High Output Management [Paperback]

Andrew S. Grove (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 29, 1995

This is a user-friendly guide to the art and science of management from Andrew S. Grove, the president of America's leading manufacturer of computer chips. Groves recommendations are equally appropriate for sales managers, accountants, consultants, and teachers--anyone whose job entails getting a group of people to produce something of value. Adapting the innovations that have made Intel one of America's most successful corporations, High Output Management teaches you:
what techniques and indicators you can use to make even corporate recruiting as precise and measurable as manufacturing
how to turn your subordinates and coworkers into members of highly productive team
how to motivate that team to attain peak performance every time
Combining conceptual elegance with a practical understanding of the real-life scenarios that managers encounter every day, High Output Management is one of those rare books that have the power to revolutionize the way we work

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

This is a user-friendly guide to the art and science of management from Andrew S. Grove, the president of America's leading manufacturer of computer chips. Groves recommendations are equally appropriate for sales managers, accountants, consultants, and teachers--anyone whose job entails getting a group of people to produce something of value. Adapting the innovations that have made Intel one of America's most successful corporations, High Output Management teaches you:
what techniques and indicators you can use to make even corporate recruiting as precise and measurable as manufacturing
how to turn your subordinates and coworkers into members of highly productive team
how to motivate that team to attain peak performance every time
Combining conceptual elegance with a practical understanding of the real-life scenarios that managers encounter every day, High Output Management is one of those rare books that have the power to revolutionize the way we work

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 2nd edition (August 29, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679762884
• ISBN-13: 978-0679762881
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,653 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #62 in Books > Professional & Technical > Engineering > Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems

More About the Author

Andrew S. Grove emigrated to the United States from Hungary in 1956. He participated in the founding of Intel, and became its president in 1979 and chief executive officer in 1987. He was chosen as Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1997. In 1998, he stepped down as CEO of Intel, but continues as chairman of the board. Grove also teaches at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area..

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A great primer for middle managers December 31, 2011

By J. Schulte

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm a Vice President at a small public company, and I've been managing people for over ten years, and have an MBA from a top ranked business school. Still, I wish I had read this book when I first started managing people.

This certainly appears to me to be a book written by Andy Grove for his own managers at Intel, and I found it interesting to see how he thinks about management. Not surprisingly, he has a very pragmatic, operational view of what good managers do, and he presents a comprehensive guide for all the basics. His whole orientation is that managers are responsible for the total output of their teams, and his focus is always on accomplishments and outputs, not activities.

Topics that are included
- Looking at your operations and finding the bottle necks
- How to monitor and check your processes for high quality and high output
- How managers should spend their time, run team meetings, and stay in touch with subordinates through one on ones
- How to hire, coach, and provide feedback to build your team

What you won't find in this book
- How to think about strategy
- Competitive advantage
- Building a brand
- Competitive analysis

The book has been around for a while, and it's not a trendy management book. There is no new catch phrase or research based on fMRI or paradigm shift. There is nothing sexy or trendy. But it is a very solid introduction from someone who has proven to be among the best at managing. This is one of the great CEOs of our times, and I brilliant mind, passing along what he wants his managers to know. I think that many managers could vastly improve their performance if they studied and mastered the basics covered here rather than the nifty new concept from the latest HBR.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Management in a nutshell February 14, 2000

By Adam F. Jewell

Format:Paperback

Grove does an excellent job of relating production methods to something we can all understand, a food and beverage establishment. Aside from the production model, Grove opens the hood and examines compensation systems, meetings, employee review procedures and processes, and briefly discusses motivation ala Maslow's heirarchy. It's good, easy reading, and may be very informative and thought provoking to the open mind looking top gain a better understanding of Industrial Management.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for teaching individual contributors the value of middle management May 27, 2010

By Christopher R. Carlson

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I spent the first 10 years of my engineering career happily as an individual contributor for startup type organizations. One day the VP of engineering asked me, "I would like you to to hire a few people under you to grow the team. We need to be at 50 people by the end of the year." My reaction was very mixed. On the one hand I liked being recognized with an implied promotion, on the other hand I was being asked to manage. From my perspective at the time the harder problems to solve were technical and I did not covet the job of a professional meeting goer. And besides I already pretty much managed myself, so what value do managers really add anyway?

I wish someone had handed me a copy of Grove's book: "High Output Management" earlier on. In it Grove, one of the worlds most successful and talented engineers, explains the essential value of middle management to an engineering organization. He also explains, among other things, many of the essential the tools for successful middle managers: how to think about priorities, the value of communication, a useful framework for scheduling and illustrating trade-offs and how people are intrinsically motivated. He comes across as credible, concrete and analytical. I.e. as a great engineer who manages great engineers.

I now hand out copies of this book to every engineer I find either considering making the transition to management or ones early in their managerial career struggling with finding self affirmation in the role. Like many great tools or resources, my only complaint is not finding this book sooner.