The New Psychology of Leadership

Ready for a ground-breaking leadership read to start off your new year? Don’t miss Administrative Science Quarterly’s review of “The New Psychology of Leadership: Identity, Influence and Power” by Alexander S. Haslam, Stephen D. Reicher, and Michael J. Platow. The book review, written by Caroline A. Bartel of the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, was published in the September 2011 issue:

Would the field of organization studies benefit from another theory of leadership? This question will likely provoke some skepticism. Such a response is understandable. Leadership has been one of the most widely researched topics across many disciplines. Sociologists, psychologists, philosophers, historians, and organizational scholars, to name just a few, have offered important insights about who is fit to lead, under what circumstances, and what makes leaders more or less effective. In organization studies, myriad perspectives exist that differ in what constitutes the driving force for effective leadership, for example, whether it’s personality traits, situational opportunities and constraints, or person-situation fit. With many decades of research under our scholarly belts, we know a lot about leaders and leading, yet, with The New Psychology of Leadership: Identity, Influence and Power, Haslam, Reicher, and Platow convincingly argue that there is fertile new ground to plow in the area of leadership.

Click here for free access to two years’ worth of book reviews from Administrative Science Quarterly. Happy New Year, everyone!