As leadership dies : cases of individual and group identity destruction and construction

In 2003, the journal Human Relations published an article authored by Paula Hyde and Alan B. Thomas entitled, 'When a leader dies'. This article used case study data from work that comprised Hyde's doctoral thesis (1999). In a broadly psychoanalytic manner, the article by Hyde and Thomas investigated and described 'the reactions of followers after losing a leader' (Hyde and Thomas 2003: 1005). A study of leadership loss has much to commend itself, in as much as a change in leadership can demonstably have profound ramifications for an organization, but in particular, for the cohesiveness and identity of the group who are the 'followers'.