An integrative discourse perspective on positive leadership in public health care

Purpose and approach
A positive approach has gained momentum in recent years as appropriate leadership practices are implemented in organizations. Despite the turn toward discursive approaches in organization studies, though, there is insufficient evidence supporting positive leadership (PL) as a socially constructed experience. The present article addresses an integrative discourse perspective for capturing the PL concept as a social process within the public health care context.

Findings
Four meanings of PL are highlighted: role-taking, servicing, balancing and deciphering.

Implications
The meanings shift the emphasis of certain PL definitions to a contextual interpretation. For leaders, an integrative discourse perspective offers tools for comprehending PL as a process: how to identify, negotiate and reconcile various PL meanings. For scholars, the perspective demonstrates a multidimensional process approach in the desired organizational context as a counterbalance to one unanimously agreed-upon PL definition.

Originality/value
An integrative discourse perspective provides a novel perspective capturing the PL concept within the public health care field.
Keywords: positive, leadership, integrative, discourse analysis, public health care, organization