This article focuses on exerting influence in leadership, namely manipulation in storytelling. Manipulation is usually considered an unethical approach to leadership. We will argue that manipulation is a more complex phenomenon than just an unethical way of acting in leadership. We will demonstrate through an empirical qualitative study that there are various types of manipulation through storytelling. This article makes a contribution to the literature on manipulation through leadership storytelling, offering a more s y s t e m a t i c e m p i r i c a l a n a l y s i s a n d a m o r e n u a n c e d v i e w o f t h e t o p i c t h a n previously existed by outlining how managers engage in manipulative storytelling and what kind of ethics they link to their manipulation in leadership.Four types of manipulation in storytelling are identified in the study: humorous, pseudo-participative, seductive and pseudo-empathetic. From an ethical perspective we will show that manipulation is not always self-evidently reprehensible. We will conclude that the dominant ethical justification for manipulation stems from its consequences.

Purpose -This paper approaches manager's storytelling as a means for promoting organizational aims and for constructing leadership, and examines the intentions of managers in this process. We focus on the context of storytelling and the content of the stories told by managers in order to identify areas of influence on subordinates. Storytelling in relation to building a narrative identity for the manager is also studied. Design/methodology/approach -This is an exploratory empirical study that draws on 13 thematic interviews with Finnish managers working in different fields. A qualitative thematic analysis is used in order to analyze the data. Findings -As a result of the study we found that managers tell stories in order to evoke leadership characterized by six areas of influence: motivation, inspiration, defusing conflict, influencing superiors, discovering a focus and constructing trust. According to the findings, the managers see stories as an effective means of building trust between leaders and their subordinates. It was also found that managers can use stories self-reflectively and as a means of self-development. Practical implications -Storytelling can empower leadership and support interaction with subordinates. One application of this study is informing elements of leadership development such as business education programmes for managers and future managers. Originality/value -Narrative leadership is a highly valued but still under-researched approach to leadership. This study seeks to fill this gap in the research by providing an empirically based contribution to the field, emphasizing the intentional nature of storytelling.

In this article we describe various ways in which power is exercised between personnel in a hospital operating theatre. We aim to investigate how the forms of discursive power and workplace learning are intertwined with each other by utilizing an ethnographic approach in the fieldwork. Our data were collected mainly through observations and interviews with surgical residents, physicians and nurses. In the article we describe the delicate ways in which power is exercised and resisted in everyday practices. We argue that there is a close relationship between learning and manifestations of power, together with the various forms of these manifestations and the restrictions that may be placed on them. Additionally, we show how learning takes place in terms of finding, experimenting with and transgressing participatory agency among nurses and residents in the work community.

This paper summarizes and elaborates the findings of a research project on leadership as an enabler of professional agency and creativity in information technology organizations. The synthesis in this paper is based on a summary of three primary studies. Each of the studies approached leadership, creativity and/or professional agency with a specific focus. Leaning on a mixed‐methods and ethnographic approach, including various empirical data collection and analytical tools, the project investigated the relationship between professional agency and creativity; issues that frame professional agency and creativity; and the meaning of leadership practices for the enhancement of agency and creativity. The findings highlight a strong connection between professional agency and creativity and their context‐ and situation‐specific manifestations. The findings also address creativity that manifests itself in interaction, processes and collaboration. Further, the findings discuss the role of agile human resource development for professional agency and creativity, and show that flexible leadership practices are necessary in supporting professional agency and creativity.

No abstract

No abstract

PurposeThis study focuses on managers' perceptions of employees' communicative role in social media, and explores the changes in the contractual nature of employment relations in mediatized workplaces in which the boundaries of professional and private life are becoming more fluid.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative approach was employed to explore this relatively new phenomenon. The data, comprising 24 interviews with managers responsible for corporate communication and human resources in knowledge-intensive organizations, was thematically analysed.FindingsThe analysis shows that employees' work-related social media use creates new types of exchanges and dependencies between an organization and individual employees, which relate to employees' representation, knowledge and networks.Originality/valueThe study is among the first to examine the exchanges and dependencies in an employment relationship that emerge from increased use of social media for professional purposes.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a narrative framework for doing empirical research into business ethics and shows, through two examples, how the framework can be applied in practice in this context. The focus is on interview-based research. Design/methodology/approach A theoretical research based on literature review was conducted. Findings In the developed narrative framework, two main kinds of analysis are distinguished: an analysis of the narrative and a narrative analysis. An analysis of the narrative is a matter of classifying and producing taxonomies out of the data. The purpose of a narrative analysis is to construct a story or stories based on the data. Narrative analysis differs from the analysis of narratives in that the story does not exist prior to the analysis, but is created during the analysis. Research limitations/implications The proposed narrative framework helps those doing empirical research into business ethics avoid simplistic “black and white” interpretations of their material, and helps them to show that ethical realities in the business world are often complex, various and multiple. Practical implications The paper offers a methodological framework for those doing qualitative research into business ethics which will increase the quality and rigor of their studies. Originality/value A value of the narrative approach is that the stories offer researchers an entry point to understanding the complexity of ethics and how people make sense of this complexity. The paper shows in detail how the methods presented can be used in practice in empirical research.