1st Edition

Phoenix Without the Ashes Achieving Organizational Excellence Through Common Sense Management

By Gary English Copyright 1998
    282 Pages
    by CRC Press

    The quality management revolution has resulted in considerable trial and error as well as frustration. Here is a book that explores why many management trends don't translate into process improvement. It recommends establishing a condition of "rationality" as a guide and measure for all organizational and quality improvement efforts. Instead of imposing radical new "breakthroughs", Phoenix Without the Ashes: Achieving Organizational Excellence Through Common Sense Management suggests an approach that fits with the normal routines and operations of an organization in a way that makes sense.
    Part One of this text discusses the nature of common sense, and of quality as a condition of organizational excellence. In Part Two, the elements that negatively affect quality improvement are explained from an operating management perspective. Part Three looks at the impediments to improvement set by organizational structures. Part Four discusses the relationship among leadership, motivation, and organizational excellence, and Part Five suggests a rational strategy for effective, enduring organizational improvement.
    Managers in every industry will benefit from the information provided in Phoenix Without the Ashes.

    Common Sense and the Search for Improvement
    Making Sense of Modern Management
    Common Sense and Organizational Quality.
    The Modern Challenge of Increasing Complexity
    Excellent Knowledge and Organizational Rationality
    Paradoxes and Problems in Management Perspective
    The Paradox of Language
    American Management Ideology
    Authority and the Paradox of Control
    Decision-Making and Organizational Irrationality
    Structural Impediments to Improvement
    Budgeting and Organizational Rationality
    Framing the Organization
    Routine as Rut and Groove
    Silos, Hierarchy, and Organizational Learning
    Management, Leadership, and Organizational Performance
    Leadership, Coaching, and Quality
    Managerial Leadership and Motivation
    Common Sense and Elegant Control
    Creating Organizational Excellence
    Strategies for Change
    Quality and Organizational Rationality
    The Quest of Quality

    Biography

    Gary English