Customer Reviews

The Witch Doctors: Making Sense of the Management Gurus

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Great fun, great wit, great journalism. These guys started off as outsiders but they clearly are top-class journalists: they truly captured all the "strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats" that all the true, semi or fake gurus have produced since Taylor, Sloan and Drucker. A must have!

For those workers in the trenches who have recently found themselves downsized due to the latest round of "re-engineering,".....

For those frustrated managers who have had just one too many management consultants imposed upon them by paranoid executives.......

For those paranoid executives who feel they need to hire the "latest and greatest" consultants to stay ahead of the competition.......

.....You must read this book.

Written by two staff editors of the economist, this book reveals the charlatanism surrounding the management consultant industry, and how the growth of the industry has led to the imposition of new management techniques which may be entirely irrelevant to the enterprise, its workers, and the shareholders. The prose is what you would expect from The Economist - pragmatic, and easy to read.

The conclusions are straightforward and hard to ignore.

As one of the senior Editors at The Economist warned the authors while they were writing the book: "You know what worries me about your book about management theory: that you'll talk to all the people and read all the books; that you will detail all its incredible effects - the number of jobs lost, the billions of dollars spent, and so on. And you won't say the obvious thing: that it's 99 percent bullshit. And everybody knows that" (from the prologue).

Indeed, if everybody read this book, his statement would ring true

Would recommend this book strongly to two sets of people:
1. All those who feel they do not read enough about management
2. My B-school strategy professors that tried to treat books by gurus as bibles

After working in companies that have consistently outperformed the market, my conclusion is that good managements are those that have the ability to learn about the environment all by their own and have the knack to apply it well bt themselves. No consultant or management guru can ever know a company's business better than its employees do. The best the gurus can ever do is mouth generalities. All of management theory is ephemral, transient. It is good to know concepts and use them sparingly and caringly.

This book validates what ive been feeling for a long time.

This book provides a clear-thinking analysis of the wide spectrum of management theories and applications, and points to several very important limitations inherent in the modern management consultancy industry.

In particular, it exposes:

1. the unnecessary promotion of business and management 'jargon'
2. the excessive tendency towards pursuing the latest 'fad'
3. the reluctance to look beneath the surface of ideas or concepts, in order to analyse them critically.

Aptly titled "The Witch Doctors", this book lifts much of the
facade from the management advice industry, providing a reasoned
evaluation of 'the workability factor' underpinning key management theories.

The book contains 14 very interesting chapters, but perhaps the
most insightful are the following four:

Chapter 2: The Management Theory Industry
Chapter 6: Knowledge, Learning and Innovation
Chapter 9: The Future of Work
Chapter 10: What Does Globalisation Mean?

Although written in 1996, this book retains much of its currency and relevancy at the beginning of the 21st century. It won the Global Business Book Award in 1996 for the best book written about strategy and leadership, and received high acclaim from the Journal of Business Strategy, arguing that it was "possibly the best-written business book of (its) decade". Even Harvard Business Review considered it "a worthy contribution" noting that "it is broad in its range of information and insights".

Perhaps its highest endorsement, however, comes from Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Professor of Management at Harvard Business School, and herself the author of a number of very good management and business books. She says "Read it before buying any other book!"

To the ordinary reader looking to gain relevant insights into the world of management thought, this book is an ideal tool. It is written in an easily accessible style, and doesn't necessarily require the reader to absorb it from cover to cover. Genuine insights can be gained by reviewing individual chapters in isolation.

Along with "Dangerous Company" by O'Shea & Madigan, and "The Lexus & the Olive Tree" by Tom Friedman, "The Witch Doctors" is arguably one of the most insightful business books to be released in the past 20 years.

John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge are to management fads what the little child was to the naked emperor and The Witch Doctors is their manifest. When you enter the pages of this extremely well written oeuvre you're bascially not in Management-haven, Kansas anymore. Where management literature usually dramatizes, Micklethwait and Wooldridge present a sober view and make a point of playing down the actual impact and importance of so-called Gurus. With the stealth and graceful elegance of secret service assassins, the authors meticulously work through thinkers and movements, with chapters divided for pedagogic simplicity into chronological order. Something striking is the high correlation between the chronology and the order of importance; this could be attributed to nostalgia but is more likely a result of the fact that management "thinking" has become unscrupulously popular over the last decade, with everyone from football coaches to Roseanne Barr wanting to share their secrets of success with results that, at best, can be described as mixed. It is therefore no coincidence that the final, and most enjoyable, chapter is entitled "A walk on the wild side" - a reference to the fact that many of the people that get in on the action today bear more than a little resemblance to actual witch doctors with results as often doubtful as they are deceiving. Better then to long for yesteryear when men were men and people like Charles Handy, Michael Porter and, the Godfather of management thinkers, Peter Drucker roamed free. But even in the chapters describing these earlier movements, Micklethwait and Wooldridge employ the dry, sarcastic wit that is so intimately associated with their mother magazine, The Economist. It is not that they're so much angry or accusatory as genuinely professional journalists and in era when the borders between the editorial and the commercial interests are constantly blurred, this is the least one could ask for. You may be one of those people who prefer to immerse yourself in an experience, such as watching the parade of a naked emperor or gawking at a "truly amazing behind-the-scenes look at a new movie" which is often what management seminars are all about from a metaphorical perspective. But if you don't mind, or perhaps even prefer, a tell-it-like-it-is perspective even though it may ruin your temporary immersion in something, The Witch Doctors is a rare gem. Why not test yourself; are you a channel 7-action news kind of a person or someone who takes the time to read through a daily newspaper? Do you see management seminars as a source of knowledge or as one of entertainment? And finally, do you prefer to look away when you catch an accidental glance at Mickey Mouse stripping off his costume at Disneyland to keep the illusion real or do you revel in the fact that Disneyworld is just one more commercial attraction like many others and one that, in purpose, is no different from the K-Mart down the street? If you preferred the former in each of these questions, congratulations to you and the management literature industry since Amazon and its competitors will always have rows of titles uncovering corporate "secrets", seven "brilliant" thoughts on nothing in particular and countless case studies about companies you've never heard of or will never have much in common with. If you, on the other hand, preferred the latter, The Witch Doctors is a valuable and helpful delight to read. Trivializing -sure, but not if you compare it to the way that three centuries of literature is compressed into vulgar travesties like "Chicken Soup for the fain-hearted" in this day and age.

John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge are to management fads what the little child was to the naked emperor and The Witch Doctors is their manifest. When you enter the pages of this extremely well written oeuvre you're bascially not in Management-haven, Kansas anymore. Where management literature usually dramatizes, Micklethwait and Wooldridge present a sober view and make a point of playing down the actual impact and importance of so-called Gurus. With the stealth and graceful elegance of secret service assassins, the authors meticulously work through thinkers and movements, with chapters divided for pedagogic simplicity into chronological order. Something striking is the high correlation between the chronology and the order of importance; this could be attributed to nostalgia but is more likely a result of the fact that management "thinking" has become unscrupulously popular over the last decade, with everyone from football coaches to Roseanne Barr wanting to share their secrets of success with results that, at best, can be described as mixed. It is therefore no coincidence that the final, and most enjoyable, chapter is entitled "A walk on the wild side" - a reference to the fact that many of the people that get in on the action today bear more than a little resemblance to actual witch doctors with results as often doubtful as they are deceiving. Better then to long for yesteryear when men were men and people like Charles Handy, Michael Porter and, the Godfather of management thinkers, Peter Drucker roamed free. But even in the chapters describing these earlier movements, Micklethwait and Wooldridge employ the dry, sarcastic wit that is so intimately associated with their mother magazine, The Economist. It is not that they're so much angry or accusatory as genuinely professional journalists and in era when the borders between the editorial and the commercial interests are constantly blurred, this is the least one could ask for. You may be one of those people who prefer to immerse yourself in an experience, such as watching the parade of a naked emperor or gawking at a "truly amazing behind-the-scenes look at a new movie" which is often what management seminars are all about from a metaphorical perspective. But if you don't mind, or perhaps even prefer, a tell-it-like-it-is perspective even though it may ruin your temporary immersion in something, The Witch Doctors is a rare gem. Why not test yourself; are you a channel 7-action news kind of a person or someone who takes the time to read through a daily newspaper? Do you see management seminars as a source of knowledge or as one of entertainment? And finally, do you prefer to look away when you catch an accidental glance at Mickey Mouse stripping off his costume at Disneyland to keep the illusion real or do you revel in the fact that Disneyworld is just one more commercial attraction like many others and one that, in purpose, is no different from the K-Mart down the street? If you preferred the former in each of these questions, congratulations to you and the management literature industry since Amazon and its competitors will always have rows of titles uncovering corporate "secrets", seven "brilliant" thoughts on nothing in particular and countless case studies about companies you've never heard of or will never have much in common with. If you, on the other hand, preferred the latter, The Witch Doctors is a valuable and helpful delight to read. Trivializing -sure, but not if you compare it to the way that three centuries of literature is compressed into vulgar travesties like "Chicken Soup for the faint-hearted" in this day and age.

The most important things I have learned from this book are:

- Writing management books is a "business" (and a very lucrative one). In most cases the main driver for writing management books is not a contribution to the discipline of management but making tons of money, either by generating additional consulting revenue (in the case of consultancies), improving the school's curriculum, or making someone rich by charging exorbitant fees for lectures and workshops around the world.
- These gurus have made significant contributions to the discipline of management but in many occasions, their ideas have led to huge failures at corporations that blindly trusted them and tried to implement their new paradigms. Don't take their work for granted and look for contradictory evidence in older books or articles of the same author.
- Businesses around the world have benefited tremendously of management practices, old and new, but there is also overwhelming evidence that many companies around the world and notable business leaders have thrived without following the latest management fads

The book also gives a very good overview of the management trends and theories of the last few decades and their proponents. It would be nice to see an updated edition of this book covering the new generation of "gurus/e-gurus" (Goleman, Moore, etc.), as well as a new chapter on E-Business, E-Government and other emerging trends.

Read The Witch Doctors and I promise that you will never read another management book in the same way.

The authors, being young and obviously sacrilegious, provide a rich, encompassing overview of the management guru industry. Being in the aerospace industry, I can attest to the faddishness and harm propagated by these Witch Doctors, especially Michael Hammer and his Re-engineering schemes (which have left him rich and his victim companies totally demoralized). Having survived numerous plant closures, downsizings, re-orgs, etc., while miraculously keeping my senior management rank and pay (more through the kind of tactics described by Sun Tzu in the Art of War than anything else, since skills, credentials, and knowledge are given mostly lip service by many executives and the gurus -- with the exception of the Drucker School), the contents of this book have clear meaning to me, as it would to other business middle and senior managers. I now use it as a reference to gain focus, insight, and further readings on the endless initiatives and "sage wisdom" proffered by the ilk of McKinsey, D&T, Andersen, et al. I recommend the book to others who actually have worked their way up to management status and are continually being threatened with extinction.

I quite enjoyed this book, except for one or two gripes that I will come to later, and which kept me from awarding it a (much sought-after) fourth star. It provides a good overview of the management consultancy industry, and the rise of management studies to its current status in the business world. I particularly liked the authors' even-handed approach: they give the industry credit where it is due and do not only dwell on the negatives (and I say this as someone who is quite sceptical about the industry at the best of times). By the same token, they do point out the negatives as well, especially the industry's dependency on new fads to sell to clients in order to sustain revenues. I also found the chapters dealing with management styles in the Eastern economies very interesting.

Coming to the gripes, my first one is that the book is slightly too long- I think it could have been a good 50 pages shorter, and a much better read, with more judicious editing. Also, I feel that the authors tried too hard to employ a "chatty" style of writing, and this is sometimes irritating.

Hold your nose and grit your teeth as John Micklethwait, Adrian Wooldridge take you on a tour through the buzzword ridden world of the modern management guru. Like televangelists, these modern money-grabbing tellers of the future would be laughable were it not for the fact that they influence the course and direction of many of today's businesses. This book should be read anyone in the role of making managerial decisions - to serve as a reminder that bestselling books, catchy catch phrases, and any idea that starts with the word `New' is not a substitute for good old fashioned facts and reasoning.