What Management Is
How it works and why it's everyone's business
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
A book about management, described by guru Peter Drucker as 'a first rate as an introduction for the non-manager and especially for the beginner, but equally excellent as a rounded, complete, and comprehensive `refresher course' for the most experienced executive.' Both a beginner's guide and a bible for one of the greatest social innovations of modern times: the discipline of management. Leading business editor Joan Magretta distils the wisdom of a bewildering sea of books and articles into one simple, clear volume, explaining both the logic of successful organisations and how that logic is embodied in practice by management. Newcomers will find the basics demystified. More experienced managers will recognise a store of useful wisdom and a framework for improving their own performance. In general, the book defines a common standard of managerial literacy that will help all of us to lead more effectively.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Before they can treat patients, physicians must attend medical school. Before trying cases, attorneys need to pass the bar. But businessmen and managers can work without ever going to business school. It's no wonder they are often lost or unsure when it comes to fundamental management principles. Former management consultant Magretta, with Stone's help, provides these wanderers with a map. In simple, engaging prose, Magretta and Stone, contributor and editor-in-chief, respectively, of the Harvard Business Review, offer an explanation of what a manager does. They logically begin with a description of what's required to be a manager, then explain, generally, how to do it. Along the way, they draw on the lessons of management authorities from Michael E. Porter ("the essence of strategy is choosing what not to do") to Peter F. Drucker ("results are obtained by exploiting opportunities, not by solving problems"), and also quote more tangential gurus, such as Albert Einstein ("not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted"). The authors do not discuss specifically how to manage people, prepare a budget or deal with shareholders, but that's not their intent. Magretta and Stone set out to provide the overall framework for thinking about how to be a manager, and in that, they succeed. The book also has a useful appendix listing related readings.
