Blurb:
The boss that checks every mail or that goes tennising during working hours. The boss that acts as a coach or acts like you are his foot soldier. So many managers, so many styles of managing. This "Elementaire Deeltje" is an introduction on management. The author explores themes like morality and imputability and studies the influence of a national culture and the company culture. This is an ideal introduction to every manager and for the ones that work with managers.
Author:
John Hendry started his academic career in the history and philosophy of physics, both quantum and classical. After a brief detour into the social history of medicine he moved first into the history of business and technology policy, then into the sociology of management and strategic change, and later into business and financial ethics.
Since retiring he has kept on this last interest and he has also published popular works on reason and reasonableness and the art of managing.
Top 10 quotes from the book:
"A good manager is the nerve centre of his/her unit, better informed that any of the team members."
"Even in this world of information systems, there is nothing that can replace personal contact. The better your contacts, the bigger the chance that you will get the information you need."
"Some managers never admit making mistakes and always blame other people. Hence this is good in the short term of their carreer, it is not an effective way of managing."
"If the work of a manager is unlimited it means that his/her work is not well defined."
"The moment that people are motivated in the right way, they will try to improve their own performance and also the performance of the people they are reporting to."
"Optimization in one direction will inevitably lead to compromises in the other direction."
"Finding a balance between work and private life is one of the most important challenges in a manager's career."
"Before you solve a problem, you must first formulate what the problem is, and this is actually the real management challenge."
"The best way to learn is by using the theory to think about practice and not by following models that tell us which rules to follow."
"It is the manager's job to ensure that the right voices are heard and not just those who shout the loudest or whine the longest."