"Introduction: The new relevance of leadership, influence, teamwork, and change management" by Cohen talks of a brief personal history which helped formulate the author's current views. Cohen opposes old views which left no room for relationships, teams and trust in management. This book is said to offer a combination of the conceptual and the practical in the practice of human skills. Since management problems are universal, much has been written on the subject. However information offered has been academic or restricted to one person's experience. Book chapters and their goals are discussed; the best of current leadership and management theory and practice is presented with individual authors.
"Visionary leadership" by Vaill discusses the role that vision plays in the organization, the creation of visions, methods for making a vision real, and vision problems. A vision can inspire people to cooperate and do their best work. The power of a vision lies with content, appropriateness, and shared feelings among members. The leader creates a vision by transforming images, hopes, fears, expectations, and desires into a way of talking about the organization that most can commit to. Leaders make the vision real through inspirational speech making and personal conversation with others. Problems of vision include multiculturalism, loss of vision, vision transformations, cynicism, and needs for leader development.
"Building high-performance teams" by Bradford focuses on small groups (five to twelve members) that have continuity over time which allows group dynamics to develop and makes commitment worthwhile, with an emphasis on decision-making groups and how to build these teams. A team that works well is able to produce quality solutions with implementation, and is a source of learning for others. Areas for building effective teams include cohesiveness, problem-solving, and managing how the groups operates. Stages of grou...