Leadership: Understanding the Dynamics of Power and Influence in Organizations

Today, there are a growing number of business schools, law schools, and continuing education programs in executive development and management training that offer leadership classes. Despite the growing curricular recognition of this area, there is a shortage of strong college-level texts. Leadership, second edition―a completely up-to-date anthology of key writings by well-known contributors―meets this need for a textbook that encompasses the major theories in the field of leadership.

Leadership is divided into six sections. Part I provides an overview of the subject with readings that examine what leaders actually do, as well as the many myths surrounding the notion of leadership. Part II focuses on the fundamentals of leadership by taking a close look at the specific tactics people use to get their own way. These readings analyze the political games people play and the two-way nature of leader-subordinate influence. Part III considers problems that can arise from leadership gone wrong―when power and influence are abused. The major formal models of leadership that have been offered over the years are reviewed in Part IV. The next section looks at contemporary views of leadership, emphasizing reliance on maturity of subordinates for success, including leadership in the context of self-directed work teams, entrepreneurial leadership, the notion of the leader as servant, and examples of leaders who are recognized for having empowered others or for providing moral leadership. The final section examines the roles of societal and organizational cultures as they pertain to leadership.

Robert P. Vecchio has updated the second edition with six new articles. Aimed at upper-level undergraduate and graduate-level courses, Leadership continues to provide classic essays by the major figures in the field of leadership along with topical essays on current and emerging issues.

Robert P. Vecchio (1950-2009) was the Franklin D. Schurz Chair in Management at the University of Notre Dame. In 1995, he assumed the role of Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Managemen, the first journal to be headquartered in the College of Business Administration. In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate business students, Robert served on many editorial boards, published numerous articles, and authored books in the areas of leadership and organizational behavior, including Organizational Behavior, which is now in its sixth edition.