Title: Leadership within emergent events in complex systems: micro-enactments and the mechanisms of organisational learning and change

Authors: James K. Hazy, Joyce Silberstang

Addresses: Adelphi University School of Business, 1 South Ave., Garden City, NY 11530, USA. ' Adelphi University School of Business, 1 South Ave., Garden City, NY 11530, USA

Abstract: One tradition within the complexity paradigm considers organisations as complex adaptive systems in which autonomous individuals interact, often in complex ways with difficult to predict, non-linear outcomes. Building upon this tradition, and more specifically following the complex systems leadership theory approach, we describe the ways in which leadership emerges in events. To do so, we examine the micro-level interactions among agents within these groups in terms of the programmes of action that they enact. We call these building blocks micro-enactments, propose that they can be observed and coded by researchers, identify and classify them and argue that they are used to construct the systemic mechanisms, which enable organised action and change. We offer propositions that suggest how these micro-enactments can be assembled into organisational mechanisms that enable change processes. More generally, we propose that organisational change is constructed when specific micro-enactments are assembled to reconfigure an organisation|s capabilities and competencies.

Keywords: change management; complex adaptive systems; complex systems; complexity leadership; dynamic capabilities; dynamical systems; emergence; groups; leadership; mechanisms; micro-enactments; nonlinear systems; organisational capabilities; organisational change; organisational learning; self-organisation; synergetics; teams; teamwork.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLC.2009.024690

International Journal of Learning and Change, 2009 Vol.3 No.3, pp.230 - 247

Published online: 15 Apr 2009 *

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