A Review on Management

I wrote this book review for my PR administration class. It may be a good read for PR students trying to get a better understanding on how to lead a group and how to keep a team motivated.

 

“The Truth about Getting the Best from People,” by Martha I. Finney

Reviewed by Alicea Glover

The Truth about Getting the Best from People by Martha I. Finney is a manager’s guide to success. Martha I. Finney is a management and leadership communications consultant who has aided companies such as Yahoo! and Aflac with employee engagement and communication. She has written several books outlining the keys to successful management which can be applied in several settings. Her book The Truth about Getting the Best from People focuses on how managers can help make an enjoyable work atmosphere that in turn produces more loyalty and productivity from employees. Although I did find some of what Finney had to say valuable, when comparing her book to managerial tactics discussed in my Public Relations Administration class I prefer a more assertive attitude toward managerial practice.

 

Above all, Finney believes that engagement is the best indicator for employee satisfaction and creativity. Engaged employees are more likely to come to work every day, do their best job at work every day, and stay with the company longer. Engaged employees also give the company the most effort for its buck. Finney presents the goal as developing engaged employees, and she outlines how to get them there in her book. Finney places a strong emphasis on the power of compassion, motivation, and praise as primary tools to increase employee engagement. She believes that showing true compassion can help develop a mutual respect between managers and employers that will lead to a better work environment. Instead of focusing on what’s wrong with an employee or the company, she only focuses on the positives and how use them to overcome the negatives. For example, in her chapter entitled “Focusing on what’s right can help solve what’s wrong,” Finney suggests instead of asking, “How can we reduce this high turnover?” ask “What is it about this organization that inspires people to stay?” (90) She also believes that everyone makes a valuable contribution to the team that should not be overlooked. It is important to acknowledge every contributor and not just the “star players” (97-99).

 

The two types of management taught in my Public Relations Administration class were scientific management and collaborative management. The later is more conducive with Finney’s beliefs. Collaborative management views the workplace as a social network with leadership and decision making being the responsibility of all employees, not just the managers. Collaborative management was founded by Mary Parker Follett based upon the belief that those with higher knowledge and function within the corporation would naturally gain authority. Although Finney’s management style varies from Follett’s in that Finney places more emphasis on communication and the role of the manager as the decision maker, they are somewhat similar in that both models consider listening to the needs and ideas of their employees as intricate parts of successful management.

 

I feel that Finney made some great suggestions on how to make a new hirer feel welcome and how to keep an old hirer motivated and loyal. There is no doubt that Finney knows how to make people happy, but I do feel that she puts too much emphasis on employee feelings and not enough on getting tasks done. She did not develop a plan on how to delegate tasks effectively, nor did she recommend a strong strategy on how to handle tough situations. Finney’s emphasis on employee attitude, appreciativeness, and two-way communication help make the work place a much more enjoyable place to work, but I feel like there needs to be more of a definite gap between mangers and their workers. I suppose that when it comes to managerial tactics, I prefer a more management by objective (MBO) based practice. I like MBO because managers share the company’s goals with their subordinates and together they can develop more personal goals. Upon evaluation, if these goals are met then some of Finney’s ideas can be useful, such as giving employees a “gift certificate to the future” for a specific accomplishment (103). All in all, I prefer a more goal oriented managerial practice; however, I found Finney’s book extremely useful when trying to maintain a positive working environment.

 

I would not recommend this book for public relations students because it was too repetitive and too passive. There was too much focus on pleasing employees instead of leading them. Making people feel comfortable to express their ideas is essential to allowing creativity to flow but it is also important to have control over the team so when in a crisis everyone knows who to turn to. Strong two-way communication is also important, but open communication can be achieved without discussing people’s personal lives. The book was an easy read that can be very beneficial when working in but not necessarily for leading groups. It is definitely clear that this book is more of a guide to motivating employees to do their best, and not one to help managers tackle high pressure situations or delegate tasks in the best way to increase sales.

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