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Charlotta Levay
Senior lecturer
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Caring Leader Identity Between Power and Powerlessness
Author
Summary, in English
This paper investigates what happens when managers’ identity is centred on caring, an underappreciated aspect of leadership. Drawing on a case study of managers in elderly care, we distil an ideal-typical caring leader identity as well as contextualised interpretations that suggest both problematic and constructive aspects. The caring leader identity implies a self-understanding as being highly present, supportive and helpful to subordinates’ development. We find that the belief of making a decisive difference to others’ development by caring for them can be a deceptive fantasy that incites over-dependence among subordinates, particularly for ambitious managers who experience pressing situations and little power. Under better but likely less common conditions, managers can develop more modest expressions of a caring leader identity, leaving space for subordinates themselves to define problems and explore solutions.
Department/s
- Organizational Studies
Publishing year
2022
Language
English
Pages
953-972
Publication/Series
Organization Studies
Volume
43
Issue
6
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Topic
- Business Administration
Keywords
- caring leadership
- identity
- leadership
- managerial identity
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0170-8406