Product Description

Every day companies and their leaders fail to capitalize on opportunities because they misunderstand the real sources of business success.

Based on his popular column in Business 2.0, Jeffrey Pfeffer delivers wise and timely business commentary that challenges conventional wisdom while providing data and insights to help companies make smarter decisions. The book contains a series of short chapters filled with examples, data, and insights that challenge questionable assumptions and much conventional management wisdom. Each chapter also provides guidelines about how to think more deeply and intelligently about critical management issues. Covering topics ranging from managing people to leadership to measurement and strategy, it’s good organizational advice, delivered by Dr. Pfeffer himself.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19235 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-10
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 241 pages

From Booklist
There is much to laud about the objective perspective that Stanford professor and author Pfeffer brings to business. First and foremost, he calls em as he sees em, showcasing common management errors and building on four years as a Business 2.0 columnist. Trimming employees' compensation and benefits packages? Nothing is gained from that immediate cost savings, except plummeting morale and retention issues—as the airline and auto industries have learned. Thinking about a merger or acquisition? Think again, he urges; it's an easier strategy than fixing operations—but one that more often than not fails. No function or goal of corporate America is left unscrutinized, from strategy to human resources. Yet he softens his radical and common-sense opinions by offering a range of solutions and companies that practice them well. Pfeffer points to Whole Foods, to Larry Culp at Danaher, and to CEO Gary Loveman of Harrah's as leaders who have managed to set corporate priorities and agendas that succeed. Short chapters with clear-cut messages and examples allow time to contemplate and copy. Jacobs, Barbara

Review
"Pfeffer talks a lot of sense. [He]provides a kind of alternative MBA in how not to run a business." --The Financial Times, July 17, 2007

The topics are diverse, from how companies get smarter to what to do about executive pay... --The Globe and Mail, October 24, 2007

There is much to laud about the objective perspective that Stanford professor and author Pfeffer brings to business. --BookList, June 15, 2007

From the Back Cover
Why do so many companies make so many missteps—even while led by hard working, smart, and serious people who expend major time and effort trying to do the right thing? In What Were They Thinking? Unconventional Wisdom About Management, Jeffrey Pfeffer provides incisive and engaging responses to this question based on his popular business 2.0 column, “The Human Factor” Pfeffer shows how poor business choices arise when business leaders:

FAIL TO CONSIDER THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR ACTIONS.

For example, when companies get into financial trouble, they often slash wages, benefits and staff. That boosts cash flow in the short run. But it also drives essential talent--and customers--out the door as service, quality and innovation vanish.

RELY ON NAÏVE THEORIES OF HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

For instance, many executives fall victim to the prevailing—but inaccurate—belief that if you want employess to do something you have to impel them with external forces such as threats or rewards.

IGNORE OBVIOUS ANSWERS

Many principles governing organizational behaviour are simple and powerful—but companies fail to capitalize on them. To illustrate, leaders could activate the “norm of reciprocity” by demonstrating generosity toward employees and thereby building a loyal and committed workforce. Yet management theory fails to take such obvious solutions into account.

What Were They Thinking? contains twenty-eight short chapters filled with examples, data and insights that challenge conventional beliefs and much accepted management wisdom. Each chapter also provides guidelines about how to think more deeply and intelligently about a wide range of critical topics—from people management and leadership to performance measurement and competitive strategy.

Abounding with solid organizational advice—delivered by Pfeffer himself—this book provides the wise and timely business commentary you need to make the smartest possible decisions for your company.

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Customer Reviews

Not worth the time
Ok. I've seen the other review here on Amazon and must admit that I disagree. In fact, I think this book is dumb and was very disappointed. I picked the book up based on a magazine review. I didn't feel the anecdotal examples sited by the author truly supported his conclusions. I could easily come up with examples of my own that would refute his claims.

My advice...find a different book, there's many to choose from.

Unconventional Common Sense
Continuing a campaign to induce more common sense thinking into business management, Stanford Business School Professor and well-published author(12 books at last count) Jeffery Pfeffer utilizes materials from his Business 2.0 "The Human Factor" columns to tell us that common sense is not all that common. Or, at the very least to demonstrate that business leadership may not always consider the consequences of their actions and/or they hold inaccurate or incomplete views of human behavior. Touching on subjects from the problems with resume based hiring (looks backward, not forward), to budget based performance evaluations (ignores competitive standards), and strategy by PowerPoint (values planning over doing), Pfeffer presents arguments designed to make the reader think differently about many of the topics faced by businesses today.

Although the title may contain a bit of marketing hype - the wisdom describe in some chapters is not all that unconventional; spend more on training, take chances and make mistakes, build trust in the workplace - it is wisdom worth considering, none-the-less. I particularly liked Chapter 11, on financial incentive schemes, where Professor Pfeffer references, "... the "extrinsic incentives bias," a belief that others are motivated primarily by money even if people know that they, themselves, are not." In this chapter he notes that this bias and the comparative ease of implementing reward and incentive schemes often make this the tool of choice when a business is faced with the need for performance improvement; even though, financial incentives often have undesired consequences and provide no competitive advantage as they are easily copied by competitors. These bits of wisdom, and others like it, make this easy read a recommended selection for managers and OD professionals alike. Dennis DeWilde, author of The Performance Connection.

Easier Said than Done
All good information, and an interesting read. The concepts presented are not unlike many Marketing/Innovation books, but the author presents a good case. Every manager/exec should put these principles into practice...but they have probably already read a book that says the same thing!