The Realities of Management: A View from the Trenches

Callaway aims at the front-line executive and manager and drives home the point that there are no standard solutions to management problems, simply because management circumstances are never alike. Indeed, problems have different solutions and the outcome in one situation can be different from the outcome in another. Basing his book upon real world situations and presenting problems in the way they usually occur, with no one solution but rather a range of possibilities, Callaway demonstrates that every decision carries risk. Making matters worse, rarely do managers have all of the information they need for truly self-assured and successful decisions. Indeed, he asks readers to decide which of the several solutions he offers to a problem is best under the given circumstances. Throughout his vividly drawn scenarios he makes clear that the authoritarian model of the manager is on the decline and just won't work as it once did in everyday work situations. From cubicle row to mahogany row, managers who participate with Callaway in his moral and ethical decision situations and in his other real world mind-benders will find themselves unable to resist asking: What would I do?

Callaway looks at management problems in terms of people, organizational structures, ethics, morality, and corporate politics. His book shifts among many different levels within the organization to demonstrate that the decision process and the techniques used for risk assessment are essentially the same at all levels. From a discussion and critique of popular management theories and an overview of management processes, Callaway moves to an examination of how the changing attitudes of knowledge workers is affecting organizational models. He offers examples of what these models might look like, thus giving insight into new management techniques needed to manage tomorrow's workers in the virtual workplace. Sharply written but often playful, ^BThe Realities of Management is essential reading for anyone who manages or someday hopes to.