Encyclopedia of Leadership

Editor/Author: Goethals, George R., Sorenson, Georgia J. and Burns, James MacGregor
Publication Year: 2004
Publisher: Sage Publications

ISBN: 978-0-7619-2597-2
Category: social sciences
Image Count: 103
Book Status: Available

The Encyclopedia of Leadership brings together for the first time everything that is known and truly matters about leadership as part of the human experience. Entries and sidebars show leadership in actionâin corporations and state houses, schools, churches, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations.

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The editors provide extensive general information and primary materials on the subjects of decision making, management, administration, motivation, and supervision, and the cognitive and value structures that affect their application. Their collection consists of major leadership concepts and terminology, information about historic and contemporary leaders, collected speeches (including presidential addresses), sacred texts, an extensive bibliography, and a directory of leadership programs. Entries range from ancient Greece to modern times, and encompass correlations, personalities, significant historic events, biographies, case studies, domains (e.g., arts, business, science and technology, utopian leaders), women and gender, and characteristics and styles of leadership. Generic entries cover such topics as leadership, power, governance, and situational factors. These volumes will not only interest business leaders but also philosophers, sociologists, politicians, and theologians. Topics include personality and group roles, leaders and tyrants, leadership styles, including the feminist style of leadership, building a followership culture, and power distance. Navigation aids assist quick reference and ease of use: an alphabetical list of entries, a roster of contributors, and a classified list of entries by topic, category, and domain. Sidebars accompanying many articles supply primary resources, speeches, and events that involve leadership principles. The selection of topics covers both leadership concepts and major historical movements and issues involving the application of leadership. Not just for reference, this is an essential learning resource for libraries and the personal collections of modern leaders. Narratives, examples, photographs, and illustrations illuminate the ideas and concepts being examined, making the set readable, attention-grabbing, and unordinary. Readers can explore leadership theories and practices, and examine the effects of leadership. More volumes are promised in this source that brings interest and excitement to a subject overlooked by the consultants, CEOs, and coaches whose earlier works captured a small view of leadership subject matter.
J. P. Hester
independent scholar
"Leadership training" is consistently among the top priorities for corporate chief learning officers (CLOs), yet teaching someone just how to lead remains an ongoing challenge. The Encyclopedia of Leadership attempts to address our need for a broader understanding of leadership by bringing together nearly 400 articles that reflect our cumulative wisdom regarding leaders and their characteristics, leadership theory, and leadership studies.As noted in its preface, the encyclopedia's intended audience includes scholars and students of leadership, "citizens who want to put knowledge into action," leaders and managers in the workplace, and "practitioners in business, government, the military, non-profits, and religious and lobbying organizations." Its scope is equally ambitious. The encyclopedia's interdisciplinary approach covers topics within the 11 broad categories of arts and intellectual leadership; biographies; case studies; cross-cultural and international topics; domains (for example, political leadership, leadership of nonprofits, and gender-based leadership issues); followership; leadership styles; military; personal characteristics of leaders; politics/government; power; religion; science and technology; situational factors; social movements and change; study of leadership; and women and gender.This work comes with some impressive credentials. Among the 400 scholarly contributors (drawn from 17 countries) are such notable names as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of the best-selling and highly regarded Flow (1990), a work on creativity. James MacGregor Burns, who arguably launched the discipline of leadership studies with his seminal work Leadership (1978), is the senior editor. Despite this assemblage of intellectual firepower, however, the encyclopedia does not quite achieve its goal of serving scholarly research. Instead, it will be perhaps most useful to high school or undergraduate students exploring aspects of leadership and, to a lesser extent, interested lay readers exploring leadership issues.The format and style of the articles follow a traditional encyclopedia approach; most entries are several pages in length, and all are signed and conclude with an unannotated list of materials for further reading. Current through 2002, these end-of-the-entry citations include some journal articles but often reflect popular books and general Websites, neither of which are likely to be useful for scholarly research but could be of value to general readers or students just getting started on leadership topics. The selection criteria is somewhat vague; for example, the 150 leaders who merit biographical articles are "representative" rather than the greatest/best/most noteworthy, and some articles, such as one on e-commerce, seem to have little if any relevance to the topic at hand. Additionally, and surprisingly, there is no entry that defines leadership itself.On the other hand, the topics that have been included are generally written about in an accessible manner that is generally more engaging than scholarly. The articles within the categories of "Leadership Styles," "Personal Characteristics of Leaders," and "Theories" are especially interesting and informative. Surprisingly, the biographies are somewhat inconsistent-some do a good job of connecting the dots between an individual's life and its relevance to key leadership issues, while others do not. The articles are interspersed with numerous sidebars (key speeches, documents, or clarifying content), boxed quotes, occasional tables and charts, about 100 photographs and other illustrations, and occasional see also references. Four appendixes round out the encyclopedia: a bibliography of significant books on leadership (organized by topic and not annotated); a directory of leadership programs (often with mission statement, but surprisingly with no e-mail or Website address); and two collections of "primary sources" (one presidential speech on foreign policy and war, and the other on sacred texts).The Encyclopedia of Leadership is a useful overview of leadership topics and issues, especially for those new to this discipline. It will have most relevance for public, secondary school, and two- and four-year college libraries.
G. Kim Dority,
G. K. Dority & Associates, Centennial, Colo