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Leadership and the New Agentic Theory of the Firm

This work examines the intersections of leadership, organizational theory, and agentic responsiveness, drawing on various leadership models such as transformational, contingency, and path-goal theories. It challenges traditional notions of leadership by questioning whether leaders inspire individuals or organizations and how leadership shapes agency within complex environments. Through the lens of Simon's critiques and frameworks such as Penrose's theory of firm growth, this exploration emphasizes the importance of imagination, constraints, and the rhetoric of leadership in fostering effective organizational practices.

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Leadership and the New Agentic Theory of the Firm

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  1. Leadership and the New Agentic Theory of the Firm JC Spender OUBS OUBS

  2. leadership - rationality • trait, path-goal, contingency, transformational, etc. • what is being led ? people or organization ? • what does leadership provide/contribute ? • organization theory, economics and rationality • Simon’s critique • where to go with this ? • A - intangible assets, Tobin’s Q, book-to-market • B - rational responses to knowledge absences ? OUBS

  3. imagination & agency • Model of Man • rationality & imagination, Bacon • human agency • constraints on imaginative practice • warrants for knowledge of the world/context • Methodenstreit & method issues, emic/etic • agentic space OUBS

  4. Knightian uncertainty • risk, uncertainty, profit • primacy of theory vs practice • what notions of learning here ? • Penrose’s theory of the growth of the firm • expansion of agency, application OUBS

  5. managing others’ agency • boundaries to agentic spaces and manipulation of constraints • division of agency • physical, social, psychological • Barnard • Simon and ‘docility’ • constructing the context • constructing the individual OUBS

  6. rhetoric • logos, pathos, ethos • implicit Model of Man ? • persuasion vs proof, episteme vs doxa • organization as system of rhetoric • organizational goal OUBS

  7. pistos • limits to using constraints • appeal to identity • managers as insiders • managing the self • ‘faith’ & pistos, The Force • charisma • charismatic event OUBS

  8. leadership – of ? • apparatus for harnessing rationality • design & control • for harnessing agency ? • vision, docility and secular faith vs motivation • charisma, secular society, Protestant Ethic • indoctrination • Faustian compact OUBS

  9. organization • Man’s most significant artifact • Isocrates • to be studied, probed and crafted, not taken for granted • entrepreneurship as secular charisma • constraints as collective expression • tension between vision and acceptance • agency as the led shaping the leader/s OUBS

  10. bottom line • notions of leadership are contingent • why organization ? • organizations or people ? • qualities of mind presumed and answers thereby made possible OUBS

  11. thanks for listening and letting me try and persuade you OUBS

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