Review of Scott Eacott’s book Beyond Leadership: A Relational Approach to Organizational Theory in Education

Abstract

Scott Eacottand Richard Niescheare in the process of editing a book series under the banner of Educational Leadership Theory. The intent of the series is “to deliver an innovative and provocative dialogue whose coherence comes not from the adoption of a single paradigmatic lens but rather in an engagement with the theoretical and methodological preliminaries of scholarship” (Eacott, 2018, p. v). In the book, Beyond Leadership: A Relational Approach to Organizational Theory in Education, Eacott engages in an act of scholarship designed to stimulate a style of academic debate as noted by the preface to Educational Leadership Theory series. Eacott’s stated purpose of the book is to present a “relatively new approach to scholarship in educational administration [one that] offers a means of overcoming limitations in the explanatory value of contemporary terms and the need for theoretical resources to engage with organizing activity” (p. 5). True to his stated purpose, Eacott delivers a seventeen-chapter book where he presents his argument (chapters one to eight), provides other academics with a venue for dialogue and debate (chapters nine to fifteen), and concludes with a section that he calls ”Moving Forward” where he offers a response through his commentary and conclusion (chapters sixteen and seventeen).