Critical consensus holds that leader-centred leadership theories reproduce romanticism by exaggerating the impact of individual leaders. In contrast, a processual perspective views leadership as an ongoing social interaction involving all organisational actors. Developing such a processual leadership meaning, however, is not easy, especially as formal leaders are embedded in a business world that still supports the heroic image of a leader. Critical literature highlights the difficult road towards meaning development, on which leaders are confronted with various obstacles that can impede development. In order to better understand potential barriers to the development of a processual leadership meaning, we analyse the development of leadership meaning for EMBA students over the course of two years. In particular, we identify two hindering dynamics that show how a leader-centred leadership meaning becomes reconstructed and reinforced over time, despite receiving training input on a processual leadership meaning. Additionally, we generate insights on two patterns that explain why it is so difficult to abandon a heroic image by revealing the crucial role of one’s sense of self-as-a-leader. Finally, we provide important practical implications for future leadership development.

The literature on organizational change and resistance to change is contradictory. Some scholars find resistance a hindrance to successful change (traditional paradigm), whereas others find it a valuable source (modern paradigm). The objective of this study is to enhance our understanding of how resistance affects organizational change by providing a coherent system dynamics perspective. Based on interviews, expert modelling and group modelling, this inductive case study develops a causal loop diagram that displays eight interacting feedback loops to explain resistance to change and the role that participatory strategies play in addressing this. The model contributes to the theoretical debate on how resistance affects change by providing propositions that integrate the traditional and modern paradigms. When managers face decisions about when to increase, stabilize or decrease the use of participatory strategies, our findings imply to base these decisions upon currently dominating feedback loops, such as the Stress Trap or Slow Trap. © 2018 The Authors. Systems Research and Behavioral Science published by International Federation for Systems Research and John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Managing projects raises multiple tensions such as the need to balance cooperativeness and assertiveness. By adopting a process perspective, we analyze why a project group consisting of three heterogeneous subgroups is failing to uphold such balance over time. Instead, overemphasizing cooperativeness in the early phases of the project led to over-assertiveness and escalation of group conflict. We identify three mechanisms for reinforcing dynamics. First, we find that subgroups overestimate other subgroups’ behavioral autonomy, which promotes holding simplified, negative images of each other. Second, subgroups adopt vertical disidentification when they define their own particular role. Third, cooperativeness conceals pejorative perceptions.

ZusammenfassungDieser Artikel der Zeitschrift für Psychodrama und Soziometrie zeigt auf, dass es nicht einfach ist, eine (gute) Führungskraft zu sein. Allerdings hilft es, sich ein komplexes Verständnis von Führung anzueignen. Ein komplexes Verständnis von Führung zu haben impliziert, dass Individuen über die Fähigkeit verfügen, dialektisch zu denken. Die aktuelle Forschung liefert allerdings wenig konkrete Ansätze, wie ein derartiges Denken gefördert werden kann. Mit Hilfe eines Fallbeispiels, in dem die Methode der psychodramatischen Organisationsaufstellung angewandt wurde, leistet dieser Artikel drei konkrete Beiträge. Erstens zeigt er auf, dass die Methode der psychodramatischen Organisationsaufstellung wesentlich dazu beitragen kann, ein komplexes Führungsverständnis zu entwickeln. Zweitens veranschaulicht dieser Artikel, dass durch die Anwendung der psychodramatischen Organisationsaufstellung neue Forschungserkenntnisse generiert werden können. Drittens erörtert der Beitrag, warum die psychodramatische Organisationsaufstellung als eine äußerst vielversprechende Methode zur Datengenerierung und Datenanalyse im Bereich der empirischen Sozialforschung angesehen werden kann.