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Understanding Leadership from the Inside: Using Ethnographic Methods to Examine How the Interplay between Leaders,
James Coleman1, Clifford J Mallett1, Niklas K Steffens2
1School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.
Behavioral Sciences (Basel, Switzerland)
|October 26, 2024
Summary
Effective leadership varies across groups, influenced by social identity. This study proposes ethnographic methods and creative storytelling to understand context-dependent leadership behaviors for better consultancy and development.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Organizational Behavior
- Leadership Studies
Background:
- Leadership is a complex, context-dependent process.
- The social identity approach highlights how group identity shapes leadership effectiveness.
- Acknowledges that effective and ineffective leadership manifest differently across diverse groups.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a novel method for understanding context-specific leadership.
- To explore the application of the social identity approach in leadership research.
- To demonstrate how ethnographic methods can capture leadership in action.
Main Methods:
- Proposes ethnographic methods for immersive group observation.
- Suggests the social identity approach as a guiding framework for data collection and analysis.
- Advocates for creative non-fiction storytelling to represent ethnographic findings.
Main Results:
- Ethnographic methods provide rich, contextual data on leadership behaviors.
- The social identity approach offers a lens to interpret leadership within group dynamics.
- Creative non-fiction effectively communicates the nuances of leadership in context.
Conclusions:
- There is no single universal style for effective leadership.
- Ethnographic research, guided by social identity theory, offers valuable insights into leadership.
- Creative storytelling can enhance leadership consultancy and development programs.
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