Rethinking the "L" Word in Higher Education: The Revolution of Research on Leadership: ASHE Higher Education Report, Volume 31, Number 6

by Adrianna J. Kezar

In these times of change and challenge in higher education, pleas for leadership have become frequent. However, the type of leadership required within this new context (of globalization, demographic changes, technological advancement, and questioning of social authority) may call for different skills, requiring a re-education among campus stakeholders if they want to be successful leaders. In the past twenty years, there has been a revolution in the way that leadership is conceptualized across most fields and disciplines. Leadership has moved away from being leader-centered, individualistic, hierarchical, focused on universal characteristics, and emphasizing power over followers. Instead, a new vision has leadership that is process-centered, collective, context-bound, non-hierarchical, and focused on mutual power and influence processes. This volume summarizes research and literature about new conceptualizations of leadership to inform practice. This is volume 31, number 6, of the ASHE Higher Education Report, a bi-monthly journal published by Jossey-Bass. See our entire list of ASHE Higher Education Report titles for a wide variety of critical issues facing Higher Education today. 

240 pages, Paperback

First published May 19, 2006

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume was a textbook for my Leadership & Management class this semester. While it was very informative on the leadership theories, it was incredibly dry and tedious to read. I would much rather be reading about "L" words like lesbian, lunatic, or lemur than leadership.