Political leadership in democracies: some lessons for business?

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show that, with demands from a widening range of stakeholders for more democratic approaches to governance, there is an evident need to develop alternative models of organizing. In seeking to understand how to conceptualise this alternative, an analysis of the organizational and political institutional contexts for leadership is provided.Design/methodology/approachAnalyses the main precepts of democracy to establish the basis upon which a comparison between these two contexts might be made. It distinguishes between the value premises of democracy and the structural mechanisms through which those principles are enacted and identifies the significant leadership processes that underpin these values. This analysis is then used as a basis for analyzing the leadership role in organizations.FindingsThe paper demonstrates that differences between the two settings are a matter of perspective: the structural mechanisms of democracy are not enacted rationally. In particular, the pre‐eminence of micro‐political activity is highlighted as a vehicle for the enactment of ethical behaviour and civic virtue in both settings.Practical implicationsApplying a political institutional approach to leading suggests the need to reconfigure the role of hierarchy to encourage self‐organization, valuing conflict, protection of weaker stakeholders, the legitimization of political activity and helping groups to forge their own identity.Originality/valueMost similar analyses are typically constructed within the canons of rational organization. Applying to businesses the principles of institutional leadership implies a significantly different model in which leaders promote and legitimise both the distribution and coalescing of power and the necessary dissent and debate required to reconcile a plurality of interests with the establishment of organizational coherence.