Abstract
This is the third edition of a textbook that has been successful and very well received by reviewers. This is well deserved as it is a good text with an original composition of topics and issues. The coverage of topics is broad and comprehensive even if some of the subjects are only touched upon lightly.
The book is organized in six parts with a total of 28 chapters. The six parts are named:
Management Influences in a Changing Landscape
Strategy and Planning
Leadership and Innovation
Governance and Social Responsibility
Customer and Market Focus, and finally
Success and Sustainability.
Each of the parts has an introduction that contextualizes the chapters in the part and thereby makes it easier for the reader to orient herself in the topics. Each of the chapters is subdivided using many small headed paragraphs. The book also comprises a subject index. The rather few literature references are placed at the end of each chapter.
In the preface, the author states that one of the intentions of the book is that it can work as a combination of a textbook and a handbook. It is a demanding task the author confronts herself with. On the one hand, she has to encompass many and rather diversified topics. She also has to find a delicate balance between breadth and depth in the treatment of the single issues. Further, she has to decide the balance between theoretical reflection and a more practical approach in relation to the issues.
The prose is terse and clear and one must admit that the messages come across in a very forceful manner. This is of course a very good thing if one wants to look up a definition, a concept or an approach but the approach is less convincing if the text is used as a textbook that should stimulate a more theoretical discussion in a classroom. This point can be illustrated looking at the treatment of strategic planning that is Part 2 in the book. The text is comprehensive covering a whole range of important topics but it also possesses a very normative approach based on a kind of rationalistic approach to change processes. There is really no discussion in the text of strategic planning and strategies as emergent processes or a discussion about opportunistic strategies or strategies as symbolic actions and so on. It means probably that one has to supplement the text as a textbook with other writings in a learning situation. As a handbook, one gets precise and short definitions of important tools and concepts and a clear overview of one of the modes of strategy and planning.
One of the very sympathetic approaches in the text is the fact that it is very much – directly and indirectly – oriented towards the importance of employees in an organization and especially that it does not treat staff as a kind of organizational variable that leadership and management can manipulate. In this respect, the book is good because it reflects the fact that the type of organization focused upon in the book consists mainly of profession knowledge-intensive employees that often burn for their tasks.
Covering so many issues and areas, there is a risk of what we could call overgeneralization. This reviewer wonders if it is the case. For example, in the chapters that treat the different generations of customers, users and employees, one could have asked for a more reflective discussion on the difference between the silent generation, baby-boomers, generation X and Y and the millennials. The characteristics of each of the generations are of course put in comparative tables but one might wonder how useful stereotypes of this kind really are in the process of leading and managing organizations in a turbulent environment. A short discussion of the research base behind these stereotypes and the validity of the research would have been a welcome addition to the text. However, it is of course justified to include topics like these because they are used in practice, in seminars, in papers and they form our perceptions. It is fine to get handbook-like definitions of the concepts. A textbook could have had a more distanced approach to the definitions and the reality behind. Admittedly, a discussion of this kind would probably change the text too much.
These small criticisms apart, it must be emphasized that the text is good and that the composition of chapters and contents are very illuminating. The part of the book about leadership and innovation comprises 120 pages in 10 chapters. There are some highlights in this part of the book. If a reader wants to find out the difference between a group and a team, this book is worth looking at. Further, if one wants to know what constitutes an effective team, this book again is worth using. This part of the book has chapters on topics often omitted in management handbooks or textbooks. Conflict resolution is one of these areas just like the topic on work – family balance together with stress management. The chapter on political issues is also interesting and illuminating. The author rightly sees leadership as relational to employees and stakeholders in the environment and she also offers very good advice about fostering conditions in organizations for trust, empowerment and engagement.
It is evident that the inclusion of topics and issues is the result of a perception that information services and organizations delivering information services today and tomorrow are situated in contexts that are changing and already in very different conditions to just 10 years ago.As a result of this, the composition of topics is one of the strengths in the book. The flow of the writing makes it enjoyable to read.
The only negative this reviewer can see in the book is the question of generalizations popping up from time to time. In a short paragraph where service quality and quality are discussed in relation to countries (p. 388) one could ask for reservations or moderations. However, the conclusion drawn is right and sound. Delivery of service quality must take the context into consideration.
The book is highly recommended because of its composition of topics, its original coverage and clarity of prose. I do think it will serve people working in the information business very well as both a handbook and as a source for inspiration. It will also work very well as a textbook – especially if students are able to use the text as a source for formulating further questions and problems. Anyway, it is a book one will return to because of its definitions, coverage of present issues and its sound approach.