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

摘要

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.