Pub Date : 2021-08-06DOI: 10.1080/14697017.2021.1951812
Shuang Liang, A. Lupina-Wegener, J. Ullrich, R. van Dick
ABSTRACT This article examines organizational identification construction in mergers and acquisitions (M&As). The majority of existing studies have focused on antecedents and outcomes of post-merger identification (PMI) in Western contexts. While more and more Chinese cross-border M&As are taking place, how Chinese employees construct PMI remains underexplored. We adopted a qualitative case study approach to investigate how Chinese managers construct PMI after acquiring a European company. As the main contribution, we introduce the concept of agile organizational identity (AOI), wherein agility is a central, enduring and distinctive characteristic of an organization, i.e. ‘who we are and who we want to be’. Our findings reveal that AOI is leveraged by Chinese managers to deal with their perceived inferior status, help them cope with the change and contribute to the construction of a strong PMI. We believe that our study provides a new perspective on how employees can effectively cope with organizational change while maintaining a sense of identity continuity. MAD statement This article examines organizational identification construction in mergers and acquisitions (M&As). We provide novel insights by introducing the agile organizational identity (AOI) concept, wherein the agility is a central, enduring and distinctive characteristic of an organization, i.e. ‘who we are and who we want to be’. To maintain such a pre-merger identity after M&As, people strive to continue changing as change is the continuity. Thus, psychological bonds between an employee and the employing organization do not become weaker. As agility is incorporated in the organizational identity, AOI helps employees to cope with the low status of their organization, accept organizational changes, and identify with the post-merger organization. Organizational leaders might want to foster AOI in order to successfully conduct strategic change initiatives.
{"title":"‘Change is Our Continuity’: Chinese Managers’ Construction of Post-Merger Identification After an Acquisition in Europe","authors":"Shuang Liang, A. Lupina-Wegener, J. Ullrich, R. van Dick","doi":"10.1080/14697017.2021.1951812","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2021.1951812","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article examines organizational identification construction in mergers and acquisitions (M&As). The majority of existing studies have focused on antecedents and outcomes of post-merger identification (PMI) in Western contexts. While more and more Chinese cross-border M&As are taking place, how Chinese employees construct PMI remains underexplored. We adopted a qualitative case study approach to investigate how Chinese managers construct PMI after acquiring a European company. As the main contribution, we introduce the concept of agile organizational identity (AOI), wherein agility is a central, enduring and distinctive characteristic of an organization, i.e. ‘who we are and who we want to be’. Our findings reveal that AOI is leveraged by Chinese managers to deal with their perceived inferior status, help them cope with the change and contribute to the construction of a strong PMI. We believe that our study provides a new perspective on how employees can effectively cope with organizational change while maintaining a sense of identity continuity. MAD statement This article examines organizational identification construction in mergers and acquisitions (M&As). We provide novel insights by introducing the agile organizational identity (AOI) concept, wherein the agility is a central, enduring and distinctive characteristic of an organization, i.e. ‘who we are and who we want to be’. To maintain such a pre-merger identity after M&As, people strive to continue changing as change is the continuity. Thus, psychological bonds between an employee and the employing organization do not become weaker. As agility is incorporated in the organizational identity, AOI helps employees to cope with the low status of their organization, accept organizational changes, and identify with the post-merger organization. Organizational leaders might want to foster AOI in order to successfully conduct strategic change initiatives.","PeriodicalId":47003,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT","volume":"22 1","pages":"59 - 78"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42158685","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-13DOI: 10.1080/14697017.2021.1946272
J. Raelin
ABSTRACT This paper seeks to find complementarities and make contributions to the field of organization development (OD) from the new field of leadership-as-practice (L-A-P), and in so doing, enhance the development of OD in practice. Rather than looking for leadership in people, especially in their traits and behaviours, leadership-as-practice looks for it in everyday practice, in the spaces between people, and in emergent dynamic social interactions. To find leadership, we look to the practice within which it is occurring. The paper explores these premises by first discussing some of the principal classifications of OD throughout its history. It then offers ways in which L-A-P can potentially enhance OD in both theory and application. MAD statement While the merits of the dialogue and diagnostic models of OD have been submitted to debate, another process approach has been percolating, that of leadership-as-practice. This paper advances a number of principles and practices that can potentially enhance OD in both theory and application.
{"title":"What Can Leadership-as-Practice Contribute to OD?","authors":"J. Raelin","doi":"10.1080/14697017.2021.1946272","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2021.1946272","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper seeks to find complementarities and make contributions to the field of organization development (OD) from the new field of leadership-as-practice (L-A-P), and in so doing, enhance the development of OD in practice. Rather than looking for leadership in people, especially in their traits and behaviours, leadership-as-practice looks for it in everyday practice, in the spaces between people, and in emergent dynamic social interactions. To find leadership, we look to the practice within which it is occurring. The paper explores these premises by first discussing some of the principal classifications of OD throughout its history. It then offers ways in which L-A-P can potentially enhance OD in both theory and application. MAD statement While the merits of the dialogue and diagnostic models of OD have been submitted to debate, another process approach has been percolating, that of leadership-as-practice. This paper advances a number of principles and practices that can potentially enhance OD in both theory and application.","PeriodicalId":47003,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT","volume":"22 1","pages":"26 - 39"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44760058","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-12DOI: 10.1080/14697017.2021.1951811
R. Lundmark, A. Richter, Susanne Tafvelin
ABSTRACT This study draws upon conservation of resources theory to investigate if laissez-faire leadership influences employees’ perceptions of role clarity, and two forms of well-being (job satisfaction and work-related burnout), in the context of organizational restructuring. Moreover, role clarity is studied as a mechanism linking laissez-faire leadership to employee well-being. These relationships were tested using a three-wave time-lagged investigation conducted over a two-year period with a sample of 601 employees working in the Swedish process industry. The results of the structural equation modelling analyses showed that laissez-faire leadership was negatively related to role clarity 9 months later. In turn, role clarity mediated the relationship between laissez-faire leadership and employee well-being. This study contributes to the understanding of how laissez-faire leadership in the context of organizational restructuring may affect employee outcomes. We discuss implications for theories and practices, as well as directions for future research. MAD statement The majority of research on leadership during organizational restructuring has focused on positive outcomes of constructive forms of change leadership. However, other forms of leadership, such as laissez-faire leadership, may also play a crucial role for employee outcomes when implementing change. This study is to our knowledge the first to focus on the relationship between laissez-faire leadership and employee well-being in the context of organizational restructuring. We suggest that organizations work actively to include knowledge on this form of leadership in change-leadership training. We also suggest monitoring work-groups’ perceptions of role clarity (as a mechanism directly affected by laissez-fair leadership) during restructuring so that measures can be taken to facilitate transitions when needed.
{"title":"Consequences of Managers’ Laissez-faire Leadership During Organizational Restructuring","authors":"R. Lundmark, A. Richter, Susanne Tafvelin","doi":"10.1080/14697017.2021.1951811","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2021.1951811","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study draws upon conservation of resources theory to investigate if laissez-faire leadership influences employees’ perceptions of role clarity, and two forms of well-being (job satisfaction and work-related burnout), in the context of organizational restructuring. Moreover, role clarity is studied as a mechanism linking laissez-faire leadership to employee well-being. These relationships were tested using a three-wave time-lagged investigation conducted over a two-year period with a sample of 601 employees working in the Swedish process industry. The results of the structural equation modelling analyses showed that laissez-faire leadership was negatively related to role clarity 9 months later. In turn, role clarity mediated the relationship between laissez-faire leadership and employee well-being. This study contributes to the understanding of how laissez-faire leadership in the context of organizational restructuring may affect employee outcomes. We discuss implications for theories and practices, as well as directions for future research. MAD statement The majority of research on leadership during organizational restructuring has focused on positive outcomes of constructive forms of change leadership. However, other forms of leadership, such as laissez-faire leadership, may also play a crucial role for employee outcomes when implementing change. This study is to our knowledge the first to focus on the relationship between laissez-faire leadership and employee well-being in the context of organizational restructuring. We suggest that organizations work actively to include knowledge on this form of leadership in change-leadership training. We also suggest monitoring work-groups’ perceptions of role clarity (as a mechanism directly affected by laissez-fair leadership) during restructuring so that measures can be taken to facilitate transitions when needed.","PeriodicalId":47003,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT","volume":"22 1","pages":"40 - 58"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/14697017.2021.1951811","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42524003","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-01DOI: 10.1080/14697017.2021.1939967
{"title":"Call for Proposals (2023 Review Issue) - Challenging the known. Exploring the unknown","authors":"","doi":"10.1080/14697017.2021.1939967","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2021.1939967","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47003,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT","volume":"21 1","pages":"383 - 384"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/14697017.2021.1939967","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46461999","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-27DOI: 10.1080/14697017.2021.1942966
J. Raelin
ABSTRACT The practice perspective of leadership de-emphasizes purpose and rather recognizes pre-reflective forms of intentionality carried out in embodied practices that may be subsequently guided by democratic, emancipatory and reflexive processes. Although leadership-as-practice should be classified as a descriptive metaethical theory, it can be animated by normative accounts derived from exploratory and critical discourses. MAD statement The contribution of the telos of social justice and sustainability needs to be accompanied by the exploratory study of the processes that detail social and material interactions that may alter the trajectory of the flow of practices within the organization. By focusing on process, we observe the actual doings or enactments of leadership that require mining prior to diving into goal attainment.
{"title":"Leadership-as-Practice: Antecedent to Leaderful Purpose","authors":"J. Raelin","doi":"10.1080/14697017.2021.1942966","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2021.1942966","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The practice perspective of leadership de-emphasizes purpose and rather recognizes pre-reflective forms of intentionality carried out in embodied practices that may be subsequently guided by democratic, emancipatory and reflexive processes. Although leadership-as-practice should be classified as a descriptive metaethical theory, it can be animated by normative accounts derived from exploratory and critical discourses. MAD statement The contribution of the telos of social justice and sustainability needs to be accompanied by the exploratory study of the processes that detail social and material interactions that may alter the trajectory of the flow of practices within the organization. By focusing on process, we observe the actual doings or enactments of leadership that require mining prior to diving into goal attainment.","PeriodicalId":47003,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT","volume":"21 1","pages":"385 - 390"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/14697017.2021.1942966","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48710459","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-16DOI: 10.1080/14697017.2021.1941192
M. Larsson, Robert G. Holmberg
ABSTRACT Often, the space for agency and leadership for middle managers is understood to depend on their capacity to escape standardized controlling systems. In this paper, we challenge this view, and instead explore the possibility for middle managers to engage with and make systems enabling rather than constraining, thereby supporting locally relevant change initiatives. We specifically explore how managers engage with employee surveys, as organization wide standardized systems, and work to make these enabling. Based on interviews with 48 managers and observations of 10 meetings in 5 different organizations, we identify three main strategies: reinterpretation, prioritization, and embedding. Drawing on complexity leadership theory, we argue that through these strategies, the managers succeed in creating a temporary adaptive space, thereby facilitating development and innovation. Our findings contribute to the literature on middle managers by developing a detailed understanding of the possibility for enabling leadership in this position. MAD statement Standardized measurement and control systems are often expected to drive change and development, but risk constraining rather than enabling middle managerial leadership. Our study of how managers engage with an organization wide standardized employee survey reveals that through their work, the system can be ‘tamed’ and made to facilitate rather than hinder development. The study suggests that to make the survey useful for change and development, aligned with organizational goals but at the same time adapted to local needs, the managers’ extensive effort is a critical factor.
{"title":"Taming the Survey: Managing the Employee Survey to Create Space for Change Oriented Leadership","authors":"M. Larsson, Robert G. Holmberg","doi":"10.1080/14697017.2021.1941192","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2021.1941192","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Often, the space for agency and leadership for middle managers is understood to depend on their capacity to escape standardized controlling systems. In this paper, we challenge this view, and instead explore the possibility for middle managers to engage with and make systems enabling rather than constraining, thereby supporting locally relevant change initiatives. We specifically explore how managers engage with employee surveys, as organization wide standardized systems, and work to make these enabling. Based on interviews with 48 managers and observations of 10 meetings in 5 different organizations, we identify three main strategies: reinterpretation, prioritization, and embedding. Drawing on complexity leadership theory, we argue that through these strategies, the managers succeed in creating a temporary adaptive space, thereby facilitating development and innovation. Our findings contribute to the literature on middle managers by developing a detailed understanding of the possibility for enabling leadership in this position. MAD statement Standardized measurement and control systems are often expected to drive change and development, but risk constraining rather than enabling middle managerial leadership. Our study of how managers engage with an organization wide standardized employee survey reveals that through their work, the system can be ‘tamed’ and made to facilitate rather than hinder development. The study suggests that to make the survey useful for change and development, aligned with organizational goals but at the same time adapted to local needs, the managers’ extensive effort is a critical factor.","PeriodicalId":47003,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT","volume":"21 1","pages":"412 - 431"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/14697017.2021.1941192","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49643623","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-05-24DOI: 10.1080/14697017.2021.1928910
A. Edmondson, Tijs Besieux
ABSTRACT We highlight conversations at work as an arena of change. Drawing on and extending the psychological safety literature, we offer a new framework to distinguish between productive and unproductive forms of both voice and silence. The framework’s four quadrants – withholding, disrupting, contributing and processing – outline essential activities in group conversations that work to advance goals, including organization change. Drawing on the authors’ own research, as well as other relevant literatures, our framework points to new directions for actionable research and suggests managerial practices to enhance the quality of workplace conversation. Our work bridges literatures on change, workplace conversations, psychological safety and leadership. We emphasize the function of leadership in fostering high-quality conversations, with an eye on both the opportunities and challenges of diversity at work in ensuring high-quality conversations.
{"title":"Reflections: Voice and Silence in Workplace Conversations","authors":"A. Edmondson, Tijs Besieux","doi":"10.1080/14697017.2021.1928910","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2021.1928910","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT We highlight conversations at work as an arena of change. Drawing on and extending the psychological safety literature, we offer a new framework to distinguish between productive and unproductive forms of both voice and silence. The framework’s four quadrants – withholding, disrupting, contributing and processing – outline essential activities in group conversations that work to advance goals, including organization change. Drawing on the authors’ own research, as well as other relevant literatures, our framework points to new directions for actionable research and suggests managerial practices to enhance the quality of workplace conversation. Our work bridges literatures on change, workplace conversations, psychological safety and leadership. We emphasize the function of leadership in fostering high-quality conversations, with an eye on both the opportunities and challenges of diversity at work in ensuring high-quality conversations.","PeriodicalId":47003,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT","volume":"21 1","pages":"269 - 286"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/14697017.2021.1928910","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48736856","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-05-20DOI: 10.1080/14697017.2021.1929406
F. Imran, K. Shahzad, Aurangzeab Butt, Jussi Kantola
ABSTRACT Industrial organizations are responding to new risks and opportunities originating from exponentially growing and disruptive digital technologies, by taking company-wide digital transformation initiatives. However, the key enablers of such digital transformation initiatives that facilitate operational performance outcomes in industrial organizations demand further investigation. Therefore, drawing on the sociotechnical system theory (STS), the objective of this study is to explore the digital transformation enablers and their impact on performance outcomes. Research data was collected from four leading industrial organizations that engaged in digital transformation programmes. Our results indicate that leadership, structures, and culture are the key enablers of digital transformation that help industrial organizations to achieve performance outcomes (i.e. collaboration, customer-centricity, and agility). By providing an empirically grounded integrated framework with future research propositions, this study contributes to the existing literature on digital transformation and sociotechnical system theory. MAD statement This article aims to make a difference by exploring industrial digital transformation in order to identify the key enablers and performance outcomes. We highlight the need for alignment and joint optimization of social and technical systems to effectively capitalize on the digital transformation initiatives. Moreover, we call for urgent attention to the development of leaders, as well as the further identification of supportive digital transformation leadership competencies. Competent leaders assume a central role in correcting outdated and invalid assumptions, conceptualizing new ideas, and reinforcing cultural values. Furthermore, we elaborate the necessity of cultural transformation in industrial organizations for impactful digital transformation. Lastly, our findings confirm the significance of organizational structure in digital transformation and simultaneously warn that too little is happening.
{"title":"Digital Transformation of Industrial Organizations: Toward an Integrated Framework","authors":"F. Imran, K. Shahzad, Aurangzeab Butt, Jussi Kantola","doi":"10.1080/14697017.2021.1929406","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2021.1929406","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Industrial organizations are responding to new risks and opportunities originating from exponentially growing and disruptive digital technologies, by taking company-wide digital transformation initiatives. However, the key enablers of such digital transformation initiatives that facilitate operational performance outcomes in industrial organizations demand further investigation. Therefore, drawing on the sociotechnical system theory (STS), the objective of this study is to explore the digital transformation enablers and their impact on performance outcomes. Research data was collected from four leading industrial organizations that engaged in digital transformation programmes. Our results indicate that leadership, structures, and culture are the key enablers of digital transformation that help industrial organizations to achieve performance outcomes (i.e. collaboration, customer-centricity, and agility). By providing an empirically grounded integrated framework with future research propositions, this study contributes to the existing literature on digital transformation and sociotechnical system theory. MAD statement This article aims to make a difference by exploring industrial digital transformation in order to identify the key enablers and performance outcomes. We highlight the need for alignment and joint optimization of social and technical systems to effectively capitalize on the digital transformation initiatives. Moreover, we call for urgent attention to the development of leaders, as well as the further identification of supportive digital transformation leadership competencies. Competent leaders assume a central role in correcting outdated and invalid assumptions, conceptualizing new ideas, and reinforcing cultural values. Furthermore, we elaborate the necessity of cultural transformation in industrial organizations for impactful digital transformation. Lastly, our findings confirm the significance of organizational structure in digital transformation and simultaneously warn that too little is happening.","PeriodicalId":47003,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT","volume":"21 1","pages":"451 - 479"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/14697017.2021.1929406","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43651527","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-03DOI: 10.1080/14697017.2021.1917490
Mary Uhl‐Bien
ABSTRACT All who have experienced the global pandemic of 2020 can tell you that we live in a changed world. People no longer question whether we are in complexity, that reality has been made explicitly clear. What they want to know now is, what do we do about it, and what does it mean for how we need to lead differently? In this article I explore these questions by integrating generative emergence (Lichtenstein, B. [2014]. Generative emergence: A new discipline of organizational, entrepreneurial, and social innovation. Oxford University Press) and complexity leadership theory (CLT) (Uhl-Bien, M., Marion, R., & McKelvey, B. [2007]. Complexity leadership theory: Shifting leadership from the industrial age to the knowledge era. The Leadership Quarterly, 18(4), 298–318. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2007.04.002). Using COVID-19 as an example, I show how understanding complexity leadership theory as generative emergence can help us better understand how to lead differently in crisis and complexity. Doing so requires that research and practice focus on developing leaders and followers who can respond by adapting, rather than denying or retreating, in the face of complexity pressures. MAD statement The global pandemic of 2020 has made it clear that we need to place more emphasis on developing leaders and followers who can lead in complexity. This paper does this by using examples from COVID-19 to show the difference between successful and unsuccessful pandemic leadership. Successful leadership has leaders and followers who co-create adaptive responses that use complexity leadership to enable generative emergence. Unsuccessful pandemic leadership turned to order responses that denied the reality of the situation and tried to wish it away, leading to disastrous outcomes and hundreds of thousands of needless deaths.
{"title":"Complexity Leadership and Followership: Changed Leadership in a Changed World","authors":"Mary Uhl‐Bien","doi":"10.1080/14697017.2021.1917490","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2021.1917490","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT All who have experienced the global pandemic of 2020 can tell you that we live in a changed world. People no longer question whether we are in complexity, that reality has been made explicitly clear. What they want to know now is, what do we do about it, and what does it mean for how we need to lead differently? In this article I explore these questions by integrating generative emergence (Lichtenstein, B. [2014]. Generative emergence: A new discipline of organizational, entrepreneurial, and social innovation. Oxford University Press) and complexity leadership theory (CLT) (Uhl-Bien, M., Marion, R., & McKelvey, B. [2007]. Complexity leadership theory: Shifting leadership from the industrial age to the knowledge era. The Leadership Quarterly, 18(4), 298–318. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2007.04.002). Using COVID-19 as an example, I show how understanding complexity leadership theory as generative emergence can help us better understand how to lead differently in crisis and complexity. Doing so requires that research and practice focus on developing leaders and followers who can respond by adapting, rather than denying or retreating, in the face of complexity pressures. MAD statement The global pandemic of 2020 has made it clear that we need to place more emphasis on developing leaders and followers who can lead in complexity. This paper does this by using examples from COVID-19 to show the difference between successful and unsuccessful pandemic leadership. Successful leadership has leaders and followers who co-create adaptive responses that use complexity leadership to enable generative emergence. Unsuccessful pandemic leadership turned to order responses that denied the reality of the situation and tried to wish it away, leading to disastrous outcomes and hundreds of thousands of needless deaths.","PeriodicalId":47003,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT","volume":"21 1","pages":"144 - 162"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/14697017.2021.1917490","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45465983","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-03DOI: 10.1080/14697017.2021.1917491
Viviane Sergi, Maria Lusiani, A. Langley
ABSTRACT The current crisis makes leadership more visible and allows us to reflect on how leadership is conceived. In this essay, we consider how leadership has been represented during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in articles published in the business and general press. We show that, while images of heroic leadership are prevalent in this popular discourse – reminding us vividly of the romance of leadership – other elements, such as references to plural and decentred forms of leadership can be seen as also coexisting in this discourse, while not necessarily being explicitly acknowledged. Opting for a plural, relational and processual conception of leadership allows us to reveal these under-recognized elements. This leads us to propose that these elements are not specific to leadership in times of crises, but are always constitutive of leading in practice. We conclude by arguing that renewing understandings of leadership may require that we acknowledge simultaneously the inevitable presence of romance(s) in how we approach this phenomenon as well as its collective and relational accomplishment. Referring, in turn, to the central phenomenon as leading rather than as leadership may help us reach beyond the seductiveness of the romance(s) of leadership to capture its inherent relationality.
{"title":"Highlighting the Plural: Leading Amidst Romance(s)","authors":"Viviane Sergi, Maria Lusiani, A. Langley","doi":"10.1080/14697017.2021.1917491","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2021.1917491","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The current crisis makes leadership more visible and allows us to reflect on how leadership is conceived. In this essay, we consider how leadership has been represented during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in articles published in the business and general press. We show that, while images of heroic leadership are prevalent in this popular discourse – reminding us vividly of the romance of leadership – other elements, such as references to plural and decentred forms of leadership can be seen as also coexisting in this discourse, while not necessarily being explicitly acknowledged. Opting for a plural, relational and processual conception of leadership allows us to reveal these under-recognized elements. This leads us to propose that these elements are not specific to leadership in times of crises, but are always constitutive of leading in practice. We conclude by arguing that renewing understandings of leadership may require that we acknowledge simultaneously the inevitable presence of romance(s) in how we approach this phenomenon as well as its collective and relational accomplishment. Referring, in turn, to the central phenomenon as leading rather than as leadership may help us reach beyond the seductiveness of the romance(s) of leadership to capture its inherent relationality.","PeriodicalId":47003,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT","volume":"21 1","pages":"163 - 179"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/14697017.2021.1917491","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47699738","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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