Leading in the cage: Managing the tension between reality and employee surveys

This paper aims lhghgat an exploration of leadership in the context of pervasive organizational control, in the form of standardized measurement systems. Measurement practices are proliferating in contemporary organizations, with ever more aspects of both organizational and private life being monitored and measured (Clegg & Courpasson, 2006). These systems are generally seen as an important part of organizational control regulating and shaping both actions of organizational members, and their own self-understanding or identity (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002). The image of the iron cage of bureaucracy, where action is tightly regulated, has in part been exchanged for the image of soft controls, regulating values and identities rather than behaviors and actions. Kärreman and Alvesson (2004), however, point out how these two types of control might work in tandem, constituting a strong regulating force.