Banca de DEFESA: EDUARDO CESAR VARELA CAVALCANTI SOUTO
Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.STUDENT : EDUARDO CESAR VARELA CAVALCANTI SOUTO
DATE: 07/08/2026
TIME: 14:00
LOCAL: Online
TITLE:
LEADERSHIP AND MEANINGFUL WORK IN STARTUPS IN RIO GRANDE DO
NORTE
KEY WORDS:
leadership, meaningful work, organizational culture, startups.
PAGES: 188
BIG AREA: Ciências Humanas
AREA: Psicologia
SUMMARY:
This study investigated, from the perspective of startup founders from Rio Grande do Norte, how
leadership influences the construction of meaningful work through the maintenance of
organizational culture. Starting from the understanding of the leader as an agent of meaning
production, in dialogue with Estelle Morin's approach to meaningful work, the research sought to
understand how leadership practices contribute to the subjective and collective experience of work.
This is a qualitative study where in-depth interviews were conducted with the founders, combining
Fritz Schütze's narrative interview, aimed at the reconstruction of trajectories and conceptions of
leadership, and Ivar Oddone's instruction to the double, which allowed for the identification of
concrete practices of meaning mobilization in organizational daily life. The data were analyzed
through qualitative categorization. The results indicate that conceptions of leadership are strongly
influenced by the founders' trajectories, with leadership being understood as an action of strong
relationship with the team, behavioral reference, and intentional construction of the organization.
Regarding meaningful work, all dimensions of meaningful work were identified: autonomy, learning,
quality of relationships, expressiveness, identification, and social utility. The analyzed leadership
practices were categorized into three thematic axes: culture architecture and organizational
structuring, rites of passage and recognition, negotiation of meanings in daily life.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Externa à Instituição - ANA CRISTINA BATISTA DOS SANTOS - UECE
Externo ao Programa - 2290876 - ANTONIO ALVES FILHO - UFRNPresidente - 1759676 - PEDRO FERNANDO BENDASSOLLI