2006-08-21

Although often romanticized as 'artistic' organizations, symphony orchestras depend on management and leadership as much as any other organization. At the same time, musicians and managers in symphony orchestras must coexist in the same organization despite the fact that they hold very different views on leadership. This paper explores how the notion of leadership is constructed in symphony orchestras. The paper is based on my extensive study at the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra and The Philadelphia Orchestra.

How to study an abstract phenomenon called leadership? Traditionally, leadership research has solved the problem by studying individual leaders. Leaders have literally been the objects of study: they have been measured, interviewed, observed and analyzed in different ways. For example, in organization studies focusing on management, the data are usually collected from managers themselves (Czarniawska-Joerges, 1995:26). Subordinates seldom have their voice heard in such studies. In other words, according to this approach the fundamental idea of leadership is connected to the leader as an individual. The leaders traits, qualifications or behavior have been under scrutiny. An alternative approach sees leadership more as a social process or interaction between the leader and other members of the organization. The focus is on the interaction process between people, not on the qualifications of the participants (Dachler and Hosking, 1995).