Management f-Laws [Paperback]

Russell L Ackoff (Author), Herbert J Addison (Author), Sally Bibb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 24, 2007

A full collection of more than 80 of Russell Ackoff's management f-laws: the uncomfortable truths about how organizations really work, what's wrong with the way we design and manage businesses, what makes managers tick... and how we can make things work better. Russell Ackoff is one of the world's top business brains. Herbert Addison has worked for years in business book publishing. Sally Bibb is a pioneer of organizational change. Who better to zero in on organizations, take them apart and then suggest ways of putting them back together - but better?

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Reading Russell Ackoff's slim new volume, Management f-Laws (with Herbert Addison and Sally Bibb, Triarchy Press), is like being pricked by a series of delayed electric shocks. At first glance and on their own, the book's 81 short aphorisms, paradoxes and put-downs seems nothing special. The first shock comes as the implication sinks in, followed by a chain-reaction of secondary ones as the first implication interacts with subsequent ones, until shocks are going off all over and you are left in no doubt that you are in the presence of one of the profoundest and wittiest brains ever to engage with the bizarre human activity called management." Simon Caulkin ~ The Observer "If you ever need a reality check after stumbling out of some appalling management meeting, or just need cheering up on a long business trip, this is the book for you. Just about every myth or pompous delusion about management gets punctured in the course of 160 feisty pages." Stefan Stern ~ The Daily Telegraph Skim it, if you like, and raise the odd wry smile of rueful recognition. Or undergo a self-examination course. Take each f-Law in turn and ask yourself how it applies to you, to your role in the organisation and to your organisation as a whole. Do it seriously and you might learn a lot. But the book might be best used as the basis for a serious conversation with colleagues. There is truth at the heart of all the laws, and it will be best dragged out in discussion, perhaps as one f-Law at a time. Every meeting, someone has suggested, could start with a short f-Law meditation - or might that be too American?

About the Author

Russell L. Ackoff is the Anheuser-Busch Emeritus Professor of Management Science at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He has written numerous books on Systems Management, the most recent of which are "Beating the System", "Re-Designing the Corporation", "Ackoff's Best" and "Idealized Design". A founding member of the Institute of Management Sciences, his work in consulting and education has involved more than 350 corporations and 75 government agencies in the United States and beyond. Management grandee, he was ranked 26 in the most recent list of the world's most influential business thinkers. Herbert J. Addison has worked for some 40 years in academic, educational and business book publishing, including for many years at Oxford University Press. He is the author of the business section in the "New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge" and is a close friend of Russ Ackoff. Sally Bibb is Director, Group Sales Development for the Economist Group. She is based in London with responsibility for Europe, Asia and North America. She has specialised in organization and executive development for 15 years and has a Masters Degree in Organizational Change. Co-author of the award-winning book "Trust Matters - For Organisational and Personal Success", she is series editor for the "Truths about Business" series and author of "The Stone Age Company", the first title in the series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Triarchy Press Ltd (January 24, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0955008123
• ISBN-13: 978-0955008122
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #751,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hi, thank you for visiting my author page!

I am based in the UK and split my time between management consulting, writing and speaking. I have worked in and studied organisations for more than twenty years and have been lucky enough to travel the world in my work. I worked for The Economist Group (publisher of The Economist magazine) for ten of those years - a great training ground for a writer.

I co-founded talentsmoothie, an organisation development consultancy three years ago and founded Engaging Minds, an engagement and communications consultancy, last year.

I am the author of several business books, including The Right Thing: A Practical Guide to Ethics in Business, A Question of Trust (with Jeremy Kourdi, 2007), Management F/Laws (with Russ Ackoff & Herb Addison (2006), The Stone Age Company (2005), Trust Matters (2004 - winner of an MCA award) and The Rookies Guide to Generation Y (2010).

In my spare time I dance Argentine tango.

You can read more about me and my work at www.sallybibb.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fundamental Truths, June 4, 2008

By 

J. Garrett (Olathe, KS) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Management f-Laws (Paperback)

At first glance F-Laws appears to be very different from Ackoff's other subjects dealing with systems theory. Instead it runs along the same lines. Speaking to the inner workings of human organizations, using proverbs versus theory. A wonderfully simple and powerful book, with built in criticism and commentary.

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dialogue among the authors adds tremendous value, June 28, 2007

By 

Daniel (NH, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Management f-Laws (Paperback)

One of the best features of this book is the contribution of Sally Bibb in her "considered responses." The f-laws are simplified / epigrammatic and Bibb is not afraid to say "Spot on!" or "Mostly true" or "There's an important exception to this f-law," etc. , as the case may be. Great minds don't always think alike, and here we get the benefit of three in dialogue. We the readers get to participate in the dialogue by our reading and can thus integrate the differences of the viewpoints.