
The Exceptional Manager
Making the Difference
Oxford University Press
Published on 30. March 2006
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-0-19-929222-6 (ISBN)
Description
Most businesses face the choice of either competing on the 'low road' of cost, or the 'high road' of innovation and value. Much the same goes for national economies and the UK is no exception. But how do businesses - and the people who manage them - go beyond the policy prescription and the easy exhortation to make that shift, to manage change and go well beyond business as usual?
This ground-breaking book - the combined insight of some of the best minds in management, grouped together in the Advanced Institute of Management Research - does just that. It presents a clear and crisp analysis of the context and the challenge; and offers managers a range of ideas on how to develop the competences, practices and values that can make a difference. It is essential reading for policy makers, analysts, academics, and managers to be who want to make a different future.
This ground-breaking book - the combined insight of some of the best minds in management, grouped together in the Advanced Institute of Management Research - does just that. It presents a clear and crisp analysis of the context and the challenge; and offers managers a range of ideas on how to develop the competences, practices and values that can make a difference. It is essential reading for policy makers, analysts, academics, and managers to be who want to make a different future.
Reviews / Votes
The Exceptional Manager points in the right direction. * Richard Donkin, Financial Times * The authors get you thinking outside of the organisation, and consider the wider economic contexts in which businesses can thrive...I think those involved in transformation leadership and organisational change will find it valuable. The Exceptional Manager shows that managers at all levels within a business can make a significant difference to the success of the organisation * PERSONNELTODAY.COM * Many, perhaps most, management books sell success recipes - short cuts claiming to make the job simpler and easier. The twin originality of The Exceptional Manager (Oxford University Press) is that it starts from the other end, by identifying what is problematic about managing, and then fitting its advice to the context of the UK today...the book is itself both a working model of practice-led enquiry and a step towards an evidence base for UK management. * The Observer * This book combines both clarity and good sense and will help managers to think more clearly about what they are trying to do...Managers who want to see their organisations thrive in a world of increasing global competition can learn a great deal from this book. * Business Executive *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Essential reading for policy makers, analysts, business and management academics and students, and managers
Illustrations
Tables and figures
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
599 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-929222-6 (9780199292226)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
09/2007
Oxford University Press
€58.20
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
Rick Delbridge is Professor of Organizational Analysis at Cardiff Business School. His research areas include work organization, workplace and inter-organizational relations and the management of innovation.
His most recent projects include 'High performance manufacturing and the learning factory' (funded by the EPSRC), 'Trade unions and the representation of non-standard workers' (funded by the ESRC) and 'Learning companies: developing innovative potential of Welsh manufacturing SMEs' (funded by the European Regional Development Fund). He is the author of Life on the Line in Contemporary Manufacturing (OUP, 1998), co-editor of the Routledge book series Studies in Employment Relations and Associate Editor of the journal Organization.
Lynda Gratton is Professor of Management Practice at the London Business School where she directs the school's executive programme, 'Human Resource Strategy in Transforming Organisations'. Between 1992 and 2002 Lynda led The Leading Edge Research Consortium, a major research initiative involving companies such as Hewlett Packard, Citibank, BT and GlaxoSmithKline.
The results of this research were published in Strategic Human Resource Management: Corporate Rhetoric and Human Reality (OUP, 2000). In 2002 she published Living Strategy: Putting People at the Heart of Corporate Purpose (FT Prentice Hall). This book was voted one of the 20 most influential books by American CEOs and has been translated into eight languages. Her most recent book is The Democratic Enterprise (FT Prentice Hall, 2004). She is a member of the board of The American Human Resource Planning Society, and sits on the advisory board of two American companies.
Gerry Johnson is Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Strathclyde Graduate School of Business in Glasgow. His research interests focus on management processes of strategy development and strategic change. Past research has included work on the links between strategy development and organizational culture and cognition; and micro aspects of institutional change. Current work is increasingly concerned with the links between major strategic issues and everyday, often routine, activities and practices in organisations; and the development of an international network of scholars addressing this agenda.
He has published a number of books and written numerous papers in the field of Strategic Management. Exploring Corporate Strategy (FT Prentice Hall, 2004), of which he is co-author, is the best selling text on Strategy in Europe and regularly appears in the Top 10 Business Books in the UK.
His most recent projects include 'High performance manufacturing and the learning factory' (funded by the EPSRC), 'Trade unions and the representation of non-standard workers' (funded by the ESRC) and 'Learning companies: developing innovative potential of Welsh manufacturing SMEs' (funded by the European Regional Development Fund). He is the author of Life on the Line in Contemporary Manufacturing (OUP, 1998), co-editor of the Routledge book series Studies in Employment Relations and Associate Editor of the journal Organization.
Lynda Gratton is Professor of Management Practice at the London Business School where she directs the school's executive programme, 'Human Resource Strategy in Transforming Organisations'. Between 1992 and 2002 Lynda led The Leading Edge Research Consortium, a major research initiative involving companies such as Hewlett Packard, Citibank, BT and GlaxoSmithKline.
The results of this research were published in Strategic Human Resource Management: Corporate Rhetoric and Human Reality (OUP, 2000). In 2002 she published Living Strategy: Putting People at the Heart of Corporate Purpose (FT Prentice Hall). This book was voted one of the 20 most influential books by American CEOs and has been translated into eight languages. Her most recent book is The Democratic Enterprise (FT Prentice Hall, 2004). She is a member of the board of The American Human Resource Planning Society, and sits on the advisory board of two American companies.
Gerry Johnson is Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Strathclyde Graduate School of Business in Glasgow. His research interests focus on management processes of strategy development and strategic change. Past research has included work on the links between strategy development and organizational culture and cognition; and micro aspects of institutional change. Current work is increasingly concerned with the links between major strategic issues and everyday, often routine, activities and practices in organisations; and the development of an international network of scholars addressing this agenda.
He has published a number of books and written numerous papers in the field of Strategic Management. Exploring Corporate Strategy (FT Prentice Hall, 2004), of which he is co-author, is the best selling text on Strategy in Europe and regularly appears in the Top 10 Business Books in the UK.
Author
Chair in Organizational Analysis, The Business School, Cardiff University
Professor of Management Practice, London Business School
Professor Sir Roland Smith Chair in Strategic Management, Lancaster University Management School
Content
PART 1: SETTING THE SCENE ; 1. Making a Difference ; 2. Building on the National Context ; PART II: THE BUILDING BLOCKS ; 3. Transforming Strategy ; 4. Managing Employment Relations ; 5. Innovating Beyond the Steady State ; 6. Measuring Performance in Innovative Firms ; PART III: KEY ISSUES ; 7. Adopting and Adapting Promising Practices ; 8. Learning in Organizations ; 9. Making Intelligent Decisions ; 10. Cooperating across Boundaries ; 11. Overcoming Busyness ; 12. Taking the First Steps