Distributed Properties

TLDR

The article argues for reconceptualizing leadership as a distributed phenomenon and proposes a revised approach to action and influence based on conjointly performed activities. The authors review substitutes and dualisms for leadership, summarize core concepts of activity theory, and examine attributes, dimensions, and applications of distribution to develop the new distributed leadership framework. The study rejects focused leadership in favor of distributed leadership, demonstrating that this approach offers a useful contextual analysis model and highlights the evolving division of labor as key to tracking emerging patterns of distributed leadership.

Abstract

This article argues for a reconceptualization of leadership. Possible substitutes for leadership are reviewed along with a number of existing dualisms. These are rejected in favour of the claim that the leadership of organizations is most appropriately understood as a distributed, rather thanas a focused, phenomenon. Various attributes, dimensions and applications of distribution are then considered, and a revised approach to action and influence in organizations centred on conjointly performed activities is thenproposed. For this new formulation a summary is provided of the core concepts of, and recent developments in, activity theory. It is shown that two particular advantages of this approach include the helpful model it provides for contextual analysis—an aspect sorely neglected by the field of leadership—and its focus on the evolving division of labour in organizations, the prime mover for tracking emerging patterns of distributed leadership.