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Hi, All.

It appears that the Drucker Foundation has issued a revised version of Drucker's classic, Management. Has anybody read the revised edition yet who would care to comment? Is it worth the read, or should I just re-read my copy of the original?

Thanks.

- Eric

JorrianGelink's picture

I'm curious if it is a revision of the previous Management book or a conglomeration of topics from Drucker's other books put together?

I remember briefly going through some of the new Management book at the airport and found a bit of different material.

Anyway, if anyone has both books, what are the differences? :)

JorrianGelink's picture

Alright I finally bought the book, starting to read through it now.

The book is updated for 2008 (fantastic timing as the previous was made in the 70's :) ) and the book is easier on the eyes than the previous Management book. However, it is still a dense read but this book seems to do a better job of organizing Drucker's thoughts and providing examples for each of his thoughts.

That's all I can give for now, I shall continue giving updates as I keep reading!

bug_girl's picture

Please do update us, although I will feel so incredibly nerdy reading this.

I may have to put it in a book jacket to avoid the taunting of the other scientists :D

terrih's picture

Scientists are going to taunt you for being nerdy? :wink:

What comes to mind is the Weird Al Yankovic song "White & Nerdy"

drinkcoffee's picture

I hope "revised" means that they fixed the blatant spelling error on the spine. The paperback edition I have from 1993 has the word "repsonsibLilities" (note the extra L). Oops!

bug_girl's picture

[quote="terrih"]Scientists are going to taunt you for being nerdy? :wink:

What comes to mind is the Weird Al Yankovic song "White & Nerdy"[/quote]

Actually, I know all the words to that song. And can do a pretty credible rap performance of it, in fact.

But I'm sure that's just a coincidence. 8)

TomW's picture
Training Badge

[quote="bug_girl"][quote="terrih"]Scientists are going to taunt you for being nerdy? :wink:

What comes to mind is the Weird Al Yankovic song "White & Nerdy"[/quote]

Actually, I know all the words to that song. And can do a pretty credible rap performance of it, in fact.[/quote]

OK, we need a recording of that!

bug_girl's picture

Actually, the best thing that got recorded this year was me giving a tour of our new dairy facility. About 5 minutes after I warned the visitors that cows like to lick things and they should stand back if they didn't want to get drooled on, I was gesturing up to our new ventilation system.

And a cow extended her tongue out and licked me in the armpit.
(Cows have about a 30cm tongue.)

It's all on video, which has not, mercifully, showed up on YouTube. Yet.

Next year when we have the new dairy fully online, we'll have a cow cam and call it MooTube. I do not plan to be featured on it.
[i]Ever[/i].

But before I derail this thread too much--I did want more folks' input on Drucker, and if it's still relevant. I'm hearing "[b]yes[/b]."

terrih's picture

[quote="bug_girl"][quote="terrih"]Scientists are going to taunt you for being nerdy? :wink:

What comes to mind is the Weird Al Yankovic song "White & Nerdy"[/quote]

Actually, I know all the words to that song. And can do a pretty credible rap performance of it, in fact.

But I'm sure that's just a coincidence. 8)[/quote]

I'm sure it must be. :twisted:

JorrianGelink's picture

[quote="bug_girl"]I did want more folks' input on Drucker, and if it's still relevant. I'm hearing "[b]yes[/b]."[/quote]

Drucker's methodologies and practices will be relevant until the end of creation! I'm working on a blog based off of Peter Drucker's core principles: [url]http://jorriangelink.wordpress.com[/url] but so far I only have one post! And it's a short post believe it or not! Subscribe to the RSS feed or add me to LinkedIn if you wish to keep updated :)

And [u]drinkcoffee[/u], with Management: Revised Edition they took "Responsibilities" out of the spine of the book :P , no spelling errors there!

[i]I'm a whiz at minesweeper and I play for days![/i] Yankovic's "White and Nerdy" :)

eagerApprentice's picture

Just bought this today, before seeing your posts... I'll let you know... it is looooong, as is the other, so I guess they didn't cut anything out. :)

Still, I'm looking forward to a good read.

JorrianGelink's picture

The book is amazing. Every chapters makes me go "WOW!" and inspires me to continue to soak in everything Peter Drucker has to offer. The book's writing style is effective and I love the book even though I am only a few chapters in.

It may be my #1 Management Book for 2008 and on when I am done reading it!

For those awaiting for an actual review, it may take me a very long time as I am FINALLY making notes and marks in my books and for this one and other Drucker books I am working on putting the ideas into my Drucker Blog. Thanks for your patience!

JorrianGelink's picture

Alright I am finally and I mean finally done this book.

I spent one week of my vacation locked up in my house (on the market to sell and not moving, at all :( )with no access to Internet just so I could concentrate and get through this book!

At 550 pages, the book is large. It is an accumulation of Drucker's work into a revised format for 2008. The book is straightforward on what points are important for a corporation with many, many examples of corporations that were successful during the years (and examples of successful and unsuccessful American Presidents). Here are some notes I took down for future writing on Peter Drucker:

  • Abandonment of Product
  • Management by Objectives
  • Role of the School Institution
  • Role of Government
  • Motivating a Knowledge Worker
  • Importance of a Manager's Relationships (Sideways, Up and Down)
  • Manager's Alignment to Company Objectives
  • The Price of Success and Knowledge Competition (Pg 43 Management: Revised)
  • Information Technology and Disintegration of Communication: Outsourcing (Pg 53 Management: Revised)
  • The Toyota Way (Pg 57 Management: Revised)
  • Future Corporations - Pilot Stores and Experimentation, Diversification and New Responsibilities
  • "Final Authority" in an Organization (Pg 68 Management: Revised)
  • Organization having as few management layers as possible to reduce conflict (Pg 69 Management: Revised)
  • Theory X and Y (The Human Side of Enterprise)
  • Role of Knowledge Worker understanding their job better than the manager (Pg 71 Management: Revised)
  • The Roles and Links of the Associates and the Manager (Pg 72 Management: Revised)
  • Business Starting Point: What the Customer considers Value (Pg 76 Management: Revised)
  • How Management and Entrepreneurship are Intertwined (Pg 80 of Management: Revised)
  • The Results of an Institution exist on the outside (Pg 80 of Management: Revised)

As you can see, it ends at page 80. Out of 550. I still have TONS more notes to go!

I highly recommend the book for anyone that wants a large overview of management and how to apply techniques right away with up to date and current examples. I will warn it is dense and you'll be reading paragraphs over and over to let it sink in. Make sure to take a ton of notes and underline/highlight as much as you can!

There is a companion book called Management Cases, which is in the same format and I'll let you guys know how that one goes!

Thanks for the support everyone, I had a feeling I would be responding to my own question from September 2008 :D.

Jorrian Gelink
http://www.jorrian.com
http://peterdrucker.wordpress.com.

 

Here are the Table of Contents:

Table of Contents

Peter Drucker's Legacy   Jim Collins     xi
Introduction to the Revised Edition of Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices     xv
Preface     xxxi
Introduction: Management and Managers Defined     1
Management as a Social Function and Liberal Art     18
The Dimensions of Management     26
Management's New Realities     35
Knowledge Is All     37
New Demographics     45
The Future of the Corporation and the Way Ahead     51
Management's New Paradigm     65
Business Performance     83
The Theory of the Business     85
The Purpose and Objectives of a Business     97
Making the Future Today     113
Strategic Planning: The Entrepreneurial Skill     122
Performance in Service Institutions     129
Managing Service Institutions in the Society of Organizations     131
What Successful and Performing Nonprofits Are Teaching Business     142
The Accountable School     152
Rethinking "Reinventing Government"     160
Entrepreneurship in the Public-Service Institution     171
Productive Work and Achieving Worker     181
Making Work Productive andthe Worker Achieving     183
Managing the Work and Worker in Manual Work     191
Managing the Work and Worker in Knowledge Work     197
Social Impacts and Social Responsibilities     211
Social Impacts and Social Responsibilities     213
The New Pluralism: How to Balance the Special Purpose of the Institution with the Common Good     225
The Manager's Work and Jobs     233
Why Managers?     235
Design and Content of Managerial Jobs     239
Developing Management and Managers     250
Management by Objectives and Self-Control     258
From Middle Management to Information-Based Organizations     269
The Spirit of Performance     280
Managerial Skills     293
The Elements of Effective Decision Making     295
How to Make People Decisions     308
Managerial Communications     317
Controls, Control, and Management     321
The Manager and the Budget     330
Information Tools and Concepts     341
Innovation and Entrepreneurship     357
The Entrepreneurial Business     359
The New Venture     365
Entrepreneurial Strategies     378
Systematic Innovation Using Windows of Opportunity     398
Managerial Organization     405
Strategies and Structures     407
Work- and Task-Focused Design     427
Three Kinds of Teams     438
Result- and Relation-Focused Design     442
Alliances     456
The CEO in the New Millennium     464
The Impact of Pension Funds on Corporate Governance     470
New Demands on the Individual     479
Managing Oneself     481
Managing the Boss     498
Revitalizing Oneself-Seven Personal Experiences     505
The Educated Person     514
Conclusion: The Manager of Tomorrow     521
Author's Note     527
Bibliography     529
Drucker Annotated Bibliography     537
Index     551