Leadership: A Critical Text

By Simon Western

"In a highly original way, taking "Critical Theory" as a point of departure, Dr. Western helps us to obtain greater insight into the enigma of leadership."
--Manfred Kets de Vries, Director INSEAD Global Leadership Center

"Leadership A Critical Text′ is an outstanding addition to the Leadership literature. This is an excellent text which takes the field to new heights in the first decade of the 21st Century". --Professor Cary L. Cooper, Lancaster University

"The book provides a unique and much needed ′voice′ to the field of leadership studies, and will have a significant impact worldwide."
--Professor Jonathan Gosling, Director of the Leadership Centre Exeter University

"What makes this work really refreshing is the emphasis on the critical dimension in the title and the breadth of the author′s own experience of work...This is a book that all those involved in the complex and often contested processes of leadership in higher education (academic and professional support leaders) will benefit from, and I strongly recommend it to them."
--Ewart Wooldridge, Chief Executive of Leadership Foundation for Higher Education

Leadership: A Critical Text provides a critical review and analysis of the key debates within leadership, and offers frameworks to support critical thinking, and new perspectives on how to make sense of contemporary leadership. This book offers the latest thinking in leadership written in an accessible engaging style and challenges the notion of the individual or ′hero′ leader. Author Simon Western develops the idea of leadership as a distributed process between lots of agents in an organization. In doing so he provides a new framework which readers can use to understand and implement this ′distributed′ type of leadership.

Chapters include vignettes and case studies to support readers′ understanding of ideas, and pedagogical features emphasize core learning points. The book has been structured to be ′teaching friendly′ and a teaching guide can be found on www.simonwestern.com.

This engaging and insightful book will be of interest to MBA students and both undergraduate and graduate students studying Leadership, Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management.
It will also be useful to thoughtful practicing managers and others wishing to understand leadership from a critical perspective.

Meet the author at www.simonwestern.com

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1412923050
• ISBN13: 9781412923057
• Release Date: November 2007
• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.5" x 6.5"