What Were They Thinking?

Unconventional Wisdom about Management

Jeffrey Pfeffer

Publisher: Harvard Business School, 2007 , 241 pages

ISBN: 1-4221-0312-9

Synopsis:

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Why do so many companies make so many missteps — even while led by hard working, smart, and serious people who expend major time and effort trying to do the right thing? In What Were They Thinking? Unconventional Wisdom About Management, Jeffrey Pfeffer provides incisive and engaging responses to this question based on his popular Business 2.0 column, "The Human Factor."

Pfeffer shows how poor business choices arise when business leaders:

1. FAIL TO CONSIDER THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR ACTIONS.
   For example, when companies get into financial trouble, they often slash wages, benefits and staff. That boosts cash flow in the short run. But it also drives essential talent — and customers — out the door as service, quality and innovation vanish.
2. RELY ON NAÏVE THEORIES OF HUMAN BEHAVIOUR
   For instance, many executives fall victim to the prevailing — but inaccurate — belief that if you want employess to do something you have to impel them with external forces, such as threats or rewards.
3. IGNORE OBVIOUS ANSWERS
   Many principles governing organizational behaviour are simple and powerful—but companies fail to capitalize on them. To illustrate, leaders could activate the "norm of reciprocity" by demonstrating generosity toward employees and thereby building a loyal and committed workforce. Yet management theory fails to take such obvious solutions into account.

What Were They Thinking? contains twenty-eight short chapters filled with examples, data and insights that challenge conventional beliefs and much accepted management wisdom. Each chapter also provides guidelines about how to think more deeply and intelligently about a wide range of critical topics — from people management and leadership to performance measurement and competitive strategy.

Abounding with solid organizational advice — delivered by Pfeffer himself — this book provides the wise and timely business commentary you need to make the smartest possible decisions for your company.

Table of Contents:

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1. What Were They Thinking?
   Avoiding Common Management Mistakes
• Part I: People-Centered Strategies
  2. The Face of Your Business
     It's People, Not Software, That Build Customer Relationships
  3. Making Companies More Like Communities
  4. A Blueprint for Success
     Spend More on Training
  5. How Companies Get Smarter
     Taking Chances and Making Mistakes
  6. Why Employees Should Lead Themselves
• Part II: Creating Effective Workplaces
  7. Stop Picking Employees' Pockets
     It Seldom Fixes Anything
  8. Let Workers Work
     The Downsides of Having People Manage Their Own Benefits
  9. Why Spy on Your Employees?
     Building Trust in the Workplace
  10. All Work, No Play?
      Maybe Long Hours Don't Pay
  11. Sins of Commission
      Be Careful What You Pay For, You May Get It
  12. More Mr. Nice Guy
      Why Cutting Benefits Is a Bad Idea
  13. Resumes Don't Tell
      Pick People for What They Can Do, Not What They May Have Done
• Part III: Power Play
  Rethinking Leadership and Influence
  14. The Courage to Rise Above
      Don't Be Afraid to Stand Out
  15. Executive-in-Chief
      The Importance of Framing and Repetition
  16. How to Turn On the Charm
      Building Influence Through Real Human Interaction for a Change
  17. A Field Day for Executives
      The Benefits of Knowing WhatYour Organization Actually Does
  18. The Whole Truth, and Nothing But
  19. Refuse to Lose
      Persistence Pays
  20. No More Excuses
• Part IV: Measures of Success
  Rethinking Organizational Strategy
  21. The Real Budget Crisis
      Stop Rewarding Forecasting and Negotiating Instead of Real Performance
  22. Shareholder Return Is the Wrong Measure of Performance
  23. Dare to Be Different
  24. Curbing the Urge to Merge
  25. Don't Believe the Hype About Strategy
• Part V: Facing the Nation
  Organizations and Public Policy
  26. In Praise of Organized Labor
      What Unions Really Do
  27. What to Do — and Not Do — About Executive Pay
  28. Stopping Corporate Misdeeds
      How We Teach the Wrong Lessons