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Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
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Summary
Summary
Why is common sense so uncommon when it comes to managing people? How is it that so many seemingly intelligent organizations implement harmful management practices and ideas? In his provocative new book, The Human Equation , bestselling author Jeffrey Pfeffer examines why much of the current conventional wisdom is wrong and asks us to re-think the way managers link people with organizational performance. Pfeffer masterfully builds a powerful business case for managing people effectively--not just because it makes for good corporate policy, but because it results in outstanding performance and profits. Challenging current thinking and practice, Pfeffer: reveals the costs of downsizing and provides alternatives; identifies troubling trends in compensation, and suggests better practices; explains why even the smartest managers sometimes manage people unwisely; demonstrates how market-based forces can fail to create good people management practices, creating a need for positive public policy; and provides practical guidelines for implementing high-performance management practices. Filled with information and ideas, The Human Equation provides much-needed guidance for managing people more wisely and more profitably.
Author Notes
Jeffrey Pfeffer is the Thomas D. Dee Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is the author of eight books, including Managing with Power and Competitive Advantage through People , both from HBS Press. He has consulted extensively for companies, universities, and industry associations in the U.S. as well as in 20 other countries.
Reviews 3
Booklist Review
An academic and a human resources expert, Pfeffer sets out to explore trends in management practices that trouble him, including downsizing and outsourcing strategies, which he sees as futile attempts to generate profits. Part 1, using quantitative evidence and qualitative case studies, explores the relationship between how organizations manage their people and the economic results achieved. Management practices directly flow from the philosophy of executives, and the author shows how long-term success is tied to concern for employees. Part 2 cites examples of how conventional wisdom in management theory is often wrong. Pfeffer believes that it takes courage for corporate leaders to abandon conventional wisdom and design strategies centered on employees, because this often is counter to what others in their industry and businesses in general are doing. Along with the tendency to "follow the crowd," the author cites other reasons why smart organizations sometimes do dumb things, which include excessive focus on measuring costs and rewarding financial rather than people management, as well as obsession with "mean" or "tough" management image. --Mary Whaley
Choice Review
The central thesis of Pfeffer's book is the importance of people to organizational success. Pfeffer, a well-known business school professor (Stanford Univ.), supports his basic contention of competitive advantage through people by means of anecdotal as well as rigorous empirical evidence. This sequel to his well-regarded Competitive Advantage through People (CH, Sep'94) is distinct from other books on the same topic because it zealously and convincingly makes the case that rather than in coming up with a brilliant strategy, it is in executing the strategy that enduring corporate success stories are founded. The author provides a scathing indictment of the so-called virtues of downsizing, cost cutting, and other popular strategic moves widely chronicled in the business press. However, the book is not just a critique of existing management practices. It offers and describes in detail seven people-related management practices that create the right ambience for better corporate performance: employment security, selective hiring, self-managed teams and decentralized decision making, performance-based compensation, extensive training, reduced status distinctions, and extensive sharing of organizational information. Moreover, the viability of these prescriptions is examined in terms of the contemporary business milieu. Recommended for upper-division undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and practitioners. R. Subramanian; Grand Valley State University
Library Journal Review
Pfeffer (Competitive Advantage Through People, LJ 2/15/94) argues persuasively that organizations typically fail to consider their culture and capabilities, particularly when planning for change. He addresses a number of people issues, such as downsizing, hiring practices, compensation approaches, and alignment of management practice with stated values. Although the author favors a fundamental approach, he shores it up with anecdotal information, logic, and wit, noting, for example, that downsizing does not eliminate costs but could be radically counterproductive (i.e., no expenses, no enterprise). Further, he gives examples of organizations that, while decidedly low-tech, manage to produce profits often associated with high-tech enterprises. Pfeffer further points out how a number of organizations in typically low-margin sectors outperform their competitors through an alignment of values. Indeed, Pfeffer's examples emphasize doing the right thing the right way. This book should be required reading for those planning organizational change.Steven Silkunas, SEPTA/FRONTIER, Lansdale, Pa. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
