Effective Multi‐Unit Leadership: Local Leadership in Multi‐Site Situations

Citation

Murphy, A. (2013), "Effective Multi‐Unit Leadership: Local Leadership in Multi‐Site Situations", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 34 No. 6, pp. 589-590. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-05-2013-0067

The author, Chris Edger, teaches in Birmingham City Business School, Birmingham City University and on the Warwick MBA programme. His profile includes information about his several teaching excellence awards and a 20‐year track record of business leadership in the retail sector in the UK. So, the reader expects a text based on real‐life experiences which will appeal to practitioners and also be a useful pedagogical tool to appeal to academics: a combination difficult for any author to achieve well.

The book claims to be aimed at land‐based district and area managers working in the retail, hospitality and services sectors. Those mangers are likely to be working in what is described as a tense and ambiguous positional space between the centre of operations and the local units of delivery. Such managers need a discrete skills‐set to both motivate local mangers and to deliver compliance with the demands of the centre. Thus this book.

The book itself is structured into eight chapters with preliminary pages, bibliography and index. The overall style has echoes a doctoral thesis: it is about the standards length in pages; has a conceptual framework and methodology; divides chapters into chunks with elaborate levels of headings; integrates references generously; supports hypotheses with case study evidence; uses consistent language style and terminology. The whole structure hangs around the elaborate conceptual framework: The Effective MUL Model. The model is contextualised in a particular business and macro‐economic time and place, with UK case studies from familiar company names such as Argos, Sainsbury's, Rank, Lloyds TSB. Within that context are keys activities which are abbreviated as the 3Ss (sales‐led services, systems and standards), behavioural practices – the Cs (commitment, control and change) and three personal characteristics – the 3 Es (expertise, emotional intelligence and energy). Chapters of the book are devoted to each set with case studies interspersed to support points being elaborated. The doctoral‐style structure lends itself nicely to this kind of elaboration of complex ideas and the reader is provided with an internal logic for the content and for the arguments being promoted by the conceptual framework itself. This style is not surprising given the context of the author's working life as a teacher of advanced management practice. It is also a good pedagogical modelling tool in itself as it walks a potential MBA or doctoral candidate through the kind of academic exercise expected at that level. It also models the pedagogical approach of many MBA programmes where psychology and business theories are intertwined with real‐world case studies or scenarios.

There is certainly a potential readership for this particular book. No doubt its greatest appeal will be within structured business training programmes. It will also sufficiently accessible to appeal to the lone‐wolf area manager searching for insights into particular problems and challenges, particularly within a UK context. Keen readers can always follow up the generous reference list.

Overall this may prove to be one of the key books of its kind for this decade.