Identity undoing and power relations in leadership development

Bibliographic Data

ID9890709
AuthorsHelen Nicholson (0000-0003-0921-2758, Lund University, corresponding author), Brigid Carroll (0000-0002-0919-9525, University of Auckland, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume66
Issue9
Pages1225-1248
Publication date2013-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHuman Relations (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-7267 • E-ISSN: 1741-282X
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0018726712469548
OpenAlexW2125862562
LanguageEN
Citations received34
References cited68

Leadership development theory and practice is increasingly turning its gaze on identity as a primary focus for development efforts. Most of this literature focuses on how the identities of participants are strengthened, repaired and evolved. This article focuses on identity work practices that are underdeveloped in the literature: the deconstruction, unravelling and letting go that can be experienced when working upon one’s self. We group these experiences, among others, under the conceptual term ‘identity undoing’ and, based on findings from an 18-month ethnographic study of a leadership development program, we offer five manifestations of how it can be experienced. Through foregrounding the undoing of identity, we are able to look more closely at how power relations shape the leadership development experience. In order to raise questions and propositions for leadership and its development we use a micro-sociological and interactionist approach to explore the interplay between identity and power

Aesthetics · Epistemology · Foregrounding · Identity (music · Identity formation · Leadership development · Political science · Power (physics · Psychoanalysis · Public relations · Self-concept · Social science · Sociology · Undoing · Adult and Continuing Education Topics · Gender Studies · Innovative Education and Learning Practices · Management and Organizational Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology