Calling a Halt to Mindless Change: A Plea for Commonsense ManagementFrom The Reviewer:(http://www.asq1420.com/rev/Rev30.htm) Kudos to author Macdonald (author of "Understanding TQM in a Week," "Understanding Benchmarking in a Week," and "Global Quality") for his serious pause for reflection about the clutter of management ideas now competing for chief executive attention. Following Micklethwait and Wooldridge's successful "The Witch Doctors," a similar focus on unsubstantial management recommendations, Macdonald offers sobering advice to counter what he calls the mindless adoption of the new "isms" and four-legged absolutes trumpeted by dancing elephants (management consultants) clamoring to be heard. According to Macdonald, the issue is not so much that a management idea like reengineering is implemented, as is the mindless, irresponsible manner in which the idea is simply adopted by management with little appreciation for the more correct approach, the "adaptation" of the idea within the reality of the prevailing culture of the organization. He describes numerous examples of these "false gods" that have confused management (including TQM) and obscured the simple truths of business, explains the real nature of change, including his own interesting perspective that the pace of change is not as dramatic as is fashionable to believe, and describes his simple common sense elements of an "evolutionary organization" more likely to succeed with the reality of change. Numerous examples of these "evolutionary organizations" (3M, Arthur Andersen, Wal-Mart, Toyota, Motorola) help connect this treatise that is an excellent aid in balancing the din of management gurubable filling the shelves in this crowded genre. Highly recommended for professionals in any organization. |
Contents
| 3 | |
| 27 | |
Entrenched Fads | 50 |
Recent Revolutions | 62 |
Mindless Education | 92 |
Pause for Thought | 111 |
Anticipating Change | 113 |
Whatever Happened to Buck Rogers? | 132 |
Simple Common Sense | 167 |
Purpose | 169 |
Focus | 180 |
Communication | 195 |
People | 211 |
Stewardship | 226 |
Further Reading and References | 235 |
Index | 239 |
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Calling a Halt to Mindless Change: A Plea for Commonsense Management John Macdonald No preview available - 1998 |
Common terms and phrases
achieve agement anticipate approach areas Arthur Andersen attitude become benchmarking breakthrough business ethics business process reengineering business processes Chapter communication competence competitive concentrate concept consultants convergence corporate create Crosby culture customer focus decisions Deming downsizing economy education and training EFQM element employees empowerment ensure environment Europe evolution evolutionary companies example executives experience Feng Shui future global goals groups gurus impact implementation improvement individual industry influence innovation interest involved issues Japanese knowledge leaders long-term major Margaret Thatcher Marks and Spencer ment mindless change mindless management objectives operational organiza organization pany perceptions performance perspective Philip Crosby policies problems Procter and Gamble purpose quality circle recognized reengineering responsibility result role sense strategy success suppliers Tesco thinking tions tive tomer total quality management understand United value systems workers
Popular passages
Page 48 - The man whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations, of which the effects, too, are perhaps always the same, or very nearly the same, has no occasion to exert his understanding, or to exercise his invention, in finding out expedients for removing difficulties which never occur. He naturally loses, therefore, the habit of such exertion, and generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become.
Page 74 - Re-engineering is defined as: 'the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service and speed.
Page 113 - Time present and time past Are both perhaps present in time future, And time future contained in time past.
Page 3 - All we have gained then by our unbelief Is a life of doubt diversified by faith, For one of faith diversified by doubt: We called the chess-board white, — we call it black. 'Well...
Page 92 - The discipline of colleges and universities is in general contrived, not for the benefit of the students, but for the interest, or more properly speaking, for the ease of the masters. Its object is, in all cases, to maintain the authority of the master, and whether he neglects or performs his duty, to oblige the students in all cases to behave to him as if he performed it with the greatest...
Page 132 - Indeed, if a little knowledge is dangerous, where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger...
Page 3 - Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day; Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away; Change and decay in all around I see ; 0 thou, who changest not, abide with me!
Page 62 - There is a certain relief in change even though it be from bad to worse ! As I have found in, travelling in a stage-coach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position, and be bruised in a new place.
Page 113 - It is the business of Her Majesty's representatives abroad to report to us facts of which they have official cognisance and to obtain confirmation of them before they telegraph. I hesitate to say what the functions of the modern journalist may be; but I imagine that they do not exclude the intelligent anticipation of facts even before they occur...
Page 169 - ... House in English by the instrumentality of a very immature writer aged 24. And though I say it that should not, the choice was not such a bad shot for a stupid instinctive force that has to work and become conscious of itself by means of human brains. If we could only realize that though the Life Force supplies us with its own purpose, it has no other brains to work with than those it has painfully and imperfectly evolved in our heads...