I am Liselore Havermans, Assistant Professor in Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior at the VU University Amsterdam. My main research interests are in leadership and development, especially in the context of project-based organizations. On March 26th 2014 I defended my PhD dissertation titled ‘Leadership in project-based organizations: Dealing with complex and paradoxical demands’. On this website you will find some information about my dissertation, current research projects, and the ways in which I aim to bridge science and practice.
Above you can download my entire dissertation (in English) and the practice summary of the dissertation (in Dutch). In my dissertation I address how leaders in project-based organizations deal with complex and paradoxical demands. Leaders in these organizations have to address a number of challenges such as harnessing both efficiency and adaptability, creating and sustaining contextual ambidexterity, balancing disintegrative tendencies with integrative tendencies of shared project identification, and shaping and resolving complex emergent problems through their narratives. In four empirical studies this dissertation sheds light on the role of leadership in addressing these challenges by exploring the leadership strategies, practices, and narratives used in project-based organizations.
This short video will give you an impression of the day of the defense. Thanks to everyone for supporting me throughout the day and throughout the years of writing the dissertation!
Promotor & co-promotor: Deanne Den Hartog & Anne Keegan
Committee: Mary Uhl-Bien, Rodney Turner, Brendan O’Dwyer, Wendelien van Eerde, Alan Muller
Video, book design and website by Guus Turkenburg www.turkenburg-media.nl