In The Science of Leadership, Julian Barling takes an evidenced-based approach, relying primarily on the knowledge generated from research on organizational leadership conducted around the world and personal reflections based on two decades of involvement in leadership research and leadership development with executives. While leadership has been studied within all the major social sciences, Barling mainly focuses on findings from psychological research. The first part of the book explains the nature of organizational leadership, responds to the question of whether leaders "matter," and explains how leadership works. A longstanding issue is whether leadership can be taught. Barling explores the debate over whether leadership is "born or made" as well as the effectiveness of leadership development interventions in organizations. He gives consideration to what can be learned from leadership in other contexts such as sports, the political arena, and schools, and devotes individual chapters to topics that include gender and leadership, destructive leadership, and followership.

About the Author
Julian Barling is the Borden Chair of Leadership and Queens Research Chair at the Queen's School of Business. Barling is extensively involved in research, graduate teaching, and executive development focused on organizational leadership, and has received numerous awards for research and teaching. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2002, and is a Fellow of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the Association for Psychological Science, the European Association of Occupational Health Psychology, and the Canadian Psychological Society.

Reviews
It's written in a way that is accessible to those who want to use this knowledge to guide their everyday behaviors and for practitioners that want to use it design leadership programs. The book offers a thorough history of leadership theory and the data to support where leadership development initiatives have had success. This is a must read for human resource and leadership development practitioners to understand what we know and still are investigating around leadership.
The result of this emphasis on current trends in leadership research is that the evidence that Barling draws upon resonates with the current events and issues that are exemplified throughout the book. * Clive Fullagar, Professor, Dept of Psychological Sciences, Kansas State University Personnel Psychology *



Book Information
ISBN 9780199757015
Author Julian Barling
Format Hardback
Page Count 344
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 567g
Dimensions(mm) 160mm * 236mm * 36mm