The Search for Good Leadership
(2013) BUSN49 20131Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- Leadership is proposed by scholars and the broader societal discourses as a panacea to organizational problems. Furthermore, there has been an overly positive view of leadership presented within these discourses. We propose to examine these discourses on leadership within a specific organizational context. Additionally we look to understand the interplay between these discourses and the leadership identity work of individuals within this same context. This research is positioned from a social constructionist perspective and therefore takes on an interpretivist research paradigm. Through this methodology we have uncovered a number of significant findings. Firstly, organizational discourses on leadership are aligned with dominant discourses... (More)
- Leadership is proposed by scholars and the broader societal discourses as a panacea to organizational problems. Furthermore, there has been an overly positive view of leadership presented within these discourses. We propose to examine these discourses on leadership within a specific organizational context. Additionally we look to understand the interplay between these discourses and the leadership identity work of individuals within this same context. This research is positioned from a social constructionist perspective and therefore takes on an interpretivist research paradigm. Through this methodology we have uncovered a number of significant findings. Firstly, organizational discourses on leadership are aligned with dominant discourses on leadership from the broader societal level. Secondly, we have uncovered a number of fragmentations and tensions that occur within individuals carrying out identity work in the context of these leadership discourses. Lastly there is an overarching view of leadership as ‘good’ within the organization in our research context. We theorize that there is a complex interplay between the identity work of individuals, the organizational discourses on leadership, and broader societal discourses. We propose that the way leadership is presented now at the organizational and societal level is actually a source of tension and fragmentation, rather than a solution for organizational problems. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/3798712
- author
- Kostova, Iva LU and Zimmermann, Alec
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- An interpretive study examining the complex interplay of leadership discourse and identity work
- course
- BUSN49 20131
- year
- 2013
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Leadership, Identity, Identity Work, Multiple Identities, Discourse, Organizational Discourse
- language
- English
- id
- 3798712
- date added to LUP
- 2013-06-17 12:42:38
- date last changed
- 2013-06-17 12:42:38
@misc{3798712, abstract = {{Leadership is proposed by scholars and the broader societal discourses as a panacea to organizational problems. Furthermore, there has been an overly positive view of leadership presented within these discourses. We propose to examine these discourses on leadership within a specific organizational context. Additionally we look to understand the interplay between these discourses and the leadership identity work of individuals within this same context. This research is positioned from a social constructionist perspective and therefore takes on an interpretivist research paradigm. Through this methodology we have uncovered a number of significant findings. Firstly, organizational discourses on leadership are aligned with dominant discourses on leadership from the broader societal level. Secondly, we have uncovered a number of fragmentations and tensions that occur within individuals carrying out identity work in the context of these leadership discourses. Lastly there is an overarching view of leadership as ‘good’ within the organization in our research context. We theorize that there is a complex interplay between the identity work of individuals, the organizational discourses on leadership, and broader societal discourses. We propose that the way leadership is presented now at the organizational and societal level is actually a source of tension and fragmentation, rather than a solution for organizational problems.}}, author = {{Kostova, Iva and Zimmermann, Alec}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{The Search for Good Leadership}}, year = {{2013}}, }