A Cognitive-Relational Approach to Leadership Studies: Finding a Middle Ground For Leadership Research

Abstract

This thesis uses the New Zealand Police as a case study to answer the question “how can a cognitive-relational theoretical perspective provide a middle ground between the conventional Objectivist and Subjectivist polarities within leadership research?” A cognitive-relational theoretical perspective termed Relational Script Theory is engaged to explore the epistemological space between the Objectivist and Subjectivist extremes that have dominated the leadership literature. The research question reflects talk within the leadership literature that a paradigm shift is emerging. The terms “new economic era” and “post-bureaucratic organisation” reference a move away from Objectivist, static and bureaucratic approaches to leadership towards a more Subjectivist, participatory and dynamic framing of the phenomenon. A move in this direction has significant implications for traditionally bureaucratic organisations such as the New Zealand Police. The differentiation between Objectivist/static and Subjectivist/dynamic approaches to leadership has also generated a significant level of confusion and division amongst leadership scholars. The current thesis contributes to an emerging body of literature that offers alternative, middle ground strategies for researching leadership. These middle ground strategies are important because they offer a more holistic approach for researchers, interventionists and organisational practitioners when engaging with the leadership phenomenon. Moving away from the rigidity that accompanies the Objectivist/Subjectivist binary allows both the static and dynamic qualities of leadership relationships to be seen and examined.

The current research employs a mixed method design to collect data from 15 leadership relationship dyads within the New Zealand Police. The data gathering techniques have been designed to allow for collecting information in two different ways. The first, hypothesis-testing interview allows for the collection of data using the Relational Script theoretical lens. The second, exploratory interview allows for the gathering of data that is not constrained by the five hypotheses and which has more emergent properties.

The results of the study illustrate the cognitive-relational features of the leadership concept by observing both the dynamic and static characteristics of the relationship. At the dynamic level, the results show how leadership partners can: a) think about their relationships in multiple ways; b) adjust their relational behaviours across changing contexts; c) respond in increasingly creative ways as they become more experienced and; d) influence one another’s constructions of the relationship. At the static level, the results show how the New Zealand Police can: a) follow a particular, pre-defined developmental trajectory in their relationships and; b) desire the same qualities in their relationships across role-related groups.

Two different theoretical concepts are extracted from the results including The Equity-Hierarchy Juncture and inter-relational agency. These concepts illustrate how a middle ground theoretical position has utility for generating insights into both local (organisational) and universal level leadership issues. The research shows that a middle ground research position has a high level of utility because, unlike most contemporary research, it can simultaneously contribute to research and practice in a way that does not either separate or collapse these concepts. Rather, a middle ground theoretical position presents a synergy between research and practice that has been neglected in the leadership literature.