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Article
Publication date: 11 October 2019

Arja Ropo, Elina I. Mäkinen and Inka Seppä

The purpose of this paper is to examine how companies that characterise their leadership style as plural, shared or distributed narrate their actions and practices in online blog…

535

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how companies that characterise their leadership style as plural, shared or distributed narrate their actions and practices in online blog texts.

Design/methodology/approach

The data consist of online blog texts published by seven Finnish IT companies. The analytical strategy draws on both thematic and structural approach to narrative analysis. The blog texts were analysed thematically to uncover different aspects of plural leadership. The analysis revealed a narrative pattern consisting of three categories that explain why and how companies implemented plural leadership.

Findings

The first category in the narrative pattern describes the motivation for engaging in plural leadership. The second category explains how the companies broke down existing hierarchies in order to create new flexible work roles. The third category describes how the organisations sought to create a communal culture and a strong sense of trust using symbols, material objects and spaces.

Research limitations/implications

The study contributes to leadership research that emphasises post-heroic leadership conceptualisations. The narrative pattern provides future empirical studies a framework for analysing plural leadership practices in different organisational settings. Whereas this study sheds light on the ways in which organisations and their leadership practices can be investigated using online data, traditional organisational ethnographies can make a further contribution to this line of research.

Practical implications

Implementing plural leadership in organisations can lead to informal power plays. Attention should be paid on to how plural leadership evolves in flat hierarchies and promotes community building.

Originality/value

Company webpages have rich information on how companies operate and perceive themselves. They provide yet another window for observing organisational activities. This study makes a novel contribution to how plural leadership is practiced and conceptualised in online blog texts.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 33 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

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Article
Publication date: 11 September 2017

Donatella De Paoli and Arja Ropo

The purpose of this paper is to explore the current trend of designing workspaces to foster creativity. The paper brings forth themes that seem to be connected with the so-called…

1666

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the current trend of designing workspaces to foster creativity. The paper brings forth themes that seem to be connected with the so-called ‘creative workspaces’. The paper discusses how the findings relate to recent theory and research. Finally, the paper develops propositions to further elaborate the issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper adopts an inductive and social constructionist approach. In all, 40 internet pictures of workspaces claimed to be creative among a broad range of industries and companies which were analyzed through an aesthetic lens and compared to what theory and research about organizational creativity and space inform us.

Findings

The designs of ‘creative workspaces’ follow a rather standardized and deterministic assumption of what kind of spaces are considered to produce creativity: open offices, happy, playful communities of close-knit teams and spatial arrangements that resemble home, symbols and memories, sports, technology and nature. This view of creativity and workspaces remains a management fad unless a more balanced approach to the issue is assumed.

Research limitations/implications

The sample is not to be representative and the findings generalizable as such, but to bring forth the phenomenon. This exploratory and inductive approach calls for a systematic study to prove the propositions in a more controlled research setting and with a bigger sample.

Practical implications

The paper makes a few suggestions of what companies should pay attention to when building workspaces to improve organizational creativity – and to overcome the fad.

Social implications

The proposed end-user perspective may ultimately save costs, if people can voice their needs on the space arrangements from the beginning and throughout the building process, not only after the spaces are fully complete, as is typically the case.

Originality/value

The paper provides a critical view on the trend of building work spaces to purposefully enhance organizational creativity. It brings forth themes that are connected to creativity and workspace designs and suggests that more nuances are involved in the issue.

Details

Journal of Corporate Real Estate, vol. 19 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-001X

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Article
Publication date: 8 May 2017

Arja Ropo and Ritva Höykinpuro

The purpose of this paper is to explore the narrative nature of organizational spaces and how these narratives influence human action. The study introduces a notion of “narrating…

1046

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the narrative nature of organizational spaces and how these narratives influence human action. The study introduces a notion of “narrating space” that emphasizes a narrative construction of space that is dynamic and performative. The study joins the recent material and spatial turn in organization studies where spaces are not considered merely as a container or a context to organizational action, but as a dynamic and active force.

Design/methodology/approach

The study draws on the triadic conception of space of Henry Lefebvre (1991). Lefebvre developed three interconnected dimensions of space: conceived, perceived and lived space. Space can be conceived as an abstract architectural plan or perceived through the practice of space. The dimension that integrates these two is the lived space. Spaces are experienced through emotions, imagination and embodied sensations. Instead of being a passive object, spaces become active and performative through the human engagement. They carry narratives that change their form as time passes by. The study embraces aesthetic, embodied epistemology where sensuous perceptions are considered as valid knowledge.

Findings

The study applies an aesthetic and dynamic approach to space and illustrates how spaces carry performative and processual narratives. These narratives are based on lived experience through personal, embodied experience, memories and sensuous perceptions. The illustrations also show that narratives change over time.

Research limitations/implications

A narrating space concept is characterized by being subjective, dynamic and temporal. Furthermore, it is pointed out that space is constructed through sense-based experiences. A metaphor of an amoeba is offered to depict the nature of the phenomenon. The amoeba metaphor points out that space narratives are dynamic and changing. The study adds to a better awareness of space as a sensuous narrative. Beyond being an isolated personal experience, the study and the illustrations enhance a material view to organizational narratives.

Practical implications

The study suggests that managers, architects and designers should take notice of spaces as narratives that involve temporal and sensuous experiences when planning and (re)designing work environments. Due to the subjective and temporal nature of organizational spaces they are manageable only to a limited extent. Therefore, to appreciate an active narrating nature of organizational spaces, employee involvement in planning and (re)designing spaces is encouraged.

Originality/value

First, the paper enhances the awareness of organizational spaces as sensuous narratives. Second, it adds a material aspect to narratives. Third, it advances an aesthetic and embodied approach to narrative organization research.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 30 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

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Book part
Publication date: 24 November 2014

Donatella De Paoli, Arja Ropo and Erika Sauer

This chapter is about physicality in virtual space, where one generally does not expect to find any physicality according to research and literature. Here, working in virtual…

Abstract

This chapter is about physicality in virtual space, where one generally does not expect to find any physicality according to research and literature. Here, working in virtual space includes interactions and cooperation through the mail, internet, Skype and video-conferencing. The authors use their own experience of collaborating and leading in a virtual project team. Their own personal accounts, impressions and insights reveal a story of organizational cooperation where physicality matters for developing relations and leadership in virtual space. The piece reveals how an aesthetic consciousness of self and others intensifies in virtual communication, especially in relation to the senses of seeing and listening. For instance, the authors describe perception of the self is possible on SKYPE in a way that is not possible in face-to-face meetings (allowing one to realize if one is not dressed ‘properly’). They argue it is important to identify the physical ‘digital self’ and realize the challenges of being fit to operate across time zones, having personal and public boundaries blurred, as well as the heightened sensitivity to imagine what is left out in a virtual relationship. The examples illustrate what kind of sensuous cues become central in virtual communication. The chapter brings forth the need to sensitize to the physicality and to develop skills to perceive and act on it.

Details

The Physicality of Leadership: Gesture, Entanglement, Taboo, Possibilities
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-289-0

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Article
Publication date: 7 April 2015

Donatella De Paoli and Arja Ropo

The purpose of this paper is to explore hybrid work spaces, combining open-plan, team-based offices with virtual work and leadership, in relation to the main leadership and team…

3109

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore hybrid work spaces, combining open-plan, team-based offices with virtual work and leadership, in relation to the main leadership and team challenges virtual project environments encounter.

Design/methodology/approach

In a review of virtual team literature, virtuality is defined and its main challenges to project leadership are identified. Based on the literature, several semi-structured interviews with project team managers within telecom and IT-consultancy were conducted. Using an exploratory approach, the authors introduce some new leadership concepts and functional benefits of open-plan offices important for virtual project environments.

Findings

The findings suggest that project managers encounter several new kinds of challenges while leading virtual projects. Co-location of the project team during certain stages in open-plan, team-based offices may meet some of these challenges. The authors claim that spatial arrangements and their embodied subjective experiences make an impact on the effectiveness of virtual project teams.

Research limitations/implications

This paper develops new conceptual thinking of how office facilities may contribute to productive virtual project teams. Further empirical studies in other settings are needed to generate generalizable findings.

Practical implications

The paper discusses and provides arguments for real estate and facility managers, as well as project and team leaders, for the importance of open-plan offices for virtual project teams.

Originality/value

The paper combines and benefits from different discussions on workspaces, virtual team and leadership. Furthermore, the paper introduces the notion of spatial leadership beyond the mainstream leader-centric approach to point out the importance of physical workspace of virtual teams and how the workspaces can perform leadership functions.

Details

Journal of Corporate Real Estate, vol. 17 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-001X

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Article
Publication date: 1 April 1993

Arja Ropo

Describes a process through which an organization moved fromtraditional personnel management towards a more strategically orientedhuman resource management. Focuses on tracking…

818

Abstract

Describes a process through which an organization moved from traditional personnel management towards a more strategically oriented human resource management. Focuses on tracking down, periodically, the actions taken by the human resource manager and his/her relationships with the strategic management team within the context of major structural and strategic changes. Suggests that the internal dynamism of the human resource function led by an innovative leader, serves as a critical mechanism to keep the change process going after its start under favourable organizational and strategic circumstances.

Details

Personnel Review, vol. 22 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0048-3486

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Article
Publication date: 11 August 2014

Ritva Höykinpuro and Arja Ropo

The purpose of this paper is to develop a visual perspective to the narrative management research by exploring the potential of drawings to construct organizational space. This…

1089

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a visual perspective to the narrative management research by exploring the potential of drawings to construct organizational space. This study is explorative in nature and aims to open up a discussion on the importance of visuality within the narrative research. Visual narratives combined with written ones are constructed and analyzed in the paper.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical illustrations of visual narratives outline students’ first-time encounters of the university campus. Their drawings and stories are used to describe and analyze their personal and subjective experiences of how they relate to the campus space. The students were asked to recall the moment they encountered the university campus for the first time and to draw their memories on a paper. Furthermore, they were asked to describe the drawings in a written narrative. Following that, the storyline was identified through a content analysis of both the drawings and the written narratives. This participatory research approach considers informants as co-researchers in producing data and emphasizes the inter-subjective nature of the study.

Findings

The study points out valuable aspects in visual narrative organization research. The drawings and written narratives were found to complement each other revealing different things of the experiences. The drawings were very rich and detailed. They captured and revealed emotions, symbolic meanings and interpretations that were not explicated in the written stories. Finally, categories of visual narratives on organizational space were developed.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the development of visual methodology in narrative management research. Moreover, this paper provides a methodological contribution to study organizational space. It sheds light on the potential of using visual narrative materials, especially self-produced drawings to construct organizational space. The study develops and illustrates a visual research method that combines written narratives with drawings. The study points out the importance to involve the informants as co-creators of a narrative study to capture the emotional richness of visual narratives. The authors envision that visual aspects of narratives will be a future direction in the narrative research, because visuality may capture hidden emotional aspects, symbols and artifacts that are not easily revealed in the told or written stories.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 27 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

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Book part
Publication date: 6 June 2006

Erika Sauer and Arja Ropo

This article uses a social constructionist approach based on ethnography and narrative analysis to understand emotions in leadership. The empirical context of the study is…

Abstract

This article uses a social constructionist approach based on ethnography and narrative analysis to understand emotions in leadership. The empirical context of the study is leadership of a theater ensemble's rehearsal process. The study shows that a creative process, such as in a theatrical setting, involves emotional paradoxes. Specifically, the study points out how shame can be used as a leadership tool to increase organizational performance and professional development, rather than for purposes of manipulation as may be typically assumed.

Details

Individual and Organizational Perspectives on Emotion Management and Display
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-411-9

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Book part
Publication date: 24 November 2014

Donna Ladkin and Steven S. Taylor

Although within the leadership literature there is a body of research concerning the physical attributes of leaders, close examination reveals that much of it offers a rather…

Abstract

Although within the leadership literature there is a body of research concerning the physical attributes of leaders, close examination reveals that much of it offers a rather surface level of analysis. A number of studies, for example, attempt to correlate leaders’ height with their success, and attempts have been made to identify a relationship between leaders’ performance and their attractiveness. In this book, a range of scholars from differing perspectives delve below the apparent level of physicality to highlight its paradoxically ‘invisible’ aspects including: the impact of gesture, the way in which the physical is intrinsically interwoven with the social and the contradictory nature of bodily taboos. The book shows how each of these aspects plays an important role in the creation and maintenance of leadership relationships.

This chapter introduces three tussles we and our authors have faced in navigating this territory. Firstly, we have worked hard to find forms of writing which ‘point towards’ the experience of physicality. Realising that written language can never ‘be’ that experience (just as Magritte demonstrates with his painting, ‘Ceci n’est pas une pipe’ that the reproduction of the pipe is not the pipe itself) we have encouraged authors to contribute first-person accounts, in-depth case studies focused on individuals and even activities which involve the reader in order to evoke a sense of the physical. Secondly, we have endeavoured to distinguish the ‘inside-out’ phenomenon of ‘embodiment’ from the ‘outside-in’ occurrence of ‘physicality’. Finally, our authors have worked to reveal the mutual entanglement of social and material worlds, such that paradoxically, the physical reveals itself to be ‘in flow’ and continually in a process of ‘becoming’. After describing how we have sought to resolve these challenges, a taster from each chapter is offered. The chapter concludes by reasserting the importance of recognising the physical nature of the connection at the heart of human relationships experienced as leadership.

Details

The Physicality of Leadership: Gesture, Entanglement, Taboo, Possibilities
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-289-0

Keywords

Available. Content available
Article
Publication date: 7 April 2015

Howard Cooke

109

Abstract

Details

Journal of Corporate Real Estate, vol. 17 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-001X

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