This clearly written new book helps current and aspiring high-technology executives get back to management basics and rediscover the solid, timeless leadership skills needed to successfully run a business into the next century. The New High-Tech Manager: Six Rules for Success in Changing Times shows you how combining proven-under-fire management methods with your own technical training can make you a better, more effective manager. You learn why management fads and quick fix remedies just don 't work, by seeing how they pale in comparison to the book's six fundamental guidelines: Profit fixation; Technical literacy; Change dynamics insight; Policy and procedure comprehension; Decision theory knowledge; Character duality. The book shows you how developing these skills complements and strengthens your existing technical training and is filled with helpful tips on how to use these principles in solving the problems you face everyday in the workplace. If you 're an engineer, scientist, or other technical professional moving or planning to move into middle- or upper-management, this guide shows you how to use your technical know-how to make the transition easier. If you're a non-technical business person, you'll find this book valuable reading as it helps you master the fundamental skills you need to manage in today's high-tech environment.
1. The Fundamentals: Introducing the Technologist-Manager. What Is a Manager's Real Job? What Is Fundamental About Fundamentals? Is This Just Another List? The Six Fundamentals. Get Ready For Your Trek. 2. Profit: The Triumph of Political Correctness Over Making Money. Profit Is Out of Sight, It Is Out of Mind. Profit Is Not a Four-letter Word. An Example. This Has a Familiar Ring. Falling In Love With Technology. Numbers, Schmumbers, I Can Get Them To Say Anything I Want. Situational Fundamentals Are No Fundamentals At All. 3. Technical Literacy: Managers Need To Know Business, Not Technology. A Plane Full of Experts From Katmandu. Everybody Has Gone High-Tech. Some Examples. Where Do I Go From Here? Improving Your Technical Literacy. 4. Change Dynamics: The Myth of Stability and the Reality of Change. The Third Fundamental Skill. The Three Common Phases of Successful Change. Specialists Use Special Language. The Fallacy of Managing Change. The Paradox of Fear and Safety. Recognizing Unfreezing. The Fallacy of Empowerment. Refreezing. Appreciating the Problem. The Myth of Models. Goals and Objectives: What Is the Big Deal? Changing To Improve Profits Versus Changing To Improve Life. Who Says We Have To Change Anyway? What Does Yes Sound Like? Kill It Before It Dies of Neglect. Solving the Problem. 5. Useful Change Tools: The Usual Tools. The Uncommon But More Useful Tools. Foreground, Background, and Gestalt. All You Really Need To Know About Meetings. 6. Controlling Change: Controlled Versus Uncontrolled Changes. Two Real-life Examples. Keepers of the System. Uncontrolled Change: The Root of All Failure. The Reluctance to Write Policy. Plan, Policy, and Procedure. The Effect of Disconfirming Information on Operating Systems. Planned and Unplanned Change. 7. Documentation Basics: The Paradox of Control and Empowerment. Write It Down. Too Much Is as Bad as Too Little. Disinterested Management Dooms the Ship. A Document By Any Other Name. Self-Referentialism. Document System Efficiency. For your Information Usually Means Otherwise. Do Not Name the Nameless. Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth. The Document Pyramid. Exercise and Regular Checkups. Throwing Work Over the Wall. 8. Decision Errors: More Is Not Necessarily Better. Politics To the Rescue: The Origins of Groupthink. Groupthink in the Business World. Illusion of Control. A Nice Frame Affects the Picture. Sunk Costs Might as Well Be at the Bottom of the Ocean. So, How Do You Think He Will React? I Saw It On Television. So, What Do You Want To Eat? 9. Decision Tools: Paper and Pencil Versus Speculation. The Fine Art of Note-taking. Think Alternatives. Decision Trees. Decisions Are Optional. Into the Breach. 10. Duality: Duality: A Necessity. A Change Project For Every Manager. Duality Requires Consistency. Shared Decision Making. The Inclusion Tree. Limiting Inclusion. Duality: A State of Mind. 11. Fundamentals Versus Fads: The Fundamentals of Fads. The Business Fad Game. Breaking Out. What Is In a name? The Fad Factory. In the Beginning. Fundamental Foundations. Hall of Shame. Reengineering and Technology. Fads Walk on the Back of Technical Illiteracy. The King of Confusion: Quality Improvement Programs. The Customer Is Seldom Right. Total Quality Management (TQM). International House of Pancakes Is a Conspiracy. Culture Club. My Benchmark Will Not Return My Calls. Business Fads Do Have Value. Fads and the Need For Closure. Managers Are Not the Only Fad Mongers. 12. Closure: Profit Awareness. Technical Literacy. Change Dynamics. Documentation Basics. Decision Theory. Duality. The Sum Is Greater Than the Parts. One More Trip. Where Do Good Managers Come From?
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Kenneth Durham
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Bruce Kennedy