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Original Articles

Through the looking glass: leader personhood and the intersubjective construction of institutions

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Pages 378-402 | Published online: 11 Oct 2018
 

ABSTRACT

Institutions have been mainly understood in a dualistic way: as abstract, macro cultural logics, or as inhabited socio-cultural sites. This form of dualism divided people into cognitive cultural dopes or persons with a heart. Scholars are now trying to overcome dualistic modes of thinking about people in institutions, through the consideration of the persons as whole human beings. In this new theoretical approach, it is crucial to understand how institutions frame individual action and how individuals shape institutions. We study this duality by considering the lived experience of Colombia’s presidential transition period from Uribe to Santos in the decade of the 2010s.

Acknowledgement

When the article began life as a composition two of the authors were in residence in two different universities in Colombia: Miguel Cunha thanks the hospitality of the Facultad de Administracion of the Universidad de Los Andes; Jorge Gomes thanks the Facultad de Ciencias Administrativas y Económicas of Universidad ICESI. We are grateful to Filipa Rodrigues for her assistance and to the participants in our session at the BALAS and LAEMOS 2016 conferences for their feedback and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. One literal meaning of radical is the root of something; hence, it is a structural metaphor.

2. For space reasons, not included. The full list was submitted to the Editor and can be obtained from the authors.

3. The metaphor of the hawk is used in politics as in opposition to doves. Hawks or hardliners are the ones who defend tough, hard power approaches to political issues.

4. Politicians and citizens following or identifying with Uribe’s ideas or with his political leadership are termed Uribists.

5. Future researchers of other Presidents elsewhere whose extensive use of emotional language and tweets as a medium for its expression may well find a comparative case in some respects in the present study.

6. The dyads of recent history suggest this most clearly: in Australia, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, as well as Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull; in the UK, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown; in the USA Barack Obama and Donald Trump and Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton. The personal is political in a way that bends and shapes robust institutions.

7. In addition we have presented the study and gathered feedback in major academic conferences in South America.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by National Funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia under the project Ref. UID/ECO/00124/2013 and by POR Lisboa under the project LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-007722. We are grateful to the editor and the reviewers for their important feedback.

Notes on contributors

Miguel Pina e Cunha

Miguel Pina e Cunha is the Fundação Amélia de Mello Professor of Leadership. Nova School of Business and Economics, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.

María José Cardona

María José Cardona is a graduate and former teaching assistant at the School of Management, Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.

Stewart Clegg

Stewart Clegg is a professor at University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.

Jorge F. S. Gomes

Jorge F. S. Gomes is an associate professor at Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão (ISEG), Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.

Manuela Matallana

Manuela Matallana is a graduate and former teaching assistant at the School of Management, Universidad de Los Andes, at Bogotá, Colombia. 

Arménio Rego

Arménio Rego is a professor at Católica Porto Business School, Universidade Católica Portuguesa and a member of Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL) Business Research Unit, Portugal. 

Iván D. Sánchez

Iván D. Sánchez is at School of Business and Economic Studies, Universidad ICESI, Cali, Colombia.

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