
Mats Alvesson
Professor

The great disappearing act: difficulties in doing "leadership"
Author
Summary, in English
We address ideas and talk about leadership in a research and development (R&D) company. The meaning that middle and senior managers ascribe to leadership is explored. We show how initial claims about leadership values and style tend to break down when managers are asked to expand on how they perceive their leadership and account for what they actually do in this respect. We raise strong doubts about leadership as a construct saying something valuable and valid about what managers do in this kind of setting. We also argue that thinking about leadership needs to take seriously the possibility of the nonexistence of leadership as a distinct phenomenon with great relevance for understanding organizations and relations in workplaces.
Department/s
- Department of Business Administration
- Institute of Economic Research
Publishing year
2003
Language
English
Pages
359-381
Publication/Series
Leadership Quarterly
Volume
14
Issue
3
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Elsevier
Topic
- Business Administration
- Economics and Business
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1048-9843