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Real change leaders: How you can create growth and high performance at your company
REVIEW
Real Change Leaders: How You Can Create Growth and High Performance at Your Company, JON R. KATZENBACH and THE RCL TEAM, Nicholas Brierley (1996), 357 pp., £18.00. A team at McKinsey & Company set out to discover why some companies were able to change more effectively than others. Their extensive research came to a surprising conclusion: "The makeor-break factor is not top management but a new breed in the middle--Real Change Leaders." They are middle managers and other business professionals who are breaking the mould of what had been traditionally known as 'good management' with a unique combination of tough performance standards and a new approach to inspiring and motivating the workforce--skills that are particularly driven by being in touch with, and being able to integrate, the needs of the marketplace and company mission. This is a valuable and readable book that needs to be widely circulated and acted upon. However, it should be noted that neither the contents page nor the index consider the words 'ethics' or 'values' important enough to mention! Valuable insights are provided both in
Creative R & D Leadership: Insights from Japan, JAMES L. BESS, Quoram Books (1995), 359 pp., £59.95 and The Dynamics of Japanese Organizations, edited by FRANK-JURGENRICHTER,Routledge (1996), 208 pp., £45.00; sometimes it is also worth reading about the issues from a 'novel' perspective, those so inclined could try The Takeover, STEPHEN FRY, Michael Joseph (1995), 389 pp., £14.99.
Review Briefs are not detailed reviews. They are mainly brief notes and descriptions of books received for review to enlighten the reader on their general intention and approach. The expectation is that more books can be described to readers than has proved possible by publishing only critical reviews. The descriptive information should enable interest in the books to be raised beyond that induced by just listing the titles. However, it is recognized that a critical review can be far more informative about a book than is attempted with Review Briefs and, accordingly, offers to review any books are solicited. Having been described in Review Briefs, a review should critically examine the contents of a publication as an assessment of whether its stated intentions have been met and whether the way it achieves these intentions is attractive to the reader. It is expected that each review will require 1000-1500 words and will be fully attributed. The reviewer keeps the book but Long Range Planning makes no payment. As an alternative, it may be apparent that either a single 'milestone' class publication or several books on a single topic could constitute a wider perspective Essay Review. This would be expected to comprise an article of some 3000--4000 words and would have a written introduction by the Review Editor. The Journal would make its usual article contribution payments to the author of an Essay Review. Readers interested to review any book in Review Briefs should be prepared to offer a copy deadline some 5 months ahead which can be relied on in planning the Journal. As a matter of readership policy, reviewer preference will be given to practising managers, or planners. Your interest should be expressed as a specific request to review a book from Review Briefs, preferably giving some intimation of why you think your review would be of interest to readers, addressed to: Bruce Lloyd, Book Review Editor, 48 Aberdare Gardens, London N W 6 3QA, UK. Wherever possible, both Reviews and Review Essays should be supplied in hard copy and in electronic form on floppy disk--see Notes for Contributors on the inside back cover.
should be widely read. Another book which addresses a similar theme to which the same conclusion applies is
McGraw-Hill (1995), 351 pp., £21.95. (Also related to the need to tap into entrepreneurial energies discussed elsewhere in this section.) Another readable approach to these critical issues is The Fourth Dimension: the
Managing Cultures: Making Strategic MAN,CRAIGBOTT,MARLONBERRETTand Relationships Work, WENDY HALL, BRAD ANGUS, Wiley (1996), 217 pp., £18.95.
T h e ineffective management of culture
and cultural change is the cause of failure of many strategic initiatives. Hence the importance of this book, which
A. J. STRICKLEANDIII, Irwin (1996) 9th Edition, 1035 pp., $66.95.
The Genesis Enterprise: Creating Peak- The 36 cases in this edition include 23 to-peak Performance, JIM TOMPKINS, new cases not appearing in any of the
Next Level of Personal and Organizational Achievement, CRAIG HICKWiley (1995), 312 pp., £24.95.
BRIEFS
Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases, AUTHUR A. THOMPSONJR and
previous editions. Supported by new software, including a series of questions at the end of each chapter. A most impressive volume but surprising no mention of the work of Senge (The Fifth Discipline) and 'Learning Organization' concepts. A separate volume of the cases can be obtained: Cases in Strategic Management, ARTHURA. THOMPSON JR and A. J. STRICKLEANDIII, Irwin (1995) 5th Edition, 698 pp., £40.95. Additional valuable material is contained in Crafting & Implementing Strategy: Text and Readings, ARTHUR A. THOMPSONJR and A. J. STRICKLEAND III, Irwin (1995) 5th Edition, 539 pp.,
Long Range Planning Vol. 29
December 1996
Real Change Leaders: How You Can Create Growth and High Performance at Your Company, JON R. KATZENBACH and THE RCL TEAM, Nicholas Brierley (1996), 357 pp., £18.00. A team at McKinsey & Company set out to discover why some companies were able to change more effectively than others. Their extensive research came to a surprising conclusion: "The makeor-break factor is not top management but a new breed in the middle--Real Change Leaders." They are middle managers and other business professionals who are breaking the mould of what had been traditionally known as 'good management' with a unique combination of tough performance standards and a new approach to inspiring and motivating the workforce--skills that are particularly driven by being in touch with, and being able to integrate, the needs of the marketplace and company mission. This is a valuable and readable book that needs to be widely circulated and acted upon. However, it should be noted that neither the contents page nor the index consider the words 'ethics' or 'values' important enough to mention! Valuable insights are provided both in
Creative R & D Leadership: Insights from Japan, JAMES L. BESS, Quoram Books (1995), 359 pp., £59.95 and The Dynamics of Japanese Organizations, edited by FRANK-JURGENRICHTER,Routledge (1996), 208 pp., £45.00; sometimes it is also worth reading about the issues from a 'novel' perspective, those so inclined could try The Takeover, STEPHEN FRY, Michael Joseph (1995), 389 pp., £14.99.
Review Briefs are not detailed reviews. They are mainly brief notes and descriptions of books received for review to enlighten the reader on their general intention and approach. The expectation is that more books can be described to readers than has proved possible by publishing only critical reviews. The descriptive information should enable interest in the books to be raised beyond that induced by just listing the titles. However, it is recognized that a critical review can be far more informative about a book than is attempted with Review Briefs and, accordingly, offers to review any books are solicited. Having been described in Review Briefs, a review should critically examine the contents of a publication as an assessment of whether its stated intentions have been met and whether the way it achieves these intentions is attractive to the reader. It is expected that each review will require 1000-1500 words and will be fully attributed. The reviewer keeps the book but Long Range Planning makes no payment. As an alternative, it may be apparent that either a single 'milestone' class publication or several books on a single topic could constitute a wider perspective Essay Review. This would be expected to comprise an article of some 3000--4000 words and would have a written introduction by the Review Editor. The Journal would make its usual article contribution payments to the author of an Essay Review. Readers interested to review any book in Review Briefs should be prepared to offer a copy deadline some 5 months ahead which can be relied on in planning the Journal. As a matter of readership policy, reviewer preference will be given to practising managers, or planners. Your interest should be expressed as a specific request to review a book from Review Briefs, preferably giving some intimation of why you think your review would be of interest to readers, addressed to: Bruce Lloyd, Book Review Editor, 48 Aberdare Gardens, London N W 6 3QA, UK. Wherever possible, both Reviews and Review Essays should be supplied in hard copy and in electronic form on floppy disk--see Notes for Contributors on the inside back cover.
should be widely read. Another book which addresses a similar theme to which the same conclusion applies is
McGraw-Hill (1995), 351 pp., £21.95. (Also related to the need to tap into entrepreneurial energies discussed elsewhere in this section.) Another readable approach to these critical issues is The Fourth Dimension: the
Managing Cultures: Making Strategic MAN,CRAIGBOTT,MARLONBERRETTand Relationships Work, WENDY HALL, BRAD ANGUS, Wiley (1996), 217 pp., £18.95.
T h e ineffective management of culture
and cultural change is the cause of failure of many strategic initiatives. Hence the importance of this book, which
A. J. STRICKLEANDIII, Irwin (1996) 9th Edition, 1035 pp., $66.95.
The Genesis Enterprise: Creating Peak- The 36 cases in this edition include 23 to-peak Performance, JIM TOMPKINS, new cases not appearing in any of the
Next Level of Personal and Organizational Achievement, CRAIG HICKWiley (1995), 312 pp., £24.95.
BRIEFS
Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases, AUTHUR A. THOMPSONJR and
previous editions. Supported by new software, including a series of questions at the end of each chapter. A most impressive volume but surprising no mention of the work of Senge (The Fifth Discipline) and 'Learning Organization' concepts. A separate volume of the cases can be obtained: Cases in Strategic Management, ARTHURA. THOMPSON JR and A. J. STRICKLEANDIII, Irwin (1995) 5th Edition, 698 pp., £40.95. Additional valuable material is contained in Crafting & Implementing Strategy: Text and Readings, ARTHUR A. THOMPSONJR and A. J. STRICKLEAND III, Irwin (1995) 5th Edition, 539 pp.,
Long Range Planning Vol. 29
December 1996