As práticas da liderança em uma empresa do setor de varejo da Paraíba

Abstract

The aim of the research was to understand how leadership practices are performed by leaders of a retail organization located in the city of João Pessoa, Paraíba. The Theoretical background is structured in two subsections. The first is a review of the evolution and development of the field of study of leadership over time, as well as leadership studies associated with other social, organizational and behavioral issues. In the following subsection, leadership practices are characterized and it discusses how leadership can be studied from the perspective of Leadership-as-Practice as an alternative proposition to mainstream to investigate leadership as a performative perspective that helps to understand the complexity and the multiple facets of leadership practice from an integrated perspective. The leader's performance is defined as a result of his action that is permeated by social, emotional and technical elements, but is also associated with his ability to perform or do something in the context of professional action. The study follows a qualitative approach and was conducted with leaders of a retail organization. The data collection process was occurred through semistructured interviews and the data analysis used the interpretative comprehensive analysis. The results of the research made it possible to identify two dimensions linked to leadership practices: socioaffective and sociotechnical. In the socioaffective dimension of the leadership emerged three practices of activities and actions performed by the research subjects of the studied organization: Relating; Balancing emotions and feelings; and Creating and maintaining secure and dependable relationships. In the sociotechnical dimension, the identified practices were: Seeking legitimacy; Negotiating purposes and paths; Arranging participations; Managing with people; and Making decisions. It is understood that the practice of leadership is a phenomenon that demands a collaborative agency among the participants who must be committed to the results, which helps to understand how the practice of leadership is performed. The identification of activities, the leader action and the characterization of their performativity can also help professionals to develop a repertoire of knowledge about the practice of leadership, which is configured as a contribution of the study to the professional practice in the retail sector. It is suggested to carry out future studies to understand the participation of leaders in leadership practice, as well as aspects such as communication, learning, sociomateriality and intersubjective relations in the leadership process, with emphasis on the emotions that are manifested in the daily lives of the leaders and followers.