This is a conceptual paper whose aim is to relate the development of ‘individualization’ (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 2002) to organizational leadership. It does this by examining individualization alongside the implicit assumption on which orthodox approaches to leadership are founded, namely that leadership is an individualized phenomenon. Despite the expanding literature on these topics, particularly that on leadership, these concepts have not been examined in relation to one another. This paper seeks to do this in two ways. Firstly, it highlights the increased attention given to leadership in the UK public sector, locating leadership as a continuation of public sector managerialism. Secondly, it discusses the development of the trend of individualization more broadly. The paper’s main discussion focuses on leadership as an individual activity and of the consequences of that approach. In particular, it argues that individualized leadership presents a restrictive perspective which does not allow for exploration of a broader range of leadership approaches, particularly that of distributed leadership, which have especial relevance for public sector organizations.

Authenticity, a growing area of interest in leadership studies, is an important concept within existentialist thinking. Currently it is largely untheorized. Here the concept is examined using Sartre’s work. Current literature implies authenticity as relating to an ‘inner’ or ‘true’ self which existentialist thinking rejects, opening the way for a different approach to theorizing authenticity. There is a need to consider context, and subjective and inter-subjective experience to understand and to practice authentic existential leadership.

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No / International aid agencies are increasingly placing social accountability at the heart of their governance reform programs, involving a range of social activist mechanisms through which officials are rendered answerable to the public. Crucially, aid agencies are not just promoting these mechanisms in emerging democracies, but now also in authoritarian societies. What then are the likely political regime effects of these mechanisms? We approach this by examining who supports social accountability, why, and the implications for political authority. Focusing on the Philippines and Cambodia cases, it is argued that, to differing degrees, social accountability mechanisms have been subordinated to liberal and ⁄ or moral ideologies favoring existing power hierarchies. These ideologies often privilege nonconfrontational state–society partnerships, drawing activists into technical and administrative processes limiting reform possibilities by marginalizing, or substituting for, independent political action pivotal to the democratic political authority of citizens.

This paper argues that polyphony is built on the transaction between voices and experiential truths, where voice and experience constitute each other. From this perspective voice is associated with the plural, transformational character of moment-to-moment experience. This view differs from the prevalent appropriation of polyphony where voice expresses a relatively stable identity (e.g. Hazen 1993) such that many voices (polyphony) may be reduced to many identities. The experiential understanding of polyphony is examined through close inspection of Bakhtin's contextualization of polyphony in carnival, a reading of his work that is largely missing from the organizational literature. This reading is further developed in the context of talk about teamwork in a large healthcare organization. Analysis of this talk reveals three different types of discursive truths that create different kinds of identities and different kinds of possibilities for organizational change: the public, teleological truths of epic discourse; the intimate truths of confession and irony; and the contested truths of the argument and what Bakhtin (1984) calls the microdialogue (or inner conversations with ourselves).

The military potential of nanotechnology was anticipated by its proponents from the early stages of its development, and explicit programmes for this purpose are now well established. However, the impact of nanotechnology on arms control is very unlikely to be merely additive. Instead, it threatens to undermine the arms control paradigm, for reasons explored in this paper. These include the place of nanoscience and nanotechnology as the principal enablers of technological convergence; the extension from dual-use to multiple-use dilemmas arising from new materials and processes, and their integration into economic development and competitiveness; low entry-level infrastructural requirements (already a feature of biotechnology); and a blurring of the distinction between offensive arms and capabilities likely to be viewed as threatening.

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Yes / Aims: The rapidly growing industrial and medical use of nanomaterials, especially zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, has led to growing concerns about their toxicity. Accordingly, the intrinsic genotoxic and cytotoxic potential of these nanoparticles have been evaluated. Materials & methods: Using a HEp-2 cell line, cytotoxicity was tested along with mitochondrial activity and neutral red uptake assays. The genotoxic potential was determined using the Comet and the cytokinesis-blocked micronucleus assays. In addition,tyrosine phosphorylation events were investigated. Results & conclusion: We found concentration- and time-dependent cytotoxicity and an increase in DNA and cytogenetic damage with increasing nanoparticle concentrations. Mainly for zinc oxide, genotoxicity was clearly associated with an increase in tyrosine phosphorylation. Our results suggest that both types of nanoparticles can be genotoxic over a range of concentrations without being cytotoxic.

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No / This study examines the changes in return comovement around the listing and delisting of stock option contracts. We show that newly option listed stocks experience an increase in comovement with a portfolio of option listed stocks and a decrease in comovement with the portfolio of non-optioned stocks. Similarly, stocks that undergo option delisting exhibit a decrease in comovement with option listed stocks and an increase in comovement with non-optioned stocks. We verify the reliability of our findings in several ways. A matched sample analysis suggests that our results are not driven by factors other than option listing and we find similar results using a calendar-time approach. Further analysis reveals that commonalities in option trading may induce the comovement in the option listed stocks. Overall, our evidence is consistent with the predictions of the category or habitat view of comovement.