
Mats Alvesson
Professor

Critical leadership studies: The case for critical performativity
Author
Summary, in English
Existing accounts of leadership are underpinned by two dominant approaches: functionalist studies, which have tried to identify correlations between variables associated with leadership; and interpretive studies, which have tried to trace out the meaning-making process associated with leadership. Eschewing these approaches, we turn to an emerging strand of literature that develops a critical approach to leadership. This literature draws our attention to the dialectics of control and resistance and the ideological aspect of leadership. However, it largely posits a negative critique of leadership. We think this is legitimate and important, but extend this agenda. We posit a performative critique of leadership that emphasizes tactics of circumspect care, progressive pragmatism and searching for present potentialities. We use these tactics to sketch out a practice of deliberated leadership that involves collective reflection on when, what kind and if leadership is appropriate.
Department/s
- Department of Business Administration
Publishing year
2012
Language
English
Pages
367-390
Publication/Series
Human Relations
Volume
65
Issue
3
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Topic
- Business Administration
Keywords
- performativity
- leadership
- deliberation
- critical management studies
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0018-7267