*Book Review: Leadership: Theory and Practice

This book review was provided by Joe Farcht, the Official Guide to Leadership Skills. Leadership Skills are the tools and traits acquired to facilitate guiding or a directing a group, most commonly toward a shared goal. Joe Farcht has identified Leadership: Theory and Practice by Peter G. Northouse as a valuable resource for people interested in leadership skills and it is avaialble through Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.nnnnReviewnVenkatesh Pamu Book Reviews : "The book seems to have been sprung from the author's experiences of teaching and consulting on leadership issues. This is evident from the way in which the approaches and theories to leadership are structured for easy application and practice in active scenarios. A clear positive aspect of the book is the Summary at the end of each chapter with serves the purpose of integrating several dimensions that the chapter deals with." Heartened by the positive response to previous editions of Leadership: Theory and Practice, this Fourth Edition is written with the same objective to bridge the gap between the often simplistic popular approaches to leadership and the more abstract theoretical approaches. In addition to the new two color-layout, the Fourth Edition also: Examines the latest research on culture, the dimensions of culture, and how culture affects the leadership process in a new chapter titled "Culture and Leadership".nTakes a closer look at styles of female and male leaders, the causes for the "glass ceiling," and how the glass ceiling is being broken in organizational settings in a newly written "Women and Leadership" chapter.nIncludes new real-world case studies, research references, new figures and tables, additional research-based applications, and expanded discussions of selected leadership topics.nProvides an Instructors Resources CD with PowerPoint slides, a test bank, writing assignments, chapter reviews, and much more. nnAuthor DescriptionnPeter G. Northouse (Ph.D., University of Denver) is Professor of Communication in the School of Communication at Western Michigan University. For more than 20 years, he has taught leadership and organizational communication on both the undergraduate and graduate levels. In addition to several book chapters, he has published many articles in professional journals and is coauthor of Health Communication: Strategies for Health Professionals (3rd ed.). His research interests include leadership ethics, transformational leadership, and issues of control in human interaction. He has worked as a consultant in a variety of areas, including leadership development, leadership education, conflict management, and health communication. He holds a doctorate in speech communication from the University of Denver, and a master's and bachelor's degree in communication education from Michigan State University. nn