Functionally adequate but causally idle: w(h)ither distributed leadership?

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this conceptual paper is to argue that leadership, including distributed leadership, is a concept of folk psychology and is more productively viewed as an emergent self‐organising property of complex systems. It aims to argue the case on the basis that claims to (distributed) leadership outrun the theoretical and empirical resources distributed and other leadership theorists can offer to support them.Design/methodological approachThe paper employs contemporary scientific as well as traditional philosophical criteria in determining the knowledge claims made by distributed leadership theories. Of particular importance are the coherence theory of evidence that employs the super‐empirical virtues, especially coherence to establish the scientific virtue of theory, and the conception of leadership as part and parcel of folk psychology.FindingsWhen considering the basis of claims to distributed leadership from a neuroscientific and empirical perspective, there is little basis in fact about the existence of (distributed) leadership as an ontological category. Talk of leadership is a conventional, commonsense label for vastly more complex and fine‐grained causal physiological and neuronal activities within certain social contexts. In this sense distributed leadership is a conception available for reduction.Originality/valueThe significance and originality of this paper lies in the fact that it proposes causal investigations of social phenomena such as leadership; demonstrates the importance and necessity of interdisciplinary research; and outlines exciting new research agendas that both question traditional taken‐for‐granted conceptions of social explanations and suggests directions of where solutions may be found in the future that are defensible by the best of current science.

Distributed Leadership in Organizations: A Review of Theory and Research

“…Authors from a more critical perspective suggest that ‘thinking about leadership needs to take seriously the possibility of the non‐existence of leadership as a distinct phenomenon’ (Alvesson and Sveningsson 2003, p. 359) and that we may well end up interpreting other factors as leadership (e.g. Lakomski 2008; Washbush 2005). From this perspective, searching for the ‘essence’ of leadership and/or direct evidence of the impact of leadership, ‘distributed’ or otherwise, is meaningless.…”

Leadership Style and the Internal Processes in Communities of Practices

“…The shared vision is to "become the most professional team Joseph Hospital" while the strategy is "to communicate, share, and to be thanksgiving to create a harmonious team of anesthesia professionals." Literature shows that leadership with shared and more process-oriented approach makes the equilibrium of command and agreement among members (Lakomski, 2008). Our interviews show that when a leader helps members to interpret and translate vision into daily work assignments, members are more capable to set their own agendas in interactions of the CoP, and therefore potentially is informal, emergent, dispersed or distributed leadership.…”

Contextualizing Distributed Leadership Within Early Childhood Education

“…The literature review on distributed leadership undertaken in preparing this article affirms the assessment of those such as Harris (2007), Hartley (2007), Lakomski (2008) and Mayrowetz (2008) about the absence of clarity and consistency in defining leadership through a distributed lens. These authors refer to a range of leadership models built by using a variety of variables, but are concerned about the limited opportunities to debate and discuss findings, which in turn may have stunted advancements in promoting understanding and clarity necessary to implement distributed leadership effectively.…”