A critical examination of leadership theories past and present, Managing without Leadership argues that leadership as traditionally understood does not explain organizational functioning. Bounded by empiricist assumptions and methodology, and including a narrow theory of mind as symbol processor, leadership theories are unable to support their claims about leaders and their actions.

Drawing on coherentist epistemology, connectionism, and the theory of self-organizing dynamic systems, a naturalistic account of organizational functioning and organization design is explored that includes leaders as non-privileged agents in the cognitive fabric of organizational life.