Abstract
What happens when a collection of scholars from differing disciplines comes together to create a grand theory of leadership? This is the question philosopher Joanne B. Ciulla came to identify as particularly intriguing as a group of academics assembled to attempt precisely that. Although the substantive challenges of creating a grand theory of leadership had always been the group's focus, it gradually dawned on the participants that how they were going about the task of coming together across disciplines to create an integrated product was as significant as what they were creating. Political scientist Georgia Sorenson noted that 'there is a process and a product here. We need to write about the reflective process' as well. Similarly, in the throes of a particularly difficult debate over foundational assumptions, Joanne Ciulla commented: 'Perhaps we could show what it's like to be in a group of people trying to do this and what it is like to do it: to watch people struggling with this intellectual [challenge].' Or, as Ciulla later phrased it, 'A paper on what happened when leadership scholars tried to create a unified theory might be more interesting and useful to the field than one on [the] unified theory [itself].' The substantive output of the academics engaged in this initiative is an important contribution, and is presented in this volume. This opening chapter, however, purports to trace the challenges and achievements of the process itself. In doing so, it also illustrates the pitfalls and potential of multidisciplinary field such as leadership studies.
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2006
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2006 Edward Elgar Publishing. This chapter first appeared in A Quest for a General Theory of Leadership.
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Recommended Citation
Wren, J. Thomas. "A Quest for a Grand Theory of Leadership." In A Quest for a General Theory of Leadership, edited by George Goethals and Georgia Sorenson, 1-38. Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006.