Up the Organization: How to Stop the Organization From Stifling People and Strangling Profits (Hardcover)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 202.0 pages
• Publisher: Robert Townsend; 1st Edition edition (1970)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000CSMZW6
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #700,896 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You Heard it From the Man, June 9, 2006

By	Dirk J. Willard (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

You've heard the line, "sticking it to the man." Well, Robert Townsend was the man. As a top executive at Avis, Hertz, and American Express his good nature and not-so-common sense saved these companies. This is an anthology book with a series of moral lessons for managers everywhere---read it! Read his second book too: "Further Up the Organization." In the second book, he recounts how as an executive at American Express he was rebuffed by an accountant. He explained that he needed to buy one of those new fangled (it was the 70's) calculators for an accounts manager. He then added that the calculator would pay for itself in minutes with what it would save AMEX. Without blinking, the accountant said, "If it's not in your budget, you can't have it." Townsend just said, "Oh," and started writing a memo. After a few minutes, he handed it to the accountant. He said,"Sign here." The accountant looked at it and exclaimed,"This is your resignation! I'm not signing that." Townsend said, "Yes you are." Then, he said, "When I resign I am going to hand this memo to my boss, the CEO. He's going to want to know why I resigned and I want to tell him." The accountant turned gray. Townsend got his calculator. You will find amusing and interesting stories in both books. What he said then rings true today. If only we had executives like him today. Instead, we have people like Lay, Skilling, and Fastow: only out for themselves, with egos the size of the mansions they aspire to own.

If this review helped, please say so.

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic!, May 11, 2009

By	John Hogan "John Hogan" (Phoenix AZ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a 30 year old classic I recently re-read for the 3rd time. It has logical and pragmatic approaches in bite size messages that remain timely.

It is full of no-nonsense, easy to digest suggestions and ideas that have proven to be able to be replicated again and again.

JJH

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read it now, July 24, 2008

By	Radical reader (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews

He notes that the tiny oligarchy that is America's ruling class loots the national treasury, treats the country as its personal whorehouse, and considers presidents and politicians their towel boys. Check out this classic insider account of our criminal rulers.