Description
Americans have an obsession with the quick fix, and nowhere has the idea of a magic formula been more fervently embraced than in the ranks of American management. With the eagerness of a teeny-bopper infatuated with the latest rock group, American business has for forty years embraced and discarded a host of simplistic solutions to complex problems. From management by objective to participatory management, from management by strat plan to management by walking around, each new fix has brought its own terms and techniques: T-groups and managerial grids, matrix management and zero-based budgeting, quality circles and corporate culture-the list is endless. And so are the costs: in money for each new system-for the seminars, tapes, books, gimmicks (the quick-fix business is a $3 billion industry)-in manpower and in time as key management is forced to devote its energies to learning new systems, in missed opportunities as attention is diver- ted from the business of the business, and in corporate credibility as managers jump from fad to fad, regardless of its suitability to the organization they are managing.
Now, in a critique that is as informed as it is lucid, Michael E. McGill tackles what one executive dryly called "the Management- of-the-Month Club" mentality. Taking a hard look at the myths that spawn these fads-myths about leadership, corporate size, entrepreneurship, the MBA program, and technology-he uses examples drawn from his own experience to show how and why these fixes fail. The result is a unique overview of four decades of American management practices, as well as a penetrating analysis of the mind-set that has led us down the garden path and an on-target approach to carving out realistic solutions to the continuing problems confronting management in the work- and marketplace.
Above all, this is a call to action, asking as it does that American managers shed their dependence on fads and take a close look at the real needs and aims of their organizations in order to lay the groundwork for better business practices. As Dr. McGill makes clear, in a world in which everyone is promoting change, there are some constants that make for effective management. In exposing the myths and delusions to re- veal the bedrock of business reality, he offers opportunities to create a workable future-a future limited only by management's capacity to learn from their own experience and to profit from their own good sense.
ISBN:0805007865
