The new psychology of leadership : identity, influence, and power / S. Alexander Haslam, Stephen D. Reicher, and Michael J. Platow.

By:

Haslam, S. Alexander

Contributor(s):

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: Hove, East Sussex [England] ; New York : Psychology Press, 2011.Description: xxvi, 267 p. : ill. ; 25 cmISBN:

9781841696096
1841696099
9781841696102 (pbk.)
1841696102 (pbk.)

Subject(s):

Contents:

1. The Old Psychology of Leadership: Great Men and the Cult of Personality -- 2. The Current Psychology of Leadership: Issues of Context and Contingency: Transaction and Transformation -- 3. Foundations for The New Psychology of Leadership: Social Identity and Self-Categorization -- 4. Being One of Us: Leaders as In-group Prototypes -- 5. Doing It for Us: Leaders as In-group Champions -- 6. Crafting a Sense of Us: Leaders as Entrepreneurs of Identity -- 7. Making Us Matter: Leaders as Embedders of Identity -- 8. Identity Leadership at Large: Prejudice, Practice, and Politics.

Summary: This work gives an overview of the new understanding of leadership that has emerged in social and organisational psychology as part of the development of self-categorisation and social identity theories. The authors advance the argument that leadership is a group process grounded in the creation and control of group identity.

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Copy number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Standard Loan	Clonmel Library Main Collection	158.4 HAS (Browse shelf(Opens below))	1	Available		R19462JKRC
Standard Loan	Moylish Library Main Collection	158.4 HAS (Browse shelf(Opens below))	1	Available		R19205FKRC

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Winner of the University of San Diego Outstanding Leadership Book Award 2012!

Shortlisted for the British Psychological Society Book Award 2011!

Shortlisted for the CMI (Chartered Management Institute) Management Book of the Year Award 2011-2012!

According to John Adair, the most important word in the leader's vocabulary is "we" and the least important word is "I". But if this is true, it raises one important question: why do psychological analyses of leadership always focus on the leader as an individual - as the great "I"?

One answer is that theorists and practitioners have never properly understood the psychology of "we-ness". This book fills this gap by presenting a new psychology of leadership that is the result of two decades of research inspired by social identity and self-categorization theories. The book argues that to succeed, leaders need to create, champion, and embed a group identity in order to cultivate an understanding of 'us' of which they themselves are representative. It also shows how, by doing this, they can make a material difference to the groups, organizations, and societies that they lead.

Written in an accessible and engaging style, the book examines a range of central theoretical and practical issues, including the nature of group identity, the basis of authority and legitimacy, the dynamics of justice and fairness, the determinants of followership and charisma, and the practice and politics of leadership.

The book will appeal to academics, practitioners and students in social and organizational psychology, sociology, political science and anyone interested in leadership, influence and power.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [223]-244) and indexes.

This work gives an overview of the new understanding of leadership that has emerged in social and organisational psychology as part of the development of self-categorisation and social identity theories. The authors advance the argument that leadership is a group process grounded in the creation and control of group identity.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

List of figures (p. ix)
List of tables (p. xi)
Foreword (p. xiii)
Preface (p. xix)
Acknowledgments (p. xxv)
1 The old psychology of leadership: Great men and the cult of personality (p. 1)
Leadership in history: The "great man" and his charisma (p. 2)
The political decline of the "great man" approach: The impact of the "great dictators" (p. 5)
The standardization of leadership: Personality models and their failings (p. 7)
The biographical approach: Looking for the roots of greatness in personal histories (p. 10)
The theoretical deficiency of individualistic models (p. 12)
The political deficiency of individualistic models (p. 14)
The faulty definition of leadership (p. 16)
Conclusion: Five criteria for a useful psychology of leadership (p. 17)
2 The current psychology of leadership: Issues of context and contingency, transaction and transformation (p. 21)
The importance of context and contingency (p. 22)
The importance of followers (p. 28)
The importance of that "special something" (p. 38)
Conclusion: The need for a new psychology of leadership (p. 42)
3 Foundations for the new psychology of leadership: Social identity and self-categorization (p. 45)
Social identity and group behavior (p. 46)
Social identity and collective power (p. 60)
Defining social identities (p. 64)
Conclusion: Setting the agenda for a new psychology of leadership (p. 73)
4 Being one of us: Leaders as in-group prototypes (p. 77)
The importance of standing for the group (p. 78)
Prototypicality and leadership effectiveness (p. 82)
Prototypicality and leadership stereotypes (p. 94)
Prototypicality and the creativity of leaders (p. 103)
Conclusion; To lead us, leaders must represent "us" (p. 106)
5 Doing it for us: Leaders as in-group champions (p. 109)
The importance of fairness (p. 111)
From fairness to group interest (p. 118)
Clarifying the group interest (p. 130)
Conclusion: To engage followers, leaders' actions and visions must promote group interests (p. 132)
6 Crafting a sense of us: Leaders as entrepreneurs of identity (p. 137)
The complex relationship between reality, representativeness, and leadership (p. 138)
Social identities as world-making resources (p. 143)
Who can mobilise us? The importance of defining category prototypes (p. 147)
Who is mobilized? The importance of defining category boundaries (p. 155)
What is the nature of mobilization? The importance defining category content (p. 159)
Conclusion: Leaders are masters not slaves of identity (p. 162)
7 Making us matter: Leaders as embedders of identity (p. 165)
Identity as a moderator of the relationship between authority and power (p. 166)
Leaders as artists of identity (p. 171)
Leaders as impresarios of identity (p. 179)
Leaders as engineers of identity (p. 188)
Conclusion: Leadership and the production of power both center on the hard but rewarding work of identity management (p. 192)
8 Identity leadership at large: Prejudice, practice, and politics (p. 197)
The prejudice of leadership (p. 198)
The practice of leadership (p. 205)
The politics of leadership (p. 215)
Notes (p. 219)
References (p. 223)
Glossary (p. 245)
Index of leaders and leadership contexts (p. 253)
Author index (p. 257)
Subject index (p. 263)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

S. Alexander Haslam is Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology at the University of Exeter. Stephen D. Reicher is Professor of Psychology at the University of St Andrews. Michael J. Platow is Associate Professor of Psychology at the Australian National University.