Abstract
As digital technologies are transforming businesses, the trend of digitalisation has also changed the ways we create value. Maximising value creation necessitates influencing decision-makers, especially in complex knowledge structures and network-based environments. This paper suggests the best practices of informal leadership deployed by technical experts aiming to influence others, especially formal leaders. Insights were gathered through interviews with Finnish technical experts and enhanced through consultations with international partners. The findings provide practices to manage work-related issues through human relations, and by doing this also challenge the hierarchical organisational structures. Crucially, informal leadership empowers employees to use their knowledge and competencies for the benefit of their organisations.
The work is supported by The Foundation for Economic Education, Huittinen Savings Bank Foundation, and Nissi Foundation, Finland. This research has received funding from the Horizon 2020 Programme of the European Union within the OpenInnoTrain project under grant agreement no. 823971. The content of this publication does not reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Responsibility for the information and views expressed in the publication lies entirely with the author(s).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Yammarino, F.J., Salas, E., Serban, A., Shirreffs, K., Shuffler, M.L.: Collectivistic leadership approaches: Putting the “We” in leadership science and practice. Ind. Organ. Psychol. 5(4), 382–402 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1754-9434.2012.01467.x
Denis, J.L., Langley, A., Sergi, V.: Leadership in the plural. Acad. Manag. Ann. 6(1), 211–283 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1080/19416520.2012.667612
Sergi, V., Crevani, L., Aubry, M.: Process studies of project organizing. Proj. Manag. J. 51(1), 3–10 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1177/8756972819896482
Frie, L.S., Potting, K.C.J.M., Sjoer, E., Van der Heijden, B.I.J.M., Korzilius, H.P.L.M.: How flexperts deal with changing expertise demands: A qualitative study into the processes of expertise renewal. Hum. Resour. Dev. Q. 30(1), 61–79 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.21335
Northouse, P.G.: Leadership: Theory & Practice (8th ed). SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks (2018)
Cullen-Lester, K.L., Yammarino, F.J.: Collective and network approaches to leadership: Special issue introduction. Leadersh. Quart. 27(2), 173–180 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2016.02.001
Friedrich, T.L., Vessey, W.B., Schuelke, M.J., Ruark, G.A., Mumford, M.D.: A framework for understanding collective leadership: The selective utilization of leader and team expertise within networks. Leadersh. Quart. 20(6), 933–958 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2009.09.008
Volpe, M., et al.: Experimentation of cross-border digital innovation hubs (DIHs) cooperation and impact on SME services. In: Camarinha-Matos, L.M., Boucher, X., Afsarmanesh, H. (eds.) PRO-VE 2021. IAICT, vol. 629, pp. 423–432. Springer, Cham (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85969-5_39
Neubert, M.J., Taggar, S.: Pathways to informal leadership: The moderating role of gender on the relationship of individual differences and team member network centrality to informal leadership emergence. Leadersh. Quart. 15(2), 175–194 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2004.02.006
Flocco, N., Canterino, F., Cagliano, R.: Leading innovation through employees’ participation: Plural leadership in employee-driven innovation practices. Leadership 10(5), 499–518 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715020987928
White, L., Currie, G., Lockett, A.: Pluralized leadership in complex organizations: Exploring the cross network effects between formal and informal leadership relations. Leadersh. Quart. 27(2), 280–297 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2016.01.004
Lucas, J.W., Baxter, A.R.: Power, influence, and diversity in organizations: The ANNALS of the American academy of political and social. Science 639(1), 49–70 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716211420231
Stincelli, E., Baghurst, T.: A grounded theory exploration of informal leadership qualities as perceived by employees and managers in small organizations. Int. J. Bus. Manage. Econ. Res. 5(1), 1–8 (2014)
Luria, G., Berson, Y.: How do leadership motives affect informal and formal leadership emergence? J. Organ. Behav. 34(7), 995–1015 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1836
Chrobot-Mason, D., Gerbasi, A., Cullen-Lester, K.L.: Predicting leadership relationships: The importance of collective identity. Leadersh. Quart. 27(2), 298–311 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2016.02.003
Kwok, N., Hanig, S., Brown, D.J., Shen, W.: How leader role identity influences the process of leader emergence: A social network analysis. Leadersh. Quart. 29(6), 648–662 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2018.04.003
Gavrilets, S., Auerbach, J., van Vugt, M.: Convergence to consensus in heterogeneous groups and the emergence of informal leadership. Sci. Rep. 6(1), 1–10 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep29704
He, V.F., von Krogh, G., Sirén, C.: Expertise diversity, informal leadership hierarchy, and team knowledge creation: A study of pharmaceutical research collaborations. Organ. Stud. 43(6), 907–930 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1177/01708406211026114
Dutton, J.E., Ashford, S.J., O’Neill, R.M., Lawrence, K.A.: Moves that matter: Issue selling and organizational change. Acad. Manag. J. 44(4), 716–736 (2001). https://doi.org/10.2307/3069412
Larsson, M., Segerstéen, S., Svensson, C.: Information and informality: Leaders as knowledge brokers in a high-tech firm. J. Leadersh. Organ. Stud. 18(2), 175–191 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1177/1548051810390048
Herrera, M.E.B.: Innovation for impact: Business innovation for inclusive growth. J. Bus. Res. 69(5), 1725–1730 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.10.045
Schreier, M.: Qualitative content analysis. In: Proceedings of The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis, pp. 170–183. SAGE Publications (2014)
Bazeley, P., Jackson, K.: Qualitative Data Analysis with NVivo (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks (2019)
Macher, G., Veledar, O.: Balancing exploration and exploitation through open innovation in the automotive domain – focus on SMEs. In: Yilmaz, M., Clarke, P., Messnarz, R., Reiner, M. (eds.) EuroSPI 2021. CCIS, vol. 1442, pp. 336–348. Springer, Cham (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85521-5_22
Mayer, R.C., Davis, J.H., Schoorman, F.D.: An integrative model of organizational trust. Acad. Manag. Rev. 20(3), 709–734 (1995)
Korsaa, M., et al.: The SPI manifesto and the ECQA SPI manager certification scheme. J. Softw. Evol. Process 24, 525–540 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1002/smr.502
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Leino, T., Veledar, O., Macher, G., Kniewallner, J., Armengaud, E., Koivunen, N. (2022). Challenging Hierarchical Structure to Boost Technical Outcomes. In: Yilmaz, M., Clarke, P., Messnarz, R., Wöran, B. (eds) Systems, Software and Services Process Improvement. EuroSPI 2022. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1646. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15559-8_49
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15559-8_49
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-15558-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-15559-8
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)