BOOK REVIEWS
Cases in Leadership
By W. Glenn Rowe and Laura Guerrero
Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 5th Edition, 2018, Pages: 456, Price: 550
ISBN:9781544310374
S
everal books on leadership get published every year, some of which go on to
become business classics that every aspiring manager or leader must-read. For
example, the book by Warren Bennis titled, ‘On becoming a leader’ offering
insights into the qualities that define leadership and discussing strategies that anyone
can apply to achieve it became an instant bestseller. Great leaders inspire by placing
their trust in the followers, giving them the right opportunities for self-growth while
working collaboratively for the attainment of organizational goals. Leadership
persistently continues to be a hot topic and as researches continue to happen trying to
uncover what makes a leader productive and successful; there is a persistent need of
an academic text that provides a blend of theory and real cases for understanding and
providing training on leadership. Connecting theory to practice in this book, W Glenn
Rowe and Laura Guererro provide an opportunity for the readers to stay updated with
the latest in leadership concepts and confront real-world issues and dilemmas
pragmatically.W. Glenn Rowe’s experience in the Canadian Navy for 22 years and
academic experience in teaching strategy and strategic leadership in Ivey business
school coupled with Laura Guerrero rich experience in teaching management and
human resources at the University of Texas and Houston is reflected in this wellthought book that is a welcome addition for students, academicians and people in
business.
The book has fifteen chapters, and the authors have done a great job in presenting
an array of leadership topics like; leadership trait approach, leadership skills approach,
leadership styles, followership, leader member exchange theory of leadership,
transformational leadership, servant leadership, authentic leadership, adaptive
leadership ,team leadership, strategic leadership, women and leadership, culture and
leadership and ethical leadership. Teachers in academic institutions offering courses
on leadership are on the lookout for a book that serves as a handbook for their graduate,
postgraduate and management development programs. Consisting of this wide range
of topics on leadership and each chapter accompanied with a distinctive collection of
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real-world leadership cases from Ivey publishing and practitioner readings the updated
fifth edition of this book is an invaluable companion for anyone studying leadership.
The book begins with exploring into the trait versus process leadership, leadership
and power, leadership and coercion and leadership and management. The chapter on
trait approach further delves deeper in traits like intelligence, self-confidence, integrity,
sociability, big five personality models and emotional intelligence trying to investigate
as to how the trait approach works. Trait theory of leadership that focuses on the
leader and the traits that make them more effective has always been a critical area in
leadership research. For example, the famous book on primal leadership by Daniel
Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie Mc Kee established the importance of emotional
intelligence as a critical differentiating factor for leadership success. The chapter on
leadership skills approach, studies the Katz skills approach, leadership competencies
and individual attributes. The fourth chapter studies how leadership styles work. The
two associated cases, one on leadership crisis at Steelworks Xiamen plant and second
on Huo’s Group, helps to understand and relate better the underpinnings of leadership
styles and organizational success.
Each chapter is rich with in-depth literature review for the topic in discussion. For
example, in the fifth chapter on followership, they have presented the evolution of
followership in academic research from 1900 to 2017. From five mentions between
1948 and 1980, it increased to 43 articles with the word leadership in the title and
175 papers with followership as a topic in 2017. From tracing the evolution of the
followership concept, quoting phenomenal work in the area, to covering recent work
on followership and offering a practitioner’s perspective too, the contents flow
seamlessly. The first case for discussion is of Jones Schilling Employee Coaching
Workshop. that presents a scenario where four managers are preparing to coach their
Gen Y employees on how they can contribute better to the firm’s performance. The
case allows discussion on how to recognize and seize the opportunity to informally
coach for talent development, to improve followership. The second case for this chapter
is of ‘ Sarah Vickers: Post Acquisition Career Management’, that presents the case of
a senior vice president of Canadian company who is asked for recommendations and
she is confronted with a dilemma whether to stand by her own judgment or to bow to
her superiors wishes. The case provides an excellent discussion point on the ethics
and career impact of changing a professional opinion, under pressure from top
management. The reading by John S McCallum successfully reaffirms that studies on
followership is equally important as good leadership and builds on qualities of good
followers like judgment, competence, honesty, courage, discretion and ego management
to name a few.
The book successfully explores the complex nature of leadership in organizations
by taking cases from around the world to contemplate on integral issues, such as
globalization, diversity and ethical dilemmas. For instance, the chapter on leaderVolume 28
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BOOK REVIEWS
member exchange theory comes with an informative reading on how to build a healthy
leadership pipeline. The chapter on authentic leadership not only defines authentic
leadership but delves into the theoretical approaches like self-awareness, internalized
moral perspective, balanced processing, relational transparency and other factors that
influence authentic leadership. The chapter on adaptive leadership with a section on
‘what can military tell us’ provides readers with an insightful learning about a practical
leadership framework that can help individuals and organizations thrive in challenging
environments.
Each chapter begins with a quote that sets forth the intention and foundation of
the chapter. For instance, the chapter on servant leadership starts with an opening
passage by Robert K Greenleaf. This passage well articulates that the servant leader
is a servant first who is sharply different from the one who is a leader first. Between the
leaders-first and servant first extreme types, there are different shadings that provide
an understanding of the infinite variety in human nature. The chapter covers
characteristics central to servant leadership and factors like leader attributes, context
culture, follower receptivity and others that affect the servant leadership process.
With the two cases and the reading on Gandhi, it aptly summarizes that servant
leadership is about leaders committing themselves to put their subordinates first, being
honest with them, and treating them fairly. These behaviours then manifest in healthier,
wiser, freer, autonomous persons who can achieve their potential under the leader.
The chapter on strategic leadership explores into the components of strategic leadership
like determining the firm’s vision, developing human capital, exploiting and
maintaining core competencies, sustaining effective culture and establishing balanced
organizational controls. The revised chapter on women and leadership examines the
human capital differences, prejudices and navigating the glass ceiling turned labyrinth.
The case on woman board directors championing tough issues and the reading on
gender equality makes for a fulfilling read.
Leaders spend a major portion of their time learning how to do their work and
helping other people learn to do theirs, yet their performance, behavior and results are
strongly influenced by culture and cross-culture environment. Chapter 14 on culture
and leadership explores the aspects of culture, diversity, ethnocentrism. The theme
has been aptly supplemented with an excellent case on ‘Tata: Leadership with Trust’ ;
a company, well recognized for its profitability, competitiveness and long-standing
tradition of social responsibility. Effective leadership in teams assumes behavioural
flexibility, problem-solving skills applicable to teams, and using discretion when
determining if leader intervention is necessary. The chapter on team leadership, assists
in apprehending how the team leaders can assess their team’s effectiveness and figure
out when and where the team’s leaders need to intervene. Ethics is central to leadership
and the last chapter on ethical leadership presents a guide to decision making in
situations that one can confront as a leader. It discusses several perspectives for making
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ethical decisions appreciating the fact that good leaders stand and act on principle.
Attention has been drawn to the principles that are believed to lead to the development
of ethical leadership like respect for others, service to others, justice for others, honesty
toward others, and building community with others in this section.Overall, this wellstructured book ‘Cases in leadership’, fifth edition updated with new cases and readings
satiates the readers having research interest in the theme of leadership. It also serves
as a practical guide to those looking for understanding different aspects of leadership
or for using it in training on leadership as a practical skill.
Farah Naqvi
Senior Researcher
Indian Institute of Business Psychology (IIBP)
A-36, DGS Society, Plot No. 6, Sector 22
Dwarka, New Delhi-110077
E-mail: frh_naqvi@yahoo.com
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