Exploring the Social Processes of Leadership and Organizing
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by UNL | Libraries University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Leadership Institute Faculty Publications Leadership Institute 12-2006 Relational Leadership Theory: Exploring the social processes of leadership and organizing Mary Uhl-Bien University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/leadershipfacpub Part of the Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods Commons Uhl-Bien, Mary, "Relational Leadership Theory: Exploring the social processes of leadership and organizing" (2006). Leadership Institute Faculty Publications. 19. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/leadershipfacpub/19 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Leadership Institute at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Leadership Institute Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Published in The Leadership Quarterly 17:6 (December 2006), pp. 654-676: The Leadership Quarterly Yearly Review of Leadership; doi 10.1016/j.leaqua.2006.10.007 Copyright © 2006 Elsevier Inc. Used by permission. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/10489843 Published online November 16, 2006. Relational Leadership Theory: Exploring the social processes of leadership and organizing Mary Uhl-Bien Department of Management University of Nebraska–Lincoln Lincoln, NE 68588 USA Abstract Relational leadership is a relatively new term in the leadership literature, and because of this, its meaning is open to interpretation. In the present article I describe two perspectives of relational leadership: an entity perspective that fo- cuses on identifying attributes of individuals as they engage in interpersonal relationships, and a relational perspec- tive that views leadership as a process of social construction through which certain understandings of leadership come about and are given privileged ontology. These approaches can be complementary, but their implications for study and practice are quite different. After reviewing leadership research relative to these two perspectives I offer Rela- tional Leadership Theory (RLT) as an overarching framework for the study of leadership as a social influence process through which emergent coordination (e.g., evolving social order) and change (e.g., new approaches, values, attitudes, behaviors, ideologies) are constructed and produced. This framework addresses relationships both as an outcome of investigation (e.g., How are leadership relationships produced?) and a context for action (e.g., How do relational dy- namics contribute to structuring?). RLT draws from both entity and relational ontologies and methodologies to more fully explore the relational dynamics of leadership and organizing. Keywords: relational leadership, entity perspectives, relationality We consider the relational perspective and [the approaches within it] … to be at the fore- front of emerging leadership thrusts. … The relational focus is one that moves beyond unidi- rectional or even reciprocal leader/follower relationships to one that recognizes leadership wherever it occurs; it is not restricted to a single or even a small set of formal or informal leaders; and, in its strongest form, functions as a dynamic system embedding leadership, en- vironmental, and organizational aspects. (Hunt & Dodge, 2000, p. 448). While the concept of relationship-oriented behavior has been around since the earliest formal studies of leadership in organizations (Stogdill & Coons, 1957), the term relational leadership is surprisingly new (Brower et al., 2000; Drath, 2001; Murrell, 1997; Uhl-Bien, 2003; Uhl-Bien, 2005). Because of this, its mean- ing is still uncertain. In traditional management discourse, the term relational means that “an individual likes people and thrives on relationships” (Lipman-Blumen, 1996, p. 165). Traditional research on lead- ership examines behavioral styles that are relationship-oriented (Likert, 1961), meaning considerate and supportive (Stogdill, Goode, & Day, 1962) or leadership behaviors focused on developing high quality, 654 R ELATIONAL L EADE R SHIP T HEO R Y : S OCIAL P R OCESSES OF LEADE R SHIP AND O R GANIZING 655 trusting, work relationships (Brower et al., 2000; Graen and Scandura, 1987; Graen and Uhl-Bien, 1995; Uhl-Bien et al., 2000). In recently developing discourse (Drath, 2001; Hosking, in press; Murrell, 1997), however, the term re- lational is being used to describe something quite different for leadership—a view of leadership and orga- nization as human social constructions that emanate from the rich connections and interdependencies of organizations and their members (cf., Bradbury and Lichtenstein, 2000; Hosking et al., 1995). In contrast to a more traditional orientation, which considers relationships from the standpoint of individuals as inde- pendent, discrete entities (i.e., individual agency) (Bradbury and Lichtenstein, 2000; Hosking et al., 1995), a “relational” orientation starts with processes and not persons, and views persons, leadership and other re- lational realities as made in processes (Hosking, in press). The more traditional orientation, which can be called an entity perspective because it focuses on individ- ual entities, is consistent with an epistemology of an objective truth and a Cartesian dogma of a clear sep- aration between mind and nature (Bradbury & Lichtenstein, 2000). It assumes that: a) individuals have a “knowing mind,” b) individuals have access to the contents of their mind (mind contents and knowledge are viewed as properties of entities, as individual possessions), and c) these entities can be distinguished from other entities (i.e., people) and the environment (Dachler & Hosking, 1995). As such, the “knowing” individual is understood as the architect and controller of an internal and external order which makes sense with respect to the array of their personal “possessions” (their mind contents) (Dachler & Hosking, 1995). This view approaches relationship-based leadership by focusing on individuals (e.g., leaders and followers) and their perceptions, intentions, behaviors, personalities, expectations, and evaluations relative to their re- lationships with one another (e.g., Hollander, 1978; Lord et al., 1999; Uhl-Bien et al., 2000). Dachler & Hosk- ing (1995) call this approach a “subject–object” understanding of relationships: “Social relations are enacted by subjects to achieve knowledge about, and influence over, other people and groups” (p. 3). The second, and less well-known, relational perspective views knowledge as socially constructed and socially distributed, not as “mind stuff” constructed or accumulated and stored by individuals: “That which is understood as real is differently constructed in different relational and historical/cultural set- tings” (Dachler & Hosking, 1995, p. 4). Taking a relational orientation means recognizing that organiza- tional phenomena exist in interdependent relationships and intersubjective meaning: “… [K]nowing occurs between two subjects or phenomena simultaneously, therefore we must attend to the multiple meanings and perspectives that continuously emerge…” (Bradbury & Lichtenstein, 2000, p. 552). From this perspec- tive, knowing is always a process of relating; relating is a constructive, ongoing process of meaning mak- ing—an actively relational process of creating (common) understandings on the basis of language; meaning can never be finalized, nor has it any ultimate origin, it is always in the process of making; and meanings are limited by socio-cultural contexts (Dachler & Hosking, 1995). Applied to leadership (Dachler and Hosk- ing, 1995; Hosking, in press), a relational orientation does not focus on identifying attributes of individu- als involved in leadership behaviors or exchanges, but rather on the social construction processes by which certain understandings of leadership come about and are given privileged ontology (cf., Meindl, 1995). In the sections below I review leadership theory relative to these two perspectives. As we will see in this discussion, although both entity and relational approaches view leadership as a social process, what they mean by process, particularly with respect to their ontology and epistemology, is quite different. The former views relational processes as centered in individuals’ perceptions and cognitions as they engage in exchanges and influence relationships with one another, while the latter views persons and organizations as ongoing multiple constructions made “in” processes and not the makers “of” processes (Hosking, 2000). As will be described later in the article, these different ontologies result in very different ways of concep- tualizing and operationalizing relational leadership, with the former adopting primarily a variable-based approach and the latter more of a constructionist approach. Following this review, I present an overarching framework for the investigation of relational leader- ship. I identify relational leadership as a social influence process through which emergent coordination (i.e., evolving social order) and change (e.g., new values, attitudes, approaches, behaviors, and ideologies) are constructed and produced. This perspective does not restrict leadership to hierarchical positions or roles. Instead it views leadership as occurring in relational dynamics throughout the organization;