Relational leadership, storytelling and narratives : practices of local government chief executives
Abstract
This article examines the storytelling and narrative practices of an elite group of public administrators in the United Kingdom: local government chief executives. The authors do so through the lens of relationality, exploring the collective dimensions of leadership. The focus on leadership and stories embraces the narrative turn in public administration scholarship. It responds to calls for research examining the distinctive settings of everyday leadership action. The contribution to theory is a qualitative understanding of the relational ways in which stories and narratives are used in the practices of public administration leaders. The article analyzes four ways in which such leadership is accomplished: inviting an emotional connection and commitment to public service, making sense of organizational realities, provoking reflections on practices and assumptions, and managing relations with politicians. The authors offer an appreciation of how relational leadership influence can be generated by expressive narratives and storytelling rather than stemming from bureaucratic authority.
Citation
Orr , K & Bennett , M 2017 , ' Relational leadership, storytelling and narratives : practices of local government chief executives ' , Public Administration Review , vol. 77 , no. 4 , pp. 515-527 . https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12680
Publication
Public Administration Review
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0033-3352Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2016, The American Society for Public Administration This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12680
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