Whatever Fredmund Malik writes, carries weight. This book provides everything you need to know about effective management and day-to-day executive life – in terms that are concrete, practical and productive. The author answers the question of how executives can operate effectively and successfully and accomplish their organizational objectives. Now a classic among economics texts, this book contains the essential know-how for managers in both profit and not-for-profit sectors.
Tabella dei contenuti
Contents
Preface to the English Edition 11
Foreword and Introduction 15
Part I
Professionalism 21
The Ideal Manager – the Wrong Question 23
The Universal Genius 23
The Effective Person 25
No Common Ground 26
Being or Doing27
Interviews Are Useless 30
Professionalism Can Be Learnt 31
Erroneous Theories and Misconceptions 33
Erroneous Theories 33
Misconceptions and Errors 39
Management as a Profession 46
Constitutional Thought 46
Management as a Profession 49
The Most Important Profession in a Modern Society 51
A Mass Profession 53
A Profession without Training 55
Elements of the Management Profession 58
Part II
The Principles of Effective Management 63
Introduction65
Focusing on Results72
A Self-Evident Fact?73
Misconceptions 74
And what about Those Who Cannot Accept This?76
Pleasure or Result?78
Contribution to the Whole 84
Position or Contribution?85
Specialist or Generalist? 87
Holistic Thinking88
Contribution and Motivation 89
Contribution instead of Title91
The Consequence of Organization92
Concentration on a Few Things 95
The Key to Results95
Rejection without Reason97
Examples of Application100
Utilizing Strengths 106
Fixation on Weaknesses107
Making Strengths and Tasks Compatible108
Should Weakness Be Ignored?111
No Personality Reform112
Why Focus on Weaknesses? 114
Learning from the Great115
How Are Strengths Recognized? 117
Types of Weaknesses119
The Two Sources of Peak Performance121
Trust123
Robustness of the Management Situation124
How is Trust Created?125
Positive Thinking 138
Opportunities instead of Problems 138
From Motivation to Self-Motivation139
Inborn, Learnt, or Forced? 141
Freedom from Dependence144
Doing Your Best146
Summary: Management Quality 148
Part III
Tasks of Effective Management 151
Preliminary Remarks 153
Managing Objectives 156
No Systems Bureaucracy157
Personal Annual Objectives158
The General Direction 158
Basic Rules for Management by Objectives 158
Organizing 171
Warning against ‘Organizitis’171
There Is no such Thing as ‘Good’ Organization172
The Three Basic Issues of Organizing173
Symptoms of Bad Organization175
Decisionmaking180
Misconceptions and Mistakes180
The Decision-Making Process188
Participation in the Decision-Making Process199
Supervising203
There Must Be Supervision203
Trust as the Foundation 205
How Do We Supervise?206
Measurement and Judgment 213
Developing People217
People instead of Employees218
Individuals instead of Abstractions 218
Additional Aspects226
Synopsis: And what about all the other Tasks231
Part IV
Tools of Effective Management 241
Preliminary Remarks 243
Meetings 246
Reduce the Number of Meetings246
Crucial for Success: Preparation and Follow-Up Work247
Chairing a Meeting Is Hard Work and Requires Discipline 249
Types of Meetings249
Meetings Should not Degenerate into Social Occasions 252
Types of Items on the Agenda252
No Item without Action254
Striving for Consensus255
Are Minutes Required?255
Meetings without an Agenda256
The Most Important Factor: Implementation
and Ongoing Follow-Up257
Reports259
The Small Step to Effectiveness260
Clarity of Language 263
Bad Practices, Unreasonable Demands, and Foolishness 265
Job Design and Assignment Control 268
Six Mistakes in Job Design268
Assignment Control272
Personal Working Methods 283
Boring perhaps, but Extremely Important283
Fundamental Principles of Effective Working Methods 285
Regular Review and Adaptation 287
The Basic Areas290
The Budget and Budgeting300
One of the Best Instruments of Effective Management,
if Properly Applied301
From Data to Information 303
Special Tips306
Clear Documentation312
Performance Appraisal313
No Standard Criteria314
No Standard Profile 316
A Better Method 317
Where Is Standardization, Allied to Caution, Appropriate?318
How Do the Experts Do
Circa l’autore
Prof. Fredmund Malik numbers among Europe’s leading mangement thinkers. He is head of Management Zentrum St. Gallen, management training and consulting firm that maintains offices in St. Gallen, Zurich, London, Vienna, Toronto and Shanghai, and has roughly 220 employees.
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