`It is refreshing when you come across a clear, well-written book about leadership that is not peddling the latest gimmick, buzzword or quick fix. What makes this work really refreshing is the emphasis on the critical dimension in the title and the breadth of the author's own experience of work' - Times Higher Education

`An excellent resource for examining and analyzing leadership from different perspectives' - New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development

`In a highly original way, taking Critical Theory as a point of departure, Dr Western helps us to obtain greater insight into the enigma of leadership' - Manfred Kets de Vries

`One of the most promising forthcoming management books for 2007' - European Academy of Management (EURAM)

`Leadership A Critical Text is an outstanding addition to the Leadership literature. This is an excellent text which takes the field to new heights in the first decade of the 21st Century' - Professor Cary L. Cooper, CBE, Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health at Lancaster University

`The book provides a unique and much needed 'voice' to the field of leadership studies, and will have a significant impact worldwide' - Professor Jonathan Gosling, Director of the Leadership Centre Exeter University

Providing a critical review and analysis of the key debates within leadership, this book challenges the notion of the individual or hero leader. The author develops the idea of leadership as a distributed process between lots of agents in an organization. In doing so he provides a new framework which readers can use to understand and implement this distributed type of leadership.

Chapters include vignettes and case studies to support readers' understanding of ideas, and pedagogical features emphasize core learning points.

To aid course tutors a teaching guide to accompany the book is available online from here

The author's own website can be found here