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How to Manage People

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How to Manage People is a practical new book from bestselling author Michael Armstrong. A distillation of all his knowledge and experience, it provides advice to managers and team leaders on how to manage their staff, getting the best results from them and dealing with any people problems that may arise.
This guide will prove invaluable for the many managers who have to do their job without HR support. It covers topics relating to achieving results through people management,  leadership; motivating people; team building; delegating; interviewing; managing performance; developing and rewarding people; managing change; handling people problems.
Concise yet comprehensive, How to Manage People provides support for every front-line manager and should be esstential reading if you want to get the best results from your staff.

160 pages, Paperback

First published May 3, 2008

29 people are currently reading
233 people want to read

About the author

Michael Armstrong

225 books35 followers
Michael Armstrong is a 30+ year veteran of the shopping centre industry in Australia, but his time hanging about in shopping centres began as a child when his father was appointed as the first Centre Manager of Phoenix Park shopping centre in the seventies, and then in his teens when he ran the family ice-cream shop.

He began his career leasing shops in Perth as a 20-year-old, rising through the leasing ranks to deliver multiple shopping centre projects, eventually rising to lead the retail leasing teams at Jones Lang LaSalle and Mirvac nationally.

He ultimately ran Jones Lang LaSalle’s national shopping centre business and Mirvac’s national shopping centre division prior to becoming a property consultant. Since then, he has leased shopping centres, helped revitalise The Rocks, and represented the government on the new Sydney Fish Markets development.

The Mall is Michael's first novel. He is finalising the follow-up, Siren, for release in late 2025.

He currently works as a Property Consultant.

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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for Darren.
1,193 reviews63 followers
July 5, 2016
Publisher Kogan Page has been active recently pushing out a series of little guides for various aspects of business that have been well-received and this one, which looks at basic elements of people management, is of a similar high standard.

Giving practical, actionable advice to help someone become an effective manager (or even an existing poor manager be a good manager if they are not too pig-headed and will read it), this book covers the whole range of people management skills in relatively few pages. Management, employee engagement, conflict handling, virtual operations, leadership and much more besides are covered within, acting as a great teacher, coach and consultant at the same time.

It is not just for beginners. Experienced managers can brush up on their knowledge and possibly learn a new tip, wrinkle or a better way of doing something. You don’t need to be embarrassed being seen with this book either! The publisher should offer a service, whereby they send an anonymous copy of this book to the (poor) manager or leader of your choice upon payment of a modest fee, since far too many managers fail to properly be managers and many leaders don’t really lead through inspirational leadership but “direct” through a loud voice and hectoring tone. More carrot, less stick can sometimes be the better recipe for long-term success.

The chapters are short and to the point, so even if you are an ultra-stressed manager who feels there’s no time to do anything other than deal with the chaos around, there’s always a few pages and the sanctity of the lavatory cubicle. Yet the book is so engaging just be careful you are not in there for a few hours…
Profile Image for David McClendon, Sr.
Author 1 book23 followers
February 13, 2013
This book contained some good information but seemed to contain a lot of lists of ten things.
Profile Image for Ben.
225 reviews2 followers
February 4, 2017
a concise book, simple layout and easy to read.

it contains common sense but a lack of explanation or tools to help manage people.
Profile Image for Andrea.
33 reviews2 followers
July 9, 2023
Simple but easy to use manual on how to manage people .
To be used as a reference in the daily life of people managers
Profile Image for Sevda Erdoğan.
59 reviews
February 11, 2025
EKİBİNİ NASIL YÖNETİRSİN?
Michael ARMSTRONG

𝗟𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗸, 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗮 𝗱𝗼ğ𝗿𝘂 ş𝗲𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘃𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗺𝗮𝗸, 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗿 𝘆ö𝗻 𝗴ö𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗽 𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗸𝘁𝗶ğ𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗸 𝗼𝗹𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗹𝗮 𝗶𝗹𝗴𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗿. 𝗘𝘁𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗶 𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗸, 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗹𝗮𝗿ı𝗻 𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘆𝗲 𝗴𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗸𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗶 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗶 𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘆𝗮 𝗻𝗮𝘀ı𝗹 𝗴𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗸𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗶 𝗸𝗼𝗻𝘂𝘀𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮 𝘆ö𝗻𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗶 𝗮𝗻𝗹𝗮𝗺ı𝗻𝗮 𝗴𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗿.

İnsan kaynakları üzerine yazdığı eserlerle İngiltere’nin en çok satan yazarları arasına girmiş Michael Armstrong‘dan, hızlı, etkin ve sonuç odaklı yönetim rehberi diyebileceğimiz 𝗘𝗸𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗶 𝗡𝗮𝘀ı𝗹 𝗬ö𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗻? kitabı ile sizlerleyim bugün de sayfa dostlarım. Ekibini en iyi şekilde yöneterek başarıya ulaşmak isteyen liderler için eserimiz, kesinlikle temel bir okuma niteliğinde ve yine yayımlandığı 2008 yılından bu zamana bilgi birikimi ve deneyimini kapsamlı bir şekilde pek çok lider adayı ve liderlerle paylaşmıştır. Sorumlu olduğunuz bir ekibiniz varsa ve ekibiniz ile birlikte başarılara imza atmak istiyorsanız kesinlikle okumanız gereken bir eser 𝗘𝗸𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗶 𝗡𝗮𝘀ı𝗹 𝗬ö𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗻?
Hatta bir ekibi yönetmek için adaysanız rehber niteliğinde yol gösterici bir kaynak eserimiz emin olun.
Kitabımızın kaleme alınmasının en önemli amacı ise yöneticilere ve ekip liderlerine, ekiplerindeki insanları nasıl yöneteceklerini açıklamak; onlardan en iyi verimi alma ve ortaya çıkabilecek sorunlarla başa çıkma konusunda pratik tavsiyeler vermektir.
On altı madde de başlık ve alt başlıklarla liderliğin özellikleri ile bir liderin ekibine nasıl davranması gerektiği o kadar anlaşılabilir ve açıklayıcı bir dilde anlatılmış ki sosyal hayatlarımızda da bizlere etkili bir yol gösterici eserimiz. Eğer bir ekibiniz varsa ya da ekibinizi oluşturarak liderlik etmeyi düşünüyorsanız 𝗘𝗸𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗶 𝗡𝗮𝘀ı𝗹 𝗬ö𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗻? kesinliklenTAVSİYEMdir.
Syf: 212
1 review1 follower
January 27, 2020
Felt like it was written by an underdeveloped teenager, who tried to cram random internet articles into their homework presentation last minute...

Total lack of flow, or contextual examples; a very confusing structure, conflicting information, leaving the reader overwhelmed and puzzled (What actually ARE the key qualities of a successful manager?) Numerous conflicting list of the '10 steps to being...', and when it comes down to it, these 'steps' have so much overlap and are so unelaborated that I really wonder which ass these list were so meticulously pulled out of...
Profile Image for Nat.
317 reviews2 followers
April 20, 2020
Clear, concise and broken up into distinct topics. A good overview especially for someone new to management like me! The only thing which bothered me was that there are several references like "In a recent survey..." where the survey isn't cited, so I took those statements with a pinch of salt.
Profile Image for Zahida Zahoor.
235 reviews4 followers
August 16, 2021
One of the few management books that gives you concreate practical advice, including performance review and monitoring of staff. A value book for managers that provides the basics of what is expected of a manager and how to get the fundamentals right.
Profile Image for Kim.
1,727 reviews149 followers
July 17, 2018
I didn't really find anything useful in here. More like a book of random lists.
Profile Image for Phillip Taylor.
275 reviews28 followers
September 14, 2008
MANAGING THE PEOPLE BUSINESS

It is generally considered that the success of a company relies heavily on the performance of its human resources managers, who sometimes have a somewhat less than enthusiastic audience or any set of admirers!

Michael Armstrong’s practical guide to managing people quashes some of the myths about people management, and provides an invaluable insight into the main issues which arise for front-line management including: leadership; motivating people; team building; delegating; interviewing; managing performance; developing and rewarding people; managing change; and handling people problems.

Each of these key topics can be the subject of ‘management-style’ books but Armstrong gives up his secrets on people management in 12 definitive chapters, and some useful references which could be a bit more detailed and web friendly.

Armstrong concludes that people often leave their managers, and not their organisations, for many reasons mainly connected to relationships and career development. Whilst a business has progressive policies (often forced on it by government), the practical application is in the hands of both HR and line management to perform the difficult tasks. Armstrong succeeds in his aim of showing managers how to explain to staff what they are expected to do with their responsibilities.

Armstrong covers the main actions that managers have to carry out to get things done through people very effectively, and the advice to frontline managers is well contained in this easy and practical guidebook.

The book will get you the best results but remember that to manage people, “managers have largely to do it themselves”. How right he is - we all know about the ‘buck-passers’!

The distillation of Michael Armstrong’s knowledge and experience for managers has not really changed in the 30 years since I became a manager, and he gives us great advice on managing the people business which is very relevant for the technological challenges of today’s world.

PHILLIP TAYLOR MBE LL.B (Hons)PGCE Barrister-at-Law
Richmond Green Chambers
Profile Image for Darrell.
10 reviews16 followers
May 4, 2013
This was a book that had some common sense recommendations such as rewarding people and respecting your staff. I did like some of the ideas for rewarding and appreciation. As Managers we have to make sure the work gets done and also recognize that employees are important in accomplishing this. Another good point was not Micro-Managing and respecting input and ideas.
10 reviews5 followers
May 6, 2012
A good simple starting point on managing teams and leadership - clear and concise and so helped in forming ideas about leading and managing people
Profile Image for Zoë.
318 reviews2 followers
January 11, 2016
A useful aide mémoire for people management, all common sense but helpful in that it guides and provides structures for dealing with a number of management situations. Well laid out too.
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