Book Reviews : Review Article : the Power of Balance Torbert, William R:Sage Publications, Newbury Park, California, 1991 Paperback, 285 pp. ISBN 0 8039 3554 4 £15.25
Abstract
Book ReviewsReview Article : the Power of Balance Torbert, William RSage Publications, Newbury Park, California, 1991 Paperback, 285 pp. ISBN 0 8039 3554 4 £15.25 SAGE Publications, Inc.1992DOI: 10.1177/135050769202300409 Gerry Moult MANAGEMENT EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT Volume 23 Part 4 1992 William Torbert has written a fascinating and curious book - difficult to review because it straddles so many genres - but valuable for the very reason that the book, and indeed the man himself, are self-conscious examples of the theories, models and ideas presented within it. This recursive structure and personalising of the issues can be viewed as a form of self-indulgence, or can be taken at face value as an invitation to re-enact the author's own voyage of discovery. High-minded theorising alternates with the personalised, the particular and the anecdotal; together they crowd out any serious engagement with alternative models and interpretations of the issues under discussion. In this respect the Power of Balance is wilfully unbalanced and somehow incomplete. The author's claims are not modest: 'This book presents a new theory of power, a new practice of management and a new approach to conducting social science.' With so much novelty in one book it would not