Leading at the edge of chaos: historical perspectives on the qualities of leadership for cultural diversity and conflict resolution

Abstract

<jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Purpose</jats:title><jats:p>Building on the contributions of chaos and complexity theories, this paper aims to conceptualize how the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela were able to transform chaos (randomness) into order (integration). More specifically, it aims to identify the qualities by which such leadership worked in the context of conflict and cultural confrontations, which is, leading at the edge of chaos.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Design/methodology/approach</jats:title><jats:p>This research follows a qualitative approach in data collection and analysis; it narrates and analyses biographic data as well as literature about these three prominent leaders. Common qualities of these leaders are explored in-depth, discussed and linked.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Findings</jats:title><jats:p>Success in leading at the edge of chaos was attributed to the following leadership qualities: vision, non-violence and tolerance. This paper conceptualizes Gandhi, King and Mandela's embodiment of these qualities in transforming difference and disagreement to unity and how they inspired and developed their societies at home and all over the world. This paper concludes with the following results: Dr King, Gandhi and Mandela were visionary leaders; the three leaders had a vision about the future of freedom, equality and peace. More importantly, they were able to hearts and minds, and convey their visions to followers and to society at large. They struggled to achieve their goals non-violently, but knew that violence could destroy society due to unbalanced power structures. In the fight for their people's emancipation/freedom, they avoided ethnic, racial and religious discrimination. The three leaders were politically, culturally and socially tolerant.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Research limitations/implications</jats:title><jats:p>By identifying their leadership qualities and analyzing their leadership mechanisms, this paper stresses the necessity of the emergence and preservation of leadership as exhibited by King, Gandhi, Mandela and many other influential leaders. Leaders, committed to enrichment and sustainability of cultural diversity and nurturing of tolerance, can play a role in unifying nations. Practically put, today’s leaders need to rethink their strategies, by taking into consideration what Gandhi, King and Mandela have contributed to leadership in dealing with cultural diversity and conflict. Furthermore, leaders must extend the applicability of such leadership to include the ending of violence in every facet of people's lives, and work publicly to overcome the challenges encountering human kind such as nuclear weapons, war, poverty, racism, global warming, drugs, religious bigotry and violence of any kind. That is, today's leaders need to lead at the edge of chaos due to the ongoing conflicts around the globe.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Originality/value</jats:title><jats:p>This paper uniquely conceptualizes leadership qualities by analyzing and comparing literature and biographical data of the above-mentioned leaders. The study also contributes to the existing literature on leadership using an interdisciplinary approach by proving the mechanisms by which leadership transforms chaos into order within the context of cultural diversity and confrontation, where studies are rare. This research contributes to the theory of leaderships at three levels. First, it offers an interdisciplinary theory on leadership qualities by linking these qualities with chaos and complexity theories. Second, unlike the majority of literature which views leadership from a business or public leadership perspective, this research provides a new perspective of leadership for cultural diversity. Third, it highlights the role models of three exemplary leaders for each of whom previous literature is lacking.</jats:p></jats:sec>

Plausible Futures of Socialized Risk: Integral Sustainability or Globalized Dystopia?

“…It is not enough to have processes that produce knowledge within an organization, the key element is a vision to extend beyond what is currently known and seen as possible. The most successful outcomes possess a diverse cohort of contributors and collaborators who, in the present context, collectively seek to dissolve the chaos, the "societal challenges that are characteristically volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous," in co-creation (or co-design) locally and globally toward "integral sustainability" (Alfoqahaa and Jones, 2020;Laszlo, 2017;van Egmond, 2011). Such a transdisciplinary approach to solving our present crisis of humanity, stemming from inequalities created by neoliberal capitalism, is urgent so that we may avoid an additional fourth crisis-increased conflict and violence which will further exacerbate the first PLAUSIBLE FUTURES OF SOCIALIZED RISK 12 three crises in a zero-sum game, a game in which everybody loses (Schockman et al, 2019;Weiss and Wilkinson, 2017, p. 587-589;Aboelela, et al, 2007.…”

“…Such a transdisciplinary approach to solving our present crisis of humanity, stemming from inequalities created by neoliberal capitalism, is urgent so that we may avoid an additional fourth crisis-increased conflict and violence which will further exacerbate the first PLAUSIBLE FUTURES OF SOCIALIZED RISK 12 three crises in a zero-sum game, a game in which everybody loses (Schockman et al, 2019;Weiss and Wilkinson, 2017, p. 587-589;Aboelela, et al, 2007. ) Taking Interdisciplinary Visionary Leadership to a Global Transdisciplinary Context Alfoqahaa and Jones (2020) present a compelling argument about what is required to lead sustainable equitable change during chaos, specifically the construct of cultural diversity leadership which can emerge in the context of any given time and space (p. 235). They propose a multi-level model that mediates the two extremes of chaos and complexity theory through cultural diversity leadership, a process whereby a leader emerges and is sustained from the bottom-up and is able to simultaneously transform chaos (a state of cultural diversity conflict) into complexity (a state of cultural diversity integration) from the top-down (p. 218).…”

Volunteer public leaders’ values-driven leadership: the case of village elders in Kenya

“…Various leadership qualities have been advocated for in literature, such as commitment ( Ejaz et al., 2008 ); problem-solving, strategic decision-making and communication ( Meng et al., 2012 ); personal qualities such as maturity, strength of character, common sense, trustworthiness, etc ( Gujral, 2012 ). More recently, Alfoqahaa and Jones (2020) has argued that qualities needed for leaders especially in a conflict situation include being visionary, non-violence influence, and tolerance. Relatedly, as most African cultures are religious in orientation ( Mbiti, 2015 ; Ngunjiri, 2010 ), the quality of being religious is held in high esteem among leaders in the continent.…”