Book re~ews

The book is targeted at all levels of management, and business students.

Chapter 1 sets the scene of global change, information revolution, etc. To all but the very newest entrants to the world of business the ground covered here is very familiar.

Chapter 2 reviews the main themes of literature on leadership to date, revisiting the contemporary topic of leadership dev- elopment before proposing a central assertion that management and leadership are two very distinct behaviours. The familiar quotes of the 1961 Kennedy 'Moonshot ' speech will be recognised by most students of leadership--a pity that more original examples were missed.

Chapters 3 to 7 set out the framework for his approach to leadership, starting with 'imposing context' and analysing the idea of using vision to focus on key issues. Making and taking risks suggests that the true role of a leader lies in showing others the opportunities for performing better than they believe they are capable of. The true leader is perceived as someone who is willing to go beyond the norm, to challenge the status quo, to move outside familiar patterns. The real challenge, the writer says, is to build a stable organisation (by manage- ment) that is flexible and can deal with the unpredictable (by leadership).

In this quest the author asserts that shock tactics are legitimate provided that adequate means for improvement are available sub- sequently. A constant is that the emotional side of communication should be taken into account--an area too often neglected by both business and educationalists alike.

The importance of belief and values as a bedrock for the leader gets closer to the heart of leadership with the concept of trust and integrity. Generating critical mass emerges as a theme, where the main idea is that the role of the leader is to create manageable chunks of business on which to operate.

Having fleshed out his general leader- ship concepts the author returns to the role of the leader in the current corporate landscape. Chapter 8 is intended as the book's centrepiece titled "The Leadership of Corporate Transformation". To his credit he explains the nature of 'corporate transformation' and its importance in con- temporary business and the nature of innovation is reinforced. The thesis appears to be that the times are calling for a syn- thesis of the transactional and transforma- tional leadership--the stage is set, he believes, for the 'Renaissance Leader' .

The latter stages of the book examine implementation and self analysis. In Chapter 9, the development of business leaders' personal and organisational strategies extends the differences in management

and leadership to personal development. Accordingly there are some practical suggestions for leadership development which include coaching and mentoring.

Chapter 10, "The New Leaders", chal- lenges readers to determine for themselves whether they have got what it takes to become a leader.

It is unfortunate that the managers inter- viewed were almost exclusively represen- tative of the Anglo Saxon business model. The discussion would have benefited from looking at a wider range of leadership styles particularly those of South East Asia. One of the most contentious statements in Chapter 10, that attitude follows behaviour not the other way round, is not supported or developed.

The overall style of presentation left me uninspired. There was a logical sequence to the book's overall structure but repeti- tion occurred frequently. The 'sound-bite' technique proved too superficial to really impact on the reader.

From a personal perspective I was look- ing forward to getting inside the behavioural and emotional mind-set of the transfor- mational leader. This book didn't offer this opportunity which may indicate a vacancy on the bookshelf for such a contribution.

David Rees Centre for International Communication

17 Stour Road Christchurch

Dorset BH23 1PL

UK

Stand and Deliver R L Kliem and I S Ludin Gower 1995 278 pp £22.50 ISBN 0 566 07574 1

The clue to the style of Stand and Deliver was on the cover--a "Gower Nove l" it said. Inside the front cover it expanded this a little. It also made the claim that Stand and Deliver--and here I quote- -"wi l l be valued by all managers, and others, faced with the need to give effective presen- tations". So does it live up to this claim?

The story follows David Michaels as he prepares for a series of progressively more important presentations in his attempt to win funding for his pet project. He has two com- panions on this voyage of discovery, his mother Liz and a resurrected ancient Greek, Demosthenes or Demost for short. Demost has this rather irritating and vulgar habit of sucking on pebbles which he spits at regular intervals at the ground, at spittoons or at anyone he chooses. There are several tenuous reasons for this behaviour, one of which is that during the story he delivers

Six Pebbles of Wisdom (POWs) about preparing and delivering presentations.

What about the vehicle provided for this voyage? I had hoped that a book in the genre popularised by Goldratt's excellent novel The Goal would maintain the same high standards. Unfortunately I found the plot too simple to engage me in the way Goldratt did. I also found the book's organisation highly irritating--breaking two of the Demost's themes of good pres- entation at the same time--destroying its logos while generating negative pathos in this particular member of the audience. The story portion of the book covers 234 pages in 38 chapters, some even shorter than two full pages of text. The remaining 42 pages comprise checklists which sum- marise the POWs.

If that was the vehicle, let 's now look at the journey it takes us on. The authors manage to cover a good deal of received wisdom about the preparation and delivery of presentations and a good deal of folklore and homily about presentations too. It doesn't add anything new but pulls together much that has been published elsewhere. Much of this could be labelled as common sense but few of us get to deliver presen- tations or public speeches so frequently that we learn what the common sense of public speaking is. It trotted out some old chestnuts--anecdotal 'rules' or guide- lines for which there is little or no well- researched support. Some of these con- cerned a nasty piece of modern office equipment.

In the story the authors have Demost himself using a variant of the traditional talk and chalk technique while instructing his prot6g6. It is surprising, and not a little disappointing therefore that, having taken a Greek of nearly 2500 years of age who uses a flip chart in the story, they spend so much time talking about overhead projector slides. Presumably this Greek, billed as one of the greatest orators of all time, did not have a handy OHP, or has one been discovered recently in some archaeological site? True, the overhead projector is an ubiquitous piece of office equipment--used and abused in equal measure. I agree totally that pictures, when relevant, can be really powerful and valuable visual aids, but so far I have not come across con- vincing research which suggests that there is any value at all in word-only slides. It is a shame that the authors did not see fit to encourage others to use media other than the OHP, such as variants of chalk and talk.

The ancient Greeks did indeed know a thing or two about debate and oratory, and logos, ethos and pathos are essential com- ponents of good presentations. The last one especially, pathos, frequently seems to be missing from business presentations. It

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Book re~ews

always amazes me that managers try to sell messages in presentations when they themselves show no enthusiasm for the subject. How can you hope to convince the audience when they can see it doesn't interest even the speaker? But these three elements are important parts of rhetoric, a topic not even mentioned in Stand and Deliver. Not only was it of importance to Greeks of yesterday, it is of interest to academics today. For example, in his seminal work on the subject, Max Atkinson demonstrated how politicians employ the power of language and use rhetorical devices and figures of speech to maximise the impact of their messages. At the heart of a good presentation is the appropriate use of language and a book which purports to help presenters cannot afford to miss this key area.

Personally speaking, having followed David Michaels on his voyage of discovery I was left asking myself whether it had been worth it. I found the novel form weak, it added nothing new to the subject yet it did miss out important areas. It will not be a book I will be recommending to serious, would-be presenters.

How can I sum up the book? I think a colleague got it about right after I had described Stand and Deliver to him and it leaves nothing more to be said--no other POWs could be more to the point. " I t sounds like highway robbery."

David Woodward 60 Midwinter Avenue

Milton Abingdon

Oxfordshire OX14 4XD

UK

Project Management Demystified-- Today's Tools and Techniques G Reiss E and FN Spon 1995 221 pp £14.99 ISBN 0 419 20750 3

With a title such as this, I was intrigued to see who is expected to benefit from the information in this relatively slim book. I was also interested to note that this is the second edition of the book and that it has been revised. Admittedly the first edition was in 1992 and has had a few reprints so the title seems to strike a need with the buyers. Before commenting on the contents in particular I have one confession to make-- I am not a newcomer to the Project Manage- ment arena, having watched the initial enthusiasm for computerised methods grow and decline and then change into a profession overlapping into many of the engineering disciplines. I have also been

involved on both sides of the fence as a manager of projects and a developer of the programs to assist managers to plan and manage projects.

I found the chapters very easy to read and many are conducive to skip-reading because important points are marked with 'footnote' in the margin. This is a two- edged sword because there are many inflections within the area of interest of a project manager, which are not obvious without reflection and thought, about the implications in a particular environment and the highlighting of a particular aspect can distract from other nuances which apply in differing industries. There are also jokes in the text; unfortunately some of them require the reader to have information not relevant to nor included in the book.

Looking at the meat of the text, using a dialogue approach is a very good way of illustrating the benefits of the initial plan- ning of a project, particularly the use of the 'fly on the wall' technique for the iterations and communications which should be essential parts of any planning of projects. It comes over as a realistic and practical approach by which to set up a project, which it is, if the facts are available. Un- fortunately, life is not always as straight- forward as that and the problem of getting estimates out of somebody is bypassed as is the other worry of a project manager-- that of departmental managers protecting their resources. It would have been very useful if this particular example was kept running into the resource and updating sections and we could have seen how the project manager handled the problem of collecting the data and adjusting the plan to deal with the developing situation. It is pleasing to see each of these topics having its own chapter as it does help to point out to the project manager initiate that the planning of time is not the only factor that must be taken into account.

Another pleasing aspect of this book is the addition of a chapter on risks. The identification of the risks that may be in a project and their potential consequences on the project time or cost is too frequently ignored. The early recognition that things may not be exactly as the plan and some thought of the avoiding or resulting actions usually pays for the time spent and it is an essential part of the current manager's armament.

There are, however, a number of issues I must take up with Geoff Reiss about this book. Historically it is inaccurate-- computer programs for doing the calcula- tions required in the analysis of a PERT network were released in the late 1950s. They had a surge of popularity--the same as any new tool--then fell from favour when the limitations were realised. The

second phase of programs came out around 1970 taking into account some of the in- ventions of the previous decade. Giving the history of the subject is a useful chapter, even with the inaccuracies, since it helps to put the subject into context for the new- comer. It also shows that it is not a frozen set of specifications as it has evolved as the prob- lems are realised within real projects. The history of the computer programs in this area is littered with devices which have been heralded as the ultimate weapon only to be ignored by the experienced practitioners.

The other issue is raised by the author himself--the non-use of standard termin- ology. This terminology does exist and the book, since it is introducing the subject, should have used the British Standard terms (BS 4335) given in the bibliography. These are accepted by many of the business communities in project management even though they are not officially an international standard. I realise that there are some terms which are missing because it is now several years since the document was revised. Because of this problem the author has included a chapter of definitions which must have been hard work to produce since it is such a small section of the terms in the BS 4335.

With so many tools sketched out for the novice, the author does attempt to indicate when various techniques are and are not relevant, which must be a big plus point. It is all too easy for a novice in the area to think that because a tool is available it must be used. Therefore, despite the inaccuracies I have highlighted, the book is a very read- able introduction to the aspiring manager of projects. It will also provide a ready reference document to the experienced person when a memory tickle is required. I think it goes a long way to live up to its title's claim of demystifying the subject which must be good.

Arthur Tulip Meadow Cottage

Cadwell Lane Brightwell Baldwin

Oxford OX9 5PG

UK

Distribution Planning and Control David Frederick Ross Chapman and Hall 1995 779 pp £55.00 ISBN 0 412 065215

Distribution Planning and Control includes really good aspects beyond the normal hard-core logistics concepts you would expect. Positioning the discipline in a corporate/strategic frame is a particularly welcome inclusion. The integration of the

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