Business & Management (not otherwise classified)

Return to:- Book List Index & Links

In Praise of Good Business by Judith M. Bardwick. John Wiley & Sons, 352 pages, $24.95.

Call it managing for results. That means encouraging people to do their best, to take risks, even when mistakes are the results. It means making them realize they must produce to get raises and improved benefits. Is this difficult? Sure. But Bardwick will convince you it's worth the effort. (Surprise: employees will gain confidence, know their worth, and appreciate the change.) Best Business Books, 1998

Contemporary Business, 7th Edition

Boone, Louis E., and David L. Kurtz / The Dryden Press, 1993.

A classic and exceptional text. Get it, read it, keep it. (Check for the latest edition.)

Peter Drucker on the Profession of Management by Peter Drucker. Harvard Business School Press, 201 pages, $29.95.

Here's a quick look at a variety of Drucker's best ideas on management. Read this and you'll learn about making decisions, promoting employees, spotting opportunities -- and much more. Best Business Books, 1998

Mean Business by Albert J. Dunlap with Bob Andelman. Times Business, 289 pages, $25.

The controversial turnaround artist former - whose nicknames include Chainsaw Al and The Shredder - shows how turning around companies is not just a matter of mindlessly cutting jobs. His four basic rules for saving bad companies are: get the right management team around you, pinch pennies, know what business you're in, and get a real strategy - a strategy that looks at both the short-team and the long-term. Best Business Books, 1996

Values and Ethics in Organization and Human Systems Development : Responding to Dilemmas in Professional Life (Jossey-Bass Management Series)

William Gellermann, Mark S. Frankel / Published 1990

In the Company of Giants by Rama Dev Jager and Rafael Ortiz. McGraw-Hill, 233 pages, $24.95.

These authors interviewed the top executives and managers in today's business world. Here's solid advice from people whose names you recognize. Examples: Michael Dell saying companies shouldn't grow too fast. Ken Olsen telling why good managers leave their people alone, and Bill Gates arguing that a win, win, win attitude is counterproductive. These are people who have shot up to success; they tell you how they did it. Best Business Books, 1998

Rosabeth Moss Kanter on the Frontiers of Management by Rosabeth Moss Kanter. Harvard Business School Press, 320 pages, $29.95.

This collection of Kanter's articles originally published in Harvard Business Review is a guide on improved management today and in the years ahead. The best of the creative thinking of this noted business writer. Best Business Books, 1997

Letts Study Guides: A-Level Business Studies by various authors.

Try to find David Floyd (ISBN: 1-85758-232-2) or Martin Clinton (ISBN: 1-85758-351-5)

The Witch Doctors : Making Sense of the Management Gurus

by John Micklethwait, Adrian Wooldridge / 1 Edition Hardcover

Amazon.com:
Management theory is a worldwide growth industry these days. Terrified of falling behind, business executives flock from one management guru to another in search of a competitive edge. Catchwords such as "chaos,"
"excellence," and "quality" echo in corporate halls and bounce around boardrooms the world over. Which ideas and theories are sound, and which are ultimately useless fads? John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge spent two years answering this question. Their resulting book, The Witch Doctors, separates the management wheat from the
chaff. In mercifully jargon-free prose, they look at the promise and problems of what's driving the current management industry explosion. Starting with Peter Drucker and Tom Peters, the authors examine the major ideas and their proponents, focusing not only on
corporate implications but on social consequences as well.

The New York Times Book Review, Bruce Mussbaum :
... a pleasant surprise. To any corporate stiff wondering where in the world the boss got that idea, The Witch Doctors is the place to go and find out.... Mr. Micklethwait and Mr. Wooldridge deliver sharp insights
about a group of people who seriously influence millions of lives in corporate America. And they do it with wit and grace.

List: $25.00 ~ Amazon.com: $17.50 ~ You Save: $7.50 (30%)

The Loyalty Effect by Frederick Reichheld. Harvard Business School Press, 320 pages, $24.95.

Loyalty -- of customers, employees, and investors -- can combine to create companies with "miraculous" levels of cash flow. Lessons from A.G. Edwards, Leo Burnett, State Farm Insurance, and others show how to create loyalty-inspiring value for all stakeholders. Best Business Books, 1996

No-Excuses Management : Proven Systems for Starting Fast, Growing Quickly, and Surviving Hard Times/Book & Diskette

T.J. Rodgers, et al / Published 1993

Fad Surfing in the Boardroom by Eileen C. Shapiro. Addison-Wesley, 224 pages, $22.

Beware ye who worship the idols of management, says Shapiro. You may be in for an unpleasant surprise. For example, does empowerment sound good? Fine, but make sure you are really ready and willing to share power with your employees. Because if you share it and then take it back, you've made things a lot worse for you and your company.

There's also a lot of talk about doing away with hierarchies, the enemy of efficiency, productivity, growth, and all other good things. Hierarchies will always be around, insists Shapiro. Learn to make them better, not try to banish them.

As for TQM, it's got possibilities, she says. But don't just blindly follow the dictates of what she calls the TQM priesthood. Learn from others, make changes in your organization, and then learn from your own experience.

There's a serious message behind Shapiro's witty attacks on the latest management panaceas: Managers should have the courage to manage. That means not to accept blindly the systems of others. It means assessing situations, choosing tools, and then taking full responsibility for the decisions made and the results achieved. Best Business Books

Hidden Champions by Hermann Simon. Harvard Business School Press, 298 pages, $29.95.

Some of the best companies in the world are ones you've never heard of. They like it that way. These market owners don't want the rest of us to know how they capture world markets, innovate, please customers, and hire the best. Simon lays bare their methods. Best Business Books, 1996

Information Technology for Management : Improving Quality and Productivity

Efraim Turban, et al / Hardcover / Published 1996 ; Amazon.com: $83.95

Overdrive by James Wallace. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 307 pages, $24.95.

It's hard to believe that Microsoft's Bill Gates almost blew it, but he did. He was convinced that the Internet's future belonged to television. Then he looked up, and there was Netscape, forging far and profitably ahead as it routed millions to the Internet. It's an engrossing story about this slip by the greatest financial success in the business and how he caught his balance. Best Business Books, 1997

The World on Time by James C. Wetherbe. Knowledge Exchange, 199 pages, $22.95.

FedEx has boomed from an idea being tested in 1973 to a household name with the name, people, vehicles, and planes to prove its success today. Founder Fred Smith used eleven guiding management principles, and here they are. One of the best: "You can never, ever do enough for your people." Best Business Books, 1997

Return to:- Book List Index & Links

Revised 10 December 1998