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How to get ahead in business
o
longer term issues that affect the sustainability of life on this planet, and therefore whose affect is on future generations-on powerless stakeholders, in effect.
I am referring in particular to energy use, to the carbon dioxide emissions resulting from fossil fuel use, and the resultant danger of global warming. climatologists say that we need to reduce CO2 emissions, worldwide, to around 33% of present levels. When you consider likely (and necessary) developments elsewhere in the global economy, that suggests a need to reduce such emissions in a developed world economy to about 10% of present levels. This is an issue which legislation, as yet, does not cover. An emission of COZ, in itself, is not perceived as harmful by live and powerful stakeholders. Unless we are to risk all in a massive expansion of nuclear energy, the implications of a transition to a sustainable energy policy are very far reaching. It implies the radical rethink of the very existence of certain industries, of certain practices common to all industries and services (even all those nice social workers driving around to their clients), of the (material) reward systems we take for granted. Traumatic changes at every level-and you don’t have to buy into the Tavistock ‘psychodynamics of the organization’ school to anticipate the likely organizational problems. Various stakeholders may be powerful forces for action on immediate and localized environmental issues. But will shareholders, employees and customers be willing to endure lower dividends, salaries and wages, or higher prices, in the short term and probably the long term, for the sake of, powerless stakeholders : people not yet born and/or people the other side of the world now affected by thermal (as well as chemical) atmospheric pollution emanating from the developed world? And who will have motivation to confront the power issues, the emotional traumas, etc. involved in such major economic and organizational changes? Welford and Gouldson raise these issues, but do not seem to follow them through. They do note that The Body shop incorporates sustainability into its policy principles-and an electric power generating firm does not. Noting the difficulty for ‘an organization which is involved in primary production processes involving the burning of fossil fuels’, they observe, pessimistically, ‘this raises the question of whether sustainable development is therefore attainable at all.’
But if its not, even if every company (and government) adopts a legislation-plus-stakeholder-interestdriven environmental strategy, then life on earth as we know it is seriously in jeopardy in the long term. This is a useful book. But another one is still required. TONY EMERSON
South Bank University
How to Get Ahead in Business, TOM CANNON (Ed.), Virgin Books, (1993), 260 pp., E9.99. This book essentially comprises a collection of quotes chosen from an assortment of management books and articles. The purpose of the book appears to be to impart a number of common sense wisdoms about the art of management. These quotes are grouped into 14 chapters which concentrate upon the following topic areas : Success stories ; Leadership : Attributes of an outstanding manager; Managing time, stress and yourself; Goals and motivation; Strategy; competition ; Marketing ; Communication and negotiation; Quality; Managing money; Information: Managing change: Learning from mistakes. In ‘Success stories’ it is suggested that self-belief is perhaps the single most important characteristic of successful entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Alan Sugar (Am&ad). The book adds that the kind of confidence exhibited by Alan Sugar produces results when it is underpinned by business acumen and an ability to build and sustain an organization (p. 6). The ‘Leadership’ chapter emphasizes the importance of a variety of leadership characteristics including responsibility (p. 20) and inspiration. Leaders are typically visionary about the future direction of their businesses. These attributes are in turn wedded to the ethics of leaders who voluntarily Share credit for the organizations’ success(es) but nevertheless accept blame for the failure(s). The chapter also quotes John Harvey-Jones who argues :
Ihave
said that the prime characteristic that Ihave detected in top leaders is mental and physical toughness. (p. 27)
It is further pointed out that leaders must be able to constantly shift their perspective and see their business from different points of view (p, 32). Long Range Planning Vol.27
December 1994
The ‘Attributes of an Outstanding Manager’ chapter shows that successful managers must have a continual desire to learn and improve themselves and self development is key in this regard (p. 35). The book argues that good managers have made the transition from completing jobs and tasks themselves to getting things done through others. In addition, the best managers listen and observe and take time to stand back and think about issues and situations. This chapter also discusses the importance of effectiveness-that each manager achieves the output requirements of his/her position (p. 51). In ‘Managing Time’, stress and yourself it is suggested that barriers to success include poor selfawareness, bad time management and stress (p. 57). This chapter emphasizes that good time management involves allocating time according to priorities and delegating. The book again quotes John Harvey-Jones who says:
reputation etc) and argues that a capability becomes a competitive advantage when it is applied in an industry and brought to a market (p. 116). The ‘Marketing’ chapter argues that customers should be treated as if they were an appreciating asset (p. 130) and that good customer relations are essential for the success of a business (p. 132). The ‘Communication and Negotiation’ chapter points out that poor communication is more often a cause of difficulties than a symptom (p. 145). It adds that during negotiations a person should: listen aggressively observe aggressively talk less take a second look at first impressions take time to use what you’ve learned be discreet
In my own case, in ICI, anything which had to do with customers, or customer relationships, took absolute priority over anything else. (p. 64)
In the ‘Goals and Motivation’ chapter the emphasis is upon setting objectives, mobilizing resources to achieve them and moving on to the next target (p. 71). It argues that the objectives set should be reasonable (p. 73). The book suggests that people cannot be truly motivated by anyone else apart from themselves and they should be allowed to work in an atmosphere which fosters self-motivation and selfconfidence (p. 77). The ‘Strategy’ chapter emphasizes that nothing is more closely associated with business failure than the lack of a sense of direction (p. 86). It is suggested that a very thorough analysis (of the environment, existing competitive position etc) is the critical starting point of strategic thinking (p. 88). The chapter adds that core competences are the glue which binds existing businesses together: The real sources of advantage are to be found in management’s ability to consolidate corporate-wide technologies and production skills into competences that empower individual businesses to adapt quickly to changing opportunities. (p. 96)
‘Competition’ links with the stresses that any organization’s gain a competitive edge over its emphasizes the importance of and sustainable capabilities Book Reviews
previous chapter and strategy must aim to competitors (p. 108). It developing distinctive (through innovation,
be detached
(pp. 162-163)
The chapter about ‘Quality’ stresses that quality improvement programmes are built upon 3 fundamental doctrines. Firstly, everybody in the organization accepts there should be no compromises on quality. Secondly, every person accepts that quality improvement is a continuing process. Thirdly, everyone has a part to play in improving quality (p. 168). It stresses the importance of kaizen-ontinuous improvement (p. 177) and argues that whilst becoming faster at responding to customers is essential, being able to honour commitments (i.e. reliability) has also never been more important (p. 183). The Managing money chapter makes the point that money provides the most effective mechanism for measuring and monitoring performance (p. 191). It suggests that a break-even point can be achieved through one (or a combination) of the following actions : o
increasing
0
reducing
A break-even
sales towards break-even the break-even
point
point (p. 203)
point can be reduced by:
R reducing the overhead costs 0
improving the gross margins (achieved through an increase in selling price and/or a decrease in direct
o
increasing the proportion of higher-margin in the sales mix (p. 202)
products
The Information chapter stresses that information must be delivered to the right people at the right time in a form they can understand and use (p. 206). It is suggested that systems ‘are like roads. Very expensive. And it’s no good building them until you know exactly where they’re going to wind up’ (p. 212). The Managing change chapter suggests that the hallmark of a good manager is the ability to successfully manage change (p. 219). It argues that the current turbulent environment is forcing organizations to adapt to change at an ever increasing rate. Consequently, this creates opportunities for those businesses who are able to re-engineer their operations in order to fit their changing environment: At the heart of business re-engineering lies the notion of discontinuous thinking-identifying and abandoning the outdated rules and fundamental assumptions that underlie current business operations. (p. 225)
The book suggests that it may be easier for an organization to adapt to radical rather than gradual change (p. 222). This may be because radical change probably forces a business to react whereas a delayed response to gradual change may come too late. The ‘Learning’ from mistakes chapter emphasizes how getting ahead means taking risks. It adds: The willingness to get up after getting knocked down and to learn from failure is perhaps the single most enduring feature of greatness in managers. It is this mixture of determination to succeed allied to the ability to learn the lessons of failure which recurs in the history of success. (p. 242)
The book quotes Richard
Branson who concludes:
If there’s one thing above all from which I’ve learnt how to survive in business, its been from making mistakes-and the more mistakes you make the more you learn. (p. 244)
This book is probably in the popular (rather than academic) category. Nevertheless, it still acts as a useful refresher for academics who have most likely read a lot of the material before. The text is possibly aimed at all management ranks and is very reminiscent of the generalist (Shorter or lo-Day MBA) type books which seek to cover a very wide management area within one reasonably short publication. Questions about the book concern the appropriateness of its structure and the collection and suitability of the quotes. Is the structure logical? Are the quotes
nothing more than just a simple collection of tit-bits or is the whole greater than the sum of the parts? Will the quotes enable managers to improve their performance? I found the book to be quite well structured and the quotes are well chosen from a vast array of famous academics and practitioners (e.g. Adair, Handy, Kay, Kotler, Ohmae, Porter, Forte, Harvey-Jones, Iacocca, Roddick, Sculley, Sugar, etc.). 1 did in fact feel that the whole was greater than the sum of the parts ! Nevertheless, the many chapter and sub-chapter introductions presented by Cannon typically summarize the key points which are later made within the quotes. Consequently, why did he bother quoting at all? Should Cannon have written (rather than edited) a book of this kind? Furthermore, (and perhaps, surprisingly) the quotes do not include page references and therefore it may prove time consuming trying to trace them from within the book and journal sources. The list of references at the end of the publication does not help in this regard. Some of the discussions about the organizations were very brief and consequently it was only possible to gain a brief overview about what had happened. This weakness is a consequence of aiming for breadth rather than depth in this publication. In conclusion, 1 must state that I enjoyed reading this book. It has enabled me to reminisce about the very many readings I have done over the years in academia. The book is particularly useful to those busy managers who want a broad overview of key readings in the general area of management and who haven’t got the time (or the inclination) to read the books and journals quoted in-depth. It should enable managers to improve their performance and (as suggested by Richard Branson in the Foreword) should provide good bedside reading. GARY STOCKPORT The Management Group of the Faculty of Commerce and Administration, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
Management in the Public Sector: Challenge and Change, KESTER ISAAC-HENRY, CHRIS PAINTER, and CHRIS BARNES. Chapman E14.95
and Hall.
Long Range Planning Vol. 27
(1993)
209
pp.,
December 1994
longer term issues that affect the sustainability of life on this planet, and therefore whose affect is on future generations-on powerless stakeholders, in effect.
I am referring in particular to energy use, to the carbon dioxide emissions resulting from fossil fuel use, and the resultant danger of global warming. climatologists say that we need to reduce CO2 emissions, worldwide, to around 33% of present levels. When you consider likely (and necessary) developments elsewhere in the global economy, that suggests a need to reduce such emissions in a developed world economy to about 10% of present levels. This is an issue which legislation, as yet, does not cover. An emission of COZ, in itself, is not perceived as harmful by live and powerful stakeholders. Unless we are to risk all in a massive expansion of nuclear energy, the implications of a transition to a sustainable energy policy are very far reaching. It implies the radical rethink of the very existence of certain industries, of certain practices common to all industries and services (even all those nice social workers driving around to their clients), of the (material) reward systems we take for granted. Traumatic changes at every level-and you don’t have to buy into the Tavistock ‘psychodynamics of the organization’ school to anticipate the likely organizational problems. Various stakeholders may be powerful forces for action on immediate and localized environmental issues. But will shareholders, employees and customers be willing to endure lower dividends, salaries and wages, or higher prices, in the short term and probably the long term, for the sake of, powerless stakeholders : people not yet born and/or people the other side of the world now affected by thermal (as well as chemical) atmospheric pollution emanating from the developed world? And who will have motivation to confront the power issues, the emotional traumas, etc. involved in such major economic and organizational changes? Welford and Gouldson raise these issues, but do not seem to follow them through. They do note that The Body shop incorporates sustainability into its policy principles-and an electric power generating firm does not. Noting the difficulty for ‘an organization which is involved in primary production processes involving the burning of fossil fuels’, they observe, pessimistically, ‘this raises the question of whether sustainable development is therefore attainable at all.’
But if its not, even if every company (and government) adopts a legislation-plus-stakeholder-interestdriven environmental strategy, then life on earth as we know it is seriously in jeopardy in the long term. This is a useful book. But another one is still required. TONY EMERSON
South Bank University
How to Get Ahead in Business, TOM CANNON (Ed.), Virgin Books, (1993), 260 pp., E9.99. This book essentially comprises a collection of quotes chosen from an assortment of management books and articles. The purpose of the book appears to be to impart a number of common sense wisdoms about the art of management. These quotes are grouped into 14 chapters which concentrate upon the following topic areas : Success stories ; Leadership : Attributes of an outstanding manager; Managing time, stress and yourself; Goals and motivation; Strategy; competition ; Marketing ; Communication and negotiation; Quality; Managing money; Information: Managing change: Learning from mistakes. In ‘Success stories’ it is suggested that self-belief is perhaps the single most important characteristic of successful entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Alan Sugar (Am&ad). The book adds that the kind of confidence exhibited by Alan Sugar produces results when it is underpinned by business acumen and an ability to build and sustain an organization (p. 6). The ‘Leadership’ chapter emphasizes the importance of a variety of leadership characteristics including responsibility (p. 20) and inspiration. Leaders are typically visionary about the future direction of their businesses. These attributes are in turn wedded to the ethics of leaders who voluntarily Share credit for the organizations’ success(es) but nevertheless accept blame for the failure(s). The chapter also quotes John Harvey-Jones who argues :
Ihave
said that the prime characteristic that Ihave detected in top leaders is mental and physical toughness. (p. 27)
It is further pointed out that leaders must be able to constantly shift their perspective and see their business from different points of view (p, 32). Long Range Planning Vol.27
December 1994
The ‘Attributes of an Outstanding Manager’ chapter shows that successful managers must have a continual desire to learn and improve themselves and self development is key in this regard (p. 35). The book argues that good managers have made the transition from completing jobs and tasks themselves to getting things done through others. In addition, the best managers listen and observe and take time to stand back and think about issues and situations. This chapter also discusses the importance of effectiveness-that each manager achieves the output requirements of his/her position (p. 51). In ‘Managing Time’, stress and yourself it is suggested that barriers to success include poor selfawareness, bad time management and stress (p. 57). This chapter emphasizes that good time management involves allocating time according to priorities and delegating. The book again quotes John Harvey-Jones who says:
reputation etc) and argues that a capability becomes a competitive advantage when it is applied in an industry and brought to a market (p. 116). The ‘Marketing’ chapter argues that customers should be treated as if they were an appreciating asset (p. 130) and that good customer relations are essential for the success of a business (p. 132). The ‘Communication and Negotiation’ chapter points out that poor communication is more often a cause of difficulties than a symptom (p. 145). It adds that during negotiations a person should: listen aggressively observe aggressively talk less take a second look at first impressions take time to use what you’ve learned be discreet
In my own case, in ICI, anything which had to do with customers, or customer relationships, took absolute priority over anything else. (p. 64)
In the ‘Goals and Motivation’ chapter the emphasis is upon setting objectives, mobilizing resources to achieve them and moving on to the next target (p. 71). It argues that the objectives set should be reasonable (p. 73). The book suggests that people cannot be truly motivated by anyone else apart from themselves and they should be allowed to work in an atmosphere which fosters self-motivation and selfconfidence (p. 77). The ‘Strategy’ chapter emphasizes that nothing is more closely associated with business failure than the lack of a sense of direction (p. 86). It is suggested that a very thorough analysis (of the environment, existing competitive position etc) is the critical starting point of strategic thinking (p. 88). The chapter adds that core competences are the glue which binds existing businesses together: The real sources of advantage are to be found in management’s ability to consolidate corporate-wide technologies and production skills into competences that empower individual businesses to adapt quickly to changing opportunities. (p. 96)
‘Competition’ links with the stresses that any organization’s gain a competitive edge over its emphasizes the importance of and sustainable capabilities Book Reviews
previous chapter and strategy must aim to competitors (p. 108). It developing distinctive (through innovation,
be detached
(pp. 162-163)
The chapter about ‘Quality’ stresses that quality improvement programmes are built upon 3 fundamental doctrines. Firstly, everybody in the organization accepts there should be no compromises on quality. Secondly, every person accepts that quality improvement is a continuing process. Thirdly, everyone has a part to play in improving quality (p. 168). It stresses the importance of kaizen-ontinuous improvement (p. 177) and argues that whilst becoming faster at responding to customers is essential, being able to honour commitments (i.e. reliability) has also never been more important (p. 183). The Managing money chapter makes the point that money provides the most effective mechanism for measuring and monitoring performance (p. 191). It suggests that a break-even point can be achieved through one (or a combination) of the following actions : o
increasing
0
reducing
A break-even
sales towards break-even the break-even
point
point (p. 203)
point can be reduced by:
R reducing the overhead costs 0
improving the gross margins (achieved through an increase in selling price and/or a decrease in direct
o
increasing the proportion of higher-margin in the sales mix (p. 202)
products
The Information chapter stresses that information must be delivered to the right people at the right time in a form they can understand and use (p. 206). It is suggested that systems ‘are like roads. Very expensive. And it’s no good building them until you know exactly where they’re going to wind up’ (p. 212). The Managing change chapter suggests that the hallmark of a good manager is the ability to successfully manage change (p. 219). It argues that the current turbulent environment is forcing organizations to adapt to change at an ever increasing rate. Consequently, this creates opportunities for those businesses who are able to re-engineer their operations in order to fit their changing environment: At the heart of business re-engineering lies the notion of discontinuous thinking-identifying and abandoning the outdated rules and fundamental assumptions that underlie current business operations. (p. 225)
The book suggests that it may be easier for an organization to adapt to radical rather than gradual change (p. 222). This may be because radical change probably forces a business to react whereas a delayed response to gradual change may come too late. The ‘Learning’ from mistakes chapter emphasizes how getting ahead means taking risks. It adds: The willingness to get up after getting knocked down and to learn from failure is perhaps the single most enduring feature of greatness in managers. It is this mixture of determination to succeed allied to the ability to learn the lessons of failure which recurs in the history of success. (p. 242)
The book quotes Richard
Branson who concludes:
If there’s one thing above all from which I’ve learnt how to survive in business, its been from making mistakes-and the more mistakes you make the more you learn. (p. 244)
This book is probably in the popular (rather than academic) category. Nevertheless, it still acts as a useful refresher for academics who have most likely read a lot of the material before. The text is possibly aimed at all management ranks and is very reminiscent of the generalist (Shorter or lo-Day MBA) type books which seek to cover a very wide management area within one reasonably short publication. Questions about the book concern the appropriateness of its structure and the collection and suitability of the quotes. Is the structure logical? Are the quotes
nothing more than just a simple collection of tit-bits or is the whole greater than the sum of the parts? Will the quotes enable managers to improve their performance? I found the book to be quite well structured and the quotes are well chosen from a vast array of famous academics and practitioners (e.g. Adair, Handy, Kay, Kotler, Ohmae, Porter, Forte, Harvey-Jones, Iacocca, Roddick, Sculley, Sugar, etc.). 1 did in fact feel that the whole was greater than the sum of the parts ! Nevertheless, the many chapter and sub-chapter introductions presented by Cannon typically summarize the key points which are later made within the quotes. Consequently, why did he bother quoting at all? Should Cannon have written (rather than edited) a book of this kind? Furthermore, (and perhaps, surprisingly) the quotes do not include page references and therefore it may prove time consuming trying to trace them from within the book and journal sources. The list of references at the end of the publication does not help in this regard. Some of the discussions about the organizations were very brief and consequently it was only possible to gain a brief overview about what had happened. This weakness is a consequence of aiming for breadth rather than depth in this publication. In conclusion, 1 must state that I enjoyed reading this book. It has enabled me to reminisce about the very many readings I have done over the years in academia. The book is particularly useful to those busy managers who want a broad overview of key readings in the general area of management and who haven’t got the time (or the inclination) to read the books and journals quoted in-depth. It should enable managers to improve their performance and (as suggested by Richard Branson in the Foreword) should provide good bedside reading. GARY STOCKPORT The Management Group of the Faculty of Commerce and Administration, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
Management in the Public Sector: Challenge and Change, KESTER ISAAC-HENRY, CHRIS PAINTER, and CHRIS BARNES. Chapman E14.95
and Hall.
Long Range Planning Vol. 27
(1993)
209
pp.,
December 1994