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Dr. Alina Lungeanu, Director of the NET LAB at the Network Science Insititute, was awarded the Sage Publishers Award for Best Management History Division Paper in Leadership for the conference paper "When Two is Too Many and Not Enough: Shared Leadership in Ancient Rome (32 to 491 CE)", co-authored with Leslie A. DeChurch, Megan Alexis Chan, and Noshir Contractor.

Paper Abstract:

The complexity of modern organizations has spurred interest in shared forms of leadership wherein multiple individuals collectively contribute to the leadership of a group. These efforts are supported by research documenting the benefits of shared leadership to teamwork process and performance. At the same time, research supports a strong tendency for people to self-organize into hierarchies. While shared leadership may be advantageous, it may also be unlikely. Examining shared leadership in the context of Ancient Rome the Imperial Period (32 CE to 491 CE; N = 87 emperors), we find that while groups show a natural tendency to shift from hierarchical to shared leadership, dyadic leadership (co-leaders) is unstable and unlikely to persist. This finding suggests there may be an inherent instability of two leader arrangements. This study opens new directions in leadership research, providing an empirical foundation to distinguish leadership dyads from larger shared leadership configurations. Future research directions are discussed.