Why Managers Matter, Nicolai J Foss
Why Managers Matter, Nicolai J Foss
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Why Managers Matter
The Perils of the Bossless Company

Author: Nicolai J Foss, Peter G Klein

Narrator: Jorge Luis Pallo

Unabridged: 11 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 10/04/2022

Synopsis

A manifesto on managers and hierarchy that bucks the trend of the lean, flat, leaderless organization

As business struggles to adapt to a rapidly changing world, managers are bombarded with a bewildering array of schemes for how to be a boss and make an organization tick. It’s tempting to be seduced by futurist fantasies where every company has the culture of a startup, and where employees in wacky, whimsical office settings, liberated from hierarchies and bosses that oppress them, are the foundation for breakthrough performance.

“Get real,” warn Nicolai J. Foss and Peter G. Klein. These fads ironically lead to micromanaging and, often, to disaster. Companies and societies, they show, need authority and hierarchy to coordinate work, including creative work. And, counterintuitively, Foss and Klein illustrate how the creative use of authority and hierarchy helps companies to be more agile and flexible, enabling educated, motivated people and teams to thrive.

And not a moment too soon: Foss and Klein provide evidence that global challenges such as the proliferation of artificial intelligence, economic disruption, empowered knowledge workers, and black swan events such as the pandemic actually make hierarchy and the job of the manager more important than ever.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Rafael on December 28, 2022

No es con mucha frecuencia que uno lee un libro que lo hace cambiar de opinión. Este es uno de ellos. A medida que avanza la digitalización de todos los aspectos de los negocios se podría pensar que ésta implicaría un inexorable aplanamiento de las estructuras corporativas, con una cada vez mayor ca......more

Goodreads review by Jung on January 17, 2023

**SAY YES TO MANAGERS ** Discover the benefits and drawbacks of both hierarchical and bossless company organizations. How is your workplace structured? Is there a clear hierarchy, with employees and bosses, and orders handed out from higher-ups? Or does every employee have a sense of autonomy, free to......more

Goodreads review by Louise on October 01, 2022

With WHY MANAGERS MATTER, Nicolai J. Foss and Peter G. Klein make a compelling, convincing argument in favor of management. In a time when common wisdom is overwhelmingly against hierarchy, managers, and structure, this powerful book is an essential reminder that there is no single, ideal organizati......more

Goodreads review by Sam on January 17, 2023

Nothing ground-breaking, but I appreciated the common sense of the authors.......more

Goodreads review by Jacob on November 07, 2022

This is a fantastic book that will be of value both to working managers and management scholars. The two authors, who are authorities within management research, provide an essay access into the enormous literature of management practices. Yet, this book is by no means an academic exercise, rather t......more

Quotes

“In Why Managers Matter, Nicolai Foss and Peter Klein have created a welcome counter to the voices who see management as the problem rather than the solution. Absent hierarchy, they teach, unfocused variety grows but lacks the value and competitive punch of focused activity. If you are struggling within the vaporous terrain of a ‘bossless’ company, get a copy of Why Managers Matter. Or, even better, give a copy to the person who should be the boss.”—Richard P. Rumelt, author of Good Strategy/Bad Strategy and The Crux

“Leaner and flatter are better, but bosses and hierarches still matter. We just have to get them right for our times in a world that is more diverse, more teamed, and more driven by empowered leadership up and down the hierarchy. Foss and Klein have compellingly made the case. Long live the principle-driven manager!”—Michael Useem, faculty director, McNulty Leadership Program, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and author of The Edge

“Managers matter, and this book shows why. Using careful research, solid evidence, and a thoughtful perspective on management and organizations, Foss and Klein persuasively demonstrate that managers—and management—will remain essential to the modern economy in the twenty-first century.”—Henry Chesbrough, University of California, Berkeley; Luiss University, Rome; and author of Open Innovation

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