2.7.1 Leadership and New Forms of Organization

In line with the emergence of new forms of organization, traditional hierarchies have been “flattened,” and the range of control with which first-line managers are tasked has been considerably widened. This has placed new demands on the leadership and on the leader's competence.

Leadership has been redefined in the direction of a new, more development-based leadership, the focus of which is on supporting and creating the conditions for employees to learn, develop their skills and acquire independent problem-solving capabilities.

2.7.2 Post-Bureaucratic Organizing

Recent research has built on these findings and has sparked a debate about leadership in the context of a phenomenon known as post-bureaucratic organizing. Such an organization is flatter and less hierarchical than the more bureaucratic organizations of the past. This concept emphasizes employee participation in decisions about the design and development of the enterprise, and is characterized by teamwork and organizing accomplished through networks both within and between organizations. A common denominator here is the emphasis on everyone sharing responsibility for achieving the enterprise's objectives, along with the emphasis on significant degrees of freedom in how work is performed – responsible autonomy and empowerment.

2.7.3 Lean Leadership

One variation of a leadership style inspired by the post-bureaucratic organization, and which has been drawing more and more attention in recent years – following on the heels of the lean organization – is what is referred to as Lean leadership. Dombrowski and Mielke describe five different principles that characterize Lean leadership:

• The focus is on making continuous improvements and making efforts to entrench a culture of improvement or “Lean culture”.
• The manager serves as an important role model , and continually strives to increase his or her competence and ability to lead and support subordinate personnel.
• The manager's job has to do with supporting the long-term development and learning of his or her staff, and to seize upon ideas and experiences gained from managing problems (a problem is an opportunity for improvement).
• All work is performed with the client's interests in mind.
• Because the manager's work does not add value to the customer directly, the manager has to be close to the work that does add value – in other words, close to the personnel that produce.

2.7.4 Leadership Researcher

2.7.5 Think About It

Consider the following questions:

Have you ever been a member of or the leader of a group in which you were able to recognize the three phases of FIRO?
What happened to the group's psychosocial environment in these phases?
Would you have acted differently in the group if you had been aware of FIRO?