Abstract
Reboot or reset?
As the world recovers from a pandemic, which has disproportionately harmed the poorest and most vulnerable amongst us, it is worth taking some time to reflect on whether leadership studies is as relevant as it could be to the problems of our world. Does it need a reboot and if so, how drastic should this be and in which directions should we channel change? Notions of rebooting suggest something more than piecemeal or incremental alterations and instead evoke a foundational change to the operating system. In contrast, a reset is something we do with machines that have glitched so that we can return them to their regular modes of functioning. Which one of these does leadership studies need?
The conference is hosted by the Open University’s Research into Employment, Empowerment and Futures academic centre of excellence, a group dedicated to exploring emancipatory futures of work. We invite submissions that offer insights into how leadership could be conceptualised or practiced for the future, through offering an innovative, critical or unusual interpretation. Submissions can come in the form of papers or workshop ideas. Bearing in mind the rebooting theme, we are open to ‘naïve’ entries into our field from outside, by scholars who think leadership could be a useful framing for their work. We now offer provocations that we hope will stimulate but not restrict submission ideas.
Rebooting with machines
While the pandemic has normalised remote digital working for a considerable proportion of the population, working in, through and for digital technologies has long been the norm for warehouse workers, delivery drivers, couriers and, of course, coders. The latest post-human and materialist turn in organisation studies offers one way in which we can investigate digital and digitalised leadership for the future. Are automation, digital communication and artificial intelligence ‘leading’ as much as any single person or group of people? Or are we creeping towards the realm of Total (algorithmic) Management rather than leadership? Can algorithms act as leaders and/or enact leadership practice and/or do they merely re-enforce existing workplace hierarchies and imbalances of power? Displacing leadership practice from single humans to collectives has long been a preoccupation of the field but do these approaches still hold for digital and hybrid forms of engagement? Can values such as democracy, liberty and equality be furthered through digital and hybrid forms of leadership?
Rebooting with nature
At one obvious level, 2020 has been marked by the intrusion of nature into the social: the Covid-19 virus itself is a simple organism, yet one that has exposed the fragility of the contemporary order. Solutions to the pandemic have by necessity been post-human, sophisticated configurations of leadership that incorporate a virus, medical technologies, logistical infrastructures, digital communication and human ingenuity. Better understanding of such configurations will provide us with important clues for how leadership can be conceptualised into the future and we welcome papers that seek to envisage this future. Such leadership will need to be aimed at systems change, a radical rethinking and unravelling of routine, involving grappling with loss as well as the potential for the generative in leadership. Equally, we could state that the pandemic has offered us a glimpse of future climate failure–responses driven by predatory capital and reactionary nationalism stacking casualties disproportionately amongst the global poor. We welcome papers that offer ethical framing for the kind of leadership required by the climate crisis.
Rebooting with equalities
We need to consider how a commodified leadership industry is rooted in and systemically normalises white privilege, necessitating a re-imagining of dominant histories but also of the present structuring of leadership relations. Further, while great strides have undoubtedly been made in gender equality, it remains the case that even in our ‘post-’ world, ‘leader’ is still most dominantly equated to ‘male’, a situation that may be slightly ameliorated by the ‘nice’ and inclusive discourse of participatory leadership but which is more likely to mask real material inequalities. More flexible digital and home working can further entrench patriarchal structures of leadership, generating incessant demands for participation in collective forms of leadership in spaces and times that further encroach into the domestic, realms where women disproportionately bear the brunt of reproductive labour. Perhaps we would be well served by exploring radically different sources of empirical inspiration than are offered by more conventional organisations–co-operatives, mutual aid groups, social movements, worker-led trade union campaigns, arts organisations, worker-owned firms, and so on. We therefore welcome papers that explore the potential for a future leadership rooted in present practices that defy business-as-usual approaches.
Keynote speakers and conference highlights
Digital conferences have their upsides, one of which being that we are able to offer a range of keynote speakers from around the world. We will schedule these talks as bookmarks to each day, enabling maximum engagement and opening our field out to the world. Political economist, writer and broadcaster Associate Professor Professor Sociologist of digital and gig work
While we cannot deliver the dinner and party we were hoping for this year, we are thinking about ways in which we can socialise together remotely.
Submissions and conference fees
Whilst we encourage submissions linked to the conference theme, we will also welcome abstracts on any theme linked to research on leadership and allied fields.
The conference fee is £50 and you can register at http://business-school.open.ac.uk/events/leadership-rebooting However, we recognise that these are difficult times for many researchers, whose research budgets have been eliminated. Bearing this in mind, we will keep some places available with no charge. Please contact us at
Paper and workshop submissions to the conference should be in the form of a 500–750-word (excluding references) abstract and should be uploaded in the conference submissions area between 4th May and June to 13th September 2021. Any conference enquiries can be directed to
In keeping with the flexibility demands of 24/7 semio-capitalism and knowledge work, we will try our best to be responsive to local time zones when scheduling. Exploited or emancipated? It is a thin line and we intend to tread it with care.
All submissions should include on the cover page:
Title
Name of author(s)
Organisation affiliation/position(s)
Address
E-mail address
Topic Area
The submissions should be:
A word or PDF file
Written in English
Indicating word count clearly on cover page
Introducing your conference team
Conference organiser: Owain Smolović Jones, Director of the Research into Employment, Empowerment and Futures academic centre of excellence and Senior Lecturer in People Management and Organisation.
Conference manager: Louise Clipson, Stakeholder and Alumni Engagement Manager.
Conference organising committee members: Charles Barthold (Senior Lecturer in HRM and Organisation Studies); Daniel Haslam (Lecturer in Management); Sanela Smolović Jones (Director of the OU’s Gendered Organisational Practice research cluster and Lecturer in Organisation Studies).