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Leading Change in Complex Systems: A Paradigm Shift

LeMaster, Cheryl Faye
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7392-500X
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1500033972019138

Abstract Details

2017, Ph.D., Antioch University, Leadership and Change.
This qualitative study is an in-depth exploration of the experiences of 20 executive-level leaders from American corporations, government agencies, hospitals, and universities. At the heart of this investigation are stories that reveal the challenge of leading change in complex systems from the leader perspective, creating an opportunity to explore sense-making and sense-giving as guided by individual values and organizational contexts. Complexity Science, the framework for this research, is the study of relationships within and among systems. The aim of approaching this research from a complexity perspective is to gain a more realistic view of the issues and challenges that leaders face during change, and how they make meaning and respond in today’s richly interconnected and largely unpredictable information age. Results highlight the critical role an individual’s beliefs and values—as shaped by experience and guided by context—have on leadership and the organization’s approach to change implementation. This study identifies three leadership conceptual categories: (1) traditional (linear and hierarchical in nature); (2) complexity (non-linear, suited to densely interconnected and rapid-paced environments), and (3) complexity-plus (including change goals beyond the organization and its members). Though traditional and complexity styles are largely known in the literature, the complexity-plus style is a newly identified category. Drawing from Uhl-Bien, Marion, and McKelvey’s (2007) Complexity Leadership Theory (CLT) model, which delineates three leadership functions: (1) administrative (results orientation); (2) adaptive (learning orientation); and (3) enabling (support orientation), the key conclusions of this investigation are integrated with the CLT model to create the Leadership Values Framework. The results of this research contribute to our understanding of the influence of a leader’s values, enhancing our ability as academics and practitioners to better appreciate, support, and develop change leadership in a new paradigm. The electronic version of this dissertation is at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive http://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu
Alan Guskin, Ph.D (Committee Chair)
Elizabeth Holloway, Ph.D (Committee Member)
Merryn Rutledge, Ed.D (Committee Member)
Peter Martin Dickens, Ph.D (Committee Member)
224 p.
Behavioral Psychology; Organizational Behavior; Social Psychology
Qualitative study; Narrative Inquiry; Leading large-scale change; Leadership approach; Complexity Science; Complexity Theory; Complex Adaptive Systems; Executives; Workplace; Organizations

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • LeMaster, C. F. (2017). Leading Change in Complex Systems: A Paradigm Shift [Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1500033972019138

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • LeMaster, Cheryl . Leading Change in Complex Systems: A Paradigm Shift . 2017. Antioch University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1500033972019138.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • LeMaster, Cheryl . "Leading Change in Complex Systems: A Paradigm Shift ." Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1500033972019138

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

antioch1500033972019138
2,109
© 2017, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Antioch University and OhioLINK.