Reviews (15)

Excellent Read
The management of human resources, says the author, holds the key to an organization's future success. HR people serve as strategic players, administrative experts, employee champions and change agents. Full of illustrations and examples from dozens of companies, this book show how HR professionals can operate in all four areas simultaneously.

This book is highly recommended to all HR people at all levels, and will help non HR professionals understand the importance of HR issues within corporations, and see how HR is really a strategic function.

It's wake up time for Human Resources!!
If there was ever a Bible for HR, this is it! It's about time someone wrote a book on how Human Resources is supposed to be creating value for American business. This book is full of excellent examples on techniques and strategies on what HR can begin doing-right away-to help the business become more competitive. HR can do this by helping the business to create organizational capabilities through it's people resources, to gain and sustain a competitive business advantage. The final chapter entitled HR for HR is a quide map for transforming today's traditional HR ogranization from an administrative, transactional entity to a strategic business partner. If you're an HR professional, this is a must read!

basically good, but no longer cutting edge
I read this book back in grad school (degree in HR). While it was current then, the concepts are no longer cutting edge/benchmark HR. This is a well-written book and is helpful for the HR novice to gain an understanding of the evolution of HR as a profession. However, for those who already work in an organization where HR is not only at the table, but setting the strategic direction hand in hand with the CEO as a valued member of the leadership team, this book could use a few more chapters. In the last 5 years many companies have moved past the "recognizing HR as a player" stage and are firmly in a space where there is a set expectation of HR - to help set the stategic direction for obtaining their revenue and market growth targets. It is in these areas that I would like to see the next ground breaking insights from Ulrich.

Ulrich and Beitler
If you like Ulrich's work, you should also buy "Strategic Organizational Change" by Michael Beitler. The two books together are a great combo for managers.

Not So Good
I am not a human resource champion or guru, but I do have an MBA and my approach is from the IT corner.

I found this book tough going and very academic.

There was so little coming out of it I skipped a few chapters.

Sorry about that ... Read more

Book Description

HR's leading thinkers provide a blueprint for the future

The international bestseller Human Resource Champions helped set the HR agenda for the 1990s and enabled HR professionals to become strategic partners in their organizations. But earning a seat at the executive table was only the beginning. Today's HR leaders must also bring substantial value to that table.

Drawing on their sixteen-year study of over 29,000 HR professionals and line managers, leading HR experts Dave Ulrich and Wayne Brockbank propose The HR Value Proposition. The authors argue that HR value creation requires a deep understanding of external business realities and how value is defined by key stakeholders both inside and outside the company. They provide practical tools and worksheets for leveraging this knowledge to create HR practices, build organizational capabilities, design HR strategy, and marshal resources that create value for customers, investors, executives, and employees.

Written by the field's premier trailblazers, this book charts the path HR professionals must take to help lead their organizations into the future.

Dave Ulrich is a professor at the University of Michigan School of Business and the author of twelve books and more than a hundred articles on the subject of human resources. Wayne Brockbank is a clinical professor of business at the University of Michigan School of Business, the author of award-winning papers on HR strategy, and an adviser to top global organizations.

... Read more

Book Description

Providing the tools and systems required for leading a "measurement managed" HR architecture, this important book heralds the emergence of human resources as a strategic powerhouse in today's organizations.

Three experts in the field outline a powerful measurement system that highlights the indisputable role HR can play as both a prime source of sustainable competitive advantage and a key driver of value creation. They draw from an ongoing study of nearly 3,000 firms to outline a seven-step process they call an HR Scorecard, specifically designed to embed human resources systems within a firm's overall strategy and manage the HR architecture as a strategic asset.Building on the proven Balanced Scorecard model, they also show how to link HR's results to measures-such as profitability and shareholder value-that line managers and senior executives will understand and respect.

The authors argue that human resources's strategic role begins with designing an HR architecture-the HR function, the HR system, and strategic employee behaviors-that relentlessly emphasizes and reinforces the implementation of the firm's strategy.Using compelling examples from a variety of leading companies, they explain how to develop and implement an HR Scorecard in order to both manage the HR architecture as a strategic asset, as well as measure the contribution of that asset to firm performance.

... Read more

Reviews (15)

Essential for the Serious HR Leader's Library
As a seasoned HR professional, I have spent the last decade looking for the "Holy Grail" of H.R. Metrics. My quest is not over after reading The HR Scorecard, but the book presented many helpful concepts and tools that we can use to measure the effectiveness of HR as a function, to measure R.O.I. on talent and talent initiatives, to measure the impact of HR on organizational performance, and as a basis for business case development of our deliverables.

Three well respected thought leaders in the HR field have conducted extensive research of more than 2500 companies to uncover a model for implementing HR strategy and measuring results. If fully employed HR will deliver results linked to higher functional and organizational performance.

To transform the structure of HR into a strategic function, HR leaders must:

1. Clearly define the business strategy.
2. Build a business case for HR as a strategic asset.
3. Create a strategy map (with leading and lagging indicators, and tangibles and intangibles.)
4. Identify HR Deliverables within the strategy map.
5. Align the HR architecture with HR deliverables.
6. Design the strategic measurement System.
7. Implement management by measurement.

The concepts in this book are useful but may not be practical for all HR leaders. This book is for organizations that have the resources to implement an in-depth system of measuring their HR performance. It is not a way to create a simple snapshot to be included in business reviews. While the authors suggest using no more than 25 measures so as not to create a burdensome systems, many of the examples in the book are quite complex and can by used only by the largest of organizations. It is also difficult to pick just a few efficiency measures and performance drivers from the comprehesive list prepared by the authors.

Real life examples of scorecards are shown from organizations such as Verizon/GTE, General Mills, and General Electric. While these examples can help any size HR department think through how to measure the performance of their function, I would like to see a smaller organization profiled with more simple measures.

This book should be in the library of all serious HR practitioners. It is well written, well researched, and well presented. If the tools and concepts are implemented, the HR function can rise to a new level. For those in smaller organizations, a few HR efficiency measures can be gleaned to build a simpler scorecard based on the key HR deliverables for the enterprise.

Measuring the Value of Human Resources
The book Providing the tools and systems required for leading a measurement managed HR architecture and draw from an ongoing study of nearly 3,000 firms to outline a seven-step process they call an HR Scorecard, specifically designed to embed human resources systems within a firm's overall strategy and manage the HR architecture as a strategic asset. You can reading EMBA journal in june, it make an abstract the book.

Ignore this
The issue is to have an HR scorecard for the business. The book was disappointing since it continues with the theory that originated with "Balanced Scorecard". It should have focussed on the actual challenges and created a robust framework.

The book missed the point and an oppurtunity. It might be interesting read but no practical value.

Additional reading
The HR scorecard is a useful additional reading to those who already have a general idea of the HR management. There are some good examples and concepts but it is not easy to read.

This plus the Beitler book!
This is a good book. I recommend it in addition to "Strategic Organizational Change" by Beitler. That makes a great combination for managers. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Talent, as defined by Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones, and Beth Axelrod, is shorthand for a key employee who possesses "a sharp strategic mind, leadership ability, communications skills, the ability to attract and inspire people, entrepreneurial instincts, functional skills, and the ability to deliver results." It's also, they contend in The War for Talent, an overarching personnel characteristic that companies of all kinds will require throughout their organizations in order to survive the competitive recruiting era that we appear to be entering. Michaels, Handfield-Jones, and Axelrod, authors of a 1997 McKinsey Quarterly article that uncovered a definitive connection between top performers and superior corporate achievement, spent the intervening years studying 13,000 executives in 27 companies to identify the programs and behaviors that help today's foremost firms attract and retain the best kinds of employees. The authors outline five common "imperatives" that they found these companies employed to strengthen their talent pools ("Embrace a Talent Mindset," "Craft a Winning Employee Value Proposition," "Rebuild Your Recruiting Strategy," "Weave Development into Your Organization," and "Differentiate and Affirm Your People") and construct a practical framework for making it happen in your company. --Howard Rothman ... Read more

Reviews (13)

An outstanding, although not original, look at talent
I recommend this book highly for anyone who works in or owns a business. The information contained here is not original in concept, as many of the concepts can be found in (not surprisingly) successful and well know businesses.

The basic premise of this book is that the ability to attract, retain and engage the best talent available will give your business a competitive edge in the marketplace. Looking at these components in the "war for talent" the authors outline several strategies:

The first issue is that in order to be able to focus on talent, companies must "embrace a talent mindset" and realize that in this age of intellectual capital, getting the top talented people to work for you and your customers will make the difference in your results. "Embracing a talent mindset" means not just awareness of the importance of great people, but investing in development, setting high performance standards, and getting actively involved in people related decisions. In order to do this, companies must look closely at "EVP" or an "Employee Value Proposition" approach to keep top talent engaged in exciting work and value added opportunities.

The authors also discuss several different approaches to recruiting and identifying the key talent required for your business. In my experience, getting better talent up front makes all the subsequent processes better: training, communication, innovation, and of course business results.

The book also discusses a concept made famous by GE - differentiating performance and performers. While it sometimes feels like business Darwinism, differentiating your top performers and rewarding and investing in them accordingly will bring about better results than trying to raise the poorer performers up a level.

Overall, a great summary of the challenges and opportunities in this "war for talent" businesses are facing everyday.

A powerful tool for leaders across organizations.
In a market characterized by uncertainty and instability, one thing holds true for all organizations: building strong talent is crucial to success. "The War for Talent" delivers a powerful argument for why this is the case, illustrating the need for leaders to adopt a "talent mindset" and develop a strategic approach to talent management. Executives and managers will find this book a valuable guide that lays out the steps required to attract, develop, excite and retain highly talented employees.

McKinsey & Company consultants Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones and Beth Axelrod translate five years of in-depth research and analysis into a clear perspective on how to develop a corporation's greatest asset - its people. The authors artfully weave examples of success stories from such companies as Amgen, GE, The Home Depot and Enron into a comprehensive framework for addressing long-term talent management. Their approach continually challenges the reader to assess his or her own organization and to take action. Leaders from all levels of organizations will gain practical knowledge and an insightful roadmap for winning the war for talent.

The War For Talent Is About to Begin In Earnest
The War for Talent is a great book for the leaders of an organization to read. Why? They are the ones who can affect the culture of the organization. Most workers, even A Players, do not have the power to drive cultural change.

As a contract recruiter (www.recruiterguy.com), when I go into a company for the first time, I interview the managers and ask them, in their view, "Why would a top performer want to work for this company, in this position, for you?" As the competition for talent begins to gain steam over the next few months, companies who do a better job of addressing the needs of the Gen X'ers will find themselves in the enviable position of attracting the replacements to the Baby Boomers who are retiring or otherwise leaving the workplace. Sure there is still a surplus of workers as a result of the recession. However, companies who do not have a recruitment strategy will soon find themselves spending much more money to attract the best talent.

In The War For Talent, the authors used specific examples of companies who had either a recruiting or attrition problem and then solved it by improving their Employee Value Proposition (EVP). For instance, SunTrust had a problem where they were losing 46% of their branch employees in their Publix supermarket branches in Georgia and 55% of their high performers. The book discusses the steps they took to dramatically lower their attrition rate in a relatively short time.

Unfortunately for the book, it came out just as Enron was spinning into the ground. Therefore, some people have focused more on the Enron EVP and other qualities and possibly not enough on the other companies' qualities. Enron, while it was growing, appealed to a specific group of people who were not afraid to take what now appears to be excessive risks. There are many examples of other companies with other EVP's who have survived and possibly thrived during this recession. They were able to attract and retain the high performers, who generally tend to be more strategic and less tactical than their counterparts.

Just as Brad Smart in his book "Topgrading" focuses on recruiting, developing and mentoring the A Players, the authors of The War For Talent stress the importance of the A players in a company. It is surprising that "The Peter Principle" came out in 1969 and we are still discussing the concept but in different terms.

The War For Talent concepts should be discussed from the boardroom to your hiring managers. Your leaders need to embrace a talent mindset (title of a chapter in the book), develop a winning differentiation for your company, and develop recruiters who have the ability to attract A Players.

Read this book if you want to win "The War For Talent." .........

A worthwhile read
Easy reading, entertaining, interesting and informative. Light on details but a very good general overview of the topic.

Conceptually excellent. The value is in how you implement the recommendations - which is where you will find this book wanting.

If you get nothing else out of this book, the quote from Dee Hock (founder of Visa) will make it worth buying:

"Hire and promote first on the basis of integrity; second motivation; third capacity; fourth understanding; fifth knowledge; and last and least, experience.

Without integrity, motivation is dangerous; without motivation, capacity is impotent; without capacity, understanding is limited; without understanding, knowledge is meaningless; without knowledge, experience is blind."

Good theory but doesn't work in the real world.
This book is a good theory and in an ideal world it would all work out that way: the highly talented and highly skilled would get the promotions, good jobs, and plum assisgnments. But unfortunately, more often than not, the pie isn't divided so nicely. There are often other reasons, not work/talent related, that a person gets a promotion or a job. The classic example is the boss' son getting handed a top job in a company, which still happens today. Also how do you fit Affirmative Action into the equation? AA is not based upon talents, only gender & race. Personally I wish more management would read this book and use the basic idea but it probably won't happen. Companies keep talking about "needing good talent" but they don't walk the walk. ... Read more

Book Description

Not All Knowledge Is Created Equal

Deep smarts are the engine of any organization-as well as the essential value that individuals build over their careers. Distinct from I.Q., this type of expertise consists of practical wisdom: accumulated knowledge, know-how, and intuition gained through extensive experience. How do such smarts develop? And what happens when people with deep smarts leave a particular job-or the organization? Can any of their smarts be transferred? Should they be?

Basing their conclusions on a multiyear research project, Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap argue that cultivating and managing deep smarts are critical parts of any leader's job. The authors draw on examples from firms of all sizes and types to illustrate the connection between deep smarts and organizational viability and continuous innovation.

Leonard and Swap describe the origins and limits of deep smarts and outline processes for cultivating and leveraging them across the organization. Developing an experience repertoire and receiving strategic guidance from wise coaches can help individuals move up the ladder of expertise from novice to master.

Addressing a topic of increasing importance as the Boomer generation retires, Deep Smarts challenges leaders to take a hands-on approach to managing the experience-based knowledge shaping the future of their organizations.

... Read more

Amazon.com

The Set-Up-to-Fail Syndrome, by Jean-Francois Manzoni and Jean-Louis Barsoux, looks into the negative dynamics that unintentionally but unequivocally define far too many relationships between bosses and the people who report to them. More importantly, it also proposes ways to attack the problem where it exists and to keep it from occurring elsewhere. Manzoni and Barsoux, researchers at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, first addressed the issue in a 1998 Harvard Business Review article examining how "bosses unwittingly set up some of their subordinates to fail and, more generally, mismanage many of the subordinates they regard as acceptable but lower-than-average performers." After discussing the various causes and effects of this behavior--including why responses from both sides tend to generate "an escalating spiral of malaise and underperformance"--the authors present assorted remedies (such as "the mental adjustments bosses must make before trying to interrupt" this conduct), a framework for interventions (with details, for example, on handling discussions between two parties whose rapport has deteriorated), and a litany of preventive measures (including specific suggestions for getting new relationships off to a positive start). Very well researched with solid, practical advice. --Howard Rothman ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Common Wisdom: Insidious & Pernicious
This work deftly weaves those seemingly abstract and academic studies Psychology 101 students have been reading about for 40 years into the fabric of everyday work experience. The authors are able to put the subtle pattern into high resolution, which at first appears shocking, then depressing, and finally, hopeful.

It was depressing to think that the syndrome is both insidious and pernicious because the common wisdom of most coaching models is a key driver of the syndrome. That is, when a manager notices a performance problem, the appropriate response is to give the person feedback and put them on a "short leash" so that the employee gets extra guidance. On the face, this starts a chain of events:
• Employee perceives the lack of trust, feels cramped by the limited autonomy, as well as being under appreciated.
• Employee responds by withdrawing and reducing unnecessary contact with the boss.
• The Boss takes the withdrawal as confirmation the this is indeed a weaker performer and so shortens the leash even more.
• Progressively, the employee begins to doubt her own capability and ability to contribute, and
• The ugly cycle continues in a downward spiral and the employee has been successfully set up to fail.

It was hopeful to realize that the dynamic is not really based in the coaching model at all. It is based in the very human tendency to categorize and label. It is the common wisdom that there are three kinds of employees: the Stars (or A-Players), the Worker Bees (or B-Players), and the Deadwood (or C-Players). The problem lies in the labeling and how the manager relates to the Worker Bee employee. The Stars have close partnerships with the Boss and are treated as 'trusted assistants." The Worker Bees, on the other hand, have low quality relationships with the Boss and are treated as "hired hands." This stark differentiation in the quality of relationship, based on the label is at the root of the issue. Curt Coffman of the Gallup Organization has said, "We're running as an economy at a 30% efficiency rate because so many workers are not contributing as much as they can..." because a disconnect with an immediate supervisor.

Psychologists say that "Perception is not reality." That is truth in their offices; truth in the workplace is, "Perception IS reality." Unfortunate but true. Manzoni & Barsoux do the business world a great service because they clearly and skillfully lay out how our perception creates unintended bias. This awareness is required by both the Boss and the Subordinate to be able to stop the dysfunctional "dance" that occurs when the Set-Up-To-Fail Syndrome is at work. The hope that they present is that awareness leads to re-evaluation and the reduction of bias.

This is one powerful book; buy it, read it, talk about it.

Good Analysis But Bad Prescription
Being one authored by INSEAD experts, I bought the book with high expectations, believing that FINALLY the truth can be out!!! I read the first few chapters of the book so religiously (almost treating it like my Bible), taking down key points that are so wonderfully said about the self-fulfilling prophecy that many managers have set themselves up to, i.e. to fail. What's disappointing as I come to the middle portion of the book is that authors suggestion on how managers can avoid the SUTF syndrome by taking the first step (not to mention swallowing all their ego and pride) and start initiating a de-SUTF relationship with his/her subordinate even if it means this person might eventually have a chance of not improving at all (due to job mis-fit)??? I returned the book and bought and digested "First Break All Rules" instead.

The Negative Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
This book is based on more than fifteen years of extended and combined research whose primary objective was to reveal the reasons why so many in positions of authority, especially bosses, are so ineffective when managing their subordinates, especially their perceived weaker performers. That is to say, supervisors are often unaware of the fact that they are "complicit in an employee's lack of success. How? By creating and reinforcing a dynamic that essentially sets up perceived weaker performers to fail." Hence the title of Manzoni and Barsoux's book. The authors explain the causes and effects of that "dynamic" (see "Set-Up-to-Fail Syndrome," Chapter 3) and also explain how to avoid it ("Preventing the Set-Up-to-Fail Syndrome: Lessons from the Syndrome Busters," Chapter 9). One of this book's most valuable contributions is comprised of a series of "Tables" which organize and summarize key points. For example:

Table 2-1: "How Bosses See Their Behavior toward Subordinates" which contrasts tendencies of bosses in relationships with weaker and stronger performers.

Table 5-1: "Taking Sides" which presents two views of the same supervisor's observed behavior either as a "great boss" or as an "impossible boss."

Table 7-2: "Taking Responsibility Away from an Employee" which juxtaposes a supervisor's thoughts and feelings about a subordinate with their interaction in dialogue.

Manzoni and Barsoux assert that the set-up-to-fail syndrome is "both self-fulfilling and self-reinforcing, which obscures the boss's responsibility in the process as well as some of the key psychological and social mechanisms involved." My own experience suggests an often great discrepancy exists between modes of behavior determined by conscious and unconscious mindsets. That is to say, many supervisors would vehemently deny that they are "complicit in an employee's lack of success....[by] creating and reinforcing a dynamic that essentially sets up perceived weaker performers to fail." Nonetheless they are. Were they to read this book, they would probably agree that there is such a syndrome and then lament how unfair it is to subordinates who are victimized by it.

One final point. Countless research studies of face-to-face communication have arrived at essentially the same conclusion: Body language creates 60-75% of the impact, tone of voice 15-20%, and content (i.e. what is actually said) only 10-15%. (Percentages vary among research studies but only slightly.) With the publication of this book, Manzoni and Barsoux have made a substantial contribution to our understanding of a widespread but, until now, neglected cause of human dysfunction in the workplace. Whether intentionally or not, a supervisor can sometimes create irreparable damage, especially to those who already feel insecure, by a negative and demeaning "message" which need not be expressed in words but comes through loud and clear nonetheless.

Relationship between leadership and subordinate performance
Jean-Francois Manzoni is Assistant Professor of Accounting and Control at French business school INSEAD; Jean-Louis Barsoux is a Research Fellow at INSEAD. Barsoux is also co-author of 'Managing Across Cultures' (1997). This Harvard Business Review article was published in March-April 1998.

This article is based on two studies designed to better understand the causal relationship between leadership style and subordinate performance - or in other words, how bosses and subordinates mutually influence each other's behavior. Those studies suggest that bosses - albeit accidentally and usually with the best intentions - are often complicit in an employee's lack of success. Manzoni and Barsoux use the term 'set-up-to-fail syndrome' to describe a dynamic "in which employees perceived to be mediocre or weak performers live down to the low expectations their managers have for them." The set-up-to-fail syndrome usually begins surreptitiously and underlying the syndrome are several assumptions/generalizations about weaker performers that bosses appear to accept uniformly. The authors describe these assumptions/generalizations and the impact they have on organizations and relationships. The two costs of the syndrome are the emotional cost paid by the associate and the organizational cost associated with the company's failure to get the best out of an employee. Other costs to consider, often indirect and long term, are: Sapping of the boss' emotional and physical energy, the impact on the boss' reputation, and the impact on the team (team spirit, time management, etc.). So how can we break out of this syndrome? The authors provide a five components framework for effective interventions but they warn that these interventions do not take place very often. In line with the recent emphasis on emotional intelligence, they conclude that higher emotional involvement and investment from bosses is the key to getting the subordinates to work to their full potential.

Good article into a very familiar problem, not just to organizations but also to people. The 'set-up-to-fail syndrome' is mostly based on generalizations by managers and bosses, but is difficult to reverse. The authors provide a solution which is primarily based on emotional intelligence, which is still difficult to learn. I recommend this article as an complement to Daniel Goleman's articles and books into emotional intelligent leadership and management. The authors use simple business US-English. ... Read more

Book Description

The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world. From the preeminent thinkers whose work has defined an entire field to the rising stars who will redefine the way we think about business, here are the leading minds and landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious businesspeople in organizations around the globe.

This collection of classic and cutting-edge articles, and case studies provides a broad range of perspectives on affirmative action, career development for minorities and women, and other HR-related policies. ... Read more

Book Description

THE HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW PAPERBACK SERIES is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world.Here are the landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious business people in organizations around the globe.

From managing diversity to exploring alternative workplaces to debunking myths about compensation, the topics covered in this collection address how to build organizations with judicious and effective systems for managing people. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

HBR Managing People
Definitely one of the better books in the series. Discussion of common corporate issues. Provides good solutions. I've read 4 in the series and like this one the most. ... Read more

Book Description

Leading Minds and Landmark Ideas In An Easily Accessible Format

From the preeminent thinkers whose work has defined an entire field to the rising stars who will redefine the way we think about business, The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series delivers the fundamental information today's professionals need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world.

With articles ranging from an in-depth look at the "mommy-track" to perspectives on telecommuting, this book will help HR professionals and employees at all levels understand the oftentimes delicate balance between our professional and personal lives. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Very good!!
Here we have a collection of several articles about balancing work and life. I liked the book because of that. You don't have to begin reading on page 1. Just see the index for an article of choice an begin reading there. The ideas the authors propose are written in an easy reading manner an are always backed on serious researches. I licked it a lot. ... Read more

Book Description

The bestselling book that explores the remarkable benefits of teams at all levels of the organization. A look at the 30 virtues of good business that have inspired success in thousands of leaders, by the man voted Boss of the Year, 1994 by the National Organization for Women. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

A strong working guide to team development and support.
This book is the result of research into why teams are important, what separates effective from ineffective teams, and how organizations can tap the effectiveness of teams to become high-performance organizations. Liberally citing research efforts in 47 specific organizations, Katzenbach and Smith share their insights into what makes teams work.

They emphasize teams as an important part of a three part cycle leading to a high-performance organization: a) shareholders who provide opportunities, b) employees who deliver value, and c) customers who generate returns. The performance targets in the high-performance organization are multidimensional, impacting all three cyclic contributors. Teams provide real benefits to employees, the result being an impact throughout the cycle. If employees increase the value they deliver, customers will increase the return, allowing shareholders to increase the opportunities available to employees.

Central to the thesis is their defini! tion of team, concentrating on "a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable." [45] The distinction is far more than semantic. Working groups who do not share all of these characteristics are not to be considered teams. "Unlike teams, working groups rely on the sum of 'individual bests' for their performance. They pursue no collective work products requiring joint effort. By choosing the team path instead of the working group, people commit to take the risks of conflict, joint work-products, and collective action necessary to build a common purpose, set of goals, approach, and mutual accountability" [85]

Katzenbach and Smith aren't completely negative toward working groups. On the contrary, they cite numerous situations in which the working group offers the most effective approach. But for turning ourselves into high-performanc! e organizations, the limitations of working groups must be ! overcome, and the power of teams must be harnessed, through increased risk. "People who call themselves teams but take no such risks are at best pseudo-teams." [85]

THE WISDOM OF TEAMS describes a Team Performance Curve that correlates team effectiveness against the performance impact of the team, resulting in the organizational path from working group, to pseudo-team, to potential team, to real team, and ultimately to high-performance team. The working group describes the organization of least team effectiveness, although not without performance impact. The performance of working groups, in fact, can be very effective owing to the individual contributions of the group members.

The pseudo-team - high team effectiveness, but usually less performance effectiveness - "has not focused on collective performance and is not really trying to achieve it." [91] The result is an organization that produces fewer results because of the forced team interactions. Th! e members are actually slowed down compared to the contribution they would make without the team overhead - as members of a working group. "In pseudo-teams, the sum of the whole is less than the potential of the individual parts." [91]

The "group for which there is a significant, incremental performance need, and that really is trying to improve its performance impact" [91] is the potential team. Higher up the Performance Team Curve in terms of both team and performance effectiveness, the potential team can be extremely effective when targeted at a problem or process for which a team approach makes sense. Unfortunately, in addition to the results attributable to individuals on the team, the increased performance brought about by the potential team is largely attributable to luck. Still lacking from potential teams are the commitment to a common purpose and working approach, as well as the mutual accountability inherent in real teams.

Finally, the high-p! erformance team "is a group that meets all the conditi! ons of real teams, and has members who are also deeply committed to one another's personal growth and success." [92] With a little reflection, any of us who has ever experienced working on a high-performance team knows it. We also quickly recognize how rare such opportunities have been. THE WISDOM OF TEAMS is a guidebook to creating a high-performance organization built around high-performance teams.

Teams must have the right blend of complementary skills, including technical or functional expertise, problem-solving and decision making skills, and interpersonal skills. "It is surprising how many people assemble teams primarily on the basis of personal compatibility or formal position in the organization." [48] The authors warn, however, that too much emphasis can be placed on skill mixes too early in the team process. In their research, they "did not meet a single team that had all the needed skills at the outset. (They) did discover, however, the power o! f teams as vehicles for personal learning and development." [48] As long as the right team dynamics are present, the necessary skills will materialize or develop.

The authors focus specific attention on the creation of teams at the top. "Team performance at the top of the organization is more the exception than the rule." [217] They cite several specific misguided beliefs that they find lead to lessened team effectiveness at the top: 1) the purpose of the team can't be differentiated from the purpose of the organization, 2) "membership in the team is automatic," [218] 3) the role of each team member is predefined by their functional position in the organizational hierarchy, 4) executives spending discretionary time on team activities is inefficient, and 5) the effectiveness of the team depends only on open communication. "This (last) all-too-common misconception equates teamwork with teams." [221]

These beliefs create obstacles to effecti! ve team performance. "The most practical path to build! ing a team at the top, then, lies not in wishing for good personal chemistry, but in finding ways for executives to do real work together." [230] Katzenbach and Smith are citing these problems particularly for the top, although they apply just as well to teams throughout the organization. Their prescription for breaking through these obstacles includes "carving out team assignments that tackle specific issues," "assigning work to subsets of the team, "determining team membership based on skill, not position," "requiring all members to do equivalent amounts of real work," "breaking down the hierarchical pattern of interaction," and "setting and following rules of behavior similar to those used by other teams." [230-234]

Katzenbach and Smith have provided a quick-injection standards program for teams. For quality professionals attempting to improve processes in their organization model, the authors have provided mater! ials at all three levels. Their definition of team - with its focus on complementary skills, mutual accountability, common approach, and shared goals - can be used as the basis for a Teams Policy Statement.

Making use of this book in our organizations will allow us to move beyond calling a group of people a team hoping it will motivate and inspire them. It allows us to move forward toward high-performance organizations with a process-based approach to continuously improving team effectiveness.

Why and How to Work in Teams
A good balance of case studies, step-by-step procedures, and advice for people who want or need to work in teams but are accustomed to working in organizational "stovepipes" or matrix organizations. People who have successful experience working in Integrated Product Teams and Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD) Environment will find the principles and processes familiar. This book dates back to 1992 and reads a lot like a Harvard Business Review article, only of book length. The Department of Defense used this book as a source reference for their IPPD guide, and Integrated Product Teams have "taken off" since that time and are integral to DoD acquisition programs today. Nevertheless, this book is still worthwhile. The DoD did a thorough job of taking the "how to" information from this book and expanding on it to great detail. The mistake they made was to leave out the "why." The case studies, omitted by DoD, really put you in the middle of successful teams to the point that they will make you want to be on a team like the ones in the book. That is the missing element when converting an organization to a team-based work environment... step by step instructions are not enough. To succeed, the team members have to want to work in this difficult but rewarding manner. That is the main value of this book: it puts you in the picture and makes you want to succeed at teaming.

Complete waste of time
This book is a complete waste of time. In 40+ years I have never seen a published piece of work that is this poorly written. There is no way you can draw any conclusion about team effectiveness from the disjointed, incomplete cases prsented. Before these authors create another disaster I would recommend that they take a basic writing course. The book would only been midly anoying had the author understood how to form a basic english sentence.

My recommendation - rather than buy this book just throw your money in the garbage.

Good book, solid content
This book does not present any real "revolutionary" ideas that will blow you away with originality, what it does do is lay out the things that make teamwork work. Since so much in business nowadays requires teamwork, the book has a valuable and timely message. Recommended.

Boring
The message: real teams are good. The authors rave about all the great things a well functioning team can accomplish and give several examples.

The authors set out to figure out what makes a real team and how people that put these together do it. It is a worthwhile purpose. The problem is that the "insights" revealed are old and rather useless. For example, the authors found that teams that had clearly stated goals performed better than teams that had not agreed on common goals. If this is news to you, you should buy the book.

1 star out of 5 ... Read more

Book Description

Discover How the Best Companies Win Not By Acquiring the Right People—But By Building the Right Organization
The "war for talent" is one battle every company believes it should be waging. But while competitors are busy chasing after the same "hot" individuals, smart companies are doing something infinitely more useful and far more difficult to copy—they're building organizations that make it possible for ordinary people at every desk and cubicle in their companies to perform as if they were stars.

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 success that 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. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

The "Value" of this book is certainly "Hidden" from me......
This book is merely a compilation of case studies. There are few -- if any -- check lists, tables, charts, bullet points, or step-by-step methodologies to help you implement the concepts within your own company or organization. In fact, THERE ARE ONLY 21 PAGES not dedicated exclusively to either a case study and/or an analysis of the various case studies presented within the book. Save your money and purchase "The HR Scorecard", "The Talent Solution", or "Aligning Pay and Results" instead. Very disappointing...

Detailed case descriptions of high performing companies
This book tells the story of eight extremely successful companies that manage to bring out the best in their people. The stories are detailed descriptions of the company's backgrounds, strategies, systems and management practices. The stories are also larded with quotes from the company's CEO's, HR managers and employees. Following this approach the authors provide the readers the opportunity to form their own hypotheses about the companies' successes. But the authors also present their interpretations of the case studies.

What these studies show is how these high performing companies have achieved their success by aligning their values, strategies and people. This is something which is easy to understand but hard to do. It requires consistent articulation and implementation of the values and vision and a relentless attention to detail in ensuring that all policies and practices support the company's values. In order to be able to show this kind of consistency a real belief and commitment are needed and a willingness to persevere.

This book shows how high performing companies consciously turn a lot of the conventional management wisdom upside down. For instance:

1. Contrary to what many people now think, recruiting, selecting and retaining unique talent is NOT the prime source of competitive advantage. Although these activities are important, the examples of these extraordinary companies show that it is much more important to build a culture and work system that enables all people to use their talents and develop their talents. A byproduct of this will be that your company will also be better at attracting and retaining people.

2. Values first instead of strategies. The conventional view puts competitive strategy on top and derives from that what structure is needed, what competencies and behaviors are needed and so on. The companies described here work differently. Although they do have competitive strategies these are secondary to their set of guiding values and to the alignment of these values with their management practices. In other words: they have a values-based view of strategy.

3. Respectful and trusting way of dealing with people. Many companies monitor, check and try to control employee behavior. The hidden value companies work differently. In the spirit of Douglas McGregor's book The Human Side of Enterprise, they seem to understand that if you begin by designing systems to protect against the small unmotivated minority, you end up alienating the motivated majority. So they put their people first by treating them respectfully, involving them and trusting them.

Lessons like the ones presented in this book can be found in several other books by for instance Jeffrey Pfeffer himself, David Maister and Jim Collins. What makes this book different and interesting to me is the presentation in the form of detailed case descriptions.

Acorns, Oak Trees, and Common Sense
One of the greatest challenges facing organizations today is attracting and then keeping "the best and the brightest" people they can. Then, there is another great challenge to develop their talents and skills. Here is one of the best books I have read thus far which addresses the second challenge directly...and indirectly, addresses the first challenge as well (pun intended). O'Reilly and Pfeffer organize their material within a series of chapters, each of which (presented as a case history) focuses on eight exemplary companies (e.g. Cisco Systems, The Men's Wearhouse, and Southwest Airlines). The authors utilize a basic format (introduction, background, values, philosophy and spirit, etc.) which enables their reader to draw relevant comparisons and contrasts. They also summarize key points at the end of each chapter.

After extensive involvement with several of the exemplary companies, I can personally attest that organizations such as they which effectively develop the "hidden value" in their employees achieve at least three highly desirable (indeed imperative) objectives: they create a workplace environment in which people at all levels are much happier as well as much more productive; as a result, they have less attrition of their "best and brightest"; and finally, they are much more successful when competing for the "human capital" they need. To their credit, O'Reilly and Pfeffer do not promise to offer all manner of "secrets" to simplify the process of attracting and developing talent. Everything they suggest is common sense and much of it is obvious. The "hidden value" of their book is revealed only as you correlate all the ideas and experiences it provides within the context of your past and current circumstances.

If you agree that an organization should be value-driven and that values are driven by people, almost everything O'Reilly and Pfeffer share can be of substantial assistance. But I presume to conclude with three caveats. First, what they recommend is relatively simple to explain but will be immensely difficult (if not impossible) to implement without a firm commitment, sufficient time, and (yes) patience. Second, given the wealth of information provided, beware of massive adoption of what may have been effective elsewhere. Rather, select only what is most appropriate to your organization's needs when formulating a model. Finally, keep in mind that all of the eight exemplary companies have changed, some quite significantly, since the period during which this book was written. So must yours in months and years to come.

OK Anecdotes Collection of People-Centric Success
"Hidden Value" purports to offer a new management book style and a "people-first" focus to organisational competitive advantage. This style involves a learn & do structure to 8 anecdotes, rather than the usual hypotheses, case study evidence and checklists often used by many US educators & consultants. Note 'learn & do" has been practiced for decades by military and engineering schools (for both physical maneuvers/value-add as well an intellectual stratagems/ designs etc..).

The repetitive anecdotal structured (e.g. introduction; background; values, philosophy and spirit; people/system, and lesson learnt) chapters span success stories from: SouthWest Airlines; Cisco Systems; The Men's Warehouse; the SAS Institute; PSS World Medical; AES; New United Motor Manufacturing Inc; and Cypress Semiconductor.

Strengths include: the broad range of case studies from different sectors including a few non-US examples; and the extremely timely "life-balance" and "people matter" message.

Weaknesses include: repetition of text (perhaps 35% of book); content gaps & granularity problems (e.g. aligned individual/team motivation models missing); a passive observational feel; a superficiality of analysis; a lack of formal tools to carry out own "people-centric" analysis; an often colloquial cliché-filled style (dates quickly); inconsistencies in many financial table rankings and formatting; and a lack of labeling/scales on the most significant table in the book on p.239.

O'Reilly/Pfeffer suggest through this table (p.239), that exceptional performance from committed people requires the organization to use the HR levers of: values, culture and strategy alignment; hiring for fit; investing in people; widespread information sharing; team-based systems; and rewards and recognition.

Better alternatives include: "The Secrets of Software Success" by Hoch et al (100 global software companies success factors including people) (ISBN 1578511054 HBS Press 1999); and the superb "First to the Future- on Active Leadership" by Willi Railo (rigorous proven methods to coach & lead Olympic-standard people, applicable to all) (ISBN82-991169-5-3 Norbok A/S 1995).

Having recently reviewed "The Knowing-Doing Gap" also co-authored by Pfeffer, I was struck by great similarities in case studies/data from SouthWest Airlines; Cisco Systems; The Men's Warehouse; the SAS Institute; PSS World Medical; AES; and New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (couldn't remember if Cypress Semiconductor was featured). To this reviewer, both books cover a similar subject-matter less-well, and perhaps would have better been written as one really good book.

Outstanding Look at People-Centered Values for Success!
In Strategy Safari, Professor Mintzberg and his coauthors describe that most people approach strategy from one of 10 different perspectives, mostly ignoring the others. That book argues that we would be better served to integrate these 10 perspectives into a combined one. In Hidden Value, Professors OReilly and Pfeffer succeed in combining four of those perspectives in a valuable synthesis. The four that are combined here are values, which people to attract and retain, determining which core competencies to build, and the role of senior management in strategy development and implementation.

At a time when there are many excellent books out on how to find and retain top talent, this book aims to do something different. "Hiring and retaining talent is great. Building a company that creates and uses talent is even better." So after you have read all about Topgrading and other useful methods, read this book next.

The book is unusual (especially for one from Stanford professors published by Harvard Business School Press) in that it uses a structure designed to allow you to learn more than frequently occurs with straight exposition (thesis, followed by examples to support the thesis, and then a conclusion).

To do this, the authors found 8 companies that exhibited people-centered values in different industries to succeed in different ways. You are invited to peruse detailed case histories to get a sense of how these companies work. Following the eight is an example of a company with many similar approaches that was not doing as well, Cypress Semiconductor. You are invited to think through what's different. Later on, you also do mini-studies of People Express and Levi Strauss to see where they vary from the model that you have developed from the cases.

But if you do want to know what the authors think about the cases, their conclusions are summarized at the end of every chapter. Chapter 10 also looks at the overall model they discern.

They see a process whereby each of the successes starts out with a focus on people that is primarily employee centered. This focus often comes from the founder or the current CEO. The company then looks for people who share that focus. At some point, common values begin to emerge among the leadership and the rest of the company. The company continues to focus on coalescing around those values by hiring people with those values, and teaching the values to new employees. Values are reinforced everyday through communications, information flows, training, and rewards and recognition. This creates an environment of mutual trust and respect. Then the company looks at the core competencies that make sense in light of the people, values, and market opportunities and develop those core competencies The company then looks for new strategies that build on the core competencies. Senior management follows at this point in leading from and to reinforce the values.

The payoffs in the case histories relate to superior performance in key valued-added areas (which differ by case), reduced turnover of people which decreases cost of employment and improves performance further, trust and information flows that encourage useful experimentation, and consistency of focus which allows improvement to be greater and on-going.

The point of the book is that the "what" to do is pretty simple, but few people have the commitment and patience to handle the "how" to do it. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The lure of new and profitable markets has lead many companies to formulate strategies to capture these markets. This focus on strategy often leads to downsizing and the shedding of old businesses in favor of a "lean" economic model that stresses outsourcing. The strategy that leads to downsizing has its short-term rewards--a fatter bottom line and happy shareholders.

Jeffrey Pfeffer argues that much of this downsizing is nothing more than a throwback to 100-year-old employment practices. Instead of cutting costs as a means to increase profits, companies should focus more on building revenue by relying on solid people-management skills. Through dozens of examples, Pfeffer demonstrates that successful companies worry more about people and the competence in their organizations than they do about having the right strategy. Pfeffer contends that the strategy part is relatively easy--it's the day-to-day execution that's hard. Companies that understand the relationship between people and profits are the ones that usually win in the long run. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

The importance of people to organizations' returns
Summary:
This book highlights the importance of respecting employees in an organization. By treating employees as a strategic asset, a firm can make lucrative profits. The book can be divided into the following parts.

¡P Wrong sources of organizational success that firms
commonly use
¡P Seven practices of successful organizations
¡P Reasons why smart organizations sometimes do dumb
things and the suggested solutions
¡P How conventional wisdom about employment contract,
compensation method, and unions is wrong
¡P The role of public policy in making profits through
people

Comment:
- Good points:

1. Good insights provided:
The author provides his opinions about why and how putting people first can bring great returns to organizations with different detailed examples such as Lincoln Electric. This can make me understand the importance of employees to organizations.

2. Lots of evidence provided:
This book explains why putting people first can help companies make great profits by providing lots of examples, which include companies in different industries. Some examples are explained in a more detailed way such as Albert Dunlap.

3. Clear illustration of the concepts:
The main message of each chapter is clearly delivered.

Also, as the main theme of this book is about ¡§building profits by putting people first¡¨, the author has provided a diagram called ¡§Downward Performance Spiral¡¨ to illustrate the relationship between organization¡¦s poor treatment of its¡¦ employees and its¡¦ corresponding performance. Besides, he provided a diagram about how ¡§People-based strategy¡¨ can make sustained profits to organizations. All these diagrams can increase my understanding about these concepts.

4. Comprehensive information provided:
The author not only states what are the wrong sources of organizational success that firms commonly use, he also provides what and how organizations can do to make lucrative profits.

- Bad points:

1. Not interesting enough:
The author has repeated the main theme of this book ¡V ¡§building profits by putting people first¡¨ many times in different chapters. Although this can remind readers about the main theme of this book, readers may feel too bored.

Explains the importance of putting people before profits
This book is very well researched, although perhaps over-long in some parts.

The underlying message is that "do you see people as labour costs to be reduced or eliminated, or do you see your people as the only thing that differentiates you from your competition?"

I did find it quite satisfyingly radical for a US author to actually recommend that US Managers need to look overseas, as in this quote :
"One might be well-served to spend more time outside of the United States ... What has come to be taken as 'good management practice' in the United States is very, very culturally specific to the United States. Managing in a different way may require developing a broader world view ..."
I can related to that, given that I work in the UK for a US Fortune 500 Company.

The Case Studies cover a broad range of Industries such as Automobile, Banking, Steel, Clothing, Semiconductors, Retailing, Oil Refining, Energy, Airlines; and Geographical coverage includes not only North America, but quite a number of Countries in Europe & Asia.

A Chapter dedicated to Unions but yet not to Union-bashing is a pleasant change.

All in all, an interesting book that I wish more CEO's & HR Officers would read to see the alternatives to boom-and-bust downsizing & outsourcing.

People and organization success
The Human Equation (1998) is an exceptional book. In the first chapter Pfeffer shows that conventional wisdom about the sources of organization success are not correct. In particular he disproves the ideas:

- that it is essential to work in the right sector,
- that the size of the organization is crucial,
- that it is necessary to have an international precense,
- that downsizing is indispensible, and
- that it is necessary to have a technological lead.

Then the author clearly and impressively presents the enormous amount of evidence of the last decade showing the strong association between how organization treat people and how they score on financial and operational performance indicators. Pfeffer describes the following seven HR practices that demonstrable correlate with organization success. He names these practices High Performance Work Practices. They are:

1. Employment security
2. Selective hiring of new personnel
3. Self-managed teams and decentralization of decision making as the basic principles of organization design
4. Comparatively high compensation contingent on organizational performance
5. Extensive training
6. Reduces status distinctions and barriers, including dress, languag, office arrangements, and wage differences across levels
7. Extensive sharing of financial and performance information throughout the organization

This list contains some elements that may seem counterintuitive to some. For instance: how can it be that high wages contribute to financial performance? Don't they just keep the profits low? And how can you afford to be selective in this hard labour market? And how can companies afford to invest much in training of personnel? Aren't employees so mobile and disloyal that you run the risk of training them for your competitor? Speaking about this, how can you in this time of employability of employment security? And it is wise to have an open information policy? If you'd do that, wouldn't you weaken your position by feeding your competitor with valuable information?

If you read this book you will find crystal-clear answers to these questions. The conclusion is that the seven practices do indeed work.

Interesting but found lacking
Although some of his fundamental theories are interesting, this author's means of proving his hypothesis are weak in my opinion. His facts lack substance. There is a lot of work that needs to be done before he is going to convince large companies of his theories. Basically, his magazine articles are much more interesting than this book. Save your money.

A company doesn't grow to greatness by shrinking...
The premise of Pfeffer's book is that companies' success is directly correlated to the quality of people and their management. This seems like common sense. After all, many companies proclaim "people are our biggest asset." In practice, however, it's uncommon sense: companies often lack the deep conviction necessary to follow through. It's much easier to take a "tough love" approach to "management," cut training and lay off 10% of the workforce than it is to focus on the long-term people issue.

Based on his research, Pfeffer offers several HR practices that are common in effective organizations. Among them:

* Maintain a sense of employment security. Psychologically speaking, people will work more effectively when they can focus on doing their job rather than worrying about keeping it. Similarly, if employees are your company's hugest asset, then it behooves you to ensure they're not working for your competition. This is common sense. More companies practice uncommon sense and get sucked into the peformance death-spiral. For example, we frequently read where a new CEO is brought in and his first action is to initiate layoffs. (Apple Computer is an often-cited case study of this.) With their sense of security threatened, the remaining employees will become less motivated. Profits begin to sag, so the company reacts by cutting training. Employees may have more accidents, and customer service is affected. The spiral continues until it or the company broken.

* Hire selectively - a recurring theme is that to avoid layoffs, you need to be operating efficiently enough not to *have* extra employees.

In a perfect world, we would have a large number of applicants, screen them based on corporate fit and their attitude, then filter them out through several rounds of screening. Senior staff should become involved in the latter part of the process to emphasize the importance of hiring. After hiring, we need to evaluate the success of our hiring practices and adjust them as necessary. This follows the axiom "that which gets measured, gets done." This common sense approach is used by highly successful companies such as Southwest Airlines and Cisco. Companies exhibiting "uncommon sense" may get so desperate to fill the position that they go against their own guidelines. Having made this mistake before, I am very much aware that a bad hire is far worse than no hire.

* Facilitate ownership and responsibility through decentralized decision making.

Assuming you hire the "best and brightest," you should trust them to use their brains. This provides a sense of ownership, challenge, and supports the organization's organic development. We all hope to have the equivalent of the "Post-It" note developed internally by folks taking initiative.

Pfeffer had an interesting comment from Bill Gurley about the effectiveness of stock options. Specifically, they're not really as much a sense of ownership as we'd like to believe because if the market has a violent downswing (as it did in early 2000), employees are almost incented to leave their underwater options.

-

Pfeffer's book is an evolution of his previous ideas. What's also interesting in his analysis was seeing that long-term company success was *not* correlated to technology or industry.

Pfeffer's suggestions seem like common sense, but Pfeffer realizes they're not AND is aware of the need to quantify the information. The case studies and quantitative research are very helpful in supporting these ideas. In a few of the cases -- Lincoln Electric springs to mind -- it would be especially helpful to have a more recent examination, perhaps a follow-up. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The days of lifetime jobs and employee loyalty are over. Instead, competition and other market forces lead companies to lay off people, and employees to leave for the highest bidder, writes Peter Cappelli in The New Deal at Work. These changes in the workplace are making a salient impact on companies, employees, and the nation. For instance, companies are less likely to provide employee training and development, for fear employees will be poached by other firms. At the same time, companies are more apt to hire outside consultants than full-time employees, in order to stay competitive in a rapidly changing environment. This affects everything from national educational policy to employee morale to corporate management and payment principles, warns Cappelli, who is a Wharton School professor of management and codirector of the U.S. Department of Education's National Center on the Educational Quality of the Workforce. The book, well researched and filled with footnotes, provides historical perspective and insight for company leaders looking to manage the current economic reality. It's aimed primarily at managers, but anyone concerned about the nation's economic policies will gain some valuable insight. --Dan Ring ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Insightful Analysis of Complex Trends
Cappelli's main idea -- that HRM is changing because the external marketplace is being brought into the firm -- really gets to the essence of changes in the employment relationship. Once you've read the first two chapters, you'll never think about HRM the same way again. However, I wish Cappelli had explored the complexity of labor markets and practices more deeply -- we really have a multi-model HRM now, rather than the "new deal" he outlines, and probably always will because of differences in product and labor markets and industries.

Insightful Reading
The New Deal explores the breaking of the structural ties that modern employees have with employer. It strives to explain the employee's basis for his association with his managers. A good read..no doubt.

A Wakeup Call for Middle Managers !
Cappelli provides an understanding of the changes in the social and psychological contracts between employees and their employers in todays world. I feel as if blinders have been removed from my eyes and that I now have the tools to understand the changing work environment and labor market of the new economy.

A must read for those in large companies that have existed longer than 40 years (or are over 40 years old themselves).

For for those who believe they have security and entitlement based upon their "knowledge of the company"... Here's a News Flash " Organizational man is dead ..."

Thanks Professor for the heads up ! ... Read more