Mid Sweden University

Purpose – The concept of “communicative leadership” is used in organisations that analyse and develop leaders’ communication competence. A scholarly definition of this concept is lacking, and the implications of leaders’ communication and the development of communication competence for organisations are rarely discussed. The purpose of this paper is to create a theoretical framework around the concept of “communicative leadership”, which can contribute to future research and development of leaders’ communication competence.

Design/methodology/approach – Three research questions were addressed: what communicative behaviours are central to leaders? How can “communicative leaders” be characterised? What is a “communicative leader”? Literature from the leadership and communication research fields was reviewed and related to these questions.

Findings – Four central communicative behaviours of leaders (i.e. structuring, facilitating, relating, and representing), eight principles of communicative leadership, and a tentative definition are presented. A communicative leader is defined as someone who engages employees in dialogue, actively shares and seeks feedback, practices participative decision making, and is perceived as open and involved.

Practical implications – A theoretical foundation to the practice of analysing and developing leaders’ communication competence is provided, which is related to employee engagement and organisational performance.

Originality/value – Communicative leadership is a concept emerging from organisational needs, articulated by corporate and public organisation leaders. This article links its core constructs to academic quantitative and qualitative research in an integrated framework, which can guide further research and the development of leaders’ communication competence.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to enhance the knowledge of how leadership concepts are embraced by leadership actors and perceived to influence relationships between leaders and co-workers. Specifically, the authors aim to investigate how leaders and co-workers discursively construct the concept of “communicative leadership” and its practices and perceive that communicative leadership influences relationships, work processes, and agency.Design/methodology/approach– The authors analyzed interviews with leaders and co-workers in two Swedish business organizations about their understandings and experiences of leadership.Findings– Communicative processes that enhance co-worker agency, defined as a capacity to act; include: facilitating autonomy, sharing responsibility, and mutual participation. Relational and discursive leadership processes such as responsiveness and dialogue were seen to enhance mutual participation in both organizations. Broader Swedish cultural macro discourses shaped the leader/co-worker relationship, making agency a relational accomplishment rather than an individual phenomenon.Research limitations/implications– This study relies on data from individual and focus group interviews, rather than direct observation of leadership processes.Practical implications– Findings suggest that organizations would benefit from making explicit their goals and expectations for communicative leadership in their respective social and cultural contexts.Originality/value– The authors provide new theoretical and empirical knowledge of leaders’ and co-workers’ discursive construction of a leadership concept; leadership communication research in the Swedish context; empirical research on communicative leadership as an empowering form of leadership communication; and how leadership communication discourse on a micro level is connected to organizational and macro-social cultural levels.

This study employs a discursive lens to empirically analyze the sensemaking of leaders and employees’ communication in four different cultural contexts within a multinational organization. Communicative leaders were defined and recontextualized as strategists, interpreters/translators, instructors/facilitators, and sensemakers, considering their communication behaviors and attitudes to employees. Data suggest that the recontextualization of micro-discourses of communication and leadership emphasizes the interplay of local and global contexts in discourses of leadership. The data also indicate that contexts (and consequently macro- and micro-discourses) are blended in leaders’ and employees’ accounts, shaping constructions of communicative leadership depending on different contextual conditions. The interplay is important to form a suitable leadership discourse that makes sense for the local members and helps them work together more effectively.

Purpose – This purpose of this paper is to explore the discursive constructions of context and its significance in employees’ accounts of leadership practices, more specifically, discourses of communicative leadership. In doing so, it also seeks to clarify the relationship between perceptions and constructions of contexts and leadership discourses. Design/methodology/approach – This study relies on focus group interviews conducted with nine groups and a total of 31 employees (16 males and 15 females) in a Swedish industrial organization employing 490 employees. Findings – The findings reveal that micro-contexts were more evident influencing leadership discourses in the accounts of employees. However, macro-contexts identified as an authoritative leadership style were triggering constructions of “idealized” communicative leaders in contrast to the leadership experienced in the work environment by employees as “real.” Research limitations/implications – The investigation presents one organizational context, but can be expanded using additional contexts that may show various leadership forms and communication needs. Findings suggest that understanding the context considered to be relevant to perceptions and constructions of leadership can be essential for identifying and confronting challenges, leading to a more communicative organization. Originality/value – The study approaches leadership and context as dynamic and multifaceted constructs shaped locally in interaction with macro-discourses. Further, it also suggests that individuals are agents of change controlling context through being aware of their discourses.

This study investigates organizational leaders’ discourses and how they are embedded in organizational and national structures and relate to leadership and communication in two Swedish organizations. This study has social constructionist aspirations and invokes qualitative, discursive, and interpretive perspectives. The findings, based on 27 interviews with leaders at various levels in the two industries, indicate that leaders’ discourses are affected differently by national and organizational cultural structures and are related to the circumstances affecting the construction of communicative leadership in these organizations. In a strongly established organizational culture national, context has less influence because members are loyal to the communication and leadership views of the organization in question. Discourses of commu- nicative leadership and Swedish leadership are relevant to the organization that work to make its leaders more communicative. However, notwithstanding the predominance of national or organisational leadership and communication views, leaders remain viewing themselves as the main leadership actors. The study also seeks to extend the knowledge of the concept of communicative leadership contributing to the understanding of its definition in relation to characteristics of national and organizational cultures. Keywords: communication; leadership; communicative leadership; discourse; national culture; organizational culture.

Este estudo investiga os discursos de líderes em duas organizações suecas e como esses estão envolvidos em estruturas organizacionais e nacionais associadas à liderança e comunicação.O estudo tem um enfoque socialconstrutivista e evoca perspectivas qualitativas, discursivas e interpretativas. As conclusões, baseadas em 27 entrevistas com líderes de diversos níveis hierárquicos, indicam que, nas ditas indústrias, os discursos dos líderes são influenciados de formas distintas por estruturas organizacionais e culturais. Também indicam que esses discursos estão circunstancialmente associados à construção da liderança comunicativa. Em uma cultura organizacional fortemente estabelecida, o fator nacional possui menos relevância, uma vez que os empregados das organizações estudadas aderem mais às visões de comunicação e liderança das próprias empresas. Discursos sobre liderança comunicativa e o estilo próprio de liderança sueca são relevantes para uma organização que objetiva investir no aperfeiçoamento comunicativo de seus líderes. Contudo, a despeito de os padrões de comunicação e liderança serem nacionais ou organizacionais, os líderes ainda se concebem como os principais agentes do processo de liderar. Esse estudo também procura expandir o conhecimento do conceito de liderança comunicativa e contribuir para a compreensão de sua definição em relação às características das culturas nacional e organizacional. Palavras-chave: comunicação; liderança; liderança comunicativa; discurso; cultura nacional; cultura organizacional.

Este estudio investiga los discursos de líderes de dos organizaciones suecas, cómo estos se involucran a los sistemas organizacionales y nacionales y cómo describen las nociones de liderazgo y comunicación. El estudio tiene un abordaje socio-constructivista y utiliza perspectivas cualitativas, discursivas e interpretativas. Las conclusiones, basadas en 27 entrevistas con líderes de diversos niveles jerárquicos, indican que en las industrias suecas citadas los discursos de los jefes son afectados diferentemente por la cultura organizacional y nacional. Además, esos discursos circunstancialmente colaboran para la construcción del liderazgo comunicativo en sus respectivas compañías. En una cultura organizacional fuertemente establecida, el con- texto nacional tiene menos influencia, ya que los empleados obedecen más a las visiones de liderazgo y comunicación de las mismas empresas. Los discursos de liderazgo comunicativo y el estilo sueco de liderar son relevantes para las organizaciones que anhelan desarrollar las competencias comunicativas de sus líderes. Sin embargo, independiente de que las visiones de comunicación y liderazgo sean organizacionales o culturales, los líderes aún se consideran como agentes principales del proceso de liderar. Esta investigación también busca ampliar el conocimiento acerca del concepto de liderazgo comunicativo, comprendiéndolo a partir de sus características culturales y organizacionales. Palabras clave: comunicación; liderazgo; liderazgo comunicativo; discurso; cultura nacional; cultura organizacional.