research.
2.1 Dominant Leadership Approach es Underlying
Trainee Programs
In order to interpret how leadership is constructed in trainee programs, it is necessary to
consider the major perspectives on leadership, which have been dominating so far. One
attempt to define leadership has been to contra st it with management (Alvesson & Spicer,
2011). On the one hand, managers have been depicted as relying on their formal position and
focusing mainly on administrative tasks including budgeting and controlling. Thus,
management has been described as aiming at controlling behaviour. On the other hand,
leaders have been framed as targeting the thinking and feeling of people. However, this rigid
management -leadership distinction presenting leadership as more advanced, better and
completely separable from manag ement has been questioned because the grandiose leadership
discourse does not resemble organisational reality mainly consisting of managerial tasks and
mundane activities (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2003a; Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2003b).
A way of structuring the traditional leadership approaches is provided by Heracleous (2003),
who lists four research streams on leadership. The first stream, the trait approach, “has sought
to determine the qualities that can distinguish leaders from non -leaders” (Heracleous, 2003, p.
56). Hence, the ability to take on a leadership role has been seen as dependent on traits
inherent in a person. The second stream has focused on behaviours of leadership and therefore
it has been named ‘leadership style approa ch’. Within this approach task -centred leadership
has been compared to people -centred leadership to find out whether the focus has been placed
on getting things done or on people issues (Alvesson & Spicer, 2011). The ‘contingency
approach ’ is listed as the third stream , where the leadership style depends on the situation.

6 The assumption in this case is that there is not one specific leadership style that can be
effectiv ely applied in all situations. R ather contextual factors, such as the nature of the work,
the external environment, and the followers have an influence on the effectiveness of the
leadership style. Last but not least, Heracleous (2003, p. 61) covers the overlapping concepts
of transformational and charismatic leadership by stating that “in the se approaches leaders are
seen as managers of meaning, who define organisational reality by articulating compelling
visions, missions, and values”. The leader’s strong communication abilities and his/her
striking character result in respect and ultimately in the commitment of followers as they
become willing to obey the leader. As the leader is placed in the centre and other contextual
factors are marginalised, the charismatic and the transformational leadership approach can be
seen as part of the ‘heroic l eadership’ dimension.
In contrast, within post -heroic leadership there is not one leader who is in focus but leadership
is depicted as a more democratic approach , where every organisational member should be
regarded as a leader (Ford, Hearding & Learmonth, 2008, p. 16). Th e idea behind this is that
shared leadership results in new relationships and a more efficient as well as effective
organisation. In this case, the formal leader is a people -friend , who holds her/himself back
and focuses on relations to ma ke people feel good.
Another concept worth mentioning is authentic leadership. In this model leaders have full
insight into themselves and their personality exists in isolation from interactions with others.
A leader has to be true to her/himself (Avolio & Gardner, 2005) to be able to reveal the inner
goodness. Thus, authentic leaders are
“those that are deeply aware of how they think and behave and are perceived by
others as being aware of their own and others’ values/moral perspectives, knowledge,
and s trengths; aware of the context in which they operate; and who are confident,
hopeful, optimistic, resilient, and of high moral character.” (Avolio et al., 2004, pp.
802-804)
Moreover, according to Gardner et al. (2005) authenticity is not only connected to self-
awareness but also to open and trustful leader -follower relationships that focus on th e
follower development. Although this model has recently gained in popularity, there are some
authors w ho are more sceptical of this concept. One point of criticism they present is that the

7 expression of true self is not possible at work as this environment often asks for adaption and
sometimes even role -play (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2013; Nyberg and Sveningsson, 2014).
It becomes apparent tha t all of the approach es covered so far portray leadership with a
positive undertone . The underlying assumption that leadership is positive can be connected to
the concept of grandiosity introduced by Al vesson (2013). As the leader role contributes to
the a ttempt to give onesel f a status -enhancing image while marginalising issues of substance,
a more critical perspective on leadership is brought forth with the concept of grandiosity.
Also , in the book ‘ Metaphors We Lead By ’ by Alvesson and Spicer (2011) , leadership is
reviewed i n a critical light. The underlying assumption in the so -called ambiguity -centred
approach towards leadership in this book is the social construction of the leadership
phenomenon (Fairhurst & Grant, 2010). Alvesson and Spicer (2011) suggest that the
ambigui ties and incoherencies concerning leadership should not be denied but embraced and
accepted. Hence, leadership is presented as an ambiguous and contradictory construction ,
where not only the leaders themselves but also the followers and the context are con sidered as
potential sources for ambiguous meanings. For instance, the context can be an important
source of ambiguity as the “culture forms leadership rather than the other way around”
(Alvesson & Spicer, 2011, p. 27). In a nutshell, the authors do not se e the possibility of
achieving an unambiguous definition of leadership. They rather understand it as “a ‘blurred
concept’ around and through which language -games orient themselves” (Kelly, 2008, p. 775).
In connection to this, Alvesson and Sveningsson (201 2) emphasise the culture – and discourse –
driven nature of leadership where culture and discourse build the basis for leadership ideals,
which influence people exercising leadership. In this case, also the ‘darker sides’ of leadership
are considered by ackno wledging power and politics as crucial aspects. Thus, the
constructions of leadership are shaped by cultural rules and dominant discourses, which in
turn are influenced by the leadership approaches elaborated above. The discourses on
leadership are particu larly present in trainee programs that we review next.
2.2 Trainee Programs as Leadership Training
Companies contribute considerable amounts of effort and resources to recruit top graduates
into their organisation as knowledge is viewed as a core competitive a dvantage in
contemporary organisations (McDermott, Mangan & O’Connor, 2006). To specifically target

8 these graduates, companies are increasingly adopting trainee programs as a method to develop
graduates’ abilities, to build organisational loyalty, and to c ultivate managerial competencies
ensuring career advancement to leadership positions (Garavan & Morley, 1997). Today,
trainee programs offered by organisations are commonplace and their number and popularity
has increased rapidly. In Sweden for example, th e amount of trainee programs has augmented
from 50 to approximately 200 in the last 10 years (Brydolf, 2013).
The definition of a trainee can vary across countries and cultures but with respect to the
Swedish context, a trainee is described as a graduate s tudent within the field of , for example
business, engineering or IT, who is employed by a company and trained to gain a future
leadership position through a well -structured program (Englund, 2015). The program
structure is ensured by a special certificatio n given by Traineeguiden.se, a Swedish site for
trainee placement ads, which facilitates applicants in the search of an appropriate program for
them. Many of the programs include both practical and theoretical elements as well as an
international period, a nd through rotations across the various organisational functions, the
trainees can experience multiple roles and tasks to find the most suitable position for them.
Thus, in a period of 12 -24 months the graduates develop their skills through learning -by-
doing (Ferring & Staufenbiel, 1993, p. 224) with the purpose of training their leadership
capabilities to take on future leadership roles (Dysvik, Kuvaas & Buch, 2010). Some of the
most popular trainee programs of companies in Sweden include those by ABB, H& M,
Ericsson, Volvo, Scania, and Nordea (Englund, 2015).
The introduction of trainee programs has many rationales, one being developing high levels of
leadership competence (Englund, 2015; McDermott et al., 2006) to achieve the necessary
ability for organis ations to reinvent themselves (Day, 2000). According to Day (2000, p. 582)
this increase in leadership competence can be defined as “expanding the collective capacity of
organisational members to engage effectively in leadership roles and processes”. He ar gues
that organisations must attend to both leader and leadership development; concepts where a
distinction is important. According to him, ‘leader development’ is purposefully investing in
the organisation’s human capital as the emphasis typically lies in individual -based knowledge
and skills that enable people to think and act in innovative ways in any organisational role.
Here, focus is given to constructing intrapersonal competence through development initiatives
focusing on self-awareness, self -regulat ion, and self -motivation, which are seen as
contributors to increased core leadership skills such as individual knowledge, trust, and

9 personal power. Day (2000) therefore perceives leader development as grounded in the
conventional, individualistic approac h to leadership, in which effectiveness occurs through
the development of individual skills.
Whereas leader development is viewed as the development of human capital and intrapersonal
capabilities, ‘leadership development’ refers to the improvement of soc ial capital that is
formed through the work relationships in an organisation (Day, 2000) . According to Day
(2000, p. 585) leadership development stresses the significance of building interpersonal
competence that can be defined as “intelligence in terms of the ability to understand people”.
In contrast to leader development, the author perceives leadership development relying on a
more contemporary, relational conceptualisation of leadership that assumes leadership as a
function of social resources in an or ganisation. However, organisations need to develop both
the intrapersonal and the interpersonal capabilities to achieve effective leadership competence
(Day, 2000). This becomes significant also for trainee programs as without proper investment
in individu al preparation of the trainees, organisations could face the risk of placing their
future potentials in situations that are far too challenging for them. Because of the limited
amount of research done on trainee programs and because of the assumed importan ce of
intrapersonal competence development, we need to look into the concept of identity to
understand the trainee program phenomenon on a deeper level.
2.3 Construction of Leader Identity in Trainee Programs
The purpose of trainee programs may be to increase leadership competence in organisation s
to establish lines of succession fo r future leadership positions, h owever, in this process
organisations hold substantial power in shaping the identities of employees (Carden &
Callahan, 2007). Alvesson (2009, p. 190) refers to identity as a person’s view of him – or
herself that is constructed, multiple, and changing. According to Alvesson (2009, p. 191), the
construction of identity happens through comparisons and interactions with other people and
groups; and in an o rganisational context identity has to be regarded as a more social than
individualised concept. As people have the tendency to categorise themselves into various
social classifications, such as gender, age, religion, and organisational membership, the term
social identity is used to indicate the group category an individual identifies him – or herself
with (Alvesson, 2009, p. 191; Ashforth & Mael, 1989). Through this categorisation

10 individuals can structure their social environment and scrutinise themselves and others within
that environment through different roles (Carden & Callahan, 2007) such as friend, co –
worker, leader or trainee. Positive identity construction is infl uenced by the comparison of
one’s in-groups and out -groups, whereas being unsatisfied w ith the social identity might
result in individuals leaving their existing group (Carden & Callahan, 2007; Ashforth & Mael,
1989; Tajfel, 1982).
Most literature regards this social identity as a crucial element of identity work. Sveningsson
and Alvesson (2 003, p. 1165) refer to identity work as “people being engaged in forming,
repairing, maintaining, strengthening or revising the constructions that are productive of a
sense of coherence and distinctiveness”. Hereby, identity work can be understood as findi ng
temporary answers to the question ‘Who a m I?’ or ‘What do I stand for?’. Accordingly,
Alvesson (2009, p. 190) claims that the purpose of identity work is to accomplish the
sensation of a consistent and strong self that works as a basis for social affair s. Following
most contemporary research, it is thus common to see identity as temporary and emergent ,
rather than static and stable , as it is continuously constructed, negotiated and reproduced in
social interactions (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002; Sveningsson & Alvesson, 2003; Sveningsson
& Larsson, 2006).
Especially in newcomer socialisation, identity work is noteworthy since newcomers, such as
trainees, engage in identity work to constitute their ‘new’ self -definition (Ashforth & Mael,
1989). Many scholars o f personality theory suggest that the socialisation process and self –
concept are intertwined, meaning that the development or revision of a sense of self is
complemented by the sense of where one is and what the surrounding expectations are
(Hogan, 1976; A shforth & Mael, 1989). Organisational newcomers engage in constructing
their identity for example through role expectations that emerge through the symbolic, verbal
and non -verbal interactions of individuals (Ashforth & Mael, 1989). Looking at trainee
programs, this interaction is communicated through for instance traineeship advertisements
and realised in leadership training sessions. Through this interaction trainees start to deal with
the ambiguity they face regarding their roles, status, expectations, o rganisational power
structures , and behavioural norms (Ashforth & Mael, 1989).
The identity work in the process of newcomer socialisation leads according to Ibarra (1999) to
the construction of ‘provisional selves’. Ibarra (1999, p. 765) argues that “peopl e adapt to new
professional roles by experimenting with images that serve as trials for possible but not yet

11 fully elaborated professional identities”. This means that for example trainees, who are new to
the organisation and the leader role, take images o f possible or desired future selves as a basis
for their identity construction. However, these ‘provisional selves’ are played and serve only
as temporary solutions to bridge the gap between the trainees’ present self -understanding and
their understanding of the role expectations. Professional identities are more easily changed in
an early career phase and only become stable when gaining experiences over time. In a
nutshell, the images of a desired future self form the newcomers’ identities , which are only
provisional and might still change (Ibarra, 1999).
Another signi ficant source of identity work, also present in the s ocialisation process and
informing the trainees’ provisional selves, are discourses. Sveningsson and Alvesson (2003)
understand discourses as a way of reasoning with a vocabulary that establishes the social
world in a specific manner and subsequently shapes practice. Many scholars argue th at the
leadership discourse with terms such as ‘leader’, ‘team’, ‘vision’ is loaded with positive
connotations that offer a more appealing managerial identity when contrasted with managerial
discourse that is seen as ‘bureaucratic’ or ‘administrative’ (e.g . Alvesson & Willmott, 2002;
Sveningsson & Larsson, 2006). In their research on middle managers and leadership
discourse, Sveningsson and Larsson (2006) for instance suggest that the positive leaders hip
talk creates a fantasy, which substitutes for any rea l and considerable influence in the
organisation. Therefore, even though leadership can be seen as an input in identity work
controlling who one is, it does not necessarily extend to what one does (Alvesson &
Sveningsson, 2003a). This conflicting situation can generate frustration and identity struggles
at the individual level. For example, in their research on how managers position themselves in
terms of leadership, Alvesson and Sveningsson (2003a) have discovered that when leaders
described their tasks in detail, they mainly spoke of administrative work. This creates identity
struggles for individuals between the pressure of leadership discourse to act like a leader and
the pressure from the organisation to accomplish administrative tasks (Sveningsson &
Alvesson, 2003).
Leadership discourse is not only claimed to be a source of identity struggles but it can
function as an organisational disciplinary device (Sveningsson & Larsson, 2006). This
statement complements the research by Alvesson and Willmott (2002) that also recognises
identity as a significant dimension of organisational control. The authors perceive that
organisations have developed certain procedures in a way that enables the shaping and

12 directing of individuals’ self -identities. This identity re gulation comprises of more and less
premeditated influences on social practices that shape the identity construction and
reconstruction process. Due to this influence, the organisation can become “a significant
source of identification for individuals, cor porate identity (the perceived core characteristics
of an organisation) then informs (self -)identity work ” (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002, p. 625).
According to Alvesson and Willmott (2002), identity processes can thus be conceptualised as
an interplay between individual’s self -identity, identity work and identity regulation. Here,
leadership discourse is seen as a method of accomplishing identity regulation that
consequently influences organisational members’ identity work and ultimately shapes
employees’ self -positioning. Hence, the positive connotation of leadership discourse inspires
and regulates their self -image, feelings and identifications (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002).
Identity regulation indirectly disciplines individuals, on the one hand, to act in acco rdance
with company -specific ideas and norms but, on the other hand, provides them with support in
their identity construction process strengthening their self -esteem and security (Alvesson,
2009, p. 207).
Identity regulation can therefore benefit organisa tional members bec ause of its positive
support and additionally because of the enactment of desired identities (Anteby, 2008).
According to Anteby (2008) desired identities, for example trainees wishing to belong to the
group of leaders, can constitute com pelling incentives for encouraging actions and
simultaneously act as an engaging form of control. In contrast to future -oriented provisional
selves (Ibarra, 1999), desired identities are built on previously enacted identities along with
future ones and the refore it applies that “past identities fuel desire” (Anteby, 2008, p. 216).
Anteby’s (2008) study on identity incentives in an aeronautic plant shows how employees can
desire to endorse their identity thr ough selective incentives, which can be implicitly facilitated
by management motivating and control ling their behaviour . This means that the potential
coexistence of control and desire has to be acknowledged (Anteby, 2008).
In trainee programs, identity regulation might be perceived as a form of support and
enactment of desired identity but it can simultaneously be used as a control method. To
further investigate this aspect, we next take a closer look at the existing literature on control.

13 2.4 Possible Control Mechanisms in Trainee Programs
To be able to ans wer our second research question we have to elaborate on the different
control mechanisms recognised in the literature. Edwards (1981) has presented three broad
strategies of control. The first is simple control , in which owners or hired managers exercise
power directly and personally in an authoritarian way. A supervisor within a simple control
system executes all three elements of control specified by Edwards (1981) in the form of
provision of the initial direction to the worker, performance evaluation, a nd later rewards and
punishments. This strategy is rather obtrusive and obvious as the authority figure is directly
involved with the entire process while workers do not actively participate (Gossett, 2009).
The second is technical control that embeds control in the physical technology of the
organisation , for example machines. Hence, a physi cal device replaces the controlling
influence of a supervisor. The third is bureaucratic control where control “derives from the
hierarchically based social relations o f the organisation and its concomitant sets of systemic
rational -legal rules that reward compliance and punish noncompliance” (Barker, 1993, p.
409). In other words, bureaucratic rule systems are employed to control organisational
members in an impersonal way. According to Edwards (1981), the last two strategies
resemble ‘structural’ forms of control as power is impersonal and institutionalised in the
structure of the organisation. All of these three control systems can be characterised as
obtrusive because the organisational members have a passive role in the control process and
are guarded by external sources of influence such as supervisors, machinery or rule systems
(Gossett, 2009). In contrast, organisations can also use more subtle control mechanisms t hat
unobtrusively regulate individuals’ behaviour and actions.
According to Gossett (2009), unobtrusive strategies require active member participation in the
control process and the members’ close identification with the system as a whole as well as
the or ganisational values. The members are subtly controlled by organisational identification
to make decisions, which are in line with objectives of the organisation (Tompkins & Cheney,
1985). Thus, organisational members are influenced in a more indirect way, which seems to
be more appealing to them or in the words of Tompkins and Cheney (1985, p.165) the trend
moves “from negative sanctions that instill fear to the positive incentives of security,
identification, and common mission”. However, Bisel, Ford and K eyton (2007) claim that
apart from the internalisation of organisational values, resistance can also be an outcome of
this control attempt. To further explore the concept of unobtrusive control, we need to review

14 the subcategories of this control strategy as the different forms are significant for the identity
work performed in trainee programs and in the socialisation process.
The first form of unobtrusive control we focus on is cultural control. Here, social aspects are
utilised to guard organisational m embers even if there is no formal rule system available
(Gossett, 2009). The personal connections with peers lead to strong bonds and a cohesive
sense of community, which strengthen the employees’ loyalty toward s the organisation.
According to Alvesson (20 09, p. 212), “the corporate culture (ideology) – a set of guiding
ideas, beliefs, emotions, and values” is often used to control people through the provi sion of
guidelines for thinking, feeling and acting. This control form is not relying only on external
structures of control but is decentralised and includes many different sources, as all
organisational members are involved in the control process by identifying with the
organisation and supervising one’s own behaviour. Organisational values and cultural
material, such as rites, rituals, stories and jargon, help not only to steer the behaviour of
organisational members but also to influence the identity of an individual. Hence, cultural
symbols play a major role in how people see and define themselves while offering
organisational members a combination of guidance, control and support (Alvesson, 2009, p.
213).
As an extension of cultural control, we next refer to the concept of concertive control, which
also belongs to the unobtrusive category. Tompkins and Cheney (1985) write about
concertive control as the supplement to the three control mechanisms listed by Edwards
(1981). The focus on teamwork and flat hierarchies is connected to the strong core values.
Hence, the member interaction and consensus about va lues are key aspects of this control
form , where members work with each other to fulfil organisational goals (Gossett, 2009).
According to Barker (1993), this participative and democratic system of control underscores
the role of the workers themselves. Th e self -managed teams for instance exert powerful self –
control and adhere to normative rules, which make the team members take decisions that are
appropriate for the organisation. Thus, Barker (1993, p. 408) concludes that “the concertive
system […] appeare d to draw the iron cage tighter and to constrain the organisation’s
members more powerfully”. He explains the increased control over the workers by two
causes. First, the power the t eam members exercise on each other results in peer pressure
while simultan eously the social relations conceal its controlling aspects. Second, concertive
control is highly subtle and includes identification with the system and the team as well as the

15 unawareness of the team members concerning the control they are exposed to. The author
therefore affirms the
“two theoretical predictions about the future of organisational activity. The first, which
extends from Weber (1978) to Foucault (1976, 1980), asserts that organisational life
will become increasingly rationalised and controll ed. The second, which emerges
primarily from Tompkins and Cheney (1985), Tannenbaum (1986), and Edwards
(1981), posits that organisational control will become less apparent and more
powerful.” (Barker, 1993, p. 435)
As the workers strongly identify wit h their team’s values, rules and goals (Barker, 1993),
concertive control also connects to identity regulation (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002).
Resistance to the control of the team seems to be rather difficult because the identification of
oneself as a teamma te makes the individual dependent on the group. In a nutshell, the
identification with each other and the organisation opens ways to control the organisational
members.
Another control mechanism , which we identify as a subcategory of unobtrusive control, i s the
concept of aspirational control introduced by Alvesson and Kärreman (2007) . They claim that
organisational members can be guarded by linking individual’s identity and self -esteem to a
specific career prospect. Thus, the members identify with what the y want to become in the
future, which “‘binds’ the identity of people to the conditions and rewards that are offered”
(Alvesson & Kärreman, 2011, p. 171). In their article, Alvesson and Kärreman (2007)
emphasise that HR departments have a strong influence on the meaning -making and identity
construction of individuals and can use aspirational control to align organisational and
individual identities. In conclusion, by making people identify with their aspirations
organisations can regulate identities and ste er individuals to behave in compliance with
organisational objectives.
2.5 Chapter S ummary
To summaris e, we give an overview of the key parts in the literature review. In the existing
literature we recognise two main streams on leadership theory: the ‘traditional’ approach
towards leadership and th e more critical approach . Under the traditional leadership approach

16 we introduced heroic, post -heroic and authentic leade rship, as well as the leadership –
management distinction. For most of these approaches , we also provided more critical voices
and finally continued to the critical ambiguity -centred approach (Alvesson & Spicer, 2011)
towards leadership. Next, we moved to the concept of trainee programs. After displaying their
purpose and basic characteristics , we focused on the programs’ aim to develop leadership
competence. Following this, we turned our focus to the role of identity within the context of
trainee programs and presented the concepts of identity, identity work, identity struggles and
discourses while connecting them to newcomer socialisation. Finally, identity regulation was
brought forth as both disciplining and supporting. We then proceeded to describe different
control mechanisms and contrasted between the obtrusive control forms of simple, te chnical
and bureaucratic control and the unobtrusive control forms of cultural, concertive and
aspirational control. The purpose of this theoretical background was to discuss these concepts
and their relation to each other to later position our research am ongst the existing literature.
Thus, this theoretical background serves as a basis for the remaining chapters.

17 3 Methodology

This chapter presents our chosen methodology for conducting our research. We begin by
introducing our metatheoretical starting point that underpins our research approach. We then
describe our qualitative research design and elaborate on the methods we used to collect our
data. We conclude by presenting our analytical process and by discussing the importance of
reflexivity for our resea rch.
3.1 Metatheoretical Starting Point
As we are trying to understand the construction of leadership within trainee programs in
depth, we are taking an interpretive philosophical stance when pursuing our first research
question on the construction of leaders hip. Within this paradigm we consider the perspectives
of the subject – in our case for example the trainees – and use the findings to add to the
existing theories of leadership and control. A key point of the interpretive tradition is the
expectation that no objective truth exists but that there are multiple meanings and that the
researcher is an active part of the subjective knowledge construction (Merriam, 2002, p. 5).
The perspective that the nature of reality is socially constructed shapes our inquiry, as we for
instance have to consider that leader identities are constructed through discourse, which is a
way of reasoning with vocabulary that can be said to constitute a particular version of the
social world (Alvesson & Kärreman, 2000). When we turn to our second research question
concerning the role of control in trainee programs, we shift our attention to the critical rather
than the interpretive paradigm. This means that we consider “how larger contextual factors
affect the ways in which individuals c onstruct reality” (Merriam, 2002, p. 4). In particular, we
explore how companies exert control over trainees and thereby shape their reality
constructions in a way that is advantageous for the organisation.
3.2 Research D esign
In order to follow our underlying theoretical standpoint, we relied on qualitative research
methods to provide answers to our research questions. Given that our theoretical

18 underpinnings of leadership, identity and control are complex in nature, we saw qua litative
methods as the most suitable approach for conducting our research as this allowed a deeper
understanding of the phenomena and accounted for our own stand in the socially constructed
world. The subject of our study was a management trainee program in a global retail company
located in Sweden and as a basis for our analysis we employed a combination of company
documents, surveys and interviews.
In the beginning of our research process we met with the human resource (HR) managers
responsible for the trainee program. During these meetings we developed a mutual
understanding of the purpose and expectations of our research and were provided with the
contact information of the participants. Together with the organisation we decided that the
participants would only include former trainees, who had completed the trainee program one
year ago . These participants were chosen as they were the first ones having gone through the
program as it is today and as it is described in the company documents. Due to the fac t that
these participants were already in their full -time positions in the company, they were able to
look at the program in retrospect and reflect on their experiences more insightfully. Thus we
considered them a purposeful sample (Merriam, 2002, p. 12) o f participants to provide us
with answers to our research questions.
Furthermore, we used these meetings to gain insights into the HR department’s understanding
of the trainee program. These conversations were not held as formal interviews, nevertheless,
we consider them as data because they helped us learning about the com pany’s view on their
trainee program and thus yielded a contextual frame for our study. In addition to the insights
we gained in these conversations, we also received official documents concerning the
leadership approach at Fuco from the HR managers. These documents presented the
organisation’s understanding of leadership, explanations of the underlying values directing
the company, as well as a general introduction to the trainee program. We used the documents
in connection to our first research question, as through them we were able to analyse how
leadership is constructed in the company and to investigate which education the trainees are
exposed to. Thus, the conversations with the HR managers and the document analysis built
the basis for our analysis of the company’s perspective on leadership imparted in the trainee
program.
To further enrich the validity of the discoveries , we also employed other data collection
methods (Merriam, 2002, p. 12) of surveys and interviews, through which we were able to

19 obtain a broader and more in -depth perspective into the trainee program. Having met with the
HR managers, we designed an online survey for our research participants. This survey
consisted of 17 questions concerning the trainees’ background, leadership definiti on and their
experiences of the trainee program . The survey answers were utilised as a source of data for
our analysis; however, the main purpose of conducting the survey was to spot topics , which
could be of special interest in the in -depth interviews. He nce, the survey answers supported us
in formulating interview questions that could lead to interesting outcomes.
With the support of the survey answers, we created an interview guide with open -ended
questions, the purpose of which was to uncover the traine es’ view on leadership and the
trainee program. The interviews were semi -structured and attempted to gather information in
regards to participants’ perspectives of the studied phenomena (Kvale, 1996, p. 1). We
consider that interviews as a data collection method were well suited for our purpose of
exploring the experiences of the participants through their own words. We began the
interviews with introductory questions concerning the trainees’ background and their views
on the recruitment process. Subsequent ly, we gave them the opportunity to talk freely about
their experiences of the trainee program and their understanding of leadership. After these
questions, we posed more concrete questions , which subtly aimed at finding answers helpful
for our second rese arch question concerning control. Lastly, we gave the trainees a chance to
talk about their overall satisfaction with the program and their current positions in the
organisation. In total we conducted eight interviews lasting between 35 and 60 minutes in t he
course of March and April. Five of the interviews were conducted in a face -to-face situation
with two in terviewers at the offices of the site or at a coffee shop. However, with three
participants it was not possible to arrange a personal meeting; there fore in these cases we
applied the alternative of a telephone interview or contacted them via Skype. With the
permission of our interviewees, we recorded the interviews to prepare the data analysis by
generating interview transcriptions.
To confirm our ac cess to the organisation we signed a Non -Disclosure Agreement and used a
pseudonym for the company name. Also, b y assuring the anonymity of the trainees with the
usage of fictitious names, we hoped to receive honest answers from the respondents and
ensure the anonymity and confidentiality of our study. In some instances we also had to
modify the participants’ statements in a reasonable way to make them easier to read.

20 3.3 Data A nalysis
Even if we formally did the data analysis after the data collection phase, w e acknowledge that
the interpr etation process started once we conducted the interviews. Hence, to some extent the
data collection and analysis appeared simultaneously (Merriam, 2002, p. 14).
During our research, we employed the qualitative method of hermen eutics, which allows for
the analysis of different forms of texts (Prasad, 2005, p. 30) represented in our case by
documents, survey answers and interview transcripts. According to this approach, three
aspects have to be considered in an iterative spiral: the author of the text, the historical
context, and the analyser/ourselves. Thus, we applied the hermeneutic circle (Prasad, 2005, p.
34) to move between the text and the wider context of for example the company culture.
Hence, we as researchers had to gai n a certain intimacy with the texts in order to be able to
reveal hidden meanings, while simultaneously staying aware of our own pre -understandings.
These pre -understandings partly derived from a leadership course we attended during our
studies. To be able to make use of the theoretical preconceptions learned during these
lectures, we utilised an abductive approach , which “has some characteristics of both induction
and deduction” (Alvesson & Sköldberg, 2009, p. 4). In accordance with our hermeneutical
starting point, this method warranted the move between our pre -understandings and the
empirical material. With the help of the theoretical preconceptions, such as leadership theory,
we conducted the analysis of the empirical material what in turn led to refinem ents of the
theory.
Based on this abductive approach and Peter and Bernard’s (2003) recommendation to
scrutinise the data concerning for instance repetitions, metaphors and analogies as well as
similarities and differences, we started our formal analysis a fter transcribing the interviews
and reading through the survey answers and documents. By adding comments, working with
colour coding and creating tables, we were able to find themes or categories and to name
them. In the process of interpretation we had t o reduce some of the identified subcategories
and agree on the most important categories that answered our research question s, leaving us
with categories like people -orientation, growth and development, being the ‘new one’,
frustration and struggles , or su pport. Comparable to the process of theorising (Swedberg,
2012) , we used the findings from the empirical material to add our own arguments to already

21 existing theory like our concepts of identity deconstruction and reconstruction , which
complement theories on control .
The validity of our study was enhanced not only through the combination of surveys,
interviews and documents, but also through our awareness concerning paradigms. While we
mainly took a n interpretive approach for pursuing our first research qu estion, we
supplemented this by critical thinking when addressing our second research question. As our
underlying paradigms, our data collection method a s well as our analysis indicate , we as
researchers were part of the knowledge production. Therefore, we had to acknowledge our
own pre -understandings and engage in reflexivity throughout our research process, which we
elaborate on in the following section.
3.4 Reflexivity
To improve the quality of research, Alvesson and Sköldberg (2009, p. 8) propose that
resea rchers need to be reflexive in the knowledge development process. The authors argue
that t he ‘results of interpretation’ ( all re ferences to empirical material) have a problematic
relationship with the external context, which has to be considered by simulta neously
performing critical self -exploration of the researcher’s own interpretations about the empirical
data, its construction , and the research context.
In our research, being reflexive was crucial as we researchers had an active role in analysing
and in terpreting what the trainees mean. As our main focus was to study the subjective
construction of leadership and its controlling aspects in trainee programs, we could not rely
on an objective reality but we had to consider the subjectivities of the particip ants as well as
those of our own (Merriam, 2002, p. 5). Our own biases and assumptions were related to th e
site, topic and theoretical content. Firstly, one bias concerned our pre -understanding of the
organisation. As a well -known global retailer, the orga nisation is visibly present in the society
and we had acquainted ourselves with it and its culture primarily experiencing it in a positive
light. This together with the friendliness and enthusiastic involvement of the HR team might
have influenced our judg ment of the trainees’ experiences and implicitly directed us to find
something that would please the organisation. Secondly, as the topic originated from our
personal interest in trainee programs and possibly enrolling in one, we had developed a prior
unde rstanding of the programs and their recruitment processes. Therefore, we might have

22 brought a positive undertone into the study, as we might have subconsciously wanted to
confirm our assumptions out of personal interest. By acknowledging these biases, we c ould
allow the discovery of more ground -breaking findings.
Furthermore, as relatively inexperienced researchers, another difficulty we faced when
interpreting the data, was our limited theoretical background. According to Alvesson and
Sköldberg (2009, p. 2 73), this limitation may restrict possible analyses, as researchers are
more likely to draw from familiar conceptualisations, as in our case for example the
conventional theories within the leadership field. To avoid this limitation we familiarised
ourselv es with additional theories to strengthen our repertoire of interpretations. Moreover,
we believe that our self -awareness was also enhanced by the fact that we were two
researchers, as working with another person facilitated the detection of each other’s p re-
understandings and biases and brought more variety in our interpretation.
To consider our biases and assumptions and to maintain reflexivity, we saw ourselves as
being part of the knowledge construction. To improve not only the reflexivity but also the
credibility and reliability of the study, we moved in a four -level structure to create reflexive
interpretation (Alvesson & Sköldberg, 2009, p. 271). First, interacting with the empirical data,
we were attentive to what questions to ask, who to ask, and ho w to ask those questions.
Second, when interpreting this material, we extended our interpretive repertoire to allow the
interplay between data and interpretation. The method we applied was asking an external
party, our supervisor, to critically assess and question our findings. Third, it was also
important to critically evaluate the underlying aspects of ide ology, power and social
reproduction. To consider this focus, we took a more critical stance and questioned the
empirical data: ‘What lies behind the in itial obvious understandings? Does the strong culture
of the organisation influence the trainees? Do the trainees aim to become leaders or is the idea
organisationally reproduced?’ Last on the four levels, we reflected on our own text production
and critic ally reviewed our own language, possible claims of authority and selectivity of
voices. By moving between these four levels and considering our biases and limitations, we
continuously interacted with the data, which enabled us to detect the complex relatio nship
between the knowledge production, context and our own involvement to ultimately enhance
the quality of our research.

23 3.5 Chapter Summary
To sum up, this chapter introduced the philosophical standpoint of our research as well as our
methods for the data c ollection and analysis. We began by reviewing the interpretive and
critical paradigms underlying our research and continued by presenting our qualitative
research design. Elaborating on our selection of documents, surveys and interviews as our
data collect ion methods, we moved on to describe how we employed hermeneutics and an
abductive approach in analysing our data. We concluded this chapter by outlining the
importance of reflexivity for our research and for our findings, which we present in the
following chapter.

24

25 4 Findings

In this section we analyse our empirical material and present our findings. We start by briefly
introducing the site of our study and the characteristics of the trainee program our research
focuses on. Then we continue by introducing the major themes that emerge from our data, the
order of which corresponds to our research questions. We begin by looking into the program’s
and the trainees’ construction of leadership, moving to its influence on identity and finishing
off wit h the controlling aspects that we identify within our context . We connect the emerging
themes to existing literature but the interplay between all three themes is further discussed in
the next chapter.
4.1 Case Presentation
Our research was conducted in a glo bal retail company located in Sweden, which we refer to
with the pseudonym ‘Fuco ’. Fuco has over 100,000 employees and it operates in over 40
countries worldwide. The company is characterised by i ts denounced culture and values,
which originate in the foun ding of the organisation and which shape its strategy, operations
and HR approach. The company is growing rapidly and to secure its leadership capabilities in
the long -term it has developed a management trainee program that is now starting its fourth
year.
This management trainee program is thus rather young and Fuco invests considerable
amounts of resources in it. Instead of targeting freshly graduated students like most trainee
programs, Fuco focuses on recruiting individuals with at least one year of lea dership
experience gained in any environment or context. Because of this requirement , the trainees’
medium age is older, around 30. The amount of trainees recruited varies yearly between 10
and 20, and the s uccessful applicants, who pass the long screening process, are placed in
different entities that operate under the Fuco Company, such as IT or retail. During a period
of 12 months, the trainees work in their assigned function with the exception of the first
month spent working at the floor level in a sto re. The Fuco management trainee program
neither includes an international period nor continuous rotations across the organisational
functions, which are factors that distinguish it from other trainee programs as introduced in
our literature review.

26 Similar ly to other programs, the management trainee program at Fuco also combines practical
and theoretical elements. The one -year program is structured in 10 ‘ program -week s’ taking
place once a month, where the trainee group meets taking a break from the practic al work in
their respective departments. With the guidance of the program leaders (the Fuco HR team),
other leadership professionals, and respected company figures , the trainees learn about
leadership and themselves during the theoretical program -week s. Th e goal of these weeks is
to give the participants tools to understand Fuco and the company’s leadership approach as
well as to identify the trainees’ personal development needs. In addition to their project
supervisor , the participants also have a mentor a nd a coach who support them in this one-year
process. As the main purpose of the program is to secure Fuco ’s leadership competence for
the future, the participants of the management trainee program are told to have faster
development to leadership position s with the expectation of them being amongst the top 200
leaders in the company within five to seven years. However, participating in the program does
not guarantee a fol low-up position in the company and the trainees themselves are responsible
for finding their next step in Fuco after the trainee program experience.
4.2 Trainee Program – Construction Site of Leadership
As mentioned in the methodology section we used a combination of documents, surveys and
interviews as the basis for our analysis. In the follo wing, we start by answering our first
interpretive research question and demonstrate how leadership is constructed in trainee
programs. Therefore we use, on the one hand, the statements in the official organisational
documents and by the HR team as represe ntations of the trainee program and its leadership
approach while, on the other hand, we employ the participants’ survey and interview answers
as representation of the trainees’ perspective.
4.2.1 Fuco ’s Positive Construction of Leadership
In developing the fut ure leaders of Fuco , the trainee program relies strongly on the
organisation’s approach to leadership , which is communicated through the organisation’s
leadership discourse. This discourse becomes apparent in the official company documents and
the statemen ts made by the HR team responsible for the trainee program.

27 The discourse, which underlies the leadership construction in the trainee program, in our
opinion depicts leadership as something positive and powerful as demonstrate d in the
following. For exampl e, a document describing Fuco ’s approach to leadership states :
“We think of leadership in terms of approach, relationships and competence rather
than focusing on the power of positions in hierarchies .“
Through this somewhat ambiguous statement it seems tha t Fuco ’s interpretation of leadership
is very people -centred and leadership is not limited to a few organisational members by their
position . It is rather seen as something everyone can do, which indicates a post -heroic
approach to leadership (Ford, Heardi ng & Learmonth, 2008, p. 16). Moreover, Fuco strongly
depends on interpersonal relationships between organisational members. This people -centred
strategy stemming from the leadership style approach (Heracleous, 2003, p. 59; Alvesson &
Spicer, 2011) is char acterised by the common spirit in the organisation as indicated in the
leadership document:
“The Fuco business will never be a one -man show. It is characterised by co -operation
between people who believe in the same cause and respect each other’s efforts.
Everybody is important.”
This spirit described in the document also shapes the way leaders are constructed in the
trainee program as caring and motivating people -oriented individuals, which we recognise
with the metaphor of a ‘buddy’ as introduced by Sveni ngsson and Blom (2011). This buddy
metaphor communicated by the leadership discourse encourages leaders to care for people
and ensure that everyone feels good. The emphasis placed on interpersonal relationships is
even more powerfully stated in Fuco ’s lead ership approach:
“We are interdependent, we need each other. As individuals, teams and as
organisations. With clear business assignments and roles we are each other’s
prerequisites. We make each other become better and we build on each other’s
strengths an d differences.”
Referring back to the literature on leader/leadership development (Day, 2000), this
significance put on people and interpersonal relations indicates that the trainee program at
Fuco relies on leadership development to build the company’s fu ture leaders as aligned with
the communicated leadership approach.

28 According to the company, Fuco leaders practice leadership based on their own beliefs and
the organisational values while building trust and delegating responsibility. The entire HR
idea i s based on the ability to give individuals a chance to grow and develop both personally
and professionally:
“To give down -to-earth, straightforward people the possibility to grow, both as
individuals and in their professional roles so that together we are strongly committed
to creating a better everyday life for ourselves and our customers.”
This focus on people development and empowerment further strengthens the construction of
leadership as post -heroic, where everyone is empowered and developed (Alvesson & Spicer,
2011). As one core capability, Fuco leaders need to possess the ability to lead and develop
people:
“It is about […] empowering co -workers to perform to the best of their abilities, and to
continuously develop in their business assignments. We al ways focus on […] making
the business grow as well as the people.”
The importance of developing people and the discourse around growth can be associated with
the leadership metaphor of a ‘gardener’, who practices leadership through the development of
onese lf and others (Huzzard & Spoelstra, 2011). According to Huzzard and Spoelstra (2011)
helping employees grow ultimately benefits the organisation they work for and is a very ideal
depiction of leadership as it has become popular in today’s managerial langua ge. Thus, we
recognise that constructing leaders as gardeners and buddies through the leadership discourse
seems to produce a positive image of leadership.
The aspect of development is extended additionally to self -growth, which indicates Fuco ’s
and the trainee program’s construction of leadership as authentic. This is clearly stated in the
organisation’s leadership document:
“Authentic leadership […] is when you know your resources and build on them. It is
when you dare to be yourself, also as a leader . Self -reflection, insight and courage are
keys in your continuous growth.”
Similarly the HR team responsible for the Fuco trainee program associates knowing oneself
with the ability to lead others better:

29 “Leaders with great self -awareness are better lead ers as they have insights into
themselves.” – HR team
Through personal development exercises, such as a self -managed learning exercise where the
trainees delve into their past and sense of self, the trainee program develops the trainees’
intrapersonal comp etence (Day, 2000) and self -knowledge with the stated goal to construct
authentic leaders, who lead by example and consequently foster a healthy organisational
atmosphere ch aracterised by trust, integrity and high moral standards (Avolio et al., 2004).
By analysing the company documents and the statements by the HR team, we recognise that
the leadership discourse within Fuco constructs leadership as something positive and
powerful. Fuco thus relies on post -heroic, people -centred and authentic leadership
approaches, which are communicated to the trainees through the trainee program especially
during the program -week s. To get a comprehensive understanding of the influences this has
on the trainees’ definition, we next analyse the trainees’ perception of lead ership.
4.2.2 Trainees’ Construction of Leadership and Fuco ’s Influence
Having gone through a one -year management trainee program with the purpose of becoming
a leader within Fuco , the interviewees show apparent alignment to the organisation in the way
they unde rstand leadership. The way leadership is constructed in the organisation as post –
heroic but also people -centred fundamentally influences the trainees’ definition of leadership.
As an example, Carin understands leadership as empowering others to work freely and take
their own decisions while Lisa states:
“For me right now I think leadership is very much about the ability to motivate and
leverage competence in others, as well as gather everyone towards a common goal. If
you had asked me five years ago, I woul d maybe say it’s more about the ability to take
decisions and to know the answers – but now I think it has changed a little bit.” – Lisa
This statement indicates that the trainee program has the ability to shape the participants
views on leadership towards the organisational ideals. The people -oriented leadership and the
change in view is further acknowledged by other trainees like Marcus :

30 “I think that before coming to Fuco I saw more of the business side than the people
side. So I have become more of a pe ople person in the sense that I care more
genuinely about people. This was one of the biggest insights.” – Marcus
This quote, which answer s the question in how far the trainee has changed through the
program, shows that the trainee now sees leaders as cari ng, motivating, and all in all people –
oriented individuals what we view as a similarity to the ‘buddy’ metaphor (Sveningsson &
Blom, 2011). Furthermore, the growth aspect, which is connectable to the ‘gardening’
metaphor (Huzzard & Spoelstra, 2011) , is not only present in the organisation’s leadership
discourse but also in the way the trainees talk and think about leadership. Sara, when
contrasting the leadership approach at Fuco with that of her old employer, exemplifies the
growth aspect by recognising th at developing people is one of the most motivating elements
of leadership:
“To develop people and give them the right tools to actually become better people,
better leaders or really reach for goals is the biggest enjoyment I have in my work as a
leader. I am a part of developing people.” – Sara
This example focuses on supporting the growth of others and shows that the ability to develop
people is a main point in the trainees’ understanding of leadership. Moreover, we also
recognise the concept of authenti c leadership (Avolio & Gardner, 2005) in the trainees ’
statements. In the trainee program, the trainees go through intensive self -learning and
supposedly get to know their ‘true self’ during the year. All the interviewees speak of self –
knowledge and authen ticity as main wisdoms they gathered and often connect them to their
understanding of what leadership means. Peter and Tim exemplify this by giving their
definition of leadership:
“Leadership is about getting to know the people and the business comes later through
the good relations. So leadership is about relations, responsibility and also being in
balance with yourself.” – Peter
“I think that leadership is very much about being able to be honest and open. And
being yourself.” – Tim
Hence, the expressions ‘being in balance with yourself’ and ‘being yourself’ are used by the
trainees to describe the characteristics of leadership. In our view, this perspective on

31 leadership is in line with the authentic leadership discourse as brought forth by the HR
departme nt.
Another way leadership is constructed by the trainees is by comparing it to management. The
trainees draw a clear line between leading people and managing administrative issues. Carin
for example highlights this distinction by describing what leadershi p means to her:
“And it’s a very clear difference between managing and leading people. Giving people
motivation and helping them to succeed every day. It’s not about telling them what to
do and micro -managing in each detail.” – Carin
For Carin managing is connected to controlling behaviours, which is not what leadership is
about from her point of view. The trainees distinctly separate leadership from management
and follow the grandiose discourse around leadership (Alvesson, 2013) by referring t o
leadership as something better and more important than management. The distinction between
a strategically thinking leader and a narrow -minded manager , is exemplified by Axel who
explains what he has learned in the trainee program:
“Thinking more strateg ically and not just in your own little world, but seeing it with
the bigger perspective. That is very much a leadership skill that I think really separates
a good senior executive leader from a good middle manager in a company. Being able
to go outside you r own box and then see how it all works together.” – Axel
Axel seems to engage in the discourse around strategic leadership, which implies that
management is something inferior to leadership and managers do not need the same mental
capabilities as leaders. This discourse influences the construction of leadership by the trainees
who empathise with the leader framed as a strategist. Marcus for instance describes this, when
asked to define leadershi p, in a very vivid way by comparing the leader -dog to the person
standing behind the dog sledge:
“And when you are a manager, maybe if you are a line manager, then you can be more
of the dog but the more and the higher you go the more you need to be the on e behind
the sledge. Because if you are always the leader -dog you are in the front running and
you don’t see the other dogs. But if you are standing behind this then you know you
can steer it. But I really like that because before I have always thought you should be

32 the one in the front or you should do it yourself, but this is not what it is about.” –
Marcus
This trainee refers to the metaphor of the dog -sledge to contrast the restricted view of the
leader -dog, which stands for the manager, with the broad overview of the person behind the
sledge, who is representing the leader. In this case, it is possible that the discourse around
strategic leadership builds a source of identification for the trainees , which elevates their
identities compared to seeing one self as a manager. However, these discourses inherited by
the trainees also have to be confronted with organisational reality.
When asking the trainees in the interviews to define some specific leadership tasks almost all
of them have difficulties in listi ng any concrete ones or it comes down to descriptions that
they previously put in the marked out management category. For example Peter lists the
following assignments:
“One month I got the chance to do the profit and loss for the store and to send that
report down to the service office uh… to practice that. Uh… also I got the chance to
look at like uh… certain costs for transportation.” – Peter
The very hesitant answer of Peter illustrates the insecurity when talking about specific
leadership tasks and als o the administrative reality of the glamorous leadership discourse
(Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2003a). As the grandiose discourse around leadership does not
resemble the practical work of the trainees, this could lead to identity struggles for the
individuals (Sveningsson & Alvesson, 2003) who have to maintain their self -identities in this
ambiguous situation. Hence, the discourse around leadership has to be considered also in a
more critical light as it may imply power and politics.
4.3 Trainee Program – Controll ing Trainees’ Identities
The following section analyses our empirical material with connection to our second research
question ‘How do companies use trainee programs to control trainees?’ and employs a critical
approach by introducing concepts identified i n our data. We start by presenting the data
pointing to how the program triggers individuals’ identity work and fuels their desired
identities with the leadership discourse and then continue with an analysis of the struggles

33 caused by the role expectations and leadership discourse. Finally, we elaborate on the
connection between identity and organisational control.
4.3.1 Leadership Discourse as Identity Work Trigger
In the process of constructing leaders, the positive discourse around leadership and the trainee
program activities influence not only the trainees’ perceptions of leadership but also their
identity. From our interviews we notice that the Fuco trainee program initiates the
participants’ identity work, which is explicitly indicated when the trainees are asked to
describe their experiences of the year. Marcus for examples comments:
“We were all going through this ‘Who are you?’, ‘Who do you want to be?’, ‘What
sort of leadership do you want to do?’ and ‘What do you want to represent?’, ‘How do
you want to be towards other people?’ and ‘What have you done?’ and so on.” –
Marcus
This statement is representative of how the trainee program begins to question the trainees’
sense of self. Through the extensive focus on self -development in the program -week s, the
trainees thus engage in identity work as they form, maintain, repair and strengthen their sense
of self and try to find answers to the question ‘Who am I?’ (Sveningsson & Alvesson, 2003).
The monthly program -week s play an important role in triggering the i dentity work, as during
these weeks the trainees are encouraged to discuss and share personal things about themselves
with the trainee group. The first exercise the group experiences together is called ‘lifeline’, in
which the participants are made to look into their past by dotting down the biggest, both good
and bad, happenings of their life. This lifeline is then presented to the trainee group that at this
point is still relatively unfamiliar. The trainee program has thus power in triggering identity
work, which is indicated when Axel talks about this lifeline assignment the trainee group
faced:
“And then there were a lot of good assignments throughout the program that really
forced us to challenge ourselves and to say things about ourselves that at least I have
never done before as I don’t like to go around discussing what has happened. We were
quite forced, not forced, but they told us that ‘you really have the opportunity now to
share things you haven’t shared before’. So when everyone else did it you w ere more

34 or less like ‘let’s do it’ […] and you were able to share things that you don’t want or
like to share.” – Axel
Axel ’s comment not only shows the force the trainee program has on activating the trainees’
identity work but also suggests how Fuco uses identity as a method of tying the group
together. Exposing themselves to a rather unknown group of people in the beginning of the
trainee year seems to strengthen the trainees’ connections with each other as well as thei r
identification with th e group. T he group’s tight connections are exemplified by Sara’s quote:
”The ten of us [the trainee group] we have really strong bonds.” – Sara
Thus by triggering identity work, the personal development exercises can build the trainees
feeling of belongingness to the group and cause the group to identify more strongly with each
other. Being a trainee seems to become a part of their social identity , and the trainees are
triggered to build in -group identification with the other trainees (Ashforth & Mael, 1989).
Unde rlying the monthly program -week s and the various self -development exercises is the
leadership discourse, which can be seen as shaping the trainees’ perception of the program
and of themselves. Commenting on an exercise that seeks to discover how the traine es view
each other as leaders, Axel states:
“Of course in a leadership program you would like to be seen as a leader. Of course
that is how it is.” – Axel
Axel ’s statement is representative of how the discourse around the program shapes the
perceived natur e of the program itself that is recognis ed as a ‘leadership program’, which
consequently influences the trainees’ sense of themselves as leaders. Therefore, it seems that
the trainees ’ desire to identify as leaders is encouraged by the program’s leadershi p discourse.
The participants’ perception of leadership is further inspired by the program’s positive
construction of the concept. The positive leadership approach is promoted to the trainees by
the HR team like Sara exemplifies when ask ed about the leader ship education they received
during the program:
“We had a lot of HR managers in the program telling us how they want leaders at
Fuco to be. There were also a lot of trainings on feedback, conflict and group
dynamics. So we learnt a lot of theory to understand people.” – Sara

35 This comment indicates that the trainees are explicitly exposed to the organisation’s
leadership approach and th ey develop their leading skills with re spect to the people –
orientation corresponding to the previously identified positive construction of leadership by
the program. This positive construction furthermore influences the trainees’ sense of self as a
leade r as indicated by Sara when she continues to describe her ability to take on a leadership
role:
“I would say that I am a better leader today than I would have been without the
program. It is because I am really sure of who I am as a person and I know what my
weaknesses and strengths are and I can work on them. At the same time I can talk to a
person for five minutes and see what their strengths and weaknesses are because of the
program.” – Sara
Through this statement we can notice that by triggering identity work with the help of
leadership discourse as communicated by the HR team, the trainee program strengthens the
trainees’ leadership competence and confidence as well as their identification with the people –
centred and authentic leadership styles. The inte rviewees seem to find their genuine selves
through the self -development assignments as they get in contact with their weaknesses and
strengths and also learn how to read and develop other people. Marcus also recognis es the
importance of people when asked a bout his development:
“Before I was always thinking ‘Is this problem going to affect the world economy? If
not, it is not important’. But now if someone’s cat is sick, I understand that it could
mean the whole world for someone and it matters . So I have a softer side now and
empathy for others.” – Marcus
The leadership discourse at Fuco seems to influence the trainees’ view of themselves as
leaders. Marcus for example has developed to see himself as a carin g leader and can now be
recognis ed to possess some of the characteristics of the ‘buddy’ leader (Sveningsson & Blom,
2011) . The positive notion of leadership thus seems to influence the trainees’ and their
identities and can support their identity work, which we analyse in the succeeding section.

36 4.3.2 Support ing Trainees’ Desired Identity
In the trainee program leadership discourse can be seen as a significant means to support the
trainees’ self -definition, confidence , and security to build strong and capable future leaders
(Alvesson, 2009, p. 209). This suppo rtive function of leadership begins already in the
recruitment process, where the positive leadership discourse is employed in the recruitment
requirements and expectations, and subsequently continues throughout the trainee year to
enhance the trainees’ de sired identities as leaders.
The HR team at Fuco states that one of the most important requirements for acceptance in the
trainee program is to have at least one year of leading experience. Because of this
prerequisite, the trainees have already gathered p rior leadership experience and consequently
they have potentially developed a blossoming leader identity. This leader identity is then
strengthened by the challenging recruitment process, which makes the applicants stronger and
more competitive the closer they get to the placement. Being one of the ten people accepted to
the program from almost a thousand applicants seems to act as a confidence boost and
positive confirmation of trainees’ capabilities and their desired leader identity. Peter
exemplifies thi s by saying:
“This [acceptance] was like a message to me saying that I did something right on the
way and that I had made my way into a big global firm. So I was very proud.” – Peter
Peter ’s identity as a skilled individual and leader is confirmed and stre ngthened by the
successful recruitment process boosting not only his leader identity but also his confidence.
Thus, accordingly with Ashforth and Mael (1989), the role expectations of both the trainees
and the company, communicated in the recruitment proce ss and the requirements, influence
the trainees’ identity work in the newcomer socialisation process.
The construction of the trainees’ desired identity seems to continue through the positive
enhancement caused by the leadership discourse in the program. Some trainees appear to
experience the program -week s even as identity boosts as their leader identities are
strengthened while developing their leadership competence (Ford, Hearding & Learmonth,
2008, p. 78). When we asked the interviewees about the confid ence increasing aspect of the
program, Axel goes into describing his experiences of the program -week s:

37 “So you always got these kinds of energy boosts from the weeks. […] Because after
three weeks it was a trainee week so you knew you were totally exhaus ted and you are
like ‘what am I doing here’ more or less. And then you get into the program -week and
after Thursday when you leave you are like ‘now I am going back and do everything, I
am going to change the world’.” – Axel
The slightly grandiose statement by Axel hints that the program -week s give him an almost
superhero -like feeling of powerfulness. During the program -week s with the other trainees
when being guided by the HR team and other company leaders, he is seen as a fu ture leader,
what gives him a positive identity boost constructing and validating his leader identity
through the employed leadership discourse. Hence, by triggering identity work in the trainee
program, the trainees’ develop a stronger self -image and lead er identity as promoted by the
leadership discourse and return to their assigned roles in the different functions with higher
self-confidence. Therefore, we recognise that the leadership discourse acts partly as a
supportive instrument in the trainees’ ide ntity construction. However, the identity work and
the leadership discourse are also a source of uncertainty and identity struggles as discussed in
the following section.
4.3.3 Trainees Struggling with the Desired Identity
So far we have shown that the construction of the desired leader identities in the trainee
program can support the trainees’ identity work. However, the identity work triggered through
the leadership discourse in the trainee program also involves challenge s. Lisa illustrates this
contrast by describing her experiences of the trainee year:
“I felt very appreciated and noticed and as if people wanted to invest in you. It was a
huge ego boost. Sometimes of course it was challenging because you have to talk
about difficult things and look at yourself from other people’s perspectives and see
that ‘okay maybe I am not as good as I want to be’. And you have to be brutally honest
with yourself.” – Lisa
On the one hand, the trainees experience the excitement and appr eciation of being in the Fuco
trainee program but, on the other hand, they describe the self -development exercises as
stressful. When talking about the experiences related to the challenge of discovering oneself
Carin says:

38 “It was a rollercoaster.” – Carin
This metaphor by Carin depicts that the trainee program and its leadership discourse are not
just helpful but also challenging with ups and downs like in a rollercoaster. To further analyse
the ‘downs’ of the trainees in the program year we now take a lo ok at the identity struggles
the trainees face.
While the trainees are engaging in the language -games (Kelly, 2008) and the discourse -driven
nature of leadership (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2012) they simultaneously are ‘the new ones’
in the company. Hence, t hey end up in a struggle between wanting to be seen as a leader and
actually being seen as an organisational novice. One trainee exemplifies her experiences of
being new with the words:
“I feel that at Fuco there’s very often this argument that you have to have worked at
Fuco for a very long time before you can have a more advanced position […] and this
is sometimes very frustrating for me coming from the outside.” – Carin
This statement shows not only that it is difficult within this company to be accepted as a
leader without having organisational experiences but also that this leads to frustration and
identity struggles among the trainees. This frustration is even further intensified by the
unwelcoming reactions of the old -timers:
“Some of the people that have been there for 10 years in the same role all the time
were like ‘why did they recruit somebody from outside?’. And nobody ever told me
about this but I could feel it.” – Peter
The trainees are seen as ‘enemies’ by some of the other employees. The orga nisational
newcomers’ identity work (Ashforth & Mael, 1989) is not supported by the unpleasant
atmosphere the old -timers create by not providing the expected recognition, what increases
the ambiguity for the trainees and de creases their self -confidence.
Another identity struggle, which is also attributable to the contrast between the leadership
discourse and the organisational reality, stems from the fact that the so called ‘leadership
trainees’ do not have any leadership tasks in practice. Oscar addresses this conflict quite
directly when talking about the difficulties in the program:

39 “It was also the frustration of being in a leadership development program or
management trainee program without a leadership role, that’s a frustration. Then I
started to que stion a little bit if I should go somewhere else and why I am not given a
challenge.” – Oscar
Through this quote it becomes clear that the trainee program raises expectations within the
trainees to have leadership assignments. However, the developing disco urse around leadership
does not resemble the organisational reality (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2003a), which does
not offer a leadership role to the trainees. This conflicting situation leads to doubts within the
trainees and identity struggles as they are e xposed to the leadership discourse while having to
perform administrative tasks (Sveningsson & Alvesson, 2003) Hence, the trainees are given
no chance to practice leadership and to prove their capabilities as explained by Tim:
“The frustration was about th at you went to […] all these really good exercises and
challenges [concerning leadership] but then you couldn’t really use them or train on
them. You have the theoretical ideas of how you should work and what you would like
to do but you couldn’t really us e them.” – Tim
The trainees are eager to make use of the leadership skills learned but simultaneously they are
hold back, which indicates identity struggles. Not having leadership tasks in the program
raises the trainees’ concerns about their future. Peter for example answers to the question
about the challenges and difficulties in the program:
“One big thing that stressed many of us out was that we didn’t know what would
happen after the year.” – Peter
The trainees do not have the chance to practice leader ship within the program and are
perceived as the ‘new ones’ what makes them insecure concerning their future positions.
Moreover, Fuco does not promise a guaranteed leadership position after the program what
further enhances th e uncertainty for the trainee s.
The identity struggles, which evolve as the trainees have the prototype of the leadership
discourse in mind wh ile facing a divergent reality, in combination with the ongoing exercises
challenging the trainees’ characters, increase the insecurity among t he trainees. Carin gives
her impression on the atmosphere in the program:

40 “I think the overall atmosphere was really good. But sometimes the program was
confusing; there was a lot of confusion also. Confusion about the future or the next
steps and of cours e we worked a lot as well on our individual development. ‘Who are
we? What is it I want to do?’ So that of course caused confusion in yourself.” – Carin
She repeats the term confusion various times what shows that questioning her character
makes her more u ncertain and vulnerable. Sara depicts her initial problems and the following
development in the Fuco environment by stating:
“I think it took me three or four months of a lot of frustration and a lot of ‘was this the
right decision?’ until I just one day woke up and realised that this is the best place I
have ever been at.” – Sara
From this quote we can infer that the frustratio ns and insecurities within the trainee program
build a good basis for forming the trainees according to organisational ideals. In Sara’s case it
can be seen that her initial difficulties end up in her being fully convinced of the trainee
program. In a nuts hell, according to our findings the identity struggles the trainees are
exposed to in the program and the resulting uncertainties , make the trainees more susceptible
to identity work and ease organisational control, which is the focus of the next section.
4.3.4 Identity Control through Deconstruction and Reconstruction
What we can deduce from the last section is that the identity struggles increase the
vulnerability of the trainees and thus their susceptibility to identity work. Under these
conditions we analyse how companies and their trainee programs use identity as a control
mechanism. In the following section we introduce our concepts of identity deconstruction and
reconstruction by presenting how the trainees’ identities are first shattered and later restored
as a way of exerting organisational control.
We start by displaying in how far concertive control applies in the trainee program. As
described earlier, the trainees all categorise themselves as part of the trainee group , which is
characterised by very tight connections. However, these tight connections and the
identification with each other can serve as a way to hide the accompanying control (Barker,
1993). Axel for instance says when describing his program experiences:

41 “We were quite forced, not forced, but they told us that ‘you really have the
opportunity now t o share things you haven’t shared before’. So when everyone else
did it you were more or less like ‘let’s do it’ […] and you were able to share things
that you don’t want or like to share.” – Axel
The trainees are brought to speak about personal matters in front of a group of strangers but
they ultimately claim that doing this is not due to the program forcing them. Therefore the
group cohesiveness turns into group pressure while partly covering the controlling effects
helpful for the company. Another way t he company is able to control the trainees is through
using the group to criticise individuals as exemplified by Axel :
“Once someone said something, some critique, then everyone will follow to build on
that critique instead of saying positive things.” – Axel
Here, the trainees evaluate each other and this can be called peer control. In this democratic
system of control (Barker, 1993) the trainees are supervising each other and therefore actively
involved in the control process. Thus, the identification of t he trainees with the group and the
leadership discourse make them more dependent on other gro up members and the
organi sation while facilitating peer control .
As already indicated by some of the quotes above, the group is exploited to deconstruct the
traine es’ identities. This deconstruction happens for instance in the various program -week
exercises, one of which seeks to discover how the trainees perceive each other’s leadership
capabilities. The trainees are presented with different statements such as ‘I w ould like this
person to be my supervisor’, after which they put a hand on the shoulder of the person who
best matches the proposed statement. In this exercise it becomes apparent , how the judgement
of the group contributes to the trainees’ identity decons truction. Introducing this exercise to us
as one of the challenges in the trainee program, Axel comments:
“There were some people in the group who didn’t get any hands on their backs. And
of course that makes you think and I could see in some of the people ’s eyes that they
took it quite hard […] Of course in a leadership program you would like to be seen as
a leader. Of course that is how it is.” – Axel
The identities of the trainees, whose leadership abilities are not confirmed by the group, are
diminished through this exercise in the trainee program. In other words, by not being

42 acknowledged as a potential leader , the trainees’ developing leader identities are dismantled.
The company’s power to deconstruct the identities of the trainees is even more clearl y
articulated by Marcus , who gives account of his experiences with the program coach and
mentor:
“We were playing some sort of a game on how you reach your goals and she [the
coach] just knocked me down. Whenever I tried to do something, she just went ‘no’ .
So afterwards at the end of the session I was sitting quiet – and it’s not that often that I
am sitting quiet – so I was quiet three minutes. And then she was like ‘ok, now we can
start with the path’. […] And he [the mentor] talked twenty minutes about Fuco and
locked us in a room where we talked four hours about me. And I was destroyed after
that as well. […] I felt like a Lego -tower that you just knock down and then you have
to redo it.” – Marcus
Apart from the analogy to a knocked down Lego -tower , the trainee literally expresses his
feeling of being destroyed. The program coach and mentor deconstruct the trainee’s identity
through these intense sessions. With this statement Marcus also indicates that the program’s
deconstruc tion of the trainees’ identi ty simultaneously functions as the basis for the following
reconstruction.
The trainees’ identities are built back up and reconstructed according to the organisational
objectives. When asking Peter for his view on the changing effects the program has on hi s
personality he mentions:
“I think it was really important to get this compass within ourselves.” – Peter
This metaphor of a compass illustrates that the trainee program is able to ‘implant’ a guide in
the trainees , which represents the accepted norms and prescribes the trainees’ behaviour.
Hence, the reconstructed identities of the trainees are in line with this compass and therefore
the company’s needs. The trainees state that they learn in the program how to act a nd lead in
‘the Fuco way’:
“We have learnt a lot about the Fuco culture and Fuco values and how you want to
lead within Fuco according to these values.” – Carin

43 In response to our question whether the trainee feels properly prepared for a future leadersh ip
role, Carin demonstrates the close relationship between organisational culture and leadership.
As culture and discourse form the basis for leadership ideals (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2012)
this also influences the trainees. In other words, the company’s culture and values clearly
define how leadership is to be understood by the trainees. The strong organisational culture
provides the trainees with thought patterns which are appropriate with respect to the
company’s objectives. For instance the organisatio nal value of humility, which is stressed in
all of the organisational documents, is internalised by the trainees. Axel replying to our
question concerning his feelings about being part of an ‘elite group’ displays this
internalisation:
“I think that the gr oup had a very relaxed view on why we were there and it felt like
we didn’t really see ourselves as anything special at all.” – Axel
As humility is one of the most important values for Fuco , it seems that the corporate values
can bring the trainees to havi ng a modest perspective on their elitist role. The match between
organisational and personal values shows that the corporate culture (Alvesson, 2009, p. 212)
has the power to subtly steer the identities of trainees and thus to control them culturally.
Furthermore, Marcus gives account of his feeling of connectedness to the company:
“But it’s [laughing] the closest you can come to a sect without being in one. […] I am
one of our generation that is not very brand loyal except for maybe a few brands. But
starting here it is the only time in my life I don’t really see that I could leave Fuco […]
and this is very strongly based on the cultural values.” – Marcus
Marcus emphasises his loyalty to the organisation stemming from its culture and even
compares Fuco to a sect from which he cannot get away. This loyalty and identification with
the organisation strongly informs the self -identities (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002) of the
trainees. In a nutshell, the trainees are involved in the control process and supervise the ir own
behaviour because of the internalisation of the corporate culture and the organisational
identification which is fostered by the leadership discourse.
On top of that, aspirational control can be connected to the trainees’ identity reconstruction.
The main reason for applying to the trainee program has been the prospect of a leadership
position. One answer to the survey question ‘Why did you apply to the Fuco trainee
program?’ is cited in the following:

44 “Because of the leadership focus and I was read y for my leadership career.”
Guided by the leadership discourse the trainees aspire a leadership position. Hence, with the
discourse around leadership it is possible to link the trainees’ identity and self -esteem to the
career prospect (Alvesson & Kärreman , 2007) of becoming a leader . This aspiration is so
strong t hat it even covers the power of control in the program. Answering to the question
whether she felt pressured, Sara for example says:
“No, no pressure from the company or not even pressure from the program. But more
pressure from me as I applied to Fuco because I wanted a leadership career and I
wanted to get to one of those positions really quickly.” – Sara
By emphasising that the pressure does not come from the company but from herself, Sara
demon strates that the trainees are not aware of the control , which accompanies the identity
reconstruction. Therefore , we can conclude that the control in this case is more subtle and
thereby according to Tompkins and Cheney (1985) more powerful in controlling employees
than for example obtrusive forms of control. Even when realising that leadership is something
that is not practiced in the trainee program, the trainees can still be steered by promises about
their future. Oscar summarises his experiences concern ing the leadership aspiration:
“I was told […] ‘if you want to lead a business over this and that value, it is not
possible for you to [lead a team] right now’. So that was frustrating for me for sure.
But then I must say that the people around me were a r eally good support. Because
then I could have a trustful dialogue with the managers in my surrounding who would
support me and say that ‘we don’t see that leadership potential is something that would
be a challenge for you Oscar , you could probably step in tomorrow and take on that
role’.” – Oscar
The trainee is told that a leadership role is something that is impossible in that moment but he
is simultaneously lured by the outlook on a future leadership position. By telling the trainees
that they principall y hold the preconditions for taking on the leadership role and that they only
have to be patient to get there, it is possible to align the trainees’ identities with what they
want to become in the future (Alvesson & Kärreman, 2011) and to make them forget about
the suboptimal conditions at present. We thus analyse that a trainee program’s emphasis on
leadership has strong power over the identity construction of the trainees, controlling their
beliefs, aspirations and behaviour.

45 4.4 Chapter Summary
To sum up our findings, we have created a framework abstracting how trainee programs
function as a form of control. While the identity work triggering leadership discourse can, on
the one hand, be supportive for the trainees it can, on the other hand, lead to struggles and
uncertainties. The trainees’ increased vulnerability, resulting from these struggles, makes
them more susceptible to identity work and eases the identity regulation for the organisation,
in form of the identity deconstruction. Hence, the positive and grandiose leadership discourse
prevalent in the trainee program triggers the trainees’ identity work and can not only increase
the insecurity among the trainees but thereby also function as a control mechanism. The
trainees’ deconstructed identities simult aneously build the basis for the identity reconstruction
which also represents a form of organisational control as the trainees identities are regulated
in way that is in accordance with the organisational goals. Here, the leadership discourse of
the train ee program supports the trainees’ identity reconstruction and again functions as a
control mechanism. In a nutshell, our findings correspond with the ideas of Alvesson and
Willmott (2002) and show that identity and discourse can be employed for exerting
organisational control and for disciplining behaviour .

Figure 1 Trainee Programs as a Form of Control

46

47 5 Discussion

In this chapter we delve into our findings in greater depth and discover the connections
leadership, identity and control have in the context of trainee programs. We review and reflect
on our finding that the positive leadership discourse serves as a basis for the deconstruction
and reconstruction process of the trainees’ identities what resembles a form of control.
Moreover, we further explore trainee programs’ characteristics and purpose by analysing the
similarities and differences between the programs a nd military trainings, such as military
training of the United States Navy SEALs.
5.1 The Positive Notion of Leadership in Trainee
Programs
From our research we gather that leadership discourse has a do minant role in trainee
programs, as it is particularly pre valent in the Fuco management trainee program. The
program presents leadership as s omething good and our analysis shows that this positive
notion is emphasised in terms of empowerment of employees, caring for others, and
developing oneself as well as one’s team members. This perspective speaks of post -heroic,
people -oriented and authentic leadership styles suggesting that the program relies on a more
‘traditional’ viewpoint on leadership like introduced in our literature. The evident focus on
people by the Fuco leaders suggests that the comp any cares for people issues to a great extent
and thus seemingly corresponds to the people -orientation of the leadership style approach as
recognised by Heracleous (2003, p. 59). At the same time, the discourse around pos t-heroic
leadership within the company empowers all organisational members and not just a few in a
leadership position appointed by their hierarchical location (Ford, Hearding & Learmonth,
2008, p. 16). Moreov er, through the trainee program the company wan ts to build authentic
leaders, who are aware of their own morals, strengths and weaknesses (Avolio et al., 2004)
and are ultimately self -aware to build trustful and development -oriented leader -follower
relationships (Gardner et al., 2005). However, we reco gnise that the construction of leadership
as post -heroic and authentic can be perceived as being contradictory to each other. Alvesson
and Sveningsson (2013) critically view authentic leadership as promoting leader -centralism
and a heroic leader, which in our opinion contrasts the concept of post -heroic leadership

48 allowing anyone in the organisation to perform acts of leadership (Ford, Hearding &
Learmonth, 2008, p. 16).
Our findings suggest that the grandiose discourse around leadership presented by the
organisation in its approach to leadership seemingly influences the trainees’ defin ition of the
concept, as they also understand leadership as something ‘good’. Additionally to the
organisationally promoted view, the positive construction of leadership is fu rther expressed in
the manner the trainees differentiate between managing and leading. This distinction
resonates the research by Alvesson and Sveningsson (2003b). The trainees are captured in the
grandiose discourse around leadership and clearly refer to it as something better than
management. Hence, the trainees refuse to accept the ambiguity inherent in leadership
(Alvesson & Spicer, 2011) and refer back to the more appealing leadership discourse
promoted in the program to keep their view on leadership a s clear -cut and as far away from
management as possible. Relating to this, another interesting element of our interviews is how
clearly and readily our interviewees express their understanding of leadership and thereby
furthermore diminish the ambiguity of the concept. This is contradictory to other research as
for example the one by Carroll and Levy (2008), who recognise the complexity of leadership
in the way their interviewees struggle in articulating its meaning. This contrast reflects the
integration o f leadership discourse in trainee programs providing clues to the individuals how
to act within it. Therefore, we claim that the trainee program’s positive construction of
leadership becomes embedded in the individuals’ assumptions and beliefs through disc ourse
and can also act as a trigger for identity work.
5.2 Leadership D iscourse as Trigger for Identity Work:
Support and Struggle
The positive notion of leadership as well as the trainee program’s personal development
exercises provide the trainees with clues how to see themselves within the organisation. As
indicated in our findings, the trainees engage in identity work during the program -week s as
they try to form, maintain, and strengthen their self -definition (Sveningsson & Alvesson,
2003). Thus, we recognise that the program is providing the participants with ‘identity
triggers’. These triggers take place during the self -development exercises that encourage the
participants to continuously question their identity by delving into their self -definition, their

49 past and future. As trainees are newcomers to the organisation and experience the trainee
program as part of their socialisation process, their sense of self seems to be complemented
with the scene and the surrounding exp ectations (Ashforth & Mael, 1989). According to our
analysis, the participants build in -group identification with the trainee group and being a
trainee seems to become a part of their social identity as also identified by Ashforth and Mael
(1989). Thus we recognise that the trainees’ self -concept is intertwined with their
socialisation process through the trainee program, where the leadership discourse is highly
significant: the trainees come to identify themselves as leaders in accordance with the
leadersh ip approach at Fuco .
Being a part of a leadership training program, which is built around the purpose of creating
future leaders for the organisation, enhances trainees’ identities as leaders (Ford, Hearding &
Learmonth, 2008, p. 78). Our findings suggest that in a trainee program, this enhancement
begins already in the recruitment stage, where their developing leader identity is confirmed as
they are accepted into the program out of nearly a thousand applicants. We recognise that
enhancing their identity f unctions as support also in the reconstruction process and happens
through identity incentives, which foster the trainees’ desired identity similarly to the research
by Anteby (2008). Identity incentives, such as the training sessions during the program –
weeks, enable the trainees to enact their desired identities as leaders and encourage action in
their identity work. According to Anteby (2008), identity incentives can thus work as an
engaging form of control as the employees get to enact their desired iden tities through them.
From our findings we gather that leadership discourse serves as a significant identity
incentive. The positive discourse around leadership seems to influence how the trainees’ view
themselves as individuals and as leaders. This is in accordance with the study of MBA
programs by Warhurst (2012), who claims that the language used in leadership programs
enables the construction of specific leadership identities and enhances individuals’ self –
esteem, confidence and personal credibility. We suggest similar indications in the context of
trainee programs as all our interviewees claim to have gained higher confidence in the process
of creating their leader identity and finding their role in the organisation. Thus the leadership
discourse seemin gly serves as a support in their identity work (Alvesson, 2009, p. 208) but
moreover directs and controls the trainees to lead the ‘ Fuco way’.
However, the leadership discourse does not only serve as a supportive function in the
trainees’ identity work bu t the trainees also face confusion s, struggles and uncertainties

50 during the year. Our empirical material indicates that the different role expectations in the
organisation result in identity struggles , and we sug gest that one factor behind this is the
positive and grandiose depiction of leadership in the trainee program. Our analysis shows that
one identity struggle is experienced between the trainees identifying themselves as leaders
while being seen as organisational newcomers. This misalignment results i n the trainees not
receiving the expected recognition as promoted by the positive discourse on leadership, which
subsequently increases the potentiality of an identity conflict in their role. Another source of
frustration resulting from the trainee program ’s leadership discourse is the contradiction
between seeing oneself as a leader but not having any leadership tasks in practice. Here, we
notice that the leadership discourse in the trainee program does not resemble organisational
reality (Alvesson & Sveni ngsson, 2003a) but leadership seems to become a fantasy
substituted for any real influence in the organisation (Sveningsson & Larsson, 2006). Based
on our findings we suggest that the struggles the trainees face in combination with the lack of
a guaranteed leadership position create uncertainty about their sense of self and situation , and
consequently make them more vulnerable towards the program’s control efforts.
5.3 Leadership Discourse as Control: Identity
Deconstruction and Reconstruction
Throughout the co urse of the one -year trainee program the trainees’ identities are tested in the
self-development exercises , while the trainees are in a phase of increased insecurity and
vulnerability. The program urges the participants to continuously question their ident ity, as
they are pushed to ‘dig deep’ into their weaknesses. This close examination of their
weaknesses and strengths , while getting criticised on who they are , causes the trainees to face
significant challenges in their identity work. We identify that thi s is achieved by the efforts of
the program and call the phenomenon ‘identity deconstruction’. Through this deconstruction
the trainee program takes away the participants’ confidence and self -knowledge, which might
be especially important in our case since the trainees are not young graduates. As older, more
experienced individuals with previously learned manners and independence, the Fuco
trainees’ existing sense of self may be harder to regulate (Ibarra, 1999) and thus their original
‘settings’ first have to be dismantled.

51 Later their identities are built back up – in a process we name ‘identity reconstruction’ – in a
way that is in accordance with the organisational objectives and with the help of the positive
identity -enhancing discourse around leadershi p. Ford, Hearding and Learmonth (2008, p. 80)
recognise a similar phenomenon in their research. According to them, the activities of
leadership training programs have the tendency to restrict the potential selves of an individual
and often support the manu facturing of one identity profile , which is created by the dominant
organisational discourses. This also seems to be the case in our research context, where the
deconstruction of trainees limits the leader identity possibilities , while allowing the
organis ation to build back the ‘ Lego -tower’ in a way that is acknowledged as appropriate and
fitting with respect to the company’s needs and values. Hence, by first deconstructing the
trainees’ identities , the company is able to reconstruct them later and thereby to regulate the
individuals.
Leadership discourse (Sveningsson & Larsson, 2006) is thus employed in order to affect the
trainees’ identities and to control their behaviour. With the help of the leadership discourse,
which creates a positive connotation of the leader role, the trainees’ self -identities are shaped
and regulated (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002). Identity regulation disciplines trainees and aligns
them with organisational objectives, which can be understood in terms of control. In our case,
it seem s that the obtrusive control forms such as simple, technical and bureaucratic control
(Edwards, 1981) play a minor role in trainee programs as the trainees are not mainly
controlled through supervisors, machines or rule systems. What seems more important i s the
identification with leadership by the trainees. Leadership becomes a part of the trainees’
identities through the leadership discourses, which represent a form of unobtrusive control.
Here, control is more subtle or indirect and involves not only the active participation of the
trainees but also their identification with the organisation (Gossett, 2009). In our analysis we
demonstrate that the trainees conceive control to be less strong and restricting from the
company’s side. This corresponds with To mpkins’ and Cheney’s (1985) claim of indirect
control being more appealing to organisational members than obtrusive forms of control.
Therefore, when restricting our view to the data at hand, we have to dissociate ourselves from
the possibility brought for th by Bisel, Ford and Keyton (2007) that this attempt to control
could also cause resistance.
In our findings we present the subcategories of unobtrusive control in two groups. We see
concertive control as mainly involved in the identity deconstruction pro cess, while cultural

52 and aspirational control is seen as mainly involved in the identity reconstruction process. We
recognise the concept of concertive control (Barker, 1993) , where the trainees mutually
control others to behave in accordance with the orga nisational goals. Our findings suggest that
the trainees not only identify th emselves with the trainee group but that they also engage in
supervising each other and contribute to the identity deconstruction process through peer
pressure by critically examining each other’s weaknesses, strengths and original identity.
After this identity deconstruction , the trainees’ identities are rebuilt in compliance with the
organisational values. The positive leadership discourse in the program is used to emphasise
the organisation’s leadership ideals, values and culture (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2012) , and
can therefore be seen as a mechanism to achieve cultural control over the particip ants. T he
organisation’s leadership approach and the company culture begin to in form the trainees’ self –
identities especially as the trainees are more vulnerable a fter the deconstruction process. As
suggested by Alvesson and Willmott (2002), the leadership discourse thus assists in
organisational identification and internalisation of the corporate culture consequently
regulating individuals’ behaviour.
In connection to the identity reconstruction , we also recognise aspirational control within the
trainee program. Directed by the positive notion of leadership, the trainees aspire after a top
leadership position in the company. Aspirational control (Alvesson & Kärreman, 2007) makes
the trainees identify with their future role and links identity and self -esteem to this specific
idea. The trainees as organisational newcomers use the desirab le image of being a leader in
the future as a basis for their identity construction (Ibarra, 1999) and to compensate for the
absence of leadership tasks in their current situation. As demonstrated previously, the trainees
are exposed to the identity strugg les between wanting to be a leader and actually being an
organisational novice without any leadership responsibility. These struggles in combination
with the lack of a guaranteed leadership position increase the trainees’ uncertainties about the
future. Th erefore it makes sense t o assume that the organisationally reconstructed identities or
the ‘provisional selves’ (Ibarra, 1999) of the trainees, which are built on this very fragile basis
of insecurity and uncertainty, might only be temporary. To sum up, th e company stays in
control over the trainees by making use of the leadership discourse in order to bring the
trainees to identify with what they aspire, while probably not providing a solid base for an
enduring identity reconstruction.

53 5.4 Trainees – Organisat ional Soldiers
To understand the phenomenon of trainee programs better, we can refer to the United States
Navy SEALs, a specialised body of United States Armed Forces often presented in popular
culture. This analogy can be recognised as one way of theorisi ng in social science as
analogies can assist in building out a theory with the help of free association and crossing
images (Swedberg, 2012). Our analogy of the Navy SEALs is not to be seen “as a
representation of a reality ‘out there’, but as tools for ca pturing and dealing with what is
perceived to be ‘out there’” (Morgan, 1980, p. 610). Therefore, with this analogy we mean to
paint a stronger picture of our research wit hout however indicating that trainee programs and
Navy SEAL training are fully compara ble.
To become strong soldiers, both physically and mentally, the SEALs go through a selective
recruitment process and are rigorously trained to carry out their mission of defending their
country (Navyseals, 2015). In this process of extensive training in ruthless conditions and
under the command of their superiors, the developing specialised soldiers are pushed to their
limits and brought close to their breaking point only to build them back up stronger than
before (Stevens, n.d.). After first feeling pow erless they become powerful and are guided by
the military discourse around courage and patriotism. This picture bears striking similarities
to trainee programs, where a selected body of future leaders is pushed to their limits while
being directed by the contextual discourses.
In performing in -depth ‘soul -searching’, encouraged by the trainee program, the trainees do
not only learn how to work and lead according to the institutional values as presented by the
discourse, but they also face identity struggles and challenges. The i dentity struggle between
seeing oneself as a leader while being seen as a newcom er causes frustrations, something that
is valid also for the Navy SEALs, whose original strength and confidence as soldiers is tested
under the command of their superiors in t he brutal training sessions that especially mark the
initiation phase. However, there is a difference between the Navy SEALs and the trainees.
Whereas the Navy SEALs can rely on a certain positi on and rank after having completed the
training, the trainees are not offered a guaranteed leadership position for the time after the
program. Still the trainees endure this insecurity, arguably because they identify with their
aspired leader role, which makes them controllable (Alvesson & Kärreman, 2007) and
clingin g to their provisional self -identities (Ibarra, 1999).

54 In the identity de – and reconstruction process , we also notice other controlling aspects that
sub-consciously enhance the trainees’ organisational identification. However, unlike in the
training of the Navy SEALs, in the trainee program the disciplined behaviour is not achieved
primarily through obtrusive methods of control and superiors using their coercive power, but
rather through unobtrusive control mechanisms. The trainees learn how to lead and act
accordingly to the organisational values due to the strong and influential relationship between
the company culture and the leadership discourse. Leadership discourse, a major component
of trainee programs, is thus brought in connection with organisationa l culture and directs the
trainees’ internalisation of the company values and consequently behaviour. Furthermore, in
this process leadership and the organisation become a source of identification that informs the
individuals’ self -definitions (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002). Similarly, during their training
process , the Navy SEALs learn to identify themselves with the notion of being a soldier and
with the ability to survive anything, while simultaneously they are controlled by the military
culture and discour se. The unspoken code created by different mantras and symbols guides
the soldiers’ behaviour in their training and in their future mission (Divine, n.d.).
Additionally, through their extensive training the Navy SEALs adopt a mentality that
motivates them to go to the battlefield to fight for their home country or to become a
commander , much like the trainees are controlled by their aspirations to become a leader to
fight for the success of their company.
The analogy of Navy SEALs brings us to view trainee programs in a new light: their purpose
might be to create leaders to battle organisational challenges as appropriated by the
organisation’s leadership discourse. By deconstructing the trainees’ identity and letting them
go through tough exercises that test their mentality and takes them to the uncomfortable, just
like in the case of Navy SEALs, the trainees are controlled to bring about organisational
success. With the notion of leadership, the trainees’ identity, behaviour and aspirations are
shaped to mat ch those of the organisation, and the trainees become the company’s ‘soldiers’
ready to fight issues of any kind with their leadership tools.

55 6 Conclusion

This research examined the complex interplay between leadership, identity and control by
studying former trainees of the Fuco management trainee program. More precisely our goal
was to understand first , how leadership is constructed within our research con text and second ,
what indications of control trainee programs have. Positioning ourselves in the interpretive
paradigm with our first aim and in a more critical paradigm with the second, we used
qualitative methods to find answers to our research questions .
Our findings indicate that the positive construction of leadership in the trainee program
influences the trainees’ understanding of the concept. Moreover, it serves as a basis for a
deconstruction and reconstruction process of the trainees’ identities an d is a source of
unobtrusive organisational control. By first di smantling the trainees’ identities in the
deconstruction phase with the help of concertive control by the trainee group, the participants
are later reconstructed according to the organisationa l values and its approach to leadership.
With cultural control , the program encourages organisational identification to regulate the
trainees’ identities . The leadership discourse has a significant role in this process. It not only
functions as a form of c ontrol by communicating organisational objectives and moulding the
trainees’ identity accordingly, but also as a source of aspirational control. The leadership
discourse seems to foster the trainees’ desired identities as they are driven by their future
possibility to be a leader within the company.
In order to exert control on the employees, the trainee program cultivates identity work
triggers. On the one hand, these triggers function as support in the trainees’ identity work but,
on the other hand, they are a source of struggles and uncertainty. Our interviewees declared to
have found their genuine self through the program and to have developed a stronger leader
identity; we however question the extent to which this self -definition is in fact ‘genuine’.
Based on our indications of control, we claim that this ‘genuine’ self might rather be an
organisational reflection as the Fuco culture bears overpowering influence on their identity
construction . The trainees’ exposure to the Fuco values and especially the leadership
discourse , can help them in their identity construction and strengthen their leader identity, but
at the same time they also face the organisational reality and encounter struggles, confusion s
and uncertainties. They struggle between seeing one self as a leader and being seen as a
newcomer in the organisation as well as being participants of a leadership -training program

56 without any leadership tasks to perform in their work. These contradictions make us wonder
why the trainees still positively ev aluate their experiences and continue with the process,
especially when they are not guaranteed a position in the company after their trainee year. The
positive leadership discourse in the organisation and i n society might be an explanation for
this issue. This discourse seems to influence the trainees’ motivation in such a strong way that
they are, in spite of all these challenges, encouraged to strive for their desires and aspirations,
and thereby they become the organisational soldiers within Fuco .
Exami ning the increasingly popular phenomenon of trainee programs through the theories of
leadership, identity and control, we contribute to the existing literature of organisational
studies by revealing a more critical perspective on leadership and leadership development
within the context of trainee programs. Reviewing our topic from both the trainee program’s
but also the trainees’ viewpoint in specific , allows us to support existing literature by
confirming the significance of leadership discourse as a contr ol mechanism; and additionally ,
to supplement existing literature with the concepts of identity de – and reconstruction. Thus,
our research highlights that leadership and leadership development in trainee programs is not
always as positive as it might seem.
6.1 Practical Implications
As mentioned in the introduction , this study contributes not only to a scholarly knowledge
interest but it also provides some practical contributions for trainees and organisations
offering trainee programs. As the grandiose discour se around leadership influences the
trainees’ expectations, it can ultimately lead to identity struggles as soon as the trainees
realise the discrepancy between the discourse and the organisational reality. Hence, we
recommend organisations to counteract t he grandiose discourse around leadership. A more
modest picture of leadership , which admits the ambiguities inherent in the concept (Alvesson
& Spicer, 2011) , could help the trainees construct more autonomous and stable identities and
thereby , it could als o secure organisational objectives. We view the controlling effects that the
organisations exert on the trainees by employing the leadership discourse rather critically.
Therefore, we hope that this study makes current trainees and also people considering
traineeships as a career option more cautious with regards to the organisational control and
power implied in these programs. In a nutshell, the combination of an interpretive and a

57 critical stance within our study helps not only organisations to better un derstand their effects
on the trainees’ identity work but also the trainees themselves to achieve a more critical view
on trainee programs and their controlling effects.
6.2 Limitations
While there are a number of theoretical and practical implications as disc ussed above, we also
recognise some limitations to our research that are worth mentioning. Firstly, our research on
trainee programs was limited to a sp ecific organisation and program, which might have
limited our understanding on trainee programs as a bro ader phenomenon – especially since
our researched program was slightly different from most. Nevertheless, our choice of studying
one program gave us the possibility to gather in -depth data increasing the quality of our
research. Secondly, we recognise that there might have been some factors, such as the societal
contexts, which may have contributed to the respondents’ answers and which were not
researched in detail. Lastly, it is important to note that our sample size was relatively small
due the young age of the program and the time constraints of our thesis. We think that
interviewing the trainees’ supervisors and other people involved in the program could have
presented us with a better and richer understanding of the phenomenon.
6.3 Suggestions for Further R esearch
The literature on trainee programs is still rather limited and with our research we hope to
contribute new knowledge to the phenomenon of trainee programs, especially adding a more
critical perspective on it. To further research this particular are a and the connection between
leadership and control in trainee programs, we encourage academia to conduct a long -term
‘before and after’ research with trainees. This could provide more developed insights into the
process the individuals go through and how they actually develop their competence and
identity as well as the role control plays in this. Hence, this could further enlarge the existing
body of critical work in this area. In future research, we also identify a possible interest in
studying not only trainees’ experiences but also those of their supervisors and their colleagues
to seek what influence they have on the trainees’ development or what differences there might
exist between trainees’ and other organisational members’ identity work. Furthermor e, as

58 hinted at in the limitations , it might be a future aim to develop a more comprehensive study
by considering not only one but several trainee programs. With these suggestions, we believe
that the studies on the popular and widely practiced concept of trainee programs can develop
further over ti me.

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