What Were They Thinking (text only) by J.Pfeffer

by J.Pfeffer

What Were They Thinking?: Unconventional Wisdom About Management [Hardcover]Jeffrey Pfeffer (Author)

Genres: Business, Management, Leadership, Nonfiction, Buisness

Hardcover

First published June 1, 2007

Reviews

[JP · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of distinct lessons was a very readable format on a long car trip with kids. I've always enjoyed organizational behavior topics and Pfeffer's background at Stanford gives him a rich set of examples to leverage. He organizes the lessons into three categories: failure to consider unintended consequences, reliance on naive theories of behavior, and ignorance of obvious answers. The range of points doesn't combine into a unified framework, but it's not intended to do so. These are the pitfalls to avoid, and that approach lets Pfeffer come up with more thought-provoking examples, such as Why spy on your employees? and In Praise of Organized Labor. The final chapter is about stopping corporate misdeeds. With no conclusion following that, the book seems to end abruptly.

[Martin Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of short chapters on particular business issues. Now 15 years old, some feel rather dated, but the underlying issues are persistent. Perhaps the most common issue is the staff, customers and suppliers are human beings and should be treated with consideration. A lot of his observations seem contrary to common wisdom, but provide stuff to think about.

[Yama Chen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Its quality is far away lower than his classic work.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

According to Pfeffer, there seem to be three themes that unify many of the ideas he shares in this volume: “(1) the importance of considering feedback effects – the ideas that actions often have unintended consequences; (2) the naïve, overly simplistic, almost mechanical models of people and organizations that seem to dominant both discourse and practice; and (3) the tendency to overcomplicate what are often reasonably straightforward choices and insights.” Pfeffer provides an abundance of examples of these and other especially common errors of comprehension and, worse yet, errors of judgment. “The message…is that we ought to think before we act, taking into full account feedback effects and using the insights of not only the large body of evidence on behavior but our own common sense and observations. It turns out both common sense and careful thought are in short supply. But that means there are great opportunities for those people and organizations willing to spend the effort to get beyond conventional management wisdom.”

most brilliant strategists who can’t adapt.”
In addition to sharing his thoughts about what’s wrong with strategy, I also appreciated his contrarian opinions about building customer relationships, training expenditures, “taking chances and making mistakes,” working long hours, interview objectives and hiring practices, “persistence,” compensation incentives and rewards, and organized labor (i.e. unions). Ultimately, Pfeffer insists, decision-makers must follow a remarkably simple process that dates back at least to Aristotle:

1. What is the question or problem?
2. What are the possible answers or solutions?
3. What is the best one and how do we know that?
4. What must we now do?

Of course, mistakes are made when making decisions and/or when following through on them but at least it is possible to increase the percentage of correct decisions. I agree with Pfeffer on the importance of considering feedback effects because actions often have unintended consequences. I also share his disdain for “the naïve, overly simplistic, almost mechanical models of people and organizations that seem to dominant both discourse and practice.” As for overcomplicating what are often reasonably straightforward choices and insights, Albert Einstein offers the best advice: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't typically read management books but a recent course I went on made me start thinking about what it meant to lead and developing one's management style. The nice thing about Pfeffer's book is that you don't have to read it in order. You're meant to dip into whichever chapter interests you and go from there. Overall, a short snappy read with some interesting anecdotes from diverse sources such as the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Jack Valenti, IDEO and Singapore Airlines. Not everything is going to be relevant to the reader but as Pfeffer says, just head straight for the chapters you're most interested in.

[Eyad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t like this book….I loved it. It provides a lot of examples of the traps, mistakes and worst practices of management and suggested corrective actions. What I liked the most about this book is the way it was written. Each chapter is a quick-read (4-5 pages) based and has nothing to do with other chapters! In other words, you don’t need to read the book from cover to cover. You can select the chapter that you are interested in and just read it. It could be used as a resource for managers to go back to if they get into similar scenarios to get the experience from others mistakes and avoid it.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stadford business school professor challenges a number of eleemtns of business "conventional wisdom," including the ideas that technology trumps people, that downsizing the work force and decreasing employee benefits are the best way to cut costs, that one should never admit one's mistakes, and that unions are necessarily bad for the bottom line. Well-reasoned and documented and thought-provoking.

[Krishna Kumar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe it is because I have been reading a lot of Pfeffer and Sutton books, but this book didn't do as much for me as their previous ones. Perhaps it is because much of the same ground is addressed in the other books. And also the devil's advocate approach to some issues felt less analytical than a rationalization of certain viewpoints. The authors would have been better advised to include a better critique of opposing viewpoints.

[Ed van der Winden · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short essays which touch on all of Pfeffers themes and ideas. Because other books I've read of him are sometimes a llittle too long and contain too many examples for my taste, this book is the perfect summary of his work. If you have this book you can skip a lot of the others!