Leadership: A Critical Text: Third Edition

Author(s) : Simon Western

Book Details

Publisher : Sage Publications Ltd
Published : March 2019
Cover : Paperback
Pages : 456
Category :
Organisational Psychology
Catalogue No : 98662
ISBN 13 : 9781526459527
ISBN 10 : 1526459523

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In this original text, Simon Western deconstructs and reconstructs leadership to challenge the popular notion of the individual or hero leader, instead using his own framework to present leadership as a distributed process.

New to the third edition:

- A new chapter on leadership symptoms that offers a novel approach to researching and conceptualizing leadership.

- An expanded chapter on “Leadership and Diversity” with Pooja Sachdev.

Updated material on “The Eco-Leadership Discourse”, with the chapter now differentiating between ethical eco-leadership and commercial eco-leaders (e.g Facebook, Google, Amazon).

- Analysis of contemporary leadership trends, including leadership in the gig economy, algorithmic management, and the rise in messiah and authoritarian leadership in populist parties.

- Updated case studies with references to current politicians and organizations.

Reviews & Endorsements
Table of Contents
About the Author(s)
Customer Reviews

Reviews and Endorsements

Everyone has opinions about leadership, but few people have thought about it as deeply as Simon Western. In this important text, he shows us why we should be suspicious of easy answers and noisy leaders. This is a beautifully written and thought provoking book for anyone who wants to move beyond glib recipes and really think hard about our collective futures. Professor Martin Parker, University of Bristol

This is the third edition of an already internationally acclaimed text. In comparison to previous editions, this third iteration offers shorter chapters and a more transparently presented argumentation. The tag attached to ‘Leadership’ in the book’s title – ‘A Critical Text’ – is fully justified, given that the premises of argument proposed, challenged and justified through this book remain strongly influenced by reference to European enlightenment (dialectics) and to discourses honed by members of the so-called Frankfurt School and which shaped current interpretations and applications of Critical Theory. Keith Jackson

Destined to become a classic, this book is one of the most comprehensive and insightful critical perspectives on leadership that has emerged in the past two decades. Now in its third edition, Leadership: A Critical Text is richly theorized, historically and ecologically grounded, and immensely practical. It is quite simply one of the very best single-volume works on leadership available. Benjamin W. Redekop, Professor of Leadership Studies, Christopher Newport University

Introduction

Part One: Deconstructing Leadership
Chapter 1: Why A Critical Approach to Leadership?
Chapter 2: What is Leadership?
Chapter 3: The Plurality Of Leadership: A Case Study
Chapter 4: Against Leadership: Autonomist Leadership
Chapter 5: Leadership and Diversity
Chapter 6: Leadership and Organizational Culture
Chapter 7: Corporate Fundamentalism

Part Two: Reconstructing Leadership
Chapter 8: The Four Discourses of Leadership
Chapter 9: The Controller Leadership Discourse
Chapter 10: The Therapist Leadership Discourse
Chapter 11: The Messiah Leadership Discourse
Chapter 12: The Eco-Leadership Discourse
Chapter 13: An Overview of the Leadership Discourses
Chapter 14: Leadership Formation: Creating Spaces for Leadership to Flourish
Chapter 15: Seeking Leadership Symptoms
Chapter 16: Epilogue

References
Index

About the Author(s)

Dr Simon Western is founder and CEO of the Eco-Leadership Institute, a global think tank advancing innovative leadership practices through action research, development programmes, and cultural change work. He works with diverse organisations including humanitarian NGOs, global manufacturing, finance and global technology companies. Simon’s work integrates theory and practice, drawing on psychoanalysis, critical and anarchist theory, theology, and social movement perspectives. His work transcends the university, and is grounded in extensive lived experience (see Chapter 1). He is the author of influential books including Leadership: A Critical Text (SAGE, 3rd edn) and Coaching and Mentoring: A Critical Text. Formerly, Simon led the Masters in Organisational Consultancy at the Tavistock Clinic and was Director of Coaching at Lancaster University Management School. A past President of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organisations (ISPSO), he has trained over 600 coaches worldwide in his research-based Eco-Leadership Coaching System. He writes regularly on Substack and hosts the popular Edgy Ideas podcast, both focusing on what it means to live a good life and to create the good society.

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