Holmes, J. (2009) "Well shout at them a bit eh": leadership discourse in culture and context. In: 1st International Conference on Meaning and Interaction (i-Mean@UWE 2009), University of the West of England, Bristol, U.K., Apr 23-25, 2009. Published in: i-Mean@UWE: Meaning and Interaction Book of Abstracts p. 10.

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Abstract

Leadership construction is a complex balancing act (Grint 2005). Universally it seems that leaders are required to present themselves as decisive and authoritative, but in different cultures these requirements need to be weighed alongside competing and even contradictory sociocultural expectations (Jackson and Parry 2001). Consequently, those who aspire to be successful leaders must be aware of and negotiate a wide variety of constraints in accomplishing the project of constructing a convincing leadership identity. Relevant constraints range from broad societal and institutional constraints, through those based in the cultural norms of particular organisations and communities of practice, to the situational constraints of a specific interaction. Underpinning all these in New Zealand society is the influence of Maori cultural values and interactional norms (Ka’ai & Reilly 2004). Drawing on the extensive research of the Wellington Language in the Workplace project (Holmes and Stubbe 2003, www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/lwp), this talk explores the challenge that balancing and negotiating competing constraints presents for those who aspire to effective leadership in New Zealand organisations. Data recorded by leaders in three different organisations is used to illustrate the relevance of culture and social context in the construction of an appropriate leadership identity in New Zealand. The analysis examines, in particular, the subtle ways in which the different constraints are evident in the discourse of leaders in Maori and Pakeha organisations.

Item Type:	Conference Item (Keynote)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management H Social Sciences > HM Sociology P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Centre for Applied Linguistics
Journal or Publication Title:	i-Mean@UWE: Meaning and Interaction Book of Abstracts
Publisher:	University of the West of England
Date:	April 2009
Page Range:	p. 10
Status:	Not Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access
Conference Paper Type:	Keynote
Title of Event:	1st International Conference on Meaning and Interaction (i-Mean@UWE 2009)
Type of Event:	Conference
Location of Event:	University of the West of England, Bristol, U.K.
Date(s) of Event:	Apr 23-25, 2009
Related URLs:	Open Access File
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/48472

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