Emotional Dimensions of Educational Administration and Leadership

Book excerpt: Emotional Dimensions of Educational Administration and Leadership explores foundational theories for emotional dimensions of educational administration and leadership as they influence our understanding, analysis and practice in the field. It covers a broad range of topics, such as ethics, authority, personality, social justice, gender discrimination, organisational culture, decision-making, accountability and marketisation. The first section, ‘Theoretical Foundations’, includes discussion of the early modern romantic philosophy that produced the heroic notion of leadership, the idealist philosophy of Hegel, existential concerns through Kierkegaard, the contributions of psychoanalysis, and Habermasian critical theory. The second section, ‘Types of Emotional Analysis’, includes examinations of the material culture, emotional economies, the politics of emotion, and the relationship between emotion and rationality. The last section, 'Critical and Contemporary Issues', includes critiques of the fear arising from accountability regimes, the political economy of the market model, a feminist critique of ideologies reflecting emotional investments, narrative expressions for the emotional context of teamwork, the problem of narcissism, and the emotional dimensions of role engagement. This volume explores an area that is only just re-emergent in the last few years. The collection demonstrates the relevance to practical issues and problems internationally, both within the organisational context and extra-organisationally with a focus on the application of emotional factors as they affect our understanding of, and practice in, educational organisations. The emotions of education affect the implementation of political values and culture within organisations.