The Making of »Us«: Leadership as Social Identity Management

Odeta Raudoné (Vilnius University)

 

About the talk

For decades, scholars have been interested in figuring out leadership – the questions of why and how leadership becomes effective – why do some leaders move people to trust, cooperate, and sacrifice, while others leave them cold? The social identity approach offers an answer that has reshaped leadership research over the past two decades. Scholars in this field argue that effective leadership is not a matter of personal traits or charisma, but of social identity management of the group that is being led. Leaders succeed (are effective) to the extent that they Create, Advance, Represent, and Embed (CARE) a shared social identity of the group they lead – the sense of »us«. They do that through words (speeches), activities, rituals, and overarching structures that speak to and about the group’s social identity and its place in their daily life. I will introduce this approach and its four dimensions, then focus on one of its dimensions in more detail, as our upcoming large qualitative project will explore it in six countries around the world. I will also present some research evidence from the field to illustrate how the social identity approach to leadership translates into followers’ perceptions. As argued by Michael J. Platow et al. (2015): »There is no leadership if no-one follows«.

My own research turns the question around a bit by looking at what the group comes to mean to the leader. I am also exploring how closely a leader’s sense of »who I am as a leader« can become bound up (fused) with »who we are as a group.« Could this fusion help sustain a leader’s commitment to the group, and what might that commitment cost?

The talk will be designed for a diverse audience from various fields of research with a couple of live exercises incorporated. Beyond the answers from our field, we would especially welcome and value historical and philosophical perspectives in the discussion to examine questions such as: Has there ever been an »us« without a »them«? We would also be interested in how leaders, institutions, and group members themselves have shaped who can speak for »us,« and why some shared social identities last while others quickly dissolve.

 

The speaker

Odeta Raudonė is an early-career researcher, PhD candidate, and lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Vilnius University. At present, she is visiting the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften as an Early Career Fellow at the invitation of Rolf van Dick, professor of social psychology at Goethe University Frankfurt, and Michael Kosfeld, professor of organization and management in the Department of Economics at Goethe University. Her visit is funded by the Goethe Leadership Centre at Goethe University.

 

Registration

Please register for the colloquium and the following lunch by Monday, November 9.