Management and Myths: Challenging business fads, fallacies and fashions

183 Pages·2004·1.92 MB·English

by  Adrian Furnham (auth.)

MANAGEMENT AND
MYTHS
Challenging business fads, fallacies and fashions
Adrian Furnham
MANAGEMENT AND MYTHS
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MANAGEMENT
MYTHS
AND
Challenging business fads, fallacies and fashions
Adrian Furnham
© Adrian Furnham 2004
All rights reserved.No reproduction,copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced,copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988,or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,90
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Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work
in accordance with the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2004 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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Companies and representatives throughout the world
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave
Macmillan division of St.Martin’s Press,LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States,United Kingdom
and other countries.Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European
Union and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-4039-2204-5 ISBN 978-1-4039-9003-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781403990037
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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Editing and origination by Aardvark Editorial,Mendham,Suffolk
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04
For A and B: you see
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Contents
INTRODUCTION 1
Fads in management 1
Fallacies in management 7
Fashions in management 16
Accidents at work 20
Acquiring people skills 22
Addicted to consultants/ consultant dependency 24
Barnum in business 26
Behalfers 29
The bullying boss 31
Business books and Stalinist Realism 34
Cash rich, time poor 36
Conference stress 38
Continuous assessment 40
Control freak 42
Delivering bad news 44
Development plans 47
Does coaching work? 49
Emotional labour 51
Expectations … and how to manage them 53
Expensive experts/the consultant, the trainer and the facilitator 55
Failing in business 57
Fixers and inventors: semi and real creatives 59
Fudging the happy sheets 61
How to choose consultants 64
vii
viii Contents
Hypocritical management speak 66
Ice breakers 68
The lying game 68
Deprivations 69
Favourite compliments 69
Sincere one-to-one 70
Integrity 71
Intrinsic motivation 73
Judging intelligence 76
Kickin’ arse 79
Knowledge college management 81
Larks and owls 85
Lumpers and splitters; halos and horns 88
Lying in interviews 91
Management apologetics 94
Management literacy 97
Management tips 99
Marketing hubris and humility 102
Money secrecy 104
The M-word 106
Nomadic workers 108
Optimism 110
Personality testing 112
Problems of the board 115
Psychologists in business 118
Psychology of hoarding 120
Contents ix
Selection mistakes 123
Selling cost-saving devices 126
Sociobiology and inheritance tax 129
Strategic planning: who needs it? 131
Support groups for CEOs 135
Teaching old dogs new tricks 137
Telling clients what they want to hear 140
The Icarus syndrome 143
Typical management style 147
Unlocking talent 149
Visitors from headquarters 151
What makes a good business conference? 154
Wisdom in business 157
Work–life balance 159
CONCLUSION 162
Getting it right 162
The necessary trio 162
Why is it not done 168
The characteristics of competent managers 170