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Developing Distributed Leadership: Leadership Emergence in a Sporting Context

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Challenging Leadership Stereotypes through Discourse

Abstract

Using the concept of distributed leadership, this paper demonstrates not only that having multiple leaders in an organisation is an effective way of structuring leadership, but that it allows for a range of leadership styles to be performed, each of which meets the immediate needs of a community of practice within an organisation. Leadership is shown to be a skill that is acquired through situated learning, and it is through the analysis of leadership discourse that we can see how different leadership styles are developed and negotiated at a local level. Thus, by analysing leadership discourse in a rugby team, this paper challenges the stereotype of the ‘born leader’ and adds further weight to the idea that multiple leaders in an organisation is not only a useful strategy, it is also one that can support leadership emergence and development from within an organisation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A notable example is former All Black Jonah Lomu, who began as a forward but as a professional played as a back. A less notable example is the author of this chapter.

  2. 2.

    I am using capitalisation to denote whether I am referring to a positional group or a CofP. Forwards and Backs are the CofPs in the team based on the positional groups.

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  1. Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

    Nick Wilson

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  1. Nick Wilson
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Correspondence to Nick Wilson .

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  1. Malmö University, Malmö, United Arab Emirates

    Cornelia Ilie

  2. Centre for Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick, Coventry, Warwickshire, United Kingdom

    Stephanie Schnurr

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Wilson, N. (2017). Developing Distributed Leadership: Leadership Emergence in a Sporting Context. In: Ilie, C., Schnurr, S. (eds) Challenging Leadership Stereotypes through Discourse. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4319-2_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4319-2_7

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