Charismatic Leadership in Singapore: Three Extraordinary People

ISBN-13: 9781461414506 / Angielski / Twarda / 2012 / 252 str.

Chan Kwok-Bun;Hava Dayan

Opis

This volume explores the nature of charisma as it accounts for the success of leaders. Charisma is deconstructed and illustrated through the "case studies" of three influential leaders in Singapore. Cultural issues are discussed and leadership qualities in general are explored.

Spis treści

Introduction.- Charisma Revived.- Explaining Charisma: A Macro View.- Explaining Charisma: A Non-deterministic View.- Explaining Charisma: A Constructivist View.- Methodological Operations.- Contextualizing Charisma: Theoretical and Empirical Indications.- The Charismatic Enigma: Three Extraordinary Singaporeans.- Charismatic Leadership's Agency: Social Construction and Transformation of Meaning.- Structural Constraints and Alternative Socio-political Discourses.- Conclusions.

O autorze

Chan Kwok-bun is Chair Professor of Sociology, Hong Kong Baptist University. He was former President, Hong Kong Sociological Association; former Head, Department of Sociology, and former Director, David C. Lam Institute for East-West Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University. Between 2005 and 2008, Professor Chan has published seven books, and since 2005 has been the Editor of Social Transformations in Chinese Societies (Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers), the official journal of The Hong Kong Sociological Association. His current research interests are in families in Chinese societies, Chinese business networks and Chinese capitalism; Chinese ethnic identities; migration, transnationalism, cosmopolitanism, and diasporas.

Blurb

Charismatic Leadership in Singapore:
Three Extraordinary People

 Hava Dayan and Chan Kwok-bun

What makes some lead while others follow? How do the great leaders keep their influence over the long term? These questions may be simple, but the answers have never been. Charisma holds important clues to the gaining and holding of power, yet it can easily be undervalued as mere personal charm.

Charismatic Leadership in Singapore offers conceptual, empirical, and philosophical lenses for clarifying the nuances of the concept of charisma and gauging its impact in both public and private spheres. Its authors, Dayan and Chan, provide the much- needed context, identifying how charisma manifests in social relationships with institutions, groups and individuals, and the social, economic, political, historical, and cultural factors that make charismatic leaders desired, valued, followed. The book draws upon the lives and careers of three extraordinary citizens of Singapore (Sister Prema, community activist; Kuo Pao Kun, dramatist, theatre director, and educator; and Tay Kheng Soon, architect and pioneer in green urban design) to demonstrate the social meanings of charisma and the qualities, applicable across cultures, times and settings, that keep leaders in their positions.

The book covers:

• Explaining charisma: macro, non-determinist, and constructivist views.
• Charisma in context: theory and research.
• Methodological issues in studying charismatic leadership.
• The charismatic enigma as seen through the lives of three visionary leaders.
• Structural constraints and alternative social/political/cultural perspectives.
• The agency of charismatic leadership in social construction and the transformation of meaning.

As public perceptions of leaders and leadership evolve, Charismatic Leadership in Singapore makes significant reading for  leaders in business, government, and NGOs, as well as for sociologists, psychologists, business school professors, trainers, particularly those teaching or studying leadership, organizational and group behavior, social change, motivation and  action.