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Johan Alvehus.

Johan Alvehus

Professor

Johan Alvehus.

Docility, obedience and discipline: Towards dirtier leadership studies

Författare

  • Johan Alvehus

Summary, in English

Leadership is a popular term, among scholars and in general. It is romanticized and seems to cover everything and nothing. Its analytical value has therefore been questioned, and so has the very existence of leadership as a phenomenon. Here, based on the social psychology of GH Mead, I argue that leadership is a fundamental human phenomenon emanating from docility. By exploring this through the lens of three classic texts – Milgram’s Obedience to Authority, Foucault’s Discipline and Punish, and Taylor’s The Principles of Scientific Management – I argue that processes that accomplish leadership are often not understood as leadership, but as something else, for example manipulation or management. More generally, I argue that leadership disappears as we identify the details of its manifestations, and from this I argue that leadership is a concept that denies its own ontological foundation. My conclusions suggest that leadership scholars and practitioners increasingly should draw attention to the choices involved in leadership processes and to practices commonly seen as not being about leadership – leadership studies will benefit from making the immaculate concept of leadership dirtier.

Avdelning/ar

  • Institutionen för tjänstevetenskap

Publiceringsår

2021-01-14

Språk

Engelska

Sidor

120-132

Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie

Journal of Change Management

Volym

21

Issue

1

Dokumenttyp

Artikel i tidskrift

Förlag

Routledge

Ämne

  • Business Administration

Nyckelord

  • discipline
  • docility
  • empty signifier
  • interaction
  • leadership
  • obedience

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt

  • ISSN: 1479-1811