Reflexive Leadership

Mats Alvesson is Professor of Organization Studies at the University of Bath, and also affiliated with Lund University, Stockholm School of Economics and Bayes Business School, City, University of London.Stefan Sveningsson is Professor of Business Administration at the School of Economics and Management, Lund University. He has been visiting researcher at Cardiff Business School, Melbourne University, University of Sydney and Auckland Business School. His research includes leadership, managerial work, strategic and organizational change and organization of knowledge intensive work. He has published several books and journal articles. Recent books include Changing Organizational Culture (2ed, Routledge, 2015, with M Alvesson), Managerial Lives: Leadership and Identity in an Imperfect World (Cambridge University Press, 2016, with M Alvesson), and Reflexive Leadership (SAGE, 2017, with M Alvesson & M Blom).

There are not many books on leadership that combine critical reflection, rigorous scholarship and a wide range of material. There are even fewer from authors that have actually studied leadership in situ and have something innovative to say on the topic. This book is one of those rare creatures: a treasure trove for the uninitiated and the expert alike: read it!

• Chapter 1: Leadership: The Need for a Reflexive ApproachChapter 2: On Reflection and ReflexivityChapter 3: Perspectives on LeadershipChapter 4: Leadership Beyond Ideology, Harmony and All-inclusiveness: The Case for a More Nuanced ViewChapter 5: Leadership and Organizational CultureChapter 6: Followership and Its AlternativesChapter 7: Modes of OrganizingChapter 8: Leadership Varieties: The 5P FrameworkChapter 9: Constraints on Leadership in Managerial WorkChapter 10: Alignment or Misfit in Leadership Constructions?Chapter 11: Reflexive Group Work on Leadership and Its AlternativesChapter 12: Reflexive and Unreflexive LeadershipChapter 13: The Reflexive Follower (LIP)Chapter 14: Conclusions: Reflexivity, Trap-awareness and a Suggested Way Forward