Developing a professional leadership identity during organisational change in professional youth football

Journal article


Gibson, L. and Groom, Ryan 2019. Developing a professional leadership identity during organisational change in professional youth football. Qualitative Research in Sport, Health & Exercise. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2019.1673469
AuthorsGibson, L. and Groom, Ryan
Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the construction of a professional leadership identity of an outsider appointed to implement organisational change within the academy of a professional football club. Data were collected through field notes, informal observations and meetings, formal academy team meetings, three in-depth co-worker interviews and four semi-structured in-depth participant interviews, which were subjected to an iterative analysis. Findings highlighted how the appraisal of others and their appraisal of the participant were affected by employment vulnerability, and that ‘identity work’ when leading organisational change was intertwined with micro-political literacy and micro-political action. This study furthers understanding of the development of a leadership identity as a fluid and fragmented struggle, by demonstrating that the process of identity construction is emotional work and is entwined in a complex interplay of micro-political literacy and action, and employment vulnerability.

KeywordsOrganisational change, professional football, micro-politics, narrative analysis; Organisational change; professional football; micro-politics; narrative analysis
Year2019
JournalQualitative Research in Sport, Health & Exercise
PublisherTaylor Francis
ISSN2159676X
21596778
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2019.1673469
Web address (URL)http://hdl.handle.net/10545/624250
http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
hdl:10545/624250
Publication dates09 Oct 2019
Publication process dates
Deposited24 Oct 2019, 15:45
Accepted24 Sep 2019
Rights

CC0 1.0 Universal

ContributorsUniversity of Derby and Manchester Metropolitan University
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