Managing Today! 2nd Ed.

Description: For courses in Introduction to Management and courses that combine management and organizational behavior. This unique, re-engineered text defines and describes the new "paradigm" brought on by recent dramatic changes in the field of management. Managing Today! redefines the traditional "functional" approach employed by previous management texts to more accurately reflect recent, fundamental changes in the economy and workplace--changes that have significantly reshaped today's managers' jobs. Robbins' balanced approach presents an effective integration of theory and applications displayed within a clear, visual design specifically tailored for today's students.


Contents: I. INTRODUCTION. 1. Welcome to the Changing World of Work. The New Economy. The New Organization. The New Employee. 2. Managing Organizations and People: Who, What, and Why? Managers and Their Terrain. Multiple Perspectives on What Managers Do. Assessing Managerial Effectiveness. Coming Attractions: A Guide to the Book. II. DECISION, PLANNING, AND MONITORING SYSTEMS. 3. Making Decisions. How Should Decisions Be Made? Who Should Make Decisions? How Are Decisions Actually Made in Organizations? What Can Managers Do to Improve Their Decision Making? 4. Monitoring the Environment. Defining the Environment. Major Sources of Environmental Uncertainty. Environmental Scanning. Environmental Scanning Tools. Ethical Issues in Environmental Scanning. Strategies for Managing the Environment. Contemporary Organization-Environment Issues. 5. Planning Systems. What is Planning? Types of Plans. Planning in an Uncertain Environment. The Place to Start: Defining an Organization's Purpose. Creating a Strategy. Implementing a Strategy. Project Management: A Tool for the '90s. Entrepreneurship: A Special Case of Strategic Planning. Objectives: Their Use and Misuse in Planning. Personal Planning: Building Your Time-Management Skills. 6. Monitoring Performance Through Control Systems. The Control Process. What Managers Seek to Control. How MIS is Changing Control Systems. The Downside of Controls. Control Tools. III. ORGANIZING TASKS, PEOPLE, AND CULTURE. 7. Technology and the Design of Work Processes. Technology and Productivity. Operations Technology. Information Technology. Technology and Worker Obsolescence. Work Design. 8. Organization Design. What is Organization Structure? The Contingency Approach to Organization Design. Design Options. 9. Managing Human Resources. Managers and the Human Resources Department. The Human Resource Management Process. The Regulatory Environment: What Laws and Regulations Shape HRM Practices? Human Resource Planning: What's Our HRM Needs? Recruitment: Where Do Managers Find Qualified Job Candidates? Selection: How Can Managers Choose the Best-Qualified Job Candidate? Training: How Can Managers Ensure Employee Skills Are Current? Performance Appraisal: What's the Best Way to Evaluate an Employee's Performance? Decruitment: What Options Exist to Handle Overstaffing? Contemporary Issues in Human Resource Management. 10. Understanding Groups and Developing Effective Teams. Groups Versus Teams. Basic Group Concepts. What Explains the Recent Popularity of Teams? Types of Teams. Creating High-Performance Teams. Transforming Individuals into Team Players. Teams Are Not a Panacea! When to Show Caution. 11. Creating and Sustaining the Organization's Culture. What is Organizational Culture? How is Culture Created? How Do Employees Learn Their Organization's Culture? How Do You Read an Organization's Culture? Techniques for Managing an Organization's Culture. Threats to Diversity: The Downside of Strong Cultures. IV. LEADING AND EMPOWERING PEOPLE. 12. Understanding the Basics of Human Behavior. Personality: Classifying Individual Differences. Perception and Attributions: Interpreting the World Around Us. Expectations: What You See Is What You Get. Attitudes: Feelings Influence Behavior. Learning: How People Adapt. Cultural Differences in Human Behavior. 13. Work Motivation and Rewards. Some Popular Misconceptions about Motivation and Rewards. Defining Motivation. Basic Motivation and Reward Issues. An Integrative Model of Motivation. Contemporary Applications. 14. Basic Issues in Leadership. What is Leadership? Identifying the Basic Issues in Leadership. Leadership Effectiveness. Leader Characteristics and Style. Follower Characteristics. Leader Behavior. Leadership Context. The Leadership Journey: Where We Have Been. 15. Contemporary Issues in Leadership. Creating Transformational Leaders. Contemporary Leadership Roles. The Gender Issue: Do Men and Women Lead Differently? The Ethics Issue: Is There a Moral Dimension to Leadership? Finding and Creating Effective Leaders. 16. Building Trust. What is Trust? Why Has Trust Become So Important Today? Leadership and Trust. Types of Trust. Trust Typologies and Stages. Basic Principles of Trust. How Do You Build Trust? Rebuilding Loss of Trust. Trust on Temporary Teams: The Case of "Swift Trust". The Role of Trust in Different Cultures. 17. Developing Interpersonal Skills. The Importance of Interpersonal Skills. Interpersonal Communication. Conflict Management Skills. Negotiation Skills. Delegation Skills. Counseling Skills. Politicking Skills. V. ORGANIZATIONAL RENEWAL. 18. Managing Change: Revisiting the Changing World of Work. The Changing World of Work Revisited. Resistance to Change. Managers as Change Agents. Managing Planned Change. What Can Managers Change? Techniques for Changing People. Contemporary Issues in Managing Change. Appendix: The Historical Roots of Current Management Practice.