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Leadership of organizations: The executive's complete handbook
Pergamon
InternationalJournalof InformationManagement,Vol. 17, No. 6, pp. 469-472, 1997 Published by ElsevierScienceLtd. Printed in Great Britain 0268-4012/97 $17.00+ 0.00
Reviews Leadership of Organizations: The Executive's Complete Handbook J M Brion JAI Press Inc., Greenwich, CT, London: (1996) 3 vols. ISBN 1-55938-934-3 Trying to review a three-volume work might be defined as biting off more than one can chew, and I certainly make no claims to have read all three volumes of this fascinating work from cover to cover. However, it is possible, by judicious selection, to gain a sound understanding of what the author is attempting and how well he succeeds in that attempt. Although the title claims that this work is about leadership, the actual content covers virtually the entire span of managerial behaviour from dealing with people, through corporate planning, to organizational change strategies. While it is not totally complete in this respect (for example, deliberately, there is no treatment of financial management) the reader will find most of the business of managing the people side of the enterprise dealt with here. The reader will also find wellintegrated and coherent analyses of the research literatures from all fields that impinge on the management of people, from personality research to decision-making and, of course, leadership. The text also draws upon studies of leadership and change in major US corporations, such as Xerox, Texas Instruments and IBM. The three volumes cover, respectively, social aspects, including learning, behaviour, motivation, appraisal, and management by objectives; technical aspects, including communications, participation, decision-making, planning and human resource development; and 'integration', covering organization change, organization leadership, and leadership policies.
There are useful appendices in each volume: for example, those in volume one provide examples of survey tools for motivation and organization climate assessment. The three volumes would be valuable desk tools for managers intent upon learning more about the fundamental aspects of human behaviour in organizations, but I have some doubts about the underlying model of organizations and management. Apart from a nod in the direction of worker participation, the model is one of the organization as a command and control system-the manager needs to understand human behaviour, but mainly in order to control and direct. The growing awareness of the success of various organizations (such as United Airlines) in managing through participation, performancerelated bonuses, stock distribution and worker/manager councils is not particularly well reflected here and those interested in managing through such methods will need to look elsewhere.
Professor Tom Wilson University of Sheffield, UK
Mastering Intranets: The Windows 95/NT Edition P Coleman and P Dyson Sybex, San Francisco, Paris: (1997) 793pp $49.99 ISBN 0-7821-1991-3 [Includes CD-ROM with software.] Coleman and Dyson have produced a very useful book for anyone, whether in a commercial company or elsewhere, who is thinking of setting up an intranet for the organization. The CD-ROM not only includes H T M L authoring tools such as HotDog Pro, the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser, and graphics tools such as Paint Shop Pro, but also the E M W A C Web Server--which requires the Windows
NT operating system. However, there are a number of other Web servers available for Windows 95, so this is not necessarily a particular problem. Template H T M L files for four different kinds of sites are also provided: human resources, technical support, training, and sales and marketing. In other words, the CDROM provides the basic tools for developing an intranet, so that the reader can experiment with the development of such a facility without a major investment in software. If you lack CD-ROM you are supposed to be able to access the templates at the Web site: http://ww.sybex.com/links/ 19911ink.html. However, this site gives pointers to the various software and utilities download sites, but not the templates. The book is a big one and is organized into six parts which cover, planning, constructing and setting up intranet sites, 'Getting the most out of your intranet' (which covers such things as monitoring activity and tracking usage, troubleshooting, and locating useful intranet software), case studies of implementations (by Silicon Graphics, Olivetti, Amdahl, and others), and, finally, a resource guide, consisting of a glossary of terms, a guide to the TCP/IP protocol, and intranet resources on the Internet--which also appears on the CD-ROM, for direct access via the Web. In other words, the book and its associated CD-ROM is a pretty comprehensive guide to establishing an running an intranet. True, the template files for the different applications are pretty basic, but these, the case studies and the guide to resources provide a good basis for further developing your skills. Although the book is not intended as a comprehensive guide to the production of H T M L files, Part II, 'Constructing your intranet', provides a good basic course on installing intranet software, creating
469
InternationalJournalof InformationManagement,Vol. 17, No. 6, pp. 469-472, 1997 Published by ElsevierScienceLtd. Printed in Great Britain 0268-4012/97 $17.00+ 0.00
Reviews Leadership of Organizations: The Executive's Complete Handbook J M Brion JAI Press Inc., Greenwich, CT, London: (1996) 3 vols. ISBN 1-55938-934-3 Trying to review a three-volume work might be defined as biting off more than one can chew, and I certainly make no claims to have read all three volumes of this fascinating work from cover to cover. However, it is possible, by judicious selection, to gain a sound understanding of what the author is attempting and how well he succeeds in that attempt. Although the title claims that this work is about leadership, the actual content covers virtually the entire span of managerial behaviour from dealing with people, through corporate planning, to organizational change strategies. While it is not totally complete in this respect (for example, deliberately, there is no treatment of financial management) the reader will find most of the business of managing the people side of the enterprise dealt with here. The reader will also find wellintegrated and coherent analyses of the research literatures from all fields that impinge on the management of people, from personality research to decision-making and, of course, leadership. The text also draws upon studies of leadership and change in major US corporations, such as Xerox, Texas Instruments and IBM. The three volumes cover, respectively, social aspects, including learning, behaviour, motivation, appraisal, and management by objectives; technical aspects, including communications, participation, decision-making, planning and human resource development; and 'integration', covering organization change, organization leadership, and leadership policies.
There are useful appendices in each volume: for example, those in volume one provide examples of survey tools for motivation and organization climate assessment. The three volumes would be valuable desk tools for managers intent upon learning more about the fundamental aspects of human behaviour in organizations, but I have some doubts about the underlying model of organizations and management. Apart from a nod in the direction of worker participation, the model is one of the organization as a command and control system-the manager needs to understand human behaviour, but mainly in order to control and direct. The growing awareness of the success of various organizations (such as United Airlines) in managing through participation, performancerelated bonuses, stock distribution and worker/manager councils is not particularly well reflected here and those interested in managing through such methods will need to look elsewhere.
Professor Tom Wilson University of Sheffield, UK
Mastering Intranets: The Windows 95/NT Edition P Coleman and P Dyson Sybex, San Francisco, Paris: (1997) 793pp $49.99 ISBN 0-7821-1991-3 [Includes CD-ROM with software.] Coleman and Dyson have produced a very useful book for anyone, whether in a commercial company or elsewhere, who is thinking of setting up an intranet for the organization. The CD-ROM not only includes H T M L authoring tools such as HotDog Pro, the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser, and graphics tools such as Paint Shop Pro, but also the E M W A C Web Server--which requires the Windows
NT operating system. However, there are a number of other Web servers available for Windows 95, so this is not necessarily a particular problem. Template H T M L files for four different kinds of sites are also provided: human resources, technical support, training, and sales and marketing. In other words, the CDROM provides the basic tools for developing an intranet, so that the reader can experiment with the development of such a facility without a major investment in software. If you lack CD-ROM you are supposed to be able to access the templates at the Web site: http://ww.sybex.com/links/ 19911ink.html. However, this site gives pointers to the various software and utilities download sites, but not the templates. The book is a big one and is organized into six parts which cover, planning, constructing and setting up intranet sites, 'Getting the most out of your intranet' (which covers such things as monitoring activity and tracking usage, troubleshooting, and locating useful intranet software), case studies of implementations (by Silicon Graphics, Olivetti, Amdahl, and others), and, finally, a resource guide, consisting of a glossary of terms, a guide to the TCP/IP protocol, and intranet resources on the Internet--which also appears on the CD-ROM, for direct access via the Web. In other words, the book and its associated CD-ROM is a pretty comprehensive guide to establishing an running an intranet. True, the template files for the different applications are pretty basic, but these, the case studies and the guide to resources provide a good basis for further developing your skills. Although the book is not intended as a comprehensive guide to the production of H T M L files, Part II, 'Constructing your intranet', provides a good basic course on installing intranet software, creating
469