Leading innovation through employees’ participation: Plural leadership in employee-driven innovation practices

Plural leadership has gained a lot of attention, challenging traditional individualistic leadership models and moving the focus to the dynamic and collective nature of leadership. This leadership paradigm seems particularly relevant in situations where plurality is involved to cope with complexity and uncertainty: a valid example is the context of innovation. In this study, we explore how plural leadership works in the context of employee-driven innovation (EDI), since these initiatives can provide interesting insights about the interactions between formal and informal leaders. Our empirical analysis supports the idea that EDI involves plural leadership. We identified some similarities with two of the streams theorized by Denis, Langley and Sergi (2012) in “Leadership in the Plural”, namely “sharing leadership in teams” and “producing leadership through interaction.” Through multiple case studies, it was possible to extend those streams and to deepen our understanding of the relationship between formal and informal leaders. We conceptualized two leadership roles (i.e., process leadership and content leadership), which enable plural leadership to meet the competing demand of exploration and exploitation, and we revealed elements that help explain why and when leadership is shared between multiple individuals.

Online company blogs as narrations of plural leadership

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how companies that characterise their leadership style as plural, shared or distributed narrate their actions and practices in online blog texts. Design/methodology/approach The data consist of online blog texts published by seven Finnish IT companies. The analytical strategy draws on both thematic and structural approach to narrative analysis. The blog texts were analysed thematically to uncover different aspects of plural leadership. The analysis revealed a narrative pattern consisting of three categories that explain why and how companies implemented plural leadership. Findings The first category in the narrative pattern describes the motivation for engaging in plural leadership. The second category explains how the companies broke down existing hierarchies in order to create new flexible work roles. The third category describes how the organisations sought to create a communal culture and a strong sense of trust using symbols, material objects and spaces. Research limitations/implications The study contributes to leadership research that emphasises post-heroic leadership conceptualisations. The narrative pattern provides future empirical studies a framework for analysing plural leadership practices in different organisational settings. Whereas this study sheds light on the ways in which organisations and their leadership practices can be investigated using online data, traditional organisational ethnographies can make a further contribution to this line of research. Practical implications Implementing plural leadership in organisations can lead to informal power plays. Attention should be paid on to how plural leadership evolves in flat hierarchies and promotes community building. Originality/value Company webpages have rich information on how companies operate and perceive themselves. They provide yet another window for observing organisational activities. This study makes a novel contribution to how plural leadership is practiced and conceptualised in online blog texts.

Plural Leadership During Organisational Transformation Initiatives (Vertical & Horizontal)

Organizational transformation and change scholars and researchers published many articles linking and studying the effect of vertical (transactional) leadership and horizontal (transformational) leadership on organizations during transformation. As much attention has been given in the last two decades to transformational leadership as being one of the trendiest leadership styles that focuses on the relation between followers and leaders to achieve better performance during organizational transformation, transactional leadership is still of benefit. This paper bridges organizational transformation and leadership literature and show the importance of transformational (horizontal) leadership alongside transactional (vertical) leadership in achieving efficient performance and optimal results during organizational transformation. Methodology: A literature review will be conducted based on literature related to certain key word and through a systematic literature review protocol. Keywords: organizational transformation, leadership, transactional leadership, transformational leadership

Room for communitas: Exploring sociomaterial construction of leadership in liminal and dominant spaces

This article analyzes the sociomaterial construction of plural and hierarchical leadership in liminal and dominant spaces. Combining insights from, first, the emerging body of studies exploring the role of spaces in sociomaterial construction of leadership; second, spatial management and organization research focusing on liminal spaces; and third, Victor Turner’s social structure–anti-structure framework, it is argued that dominant spaces actively participate in a sociomaterial construction of leadership that reflects the social structure of an organization. Liminal spaces as places fostering the experience of communitas, then, actively participate in the sociomaterial construction of plural leadership if collectively used.

Leading organizational transformation: an action research study

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address a specific gap in the literature that centers on individual perspective of leadership within the context of organizational transformation. It explores synergies between leadership, analyzed as a combination of individual and plural perspectives, and managerial drivers relating to organizational transformation (communicating, mobilizing, and evaluating). Design/methodology/approach The study examines a complex organizational transformation initiative faced by an Italian, family-owned fashion design company through an action research project. Findings The results illustrate that context may play a role in accelerating the implementation of plural forms of leadership and their effectiveness during some phases of transformation. Specific emerging manifestations of leadership and synergies with transformation drivers are identified. Research limitations/implications This is a single case study derived from an action research project. Although the approach is congruent with the nature of the phenomenon and the purpose of the study, it does not aim for generalizability, and as such further empirical investigation is advocated. Originality/value The paper offers an original perspective on leadership of organizational transformation, discussing in particular the co-existence of individual and plural leadership and the role of context.

Leading Professionals

This book analyses the complex power dynamics and interpersonal politics that lie at the heart of leadership in professional organizations, such as accounting, law, and consulting firms, investment banks, hospitals, and universities. It is based on scholarly research into many of the world’s leading professional organizations across a range of sectors, including interviews with over 500 senior professionals in sixteen countries. Drawing on the latest academic theory to analyse exactly how professionals in organizations come together to create ‘leadership’, it provides new insights into how leaders lead when there is no traditional hierarchy to support them, their own authority is contingent, and they must constantly renegotiate relationships with relatively autonomous professional peers. It explores how leaders persuade highly intelligent, educated, and opinionated professionals to work together; how change happens within professional organizations; and why leaders so often fail. Part I introduces the concept of plural leadership, analysing how leaders establish and maintain their positions within leadership constellations, and the implications for governance in the context of collective or distributed leadership. Part II examines the complex, challenging relationships between professionals as they seek to influence their organizations, including the phenomena of leadership dyads, insecure overachievers, social control, and the rise of the management professional. Part III examines the shifts in the locus of power as professional organizations grow, adapt, and react to external stimuli such as mergers and acquisitions and economic crises. The conclusion identifies the paradoxes inherent in professional organizations and examines the role of leaders in attempting to reconcile them.