Is there leadership in a fluid world? Exploring the ongoing production of direction in organizing
Abstract
Although the idea of leadership being a process is clearly stated in leadership definitions, most researchers focus on individuals rather than observing and studying processes. This contradiction has been highlighted by a number of scholars turning to leadership processes and practices, thereby drawing attention to the interactional and social aspects of the phenomenon. Such contributions mostly take process perspectives in which entities still play an important role. In this article, I therefore aim at contributing to leadership studies based on a process ontology by exploring one central aspect of leadership work, the production of direction, processually. I do so by building on geographer Massey’s conception of space, thus adding a spatial dimension that enables me to conceptualize direction as the development of an evolving relational configuration. In order to empirically explore such a conceptualization, two constructs are proposed: the construction of positions and the construction of issues. The reading of leadership work thus produced leads me to suggest ‘clearing for action’ as a means of conveying the spatio-temporal and constructive (reality constructing) character of leadership work.
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Biographies
Lucia Crevani is senior lecturer at Mälardalen University in Västerås, Sweden. Her research is focused on the study of leadership, entrepreneurship, project management, gender and ethnicity as social processes taking place in and between organizations. Her work has been published in international journals as Scandinavian Journal of Management, Service Business, Ephemera: theory & politics in organization and Project Management Journal. She is also co-organizer of the After Method workshops, a series of workshops focusing on the methodological challenges of studying a world of change.
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Article first published online: December 24, 2015
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