The Possibility of Authenticity Under Hierarchy: A Study of Public Middle Managers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.48886Keywords:
authenticity, blame, hierarchical power, facework, narrativesAbstract
This study examines the ideal of authenticity in leadership in the context of conflicts between middle managers and their superiors in the Danish public sector. Drawing on 37 in-depth interviews with Danish public middle managers conducted between 2023 and 2024, the study investigates how middle managers perceive their ability to act authentically in such conflictual situations. Using Goffman’s concept of facework, the analysis demonstrates how middle managers engage in preventive facework, suppress emotional reactions, and stay formal to protect themselves from losing face under conflicts with superiors. The findings indicate that managers experience a need to conceal their genuine emotions during these encounters with superiors and, in doing so, contribute to protecting the superior’s face, for instance by mitigating or accommodating the superior’s emotional outbursts. This means that the middle manager’s capacity for authenticity is conditioned by the situations in which the superior places them. This suggests that authenticity in conflictual situations appears to be a privilege primarily available to superiors, who may allow themselves emotional expressions such as anger and outburst, whereas subordinate middle managers cannot.
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