“The premiere writer of management textbooks has sifted through the research to extract the truths every manager should know. This book is an antidote for the unsupported opinions handed out in many popular management books.”

Kenneth W. Thomas, Professor of Management, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, author of Intrinsic Motivation at Work

“A prolific scholar and writer, Robbins cuts through the research and theory to deliver immediately useful and essential insights for the effective management of people.”

Eric G. Stephan, Professor Organizational Leadership & Strategy, Marriott School of Management, Brigham Young University

You can succeed brilliantly as a leader and overcome the “killer” problems faced by every manager!

• The truth about building winning teams and designing high-productivity jobs

•  The truth about why “happy” employees aren’t always more productive

•  The (surprising) truth about what behaviors you really want to reward

This book reveals 53 Proven Principles for handling virtually every management challenge

The Truth About Managing People offers real solutions for the make-or-break problems faced by every manager. You'll discover: how to overcome the true obstacles to teamwork; why too much communication can be as dangerous as too little; how to improve your hiring and employee evaluations; how to heal "layoff survivor sickness"; even how to learn charisma. This isn't someone's opinion; it's a definitive, evidence-based guide to effective management: a set of bedrock principles you can rely on throughout your entire management career.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 2 Ratings

Management CliffsNotes - 2008-10-18
Reviewer Rating:
This is an excellent book about "managing people" (I prefer "leading people") with 63 short myth-dispelling "truth" chapters. By the way, Charlie "Tremendous" Jones said, "You are the same today as you'll be in five years except for two things: the people you meet and the books you read."

Here's how this book will change you. It's time for the weekly staff meeting--and your interruptions have been interrupted by interruptions. Your job is to lead, inspire and motivate--and you need something fresh, but quick. This book is your CliffsNotes for all things management. Pick from 63 two-page chapters--and get this--the memorable content is not just opinion--the insights are all research-based.

Does Barack Obama (or Sarah Palin) have enough experience to be U.S. president? Eventually, yes/maybe. Author Stephen Robbins writes, "Even in the most complex jobs, real learning typically ends after two years." His research says that "experience, per se, is not a very good predictor of effectiveness. Just because a (job) candidate has 10 years of previous experience is no assurance that his or her experience will transfer to a new situation. What is relevant is the quality of previous experience and the relevance of that experience to the new situation that the leader will face." He adds, "Too often, 20 years of experience is nothing other than one year of experience repeated 20 times!"

The 63 mini-chapters are listed under 10 sections: The Truth About...Hiring, Motivation, Leadership, Communication, Building Teams, Managing Conflict, Designing Jobs, Performance Evaluation, Coping With Change and Managing Behavior. They fit well with the 20 buckets in my book, Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit.

The well-researched conclusions/chapter titles are compelling: Truth #4: Want Pleasant Employees? It's in the Genes! Truth #16: Not Everyone Wants to Participate in Setting Their Goals; Truth #28: Effective Leaders Know How to Frame Issues (he suggest five ways: metaphors, jargon, contrast, spin and stories); Truth #31: Charisma Can Be Learned; Truth #36: Hearing Isn't Listening (he gives eight behaviors associated with effective listening--like making eye contact); Truth #45: Not Everyone Is Team Material; and Truth #62: People Aren't Completely Rational: Don't Ignore Emotions!

"Personal references are easy to acquire but they're essentially worthless," says Robbins in the chapter, "Don't Count Too Much on Reference Checks." He says friends of applicants won't be honest with you. I tend to agree with him.

Some teams lower productivity, says the author. According to his research, "The truth is that teams often create negative synergy. Individuals expend less effort when working collectively that when working individually, so 2 + 2 can equal 3!" He calls it "social loafing." We need to look deeper at this research--it might dramatically change how we organize work.

From Chicago to Orange County last week, the senior manager in Seat 10C read the book over my shoulder--and plans to order it. That's a pretty good indicator of a great book! (Yeah--I got the dreaded middle seat.)

truth - 2008-02-18
Reviewer Rating:
I was very please with the condtion and timeframe that it took to receive the book.

Browse Similar Topics

Top Level Categories:
Business

Sub-Categories:
Business > Executive Skills Development