Researchers in POLO contribute to research in leadership and leadership development – often in relation to organizational learning. POLO research projects in leadership and leadership development focus on leadership practices and approaches for enhancing sustainability and the organizational opportunities for learning, collaboration, and development.
Relational leading
Researchers in POLO have contributed to research in and the furthering development of social constructionist ideas in relation to management theory and leadership development. These ideas have been integrated in the notion of Relational Leading.
POLO researchers inspired by social constructionist ideas are part of a broader international network of researchers engaged in leadership and leadership development based on the social constructionist thinking. In this perspective, leadership is seen as a relational activity which emerges from conversation, interaction and coordinated action, as leadership develops through the micro-processes of everyday interaction in and around the organization.
POLOs research projects in Relational Leading focus on processes of communication and relational dimensions of organizational life and is, in relation to these issues, concerned with multivocality, sensemaking and co-creation of knowledge and organizational learning through interactive, dialogical processes.
Systemic leadership
Systems Theory has shaped both international research and Danish institutional practices on leadership for decades. Senior researchers in POLO were prominent in introducing Systems Theory in research, management, consultation and organizational development in Denmark. Junior researchers in POLO continue this tradition and expand and advance practices and concepts in Systemic Leadership drawing on complexity theory and sustainability perspectives.
The Systems Theory understanding of the world in terms of complex, independent open systems, creating systems of systems, have had a renewed relevance in conceptualizing, handling and organizing efforts and research in relation to societal, complex problems which are constituted by multiple actors and demanding cross-disciplinary whole-encompassing solutions.
Researches in POLO have contributed in translating the world view of Systems Theory into principles of Systemic Leadership, emphasizing acceptance that leaders can never possess a full overview but can enact a will to expand their perspective by studying the whole system and listening to the many voices in the organization and furthering reflection, generative conversation and teamwork.
Sustainable leadership
Sustainable leadership is a recent research area in POLO. Sustainable leadership is about leading the organization in directions that will ensure the organization to reach its goals in ways that do not prohibit others to do the same. Sustainable leadership focus on employees and means of production as well as the environment of the operating organization – both locally and globally.
Sustainable leadership is about understanding that organizations grow from life and must therefore also have life as an end goal. Explicitly, organizations must handle human and material processes transparently and with respect for the overall systemic balance. Implicitly, this understanding must characterize the culture and the general atmosphere of the organization and reflect in attitudes such as shared responsibility, consideration and commitment.
Researchers in POLO are concerned with how organizations may transform in sustainable directions, and the role of management in doing so. Specific research projects investigate how the UN 17 sustainable development goals may be used as an onset for organizational development – particularly in small and medium sized enterprises.
The research interest in sustainable leadership is related to POLOs research in work environment as sustainable leadership is also about creating organizations for employees to thrive in, that is, organizations with a focus on balance and on humanizing the workplace for employees to unfold their collective capacity.