Organic Community Leadership: An Integrated Perspective

Abstract

Community, characterised by reciprocity and mutuality, represents one of the fundamental bases upon which society is built. Community leadership is a distinct leadership style that refers to civic-minded individuals who voluntarily and organically self-organise and devote their efforts towards leading issues of importance within their communities. This organic community leadership is a ‘collective relational phenomenon’ that is favoured in dynamic environments; the voluntary action of people within a community can help tackle community challenges at scale, with speed, and result in grassroot innovations. Despite its positive role in society, community leadership faces additional challenges to leadership in organisational settings, including understanding the spatial boundaries of a domain which spans different social fields, fostering linkages among groups where there is no formal authorisation, being receptive to varying ideologies, capabilities, and divergent viewpoints to foster collaboration, and managing unequal power distribution and divergent political agendas. The above opportunities and challenges posed by community leadership has meant that the past few decades have seen growing attention placed on the study of community leadership. Gaps remain in the body of knowledge in supporting the effective execution of community leadership. Authors argue that the leadership literature remains fragmented, many leadership frameworks/models remain agnostic of context, and there is a need for improved understanding of where and by whom leadership is enacted. Most studies to date concentrate on discrete aspects of the community leadership sphere. A more integrated perspective on organic community leadership is needed. Based on a SLR, this paper presents an integrated framework for organic community leadership. The framework emphasises human agency and fostering the collective efficacy of a broad coalition of community stakeholders to work towards a common purpose. It recognises the legitimisation process of emerging leaders and key leader behavioural considerations, framed within the context of fostering an appropriate environment for community cohesion, collaboration, and action. Thus, this paper takes a step towards providing a more holistic stance on the community leadership phenomenon.