Leadership Beyond Control: A Phenomenological Study of Managerial Identity Transformation in Self-Organizing Systems
Keywords:
self-organizing systems, managerial identity, phenomenology, leadership transformation, decentralized organizations, self-management, qualitative researchAbstract
This study aimed to explore how managers experience, interpret, and reconstruct their professional identity when moving from control-centered leadership roles toward enabling roles in self-organizing organizational systems. A qualitative phenomenological design was employed to capture the lived experiences of managers working in self-organizing or semi-autonomous organizational settings in Tehran. Participants included 22 middle and senior managers selected through purposive sampling from technology, consulting, creative-service, and knowledge-based companies that had adopted decentralized decision-making, agile teams, or self-managing work structures. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews lasting 55 to 85 minutes. Theoretical saturation was reached after the nineteenth interview, and three additional interviews were conducted to confirm the stability of the emerging themes. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic phenomenological analysis with the support of NVivo software. The analysis generated five main categories: loss of control as an identity disruption, transition from commander to sensemaking facilitator, trust and vulnerability as managerial capacities, boundary work in decentralized accountability, and emergence of a post-control managerial identity. Participants described the transition to self-organizing systems as both liberating and destabilizing. Many experienced a decline in traditional sources of authority, including formal approval rights, direct supervision, and information ownership. However, they gradually reconstructed managerial identity around enabling conditions, protecting team autonomy, facilitating collective interpretation, and sustaining coherence without imposing command. The findings suggest that leadership in self-organizing systems is not the disappearance of management but the transformation of managerial identity from control ownership to relational, interpretive, and systemic stewardship. Managers who adapt successfully do not abandon authority; rather, they redefine it as the capacity to create conditions for distributed agency, responsible autonomy, and collective learning. This study contributes to leadership and organization theory by showing that self-organization requires not only structural redesign but also deep identity work among managers.
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