Abstract
The observation that there is a link between organizational success and the educational achievement of leaders and managers is the premise for this book. This starting point is based on the observations of Charles Handy, and others, who in the mid-1980s identified a link, a finding which the authors identify as leading ultimately to the professionalization of managers in the UK. This professionalization arose from a growing recognition of a diversity in successful leadership approaches and styles, and a view that individuals could be helped to develop leadership and management skills.
This ambitious and informative book aims to provide an evaluation of the current understanding about leadership and management development. According to the authors, there are four main groups who will find the book of benefit: those studying human resources development as part of a postgraduate qualification within higher education, tutors and final-year undergraduates, human resources practitioners and managers and leaders who want to understand more about their personal development.
The authors outline the increasing range of approaches to leadership and management development, and consider the ways in which the various interventions have developed. Accordingly, there are sections focusing on skills and behavioural approaches, holistic approaches and on personal development within the workplace, along with a consideration of the array of methods and agents of delivery, which include universities, HR departments in organizations, and also external experts.
The text offers a practical, accessible and comprehensive overview and analysis of both current and historic thinking in leadership and management development, and is mapped against management benchmarks to support its use on postgraduate programmes in higher education. It is also mapped against the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development elective standards in management and leadership development. In addition, there is an online resource centre, which includes teaching materials for registered users, and further learning resources for students. Together, these materials offer a very broad coverage of theory, presented in a concise, accessible manner and variety of exercises to assist reflection and learning. The exercises and additional online resources give the book the status of an interactive tool for learning.
The contents pages are a very helpful feature of the book. There is both a brief contents page, and a detailed one, which contains a very full listing of every topic covered. The contents are broken down into four main sections which focus on context and strategy, leaders and managers, learning processes and contemporary issues. Each chapter opens with an outline of the learning objectives, and illustrates the key ideas through case studies, reflection points and summaries. In addition there is a list of recommended reading for each subject. Throughout the book there are tables, figures and boxes, which illustrate and summarise key points, and which have the potential to engage and further develop the reader’s thinking and understanding. The authors suggest that two aspects of the book should be of benefit to all readers, these are reflexivity, and real life mini case study examples, and it can easily be seen how these could contribute significantly to the learning process for both individuals and groups.
The book aims to draw together what is currently known in the areas of leadership and management development and to analyse the contribution of this knowledge to date and its potential for the future. A wide range of literature already exists on the topic of leadership and management development. What this book achieves is that it brings together an enormous amount of information into one text, draws out the key points and presents them succinctly for the reader’s consideration and application.
The scope and ambition of the book is very impressive. The inclusion of a wide variety of UK and international case studies, in both public and private sector organisations, makes it very relevant not only for a wide audience, but also for a global economy. The supporting materials, case studies and reflection points are rooted very much in practice, with inputs from real life business leaders. The book is well written, in a straightforward and engaging style. It is very well organized and referenced and offers a good starting point for anyone who wishes to find out more about leadership and management development. The text incorporates such a vast amount of information and activities that at times it can look a little too busy, drawing the reader’s eye away from the main text to tables and illustrative examples, which could have the potential to overwhelm an easily distracted reader.
The authors of the book are all university lecturers with substantial professional experience in human resources development in a wide range of organisations. The wealth of knowledge and practical experience enables them to root the book very much in practice, helping the readers to understand and develop ways of overcoming the real life challenges of leadership and management.
Overall, the authors succeed in presenting both a theoretical and practical approach to furthering understanding about leadership and management development. This can be seen as a ‘ Cook’s Tour’ of the landscape, history and possible future of leadership and management development, which encompasses the main journey, with its varied content and context, challenge, reflection, side trips and potential information fatigue.
Whether or not the authors succeed in their intention of providing an evaluation of the current understanding about leadership and management is less certain. Certainly, there is no in depth evaluation. The book concludes with the view that there is no one best way to develop managers and that diversity of approach is important for the efficient and effective development of leaders and managers in an organization. In the concluding sections, the authors take the view that assessing and demonstrating the effectiveness of leadership and management development is key, but that there is a need to develop new thinking and approaches, which will allow for an easier evaluation of the added value of leadership and management development to an organisation. They go on to highlight the fact that within the context of diminishing budgets, and the reality that development funding has to compete with other organisational priorities, staff development is often outsourced, and as a result, insufficient attention is paid to the reciprocal importance of organisational and cultural development. This then puts at risk the objective of securing improvements in leadership and management performance which will lead to greater organizational success.