Product Description

praise and reviews

“those with managerial responsibilities will find this a useful guide to keep on their shelves and dip into for background material and guidance on a range of business topics.”

- business franchise

“a practical and straightforward guide to successful management, written with the benefit of over 30 years’ experience.”

- business executive

the demands made on managers in today’s turbulent, uncertain and demanding world constantly increase. even the most experienced manager needs to keep abreast of new developments and periodically brush up on essential skills.

this new edition of the best-selling practical management guide has been fully revised and updated to cover 50 specific areas of management in a clear and relevant way. each is self-contained and can be dipped into, but all fall into the three broad categories in which any manager needs to be competent:

managing people

managing activities

managing and developing yourself

an invaluable handbook for existing and aspiring managers, how to be an even better manager also takes account of recently developed approaches to management, and includes new thinking on familiar aspects of the manager’s job. no book can tell managers what to do in every situation, but this incomparable new edition provides guidelines that will help you build up managerial knowledge and skills.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #228410 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

—Professional Manager, January 2005
" ‘An essential book for anyone in management’, says reviewer Julie Hyde MCMI."

Review

“one of those books you will keep coming back to. comprehensive, understandable and covering people, tasks and personal development, it is a reference book for managerial success.”

—reading chronicle

“an essential book for anyone in management’, says reviewer julie hyde mcmi.”

professional manager

“a top management guide that covers 50 specific areas of management in a relevant way.”

“an invaluable handbook for existing and aspiring managers.”

first voice

“topics covered are all tackled robustly with strategies which i can see working rather than abstract suggestions which don’t.”

pharmaceutical

“clear, concise and direct.”

training journal

“provides guidance that will help you build up managerial knowledge and skills.”

first voice

“one of those books you will keep coming back to. comprehensive, understandable and covering people, tasks and personal development, it is a reference book for managerial success.”

reading chronicle

“those with managerial responsibilities will find this a useful guide to keep on their shelves and dip into for background material and guidance on a range of business topics.”

business franchise

“a practical and straightforward guide to successful management, written with the benefit of over 30 years’ experience.”

business executive

Professional Manager
"An essential book for anyone in management."

Customer Reviews

An excellent bullet-point guide to the essentials
This book is a great reference for new managers or those aspiring to a management role. It provides clear, bullet-point tips and advice on most of the essential skills of management. Each topic is covered in just a few pages so you don't have to trawl through a lengthy and boring book to get the information you need.

Ideal for "Just-in-time" and "Just-enough" individual training needs. A bit more detail on each subject would have been good, however I accept that this may have detracted from the quick accessibility of the information so no real gripes there.

Overall, an excellent resource and an excellent buy.

New Managers/HR people - gain an insight into the black art!
Whether you're New to management, just been promoted to a management position (yet haven't a clue on how you'll cope) or if you're working in HR management, you'll find this book useful. Well seasoned managers will intuitively recognise all the techniques many of which are common sense. Well laid out, good simple language and none of the touchy/feely HR stuff - its a good read overall.

"To manage, or not to manage"
THAT IS THE QUESTION- AND THIS IS THE BEST ANSWER TO MANAGING MANAGEMENT!

Armstrong's book has been a phenomenal success since it first appeared in 1983 as `How to be a Better Manager'. Yep, it has grown from strength to strength with each edition selling very well with a tally of over 120,000 copies sold so far. And its success is well-deserved.

It is the book I do see at railway station bookstalls for the traveller who doesn't want something too intellectually heavy for his business journey, but wants to be well briefed before his next hairy meeting in a relaxed sort of way on the journey to the appointment.

It's 4 years since the 6th edition came out, and Michael Armstrong has updated this impressive work in some detail. His fifty key aspects of management have undergone extensive and necessary revision.

Armstrong has included eight new chapters dealing with how to achieve continuous improvement (so important for the zealous regulator of today), how to delight (make sure you control the jokes), how to manage risk (very important for solicitors), how to prepare customers and make a business case (the life-blood of the advocate), how to create a business plan (most important for barristers), and how to recover from setbacks (extremely important for advocates!)

Lawyers are managers and small businesses, and must have the skills outlined by Armstrong to be a success when they go up one notch to run (in other words, to manage) a case in court.... and succeed. The demands made on us in today's uncertain, demanding and turbulent world are on the increase. We are all in need of professional development at all times to keep abreast of new reforms which we need to brush up on and be current, and this book gives us the tips on practical management which will be of special interest to employment lawyers.

There is a great deal of common sense in this book and it will certainly reinforce the views of many of how modern management is managed. The 50 areas covered are self-contained, falling into three areas: managing people, managing activities and processes, and your own management and development (CPD).

The Foreword says this handbook is particularly useful for NVQs, PGCEs and CIPD/human resources functions but, for the lawyer and general reader, it goes further as it helps with the profiling of people whom we meet as clients as well as those we manage in our firms or chambers.

I liked the appendix in particular with its coverage of positive or negative indicators of performance which will be great for those entering conditional fee agreements and compiling risk assessments. Also, the general bibliography gives an informative reading list which shows the knowledge Michael Armstrong has given to us with this fine statement of how management works.

The purpose of continuous personal professional development (CPPD) and current reflective practice will help business people (including lawyers) build up their managerial knowledge and skills in most current situations we face with the splendid guidelines offered. This title is the best answer to managing management today.