Leadership

As organizations have evolved, experiencing market and technological changes, as well as pressure to reduce costs and become more efficient, leadership research and practices have not remained stagnant throughout the years. Leadership theory and practices have been dominated by traditional models that focus on the “heroic” leaders at the top, their individual qualities and behaviors, and the leaders’ downward unidirectional influence on teams through formal authority and power.

In the past two decades, the heroic leader paradigm was challenged by emerging leadership research and practices such as collective, shared, or distributed leadership that goes beyond the command and control models, the properties of individual leaders and their qualities, and the vertical hierarchy between leaders and followers. In contrast to the traditional paradigm that views leadership as an individual level phenomenon, emergent models view leadership as a collective, shared, or distributed phenomenon. As an example, shared leadership views leadership as a shared process between multiple team members assuming leadership roles in potentially fluid structures. Shared leadership implies that power is shared and influence is exercised among a set of individuals rather than centralizing it in the hands of a single individual who acts in the clear role of a dominant superior.

Leadership researchers defined shared leadership as a dynamic, interactive influence process among individuals in groups for which the objective is to lead one another to the achievement of group or organizational goals or both. Examining leadership in teams, the construct is viewed as an emergent state that develops over the life of the team, is dynamic in nature, and varies as a function of team inputs, processes, and outcomes. Along the same lines, leadership is a social influence process and focused on how team members collectively influence one another to accomplish goals. 

Implications for Organizations

Organizations that desire to explore emergent leadership models need to appreciate the dynamic, collective, and relational nature of leadership. Thus, leadership should not originate with an individual leader and be viewed as an external authority or symbol influencing others from outside. Rather, the locus of leadership is embedded in organizational networks. Based on this premise, leaders need to be in tune with the day-to-day interactions that dynamically shape leadership. 

Furthermore, there are practical implications for leadership development. Classic leadership development is primarily focused on individual leaders and their attributes. It is worthwhile to note the decrease in interest for teaching about leadership or teaching lists of traits to aspiring leaders. Rather, leadership development should be brought back into the group where the lessons of experience can be truly assessed. This is a departure from traditional approaches to leadership development.