The traditionally
held concept of leadership is that of an oligarchical approach, leadership done
by a few over the many. Polyarchy could be considered the antithesis to the
former and represents a dynamic approach more complex than models of oligarchy.
According to Obolensky (2013), “leadership in any form cannot produce results
without context” (p. 5). Unfortunately the traditional ‘by few to many’
approach of oligarchy has limitations primarily due to fasting changing times
and organizational contexts (Obolensky, 2013). Contributing factors stem from
the fact structures are becoming more fluid and boundaries within organizations
are becoming more expansive. In addition, information is abundant and as knowledge
and wisdom are more prevalent leadership must become more transparent and
dynamic. So what does this mean for all of the models and theories that exist
today? Are they becoming redundant and what does this mean for future leaders?
To run more productive businesses in pursuit of high
performance standards and satiate the needs of the people who make up a company
new methods are being explored. If Tony Hsieh of Zappos has a say organizations
will reshape for both the health of the company and to the benefit of the
people. It can be a win-win for both sides. Zappos decided they would
drastically reshape their organizational context and are one of the companies
pioneering successful transitions from standardly known hierarchy to a more
complex adaptive system. Zappos is engaged in what they are calling Holacracy
(Feloni, 2015). They understand this is not for everyone and members of their
organization self-selected to leave the company. Not necessarily an attack on
managers there simply is not a place for the few leading the many at Zappos and
these positions were eliminated allowing a bottom-up approach. In self-managing
organizations leadership becomes more free-flowing and open-ended.
It is likely that the models that were applied to models oligarchy
will need to be recycled and forgotten. Like a house plagued with the stylings
of decades past a renovation upgrading the structure can rework the models in
an effort to keep good ideas and relevant research thriving. Though
organizations are changing this does not mean it will happen overnight. Just
like the fashion world or anything innovative (read: different) it will take
time for the ways of larger companies and geographically areas to permeate the
rest of the world. “Whether we like it or not, oligarchy and its sister hierarchy
exist all around us and will continue to do so for some time, despite the
stresses and strains” (Obolensky, 2014, p. 5). If you take the law of diffusion
of innovation into consideration there will be the innovators and early
adopters on one end of the spectrum and the laggards will be left behind
clinging to the well-worn “this is how it has always been done routine”. Those uncomfortable with change will end up
working there.
I think what this means for myself and others is that we
need to become more comfortable with being and not get hung up on titles and
labels. Leadership probably won’t translate into where your name falls on the
organizational chart for much longer. Instead influence and merit will be
determining factors of true leadership potential. If you can hold up these ideals
followers will come to you for advice and will want to work with you to meet
goals and get things done. Everyone within the workplace will be held to high
levels of accountability and will be leaders of the task and not necessarily
others. Though it sounds chaotic, it turns out the nature of chaos is the
incredible ability of organizing itself. If you still want to be a leader, just
remember that you can have everything you want, it just might not look the way
you thought it would.
References:
Feloni, R. (2015, May 16). Inside Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh's radical
management experiment that prompted 14% of employees to quit. Retrieved July 31,
2015, from
http://www.businessinsider.com/tony-hsieh-zappos-holacracy-management-experiment-2015-5
Obolensky,
N. (2014). Complex Adaptive Leadership
(2nd. Ed.). Burlington, VT: Gower
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