Leadership for creativity in a symphony orchestra
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Journal Title
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Volume Title
School of Business |
Master's thesis
Authors
Date
2024
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
People Management and Organizational Development
Language
en
Pages
169 +14
Series
Abstract
In previous research concerning leadership in symphony orchestras, the heroic-leadership conception has emphasized the meaning of an individual for organizational success. In fact, the focus has been on the leaders but not much has been said about the followers. There is a research gap in understanding the musicians’ perspective on co-constructing leadership that fosters collaborative creativity. This thesis aims to address this gap in academic discussion. Importantly, creativity is considered as a significant competitive advantage for organizations, which also concerns symphony orchestras. Therefore, this study explores how leadership can support creativity. I draw my thesis upon literature regarding leadership in symphony orchestras, as well as theory concerning leadership on a general level and collaborative creativity. The primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews of seven orchestra musicians representing followers who work either as principals, substitute leaders or tutti players in a Finnish symphony orchestra. The data was coded to identify categories and themes and then analyzed in the discussion part of the thesis. This thesis shows that from the perspective of the followers, leadership is co-constructed in the interactions between the conductor and the musicians. The research also gives a more in-depth understanding of how leadership roles are distributed in the organization in terms of shared leadership, as more responsibility is allocated to the principals. In fact, leadership is seen as a socially constructed relational configuration that evolves in a process over time and is not necessarily tied to a formal leadership status. This perspective on leadership entails a self-directed aspect that is based on the agency of the followers in leadership construction, which increases understanding of the delicate and complex internal dynamics inside the organization. Previously, the orchestra has been regarded as an anonymous mass that the conductor operates. This research provides a more comprehensive perspective on the leadership phenomenon that is built on the agency of the musicians who co-construct the creative outcome with the support of and inside the guidelines defined by the leader. Therefore, leadership can be seen as an interactional collaborative effort of the conductor and the musicians who both have mutual responsibility for the artistic outcome. This thesis also contributes to the understanding of collaborative creativity and explores how it can be fostered through leadership. Mostly, musicians’ creativity is collective, and inside the boundaries that are set by the conductor and how the music is written, the musicians partake in collaborative creativity that happens in interactions between them. This means that instead of carrying out their individual ideas, they seek for a collective way to create the artistic outcome in sensuous and reflexive subtle interaction of giving and receiving impulses. At best, hierarchies inside the orchestra become irrelevant as the orchestra reaches an optimal artistic outcome in a state of collective consciousness. Other organizations can also learn from this type of collaboration to focus on the common goals to be reached together without distractions. The question for leaders is to balance between setting clear goals, giving explicit instructions, and simultaneously allowing the followers some freedom for individual agency. Taking care of a positive and constructive organizational climate also allows collaborative creativity to emerge, since it is based on sensitive and delicate interaction between people.Description
Thesis advisor
Huopalainen, AstridKeywords
leadership, construction, shared, leadership