Leah Tomkins
Biographic Data
| ID | 5789116 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Leah Tomkins |
| GIVEN NAMES | Leah |
| FAMILY NAME | Tomkins |
| SIGNATURE | TOMKINS L |
| AFFILIATIONS | The Open University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1799-119X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 33 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Franz Kafka, Artificial Intelligence and the Paradoxical Recognition of Selfhood
At the centenary of the death of Franz Kafka (1883–1924), this paper explores the complexities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) through the lens of Kafka’s literary and professional work, especially those relating to the dynamics of recognition and misrecognition. Through Kafkan eyes, both philosophical and technological hankerings after recognition and its connection with the notion of the ‘true self’ are thrown into sharp relief, whether this ‘t…
Evidence-based practice and the ethics of care: ‘What works’ or ‘what matters’
This article considers why and how evidence-based practice has become distorted in practice, and what to do about it. We present qualitative data from an action research project in policing to highlight tensions between the rhetoric and reality of evidence-based practice, and the ways in which evidence-based practice’s seductive catchphrase ‘what works’ is being understood and applied. Through the lens of care ethics, we integrate ‘what matters’ …
Caring leadership as Nietzschean slave morality
In this paper, I respond to calls for more critical reflection on the power dynamics of caring leadership. I consider how a combination of care and impotence might unfold as Nietzsche’s ‘slave morality’, crystallised in the phenomenon of ressentiment. At the heart of slave morality is an inversion of values in which everything represented by the Other is denigrated so that the slave can find meaning and solace in his own place in the world. The N…
Asymmetries of leadership: Agency, response and reason
Drawing on empirical data from an action research project in policing, we propose that the power relations of leadership unfold in asymmetries of agency, response and reason: Leaders both expect and experience more responsibility than control; more blame than praise; and interpretations of failure – both their own and others’ – based more on personal fault than on situational or task complexity. We focus, therefore, on power asymmetry not in the …
Where is Boris Johnson? When and why it matters that leaders show up in a crisis
Now, more than at any time in our recent history, we will be judged by our capacity for compassion. (Rishi Sunak, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, 20 March 2020). 1 In this piece, I draw on an ethics of care and compassion to address a question that has been asked almost daily in UK politics over the past weeks and months, namely: Where is Boris Johnson? Johnson is a leader with a long-standing reputation for being selective about whether and when…
Lost in Translation, Recovered in Conversation? Introducing Leadership's Social Media Profile
‘Twitter is not a technology, it’s a conversation. And it’s happening with or without you.’ 1 As Leadership takes its first steps into the realm of social media, we should think about why we are doing this and what we might hope to achieve. Far from being merely a decision about which platforms and tools to use to advertise our work, the establishment of a social media presence is a spur to reflect on the qualities of our relationships both withi…
Surveillance, intervention and the politics of care
This article connects with debates about the use of surveillance technology to detect, report and prevent abuse in care settings. Grounded in a Heideggerian theorisation of care as intervention, it argues that care unfolds in people’s deliberations and decisions about whether and how to intercede when abuse is suspected. Such reflections reveal the politics of care because they are contingent on how the need for care is constructed, and actions s…
Supervising qualitative projects
In a new feature, we speak to qualitative psychologists who supervise undergraduate and MSc student projects to discuss their experiences and to share advice. In this issue we hear from Jo Meredith and Leah Tomkins
Stop ‘helping’ me! Identity, recognition and agency in the nexus of work and care
This article explores what it is like to be a ‘working carer’—that increasingly common category of employee who combines paid work with unpaid care. 1 We draw on phenomenology for our initial motivation, epistemological assumptions and method of data analysis, and on critical sensemaking as a template for interpretation and theorization. In line with critical sensemaking, we see identity as a central feature of personhood, and we examine our part…
Meanings and manifestations of care: A celebration of hermeneutic multiplicity in Heidegger
This article presents an interpretative phenomenological analysis of care, specifically the relationship between carer and care recipient, and the ways in which this is experienced and interpreted by carers themselves. Results reveal multiple manifestations of care, including intervention, anticipation, advocacy, and intersubjectivity. These are examined through the filter of Heidegger's pronouncements on care, and the phenomenon is presented as …
The feel of experience: Phenomenological ideas for organizational research
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to look at how phenomenology can be used to explore the meaning and experience of organizational life. It argues that phenomenology provides more than just themes or leitmotifs for post hoc analysis of narrative data; in its basic formulation, phenomenology is a way of thinking – a method – which illuminates the embodied, subjective and inter-subjective qualities of the life-world. Design/methodology/approac…
Towards an integrative reflexivity in organisational research
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer a more integrative and inclusive conceptualisation of reflexivity as a way of identifying, understanding and managing some of the risks associated with reflexivity's potentially solipsistic “inward turn”. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on the authors' experience of empirical qualitative research with working carers. This experience is grounded within the traditions of interpretative pheno…
Reflecting on the Use of IPA with Focus Groups: Pitfalls and Potentials
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) is a phenomenological, hermeneutic method for analysing semi-structured interview data, supported by a robust theoretical foundation and detailed practical procedures. The use of IPA with focus group data does not yet have the same status, and it should not be assumed that either theory or practice can remain unchanged when applied to focus groups. Two core features of IPA are discussed and problemat…
Reflecting on the Use of IPA with Focus Groups: Pitfalls and Potentials
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) is a phenomenological, hermeneutic method for analysing semi-structured interview data, supported by a robust theoretical foundation and detailed practical procedures. The use of IPA with focus group data does not yet have the same status, and it should not be assumed that either theory or practice can remain unchanged when applied to focus groups. Two core features of IPA are discussed and problemat…
Evidence-based practice and the ethics of care: ‘What works’ or ‘what matters’
This article considers why and how evidence-based practice has become distorted in practice, and what to do about it. We present qualitative data from an action research project in policing to highlight tensions between the rhetoric and reality of evidence-based practice, and the ways in which evidence-based practice’s seductive catchphrase ‘what works’ is being understood and applied. Through the lens of care ethics, we integrate ‘what matters’ …
Where is Boris Johnson? When and why it matters that leaders show up in a crisis
Now, more than at any time in our recent history, we will be judged by our capacity for compassion. (Rishi Sunak, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, 20 March 2020). 1 In this piece, I draw on an ethics of care and compassion to address a question that has been asked almost daily in UK politics over the past weeks and months, namely: Where is Boris Johnson? Johnson is a leader with a long-standing reputation for being selective about whether and when…
Asymmetries of leadership: Agency, response and reason
Drawing on empirical data from an action research project in policing, we propose that the power relations of leadership unfold in asymmetries of agency, response and reason: Leaders both expect and experience more responsibility than control; more blame than praise; and interpretations of failure – both their own and others’ – based more on personal fault than on situational or task complexity. We focus, therefore, on power asymmetry not in the …
Caring leadership as Nietzschean slave morality
In this paper, I respond to calls for more critical reflection on the power dynamics of caring leadership. I consider how a combination of care and impotence might unfold as Nietzsche’s ‘slave morality’, crystallised in the phenomenon of ressentiment. At the heart of slave morality is an inversion of values in which everything represented by the Other is denigrated so that the slave can find meaning and solace in his own place in the world. The N…
Towards an integrative reflexivity in organisational research
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer a more integrative and inclusive conceptualisation of reflexivity as a way of identifying, understanding and managing some of the risks associated with reflexivity's potentially solipsistic “inward turn”. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on the authors' experience of empirical qualitative research with working carers. This experience is grounded within the traditions of interpretative pheno…
Reflecting on the Use of IPA with Focus Groups: Pitfalls and Potentials
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) is a phenomenological, hermeneutic method for analysing semi-structured interview data, supported by a robust theoretical foundation and detailed practical procedures. The use of IPA with focus group data does not yet have the same status, and it should not be assumed that either theory or practice can remain unchanged when applied to focus groups. Two core features of IPA are discussed and problemat…
Meanings and manifestations of care: A celebration of hermeneutic multiplicity in Heidegger
This article presents an interpretative phenomenological analysis of care, specifically the relationship between carer and care recipient, and the ways in which this is experienced and interpreted by carers themselves. Results reveal multiple manifestations of care, including intervention, anticipation, advocacy, and intersubjectivity. These are examined through the filter of Heidegger's pronouncements on care, and the phenomenon is presented as …
The feel of experience: Phenomenological ideas for organizational research
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to look at how phenomenology can be used to explore the meaning and experience of organizational life. It argues that phenomenology provides more than just themes or leitmotifs for post hoc analysis of narrative data; in its basic formulation, phenomenology is a way of thinking – a method – which illuminates the embodied, subjective and inter-subjective qualities of the life-world. Design/methodology/approac…
Stop ‘helping’ me! Identity, recognition and agency in the nexus of work and care
This article explores what it is like to be a ‘working carer’—that increasingly common category of employee who combines paid work with unpaid care. 1 We draw on phenomenology for our initial motivation, epistemological assumptions and method of data analysis, and on critical sensemaking as a template for interpretation and theorization. In line with critical sensemaking, we see identity as a central feature of personhood, and we examine our part…
Supervising qualitative projects
In a new feature, we speak to qualitative psychologists who supervise undergraduate and MSc student projects to discuss their experiences and to share advice. In this issue we hear from Jo Meredith and Leah Tomkins
Surveillance, intervention and the politics of care
This article connects with debates about the use of surveillance technology to detect, report and prevent abuse in care settings. Grounded in a Heideggerian theorisation of care as intervention, it argues that care unfolds in people’s deliberations and decisions about whether and how to intercede when abuse is suspected. Such reflections reveal the politics of care because they are contingent on how the need for care is constructed, and actions s…
Caring leadership as Nietzschean slave morality
In this paper, I respond to calls for more critical reflection on the power dynamics of caring leadership. I consider how a combination of care and impotence might unfold as Nietzsche’s ‘slave morality’, crystallised in the phenomenon of ressentiment. At the heart of slave morality is an inversion of values in which everything represented by the Other is denigrated so that the slave can find meaning and solace in his own place in the world. The N…
Asymmetries of leadership: Agency, response and reason
Drawing on empirical data from an action research project in policing, we propose that the power relations of leadership unfold in asymmetries of agency, response and reason: Leaders both expect and experience more responsibility than control; more blame than praise; and interpretations of failure – both their own and others’ – based more on personal fault than on situational or task complexity. We focus, therefore, on power asymmetry not in the …
Where is Boris Johnson? When and why it matters that leaders show up in a crisis
Now, more than at any time in our recent history, we will be judged by our capacity for compassion. (Rishi Sunak, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, 20 March 2020). 1 In this piece, I draw on an ethics of care and compassion to address a question that has been asked almost daily in UK politics over the past weeks and months, namely: Where is Boris Johnson? Johnson is a leader with a long-standing reputation for being selective about whether and when…
Lost in Translation, Recovered in Conversation? Introducing Leadership's Social Media Profile
‘Twitter is not a technology, it’s a conversation. And it’s happening with or without you.’ 1 As Leadership takes its first steps into the realm of social media, we should think about why we are doing this and what we might hope to achieve. Far from being merely a decision about which platforms and tools to use to advertise our work, the establishment of a social media presence is a spur to reflect on the qualities of our relationships both withi…
Evidence-based practice and the ethics of care: ‘What works’ or ‘what matters’
This article considers why and how evidence-based practice has become distorted in practice, and what to do about it. We present qualitative data from an action research project in policing to highlight tensions between the rhetoric and reality of evidence-based practice, and the ways in which evidence-based practice’s seductive catchphrase ‘what works’ is being understood and applied. Through the lens of care ethics, we integrate ‘what matters’ …
Franz Kafka, Artificial Intelligence and the Paradoxical Recognition of Selfhood
At the centenary of the death of Franz Kafka (1883–1924), this paper explores the complexities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) through the lens of Kafka’s literary and professional work, especially those relating to the dynamics of recognition and misrecognition. Through Kafkan eyes, both philosophical and technological hankerings after recognition and its connection with the notion of the ‘true self’ are thrown into sharp relief, whether this ‘t…
Sociology (12 works) · Psychology (11 works) · Political science (8 works) · Management and Organizational Studies (6 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Social Psychology (6 works) · Epistemology (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Public relations (5 works)