Scandinavian Working Papers in Business Administration
Working Paper Series,
Lund University, Institute of Economic Research
No 2005/9: Fantasies of leadership - identity work
Stefan Sveningsson () and Magnus Larsson ()
Additional contact information
Stefan Sveningsson: Department of Business Administration, School of Economics and Management, Lund University, Postal: Department of Business Administration, School of Economics and Management, Lund University, Box 7080, SE-220 07 Lund, Sweden
Magnus Larsson: Department of Psychology, Lund University, Box 213, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden, Postal: Department of Psychology, Lund University, , Box 213, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden,
Abstract: In this paper we investigate and explore middle managerial talk and practice connected to expectations of leadership in a planned corporate cultural change. In the paper we follow how a middle manager positions himself in relation to the contemporary discourse on leadership. In particular we discuss how managerial claims of leadership in practice seem inconsistent with the actual practice. Based on these findings we suggest that leadership ideas could be seen as a kind of fantasy related to identity work more than actual practice. We investigate this fantasy in terms of its various sources and try to relate the fantasy construction to management education and to the planned cultural change in particular.
Keywords: Leadership; managerial work; identity work; identity process; fantasy
22 pages, June 29, 2005
Full text files
2005-9
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