Shared Leadership and Sociomateriality in Design Projects: Integrating Objects and Values

Abstract

Shared leadership has gained momentum in fields ranging from education and healthcare to information technology and sports. Given its collaborative or participatory nature, design practice should be a fertile ground for the emergence of shared leadership. Yet, previous literature on design management and leadership has primarily conceptualized leadership as an individual characteristic. To extend the existing literature, this article presents an autoethnographic exploration of shared leadership from a sociomaterial perspective. It focuses on a design project dealing with remote healthcare solutions and contributes to existing literature on shared leadership and sociomateriality. I clarify how values, individuals, and objects interact over time to evolve, stabilize, and destabilize shared leadership. This finding calls for a more granular understanding of objects. This suggests that objects influence shared leadership not just through their form and development but also by imbuing and reinforcing certain values. The findings also highlight the need to regard design leadership as sociomaterial configurations rather than solely as an individual characteristic. The article concludes by proposing further research avenues and discussing implications for design practice.