Navigating Dynamic Tensions: A Social Network Framework for Leadership Development

Abstract

Leadership development trajectories among women in higher education leadership are permeated with a multitude of dynamic tensions. Paving the way to advancement, dynamic tensions encompass perpetual ‘holding’ patterns of enabling and constraining forces on the path to development. What frames the continuum of these bidirectional forces is the social context of institutions and organizations as systems of interdependent social interactions. In other words, institutions and organizations are imbued with the sociality of (1) cognitive-affective schemas, (2) dynamics of relational exchange, and (3) innerworkings of structural coordination among collectives. The multilevel interplay between these three domains is activated within channels of interactions – the visible and invisible social networks weaved into the fabric of social systems. At the intersection of these domains in social networks is social capital. Social capital mobilized within social networks can cast light on salient pathways to leadership development. Yet even when illuminated, such pathways are nonlinear, since the bidirectional forces within social networks introduce dynamic tensions into the scope of developmental trajectories. How can women in higher education leadership navigate the dynamic tensions in social networks and mobilize social capital to develop leadership capacity? Drawing on social cognitive and social exchange theories, I explore this question by delineating a conceptual framework that captures the multilevel context of enabling and constraining forces on the path to leadership development. In doing so, I offer a developmental roadmap for women in higher education leadership that articulates tensions in aims, values, and expectations driving individual and collective action.