Regulation and Distinction—A Generalized Approach to Leadership Based on Social Systems Theory

In view of the digital transformation of business and society, management literature discusses leadership not only as a function within organization, but as a broader and more commonplace phenomenon. Social systems theory has so far favoured a rather constrained concept of leadership. Its conceptual repertoire, however, also allows for a more general approach to capture a broader bandwidth of cases. The article at hand develops such an approach based on the regulatory character of leadership. In contrast to previous approaches, it argues that regulation reflects a general distinction in social systems, shifting from the participant to the observer perspective. This shift is a prerequisite for rational action, and as such deeply embedded in human thinking. In organizations and other larger systemic entities, this distinction presupposes some sort of agreement on the perspective from which a system is observed, the performance indicators that can trigger interventions and the execution of interventions. This agreement can be expected to result from autopoietic dynamics. Social systems theory can be used to address these dynamics. Furthermore, the different aspects of regulation provide the basis for a deeper investigation of leadership styles and the diverse accounts given of systems operation therein.