Hur görs ledarskap? : Sakralisering i vardagliga interaktioner på en vård- och omsorgsförvaltning
(2026)- Abstract
- Leadership has been described as a disappearing phenomenon – a (positive) solution that can be attached to almost any problem, yet it is difficult to capture as it happens. Charisma, transformation, and extra-ordinarization are perspectives on leadership where certain individuals are ascribed extraordinary qualities, but this is not captured analytically in everyday interactions. However, Leadership-as-Practice and leadership in interaction together constitute an emerging approach, where scholars are explicitly interested in studying how leadership is enacted in situ. Working with observations and recordings, several studies have so far explored how leadership is enacted in continuous negotiation between individuals and their context.... (More)
- Leadership has been described as a disappearing phenomenon – a (positive) solution that can be attached to almost any problem, yet it is difficult to capture as it happens. Charisma, transformation, and extra-ordinarization are perspectives on leadership where certain individuals are ascribed extraordinary qualities, but this is not captured analytically in everyday interactions. However, Leadership-as-Practice and leadership in interaction together constitute an emerging approach, where scholars are explicitly interested in studying how leadership is enacted in situ. Working with observations and recordings, several studies have so far explored how leadership is enacted in continuous negotiation between individuals and their context. However, the argument that leadership is constantly emerging means that the understanding of how the phenomenon is enacted is susceptible to criticism that it happens all the time, everywhere. It is unclear when what is enacted, in everyday interactions, is not leadership and it is difficult to understand how it could be related to a more general faith in leadership, being about extraordinary qualities or a positive solution to problems. In this dissertation, I draw on an ethnographic fieldwork from a care and elderly care administration, in one Swedish municipality, to contribute with knowledge about why certain everyday interactions in formal organizations can be understood as leadership. Starting with the concept “accomplishment of direction”, I first discover how rhythm is performed between individuals. Then, by using interaction ritual chains as my theoretical framework, I explore how individuals together enact sacralization: a situated extra-ordinarization where actions connected to the accomplishment of direction is actively ascribed symbolic meaning. In the present, what individuals are doing represent something more than the everyday. Hence, enacting leadership could be understood as the accomplishment of direction and sacralization, where the latter is captured in everyday interactions when silences disappear, because individuals are filling in each other’s utterances, laughing together, making exclamations, and gesturing. Certain interactions in the care and elderly care administration, where individuals are talking about for instance measuring feces, could therefore be examples of how leadership is enacted, while others are not – and in this dissertation I contribute to an understanding about why. Enacting leadership is both mundane and extraordinary. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Ledarskap har beskrivits som ett undflyende fenomen – en (positiv) lösning som kan kopplas till nästintill alla problem, men är svårt att fånga när det händer. Karisma, transformation och extraordinärisering utgör synsätt på ledarskap där särskilda individer tillskrivs extraordinära egenskaper, men de har inte fångat hur detta görs i vardagliga interaktioner. Ledarskap som praktik och ledarskap i interaktion är tillsammans ett framväxande synsätt där forskare explicit har intresserat sig för att studera hur ledarskap görs in situ. Med utgångspunkt i observationer och ljudinspelningar har flera studier hittills tydliggjort hur ledarskap görs i kontinuerliga förhandlingar mellan individer och deras kontext. Resonemanget om att ledarskap är... (More)
- Ledarskap har beskrivits som ett undflyende fenomen – en (positiv) lösning som kan kopplas till nästintill alla problem, men är svårt att fånga när det händer. Karisma, transformation och extraordinärisering utgör synsätt på ledarskap där särskilda individer tillskrivs extraordinära egenskaper, men de har inte fångat hur detta görs i vardagliga interaktioner. Ledarskap som praktik och ledarskap i interaktion är tillsammans ett framväxande synsätt där forskare explicit har intresserat sig för att studera hur ledarskap görs in situ. Med utgångspunkt i observationer och ljudinspelningar har flera studier hittills tydliggjort hur ledarskap görs i kontinuerliga förhandlingar mellan individer och deras kontext. Resonemanget om att ledarskap är ständigt pågående innebär dock att förståelsen för hur fenomenet görs i vardagliga interaktioner blir mottagligt för kritik om att det händer hela tiden, överallt. Det är otydligt när det som görs i vardagliga interaktioner inte är ledarskap och det är svårt att förstå varför det som görs skulle vara relaterat till den mer generella tron på ledarskap, som extraordinära egenskaper eller en positiv lösning på problem. I den här avhandlingen utgår jag från ett etnografiskt fältarbete i en kommunal vård- och omsorgsförvaltning, för att bidra med kunskap om varför det som görs i vissa vardagliga interaktioner, i formella organisationer, kan förstås som ledarskap. Utifrån begreppet ”skapandet av riktning” undersöker jag först hur rytm iscensätts mellan individer i vardagliga interaktioner. Genom att använda teorin om interaktionsritualer kan jag sedan utforska hur individer tillsammans gör sakralisering: En situationsbaserad extraordinärisering som innebär att handlingar kopplade till skapandet av riktning får symbolisk betydelse – i nuet representerar det som individerna gör något mer än det vardagliga. Ledarskap görs därför i samband med skapandet av riktning och sakralisering, där det senare kan fångas i interaktioner när tystnaderna mellan individers uttalanden försvinner, de fyller i varandra, skrattar tillsammans, gör utrop och gestikulerar. Vissa interaktioner där individer i en vård- och omsorgsförvaltning pratar om att mäta avföring kan vara exempel på när ledarskap görs, medan andra interaktioner inte är det, och i den här avhandlingen fördjupar jag förståelsen för varför. Att göra ledarskap är både vardagligt och extraordinärt. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/342b97a7-e487-47e5-a331-a655cb82f0b1
- author
- Persson, Marcus LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Professor Packendorff, Johann, Royal Institute of Technology
- organization
- alternative title
- How is leadership enacted? : Sacralization in everyday interactions at a care and elderly care administration
- publishing date
- 2026-02
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Leadership, Interaction, Ethnography, Accomplishment of direction, Extra-ordinarization, Ledarskap, Interaktion, Etnografi, Skapande av riktning, Extraordinärisering
- pages
- 348 pages
- publisher
- Institutionen för tjänstevetenskap, Lunds universitet
- defense location
- U203, Universitetsplatsen 2, Helsingborg
- defense date
- 2026-03-24 13:00:00
- ISBN
- 978-91-8104-841-4
- 978-91-8104-840-7
- project
- Leadership and digitalization in the Swedish public administration.
- Service Studies Management
- language
- Swedish
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 342b97a7-e487-47e5-a331-a655cb82f0b1
- date added to LUP
- 2026-01-12 15:56:00
- date last changed
- 2026-02-23 14:26:28
@phdthesis{342b97a7-e487-47e5-a331-a655cb82f0b1,
abstract = {{Leadership has been described as a disappearing phenomenon – a (positive) solution that can be attached to almost any problem, yet it is difficult to capture as it happens. Charisma, transformation, and extra-ordinarization are perspectives on leadership where certain individuals are ascribed extraordinary qualities, but this is not captured analytically in everyday interactions. However, Leadership-as-Practice and leadership in interaction together constitute an emerging approach, where scholars are explicitly interested in studying how leadership is enacted in situ. Working with observations and recordings, several studies have so far explored how leadership is enacted in continuous negotiation between individuals and their context. However, the argument that leadership is constantly emerging means that the understanding of how the phenomenon is enacted is susceptible to criticism that it happens all the time, everywhere. It is unclear when what is enacted, in everyday interactions, is not leadership and it is difficult to understand how it could be related to a more general faith in leadership, being about extraordinary qualities or a positive solution to problems. In this dissertation, I draw on an ethnographic fieldwork from a care and elderly care administration, in one Swedish municipality, to contribute with knowledge about why certain everyday interactions in formal organizations can be understood as leadership. Starting with the concept “accomplishment of direction”, I first discover how rhythm is performed between individuals. Then, by using interaction ritual chains as my theoretical framework, I explore how individuals together enact sacralization: a situated extra-ordinarization where actions connected to the accomplishment of direction is actively ascribed symbolic meaning. In the present, what individuals are doing represent something more than the everyday. Hence, enacting leadership could be understood as the accomplishment of direction and sacralization, where the latter is captured in everyday interactions when silences disappear, because individuals are filling in each other’s utterances, laughing together, making exclamations, and gesturing. Certain interactions in the care and elderly care administration, where individuals are talking about for instance measuring feces, could therefore be examples of how leadership is enacted, while others are not – and in this dissertation I contribute to an understanding about why. Enacting leadership is both mundane and extraordinary.}},
author = {{Persson, Marcus}},
isbn = {{978-91-8104-841-4}},
keywords = {{Leadership; Interaction; Ethnography; Accomplishment of direction; Extra-ordinarization; Ledarskap; Interaktion; Etnografi; Skapande av riktning; Extraordinärisering}},
language = {{swe}},
publisher = {{Institutionen för tjänstevetenskap, Lunds universitet}},
school = {{Lund University}},
title = {{Hur görs ledarskap? : Sakralisering i vardagliga interaktioner på en vård- och omsorgsförvaltning}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/242816587/Hur_g_rs_ledarskap.pdf}},
year = {{2026}},
}