Ingo Winkler

Network Governance between Individual and Collective Goals: Qualitative Evidence from Six Networks

The article presents the results of an explorative study in six interfirm networks. Based on the assumption that the absence of clear objectives is considered as a specific aspect of leadership in networks, the aim of this paper is to identify central types of goal conflicts and how participants deal with such conflicts in interfirm collaboration. Different formal and informal mechanisms of network governance will be illustrated to address different types of conflicts. The findings will be related to leadership in interfirm networks. Both formal as well as informal governance mechanisms are understood as specific leadership mechanisms corresponding to the three leadership media within collaborations — structures, processes, and network participants - as they serve to influence and shape the agenda of an interfirm network.

Contemporary Leadership Theories

Aims and Outline of the Book.- Characteristics of Contemporary Theoretical Approaches in Leadership Research.- Attribution Theory in Leadership Research.- Psychodynamic Leadership Approach.- Neocharismatic Leadership.- Leader-Member Exchange Theory.- Idiosyncrasy Credit Model of Leadership.- Symbolic Leadership.- Micro-Politics Approach to Leadership.- Role Theory of Leadership.- Social Learning Theory of Leadership.

Leader–Member Exchange Theory

The Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) theory first emerged in the 1970s. It conceptualizes leadership as a process of interaction between leader and follower and centers on the dyadic exchange relationships between both. The leader–follower relationships within work groups are split up into a set of working relationships between a leader and the various members of the work team (Van Breukelen et al. 2006) since it is assumed that different relationships between the leader and every single follower develop. Hence, the leader may have different types of transactions and different kinds of relations with different followers (Van Seters and Field 1990). “For example, each superior may offer one subordinate a substantial amount of interpersonal support and attention … while at the same time he or she offers a second subordinate less support” (Dansereau et al. 1982, p. 84). Following Blau’s (1964) writings on social and economic exchange, LMX theory assumes that leaders and followers are involved in an exchange relationship. Followers follow because they receive something from the leader. In turn, leaders lead as they get something from followers (Messick 2004). Hence, the quality of the exchange relationship is the basic unit of analysis (Van Breukelen et al. 2006). The theoretical approach basically grounds in the writings of Graen (1976), Dansereau et al. (1975), as well as Graen and Cashman (1975). To date, the theory has undergone several stages of development; a first stage where the idea of vertical dyadic linkages was elaborated, a second stage that concentrated on the effects of linkages regarding different exchange qualities, a third stage that deals with the development of dyadic leader–member exchange relationships (the life cycle of leadership making), and a fourth and so far final stage that expands the ideas of the concept to groups and networks (Graen and Uhl-Bien 1995). This chapter does not follow this four-stage development but offers a simpler division into early studies on LMX theory, reflecting the first and second stages described by Graen and Uhl-Bien, and later publications, demonstrating the normative turn in the theory, and concentrating on the development of high-quality leader–member exchange relations (see also Northouse 2004).

Moments of identity formation and reformation: a day in the working life of an academic

Purpose – The purpose of the article is to illuminate micro‐processes and dynamics of identity work in an academic working context. It elaborates on the various and shifting self‐notions experienced within a typical workday of an academic.Design/methodology/approach – The study adopts an analytic autoethnographic approach focusing on recalled experiences of the authors current employment in a university department. This approach is considered to contribute to the investigation of the intensive personal process of identity construction that likewise enhances the understanding of the connection between the individual person and the organization.Findings – Illustrating the multifold notions of who one is in a particular work situation, the author demonstrates that identity work is correspondingly ongoing during the workday. Employing a workday narrative and the different self‐notions created throughout this day, the study illustrates the richness and variety in the identity work accomplished. Focusing on fo...

Do corporate codes of ethics reflect issues of societal transformation? Western German and Slovak companies compared

Can differences in corporate codes of ethics arise from the specific situation of transformation in Slovakia in contrast to the stable context of the firms in Western Germany? This paper compares codes of ethics of large-scale enterprises in both countries in terms of ethical issues addressed. It demonstrates that codes of ethics of the Slovak companies mirror the specific transformational circumstances in the country. Compared with Western Germany the codes of these firms include multiple ethical issues, meaning that they experience a broader range of relevant ethical problems. Furthermore, their codes are internally oriented, in terms of the ethical issues raised most often; they put more emphasis on committing employees, managers and shareholders/owners to the firm. Based on the differences discovered, it is proposed that negative experiences within the past process of transformation and in part the socialist heritage are the main reasons for differences between the two samples.

Being Me Whilst Learning Danish: A Story of Narrative Identity Work During the Process of Learning a Foreign Language

Purpose – Telling the story of the author’s attempts acquiring the Danish language over the past three and a half years, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how identity work is narratively accomplished within organisational contexts. It aims at developing an in-depth understanding of the process of identity work. Design/methodology/approach – The autoethnographic study illuminates narratives of subjectivity that inform notions of identity during the author’s journey of learning Danish and how this enterprise is embedded in the workplace surroundings. Findings – The autoethnography carves out seven distinct, yet, inter-related narratives of subjectivity constituting the notion of who I am and what I should do within the process of learning Danish as a foreign language. Originality/value – Instead of only describing different self-notions within identity work, the process view adopted in this research enables understanding of the various tensions, struggles and contradictions inherent in identity w...

Doing Autoethnography: Facing Challenges, Taking Choices, Accepting Responsibilities:

In this article, I address six particular challenges that autoethnographers may face during their journey to understand how culture flows through the self while the self flows through culture. I ask how autoethnographers zoom into personal lives while staying focused on the study of culture, whether they should prefer hard data or soft impressions, to what extent autoethnography can be done collaboratively, whether evocative autoethnography is better than the analytic one, whether we own the stories that we tell in our texts, and in what way autoethnographers are either self-indulged narcissists or self-reflexive and vulnerable scholars. Addressing these challenges, I refer to the existing literature to illuminate the choices that autoethnographers have and to elaborate on the responsibility that they have for others and themselves, alike.

Non-standard employment and leadership research: On consequences for conceptualizing the leader–follower relationship

The article argues that non-standard employees (NSEs) perceive the employee–employer relationship and hence the leader–follower relationship differently, when compared to workers in standard employment contracts. It highlights relevant differences between employees in flexible employment contracts and standard employees. It seeks to demonstrate that the emerging NSE-follower has consequences for leadership research. Perhaps the most important ramification is that the implicit assumptions in conceptualizing the ‘typical’ leader–follower relationship may no longer be suitable, facing todays workplace reality. In this sense, in order to take the present and continuous changes in the workforce seriously the concepts and theories used in leadership research need to be rethought.

Micro-Politics Approach to Leadership

According to the prevailing opinion, the term “organizational policy” can be traced back to Burns (1962), who introduced it into social sciences. He considered political behavior to be the main driver for social changes in organizations. The term “micro-politics” might be defined as the portfolio of those daily tactics with which power is built up and applied in order to extend the room for maneuver and to defy external control (Neuberger 1995). From this perspective, power and politics become essential variables to describe leadership reality in organizations or, as Kupper and Ortmann (1992) put it, organizations are pervaded with politics. Making decisions, formulating rules, creating structures, distributing tasks, or providing instructions are political processes and the people involved are “micro-politicians” or “influencers” as Mintzberg (1983) names them. Consequently, political behavior in organizations is intended to promote or protect the interest of individuals or groups and thereby to threaten the interest of others (Porter et al. 1981). Such behavior is not regarded as being outside the legitimate systems of influence or as being clandestine, as Mintzberg (1983) understands organizational politics. Rather organizational politics and micro-politics behavior – opened and covered – are considered as day-to-day phenomena in organizations and the legitimate system is nothing else but the result of such behavior. Put differently, political processes are considered to be endemic to organizing and organizations (Hosking and Morley 1991). Furthermore, political behavior is not conceived as necessarily dysfunctional but as a matter of fact in organizations and a principal way in which people get things done (Bacharach and Lawler 1998).

Welche ethischen Problembereiche thematisieren Unternehmen in ihren Ethikkodizes? Ein Vergleich großer westdeutscher und slowakischer Unternehmen.

Worin unterscheiden sich die Inhalte von Ethikkodizes und auf welche Ursache sind Differenzen zuruckzufuhren? Diese Frage wird in der Unternehmensethikforschung haufig mit gesellschaftskulturellen Unterschieden beantwortet. Andere Ansatze, die z.B. auf die Unternehmensgrose, die Branchenzugehorigkeit und die wirtschaftsethische Situation eines Landes rekurrieren, oder auch die kritische institutionensoziologische Perspektive der Imitation werden kaum adressiert. In diesem Artikel fokussieren wir auf solch eine weitere Erklarungsvariante. Wir analysieren, ob Unterschiede in Ethikkodizes Aspekte gesellschaftlicher und okonomischer Transformation in Mittel- und Osteuropa reflektieren.