Трансформация концепций организационного лидерства в контексте социальных изменений

Вестник Санкт-Петербургского университета. Серия 12: Социология. 2024. Т. 17. № 4. С. 420–437.

Зубенко Н. С., Минина В. Н.

The article analyzes the conceptual approaches to organizational leadership in the context of social changes. Based on the literature review, the authors identify the factors influencing the transformation of theoretical concepts of this phenomenon, and relevant indicators. They conclude that economic and social changes have a strong impact on the evolution of theoretical ideas about organizational leadership, within which a number of stages can be distinguished. The initial stage with its “theories of traits” is based on the psychology of personality. The phenomenon of leadership is explained by individual characteristics, the leader's ability to influence followers. The transition to a new stage is driven by the rapid development of industry in the first half of the twentieth century and is related to the inclusion of the social context in the study of organizational leadership. Thus, a behavioral approach to this phenomenon is developing, reflected in the theories of leadership style, situational leadership, etc., centered on the figure of the leader and his/her behavior. The increasing uncertainty in organizational development facilitated the shift of research optics from the analysis of leader's characteristics and behavior to the influencing process as a complex social process. At this stage, a sociological approach to this phenomenon begins to dominate, which can be seen in the concepts of transactional and transformational leadership, as well as in authentic leadership. The crisis caused by pandemic COVID-19 gave a new impetus to the development of organizational leadership theory. Its lesson was the recognition of the importance of building the resilience of organizations to situations of risk. In this regard, the concept of sustainable leadership has gained interest. This concept reflects an interdisciplinary approach that synthesizes the findings in different sciences studying the organizational development. This concept has good potential for improving the management of organizations in the post-pandemic period.

Keywords: трансформация, кризис, социальные изменения, crisis, organizational leadership, организационное лидерство, transformation, social change, leadership concepts, sustainable organizational leadership, концепции лидерства, устойчивое организационное лидерство