“Judgement Calls” is a powerful book.
It explores the way in which threatening situations for major organisations can be resolved successfully by using staff talents to a much higher degree than is usual.
The writers examined how 12 important decisions were taken successfully due to team effort. Their work is in four parts and each describes in some detail how these decisions were reached:
The first section of the book is concerned with ways of increasing employee participation in the decision-making process. It advises going directly to the very people who are in closest touch with the challenges being faced rather than filtering facts through several layers of management, which tends to lead to distortions and delays.
The second chunk stresses the importance of exploiting new technology. It also advocates the need to cut through commonly-held beliefs by means of thorough and careful analysis and testing as well as by evaluating the causes of poor results in order to generate more positive outcomes.
The third part, meanwhile, explores the power of organisational or societal culture and demonstrates how an able leader can use it to achieve what others would believe to be impossible.
One example is drawn from ancient history and points to the ability of Athens, a tiny state in the 5th Century BC, to stand up to the vastly more powerful Persian Empire. The book failed to mention that strong leaders can also exploit culture for negative ends, however, as happened in Europe under National Socialism.
The fourth section looks at the importance of leaders in setting the right context and shaping the way that employees think about issues. It also explores how organisations work and how they can be made to work better. As in the other parts, the authors back their views up with examples.
Reviewer’s rating
Although I have read many books on managing major business change, this is the best by far.
The authors describe the challenges clearly and then provide examples of the approach taken to address them. These approaches are generally innovative and/or unconventional as they often look at the issue in a slightly different way or go back to first principles.
The book is easy-to-read and understand and is refreshingly free of academic gobbledegook, but it also has a great deal of meat in it as well as the potential to exert a big influence on management thinking in the UK.
People who have the opportunity to re-shape the way an organisation of any size works as well as help leaders manage more effectively will find some great ideas and encouragement.
I would give the book 10/10 for taking a positive approach to management and 10/10 for providing stimulating and practical ideas. It would definitely be worth regular reading – and re-reading.
Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
800×600 Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
- Our reviewer today was John Pope, director of management consultancy, John Pope Associates.
- If you'd like to see a film, TV or book review of your own in print, please either send it to the editor at editor@siftmedia.co.uk or post it directly to our blogs section at www.hrzone.co.uk/blogs based on the format above.
- We also have a book club area, which provides a list of possible works for review too – all you have to do is email the editor as above, have the book of your choice sent out to you and we'll publish the review for the rest of the community to read when you're done.
