Creating Leaders for Systems Complexity

Nancy Southern ()
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Nancy Southern: Saybrook University

Chapter 20 in Handbook of Systems Sciences, 2021, pp 529-557 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Complexity changes the nature of leading in organizations and communities. Leaders struggle to meet the demands of their positions and their own desires to contribute to the greater good when faced with uncertainty, continuous change, and wicked problems. Complexity theory encourages us to see organizations and communities as complex adaptive systems which thrive when a diversity of agents interact in ways that support collaborative movement toward shared vision and goals. Understanding systems enables leaders to recognize the limits of control-based leadership and find new ways to lead through dynamic engagement with others. This chapter presents a call for systems leaders, people who can create the conditions for collective creativity and collaborative action. It reviews the influences of systems theory on leadership theory and practice, discusses the development of system leaders, and provides examples of systemic approaches to building leadership capacity.

Keywords: Complex adaptive systems; Systems leaders; Shared leadership; Organizational culture; Self-organization; Organizational learning; Generative inquiry; Collective creativity; Collaborative action (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-981-15-0720-5_15

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DOI: 10.1007/978-981-15-0720-5_15

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