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WHAT AMERICA DOES RIGHT

LEARNING FROM COMPANIES THAT PUT PEOPLE FIRST

Still in search of instructive excellence, consultant Waterman (The Renewal Factor, etc.) offers a relentlessly upbeat briefing on what he views as the managerial lessons to be learned from presumptively paradigmatic US enterprises. Citing data from the OECD as well as other sources to argue (contrary to popular belief) that per capita wealth creation in America remains appreciably higher than in other industrial powers (France, Germany, Japan, et al), the author focuses on a relatively small sample of domestic companies and institutions. In addition to blue-chippers like AES (nÇ Applied Energy Services), Federal Express, Levi Strauss, Motorola, Proctor & Gamble, Rubbermaid, and Sun Microsystems, their ranks include Public School 94 in the Bronx, New York. Waterman argues that his chosen role models outperform their rivals (or counterparts) because they are better organized to meet the needs of employees and consumers. This claim may strike some as overstated in light of P&G's recently announced plans to lay off 12% of its worldwide work force by mid-1995. Be that as it may, the author commends a host of operational and personnel policies he observed in practice at various venues: ceding greater control to lower-level workers; establishing training programs that permit promotion from within; recognizing accomplishment; and making a genuine commitment to quality. While much of Waterman's counsel is unexceptionable, he does embrace the trendy concept of stakeholders, which holds that for-profit concerns should consider the (often conflicting) interests of all their constituencies, e.g., customers, employees, host communities, and vendors as well as those of shareholders. As a practical matter, this invitingly feel-good theory, the author concedes, has yet to achieve much acceptance in the capitalist system. The bottom line: anecdotal happy talk that promises far more in the way of socioeconomic rewards than its New Age precepts can plausibly deliver.

Pub Date: March 21, 1994

ISBN: 0-393-03597-2

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1994

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THINKING, FAST AND SLOW

Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...

A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.

The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.

Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1

Page Count: 512

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011

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THE CULTURE MAP

BREAKING THROUGH THE INVISIBLE BOUNDARIES OF GLOBAL BUSINESS

These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.

A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.

“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.

These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.

Pub Date: May 27, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1

Page Count: 288

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014

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