From Liberating Leader to Shared Leadership: A Process of Role Distribution

Émilie Poli; Lucie Gabriel

doi:10.37725/mgmt.2024.8899

Émilie Poli INSEEC Business School, Bordeaux, France https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6625-3963
Lucie Gabriel INSEEC Business School, Paris, France https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0200-8221

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37725/mgmt.2024.8899

Keywords: Liberated company, Liberating process, Shared Leadership, Case Study, Qualitative Methodology

Abstract

A liberated company is an emerging concept, which is based on trust and autonomy and is radically opposed to hierarchical principles. The empirical literature describes liberation as a complex process of cultural and organizational transformation, wherein managerial functions are questioned or even eliminated, and blind spots are a source of numerous pitfalls. Against this backdrop, the central issue of transforming leadership, and the roles it entails, remains underexplored in liberated companies, whereas reflections are primarily focused on the liberating leader. Using a single case study and a processual, multilevel approach to liberation, this study analyzes the evolution of key leadership roles at the individual (supporting), collective (catalyst), and organizational (driving) levels. The results show that the distribution and sharing of leadership roles is an evolutionary and dynamic process rather than a tipping point and question the opportunities and limits of role distribution at different stages of the process.

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Author Biographies

Émilie Poli, INSEEC Business School, Bordeaux, France

Émilie Poli, PhD in management sciences, has been a assistant professor at INSEEC Business School in Bordeaux since 2021. She teaches business ethics and sociology of organisations. Her research focuses mainly on non-hierarchical organizations, organizational transformation processes and their impact on creativity, organizational culture and quality of life at work. Before joining the world of research and teaching, she worked for fourteen years as a marketing manager in the pharmaceutical industry.

Lucie Gabriel, INSEEC Business School, Paris, France

Lucie Gabriel has a PhD in management sciences and is assistant professor at INSEEC Paris. Her research focuses mainly on themes of leadership, authority and power in ahierarchical organizations. She has been teaching first at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University and IAE Savoie Mont Blanc, and she is teaching courses of organizational behaviors, organization theory, and HR.

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