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Does empathy merely take place in leaders’ minds? How does it help us better understand and practice leadership? In the past, entitative relational leadership studies have mainly drawn on a mind-based understanding of empathy and focused on the association between individual empathy traits and leader emergence and effectiveness. Such an approach overlooks leadership practice of empathy as a constructive process. By integrating emerging research from diverse disciplines from philosophy to communication, the article first offers a constructionist view of empathy, based on which empathic leadership practice is conceptualized. The article explicates how leadership practice of empathy construction is rooted in relational ethics and takes place in both synchronic dyadic interaction through conversation as well as diachronic narrative practice with a collective other. By conceptualizing empathic leadership practice through a social constructionist approach to empathy, the article makes significant contributions to our understanding of relational leadership.

In this paper, based on chaos theory and dynamic system simulation, a dynamic model of a relational leadership system with pressure factors is established and simulated. The study found that the excessive self-leadership and the relational leadership cannot effectively improve the leadership effectiveness of leaders. In addition, with the adjustment of the self-leadership adjustment coefficient, leadership effectiveness will change from a stable state to a chaotic state. Only by adopting limited rational decision-making strategies in multicycle decision-making can leaders maintain a high level of leadership effectiveness. Previous research mainly focuses on the theoretical analysis of the complexity of the leadership system or the issuance of questionnaires, but seldom on the dynamic complex process of the leadership system. This study reveals the complexity and chaos characteristics of the dynamic evolution of the multifactor relational leadership system, puts forward the relational leadership theory and the complex leadership theory under the influence of pressure, and makes some suggestions on how to improve the leadership effectiveness under the complex environment. The research results are of great significance to theoretical innovation and practical application.

We address a conundrum: since ecosystems lack a Central Controller, how are these self-organizing systems led? This is important since local service providers in Europe are adopted ecosystems organizing of services in preference to network management. We show that ecosystems are led not centrally directed by a powerful agent, but instead guided to change by collective consciousness that results from learning in logic-of-practice distributed in the ecosystem. We suggest a new framework for explaining leadership in collaborative governances organizing as ecosystems. This has important implications for how leadership in collaborative governances in local service delivery is viewed.

This chapter focuses upon the importance of developing a positive culture for learning and how relationships and opportunities for social learning support that goal. Drawing upon examples from a research project focusing upon developing the 'whole child', this chapter aims to explore relational leadership, the contribution of everyone in a school community and the teacher as relationship builder in the classroom. The key themes emerging from the chapter are how values-driven leaders, relational environments, deliberate decisions about the school culture and a commitment to developing the 'whole person' can all contribute to a positive school environment.

The number of studies dedicated to organizational inclusion is rapidly growing. Using relational leadership theory (RLT) as the overarching framework, the current study aimed to examine how inclusive leadership indirectly influences the voices of Chinese employees via leader-member exchange (LMX). The boundary conditions of these relationships were also explored by using employee achievement values as a potential moderator. A total of 814 full-time Chinese employees were recruited. The results showed that LMX mediated the positive effect of inclusive leadership on employee voice behaviors. Specifically, inclusive leadership enhanced LMX, and employees were then more likely to express ideas in front of supervisors. Moreover, achievement values moderated the positive linkage of LMX–voice. When building the high quality LMX relationships, employees with higher achievement values were more willing to speak up compared to their counterparts holding lower achievement values. We further found that the magnitude of the mediating effect of LMX on the relationship between inclusive leadership and voice also relied on employee achievement values (i.e., a second-stage moderated mediation model). This indicates that the indirect effect was stronger when the employees had higher achievement values. The conceptual and applied implications of our findings are also discussed.

Existing research has established leadership antecedents of team voice behavior. However, the content of team voice has not been distinguished, and limited findings have been generated about the effect of relational leadership, leader-member exchange (LMX), on team voice. Drawing on conservation of resource theory, this research explores the unique and interactive effects of LMX mean and LMX differentiation on promotive and prohibitive team voice. Two multisource studies (Study 1: 293 members and 51 leaders; Study 2: 524 members and 90 leaders) have been conducted to examine the hypotheses. Both studies have revealed that LMX mean is positively related to promotive team voice, and LMX differentiation is negatively related to prohibitive team voice. In addition, LMX differentiation weakens the effect of LMX mean on prohibitive team voice. Study 2 has further verified that LMX differentiation strengthens the effect of LMX mean on promotive team voice. Findings have demonstrated the significant and complex influence of team LMX on team voice. We suggest that team leaders can improve LMX mean and reduce LMX differentiation to encourage team voice behavior.

This paper explores the use of coaching in supporting leadership development in a challenging team context. A case study methodology was used to uncover perspectives on the different coaching interventions incorporated in an 11-month round the world sailing race. The coaching was found to be supportive of contextually embedded team leadership development as skippers transitioned into the team leadership role. The study extends prior research by exploring how team leadership development is supported over time through a dynamic coaching intervention.

While relational leadership constructionist scholarship has gained a powerful voice in the leadership conversation, mainstream leadership studies continue to ignore its contributions. Paradigm interplay represents an approach to knowledge construction that may help constructionists contribute to the cumulative relational leadership conversation, while reasserting their interpretive commitments. The article first explains why paradigm interplay is a promising strategy for overcoming two existing complications in relational leadership research and in its constructionist stream. It then offers an application of paradigm interplay in the leadership–trust research domain, to demonstrate how this approach works in practice, showing its promise for building a robust constructionist empirical research agenda to explore the role of trust in relational leadership. The article closes with a discussion of selected challenges associated with conducting paradigm interplay, and with a call to bridge distinct relational leadership perspectives to advance robust and actionable knowledge in the field.

Under turbulent environmental changes during the pandemic, organizational sustainability requires employees of all levels to perform innovative work behaviors in their daily jobs. Since virtual work environments could deteriorate the quality of collaborative interactions and interpersonal bonds among employees, organizations need to create more relation-focused contexts to trigger innovative behaviors from people. This study aims to explore the influence of supervisors’ relational leadership on the contexts in which subordinates are drawn to innovative work behaviors. Particularly, this study explains the process of this relationship by considering the psychological contract construct as the mediating variable, assuming that the social exchange between employees and the organization influences their decision to perform innovative behaviors. A total of 237 newcomers from a Korean conglomerate participated in the study, and surveys were conducted at two time points for the same participant to detect changes over time. The results showed that the perception of supervisors’ relational leadership was positively related to employees’ performance in innovative work behaviors over time. This relationship was partially mediated by an individual’s perception of employee promises, implying that a sense of obligation towards the organization could be an essential condition for innovative work behaviors. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

O presente estudo tem como propósito central investigar relações entre os constructos Intraempreendedorismo e Liderança Relacional. Nessa direção, visa analisar em que medida a mobilização de atributos de competências intraempreendedoras relacionam-se com características de liderança relacional articuladas em programa de inovação desenvolvido junto a um dos maiores conglomerados financeiros do Brasil. Como base teórica, o estudo compreende revisão de abordagens de competências intraempreendedoras e de liderança relacional, adotando-se com marco teórico para a investigação de competências intraempreendedoras, abordagem desenvolvida por Lenzi (2008), assim como para análise e mensuração da liderança relacional, revisão de estudos seminais sobre o tema (Uhl-Bien e Maslyn, 2000; Uhl-Bien, 2006; Fairhurst e Uhl-Bien, 2012; Uhl-Bien e Arena, 2018). Em termos metodológicos, a pesquisa que subsidia os resultados deste estudo pode ser caracterizada como de abordagem quantitativa, de caráter descritivo, conduzida por meio da técnica de survey, envolvendo a aplicação de questionário composto por escalas do tipo Likert de 11 pontos, com o intuito de mensurar em que medida características pessoais associadas à mobilização dos constructos de interesse do estudo, bem como dados sociodemográficos e profissionais de participantes de programa corporativo de inovação com uma ou mais ideias aprovadas no período de janeiro a dezembro de 2020. Como resultados, constata-se elevada percepção quanto à mobilização do conjunto de atributos de competências intraempreendedoras investigadas, assim como elevado grau de mobilização das características de liderança relacional pesquisadas. O estudo revela, ainda, correlação positiva e significativa entre ambos os constructos teóricos mensurados, tendo-se que a elevação no escore de mobilização de liderança relacional em 0,64 implica em aumento de 1,00 ponto no escore de mobilização de competências intraempreendedoras. Em suma, os achados apontam a liderança relacional como elemento de impacto significativo na mobilização de competências intraempreendedoras. Dessa forma, a identificação, atração, retenção e desenvolvimento de atributos de competências pesquisados, quando diante de características de liderança relacional tendem a propiciar a construção e sustentação de ambiências organizacionais favoráveis a projetos de criação e inovação. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the constructs Intrapreneurship and Relational Leadership. In other words, it aims to analyze to what extent the mobilization of intrapreneurial competence attributes is related to relational leadership characteristics articulated in an innovation program developed with one of the largest financial conglomerates in Brazil. As a theoretical basis, the study comprises a review of intrapreneurial skills and relational leadership approaches, adopting a theoretical framework for the investigation of intrapreneurial skills, an approach developed by Lenzi (2008), as well as for the analysis and measurement of relational leadership, review of seminal studies on the topic (Uhl-Bien & Maslyn, 2000; Uhl-Bien, 2006; Fairhurst & Uhl-Bien, 2012; Uhl-Bien & Arena, 2018). In methodological terms, the research that supports the results of this study can be characterized as a quantitative approach, with a descriptive character, conducted through a survey technique, involving the application of a questionnaire composed of 11-point Likerttype scales, with the purpose to measure the extent to which personal characteristics associated with the study’s constructs mobilization, as well as sociodemographic and professional data of participants in a corporate innovation program with one or more ideas approved in the period from January to December 2020. As a result, there is a high perception of the mobilization of the set of intrapreneurial competence attributes investigated, as well as a high degree of mobilization of the researched relational leadership characteristics. The study also reveals a positive and significant correlation between both measured theoretical constructs, with an increase in the relational leadership mobilization score of 0.64 implying an increase of 1.00 point in the intrapreneurial skills mobilization score. In short, the findings point to relational leadership as an element with a significant impact on the mobilization of intrapreneurial skills. In this way, the identification, attraction, retention and development of researched competence attributes, when faced with relational leadership characteristics, tend to provide the construction and support of organizational environments favorable to creation and innovation projects.

Resumo Este artigo tem como foco apresentar resultados de estudo destinado a investigar relações entre os constructos modernidade organizacional e liderança relacional em organizações profissionais, mais especificamente em escritórios de advocacia. As transformações que o setor tem vivenciado, particularmente em face dos movimentos em torno da chamada “Quarta Revolução Industrial”, têm imprimido alterações significativas não somente no escopo de atuação, produtos e serviços, como também nos perfis, processos e modos de entrega, requeridos ao exercício profissional da advocacia. Por conseguinte, suscitam estilos de liderança mais flexíveis, descentralizados e distribuídos, mais afins aos pressupostos da chamada liderança relacional. Quanto ao método, foi desenvolvida pesquisa de abordagem quantitativa envolvendo a aplicação de survey junto a advogados dos dez maiores escritórios de advocacia localizados na cidade de Belém (PA). Os resultados indicam escores elevados de modernidade cultural, seguida de modernidade administrativa e de práticas de gestão de pessoas e, por fim, de modernidade política. Registra-se também presença significativa dos fatores de liderança relacional investigados, assim como correlação positiva e significativa entre modernidade organizacional e liderança relacional. Uma importante contribuição do estudo diz respeito à superação de lacuna na literatura quanto a medidas e pesquisas empíricas direcionadas à mensuração da liderança relacional em escritórios de advocacia. Abstract This paper aims to present the results of a study aimed at investigating the relationship between the constructs Organizational Modernity and Relational Leadership in professional organizations, more specifically in law firms. The transformations that the sector has been undergoing, particularly in light of the movements surrounding the so-called “Fourth Industrial Revolution”, have brought about significant changes, not only in the scope of practice, products, and services, but also in the profiles, processes, and delivery modes required for the professional practice of law. Consequently, it gives rise to more flexible, decentralized, and distributed leadership styles, more in line with the assumptions of the so-called relational leadership. As for the method, a research with a quantitative approach was developed, involving the application of a survey with lawyers from the ten largest law firms located in the city of Belém (PA). The results indicate high scores for cultural modernity, followed by administrative modernity and people management practices, and finally, political modernity. The results also show a significant presence of the relational leadership factors investigated, as well as a positive and significant correlation between organizational modernity and relational leadership. An important contribution of this study was to overcome the gap in the literature regarding measures and empirical research aimed at measuring relational leadership in law firms.

In this introductory article we explain the impetus for creating the Special Issue, along with its goals and the process by which we created it. We present a map of the terrain of collective leadership (CL) that builds on earlier frameworks, recognizing that the terrain is expanding and has become increasingly difficult to traverse. The map is comprised of two axes or dimensions. The first axis, the ‘locus of leadership,’ captures how scholars conceptualize where to look for manifestations of leadership. That is, does the leadership reside in the group or does it reside in the system? The second axis is the view of ‘collectivity’ that plots how scholars conceptualize the collective. Do they see it as an empirical type of leadership or a theoretical lens through which to study leadership? We then plot distinctive CL research into four cells, providing definitions and references to empirical work emblematic for each cell. In introducing and summarizing each of the five articles we have selected for this Special Issue, we show where each of these is located on the CL research map, and distil how each provides a clear connection between theory and method in a way that advances our understanding of CL.

Inclusive leadership, a particular mode of relational leadership, has received extensive attention from scholars in recent years. Inclusive leadership may indicate a positive relationship to employee voice behavior, but there is little research on the relationship between them. Therefore, based on social identity theory, this study aims to examine the effect of inclusive leadership on employee voice behavior, the mediating role of leader identification, and the moderating role of power distance. Through the analysis of 232 valid sample data obtained from employees working in food manufacturing enterprises in China, the results demonstrate that inclusive leadership is positively related to employees’ promotive and prohibitive voice behavior; leader identification partially mediates the effect of inclusive leadership on employees’ promotive and prohibitive voice. In addition, the results also indicate that power distance not only weakens the effect of inclusive leadership on leader identification and prohibitive voice, but also weakens the effect of leader identification on prohibitive voice. The findings have enriched the research on the consequences of inclusive leadership to a certain extent, provided a new perspective for in-depth analysis on the mechanism of inclusive leadership, and theoretically deepened an understanding of the boundary conditions of inclusive leadership.

Leadership development programs exist to contribute to an individual's and an organization's success; however, there is a lack of studies that examine how such programs contribute to the development of cultural agility in leaders. Culturally agile leaders are more inclusive in their hiring practices and more open to encouraging more diversity within their own leadership network. Such leaders value collaboration and understand how culturally grounded traditions and preferences effect transactions. This concept article addresses the roles of positionality and cultural agility, leadership development programs, and capacity and responsibility in building culturally agile leaders. It examines the ways a leader's positionality and level of cultural agility informs and limits their ability to make an impact on their organization. The article also proposes how leaders have the capacity and the responsibility to develop other leaders through a relational leadership approach to promote inclusion and diversity.

This paper contributes to the understanding of relational aspects of leadership and followership. Our in-depth empirical study of the leader/follower relation uncovers how and why assigning team members into ‘leader’ and ‘follower’ positions may sometimes be a double-edged sword and lead to unintended consequences undermining both the team’s potential and member satisfaction. We report on a multi-voiced story of one team that at first looked like a well-performing one with effective, ‘good’ leadership and satisfied team members. However, a closer investigation revealed frictional understandings, unresponsiveness and dynamics of immaturization as the followers overly relied on the elected leader. Leadership seen as ‘good’ may indeed backfire and encourage satisfied, trustful followers to relax and focus on limited roles. Our study further shows the need to conduct rich empirical studies that capture views of all parties in a relation.

When social movement leaders direct protesters during marches or make decisions during meetings, followers accept and validate, or oppose and ignore them. Yet most leadership theories neither account for follower responses nor explain how followers' expectations about gender and race status-hierarchies influence their actions. Drawing on participant observation, an archive of movement documents, and 73 in-depth interviews with key informants in the occupy movement, I reveal how followers enacted forms of “discriminatory resistance” that impeded women and genderqueer persons' leadership. I argue that followers fell back on gender and racial stereotypes about white men as ideal leaders. Followers opposed women and genderqueer persons from all races and ethnicities using harassment and male dominance, and by creating a hostile culture. Findings suggest that even leaders and followers in nonhierarchical social movements construct gender and race differences in leadership similar to leadership stratification in more hierarchical organizations.

Este artigo analisa as influências recíprocas da estrutura organizacional nos líderes e nos liderados e destes enquanto agentes na estrutura organizacional, levando em consideração os construtos das Teorias da Estruturação de Giddens e da Liderança Relacional. O referencial teórico destaca os construtos da teoria da estruturação (ações não/premeditadas; recursividade entre ação humana e estrutura social; dualidade da estrutura; rotinas e regras) e da liderança relacional (que mais se aproxima da teoria da estruturação). Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa que realizou entrevistas semiestruturadas com todos os 32 empregados de empresa do setor de infraestrutura. Os resultados indicam que a organização mudou devido à influência recíproca entre agente (líder-liderado) – estrutura (organização), como em Giddens e também de acordo com os pressupostos da liderança relacional, resultante das capacidades de: provocar mudanças; utilizar regras e recursos disponíveis; enfrentar consequências não premeditadas. Este artigo contribui com lacuna na literatura de liderança ao recorrer à teoria da estruturação.

The turbulence of Brexit threatens to undermine England–European Union (EU) transborder cooperation at the subnational scale. This paper discusses the lived experience of city and regional leaders involved in developing cross-European cooperation during the early phase of the Brexit ‘project’. It contributes to the idea of relational leadership as a framing device for studying leadership in transborder cooperation in the England–EU subnational setting, and surfaces challenges faced by subnational leaders in transborder cooperation during significant policy turbulence. Two main findings of the research have wider relevance for emerging city and regional (place) leadership theory and practice. First, the unanticipated shock caused by Brexit to the supra-national policy environment is impacting significantly on subnational leaders’ ability to maintain good transborder working relationships; and second, continuing non-prejudicial dialogue and meaningful conversations between subnational partners are an antidote to the negative legacies of such policy disruption.

This organizational improvement plan (OIP) stems from the need for a clearly defined plan to guide initiatives to be implemented in the School of X. Strategic planning is instrumental in higher education (HE) settings and is critical in framing the values, missions, and goals of postsecondary institutions. Engaging stakeholders in meaningful and purposeful ways will help to create a clear direction for the School of X. Exploring the organization’s readiness for change and examining solutions for the identified problem of practice (PoP) frames the basis of the OIP. To evaluate the best strategy for the change process and to achieve the goals of the OIP, multiple approaches to address the PoP are evaluated and discussed. Relational and distributed leadership are integrated throughout the OIP with Kotter’s (1996) model of change supporting the process. The underpinnings of a humanistic approach to change permeates all portions of the OIP, which complements the relational and distributed leadership styles also integrated throughout the plan. Intertwining a systems theory approach to the overall process is important because the School of X is an integral part of the college. The framework integrated in the OIP is Nadler and Tushman’s (1980) congruence model, which complements Kotter’s (1996) model for leading change. When the OIP is implemented in the HE setting, it is anticipated that the faculty and staff of the School of X and community partners will collectively work on the identified initiatives, which will contribute to successful outcomes for students and the academic HEI.

Relationship-based approaches to leadership represent one of the fastest-growing leadership fields and help us to understand better organizational leadership. Relation-based approaches emphasize the relationship and interaction between the leader and the follower. The emphasis is placed on the way that they interact and influence each other at attaining mutual goals. It is known that leaders are linked to followers andvice versain a sense of responding to other's needs toward the achievement of mutual goals. Leaders and followers are an essential part of this social process implying that they are losing their traditional identity rooted in the formal organizational structure (manager-subordinate) and become inseparable actors of a co-constructing process of leadership. What is less known though is the way that leadership actors are linked to each other and in particular how they try to understand how to do that in the workplace. What is even less understood is the importance and role of consciousness in this relationship. Especially since consciousness appears to be both a fundamental and a very elusive element in human relations. Therefore, this paper conceptually explores the concept of consciousness within the context of the social brain theory to argue that leadership actors need to rethink their approach to individuality and focus on mutually dependent relations with each other. This paper contributes to the field of Neuro-management by introducing the concept ofHomo Relationalis. In this respect, we suggest that leadership is not just a socially constructed element but also a social brain constructed phenomenon that requires an understanding of the human brain as a social organ. We further recommend a new approach of applying cognitive style analysis to capture the duality of leader/follower in the same person, following the self-illusion theory. Finally, we conclude that we need to further emphasize asocial brain-adjusted relational leadership approachand we introduce two new cognitive styles that can help capture the essence of it.