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“Free to do what I want”? Exploring the ambivalent effects of liberating leadership

Author

Listed:
  • Hélène Picard

    (EESC-GEM Grenoble Ecole de Management)

  • Gazi Islam

    (MC - Management et Comportement - EESC-GEM Grenoble Ecole de Management, IREGE - Institut de Recherche en Gestion et en Economie - USMB [Université de Savoie] [Université de Chambéry] - Université Savoie Mont Blanc)

Abstract

The current study examines the phenomenon of "liberating leadership", an emerging trend promising self-mastery and collective unity, resonating with the literature on post-heroic leadership. We evaluate the claims of liberating leadership from a psychodynamic perspective, using a Lacanian approach. We examine how post-heroic forms of leadership reconfigures the symbolic and imaginary aspects of follower identification, with ambivalent effects. Drawing empirically on a case study of a Belgian banking department, we trace how a "liberating" leader was able to garner intense psychological attachment among followers, accompanied by the "dark sides" of personal exhaustion and breakdown, normative pressure to be overly happy, and the scapegoating of contrarian managers who represented symbolic prohibition. We discuss the implications of our study for psychodynamic approaches to leadership, and more generally, for critical research on the recent trends toward the humanistic, post-heroic turn in leadership practices.

Suggested Citation

  • Hélène Picard & Gazi Islam, 2019. "“Free to do what I want”? Exploring the ambivalent effects of liberating leadership," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) halshs-01958935, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:gemptp:halshs-01958935
    DOI: 10.1177/0170840618814554
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01958935
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. repec:hal:gemwpa:hal-00963539 is not listed on IDEAS
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    8. Gazi Islam, 2014. "Identities and ideals: Psychoanalytic dialogues of self and leadership," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-00963539, HAL.
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