Information and Informality: Leaders as Knowledge Brokers in a High-Tech Firm
(2011) In Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 18(2). p.175-191- Abstract
- The article presents an empirical study of informal leadership in an international high-tech company. The empirical work consisted of qualitative observation and shadowing of managers in the company, and a total of 14 interviews. The transcribed fieldnotes and audio recordings of observations and interviews were analyzed thematically, resulting in three central themes: informality, information based authority, and information brokering. The general informal character of interactions at work included a network based information dissemination. In these networks, persons were percieved as informal leaders on the basis of their possession of reliable knowledge in technical as well as organizational domains. The informal leaders engaged in... (More)
- The article presents an empirical study of informal leadership in an international high-tech company. The empirical work consisted of qualitative observation and shadowing of managers in the company, and a total of 14 interviews. The transcribed fieldnotes and audio recordings of observations and interviews were analyzed thematically, resulting in three central themes: informality, information based authority, and information brokering. The general informal character of interactions at work included a network based information dissemination. In these networks, persons were percieved as informal leaders on the basis of their possession of reliable knowledge in technical as well as organizational domains. The informal leaders engaged in interpretation and brokering of information and knowledge, as well as in mediating strategic values and priorities on both formal and informal arenas. Informal leaders were thus seen to function on the level of the organization as a whole, and in cooperation with formal leaders. Drawing on existing theory of leadership in creative and professional contexts, this cooperation can be specified to concern task structuring. The informal leaders in our study contributed to task structuring through sensemaking activities, while formal leaders focused on aspects such as clarifying output expectations, providing feedback, project structure, and diversity. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- The article presents an empirical study of informal leadership in an international high-tech company. The empirical work consisted of qualitative observation and shadowing of managers in the company, and a total of 14 interviews. The transcribed fieldnotes and audio recordings of observations and interviews were analyzed thematically, resulting in three central themes: informality, information based authority, and information brokering. The general informal character of interactions at work included a network based information dissemination. In these networks, persons were percieved as informal leaders on the basis of their possession of reliable knowledge in technical as well as organizational domains. The informal leaders engaged in... (More)
- The article presents an empirical study of informal leadership in an international high-tech company. The empirical work consisted of qualitative observation and shadowing of managers in the company, and a total of 14 interviews. The transcribed fieldnotes and audio recordings of observations and interviews were analyzed thematically, resulting in three central themes: informality, information based authority, and information brokering. The general informal character of interactions at work included a network based information dissemination. In these networks, persons were percieved as informal leaders on the basis of their possession of reliable knowledge in technical as well as organizational domains. The informal leaders engaged in interpretation and brokering of information and knowledge, as well as in mediating strategic values and priorities on both formal and informal arenas. Informal leaders were thus seen to function on the level of the organization as a whole, and in cooperation with formal leaders. Drawing on existing theory of leadership in creative and professional contexts, this cooperation can be specified to concern task structuring. The informal leaders in our study contributed to task structuring through sensemaking activities, while formal leaders focused on aspects such as clarifying output expectations, providing feedback, project structure, and diversity. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/a6ddc49b-e424-424c-8e26-c387dcefbf52
- author
- Larsson, Magnus LU ; Segerstéen, Solveig and Svensson, Cathrin
- publishing date
- 2011
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- leadership, informal leadership, knowledge intensive work, qualitative research
- in
- Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies
- volume
- 18
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 17 pages
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:80053068623
- DOI
- 10.1177/1548051810390048
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- a6ddc49b-e424-424c-8e26-c387dcefbf52
- date added to LUP
- 2023-03-29 14:58:30
- date last changed
- 2023-08-24 15:45:01
@article{a6ddc49b-e424-424c-8e26-c387dcefbf52,
abstract = {{The article presents an empirical study of informal leadership in an international high-tech company. The empirical work consisted of qualitative observation and shadowing of managers in the company, and a total of 14 interviews. The transcribed fieldnotes and audio recordings of observations and interviews were analyzed thematically, resulting in three central themes: informality, information based authority, and information brokering. The general informal character of interactions at work included a network based information dissemination. In these networks, persons were percieved as informal leaders on the basis of their possession of reliable knowledge in technical as well as organizational domains. The informal leaders engaged in interpretation and brokering of information and knowledge, as well as in mediating strategic values and priorities on both formal and informal arenas. Informal leaders were thus seen to function on the level of the organization as a whole, and in cooperation with formal leaders. Drawing on existing theory of leadership in creative and professional contexts, this cooperation can be specified to concern task structuring. The informal leaders in our study contributed to task structuring through sensemaking activities, while formal leaders focused on aspects such as clarifying output expectations, providing feedback, project structure, and diversity.}},
author = {{Larsson, Magnus and Segerstéen, Solveig and Svensson, Cathrin}},
keywords = {{leadership; informal leadership; knowledge intensive work; qualitative research}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{2}},
pages = {{175--191}},
publisher = {{SAGE Publications}},
series = {{Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies}},
title = {{Information and Informality: Leaders as Knowledge Brokers in a High-Tech Firm}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1548051810390048}},
doi = {{10.1177/1548051810390048}},
volume = {{18}},
year = {{2011}},
}