Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$3.88 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook [Paperback]

Scott Adams (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)

List Price: $15.99
Price: $10.43 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $5.56 (35%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Want it delivered Thursday, May 24? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover --  
Paperback $10.43  
Audio, Cassette, Abridged, Audiobook $12.00  
Unknown Binding --  
Audible Audio Edition, Abridged $9.95 or Free with Audible 30-day free trial

Book Description

October 21, 1997

Behind the closed doors of corporate management lurks a manifesto so devious, so insidious, and of such diabolic power, it has the ability to transform normal human beings into paradigm–spewing zombies. Its purpose: to help bosses stick it to their employees. Its author: none other than Dogbert, the canine corporate consultant out to rule the world.

All too often, new managers make mistakes such as rewarding good work with good pay, communicating clearly and improving departmental efficiency. Dogbert shows that this could have devastating consequences: Employees begin to expect fair treatment and compensation, productive workers show results (making managers look bad by comparison), and the department's future budget allotment could be decreased because it spends only what it needs.

Drawing from his years of experience tormenting Dilbert and advising his boss, our Machiavellian mutt uses pithy essays, illustrated by scores of comic strips, to teach neophyte managers such potent practices as:

The power of verbal instructions: Sound like a boss while maintaining complete deniability!

Empty promises of promotion: all the motivational benefits, none of the costs!

Pretending to care: Learn how to hear without listening!

Incentives: Inspire employees by giving them worthless knickknacks!

Once again firmly establishing Scott Adams as the spokesman for the absurdities of the workplace (and Dogbert as the guru of sticking it to the masses), Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook is the perfect gift for all cubicle dwellers and their bosses.


Special Offers and Product Promotions


Frequently Bought Together

Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook + The Dilbert Principle: A Cubicle's-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions + Dilbert and the Way of the Weasel: A Guide to Outwitting Your Boss, Your Coworkers, and the Other Pants-Wearing Ferrets in Your Life
Price For All Three: $30.95

Show availability and shipping details

Buy the selected items together


Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Cartoonist Scott Adams gives us still more corporate belly laughs with a point in Dogbert's Management Secrets Revealed, the 10th book based on his wildly popular Dilbert comic strip. Taken this time directly from the word processor of world-class consultant Dogbert, it focuses on critical management responsibilities like keeping up with fads, implementing pointless reorganizations and demanding status reports. "Leadership isn't something you're born with," it declares. "It's something you learn by reading Dogbert books." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Nipping at the heels of the number-one best-seller, The Dilbert Principle , lampoonist Adams' new book is another collection of managerial wisdom and Dilbert cartoon strips. This time, Adams lets loose Dogbert, a caricature of the management guru types responsible for turning those in charge into "fully functioning, paradigm-spewing management zombies." Dogbert offers secrets on how to act like a manager, motivate employees, communicate, get ahead, understand compensation programs, establish staffing levels (get rid of employees), and most important, be happy as a manager. WARNING! This book should be kept hidden in your organization's loose-leaf^-bound action plan and should not be read at work unless you have a soundproof cubicle! David Rouse --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 192 pages
  • Publisher: HarperBusiness (October 21, 1997)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0887308813
  • ISBN-13: 978-0887308819
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 8 x 0.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #455,416 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

What started as a doodle has turned Scott Adams into a superstar of the cartoon world. Dilbert debuted on the comics page in 1989 while Adams was in the tech department at Pacific Bell. Adams continued to work at Pacific Bell until he was voluntarily downsized in 1995. He has lived in the San Francisco Bay area since 1979.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The true horror in this fantastically funny book is its incredible accuracy. For any one who works in a corporate environment with levels of management it reads like a horror story, all the more frightening because you know all of the characters personally.

Yes it is hysterically funny. But read it at your own peril. You will never look at your colleagues and managers in the same way.

Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
This book is like spending 40 hours a week in hell...
which is where I used to work, as a matter of fact.
I can't believe I used to sit in my cubicle with a
headphone growing out of my ear, staring at blank
walls we were not allowed to decorate, reading
meaningless memos from our last "Quality Driven
Leadership" meeting and wondering how my brainless
boss could somehow manage to come up with an idea
more idiotic than the last one.

And then, to top it all off, I find out that Scott
Adams spied on me, wrote a book and
I'm not seeing a penny from the royalties! This is hell.

Seriously, if you have ever been an incompetent manager --
or have suffered at the hands of one -- this book is a
must-read. But be prepared to be horrified. It will be
the story of your corporate life...and it's NOT a pretty
tale!
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
If you think you can learn management skills from a character in a newspaper comic strip, this book is not for you. On the other hand, if you read Scott Adams' Dilbert comic strip before you read the headlines of your local paper, or if you find yourself LOL at most of his cartoons, you have already committed this book to memory and don't need this review.

Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook is a combination of reprinted Dilbert comic strips from the first half of the 1990's and a management handbook written as if it were the work of a cartoon dog named Dogbert. The cartoons are funnier than the handbook. I gave up reading the book linearly and read the cartoons first. Then I went back and read the management handbook.

The cartoons work better because you get to see Scott Adams view of management both from the manager's point of view and also from that of the dumbfounded workers. It is this juxtaposition of manager logic and worker reality that makes the Dilbert strips so funny.

The text of the handbook is entirely one-sided. You get to see the world from the unrelenting point of view of the demented management expert. The cruel logic is there, but you, the gentle reader, are forced into the role of Dilbert facing the twisted thinking of middle management. You may laugh on the outside, but you may be crying inside. I do not recommend reading this book before spending lots of time with your own manager.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
It has all happened
I thought I was purchasing a recent release but this book is as up do date as ever. I have been quoting it at my workplace.
Published 5 months ago by C. Cole
At last, an explanation for government
Working on my 3rd decade in Federal service, and having a wife who is also a long-term Federal employee, at last I understand why government operates as it does. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Jasper T.
Great Gift.
This book takes incompetence and micro managing to a whole new level. If you, or any one you know works in the corporate environment, and has a great sense of humor than this is... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Alexander Contreras
Funny, I didn't realize I worked with Dilbert
So I bought this book because I was having one of "those" weeks at work and thought well what a pick-me-up. Read more
Published 10 months ago by screenwritergrl
Funny and Great Insight
Very insightful and funny. Gives one cause to pause when viewing management issues. Easy to see humor in so many incidents. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Steve McMillan
You've Got to Laugh
At times, you think "this is too true to be funny," but you can't help laughing. Everyone will recognize from somewhere in their own experience, the horrible boss, boring meeting,... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Virginia Allain
Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook
ISBN 0887307884 - For originality, I've got to deduct a star. Yes, all of the comic strips included in the book have been published elsewhere at one time or another. Read more
Published on May 24, 2009 by Anna M. Ligtenberg
Essential Management Textbook. Forget the rest.
Having read far too many management text books over the years, I could have saved time and money and just read this one. So true it is scary.
Published on April 26, 2009 by Johnny C
If it is possible for you to laugh and cry at the same time, this book...
As the recent disgusting revelations of managerial malfeasance in the financial industry demonstrate once again, there is a lot of stupidity disguised as supposed business... Read more
Published on March 21, 2009 by Charles Ashbacher
A satire of business books that's actually a good business book!
If you are familiar with the Dilbert cartoon, then you know Scott Adams' ability to skewer modern business organizations. Read more
Published on July 17, 2008 by Arthur Digbee
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
In an ideal world, your job as manager would include setting goals and acquiring the resources to achieve them. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
management handbook
New!
Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:



Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(6)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums





Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject