A bias for action : how effective managers harness their willpower, achieve their goals, and stop wasting time

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Title:

Author:

Bruch, Heike.

ISBN:

9781591394082

Personal Author:

Bruch, Heike.

Publication Information:

Boston : Harvard Business School Press, c2004.

Physical Description:

xii, 212 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

Contents:

Pt. 1. Harnessing your willpower to achieve results -- 1. Management is the art of doing and getting done -- 2. Distinguishing purposeful action from active nonaction -- 3. Marshaling energy and developing focus -- 4. Moving beyond motivation to willpower -- 5. Crossing the Rubicon -- 6. Overcoming the three traps of nonaction -- Pt. 2. Cultivating a company of action-takers -- 7. Developing purposeful managers : the organization's responsibility -- 8. Unleashing organizational energy for collective action -- 9. Freeing your people to act : a mandate for leaders -- App. How we studied willpower.

Abstract:

"Does your job seem like an endless "to-do" list that never gets you - or your company - anywhere? You know what you're supposed to focus on: cutting costs, improving efficiency, encouraging innovation. So why do critical goals consistently get eclipsed by fighting fires, answering e-mails, and other routine "busywork"?".

"In this surprising and frame-changing book, management experts Heike Bruch and Sumantra Ghoshal argue that while the usual suspects - overwhelming workloads, tight budgets, and unsupportive bosses - play a role in managerial ineffectiveness, most of the blame lies in how managers approach their jobs. Based on a ten-year study of managerial behavior in industries from banking to software to airlines to consulting, A Bias for Action reveals that only 10 percent of managers work purposefully to get important work done. The other 90 percent squander their potential by procrastinating, detaching from their work, or spinning their wheels in a flurry of "active nonaction."".

"Bruch and Ghoshal show that the most effective managers succeed not because they possess unique characteristics or excel at motivating others, but because they harness personal willpower through a potent combination of energy and focus. This willpower is what helps productive managers achieve their goals in spite of the inevitable barriers, setbacks, and distractions that are a mainstay of managerial life."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject Term:

Management.

Added Author:

Ghoshal, Sumantra.

Electronic Access:

Table of contents http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0411/2003025724.html

Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168015746064	658.4 B887B 2004	1	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

In "A Bias for Action", Sumantra Ghoshal and Heike Bruch reveal that only 10 per cent of managers act purposefully to get truly important work done. "A Bias for Action" shows that great managers produce results not by motivating others, but by engaging their own willpower through a powerful combination of energy and focus. Bruch and Ghoshal provide simple strategies for bolstering individual willpower and action-taking abilities, and explore ways to marshal the willpower of others to encourage collective action.