BUS603: Managing People

Shared leadership, viewed as "different individuals enact leader and follower roles at different points in time", challenges the traditional understanding of leadership in teams where the focus has been shifted from a single static leader or follower and vertical, one-directional influence to multiple and dynamic leaders and followers and horizontal, leading-following, reciprocal influence processes and their impact on team outcomes. Unlike traditional leadership theories that focus on the role of formal, appointed leaders, shared leadership focuses on the leading and following processes of team members. This is a shift in the leadership paradigm from an individual to a collective.

The digital age requires a team approach to complex leadership problems that often involve multiple organizations, societies, cultures, and nations sharing knowledge, skills, and expertise. No single leader possesses the necessary knowledge, skills, and disposition to address global leadership challenges in today's virtual world. Thus, shared leadership allows the sharing of leading and following responsibilities not only among the team members, but also with other teams. For instance, team members with certain specialized skillsets might engage in leadership behavior in one domain and adopt a follower role in another domain. Thus, shared leadership, which also assumes shared followership, may meet the leading and following needs for the digital natives in virtual organizations, as they grew up in a sharing environment where knowledge, experiences, perspectives, and electronic files were freely shared for learning and business across the oceans.