Distributed Leadership : Potential & Implementation through self-managed teams

Abstract:

In days of growing competitiveness, notions of efficiency, productivity and innovation are central inquiries of organizations. In order to meet those challenges, a special attention has to be made to the way the organization is leading its workforce. Leadership is the key component holding together organizations and connecting it to its goal. However, this Leadership should take into account all the internal and external demands of the organizations in order to adapt to it. By looking into a way to match Leadership to its demands, we have developed our model of Distributed Leadership. Detaching the lead from a singular individual and empowering people are solving the main issues that organizations are facing these days. Moreover, it is a unique way of valuing the workforce and capturing its potential. Distributed leadership can be seen as a probable trend in the next decade, because it has already proven its benefits in many organizations.

In this thesis, we develop our own model of Distributed Leadership that emerged from our research. We collected secondary data through an extended literature review, and we combined it with empirical data collected through case studies realized by the mean of interviews. We focused on illustrating the potential of Distributed Leadership and developing its process of implementation in order for organizations to meet its benefits.