LEADERSHIP IN LIQUID MODERNITY

Authors

  • Julian Lippi Swinburne University of Technology

Abstract

This paper explores possibilities for refreshing thinking about leadership from perspectives of liquid modernity suggested by Bauman (2000), who identified several dimensions of modern uncertainty in human life and work. Reflecting unease with post-modernism, Bauman’s work has been influential in contemporary understandings of society, culture, learning and identity. It is also being taken up in emerging explorations of liquid learning in the educational literature. However, its implications for leadership remain largely unexplored in the management literature. This paper considers how current conceptions of leadership that emphasise the power of individual agency might be usefully re-considered in the light of Bauman’s contribution and it develops a number of generative questions to help that process. It then turns to conceptions of liquid learning to suggest some navigational aids for leading under conditions of liquidity.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Barnett, R. (2012) Learning for an unknown future. Higher Education Research and Development, 31, 1, pp 65-77.

Bass, B. (1990) From transactional to transformational leadership: Learning to share the vision. Organizational Dynamics, 18, 3, pp 19–31.

Bauman, Z. (2000) Liquid modernity. Polity Press, Cambridge.

Bauman, Z. (2002) Society under siege. Polity Press, Cambridge.

Bauman, Z. (2003) Liquid love. Polity Press, Cambridge.

Bauman, Z. (2006) Education in liquid modernity. Review of Education, Pedagogy and Cultural Studies, 27, 4, pp 303–317.

Bauman, Z. (2007) Liquid times: Living in an age of uncertainty. Polity Press, Cambridge.

Bauman, Z. and Tester, K. (2001) Conversations with Zymunt Bauman. Polity Press, Cambridge.

Beck, U. and Lau, C. (2003) The theory of reflective modernisation: Problems, hypotheses and research programme. Theory, Culture and Society, 20, 2, pp 1–33.

Bolden, R., Petrov, G. and Gosling, J. (2009) Distributed leadership in Higher Education: Rhetoric and reality. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 37, 2, pp 257–277.

Bryant, A. (2007) Liquid modernity, complexity and turbulence. Theory and Society, 24, 1, pp 127–135.

Clawson, J (2012) Level Three Leadership: getting below the surface (5th Edition). Pearson Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River.

Davis, M. (2011) Bauman’s compass: Navigating the current interregnum. Acta Sociologica, 54, pp 183–194.

Eisenstadt, S. (2000) Multiple modernities. Daedalus, 129, 1, pp 1–29.

Engestrom, Y. (2004) The new generation of expertise: Seven theses. In H. Rainbird, A. Fuller and A. Munro (eds.) Workplace learning in context. Routledge, London. pp.145–165.

Feng Jing, F. and Avery, G. (2008) Missing links in understanding the relationship between leadership and organizational performance. International Business & Economics Research Journal, 7, 5, pp 67–78.

Garrick, J. and Usher, R. (2000) ‘Flexible learning, contemporary work and enterprising selves’, Electronic Journal of Sociology. Available at http://www.sociology.org/content/vol005.001/garrick-usher.html

Giddens, A. (1990) The consequences of modernity, Polity Press, Cambridge.

Gronn, P. and Ribbins, P, (1996) Leaders in context: Postpositivist approaches to understanding educational leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly, Aug., 32, pp 452–473.

Heifetz, R. (1994) Leadership without easy answers. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

Lee, A. (2010) ‘What counts as educational research? Spaces, boundaries and alliances‘, The Australian Educational Researcher, 37, 4, pp. 63–78.

Lee, R. (2005) Bauman, liquid modernity and dilemmas of development Thesis Eleven, 83, pp 61–77.

Lee, R. (2011) Modernity, solidity and agency: Liquidity revisited. Sociology, 45, 4, pp 650–664.

McCormack, R., Pancini, G. and Tout, D. (2011) Learningful work: learning to work and learning to learn. International Journal of Training Research, 8, 1, pp 40–52.

Poikela, E. and Poikela, S. (2005) The strategic points of problem based learning. In E. Poikela & S. Poikela (eds.) PBL in Context – Bridging Work and Education. Tampere University Press, Tampere. pp. 7 – 22.

Pollock, G. (2007) Liquid modernity and cultural analysis: An introduction to a transdisciplinary encounter. Theory, Culture & Society, 24, 1, pp 111–116.

Pureau, B (2012) The implications of e-government and communication strategy in Australian Local Government organisations: An investigation of current and emerging practice. DBA Thesis. Faculty of Business and Enterprise, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn.

Rittel. H and Webber, M 1973, Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences, 4, pp 155-169.

Savin-Baden, M. (2007) Second Life PBL: Liminality, Liquidity and Lurking Keynote, Reinventing Problem-based Learning Conference, Republic Polytechnic, Singapore, 7-9th March,. Available at http://cuba.coventry.ac.uk/maggisb/files/2010/05/keynote.pdf

Shearing, C. and Marks, M. (2011) Being a new police in the liquid 21st century. Policing, 5, 3, pp 210-218.

Starrat, R. (2001) Democratic leadership theory in late modernity: an oxymoron or ironic possibility? International Journal of Leadership in Education, 4, 4, pp 333–352.

Vaccaro, I. (2010) Theorizing Impending Peripheries: Postindustrial landscapes at the edge of hyper-modernity’s collapse. Journal of International and Global Studies, 1, 2, pp 22–44.

Waldman, D., Bass, B. and Yammarino, F. (1990) ‘Adding to Contingent-Reward Behavior’, Group and Organization Studies, 15, 4, pp. 381–394.

Downloads

Published

2013-12-30

How to Cite

Lippi, J. . (2013). LEADERSHIP IN LIQUID MODERNITY. The Journal of Contemporary Issues in Business and Government, 19(1), 34–44. Retrieved from https://cibgp.com/au/index.php/1323-6903/article/view/94