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| What Were They Thinking?: Unconventional Wisdom About Management | 
 enlarge | Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy New: $5.95
You Save: $19.05 (76%)
New (36) Used (10) from $5.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 69369
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 241
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.1
ISBN: 1422103129
Dewey Decimal Number: 658
EAN: 9781422103128
ASIN: 1422103129
Publication Date: July 10, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Every day companies and their leaders fail to capitalise on opportunities because they misunderstand the real sources of business success. Based on his popular column in "Business 2.0", Jeffrey Pfeffer delivers wise and timely business commentary that challenges conventional wisdom while providing data and insights to help companies make smarter decisions. The book contains a series of short chapters filled with examples, data, and insights that challenge questionable assumptions and much conventional management wisdom. Each chapter also provides guidelines about how to think more deeply and intelligently about critical management issues. Covering topics ranging from managing people to leadership to measurement and strategy, it's good organisational advice, delivered by Dr. Pfeffer himself.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 Not worth the time January 8, 2008
3 out of 10 found this review helpful
Ok. I've seen the other review here on Amazon and must admit that I disagree. In fact, I think this book is dumb and was very disappointed. I picked the book up based on a magazine review. I didn't feel the anecdotal examples sited by the author truly supported his conclusions. I could easily come up with examples of my own that would refute his claims.
My advice...find a different book, there's many to choose from.
 Unconventional Common Sense October 13, 2007
Continuing a campaign to induce more common sense thinking into business management, Stanford Business School Professor and well-published author(12 books at last count) Jeffery Pfeffer utilizes materials from his Business 2.0 "The Human Factor" columns to tell us that common sense is not all that common. Or, at the very least to demonstrate that business leadership may not always consider the consequences of their actions and/or they hold inaccurate or incomplete views of human behavior. Touching on subjects from the problems with resume based hiring (looks backward, not forward), to budget based performance evaluations (ignores competitive standards), and strategy by PowerPoint (values planning over doing), Pfeffer presents arguments designed to make the reader think differently about many of the topics faced by businesses today.
Although the title may contain a bit of marketing hype - the wisdom describe in some chapters is not all that unconventional; spend more on training, take chances and make mistakes, build trust in the workplace - it is wisdom worth considering, none-the-less. I particularly liked Chapter 11, on financial incentive schemes, where Professor Pfeffer references, "... the "extrinsic incentives bias," a belief that others are motivated primarily by money even if people know that they, themselves, are not." In this chapter he notes that this bias and the comparative ease of implementing reward and incentive schemes often make this the tool of choice when a business is faced with the need for performance improvement; even though, financial incentives often have undesired consequences and provide no competitive advantage as they are easily copied by competitors. These bits of wisdom, and others like it, make this easy read a recommended selection for managers and OD professionals alike. Dennis DeWilde, author of The Performance Connection.
Easier Said than Done August 29, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
All good information, and an interesting read. The concepts presented are not unlike many Marketing/Innovation books, but the author presents a good case. Every manager/exec should put these principles into practice...but they have probably already read a book that says the same thing!
Maybe not as unconventional, but good August 23, 2007
The book is maybe not as unconventional as the (American-style) title wants to make you think, but nevertheless good. It will give you some insight, but also some examples to use in your business life to convince people that the "silver bullets" dont work. Can be handy. Also, there's a lot fo organisational psychology language and ideas and it's worth the money. recommended.
Awesome and True Business Management Book!!! August 20, 2007
An outstanding book that tells the truth about why unconventional management is not only "cool" but it absolutely necessary in today's business world. The book challenges a lot of the management principles taught in most business school classes as well as the "that's the way things are done around here" mentality.
An easy read and a great reference guide. My copy is on my desk at work as it provides a refreshing reminder now and then in the day to day of organizational management.
Awesome book!
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