Dr Tracey Rosell

FHEA MSc LLB (Hons) PhD

Overview

I am a Postdoctoral Researcher, interested in exploring contemporary leadership in extreme contexts. My PhD project considered leadership in Welsh and English NHS surgical teams.

Successive studies of performance failings in UK hospitals identify shortcomings in approaches to leadership. Traditional, hierarchical leadership may stifle raising of concerns about performance, including patient safety. The doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals who work in surgical teams have traditionally operated under such a hierarchical form of leadership.

However, legal restrictions on the working hours of junior doctors, and changes in medical training practices may have altered this form, but there are very few details that have been published about these possible changes in leadership. The main goal of my research is to develop a framework to explore emergent leadership models and to carry out empirical research.  This provides an avenue to explain how leadership is experienced in today's surgical teams.

A key aspect of my interest is the use of Atmospheric Work. This is work undertaken more, or less, purposefully to create or maintain a particular kinds of emotional atmosphere in a team or organisation.