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HUMAN DILEMMAS OF LEADERSHIP by Abraham Zalesnick

HUMAN DILEMMAS OF LEADERSHIP

By

Publisher: Harper & Row

Dr. Zalesnik is Professor of Organizational Behavior at Harvard's Graduate School of Business Administration. His study deals mainly with denizens of commercial corporations, but many of his points would bear with equal strength upon the problems to be encountered in political bureaucratic environments. As he puts it, his book is about ""the tensions and conflict experienced in grasping for and acting upon the sense of responsibility"" in such settings. More broadly, he is investigating how ""individuality in work"" can be achieved today, and to do this he has reversed the currently typical outlook of sociology; instead of scrutinizing the ways in which organizations shape persons, he has tried to discover ""how great men, by the strength of their character and personality, remake organizations."" This reversal has more significance than might at first appear. Indeed, his is an extremely optimistic vision of modern society; he foresees that ""this new breed of professionals, influenced by the alliance of education, science, and humanism, may in the long run....counter the myth of individual obsolescence and keep alive the ideals of individuation."" One may wince at some of his terminology, but his prognosis is reassuring.