Calgary Public Library

I'm sorry I broke your company, when management consultants are the problem, not the solution, Karen Phelan

eng

Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-196) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

I'm sorry I broke your company

electronic resource

bibliographydictionaries

823170242

Karen Phelan

when management consultants are the problem, not the solution

It's the People, Stupid! Karen Phelan is sorry. She really is. She tried to do business by the numbers--the management consultant way--developing measures, optimizing processes, and quantifying performance. The only problem is that businesses are run by people. And people can't be plugged into formulas or summed up in scorecards. Phelan dissects a whole range of consulting treatments for unhealthy companies and shows why they're essentially fad diets: superficial would-be fixes that don't result in lasting improvements and can cause serious damage. With a mix of clear-eyed business analysis, heart-wrenching stories, and hard-won lessons for both consultants and the people who hire them, this book is impossible to put down and impossible to ignore. Karen Phelan and other consultants may have "broken" your company, but she's eager to make amends

Strategic planning can't predict the future : strategy development is a vision quest -- Make sure you reengineer the people, too : optimized processes only look good on paper -- Metrics are the means, not the ends : numerical targets are measure-mental -- Standardized human asset management is a sham : how performance management demoralizes the performers -- I am a manager, and so can you : why is the successful manager's handbook 609 pages long? -- Stop perpetrating talent management on people : Albert Einstein was not an a player -- Great leaders don't fill the models : Steve Jobs failed my leadership competencies -- Out of the boxes, charts and spreadsheets : how to think without consultants