Stimulating Organisational Democracy

This book represents a body of work developed over 10 years in the areas of management learning and organizational politics, change and democracy. It focuses on the role of hierarchy in balancing the need for business coherence with the ever burgeoning plurality of business life. In recent years, there have been a variety of ideas that have illuminated this debate. However, this book argues that none provides senior managers with robust and practical methods of re-conceptualising the role of hierarchy. Based on this analysis, this book makes a contribution to knowledge in three interrelated areas. Firstly, by developing the concept of voluntarism, as an alternative organizational binding mechanism that alters the rationale for the role of hierarchy. Secondly, this is operationalised as a form of ‘representative’ leadership. Research is provided which explores the behavioural dimensions of this approach to leadership. The findings are suggestive of a democratic orientation toward leading and organizing, and on this basis, the third contribution focuses on how such leadership may be more widely adopted through executive education.