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The Effective Manager

Perspectives and Illustrations

Publisher: Sage, 1996 , 348 pages

ISBN: 0-7619-5111-3

Synopsis:

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A comprehensive, up-to-date compendium of key articles, this lively and thought-provoking reader is an ideal introduction to management and organisational behaviour. It brings together some of the most interesting and accessible pieces written on the art and science of management, deliberately counterposing them to highlight alternative perspectives in a world where there are seldom 'single right answers' to complex problems.

The focus of the book is on the ideas and theories which a manager can use to become more effective. Six sections explore important aspects of the manager's job:

management, leadership and conflict
motivation and stress at work
organisational culture
decision making and teams
staff development
diversity in organisations

In each section the reader will find articles that reflect major ideas or debates within the area, including thise that challenge traditional views and ways of doing things. Does money motivate? Are teams useful? Does organisational culture exist? What role does sexuality play in the workplace? These are some of the questions asked. Throughout, the book underlines the need for managers to take into account the different contexts of time and culture in which they act.

The Effective Manager will be an invaluabel resource for both students and professionals in general management, organisational behaviour, work psychology and human resource management.

Men and women in transition
Nigel Nicholson and Michael West
Chocoloate eggs and Chester Barnard
Iain Mangham
The Chinese contract
Charles Handy
Can leaders change their styles?
Andrzej Huczynski and David Buchanan
How can I win if you don't loose? Games where the winner doesn't take all
Judith Knelman
The £5 auction
Charles Handy

Part 2: Motivation and stress at work

Profit-related pay: a retrospective
Greg Clark
Does money motivate?
Adrian Furnham
Job features and excessive stress
Peter Warr
Prevention and management of work stress
Lawrence R. Murphy
Stressed?
Kevin Daniels

Part 3: Organisational culture and the changing nature of organisational entry

Corporate tibes: identifying the cultures
Terrence Deal and Allen Kennedy
Gender cultures: women's choices and strategies at work
Su Maddock and Di Parkin
Managing organisational culture: fantasy or reality?
Emmanuel Ogbonna
Phases and levels of organisational change
Nicholas S. Rashford and David Coghlan
The short list, or principles of selection
C. Northcote Parkinson
Hiring for the organisation, not the job
David E. Brown, Gerald E. Ledford Jr and Barry R. Nathan
When does the recruitment and selection process end? The organisational entry and a horticultural metaphor
Jon Billsberry

Part 4: Decision making and teams

Satisficing
Irving L. Janis and Leon Mann
Limited rationality
James March
Groupthink
Irving L. Janis
Reaping the benefits of teamwork
Adrian Furnham
Team roles and a self-perception inventory
R. Meredith Belbin
Teams: old myths and a new model
Peter Herriot and Carole Pemberton
The trouble with teams
The Economist

Part 5: Developing staff

The Peter Principle
Lawrence J. Peter and Raymond Hull
How managers can become developers
Alan Mumford
Special needs, different situations
Alan Mumford
Appraisal: an idea whose time has gone?
Clive Fletcher
Managing individual behaviour: bringing out the best in people
Stephen L. Fink

Part 6: Diversity in organisations

The cultural relativity of organisational practices and theories
Geert Hofstede
Communicating across cultural barriers
Nancy Adler
Actions speak louder than words
Rosemary Thomson
Diversity: more than just an empty slogan
Rajvinder Kandola and Johanna Fullerton
Sex
David Sims, Stephen Fineman and Yannis Gabriel
Professional and openly gay: a narrative study of the experience
David Shallenberger
Taking actions on harassment
Kerry Hawkins

Postscipt

A new deal for middle managers
Peter Herriot and Carole Pemberton

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