FRONTIERS IN LEADERSHIP RESEARCH

1. FRONTIERS IN LEADERSHIP RESEARCH Urban Bergsten, Visiting Professor The Swedish School of Sports and Health Sciences, GIH Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

2. Leadership as a Relationship • Leadership and Group processes • Some critical perspectives of trends in organizational and leadership development Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

3. From mass production to client centered processes • Team- and process oriented leadership, less control and daily operating • Leadership – future, innovation, change, horizontal • Management – ”here and now” operations, stability, focus on product – economy – administration, vertical Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

4. Leadership – educational, relational, emotional • People-oriented • Develops in interaction • Affects others´way of thinking and perspectives concerning what is desirable, possible and necessary Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

5. A client centered, interactional way of acting and thinking • External focus • Communication • ”You and I, here and now” • Dialogue, tell me more.. • A bureaucratic, hierarchical way of acting • Internal focus • Information, one-way • About something and somebody • Debate, right/wrong Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

6. Rules, manuals • Earning money • Adm. Control • ”Do things right” • Blaming others • Fishes in straight rows according to size, color, not moving • Vision, values, ideas • Solving problems • Develop competence • ”do the right things” • Own responsibility • ”..lobsters in a basket moving all the time within the basket”. Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

7. Organizational competence ICommunication skills • about nothing • about something • about somebody • YOU and I, HERE and NOW Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

8. Organizational competence IIFeedback (give and receive) • ”kill” • defend • explain • try to understand Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

9. Organizational competence IIIThe importance of handling borders • Time • Decision • Integrity • Language, focus, attention Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

10. Research concerning leadership • Leadership as a concern for the leader • Leadership as a dynamic process where leaders and non-leaders interact • Traditional leadership research too quantitative, too descriptive, too a-theoretical, based mainly on empirical data and difficult to implement practically Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

11. Research continued • One perspective to see the leader as a person with personality traits, assuming leadership talents from birth rather than as a consequence of training and development • Hundreds of studies show no relationship between personality traits and effective leadership performance (Yukl 1998) • New focus: from selection to training Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

12. Common characteristics of everyday leadership • New tasks continuously fall into the lap of the leader and therefore you seldom finish what you started. • Half of all assignments have a duration of less than nine minutes. • Only one tenth of the work tasks has a duration of more than one hour. • Focus upon operative action and to act upon the latest information available Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

13. Granström (2007) and Haikola (1999) • The leader is formed by the group • Leadership is a consequence of psychodynamic processes, both conscious as well as unconscious. • Authority – mandate • ”The New Leadership Approach”- the management of Meaning: basic values, norms, culture, internal/external meaning. Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

14. Leadership and Gender • Support for ”the glass-ceiling” theory. • Too few women leaders to describe a female leadership style. • Women leaders become ”tokens”, i.e. represent women generally, have to perform better to show competence, but not too much better…(Kanter 1996). • The obstacles, not women's ambitions but perceived powerlessness concerning organizational structures (Wahl 1992). Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

15. Control Top-bottom Inclusion In-out Opennessclose-distant The FIRO Theory (Schutz 1958) Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

16. A) task task task task B) Leader Group member Phases in a working group (Bion) ”Basic assumptions” Working phase Dependency phase Flight phase Fight phase Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

17. Reflections on the new trends of leadership • Doubts that the shift in leadership doctrines has taken place, really. • The message has been understood as rhetorics but not in practice. • Critical views concerning teams as the answer to most problems. • To perform leadership by visions, ideals etc. can be seen as a manipulative way to occupy the minds, values and convictions, not the actions. Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

18. Reflections continued • A risk that very tight company cultures prevent divergent and creative thinking. • A transition from external control to internal, from normative to symbolic control. • The control is performed by the employees themselves, by the team and colleagues. • Team performance and team bonuses increase the control. Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

19. Reflections continued • Electronic control more and more common. • Different types of control tend to interact with, rather than exclude each other. • The ”Best-sellers” within the field often refer to ”Best Practice”, based on few scientific studies. • Due to weak theoretical basis there is a risk that one fad follows the other. ”Old truths in new packages”. Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

20. Critical perspectives on ”The new Leadership (Alvesson 2006) • Leadership often deals with grand but empty talk and self images full of fantasies. • Ideas and recipes become quickly out of fad, so new trends can be introduced, at least new titles and terms. • Change fanatism often prevents authentic change. • The devotion of news (Faucault 1984) Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

21. Critical perspectives continued • All surveys, employee satisfaction and customer relations etc are controls. • Patience – to hold on to projects and fulfill endeavors, rarely promotes your career. • Goal setting and visions can have ceremonial character. If you accept them too seriously, you may get in trouble. • Many leaders gain legitimacy by avoiding deviation (team, coach, mentor, the PEAB-university, search, head-hunting, kick-off etc). Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

22. Toward the Future (Schein 1996) • The new culture requires collective learning. • From rationality, linearity and stimuli-response to emotions, irrationality, intrinsic and sometimes unconscious behavior. • Supply energy and motivation to learn. • Willingness to involve others. • Emotional strength to manage anxiety. • Permit and encourage leadership to flourish throughout the organization. Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

23. Views on future research concerning leadership • Less simple casual relationships. • Less cross-sectional studies at isolated occasions. • Less questionnaires and description as an attempt to estimate ”objective” dimensions. • More qualitative and longitudinal studies based on interviews and participatory observation. Try to follow the leadership over time and space. • More studies of ”leaders in context”. Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

24. Future research continued • Action research in collaboration with the organization with participation of researchers, students, union leaders and employees. • Striving for results and findings both scientifically and useful in practice. • Interactive methodology. • Involve both subordinates and superiors in the context. Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008

25. Thank You for your interest and attention! • Time for a number of reflective teams! Urban Bergsten, GIH May 6, 2008