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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-01958935v1
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter Verhezen, 2010. "Giving Voice in a Culture of Silence. From a Culture of Compliance to a Culture of Integrity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 96(2), pages 187-206, October.
    2. Gazi Islam, 2014. "Identities and ideals: Psychoanalytic dialogues of self and leadership," Post-Print hal-00963539, HAL.
    3. Gilles Arnaud & Bénédicte Vidaillet, 2018. "Clinical and critical: The Lacanian contribution to management and organization studies," Post-Print hal-01591534, HAL.
    4. Bénédicte Vidaillet & Grégory Gamot, 2015. "Working and resisting when one's workplace is under threat of being shut down: A Lacanian perspective," Post-Print hal-01123563, HAL.
    5. Nicolas Arnaud & Colleen Mills & Céline Legrand, 2016. "Liberation through narrativity: A case of organization reconstruction through strategic storytelling," Post-Print hal-01158130, HAL.
    6. repec:hal:gemwpa:hal-00963539 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Patrick Gilbert & Nathalie Raulet-Croset & Ann-Charlotte Teglborg, 2014. "Figures du client et management : un processus de structuration sous contrôle(s)," Post-Print halshs-01897908, HAL.
    8. Gazi Islam, 2014. "Identities and ideals: Psychoanalytic dialogues of self and leadership," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-00963539, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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