Under New Management

David Burkus

26 January 2017
9781509801732
256 pages

Synopsis

Nearly 70 per cent of employees in the UK aren't performing at their full potential. At the roots of this problem are the policies and systems built to 'manage' these employees, which were designed for a different era - the industrial economy.

In the tradition of Jim Collins' bestselling Good to Great, in Under New Management David Burkus, psychologist, professor of management at the College of Business at Oral Roberts University and author of The Myth of Creativity, shines a light on the companies that are experimenting with new and different models and policies for leading teams and managing people. From Amazon to Virgin, Volkswagen to Whole Foods, these companies have developed a new set of best practices that may look counter-intuitive, but have become an integral part of what makes them so high-performing, and that have established employee engagement and customer loyalty.

The purpose of this book and its research is to challenge you and your company on whether the time has come to re-examine some of the most fundamental concepts in management today. The business of business is all about change and keeping up with the latest trends. Here's your chance to see for yourself what kinds of management changes you should be thinking of.

Is your company ready for a radical departure from 20th-century management standards and a bold move into a new approach? In Under New Management, David Burkus has collected the stories of dozens of companies that are making this journey. They're standing the old rules on their heads and running their businesses with refreshing amounts of transparency and autonomy. Even better, Burkus shows how you can do it, too.
I can't stop raving about Under New Management to friends and colleagues. If you are going to read one book on being a better manager in the next year, start here. David Burkus has assembled the most practical research and provocative ideas into an incredibly quick read.
In Under New Management, Burkus hauls 20th-century management ideas to the scrap heap while revealing counterintuitive practices that will drive organizational performance in the back half of the 21st century. And like any good manager, he under-promises, and over-delivers. Under New Management is a lively, provocative, must read.