How useful are leadership studies to organizations trying to survive in today's increasingly changing environments and international competition? The answer to this rhetorical question is very useful, provided the studies move beyond the lower-level face-to-face work that comprises more than 90% of that conducted. This movement beyond provides the book's focus on strategic leadership, a crucially important area that looks at those individuals or teams with overall responsibility for the organization. As a key part of that thrust, the book emphasizes the cascading direct and indirect strategic leadership effects at various organizational levels. That is, it considers the impact of strategic leader tasks such as mission, goal, strategy setting and organizational design on the organization. This work considers other aspects including external environment, cognitive capacity, transformational and visionary leadership, culture and climate, and a number of aspects of organizational change. These areas are examined by a number of authors specializing in leadership, organization and strategy. Overall, the intent is to firmly embed leadership within organizations and to examine this in terms relevant to the organizational restructuring and related concerns of the 90's.
This book is directed primarily toward scholars, advanced students, and sophisticated practitioners with management, organizational behavior, organization theory, strategic management, public administration, or educational administration backgrounds.