Giant Steps in Management


Book Description

Succinctly but completely describing 50 of the most important management innovations in the past 150 years, Mol and Birkinshaw educate us on where and how managerial innovations arise. An amazing overview of the management practice landscape, Giant Steps in Management provides invaluable insights for organizations seeking better performance. Jeffrey Pfeffer, Professor, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University 'Never has it been more important for managers to innovate the way they manage. As this book so powerfully shows - management innovation - advances in how we manage - is a secret weapon in the search for competitive advantage. With a fantastic compendium of the 50 most crucial management innovations - this book will surprise, inform and inspire any manager who believes that they need to innovate the way they manage. Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice, London Business School Author of Hot Spots; why some teams, workplaces and organisations buzz with energy - and other's don't. "This book might be called 'Everything you wanted to know about management, but were afraid to ask'. It's an invaluable quick guide to the entire arsenal of techniques and models, and I recommend it to anyone who takes the job of management seriously. It is typcial of the authors work, in that it is clear, crisp, and useful." Tim Brooks, Managing Director, Guardian News & Media Limited INNOVATION IS AT THE HEART OF GREAT MANAGEMENT How do you manage? What skills, ideas, tools and techniques do you use? Have you always used them? Think about it: how we manage organisations - and ourselves - is in a constant state of evolution. Nothing about the way you work today is forever. Managers are always trying new things, different approaches. There are management innovations underway all the time in large organisations. Many fail. Some work. A few make history. The most valuable ones are picked up and absorbed across entire industries and countries. These are the ones this book will tell you about. Giant Steps in Managementpresents a thought provoking selection of the 50 most important management innovations of the last 150 years and describes the impact they have on management today. Some of the innovations will be familiar to you; others will be new, different, surprising. Together, they form a fascinating compendium of the ideas, techniques and practices that have rocked the world of management. If you want to be on the right side of innovation, keep this book to hand.




Giant Steps in Management


Book Description




Giant Steps to Change the World


Book Description

“On some days your dreams may seem too far away to realize… Listen to the whispers of those that came before...” People throughout history have taken giant steps toward improving the world—but even the smallest step makes a difference. A wonderful and inspiring gift, Giant Steps to Change the World encourages readers to follow in the footsteps of those who came before, to reject fears of inadequacy, and to ponder what they can contribute to society.




Becoming A Better Boss


Book Description

An employee's-eye view of what makes a great boss—and how you can become one Whereas most books on managing people approach the subject from the perspective of a manager of an idealised organisation, Becoming a Better Boss takes a real-world approach, looking at the topic from the perspective of an employee in a real-world organisation—dysfunctions, warts, and all. Focusing on the choices individual employees make every day in getting work done, this book reinvents the practice of management one employee at a time. Author Julian Birkinshaw stresses the importance of taking management seriously, reveals where management practice often goes wrong, and dives deeply into the worldview of employees. He then explores the common personal biases and frailties of managers and discusses the vital importance of experimentation to overcome the limitations and idiosyncrasies of a particular organisation. Throughout, he supports his assertions with case studies from a wide and varying range of management experiments and situations at real companies. Written by a leading authority on strategy, management, and innovation who is also the author of eleven books, including Reinventing Management Introduces a new approach to management focused on real employees and actual situations Includes case studies from real organisations Between the stress of deadlines and the demands of today's business environment, it's easy for managers to lose sight of the importance of people management. Becoming a Better Boss not only shows managers how to lead effectively, but why doing so is vitally important to every organisation's success.




A History of Management Thought


Book Description

Of all the sciences and social sciences, management is the one that most deliberately turns its back on the past. Yet management as we know it today did not spring into life fully formed. Management has more than just a present; it also has a past, and a future, and all three are inextricably linked. This book charts the evolution of management as an intellectual discipline, from ancient times to the present day. Contemporary management challenges, including sustainability, technology and data, and legitimacy are analysed through an historical lens and with the benefit of new case studies. The author helps readers understand how the evolution of management ideas has interacted with changes in society. By framing management's history as one of challenge and response, this new edition is the perfect accompaniment for students and scholars seeking meaningful study in the business school and beyond. Essential reading as a core textbook in management history, the book is also valuable supplementary reading across the humanities and social sciences.




The Oxford Handbook of Management Ideas


Book Description

Management ideas, and their associated applications, have become a prevalent feature of our working lives. While their focus is familiar, such as efficiency, motivation, and improvement, they range from specific notions such as activity-based costing, to broad movements like corporate social responsibility. This Handbook brings together some of the latest research from leading international scholars on how management ideas are produced, promoted, and adapted, and their effects on business and working practices and society at large. Rather than focusing on specific management ideas, this volume explores their key socio-political contexts and channels of dissemination, and is organized around four core overlapping themes. The first section sets out the research field in general, in terms of both an overall system and of different perspectives and research methods. The second section explores the role of different actors and channels of diffusion, including the consumers and producers of management ideas and 'new' media, as well as traditional players in the management ideas field such as consultancies and business schools. The third section focuses on specific features or dynamics of the management ideas system, such as their adoption, evolution, institutionalisation, and resurgence, while in the final section, critical and new perspectives on management ideas are examined, highlighting specific socio-political contexts and the possibility of alternative ideas and forms of critique. With a broad range of perspectives represented, this Handbook provides a comprehensive, authoritative, and enduring resource for those studying management, innovation, and organizational change, as well as for those working in the management ideas industry.




The Oxford Handbook of Management Theorists


Book Description

Concurrent with the increasing complexity of the field of management, the need to re-examine the foundations from which its theories have advanced has become ever more important and useful. The Oxford Handbook of Management Theorists examines and evaluates the contributions that seminal figures, past and present, have made to the theory of management by providing in-depth, up-to-date, and detailed scholarly analysis of their ideas and influence. Chapters by leading management and management history scholars explore the origins of each thinker or school of thought and their ideas, and discuss the significance and influence in a broader framework. The Handbook contextualises each theorist and their theories, analysing their actions, interactions, and re-actions to contemporary events and to each other. It is arranged in three parts: pioneers of management thinking from Frederick Taylor to Chester Barnard; post-war theorists, such as the Tavistock Institute and Edith Penrose; and the later phase of Business School theorists, including Alfred Chandler, Michael Porter, and Ikujiro Nonaka. This book will be essential reading for anyone interested in how and why management ideas have emerged, and the ways in which they are currently developing and will evolve in the future.




Giant Steps


Book Description

Elephants have long been targeted by humans: not only are they killed for their ivory, but their extraordinary strength, intelligence and charisma have seen some of them captured, chained and effectively jailed for life. Bully and Induna are two African elephants, both orphaned in organised culling operations and destined for lives in captivity. Growing up far apart and quite differently, Bully (a former animal film star) and the less fortunate Induna were both driven to react to their circumstances – Induna even killed one of his carers. Their individual situations reached a point where both were considered to be dangerous animals and were under threat of being put down. This is the true story of their lives. Conservationist Richard Peirce presents their individual narratives and the twists and turns of their fortunes: the exploitation of these majestic but sensitive animals, how they each came to be trapped in unsuitable ‘employment’ and shunted about from one venue to the next, before fi nding one another – free at last – on a farm in southern Africa.




Handbook of Organizational and Managerial Innovation


Book Description

The Handbook of Organizational and Managerial Innovation places humans, their acts, practices, processes and fantasies at the core of innovation. Bringing together some of the worldÕs leading thinkers, academics and professionals, both established and emerging, this multidisciplinary book provides a comprehensive picture of the vibrant and engaging field of organizational and managerial innovation. The contributors present organizational and managerial innovation as a complex concept underpinned by varied ontological and epistemological traditions and disciplines. They reveal that it is something that exists and occurs at multiple levels of analysis, and from multiple zones of experience Ð the experience of managers, workers, psychologists, philosophers and economists. This innovative and engaging Handbook will be an essential resource for researchers, practitioners and students alike with an interest in the role of innovation in organizations.




Knowledge Solutions


Book Description

This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO license. This book comprehensively covers topics in knowledge management and competence in strategy development, management techniques, collaboration mechanisms, knowledge sharing and learning, as well as knowledge capture and storage. Presented in accessible “chunks,” it includes more than 120 topics that are essential to high-performance organizations. The extensive use of quotes by respected experts juxtaposed with relevant research to counterpoint or lend weight to key concepts; “cheat sheets” that simplify access and reference to individual articles; as well as the grouping of many of these topics under recurrent themes make this book unique. In addition, it provides scalable tried-and-tested tools, method and approaches for improved organizational effectiveness. The research included is particularly useful to knowledge workers engaged in executive leadership; research, analysis and advice; and corporate management and administration. It is a valuable resource for those working in the public, private and third sectors, both in industrialized and developing countries.