Calling a Halt to Mindless Change: A Plea for Commonsense Management

John Macdonald

Jun 2004 · Beard Books

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From The Reviewer:(http://www.asq1420.com/rev/Rev30.htm) Kudos to author Macdonald (author of "Understanding TQM in a Week," "Understanding Benchmarking in a Week," and "Global Quality") for his serious pause for reflection about the clutter of management ideas now competing for chief executive attention. Following Micklethwait and Wooldridge's successful "The Witch Doctors," a similar focus on unsubstantial management recommendations, Macdonald offers sobering advice to counter what he calls the mindless adoption of the new "isms" and four-legged absolutes trumpeted by dancing elephants (management consultants) clamoring to be heard. According to Macdonald, the issue is not so much that a management idea like reengineering is implemented, as is the mindless, irresponsible manner in which the idea is simply adopted by management with little appreciation for the more correct approach, the "adaptation" of the idea within the reality of the prevailing culture of the organization. He describes numerous examples of these "false gods" that have confused management (including TQM) and obscured the simple truths of business, explains the real nature of change, including his own interesting perspective that the pace of change is not as dramatic as is fashionable to believe, and describes his simple common sense elements of an "evolutionary organization" more likely to succeed with the reality of change. Numerous examples of these "evolutionary organizations" (3M, Arthur Andersen, Wal-Mart, Toyota, Motorola) help connect this treatise that is an excellent aid in balancing the din of management gurubable filling the shelves in this crowded genre. Highly recommended for professionals in any organization.