Team Leadership in a High-Risk Organization: The Role of Contextual Factors

Some small groups perform their tasks in high-risk settings, where team leadership is crucial for the ability to deal with danger. However, we still know little about how the high-risk context may affect this ability. In this article, we draw on a single-case study to investigate team leadership in a high-risk organization. Present theories depict a rather static view on team context, which we argue do not comply with the complexity and dynamic environment of a high-risk organization. We show that in such an environment contextual factors can be of great importance to the internal dynamics of small groups at a different level and matter than previously thought. We argue that effective team leadership hinges upon how team leaders interpret and make sense of contextual factors. We believe that viewing team leadership in this light will contribute to a new understanding of the small group in relation to its surroundings.