The paper gives an overview of the debate concerning the role of leadership in creating and changing organisational culture. Chaos and tension theory, duality and harmony, balance and system theory will form the basis of the argument for the need for a new framework.
It will be argued that an open minded, multi-disciplinary approach is needed both at a theoretical and practical level. The idea of "best practice" will be challenged and a historic overview of organisational structure and culture will demonstrate the masculine nature of current organisations. Based on psychological research the observation will be made that many organisations' underlying philosophy is that 'Business is fight' and though more and more is said about people only a minority of organisations take the idea of 'business is people' truly on board.
The paper will ask a series of questions about leadership and the role of a harmony based organisational culture. The author, however do not intend to provide answers. By openly expressing her personal views about these questions she would invite you to re-examine your views in an unorthodox way. She would like to open a discussion for researchers and practitioners about 'level five management' and corporations where 'the hungry spirit' can be fed
