Debating leaderless management : can employees do without leaders? /: can employees do without leaders?. (2022)

• Record Type: Book
• Further Information: Note: Edited by Frederik Hertel, Anders Örtenblad, Kenneth Mølbjerg Jørgensen.
• Editors: Hertel, Frederik; Örtenblad, Anders; Jørgensen, Kenneth Mølbjerg
• Contents: Preface by Frederik Hertel, Kenneth Mølbjerg Jørgensen and Anders Örtenblad 1. Background and introduction Frederik Hertel, Kenneth Mølbjerg Jørgensen and Anders Örtenblad This chapter introduces the book project, argues for the relevance of the book, and discusses how 'leaderless management' is defined in the book. After having argued for the relevance of the book, the chapter outlines the theoretical foundation of the book. 'Leaderless management' is defined, and we introduce the contrast between our concept of leaderless management and the concept of management /leadership introduced in modern management literature. Thereafter, we relate to existing works on leaderless management and suggest how our differs from previous literature. The final part of the chapter presents the content of the chapters and how the authors of the different chapters relate to/view the discussion about leaderless management. PART I. Against leaderless management (This part contains chapters arguing that 'leaderless management' is a bad idea.) 2. The enabling role of leadership in realising the future Cecile Gerwel Proches, Graduate School of Business and Leadership, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa It is not desirable to have leaderless management. We are slowly emerging from the trail of destruction left behind by the global pandemic, COVID-19, and are yet to determine how this has impacted the workforce and the workplace. We also find ourselves further immersed in the digital era and traversing the fourth industrial revolution, while also being cognisant of the fifth industrial revolution. Increasingly high levels of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity (VUCA) will necessitate strong leadership, which will need to be task-oriented but also responsive to the needs of people. COVID-19 has illustrated how interconnected we are. We seek leadership that is cognisant of how valuable both leaders and followers are in navigating the complexity, by engaging in sense-making processes to co-create the future. 3. Leaderless management & the coach analogy Sharon Blanchard, Principled Leadership Institute, New Zealand In addition to working in higher education in various leadership positions for over thirty years, I have worked as a volunteer athletic coach for the same amount of time and use this analogy to explain why you need to have leaders in organizations. I believe that leaders undertake specific positions requiring a high level of accountability and responsibility, and stand completely apart from positions of management. In addition to technical skills, a coach inspires and enables their team to be the absolute best version of themselves whether on the field, in the rink, at home, school or in the office. The coach is responsible for the overall stewardship of the players, the team, and the club. The values and beliefs that are instilled by the coach provide continuity and consistency ensuring that whether the loss or the win, the teachable moment is what we grasp, and with courage, move forward. The coach, or in this case the leader, goes home each day and their team come home with them; their day does not end at 5pm. The coach shoulders their concerns, needs, and desires, as a means of moving them and the company forward. Employees have various degrees of experience, knowledge, skills, and expertise, and their accountability and responsibility within the company needs to be aligned with this. By our very human nature, we need guidance, boundaries and parameters, and even though when we establish these in an equal opportunity dynamic it isn't bullet-proof. 4. Leadership reimagined: reframing leadership for an ambidextrous world Eric Peter Zabiegalski Let me make myself perfectly clear, organizations cannot exist without leadership. With this said however, leaderless management often is a viable alternative to 'leadering' business as usual. How can this be? The answer to that question lies within an examination of our current leadership paradigms and the troublesome contradictions they present. Leadership needs to be reconstructed and reimagined and presenting true leadership in all its manifestations should begin in earnest. A book published almost 10 years ago claimed there are over 1500 definitions of leadership and over 30 concepts, with a leadership development industry topping 300 billion dollars globally its likely more definitions have since been added. These statistics are surprising, causing one to pause and reflect. With so many definitions and concepts for leadership which is the true and correct one? Which one do people practice most often and which one do people rely on and desire? I don't feel that leadership is an apparition, I am confident it exists, leadership 'happens' in organizations daily. Every day work gets done and people with leadership titles in leadership positions are present and influencing work. Despite this feeling however there is something unsettling and 'off' regarding leadership and my intuition says it is in the way in which leadership is recognized, perceived, and used. Furthermore, my gut tells me that routine mismanagement, misunderstanding, and abuse of leadership concepts create a paradox and the troublesome contradiction mentioned. This paradox causes harm, suffering, and inefficiency, either bleaching and sanitizing cultures or turning them into treacherous mine fields. The result is a loss of performance seen through a climate of disenfranchised worker hopelessness or fear-based behavior. With a concept so complex and problematic, and with so many working definitions, the question for organizations becomes 'is leadership necessary?' is it worth the trouble it often breeds? Can we sufficiently manage without leadership for a better organization? My position on this highly contested subject is no, we need leadership. But we must change our perception of it, seeing it for what it is and where it is. The phenomena of leadership, the acknowledgment of leaders and leading, should be a healthy part of every organization and a vital companion to management. But instead of being treated as an entitlement for an anointed chosen few, it needs to be understood for what it is, used in the right ways, and shared among its members. Those organizations which can't incorporate a true working leadership model into their cultures should find another infatuation and never utter the word again, lest it become the death of them and their cultures. This paper will explore structures, models, definitions, and cultures pertaining to leadership using the lens of organizational ambidexterity. Keywords: structures, ambidexterity, culture, leadership models. 5. Leaderless management vs. creative leadership Camille A. McKayle, Univesity of the virgin Islands, USA. This chapter argue against leaderless management since we need creative leadership especially in challenging times. This article will look at the concept of leaderless management, starting with the definitions of leadership and of management. This will be compared with approaches to leadership. Within the context of leadership, we will focus on creative leadership. Creative leadership is defined as the type of leadership needed to guide a team toward a new or novel goal (Puccio, Mance, & Murdock, 2011). This type of leadership is seen as essential in today's VUCA world as creativity is most valuable in situations that are complex and ambiguous. We will then look at the desired outputs from a creative leadership approach and determine if leaderless management is able to achieve the types of goals and outcomes in instances when a creative leader would thrive. 6. Leaderless management and follower maturity Yusuf Sidani, American University of Beriut, Lebanon A significant debate, which is not recent, has emerged regarding substitutes for leadership. Substitutes for leadership refer to those organizational or situational variables that – supposedly – significantly reduce or, negate, the need for leadership. One of those factors refers to the maturity of the follower. I argue that it is indeed the case that the need for a leader, higher in hierarchy, is sometimes reduced depending on the level of ability and willingness of the follower. Yet, this does not mean that management is leaderless. It is just the case in this instance that real leadership would be vested in the follower himself/herself. The notion of ascribing the title 'leader' to the person higher in the hierarchy becomes a misnomer. In all of that I am arguing against the notion of 'leaderless management' based on follower maturity. 7. Managing, but not leading. Andrew Rozhdestvensky, Lviv Business School of Ukrainian Catholic Univesity, Ukraine. By supporting the position against leaderless management we ensure that the emphasis on importance of leadership nowadays is being put. According to John Cotter's studies, management is aimed to provide stability, while leadership means implementing changes and improving. Therefore, leaderless management may be considered as sticking to fixity without regarding the importance of change. In turn, change is a precursor of the growth of individuals, groups, companies and the world. Then, a methodology used by the Center for Leadership of UCU, embodies three components of leadership macro-model. These are competencies, character and commitment. All this put together is equal to the company's success and well-being of employees. Consequently, leaderless management foresees evidence of competencies and perhaps commitment, but not character. And the last indeed form a true leader. 8. Leaderless management and value-based cultures Yusuf Sidani and Yasmeen El Kaissi, American University of Beriut, Lebanon The role of ethics and ethical leaders in promoting value-based cultures has been investigated in prior research. We contend that value-based cultures require the presence of leaders in a sustained manner. Ethical leader
• Publisher Details: Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication Date: 2022
• Extent: 1 online resource
• Subjects: 658.4092; Leadership; Decentralization in management
• Languages: English
• ISBNs: 9783031045936
• Related ISBNs: 9783031045929
• Notes: Note: Description based on CIP data; resource not viewed.
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