Robert Spillane – författare

Philosophy of Leadership has been written to arouse curiosity, not to satisfy it. The authors point out ideas about leadership which draw upon both ancient and modern wisdom. This book develops a philosophy of leadership by tracing the evolution of Western ideas from philosophical perspectives, ancient and modern.

The book's premise is that the theories taught in management schools are based on unacknowledged philosophical perspectives that are significant not so much for what they explain, but for what they assume. Rarely made explicit, these perspectives cannot be reconciled, with the result that the study of management has been dominated by contradictions and internecine intellectual warfare. However, the ability critically to analyze these diverse perspectives is essential to practicing and aspiring managers if they are to evaluate expert opinion. Moreover, since management is primarily an exercise in communication, managing is impossible in the darkness of an imprecise language, in the absence of moral references, or in the senseless outline of a world without intellectual foundations. Managing is a prime example of applied philosophy.

Managerialism has often been defined as an ideology, according to which the effective and efficient running of commercial firms, not-for-profit organizations and public administrations is delivered by individuals who possess superior formal knowledge and expertise in management. Arguing to their exclusive education, managers deprive employers and employees of decision-making power and ensconce themselves systematically in the power structure of workplaces to advance their own interests and agenda. The central thesis of Overcoming Managerialism is that resisting and overcoming managerialism necessitates the re-establishing of the conceptual distinction between power and authority. Second, it requires the rehabilitating of authoritative management as a protection against authoritarian practices. Authority, properly conceived, redirects power to technical experts and professionals and thereby limits managerial power. The authors discuss ten contentions which, taken together, represent a theory of the foundation of management in which authority, power and rhetoric are central concepts.This book combines academic scholarship with a readable critique of managerialism. It will be of interest to both management scholars and students.

Managerialism has often been defined as an ideology, according to which the effective and efficient running of commercial firms, not-for-profit organizations and public administrations is delivered by individuals who possess superior formal knowledge and expertise in management. Arguing to their exclusive education, managers deprive employers and employees of decision-making power and ensconce themselves systematically in the power structure of workplaces to advance their own interests and agenda. The central thesis of Overcoming Managerialism is that resisting and overcoming managerialism necessitates the re-establishing of the conceptual distinction between power and authority. Second, it requires the rehabilitating of authoritative management as a protection against authoritarian practices. Authority, properly conceived, redirects power to technical experts and professionals and thereby limits managerial power. The authors discuss ten contentions which, taken together, represent a theory of the foundation of management in which authority, power and rhetoric are central concepts.This book combines academic scholarship with a readable critique of managerialism. It will be of interest to both management scholars and students.

The idea of personal responsibility has not fared well in psychology. Freud, Jung, Maslow, Eysenck, Skinner and other unfluential psychologists have denied or minimised the importance of personal responsibility and human freedom. They believe that human behaviour is determined by internal and external forces that control them and have laboured to absorb the idea of the free and responsible individual into a pseudo-scientific framework that denies moral agency. To remove moral agency from people is to render them incapable of recognising notions of right and wrong. In their pursuit of a 'therapeutic state', psychologists have medicalised morality by developing powerful myths which replace 'right' and 'wrong' with 'healthy' and 'sick'. The dominant myth is that psychology is a science while other myths include the unconscious mind, the collective unconsciousness, motive-forces, personality traits, conditioning and mental illness. The pernicious myth of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has resulted in drugging more than 20 million children worldwide. In Professor Robert Spillane's provocative new book, QUESTIONABLE BEHAVIOUR, he deplores the fact that many children who misbehave today may end up in a psychiatrist's rooms, be labelled 'mentally disordered' and drugged accordingly. In his controversial chapter on ADHD he challenges the diagnosis of a syndrome which is considered to be highly suspect in certain quarters. It is estimated that 20 million children worldwide are being drugged for something considered a 'myth'. No one has any idea of the long term effects of these drugs on children.

The book discusses Bacon, Descartes, Bayle, Fontenelle, Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, d'Alembert, La Mettrie, Holbach, Kant, Schiller and many other philosophers. These philosophers were united in their belief that reason rather than revelation is the primary source of authority and they courageously attempted to destroy traditional, superstitious and religious ideas and replace them with a liberal, rational and humane worldview. This books is a declaration of respect and admiration for these philosophers. Threatened and attacked in their time, they are today ignored or ridiculed by those who fear or wish to suppress the truths of human existence. The challenge today is to find eccentrics enlightened enough to argue that the age which venerated reason and science as humankind’s highest faculty must not be lost to us. All those interested in philosophy will enjoy this important contribution to the literature.