Leadership for What, Why, for Whom and Where? A Responsibility Perspective

Abstract

A major assumption for both leadership researchers and practitioners is that the relationship between leaders and followers is the pivotal concern for leadership. Viewing leadership through the lens of responsibility, however, changes the pivotal relationship substantially. The principal relationship concern becomes the relationship between leaders and their stakeholders. To better understand this relationship the article seeks to explore the question: Leadership for what purpose? The article offers an initial answer to this question by looking at the responsibilities of those who lead in the corporate world. In particular, we argue that leaders need to give primary attention to what they seek to achieve, why, for whom, and where. In this way the article seeks to (re)centre the concerns of leadership scholarship to address the challenges and responsibilities of those who seek to lead. The article offers an inter-disciplinary theory rooted in an intercomplementary perspective on capitalism, purpose and responsibility that enables organizational leaders to understand how the fiduciary duty of generating value for shareholders can be aligned with other stakeholder interests including employees, communities, societies, the environment and indeed humanity. This theory we describe as the 'The theory of Good Dividends'.

Changing Leadership in Changing Times II

“…Following on from the first part of the special issue Changing Leadership in Changing Times (Alvehus, 2021;Beer, 2021;Clegg et al, 2021;Ford et al, 2021;Kempster & Jackson, 2021;Maak et al, 2021), this second part focuses primarily on leadership as a process, answering the call made by Rost (1993) decades ago to re-focus scholarship on leadership and change (see also, for similar early calls, Hosking & Morley, 1988). Articles in this issue help push forward new avenues for leadership scholarship and practice by challenging us to think primarily through the lens of complexity, plurality and relationality.…”

Staying afloat? Using a reflective cycle approach to examine the effects of crisis on the business resilience of SMEs during COVID-19

“…For a responsible leader, an integral part of crisis management is communicating and liaising with internal and external stakeholders to enhance success ( Kempster and Jackson, 2021 ). Such versatility is empirically related to several measures of leadership effectiveness, especially team adaptability and productivity, in the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic ( Kaiser, 2020 ).…”

“…Employees look to leaders for guidance, vision, direction, and proactive approaches to the situation ( Rajah and Arvey, 2013 ; Van Vugt et al, 2008 ). Leaders’ influence on subordinates increases when their value systems align, and an enabling, empowerment-oriented culture can help create a team of proactive problem solvers and learners ( Kempster and Jackson, 2021 ; Zhao, et al., 2021 ).…”

Proposals for the future of leadership scholarship: Suggestions in Phronesis

“…More recently, Steve Kempster and I have argued that place has a central role to play in business leadership as companies strive to shift from a well-entrenched preoccupation with shareholders to a broader engagement with their stakeholders. Guided by a responsibility lens, business leaders should be as much concerned about where they lead as they are about what, why, and for whom they lead (Kempster and Jackson, 2021)…”

“…More recently, Steve Kempster and I have argued that place has a central role to play in business leadership as companies strive to shift from a well-entrenched preoccupation with shareholders to a broader engagement with their stakeholders. Guided by a responsibility lens, business leaders should be as much concerned about where they lead as they are about what, why, and for whom they lead (Kempster and Jackson, 2021) In considering how to conceptualize the inter-relationship between place and leadership, I have been profoundly influenced by indigenous leadership philosophies and practices, many of which were foregrounded in another special issue of this journal (Wolfgram et al, 2016). "Kaupapa M aori" makes the stewardship of the land, sky, and sea a primary responsibility for leadership that is guided by the Whakapapa, a taxonomic framework linking all animate and inanimate, known and unknown phenomena in the terrestrial and spiritual worlds (Spiller et al, 2020).…”