Product Description

This text surveys 100 years of military inefficiency from the Crimean War, through the Boer conflict, to the disastrous campaigns of the First World War and the calamities of the Second. It examines the social psychology of military organizations, provides case studies of individual commanders and indentifies an alarming pattern in the causes of military disaster. Previous titles by the author include "Subliminal Perception: The Nature of a Controversy", "Preconscious Processing" and "Our Own Worst Enemy".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10611 in Books
• Published on: 1994-01-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Customer Reviews

The Best Book on Management In The World
Everyone who manages anyone should be required to read this book. By focussing on the military Dixon has written a book crammed with examples that show the drastic consequences of incompetence.

In management situations it's seldom a matter of life and death (despite the way some bosses act) but the consequences are still there: demotivated, under-utilised, confused and stressed staff.

So if you're the boss and this sounds familiar you should read this book and learn it's lessons.

Highly cogent and convincing.
The author's central hypotheses is that incompetent decision making stems not so much from a lack of technical knowledge or theory, but rather personal inadequacies that prevent someone in a leadship role from making appropriate decisions under pressure,i.e. they freeze up.

Also discussed are the possibities of why such personality types are attracted to those roles involving such high pressure decision making, where the consequences of the wrong decision can be dire.

Unlike a lot of 'psychology' books, the author presents a critcal and convincing chain of reasoning to support his hypotheses.

A "Must Read" for anyone working in an hierarchy.
I was lent this book by a retired friend who had risen to a high level in the RAF. He told me that it had been required reading at Staff College.

As soon as I finished it I immediately bought my own copy (from Amazon!) and tried to persuade as many of my work colleagues as possible to read it.

It is a study of the authoritarian character and its need to rise in an hierachy. A rise that is usually totally unwarranted. Just to limit this to a military context is to miss the chief benefit of the book. It should be required reading in every management school.

It also has the advantage of being a very entertaining book (despite the title).