New leadership paradigms in the complexity science

Abstract

Leadership is a term that has long attracted interest. The word ‘leader’ evokes images of influential and dynamic individuals who achieve superiority. Leadership reminds many questions: Why and how do certain leaders inspire such commitment? Why and how do certain leaders achieve such attention? And why do certain successful leaders then just fall out of favour? Such questions surrounding leadership have long been a topic of speculation. Besides new models of leadership continue to develop, including a model of leadership for the new organizational form, where leadership relies less upon managerial authority and a new set of ideas that transcends the physical, biological, and social sciences, referred to as Complexity Theory. This research investigates empirically leadership and organizations through the lens of Complexity Theory by exploring the complex and chaotic contextual factors that leaders experience. This research contributes to the evolving process of the study of Complexity in the arena of leadership by contextualizing the literature.