In the business world, confrontations are inevitable --whether they're with your employees, peers, bosses, or evensuppliers and customers. Ignored or handled badly, confrontationscan damage workplace relationships and ruin careers. This volume helps you master the art of effectively managingdifficult interactions. You'll learn how to: Determine which confrontations are worth an investment of yourtime and energy Understand and manage the strong emotions that can arise duringconfrontations Design solutions that meet all stakeholders' needs Coach your direct reports to resolve confrontationsproductively

The man who helped set the management agenda for the 1990s now brings us into the twenty-first century with the national bestseller Leading the Revolution. In this newly updated edition, Gary Hamel rays out an action plan for any individual or company intent on becoming--and staying--an industry revolutionary and a relentLess innovator. By drawing on the success of "gray- haired revolutionaries" Like Charles Schwab and GE Capital--companies that are always one step ahead of the rest--and profiling pioneering individuals, Hamel explains how companies can continue to grow, innovate, and achieve success, even in a chaotic world market.

From the profit-minded managers who make up the brain trust atThe Atlanta Consulting Group comes a simple new method hailed as arevolutionary management practice: learning to care.

As America's premier management consultant, Philip Crosby has made "quality" the corporate buzz word in America's top-tier firms. Now, as he has before, this bold, brilliant, and very practical mover-and-shaker has set out to disturb the complacency and stir the creative capacity of American management. The result is a book that raises the credo of quality to a higher level--the level demanded in the fiercely competitive marketplaces of today and tomorrow. Crosby's message to management is as powerful as it is plainspoken. Just as a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, no com- pany can afford to ignore any part of its operation--whether it is the goods and services it offers, the needs of the customers it serves, the loyalty and nitiative of the people who work for it, or the bottom-line results on inex- orable computer printouts. Success in attaining quality in all these areas iswhat the author means by Completeness. It's the whole picture. And this valuable book shows how to put it clearly into focu

In this companion to their upcoming PBS series, Dobyns and Crawford-Mason survey "continuous improvement" programs in America's private and public sectors. They note that organizations have shifted away "from a focus on technical aspects . . . to a focus on the complete interface between . . . a business and its customers." Their most interesting chapter compares the major U.S. quality gurus, including W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran, and profiles their Japanese disciples. The authors also subject the much-ballyhooed Baldrige Quality Award to some needed scrutiny. Several companies described (Motorola, Federal Express) have been treated elsewhere, and readers must wade through tedious recitations by top managers. However, a visit to Mount Edgecumbe High School in Alaska adds some perspective on the educational realm's quality movements. While general readers will gain a useful overview of the U.S. push to regain international competitiveness, there are few new revelations. An optional purchase for business

Learn all you need to know about successful team management,from building up a team that functions effectively to achieving thedesired results. Managing Teams shows you how to establish aproductive environment and exploit group dynamics, and it alsoprovides practical techniques to try in different settings. Powertips help you handle real-life situations and develop thefirst-class team-management skills that are the key to a productiveand informed workplace. The Essential Manager have sold more than1.9 million copies worldwide! Experienced and novice managers alikecan benefit from these compact guides that slip easily into abriefcase or a portfolio. The topics are relevant to every workenvironment, from large corporations to small businesses. Concisetreatments of dozens of business techniques, skills, methods, andproblems are presented with hundreds of photos, charts, anddiagrams. It is the most exciting and accessible approach tobusiness and self-improvement available.

If you're ever favored enough to catch a few minutes of a corporate CEO's time, and feel bold enough to ask what their job entails, chances are you'll hear something lofty about developing strategy, empowering employees, seeing the big picture. But if you ask to see their calendar for the past month, you'll probably find they've spent very little, if any, time doing those things. The look-at-last-month's-calendar trick was devised by Donald Laurie, a Boston-based management consultant, to help top executives figure out how best to lead their companies. Laurie sees a leader as the person who climbs out on the balcony and sees the company from above, the one who sees how all the parts connect to make a smoothly running machine. At the same time, if the leader stays up on that balcony for too much of the day, he or she can't hear the grumbling below. And what's being grumbled about is often the information that could save the CEO's job. As an example of this, Laurie relates the story of Xerox Corp. when it