Distributed Leadership and Skilled Performance as Successful Organization in Social Movements

This paper adopts a social psychological perspective to the study of social organization analyzed in terms of the skills of organizing. The arguments are intended to be general but discussion is grounded in research on womens' centers in Britain. Drawing on Hosking's work on small groups, leadership, and organization, and Brown's doctoral research on womens' centers, we focus on interlocking cognitive and social orders and the manner of their achievement. “Order” is found to be negotiated more or less successfully, the degree of success achieved depending on skilled performance in four main areas. These are outlined and illustrated. In the case of the womens' organization, a core value was found to be that of “distributed” leadership; they are argued to be successful to the degree that this is achieved.