Truth About Managing People, The

Description

PRACTICAL INSIGHTS INTO MANAGING PEOPLE AT WORK
THE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH
SELECTING THE BEST FROM THOUSANDS OF STUDIES TO CREATE 62 SHORT, JARGON-FREE CHAPTERS 

You can become a world-class manager and lead your team to outstanding performance

• The truth about motivating and evaluating subordinates
• The truth about supercharging creativity and innovation
• The truth about employee engagement, loyalty, and corporate culture

PRAISE FOR THE PREVIOUS EDITIONS

“Stephen Robbins translates what researchers currently know about managing people into clear and useful prescriptions…. It should be the benchmark for anyone seeking advice on how to manage people.”
—Thomas C. Cummings, Professor and Chair, Department of Management and Organization, Marshall School of Business, USC

“What a service! Stephen Robbins lays out the rock-solid foundation for managing people: those central truths that are consistently supported by research. Ignore them at your peril!”
—Kenneth W. Thomas, Professor Emeritus of Management, Naval Postgraduate School

Discover today’s quick, practical, proven guide to overcoming “killer” management problems and succeeding brilliantly as a leader! Unlike other management books, The Truth About Managing People, Fourth Edition is 100% practical and completely based on tested evidence, not mere anecdote or opinion. Top management author Stephen P. Robbins has distilled thousands of research studies, meta-analyses, and Big Data investigations into a set of 63 proven, tested solutions for today’s make-or-break management challenges. Each solution is presented quickly and concisely, in just 2-3 pages, so you can absorb them fast, and use them immediately. Robbins’ fully updated truths cover every key aspect of management, including hiring the right people and building winning teams; designing high-productivity jobs and rewarding the right behaviors; managing diversity, change, conflict, turnover, and staff cuts; overcoming self-serving bias, groupthink, and digital distractions, and much more. This edition adds nine all-new chapters, covering the crucial importance of people skills, building emotional intelligence, loyalty expectations, employee engagement and mentoring, managing face-to-face vs. virtual teams, overcoming the downsides of teams, handling unacceptable workplace behavior, promoting creativity and innovation, and more. Whatever your management role, Robbins has compiled indispensable practical truths you can and will apply, every single day.

Now fully updated: the practical, concise guide to succeeding brilliantly as a leader, and overcoming the “killer” problems every manager faces! 

• 63 bedrock management principles for improving communication, motivation, hiring, job design, team development, evaluations, corporate culture, and business performance!
• Distills thousands of individual research studies, dozens of meta-analyses (combined results), and new Big Data insights into a form every manager can use immediately
• Presents indispensable new truths for strengthening emotional intelligence, engaging and mentoring employees, promoting creativity, handling unacceptable workplace behavior, and more

Most management guides just don’t work. Either they’re too complex and academic, or they rely primarily on opinion and anecdote, not tested evidence. The Truth About Managing People, Fourth Editionisradically different – and that’s why it’s so remarkably useful. Top management author Stephen P. Robbins has distilled thousands of research studies, meta-analyses, and Big Data investigations into a set of 63 proven, tested solutions for today’s toughest management problems. Each solution is presented quickly and concisely, in just 2-3 pages, so you can absorb them fast, and use them immediately. You’ll find proven, up-to-date truths for hiring the right people and building winning teams; designing high-productivity jobs and rewarding the right behaviors; managing diversity, change, conflict, turnover, and staff cuts; overcoming self-serving bias, groupthink, and digital distractions, and much more. Updated throughout, this edition contains nine all-new chapters, covering the crucial importance of people skills, building emotional intelligence, loyalty expectations, employee engagement and mentoring, managing face-to-face vs. virtual teams, overcoming the downsides of teams, handling unacceptable workplace behavior, promoting creativity and innovation, and more. This is simply today’s best and most enduring thinking on being a great manager: a set of truths you can and will use, every single day.

Preface     vii

Truth 1 The Importance of “People Skills”      1
Truth 2 First Impressions DO Count!      5
Truth 3 Forget Traits; It’s Behavior That Counts!      9
Truth 4 Brains Matter; or Why You Should Hire Smart People     13
Truth 5 When in Doubt, Hire Conscientious People!     17
Truth 6 Want Friendly Employees? It’s in the Genes!     21
Truth 7 Don’t Ignore Emotional Intelligence     25
Truth 8 Throw Out Your Age Stereotypes     29
Truth 9 Match Personalities and Jobs     33
Truth 10 Hire People Who Fit Your Culture: My “Good Employee” Was Your Stinker!     37
Truth 11 Good Citizenship Counts!     41
Truth 12 Realistic Job Previews: What You See Is What You Get     45
Truth 13 Manage the Socialization of New Employees     49

Truth 14 Why Many Workers Aren’t Motivated at Work Today     53
Truth 15 Telling Employees to “Do Your Best” Isn’t Likely to Achieve Their Best     57
Truth 16 Professional Workers Go for the Flow     61
Truth 17 Not Everyone Wants a Challenging Job     65
Truth 18 When Giving Feedback: Criticize Behaviors, Not People     69
Truth 19 You Get What You Reward     73
Truth 20 It’s All Relative!     77
Truth 21 Recognition Motivates (and It Costs Very Little!)     81
Truth 22 There’s More to High Employee Performance Than Just Motivation     85
Truth 23 So Long Loyalty, Hello Employee Engagement     89

Truth 24 Five Leadership Myths Debunked     93
Truth 25 The Essence of Leadership Is Trust     97
Truth 26 Experience Counts! Not Necessarily!     101
Truth 27 Effective Leaders Know How to Frame Issues     105
Truth 28 You Get What You Expect     109
Truth 29 Charisma Can Be Learned     113
Truth 30 Charisma Is Not Always an Asset     117
Truth 31 Make Others Dependent on You     121
Truth 32 Successful Leaders Are Politically Adept     125
Truth 33 Ethical Leadership     129
Truth 34 Virtual Leadership: Leading from Afar     133
Truth 35 Leading Across the Generational Gap     137
Truth 36 Becoming a Mentor     141
Truth 37 Adjust Your Leadership Style for Cultural Differences, or When in Rome…     145

Truth 38 Hearing Isn’t Listening     149
Truth 39 Listen to the Grapevine     153
Truth 40 Men and Women Communicate Differently     157
Truth 41 What You Do Overpowers What You Say     161
Truth 42 The Value of Silence     165
Truth 43 Watch Out for Digital Distractions     169

Truth 44 What We Know That Makes Teams Work     173
Truth 45 2 + 2 Doesn’t Necessarily Equal 4     177
Truth 46 The Value of Diversity on Teams     181
Truth 47 We’re Not All Equal: Status Matters!     185
Truth 48 When Teams Are Appropriate, and When They’re Not     189

Truth 49 The Case for Conflict     193
Truth 50 Beware of Groupthink     197
Truth 51 How to Reduce Work-Life Conflicts     201
Truth 52 Negotiating Isn’t About Winning and Losing     205

Truth 53 Annual Reviews: The Best Surprise Is No Surprise!     209
Truth 54 Don’t Blame Me! The Role of Self-Serving Bias     213
Truth 55 Judging Others: Tips for Making Better Decisions     217
Truth 56 Coping with Deviant Workplace Behavior     221

Truth 57 Most People Resist Any Change That Doesn’t Jingle in Their Pockets!     225
Truth 58 Use Participation to Reduce Resistance to Change     229
Truth 59 Creating Creative Employees     233
Truth 60 Employee Turnover Can Be a Good Thing     237
Truth 61 In Cutbacks: Don’t Neglect the Survivors     241
Truth 62 Beware of the Quick Fix     245

References     249

Now fully updated: the practical, concise guide to succeeding brilliantly as a leader, and overcoming the “killer” problems every manager faces! 

• 63 bedrock management principles for improving communication, motivation, hiring, job design, team development, evaluations, corporate culture, and business performance!
• Distills thousands of individual research studies, dozens of meta-analyses (combined results), and new Big Data insights into a form every manager can use immediately
• Presents indispensable new truths for strengthening emotional intelligence, engaging and mentoring employees, promoting creativity, handling unacceptable workplace behavior, and more

Stephen P. Robbins, Ph.D., professor emeritus of management at San Diego State University, is the world’s best-selling author of textbooks in management and organizational behavior. His books have sold more than six million copies and been translated into 20 languages. A member of USA Masters’ Track & Field Hall of Fame, he holds the current world record at 100 meters for men 65 and over.

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