2008OrgSci-questions

Questions for Complexity Leadership Researchers

During a session at the 2008 Organization Science Winter Conference examining extreme events, complexity scholars brainstormed questions that should be considered in furthering complexity leadership research. Below are notes collected on those questions.

How do we reward leaders in Complexity Leadership Theory? How does coordination and entanglement of top-down and bottom-up efforts occur? Do we need to take create emergence, take away blocks, or both? If we remove blocks, will be see more adaptive leadership? Why don’t routines work in extreme contexts? What is the relationship between extreme contexts and changes in power relationships? Why do people tend not to stand up and act? Is there a critical mass of people beyond which a leader will not emerge? Better understanding the tension between leadership and timing. Does leadership mean something different across something we consider routine vs. different types of extreme events? Are the processes of leading in extreme contexts different? Are the attributes of leading in extreme contexts different? How do you identify extreme events? When and how do you make the decision that the bureaucratic leadership takes over? How is leadership different in normal vs. extreme events? How frequently do extreme events occur? How do we build capability to deal with very infrequent events? What is the locus of courage in a self-managing situation or extreme event? Can we really attribute outcomes to good or bad leadership? Leadership as legitimizing? What weight is given to 3 types of leadership (adaptive, enabling, and administrative) under different contexts, such as extreme? How does leadership effect the magnitude of the outcome event (relative to the trigger event)? Do we need routine in non-routine situations? What are the cognitive capacities that are “mental shortcuts” enabling us to “see things faster” and “trigger recognition? Do leaders develop shortcuts or mental pictures rapidly and well? Can leaders achieve cognitive deviance from others?