238 Book reviews

in their pursuit of the professional imperatives of practice. Similarly, Chapter

9 provides some further clarity of the role of the facilitator in action learning
sets, although this is largely presented as a check list, with some missed
opportunities to explore the nature of group dynamics, power relationships
and the role of the facilitator in managing these to prevent barriers to
learning.
Overall, there is much to be gained from the ideas within this book and there
are some interesting ideas about how social workers can be active within their
own learning and problem solving activities within the context of an action
learning set. There are some useful pedagogical features throughout the book
that encourage engagement with a critically reflective process and underpin
the key principles of action learning as an approach to questioning and
problem solving.
Anne Llewellyn
Teesside University, Tees Valley, UK
Email: a.llewellyn@tees.ac.uk
# 2014, Anne Llewellyn
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14767333.2014.909235

The dark side of transformational leadership: a critical perspective, by

Dennis Tourish, Hove, East Sussex, Routledge, 2013, 252 pp., £22.99 (paper-
back), ISBN 978-0-415-56428-1

It seems to me that the core of action learning is about facilitating a constructive

and collaborative review of how an organisation goes about its business. This
would of course cover illuminating – and engaging with – an organisation’s
ways of working, its culture and traditions, understanding how decisions are
made, its embedded systems of power and privilege and the degree to which
it all ‘fits’ together internally as a fully functioning entity. A challenging
agenda if ever there was one for those involved in such work because it
offers to lay bare an organisation’s very essence as opposed to confirming
and validating its espoused persona.
Central to how any organisation operates in practice, as opposed to how it pre-
sents itself as operating, is the pattern of beliefs which characterise the behaviour
of that organisation’s ‘power elite’. That is to say the behaviour of those in pos-
itions of power and influence throughout the organisation at all levels; in other
words the styles and attributes favoured and fostered by it leadership.
Recent years have seen the rise to prominence – albeit somewhat dimmed
perhaps in the recent past – of a particularly seductive and appealing leadership
style called ‘transformational leadership’. Although there has been increasing
interest in more democratically oriented ‘distributive’ approaches to leadership
‘transformational leadership’ still holds considerable attraction and thus
 Book reviews 239

remains an influential approach which those involved in action learning inter-

ventions will, no doubt be fully aware of.
One of the worrying side effects of transformational leadership – as with
overly charismatic and heroic models of leadership – is the ‘cult-like’ behav-
iour which can be induced in, or indeed demanded from, followers of a
leader who sees their self as ‘transformational’.
Well positioned to examine the lure and dynamics of transformational lea-
dership is Dennis Tourish, a Professor of Leadership and Organization
Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London. With a specialist interest
in cults – a field amongst other matters which he has been researching for
many years – he is an accomplished writer about leadership and equipped to
execute a dissection of the transformational approach to leadership. His book
highlights the dangers of an excessively focused leader-centric approach to lea-
dership as evidenced by the excesses and high profile examples of executive
hubris, organisational tyranny, dysfunctional charisma, and ego-mania at the
top which he describes. He illustrates through the case material he outlines
just how disruptive, destructive and dysfunctional this orientation to leadership
can become when it is unfettered and unbounded.
This interesting and pertinent book should resonate with those involved
in the dynamics of Action Learning because it lifts the lid and exposes
some of the less desirable and dysfunctional facets of this somewhat alluring
and seductive approach to leadership. It is also worth noting that the very
appealing ‘vibe’ of being a ‘transformational leader’ will lead some to
describe themselves as such despite continuing to behave in ways antagon-
istic to the notion of ‘transformation’ and more akin to deterministic, dicta-
torial, JFDI or complacent ways of exercising their leadership
responsibilities. I mention this because it adds an additional layer of com-
plexity for action learning practitioners to negotiate as they go about their
work. Leaders after all do not like to be shown to be behaving in ways incon-
gruent with how they have chosen to project themselves as behaving yet such
‘outing’ is precisely one of the outcomes to be anticipated from an action
learning intervention.
The book is organised into three Parts: Part I offers an introduction to the
concepts underpinning leadership in general and transformational leadership
in particular, whereas Part II explores four extensive case studies. In the con-
cluding Part III – entitled ‘Reimagining leadership and followership’ – the
author looks to the future and challenges the alleged benefits of transforma-
tional leadership in relation to its limitations and excesses.
The four extensive case studies in Part II are as follows:

(i) ‘The dark side of leadership in corporate America: Enron revisited’,

(ii) ‘The Militant Tendency’s long march to oblivion: conformity and
authoritarian leadership on the left’,
240 Book reviews

(iii) ‘Leadership, group suicide and mass murder: Jonestown and Heaven’s
Gate through the looking glass’, and
(iv) ‘Accounting for failure: bankers in the spotlight’.

Each case charts the historical progression and emerging, and increasingly,
toxic impact of transformational leadership which evolved – albeit in differing
ways – leading to calamitous results. These cases illustrate the profound limit-
ations which too strong an adherence to transformational models of leadership
can sadly bring. Each case concludes with a number of ‘Points for Discussion’
which prompt the interested reader to interrogate the material presented further
and in the process reach a deeper appreciation of the gravity of the material
described.
In terms of envisioning the future Tourish’s view is that the very notion of
leadership, as currently construed, is problematic in that it casts and legitimises
too much of a concentration of organisational power into the hands of an elite
i.e. an organisation’s leaders. In so doing it relegates – falsely and inaccurately –
the impact and influence of those not in that elite group to roles as bit-players or
bystanders in the power-dynamics which characterise organisational life. This, in
his view, is especially so with transformational leadership and he argues for
approaches which move on from placing ‘the leader’ at the heart of things to
more distributive leadership frameworks. Patterns and approaches to leadership
which are more egalitarian and which acknowledge the influence which those
who do not hold formal leadership roles nevertheless exercise in shaping organ-
isational behaviour – and leadership success or failure.
The underlying challenge Tourish poses is for leadership to be construed
more as an interactional engagement rather than as a taken-for-granted top-
down relationship whereby leaders lead and followers follow. In this regard lea-
dership can be viewed not as a prescribed finite commodity but as a relational
concept contextually specific to the organisation in question and the varying
challenges that organisation faces. In effect Tourish invites the reader to ques-
tion the infatuation with the notion of leadership in general and with transfor-
mational leadership in particular.
To my mind the emphasis on power, politics and the ‘darker’ and more toxic
aspects of leadership is to be applauded and one which I share. Whilst few
organisational cases may result in the catastrophic case material described I
think it is in the professional interests of those involved in action learning to
examine closely the material presented by Dennis Tourish as they go about
their challenging professional responsibilities.
Michael Walton
People in Organisations Ltd, UK
Email: Michael.walton@btinternet.com
# 2014, Michael Walton
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14767333.2014.909240