What Management Is

by Joan Magretta

"This book will help managers in any type of organization, including nonprofits and the public sector, do their jobs better."
-- Michael E. Porter
Harvard Business School
Whether you're new to the field or a seasoned executive, this book will give you a firm grasp on what it takes to make an organization perform. It presents the basic principles of management simply, but not simplistically. Why did an eBay succeed where a Webvan did not? Why do you need both a business model and a strategy? Why is it impossible to manage without the right performance measures, and do yours pass the test?
What Management Is is both a beginner's guide and a bible for one of the greatest social innovations of modern the discipline of management. Joan Magretta, a former top editor at the Harvard Business Review, distills the wisdom of a bewildering sea of books and articles into one simple, clear volume, explaining both the logic of successful organizations and how that logic is embodied in practice.
Magretta makes rich use of examples -- contemporary and historical -- to bring to life management's High value creation, business models, competitive strategy, and organizational design. She devotes equal attention to the often unwritten rules of execution that characterize the best-performing organizations. Throughout she shows how the principles of management that work in for-profit businesses can -- and must -- be applied to nonprofits as well.
Most management books preach a single formula or a single fad. This one roams knowledgeably over the best that has been thought and written with a practical eye for what matters in real organizations. Not since Peter Drucker's great work of the 1950s and 1960s has there been a comparable effort to present the work of management as a coherent whole, to take stock of the current state of play, and to write about it thoughtfully for readers of all backgrounds. Newcomers will find the basics demystified. More experienced readers will recognize a store of useful wisdom and a framework for improving their own performance.
This is the big-picture management book for our times. It defines a common standard of managerial literacy that will help all of us lead more productive lives, whether we aspire to be managers or not.

Genres: Business, Management, Nonfiction, Academic, Professional Development

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2002

Reviews

[Jerome Manalo · Rating 5 out of 5]

corny title but probably one of the best management books out there.
no fancy concepts. just straight forward things to do.

[Said AlMaskery · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried to finish this book for the last three years, but I simply couldn't. The book might have been useful at an earlier career stage where the idea of management wasn't very clear.

[Rohit Yadav · Rating 5 out of 5]

The real test of job well done is - a customer who is willing to pay for it.
Marketing: Understanding what customers value so that you can work to satisfy there needs
Selling: Conviction a customer that you can buy whatever is you make
What is our business? Who is the customer ? What does the customer value?

A business model is a set of assumptions about how an organisation will perform by creating value for all the players on whom it depends, not just its customers. If you fail to create expected results either tweak or change the model
Story of how an enterprise work. It involves character, motivation & plot. Example: American express

Strategy: How you are going to do better by being different
How you can differentiate what you do or how you do it so that customer believe there is no substitute for it
Making strategic trade off: Where there are real tradeoff, you can't have both ways
Strategy is difficult it is about how others will react to what you do

It's a question of matching strategy & structure, of finding the organisation beat able to deliver a particular configuration of value
How to coordinate the resources & the people you depend to get the job done

Facing extinction can bring terrific clarity about the basics. Good management tries to achieve the same level of clarity even when there is no pressure
Given our purpose, how is our performance going to be defined

The essence of innovating, of creating new value is, solving problems with constraints
Curiosity not creativity underlies at the history of innovation
What do we have to belive/assume about x to put forward this initiative. Are these reasonable thing to believe.

Pareto law: In most instances, a few things matter far more than others

[Jorn Hermans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit was recommended reading voor mijn vak Management In the Healthcare Sector, en tegen studeren via lezen zeg ik nooit nee!

Heel duidelijke inhoud voor mensen die geen flauw benul hebben van wat management inhoudt (incl. mezelf), met veel bekende voorbeelden, waaronder de aanpak van Henry Ford een dikke eeuw geleden. Het leest een beetje als een 'Management voor Dummies'.

Het kan wel een nieuwe update gebruiken. Alle voorbeelden waren pre-2005 en dus management in het huidige internet-/sociale-medialandschap wordt niet echt besproken.

[Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great book about the basic principles of management.

Written in an easy language that everybody will understand. Magretta does a great job explaining management concepts and giving real life examples.

I liked a lot some of the quotes he uses at he beginning of each chapter, this one was my favorite:


“In the end, a vision without the ability to execute is probably a hallucination” Stephen M. Case, Chairman AOL Time Warner.

[Jeff Keehr · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book got rave reviews in the New York Times book review and in Businessweek, and I can see why. It's a succinct overview of this fairly new profession, with lots of good examples and insights. I think it might help me fine tune the work I'm doing in testing on Client Bookkeeping Solution (CBS): Ken and I need to develop some measure of how well we are doing; as it is, we simply create scripts and run them. 5/11/03

[Sashko Valyus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ідеальна для менеджерів-початківців

Книга на про практичні поради, а більше про бачення менеджменту в різних аспектах своєї діяльності в організації. Дуже рекомендую менеджерам початківцям для розуміння професії загалом.
Книга мені на початку дуже туго йшла, але чим далі тим більше вона затягує і розкривається. Багато прикладів та історій для закріплення інформації. Найцікавіша глава в самому кінці :)

[abhijeet singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basics. Thats it

Clear articulation of words which are misused, unused or confused in the management arena are presented in this book. It provides ans to few basic questions which can take an organisation a long way.

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent primer on what management is. Relatively high level but gives good breadth on what enables an organization to fulfil its purpose/mission. Some good insights for someone who has not read many business books.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Businessy as could be. A helpful introduction into the inner workings of upper level management. Not the most thrilling, but the case studies were practically beneficial to thinking of how her models could be adapted and implemented.

[Mads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that gives you an eagle's eye view of management while also tracing the evolution of the practices that exist today. It's a great read for anyone who's interested in how businesses are run.

[Jackie Knappenberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to rush reading this, but I wish I could've mulled it over some more. I liked the writing and the advice. I could pull things discussed in this book into essays I'd write and my life. Good, fun read :))

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. Not a must read but there is some good information.

[Stuti Prasad · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is very bland but if you are consistent there is a lot of learning to bring management to the non-profit.

[Sultan Baghlaf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for an overview of management's roles and duties with examples.
Well written and cohesive with strong main points always delivered.

[Amy Commissaris · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was not voluntarily

[Tony Vynckier · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about common sense in business and management.
I recommend this book to every manager from newly appointed to senior executives who are lost in management fads and consulting world's business jargon.
The book is about the management basics that aren't always obvious. It offers a concise synthesis of important ideas and practices:
- value creation
- business models
- competitive strategy
- the 80-20 rule
- performance metrics

This is clearly a book stressing that it's not technology people want to buy, but a product that fulfils a real need, and that this consideration of real added value should drive the business.
Where the first section makes clear that good management means having a clear idea of your business, the second part is about making it happen, and thus is called "executing".
Here the authors discuss topics as mission, innovation, dealing with uncertainty and focusing in order to deliver results.

I especially liked the last chapter of this section which states that organisations are not only economic machines but also social systems.
The challenge of management is to combine the hard and soft skills into one.

The book clearly stresses that people should be hired for having the right attitude and fitting with the organizational culture (having the same values)
Personaly I'd have preferred one or two additional chapters with more detail on the social dimension of organisations.
I quote The Economist: "This is a wonderful little volume...It explains in impeccably clear prose what management is about, defining the domain in which many people spend their daylight hours...Urge everyone to read it."
Tony VYNCKIER

[Murie Lisa]

Great introduction to the basic principles of management. The author used a language that is easy to follow and avoided the traditional textbook descriptions of management. Great book if you want to get up to speed with what management is all about. I really enjoyed this book, it was almost like reading a novel, I found it easy to follow and very informative.

[Gonçalo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book about the fundamentals of management!

Avoids the typical academic form (tons of definitions) and presents all the subjects in a very practical way with tons of real life samples making the reading even more interesting.

[David Mccleve · Rating 3 out of 5]

good insights, ideas, and definitions that help the reader understand and apply principles that help improve management. The book also explains why management is important and gives basic background on management to put the subject into context.

[Douglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was good, very text-bookish though. Much harder to get through than others. But good things to be reminded of.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good overview of management, highly recommend it.

[Suprabhat · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the total layman. Very interesting read.

[Sankar Vyakaranam]

Great book. Fundamentals of management covered very well. Essential read!

[Zhan Sammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's offers macro view to see how I learned in Strategy class. It says why strategy , organization design are important.
A good complementary book, but definitely not enough for deep understanding.

[Harish Sankar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute Gem.

No-Nonsense introduction to what management is and what its business is.
Very less buzzwords, and a clear introduction to management terms.

[Raghu Ramadasan]

Excellent summary of the discipline of Management....equally good for novice as well as seasoned professionals...makes sense of the jargons we are fed in b-school...!

[Lori Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

A should-read book new managers, executives, and entrepreneurs.

[John Angelsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and useful about a challenging subject.