Creative leadership as a collective achievement: An Australian case

Abstract

Abstract:In this paper we examine the construct of 'leadership' through an analysis of the social practices that underpinned the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) television production entitled The Code. Positioning the production within the neo-bureaucratic organisational form currently adopted by the global television industry, we explore new conceptualisations of the leadership phenomenon emerging within this industry in response to the increasingly complex, uncertain, and interdependent nature of creative work within it. We show how the polyarchic governance regime characteristic of the neo-bureaucratic organisational form ensures broadcaster control and coordination through 'hard power' mechanisms embedded in the commissioning process and through 'soft power' relational practices that allow creative licence to those employed in the production. Furthermore we show how both sets of practices (commissioning and creative practices) leverage and regenerate the relational resources -such as trust, commitment and resilience -gained from rich stakeholder experience of working together in the creative industries over a significant period of time. Referencing the leadership-as-practice perspective, we highlight the contingent and improvisational nature of these practices, and metaphorically describe the leadership manifesting in this production as a form of 'interstitial glue' that binds and shapes stakeholder interests and collective agency.

Police leadership as a professional practice

“…Still, we find that the leadership-as-practice approach goes further, as it explores leadership as an emergent phenomenon in the complex and dynamic processes of the creation of relationships between leaders and employees in particular contexts and practices (Day et al 2014;Uhl-Bien and Ospina 2012;Gardner et al 2010;Avolio et al 2009;DeRue and Ashford 2010). Leadership needs to be acknowledged as a collective achievement (Crevani and Endrissat 2016;Dovey et al 2016). Here, practice is characterised by common language, communication and physical expression; it is where leaders and followers together make sense of situations and construct ways of relating and acting (Cunliffe 2001;Shotter and Cunliffe 2003).…”

“…The leadership-as-practice approach to leadership studies represents an alternative to the mainstream leadership literature that informs leaders on what they ought to do in order to lead effectively (Arnulf and Larsen 2015). In a practice-based approach, the focus is on the daily practice of leadership and how actors 'get on' with the work of leadership as well as the emergent and dynamic processes of these practices (Whittington 1996;Chia and Holt 2006;Crevani and Endrissat 2016;Dovey et al 2016).…”

“…Many subordinates refer to Chris and John as 'being one of us', which we find accounts for many first-line managers in our study. Many first-line mangers leadership practices in the police serve as examples of the dynamic and relational processes between leader and employees, which create a collective community of belonging with common achievements that is in line with what's important for leadership practices (Day et al 2014;Uhl-Bien and Ospina 2012;Gardner et al 2010;Avolio et al 2009; DeRue and Ashford 2010; Crevani and Endrissat 2016;Dovey et al 2016). We recognise the operational and cultural logic described earlier in these leadership practices as well as the newer literature on police culture arguing the positive affect culture has on police identity and sense of mission (Lofthus 2010;Reiner 2017;Rowe and Macauley 2018).…”

“…The issue of how leaders practice everyday leadership is seldom addressed in general leadership literature, which is dominated by normative leadership models of what leaders ought to do. Such normative models are, at the least, problematic and even naïve, as they do not take into account social and cultural interactions and how leadership needs to be understood in relation to certain contexts and all their associated complexities ( Instead, traditional leadership literature has focussed on the individual attributes, traits and competencies of leaders, independent of the leadership context (Carroll et al 2008;Crevani and Endrissat 2016;Dovey et al 2016). Moreover, leadership research based on behaviouralbased self-reporting questions continues to dominate literature on leadership (Riggio 2019;McCusker et al 2019).…”

Toward a methodology for studying leadership-as-practice

“…Leadership in this context is often not fixed but fleeting, not extraordinary but mundane. Yet, it may require the enactment of recurrent interpersonal practices such as fierce advocating along with practical reflexivity, valuing of dissent, commitment to learning, and willingness to extend trust (Dovey et al, 2017). Smith et al (2017) found in their study of an interorganizational research consortium that leadership revolved around the creation and enactment of a shared social identity.…”