The Reciprocity Between (organizational) Structure and the Agents (leaders and followers): a study on relational leadership from Giddens structuration theory

Authors

  • Gustavo Simão Lima Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais
  • Antonio Carvalho Neto Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais
  • Marcelo Simão Lima Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais
  • Fernanda Versiani Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8077.2019V21n53p144

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the reciprocal influence among the organizational structure, leaders and followers, these as agents in relation to the structure, according to Giddens structuration theory and relational leadership theory. The theoretical framework highlights the four constructs of structuration theory (un/premeditated actions; recursiveness between human action and social structure; structure duality; routines and rules) and relational leadership (the one that most closely approximates structuration theory). Qualitative research performed semi-structured interviews with all 32 employees of a company in the infrastructure sector. Results show that the success of the organization was due to the reciprocal influence of leader-follower-structure, both in Giddens and in relational leadership, resulting from the capacities to: bring about change; use available rules and resources; face unintended consequences; treat each individual as possessing a single entity. This article contributes with a gap in the literature of leadership when resorting to the theory of structuring.

Author Biographies

Gustavo Simão Lima, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais

Doutor em Administração pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais (2014). Mestre em Administração pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais (2009). 

Antonio Carvalho Neto, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais

Professor do PPGA da PUC Minas–Coordenador do NERHURT da PUC Minas - Núcleo de Estudos em Recursos Humanos e Relações de Trabalho - Member of the Executive Committee of IFSAM - International Federation of Scholarly Associations of Management.

Marcelo Simão Lima, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais

Doutorando em Administração pelo PPGA/PUC-MG. Professor do Grupo IBMEC Educacional S.A. e da Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, em cursos de graduação e pós graduação lato sensu. Mestre em Administração pela Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (2006). 

Fernanda Versiani, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais

Doutoranda em Administração na Universidade PUC Minas (PPGA), voltada para área de Relações de trabalho e Recursos Humanos, como bolsista da CAPES. Mestre em Administração pela Universidade PUC Minas; Pesquisadora  do Núcleo de Estudos em Recursos Humanos e Relações de Trabalho (NERHURT).

References

ABELL, E.; SIMONS, S. How much can you bend before you break: an experience of using constructionist consulting as a toll for organizational learning in the corporate world. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psycology, v. 9, n.2, p. 159-175, 2000.

ANDERSON, H. J.; BAUR, J. E.; GRIFFITH, J. A.; BUCKLEY, M. R. What works for you may not work for (Gen)Me: Limitations of present leadership theories for the new generation. The Leadership Quarterly, v. 28, p. 245–260, 2017.

ANGELONI, M. A influência dos fatores culturais e linguísticos nas representações da decisão. Anais... EnANPAD, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil, v. 24, 2000.

BAUER, M. W., GASKELL, G.; ALLUM, N. C. Pesquisa qualitativa como texto, imagem e som: manual prático. (2a ed.). Petrópolis: Vozes, 2002.

BLAKE, R.; MOUTON, J. S. O grid gerencial. 3. ed. São Paulo: Pioneira, 1973.

BRADBURY, H.; LICHTENSTEIN, B. Relationality in organizational research: exploring the “space between”. Organization Science, v. 11, n. 5, p. 551-564, 2000.

CARVALHO NETO, A.; TANURE, B.; MOTA-SANTOS, M. C.; LIMA, G. S. Executivos Brasileiros: na contramão do perfil deificado da liderança transformacional. Revista de Ciências da Administração, v. 14, n.32, p. 35-49, 2012.

DAY, D.V.; FLEENOR, J.W.; ATWATER, L.E.; STURM, R.E.; MCKEE, R.A. Advances in leader and leadership development: A review of 25 years of research and theory. The Leadership Quarterly, v. 25, p. 63–82, 2014.

DINH, J. E.; LORD, R. G.; GARDNER, W. L.; MEUSER, J. D.; LIDEN, R. C.; HU, J. Leadership theory and research in the new millennium: Current theoretical trends and changing perspectives. The Leadership Quarterly, v. 25, p. 36–62, 2014.

GIDDENS, A. A Constituição da sociedade (2a ed., 3a ed.). São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 2003, 2009.

GIDDENS, A. Capitalism & modern social theory: an analysis of the writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber (15a ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

GIDDENS, A. Política, sociologia e teoria social: encontros com o pensamento clássico e contemporâneo. São Paulo: Fundação Editora da UNESP, 1998.

GIDDENS, A. Sociologia. Porto Alegre: Artmed, 2005.

GIRARDI, D.; SOUZA, I. M.; GIRARDI, J. F. O processo de liderança e a gestão do conhecimento organizacional: as práticas das maiores indústrias catarinenses. Revista de Ciências da Administração, v. 14, n. 32, p. 65-76, 2012.

GODOY, A. Pesquisa qualitativa: tipos fundamentais. Revista de Administração de Empresas, v. 35, n.3, p. 65-71, 1995.

GOLDENBERG, M. A arte de pesquisar: como fazer pesquisa qualitativa em Ciências Sociais. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Record, 2002.

HOLMBERG, R. Organizational learning and participation: some critical reflections from a relation perspective. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psicology, v. 9, n.2, p. 177-188, 2000.

HUNT, J. G. What is leadership?. In: J. Antonakis, A. T. Cianciolo and R. J. Sternberg, Editors, The nature of leadership, Sage Publications, p. 19–48, 2004.

KURUCZ, E. et al., Relational leadership for strategic sustainability: practices and capabilities to advance the design and assessment of sustainable business models. Journal of Cleaner Production, v. 140, n. 1, p. 189-204, 2017.

LAVILLE, C.; DIONNE, J. A construção do saber: manual de metodologia da pesquisa em ciências humanas. Porto Alegre: Artes Médicas Sul Ltda, 1999.

PERES, M. R.; PEREIRA, J. R. Teoria da estruturação forte aplicada aos estudos organizacionais. Revista de Ciências da Administração, v. 16, n. 40, p. 45-58, 2014.

QUIVY, R.; CAMPENHOUDT, L. V. Manual de Investigação em Ciências Sociais (2a ed.). Lisboa: Gradiva, 1998.

REITZ, M. Leading Questions: Dialogue in organizations: Developing relational leadership. Leadership, v. 13, n. 4, p. 516–522, 2017.

SANT’ANNA, A.; VAZ, S.; NELSON, R.; CAMPOS, M.; LEONEL, J. A. Constructivist perspective on leadership thought among Brazilian and North-American scholars. Brazilian Administration Review - BAR, v.8, p. 205-224, 2011.

SANT’ANNA, A. S.; PADILHA, L. S.; TREVISOL, M.; FILIPPIM, E. S.; BENCKE, F. F. Liderança e Sustentabilidade: Contribuições de Estudos sobre Dinâmicas Socioespaciais de Reconversão e Requalificação de Funções Econômicas. RACE: Revista de Administração, Contabilidade e Economia, v. 16, n. 3, p. 1133-1160, 2017.

SMIT, B.; SCHERMAN, V. A case for relational leadership and an ethics of care for counteracting bullying at schools. South African Journal of Education, v.36, n. 4, 2016.

SWEENEY, A.; CLARKE, N.; HIGGS, M. Shared Leadership in Commercial Organizations: A Systematic Review of Definitions, Theoretical Frameworks and Organizational Outcomes. International Journal of Management Reviews, v. 00, p. 1–22, 2018.

TRIVINOS, A. Introdução à pesquisa qualitativa em ciências sociais: a pesquisa qualitativa em educação. São Paulo: Atlas, 1987.

UHL-BIEN, M. Relational Leadership Theory: Exploring the social processes of leadership and organizing. The Leadership Quarterly. 2006.

UHL-BIEN, M.; OSPINA, S. Advancing Relational Leadership Research: A Dialogue Among Perspectives. Leadership Horizons, Greenwich: Information Age Publishing, 2012.

UHL-BIEN, M.; et al., Followership theory: A review and research agenda. The Leadership Quarterly, v. 25, n. 1, p. 83-104, 2014.

YIN, R. K. Estudo de Caso: Planejamento e Métodos. Porto Alegre: Bookman, 2001.

YULK, G.; WALL, S.; LEPSINGER, R. Preliminary report on validation of the management practices survey. In K. E. Clark & M. B. Clark. Measures of Leadership. New Jersey: Leadership Library of America, 1990.

Downloads

Published

2019-04-12

How to Cite

Lima, G. S., Carvalho Neto, A., Lima, M. S., & Versiani, F. (2019). The Reciprocity Between (organizational) Structure and the Agents (leaders and followers): a study on relational leadership from Giddens structuration theory. Revista De Ciências Da Administração, 21(53), 144–159. https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8077.2019V21n53p144

Issue

V.21 N.53 Abril de 2019

Section

Articles

License

The author must ensure:

  • that there is complete consensus among all co-authors to approve the final version of the paper and its submission for publication.
  • that their work is original, and if the work and/or words of others have been used, these have been duly acknowledged.

Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. RCA reserves the right to use software or any other methods of plagiarism detection.

All submissions received for evaluation in the RCA journal are screened for plagiarism and self-plagiarism. Plagiarism identified in manuscripts during the evaluation process will result in the submission being archived. In the event of plagiarism being identified in a manuscript published in the journal, the Editor-in-Chief will conduct a preliminary investigation and, if necessary, retract it.

Authors grant RCA exclusive rights of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons (CC BY) 4.0 International License.

Authors are authorized to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this journal (e.g., publishing in an institutional repository, on a personal website, publishing a translation, or as a chapter in a book), with an acknowledgement of its authorship and initial publication in this journal.

This license grants any user the right to:

Share – copy, download, print, or redistribute the material in any medium or format.

Adapt – remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.

According to the following terms:

Attribution – You must give appropriate credit (cite and reference), provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

No additional restrictions – You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.