Don't Kill the Bosses!: Escaping the Hierarchy Trap [Hardcover]

Samuel A Culbert (Author), John B Ullmen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 9, 2001

Don't Kill the Bosses! is a cool-headed blueprint for changing companies by challenging the idea of boss-dominated relationships. The book explores the critical flaw of the boss/subordinate relationship: Management fails to establish a framework for subordinates to communicate in a forthright manner, so subordinates spin the facts for their bosses.

The book identifies the culprit as one-sided accountability and shows the consequences: warped communication, corrupt internal politics, illusionary teamwork, and a pass-the-buck mentality. The proposed solution is surprisingly simple: Replace this particular hierarchical relationship -- without disposing of the organizational chart -- with an alternative model. The authors demonstrate how to establish candid, equal-footing relationships that allow organizations to work effectively and productively.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"If you really, really read this book, it’ll change your life. (I guarantee it.) If lots of people read this book closely, it’ll change the world. (No bull.) The book is that good!"—Tom Peters "Culbert and Ullmen introduce a stunning new concept, two-sided accountability, which reframes the foundations of how people view hierarchy and relationships."—Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor of Management, University of Southern California, and author of Managing the Dream "You will learn in this book that two-sided accountability leads to straight talk and better communications. Finally, a book with practical advice that managers can use day-to-day to get better results."—Philip J. Harkins, President and CEO, Linkage, Inc. "As a manager very much concerned with the effectiveness and dynamics of teamwork I can assure you this is a must-read book for anyone with similar corporate goals." —Mitch Kupchak, General Manager, Los Angeles Lakers

About the Author

Samuel A. Culbert is Professor of Management at UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management, a position he has held for over twenty-five years. Prior to UCLA, Culbert taught at The George Washington University and was Program Director in the Organization Studies Center of The NTL Institute of Applied Behavioral Sciences Culbert is widely recognized as an expert and theoretician in the management field having authored several books and numerous research articles He holds a McKinsey award for an article published in the Harvard Business Review, wrote The Organization Trap, and In 1980 his book The Invisible War: Pursuing Self-Interests At Work (coauthored with John J. McDonough) won the AAP award as the best business and management book published that year He is author of Mind-Set Management: The Heart of Leadership, published in 1996 by Oxford University Press, a much acclaimed general trade book with across the board positive reviews. John Ullmen is currently the Senior Manager for Organizational Effectiveness at Earthlink He has been a consultant in the Management Communication Program at UCLA's Anderson School of Management for the last four years, and has been a consultant to several Internet startup businesses.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers (September 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576751619
• ISBN-13: 978-1576751619
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,143,406 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Samuel A. Culbert is an award winning author, researcher and full-time, tenured professor at UCLA's Anderson School of Management. His laboratory is the world of work where he puts conventional managerial assumptions under a microscope to uncover and replace dysfunctional practices. He holds a B.S. in Systems Engineering and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. Culbert has developed a blunt yet sensitive way of framing situations that allows for all parties to engage in open, non-judgmental discussions. He believes that only by laying bare ALL the forces that drive people's opinions and actions -- including subjective, self-interested and political biases -- is it possible to have an explicit, honest, yet matter-of-fact conversation. He has spent a career perfecting the skills and style that illicit such straight-talk.

Widely recognized as a candid speaking expert and theoretician, he is author of the recently published Beyond Bullsh*t a probing inquiry that reveals how bullsh*t became the etiquette of choice in corporate communications, and how to develop the conditions required for straight-talk. SmartMoney Magazine named this book to its 2008 list of ten top reads. Dr. Culbert is winner of a McKinsey Award for an article published in the Harvard Business Review, is a frequent contributor to management journals and has authored numerous chapters in leading management-related books. More about this and some of the other books he has authored is available at the www.straighttalkatwork.com website. In press is a book titled Get Rid of the Performance Review: How Companies Can Stop Intimidating, Start Managing - and Focus on the Results That Really Matter. This book, written with Larry Rout, builds on his media grabbing Wall Street Journal article of the same name and is awaiting April 2010 publication. His other authored and co-authored books include The Organization Trap, The Invisible War: The Pursuit of Self-Interests at Work, Radical Management, Mind-Set Management and Don't Kill the Bosses!.

Throughout his career Professor Culbert has creatively welded together three activities: consulting, teaching, and writing. Consulting is where he encounters work effectiveness problems in their contemporary forms, demystifies the basic elements, and formulates alternative modes of functioning. Teaching provides a forum for extrapolating from problems to issues requiring his investigation. Writing is where he packages his understanding for public consumption. His clients include a diverse representation of the private and public sectors: small companies and members of Fortune's 500, international and U.S. governmental agencies, privately funded and not-for-profit organizations. In short, Culbert has been around and gets what's happening. His unconventional views have received a good deal of press, both in the U.S. and overseas.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye-Opening and Mind-Opening, April 12, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Don't Kill the Bosses!: Escaping the Hierarchy Trap (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book which has begun to significantly change the way I perceive my workplace and how I act within it. These new insights by Culbert and Ullmen are exceptionally focused and proactive - And I have been looking for some methods of dealing with these issues that are both realistic and EFFECTIVE. After many years in the workforce, I was beginning to look at many organizations and systems with a "that's just the way it is" mentality - but this book has well-defined strategies for breaking out of that trap. I highly recommend this book for all businesses - but especially my co-workers and friends in large companies - who can benefit greatly in their dealings with large-company politics and management issues.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Makes you want to expire the bosses, February 21, 2002

By 

Donna Layton - See all my reviews

This review is from: Don't Kill the Bosses!: Escaping the Hierarchy Trap (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book to help you understand what not to do as a boss! However, if you are an employee who is dealing with a bad boss, there is no practical advise on to either 1) help you cope better, and 2) somehow get this information filtered up through the hierarchy. If you are an employee trying to get a better understanding of how to cope with the egocentric, bent on the hierarchy type boss, this book unfortunately will not help you.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite simply one of the best books of management I've read!, April 3, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Don't Kill the Bosses!: Escaping the Hierarchy Trap (Hardcover)

Don't kill the bosses has been an eye-opener to me and all the people I gave it to. It showed me the origins of wicked and unsuccessful boss-subordinate relationships and the means to radically alter this unsatisfactory state of affairs.
Applying the principles of this book can improve both the efficiency of work and the meaning that bosses and subordinates derive from it.
This is an absolutely must-read!