In this newly renamed and completely updated edition ofthe BusinessWeek bestseller The Witch Doctors with a new Forewordfrom John Micklethwait, Adrian Wooldridgedeftly sifts the real wisdom from the dross about management theory, sortingthe sages from the charlatans and distilling the true means of success from themany ways to fail. A penetrating and engaging history of management theory,often regarded as one of the most vital and accessible business booksavailable, Masters of Management delivers, in the words of the NewYork Times Book Review, “at last some common sense in the arena dominatedby shark-swimming, chaos-seeking, megatrending,one-minute managing, highly effective people.” This updated classic isessential reading for anyone seeking to forge a path ahead in business and inlife.
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Book Description
“Read it before buying any other business book.”—Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Review
“At last some common sense in the arena dominated by shark-swimming, chaos-seeking, megatrending, one-minute managing, highly effective people.” (New York Times Book Review )
“At last some common sense in the arena dominated by shark-swimming, chaos-seeking, megatrending, one-minute managing, highly effective people.” (Chicago Tribune )
“Brings clarity, humor, and historical perspective to a field that rewards gibberish, pomposity, and revolutionaries who want to throw away the pase (and the people that go with it).” (Wall Street Journal )
“Micklethwait and Wooldridge have done the near impossible: written a book about management—management—that is lively, engrossing, skeptical, fair-minded, and steeped in a rich sense of history.” (Joseph Nocera )
“Read it before buying any other business book.” (Rosabeth Moss Kanter )
“A gem of debunking.” (The Times (London) )
“Simultaneously smart, insightful, terrifying and humorous… this revised incarnation should overtake its predecessor as the most bracing and relevant discussion of the world created by MBAs.” (Kirkus Reviews )
“This excellent book encourages thoughtful analysis of the growing management revolution; the combining of knowledge, learning, and innovation; the real meaning of globalization; and boardroom implications.” (Booklist )
“Without some failures, companies can’t ride the crest of the next wave of innovation. If you don’t seize opportunity, someone else will....Wooldridge uses the stories of small and large companies to drive home his “how to make it work” advice.” (Biz Books )
“Skillfully written and sprinkled with interesting observations.” (Wall Street Journal )
“At last some common sense in the arena dominated by shark-swimming, chaos-seeking, megatrending, one-minute managing, highly effective people.” (Chicago Tribune )
“Brings clarity, humor, and historical perspective to a field that rewards gibberish, pomposity, and revolutionaries who want to throw away the pase (and the people that go with it).” (Wall Street Journal )
“Micklethwait and Wooldridge have done the near impossible: written a book about management—management—that is lively, engrossing, skeptical, fair-minded, and steeped in a rich sense of history.” (Joseph Nocera )
“Read it before buying any other business book.” (Rosabeth Moss Kanter )
“A gem of debunking.” (The Times (London) )
“Simultaneously smart, insightful, terrifying and humorous… this revised incarnation should overtake its predecessor as the most bracing and relevant discussion of the world created by MBAs.” (Kirkus Reviews )
“This excellent book encourages thoughtful analysis of the growing management revolution; the combining of knowledge, learning, and innovation; the real meaning of globalization; and boardroom implications.” (Booklist )
“Without some failures, companies can’t ride the crest of the next wave of innovation. If you don’t seize opportunity, someone else will....Wooldridge uses the stories of small and large companies to drive home his “how to make it work” advice.” (Biz Books )
“Skillfully written and sprinkled with interesting observations.” (Wall Street Journal )
From the Back Cover
In 1996, having completed a two-year research study, longtime Economist journalists and editors John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge published The Witch Doctors, an explosive critique of management theory and its legions of evangelists and followers. The book became a bestseller, widely praised by reviewers and devoured by readers confused by the buzzwords and concepts the management “industry” creates. At the time, ideas about “reengineering,” “the search for excellence,” “quality,” and “chaos” both energized and haunted the world of business, just as “the long tail,” “black swans,” “the tipping point,” “the war for talent,” and “corporate responsibility” do today.
For decades, since the rise of MBA programs on campuses across the country, the field of management has operated in a dubious space. Many of its framers clamor for respect within the academy while making millions of dollars pedaling ideas, some brilliant and some nonsensical, in speeches, consulting arrangements, and books.
Although The Witch Doctors was a damning critique (“a scalpel job,” according to the Wall Street Journal), it also argued that much of management theory is valuable—making companies more effi-cient and productive, improving organizational life for workers, and providing sound ways for companies to innovate while defending more entrenched plans. Building upon all that made the original such a phenomenal success, this fully revised and updated edition, Masters of Management, takes into account the rise of the Internet, the growing power of emerging markets, the Great Recession of 2008, and the more recent developments in management theory. The result is an indispensable volume for any manager.
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20 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Author Wooldridge, editor at the Economist, profiles a number of management thinkers and wonders whether the variation between their thinking is a sign of management theory's 'immaturity.' Eventually, however, he concludes that this variation is a sign of 'the profession's vitality' and openness to outside ideas. He should have stuck with his first inclination - as a result, he unwittingly ends up adding to the pile of management theory sophistry that confuses readers and that he previously decried in 'The Witch Doctors.'
I seriously began studying management theory in the early 1970s at Arizona State University (ASU) - an entity unfortunately trapped in the 1930s and the 'Human Relations' school of thought. (Remember the experiments at Western Electric's plant - varying lighting, etc., and observing the impact on productivity? Surprisingly, productivity continually rose - hence, the conclusion that interest in workers was the key. It was named the 'Hawthorne Effect.') While ASU (and presumably others) pursued this and other 'warm feelings,' Japan instead developed 'The Toyota Production System' that simultaneously provided significant and sustained improvements in quality, productivity, and response time, and used it to decimate first American auto firms, then steel producers, etc. Amazingly, at the same time Toyota was also successfully pursuing Christensen's 'Disruptive Innovation' theory - again, a key development that management theorists at ASU were also oblivious to, and probably prior to even Harvard Business School even having recognized what was occuring.
Meanwhile, more and more books were also published that summarized 'leadership/management' secrets of successful sports coaches - the most prominent being John Wooden, head basketball coach at UCLA. However, anyone with a warm body should have immediately wondered about the relevance between motivating/leading young men 'working' unpaid 3-5 years in pursuit of a lucrative NBA career to managing career scientists, sewer-cleaners, hospital-workers, etc.
The REAL REASONS for inconsistencies in 'management theories' are several: 1)Incompetent commentators - Malcolm Gladwell's name immediately comes to mind, and was referenced by Wooldridge. He and others maximize the extrapolation of conclusions from minimal, uncontrolled, and often self-selected data. Richard Florida and Stephen Covey are others guilty of the same, and referenced by Wooldridge as well. (Wooldridge, however, seems oblivious to this.) 2)Varying organizational situations - leading a firm away from near bankruptcy in a near commodity marketplace requires much different skills than leading a firm into successful innovation that avoids intense cost pressures. Steve Jobs, in his second-coming at Apple, displayed both skill sets, and is one of the few able to do so. In fact, you can almost guarantee that skills that birth a successful new firm will eventually become a hindrance after the pace of innovation slows and competition focuses more on costs. 3)Varying economic situations - decades ago jobs were easy to obtain and cost competition was minimal - managers needed to focus on pacifying workers. Hence, the automakers' and airlines' bloated labor contracts. Today, its the opposite, and new hard-nosed managment skills are required - eg. union-busting via bankruptcy and outsourcing. Again, Wooldridge fails to clearly see the issue and offer a framework. 4)Varying personnel situations - obviously one does not manage M.D.s the same way as truck drivers. Abraham Maslow's 'Needs Hierarchy' provides a good structure for understanding why. 5)Important 'other' factors such as strategy (good or bad), use of financial and operational leverage, and over-emphasis on volume instead of market share,
Wooldridge also waffles on the credibility of economic theorists - incredible, given their failure to forecast the 'Great Recession' and the outcome of minimal government regulation of the finance industry. In fact, some of these 'great economists' help create the problem - eg. the Black-Scholes model for bond pricing, and Long Term Capital Management - a highly-leveraged trading system. Both incorporated strong Nobel prize-winning individuals.
My suggestion - instead read materials by Larry Bossidy (former Allied-Signal CEO), Michael Porter (Harvard professor of strategy), Tachii Ohno and Shigeo Shingo (developers of the Toyota Production System), Clayton Christensen (Harvard professor), and Louis Gerstner (former IBM CEO). Shorter, but equally valuable, inputs can be obtained from C. Northcotte Parkinson (Parkinson's Law), and Edwin Locke (professor of psychology at Univ. of Md.).
I seriously began studying management theory in the early 1970s at Arizona State University (ASU) - an entity unfortunately trapped in the 1930s and the 'Human Relations' school of thought. (Remember the experiments at Western Electric's plant - varying lighting, etc., and observing the impact on productivity? Surprisingly, productivity continually rose - hence, the conclusion that interest in workers was the key. It was named the 'Hawthorne Effect.') While ASU (and presumably others) pursued this and other 'warm feelings,' Japan instead developed 'The Toyota Production System' that simultaneously provided significant and sustained improvements in quality, productivity, and response time, and used it to decimate first American auto firms, then steel producers, etc. Amazingly, at the same time Toyota was also successfully pursuing Christensen's 'Disruptive Innovation' theory - again, a key development that management theorists at ASU were also oblivious to, and probably prior to even Harvard Business School even having recognized what was occuring.
Meanwhile, more and more books were also published that summarized 'leadership/management' secrets of successful sports coaches - the most prominent being John Wooden, head basketball coach at UCLA. However, anyone with a warm body should have immediately wondered about the relevance between motivating/leading young men 'working' unpaid 3-5 years in pursuit of a lucrative NBA career to managing career scientists, sewer-cleaners, hospital-workers, etc.
The REAL REASONS for inconsistencies in 'management theories' are several: 1)Incompetent commentators - Malcolm Gladwell's name immediately comes to mind, and was referenced by Wooldridge. He and others maximize the extrapolation of conclusions from minimal, uncontrolled, and often self-selected data. Richard Florida and Stephen Covey are others guilty of the same, and referenced by Wooldridge as well. (Wooldridge, however, seems oblivious to this.) 2)Varying organizational situations - leading a firm away from near bankruptcy in a near commodity marketplace requires much different skills than leading a firm into successful innovation that avoids intense cost pressures. Steve Jobs, in his second-coming at Apple, displayed both skill sets, and is one of the few able to do so. In fact, you can almost guarantee that skills that birth a successful new firm will eventually become a hindrance after the pace of innovation slows and competition focuses more on costs. 3)Varying economic situations - decades ago jobs were easy to obtain and cost competition was minimal - managers needed to focus on pacifying workers. Hence, the automakers' and airlines' bloated labor contracts. Today, its the opposite, and new hard-nosed managment skills are required - eg. union-busting via bankruptcy and outsourcing. Again, Wooldridge fails to clearly see the issue and offer a framework. 4)Varying personnel situations - obviously one does not manage M.D.s the same way as truck drivers. Abraham Maslow's 'Needs Hierarchy' provides a good structure for understanding why. 5)Important 'other' factors such as strategy (good or bad), use of financial and operational leverage, and over-emphasis on volume instead of market share,
Wooldridge also waffles on the credibility of economic theorists - incredible, given their failure to forecast the 'Great Recession' and the outcome of minimal government regulation of the finance industry. In fact, some of these 'great economists' help create the problem - eg. the Black-Scholes model for bond pricing, and Long Term Capital Management - a highly-leveraged trading system. Both incorporated strong Nobel prize-winning individuals.
My suggestion - instead read materials by Larry Bossidy (former Allied-Signal CEO), Michael Porter (Harvard professor of strategy), Tachii Ohno and Shigeo Shingo (developers of the Toyota Production System), Clayton Christensen (Harvard professor), and Louis Gerstner (former IBM CEO). Shorter, but equally valuable, inputs can be obtained from C. Northcotte Parkinson (Parkinson's Law), and Edwin Locke (professor of psychology at Univ. of Md.).
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great update to 'witch doctors'. recommended reading to anybody curious about "Management" and "Leadership"
October 6, 2012
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
About 15 years ago I stumbled with a copy of Witch Doctors, and what a great book it was. I loved then the to-the-point style of the authors, and went to read from them 'The Company' and 'Right Nation'.
Despite Wooldridge writing this one on his own (Micklethwaite writes only the foreword), this is a major step forward from Witch Doctors, revised after all the changes in the last decade and a half (the dot-com-bubble implosion, the global financial crisis, and many upcoming 'gurus' showing up).
The book offers interesting perspectives and opposing views to many of the fads in management, including some cold assessments on Malcolm Gladwell, Thomas Friedman and others.
I found in the book key perspectives (that keep both feet in the ground) about some of the great ideas and contributions from the management 'science', and liked how it exposes the BS that permeates some of these ideas
Despite Wooldridge writing this one on his own (Micklethwaite writes only the foreword), this is a major step forward from Witch Doctors, revised after all the changes in the last decade and a half (the dot-com-bubble implosion, the global financial crisis, and many upcoming 'gurus' showing up).
The book offers interesting perspectives and opposing views to many of the fads in management, including some cold assessments on Malcolm Gladwell, Thomas Friedman and others.
I found in the book key perspectives (that keep both feet in the ground) about some of the great ideas and contributions from the management 'science', and liked how it exposes the BS that permeates some of these ideas
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Business books are published at such a pace that it's impossible to keep
up with the latest ideas trumpeted by multitudes of gurus, professors,
and CEOs all contradicting each other and all insisting their one idea
is the only one you'll ever need. Different business schools embrace
different experts, preferably those on staff. Walk into any manager's
office and scan the bookshelves. You'll find more books on business than
Amazon has on advice for personal relationships. How can you find your
way through the maze of advice?
Easy--Adrian Wooldridge's book Masters of Management is a guide through
every aspect of management theories, strategies, gurus' credibility, and
CEO reminiscences. He has the uncanny ability to bring clarity to the
ideas floating in the vast ocean of business ideas, advice, and their
history, and future. The book contains more useful information than most
MBA programs, albeit in bite-sized pieces. Bibliographies for each
chapter refer you to more detailed information about the topics covered.
The Masters of Management is dense with information. Complex topics are
broken into two to four main points, making it easy to manage the load.
Ideas like globalization, business process redesign, or frugal
innovation are explained as inevitable, a fad, or a brilliant concept.
As the CEO of a start-up, all the information is timely and helpful.
Ideas that we are not ready to implement provide food for thought; his
opinions on globalization and Corporate Social Responsibility help us
with our current direction.
Wooldridge writes for The Economist, a periodical that produces the best
English-language journalism in the world. It shows. I found it impossible to scan
or dip because as soon as I start reading, I'm lost in interesting
tales, superbly written with clarity and wit. For example, this quote
creates very entertaining mental visions: "Christians and Hindus might
worship different gods, but they still have to wash their hair."
It's rare to find a book so comprehensive and useful. If you buy one
business book this year, you'll be doing yourself a favor by making it
Adrian Wooldridge's Masters of Management.
Priscilla Burgess is CEO, Co-founder, and Co-inventor of Bellwether Materials, an award-winning, triple-bottom line company that manufactures deep green building insulation made from an agricultural by-product.
up with the latest ideas trumpeted by multitudes of gurus, professors,
and CEOs all contradicting each other and all insisting their one idea
is the only one you'll ever need. Different business schools embrace
different experts, preferably those on staff. Walk into any manager's
office and scan the bookshelves. You'll find more books on business than
Amazon has on advice for personal relationships. How can you find your
way through the maze of advice?
Easy--Adrian Wooldridge's book Masters of Management is a guide through
every aspect of management theories, strategies, gurus' credibility, and
CEO reminiscences. He has the uncanny ability to bring clarity to the
ideas floating in the vast ocean of business ideas, advice, and their
history, and future. The book contains more useful information than most
MBA programs, albeit in bite-sized pieces. Bibliographies for each
chapter refer you to more detailed information about the topics covered.
The Masters of Management is dense with information. Complex topics are
broken into two to four main points, making it easy to manage the load.
Ideas like globalization, business process redesign, or frugal
innovation are explained as inevitable, a fad, or a brilliant concept.
As the CEO of a start-up, all the information is timely and helpful.
Ideas that we are not ready to implement provide food for thought; his
opinions on globalization and Corporate Social Responsibility help us
with our current direction.
Wooldridge writes for The Economist, a periodical that produces the best
English-language journalism in the world. It shows. I found it impossible to scan
or dip because as soon as I start reading, I'm lost in interesting
tales, superbly written with clarity and wit. For example, this quote
creates very entertaining mental visions: "Christians and Hindus might
worship different gods, but they still have to wash their hair."
It's rare to find a book so comprehensive and useful. If you buy one
business book this year, you'll be doing yourself a favor by making it
Adrian Wooldridge's Masters of Management.
Priscilla Burgess is CEO, Co-founder, and Co-inventor of Bellwether Materials, an award-winning, triple-bottom line company that manufactures deep green building insulation made from an agricultural by-product.
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