Complexity & Chaos Perspectives on Leadership

Ralph Angeles

cc: michael.heiss - https://www.flickr.com/photos/15748454@N00

Politics is an inevitable process in higher education.

cc: theqspeaks - https://www.flickr.com/photos/83261600@N00

• Easton defined politics "as social interactions that are oriented toward the authoritative allocation of values (as cited in Love and Estanek, 2004, p.30).

cc: rocor - https://www.flickr.com/photos/16482030@N00

PowerWhether you are a vice president or a residence hall director, power is something everyone has.

cc: Hindrik S - https://www.flickr.com/photos/63991153@N00

What is pervasive leadership?

cc: Raymond Bryson - https://www.flickr.com/photos/28050278@N02

According to Patrick and Love (2004, p. 38),"pervasive leadership is

individually generated relationships and actions among members

throughout an organization focused on struggling together to influence

and promote organizational learning and accomplish positive changes to

benefit the common good."cc: VinothChandar - https://www.flickr.com/photos/44345361@N06

Fundamental Practices of Exemplary Leadership

• Challenging the process• Inspiring a shared vision• Enabling others to act• Modeling the way• Encouraging the heart

cc: Celestine Chua - https://www.flickr.com/photos/69065182@N00

Pervasive Leadership• Individually Generated: Each Person's

Role• Relationships: The Connections Among

Individuals• Actions: The Doing of Leadership• Organization: Systems of Rleationships• Struggling Together: The Role of Affect

and Intention

cc: pedrosimoes7 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/46944516@N00

Pervasive Leadership (continued)

• Influence: The Role of Power• Organizational Learning:

Challenging Assumptions• Positive Change: Transforming

Meaning• Benefit the Common Good: The

Root of Vision and Meaningcc: poptech - https://www.flickr.com/photos/40287103@N07

Practicing Pervasive Leadership

• Expand the Organizational Capacity for Pervasive Leadership

• Expand the Opportunity for Pervasive Leadership Within Organizations

• Enhance Individual Abilities for Pervasive Leadership

• Training for Pervasive Leadershipcc: MDGovpics - https://www.flickr.com/photos/64018555@N03

Practicing Pervasive Leadership (continued)

• Individual Development and Learning

• Exhibit Pervasive Leadership• Trimtabbing: A Metaphor for

Pervasive Leadership

cc: Official U.S. Air Force - https://www.flickr.com/photos/39513508@N06

You cannot expect the same type of concepts to continue to apply with the changing

times.

cc: tomasz.cc - https://www.flickr.com/photos/63514957@N05

What is Complexity Leadership Theory?

cc: garlandcannon - https://www.flickr.com/photos/12596956@N06

"CLT is a framework for leadership that enables the learning, creative, and adaptive capacity of CAS. At the same time, it enables control structures appropriate for coordinating formalorganizations and producing outcomes

appropriate to the vision and mission of the system" (Uhl-Bien, Marion, and

McKelvey, 2007, p. 4).cc: garlandcannon - https://www.flickr.com/photos/12596956@N06

A Framework for Complexity Leadership Theory

• Administrative Leadership• Adaptive Leadership• Enabling Leadership

cc: Gwendal_ - https://www.flickr.com/photos/10661825@N07

Administrative Leader"Administrative leadership, being the bureaucratic function, is defined as the actions of• individuals in formal managerial

roles who plan and coordinate organizational activities" (Uhl-Bien et al., 2004, p. 6).

cc: NASA Goddard Photo and Video - https://www.flickr.com/photos/24662369@N07

Adaptive Leadership"Adaptive leadership is defined as an interactive, collaborative dynamic that produces adaptive outcomes in a social system. It originates in struggles over conflicting needs, ideas or preferences• and results in alliances of people, ideas,

technologies, and cooperative efforts" (Uhl-Bien et al., 2007, p. 6).

cc: matthileo - https://www.flickr.com/photos/38383999@N06

Enabling Leadership• "Enabling leadership in the CLT seeks

to cultivate conditions (contexts, complex networks) that catalyze adaptive leadership. It promotes these networks by fostering interaction and interdependency and by injecting adaptive tension" (Uhl-Bien et al., 2007, p. 7).

cc: Daryl I - https://www.flickr.com/photos/69696287@N04

Power or Productivity?

cc: toffehoff - https://www.flickr.com/photos/91545449@N00

According to Maril MacDonald, leaders often

choose power over productivity (Wheatley, 2012).

cc: charlesdyer - https://www.flickr.com/photos/17809872@N00

Macro-managing can instead lead to greater productivity

and less resentment towards the leader.

cc: Travis S. - https://www.flickr.com/photos/51378257@N00

What is a system?

cc: D.Boyarrin - https://www.flickr.com/photos/46317709@N07

A system allows us to better comprehend the world

around us.

cc: D.Boyarrin - https://www.flickr.com/photos/46317709@N07

So what is a complex system?

cc: Gwendal_ - https://www.flickr.com/photos/10661825@N07

A complex system is "a measurement of the number of elements within our system,...the degree of connectivity within a system,...when elements become capable of adapting their behavior over time can become

increasingly complex,...and it is also a measure of the degree of diversity

between elements within a system" (Complexity Learning, 2014).

cc: Stuck in Customs - https://www.flickr.com/photos/95572727@N00

References• Complexity Learning. (2014, April 18).

Complexity Science: 2 Complexity Theory [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=P00A9IZ7Pog&list=PLsfl7Ld1Qa26_ lsCCo9G3Y5tLk_QMsf01• Love, P., & Estanek, S. (2004).

Rethinking student affairs practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

cc: Iwan Gabovitch - https://www.flickr.com/photos/21051491@N02

Refernces (continued)• Uhl-Bien, M., Marion, R., & McKelvey, B.

(2007). Complexity Leadership Theory: Shifting leadership from the industrial age to the knowledge era. The

Leadership Quarterly, 18(4), 298-318.• Wheatley, M. [Gagen MacDonald]. (2012,

July 10). Let Go & Lead: Meg Wheatley On controlling chaos [Video file].

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=qvrD 2Po3uUYcc: Iwan Gabovitch - https://www.flickr.com/photos/21051491@N02