Uncertainty, Diversity and The Common Good: Changing Norms and New Leadership Paradigms

Because of a management model emphasizing standardization and a one-size-fits-all approach, the previous good health of firms depended on economic performance and maximizing shareholder value. The enduring financial crisis and the ensuing leadership void have forced us all to reconsider the rules of the game and to take into account economic and social factors, in order to address the needs of an unpredictable world. In Uncertainty, Diversity and The Common Good, contributors from leading academic institutions around the World discuss different models of socially responsible global leadership. Their perspectives embrace philosophy; sociology; psychology; ecological and environmental economics; management; and entrepreneurship. Together they explore unpredictability and how being responsible for social as well as economic outcomes requires intelligences that enable managers to adapt and to develop a sustainable, lasting and consistent managerial approach. Working with local communities, integrating minorities, and redistributing wealth, they say, requires a new model of socially responsible leadership that brings together dimensions that are incompatible within existing paradigms. This book indicates what new paradigms might look like, with particular regard to the issue of diversity as an asset with which to confront uncertainty. Case studies tell of leaders working with diversity to create social change and new visions of leadership that are impacting social and cultural norms. This leads to discussion of the nature and diversity of leadership itself which will be helpful to academic researchers and higher level students, as well as policy makers and practitioners.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Foreword: empowering individuals is the core of modern leadership, Bas de Leeuw; Introduction, Stefan Gröschl; Part I Conceptualizing the Common Good: Business and the common good: some fundamental issues, Laurent Bibard; How American spiritual capital informs business and affects the common good, Nicolas Capaldi. Part II Conceptualizing Global Leadership and Social Responsibility: Reconciling domains: corporate social responsibility and the global leadership challenge, Ciara Sutton and Lena Zander; Responsible leadership: business myth or corporate reality?, Ciara Hackett; Leadership in multi-identity contexts: a Mediterranean framework, Celia de Anca, Salvador Aragón and Conchita Galdón. Part III Cases of Global and Social Leadership: To socially responsible leadership: navigating the pluralistic complexities in a global world, Vipin Gupta; The global team leader dilemma: diversity and inclusion, Junko Takagi and Hae-Jung Hong. Part IV Stakeholders of Corporate Leadership: The new requirement for social leadership: healing, Gregory A. Norris; Revisiting the classic tension between hierarchy and freedom, Laurent Bibard. Part V The Role of Educators: Management education: how can we develop a generation of business leaders to act for the common good?, Isabel Rimanoczy; Teaching a common good in a business school: the ESSEC seminar on water management, Laurence de Carlo; Concluding remarks, Stefan Gröschl; Index.

About the Author :
Dr Stefan Groschl is Professor in the Management Department and Co-Chair of Leadership and Diversity at ESSEC Business School in Paris. He has shared his expertise in a wide range of academic and public arenas. Dr Groschl has been widely published in journals, book chapters and articles in both the international trade and academic press. He has contributed to three books and edited two: Diversity in the Workplace and Diversity Quotas, Diverse Perspectives, both published by Gower. Bas de Leeuw, Stefan Groschl, Laurent Bibard, Nicolas Capaldi, Ciara Sutton, Lena Zander, Ciara Hackett, Celia de Anca, Salvador Aragon, Conchita Galdon, Vipin Gupta, Junko Takagi, Hae-Jung Hong, Gregory A. Norris, Isabel Rimanoczy, Laurence de Carlo.

Review :
A Baker & Taylor Academic Essentials Title in Leadership 'We cannot deny that sustainability, in its broadest sense, has become one of the most important topics nowadays and for the future. This book provides an excellent overview of the challenges the world will face and it does it through different lenses, creating the seed for a holistic new model of responsible leadership, basing diversity in the center of the discussion as a catalyst to change the reality.' Patricia Gabaldon, Professor of Economic Environment, IE Business School