Review by Choice Review
Perhaps it is the pervasive cynicism caused by corporate scandals such as Enron and Tyco. It could be the current global financial crisis stemming from the fall of Lehman Brothers and its financial services brethren. Whatever the reasons, a recent spate of books (e.g., Matthew Stewart's Management Myth: Why the Experts Keep Getting It Wrong, Jan'10, 47-2668) attempts to expose the shortcomings of management theories. Interestingly enough, the present book's author, like Stewart, is a consultant whose very livelihood depends on these management theories. How is this book different from Stewart's searing indictment of the field? The author does not examine various management concepts deeply, as Stewart did. Instead, Axson uses a fictitious company, Cruciant, to demonstrate how large companies latch on to the current, hot management concept as a panacea for their problems. This account is often hilarious but always telling in reinforcing the author's points. The book covers a wide variety of popular management concepts to show the fallacy of using them without any regard for their limitations or applicability to a specific situation. Summing Up: Recommended. Professional/practitioner collections. R. Subramanian Montclair State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
