2006 'Best Of' lists:
Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton, well-known authors and teachers, identify the causes of the knowing-doing gap and explain how to close it. The message is clear-firms that turn knowledge into action avoid the "smart talk trap." Executives must use plans, analysis, meetings, and presentations to inspire deeds, not as substitutes for action. Companies that act on their knowledge also eliminate fear, abolish destructive internal competition, measure what matters, and promote leaders who understand the work people do in their firms. The authors use examples from dozens of firms that show how some overcome the knowing-doing gap, why others try but fail, and how still others avoid the gap in the first place.
The Knowing-Doing Gap is sure to resonate with executives everywhere who struggle daily to make their firms both know and do what they know. It is a refreshingly candid, useful, and realistic guide for improving performance in today's business.
Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton Close The Knowing-Doing Gap and Win Management General's Management "Book Of The Year" for 2000
The Knowing-Doing Gap shows how insincere talk, faulty memory, irrational fear, misguided measurement, and errant internal competition can block companies from taking good things they already know and converting them into things they can do-now! The book is brash, fiery in its opinions and phrasings, willing to impose "tough love" on managers who may be too easily content with high-gloss yet merely cosmetic fads. Pfeffer and Sutton close the knowing-doing gap; open their book and you can too!"
—Management General, December 2000
An in-depth look at the role of power and influence in organizations. Pfeffer demonstrates the necessity of power in mobilizing political support and resources to get things done in any organization, and he looks at the personal attributes and structural factors that help managers advance organizational goals and achieve individual success.
“Two of the best minds in the business, Pfeffer and Salancik crafted this powerful argument that remains timely and timeless. That’s the true test of a classic. The External Control of Organizations is a trusted, durable, evocative work.” —Karl E. Weick,Rensis Likert Distinguished University Professor of Organizational Behavior and Psychology, University of Michigan Business School
“Launching the resource dependence theory of organizations, this influential work was the first to recognize the power of the wider social-political environment as a force shaping organizational structure and behavior. Recognizing that all organizations must acquire resources from the environment as a condition of their survival, Pfeffer and Salancik demonstrate how resource dependence gives rise to power problems and, potentially, to political solutions.” —W. Richard Scott,Stanford University
Blowing up the prevailing wisdom that companies must chase and acquire top talent in order to remain successful, Hidden Value argues instead that the source of sustained competitive advantage already exists within every organization. O'Reilly and Pfeffer, leading experts on organizational behavior and human resources, argue that how a firm creates and uses talent is far more important than how the firm attracts talent. The authors provide vivid, detailed case studies of several organizations in widely disparate industries — including Southwest Airlines, Cisco Systems, The Men's Wearhouse and NUMMI — to illustrate how long-term success comes from value-driven, interrelated systems that align good people management with corporate strategy.
In a refreshing break from management tomes that force-feed superficial frameworks and trite "rules," the authors instead allow the company stories to take center stage. They guide readers in discovering for themselves how seven different firms maximize talent, why one firm hasn't fully released the hidden value in its work force, and, most importantly, how the winning companies have made it tough for competitors to imitate them. Collectively, the stories reveal a common path to successthat places values before strategy, emphasizes implementation over planning, and focuses on getting the best out of all employees, not just individual stars. The authors also explore concerns or questions managers might have about how each company's experience parallels or conflicts with their own.
Providing a rare opportunity for managers to actively participate in an invaluable learning process, Hidden Value offers a customizable template for building high-performance, people-centered organizations.
In this crowning achievement, one of the greatest minds in management theory reveals how to succeed and wield power in the real world.
Over decades of consulting with corporations and teaching MBA students the nuances of organizational power, Jeffrey Pfeffer has watched numerous people suffer career reversals even as others prevail despite the odds.
Our most common mistake is not having a realistic understanding of what makes some people more successful than others. By believing that life is fair, we tend to subscribe to the “just-world phenomenon,” which leaves us unprepared for the challenges and competition of the real world.
Now Pfeffer brings decades of his incredible insights to a wider audience. Brimming with counterintuitive advice, numerous examples from various countries, and surprising findings based on his research, this groundbreaking guide reveals the strategies and tactics that separate the winners from the losers. Power, he argues, is a force that can be used and harnessed not only for individual gain but also for the benefit of organizations and society. Power, however, is not something that can be learned from those in charge—their advice often puts a rosy spin on their ascent and focuses on what should have worked, rather than what actually did. Instead, Pfeffer reveals the true paths to power and career success. Iconoclastic and grounded in the realpolitik of human interaction, Power is an essential organizational survival manual and a new standard in the field of leadership and management.
Next book list: Books by Michael Bungay Stanier Author of The Coaching Habit >>