Psychodynamic and Critical Perspectives on Leadership Development

The problem and the solution. Increasing attention is focusing on the value of critical approaches to enhancing human resource development (HRD). This article examines how critical HRD and psychoanalytic processes can be harnessed to produce valuable learning through reflection. Psychodynamic perspectives not only explore underlying power and control issues but actively engage in an examination of political and cultural processes affecting the development process. Such perspectives enable one to move beyond purely instrumentalist approaches toward embracing the complexity of leadership development.