The “permanent” acting leader: Insights from a dying indian r&d organization

Abstract

Despite its frequent occurrence in educational institutions, the phenomenon of the “acting leader” has not received much attention in the academic literature. Moreover, the extant literature is situated largely in the context of organizations, such as universities, in which interim administrations are succeeded by duly appointed regular administrations. Organizational continuity is implicit in such a treatment of the topic. In contrast, in a dying organization, a leadership vacancy may remain unfilled, giving rise to the oxymoron of the “permanent” acting leader. Our inductive approach to the study of the acting director of one such Indian federal R&D organization reveals several theoretical insights, not the least of which is a turnabout in perspective from the `crisis-induced departures' of incumbents to the “departure-induced crises” faced by acting leaders.