Effective Management in Practice

Robert Wensley is Emeritus Professor of Policy and Marketing at the Warwick Business School.   Professor at Warwick since 1986 and Chair of the School from 1989 to 1994, and Chair of the Faculty of Social Studies from 1997 to 1999. Most recently Director of the AIM Research initiative from 2004 to 2011. He was previously with RHM Foods, Tube Investments and the London Business School and was visiting Professor at UCLA (twice) and University of Florida. He was Chair of the Council of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations from 1998 until 2003 and a member of the Sunningdale Institute (2008 -11)He is a Fellow of the British Academy of Management (FBAM), the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM) and The Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS). He was awarded the BAM Richard Whipp Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012 and previously awarded the 1981 and 1988 Alpha Kappa Psi prize for the most outstanding article in the US Journal of Marketing and the Millennium Prize for the best paper in the Journal of Marketing ManagementHe was appointed to the Council of the ESRC from 2001 to 2004 and was a Board member of the ESRC Research Grants Board from 1991 to 1995. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Warburg Institute and the Academic Advisory Board of the Chartered Management Institute. Over his academic career, he has been involved with consultancy and management development for many major organisations.

′In this book Robin Wensley applies his extensive experience and wisdom in maping four key strands of the managerial process – an interrogative approach of asking key questions, being critical in thinking about our thinking, learning how to organize for both central command and local agility, and appreciating evidence-based management in context specific situations.  Through these four strands Wensley provides a treasury of "practical wisdom" that adds to  "common sense" in important and insightful ways′

• INTRODUCTIONThe Four Starting IssuesThe Four StrandsThe Chapter SequenceCHAPTER 1: EXTENDING ANALYSIS IN EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENTThe Legacy of the SixtiesExtended Analysis: Both Analysis and SynthesisThe Interrogative MoodIssues of RepresentationIntroducing Time and MovementChoices, Decisions and ActionRationality in Practice: Simplification ApproachesConclusion: Coping with Complex RationalityCHAPTER 2: NEVER STOP LEARNINGSome Basic IdeasThe Reflective PractitionerSources of Learning beyond One′s Own PracticeConclusion: Reprise on the Reflective PractitionerCHAPTER 3: EVIDENCE AND ENGAGEMENTEvidence-Based ManagementRisk, Uncertainty and ProfitThe Wisdom of Crowds (Sometimes)Isomorphism and LemmingsUnexpected Events and Isolating MechanismsDialectic, Rhetoric and ConsensusEngagement and Management: Scientific Knowledge and Folk WisdomThe Nature of Academic Practice: Statistical Analysis and Evidential ClaimsLearning from the Clinical Medical Experience of Evidence-Based PracticeReturn to Managerial Relevance and the Issue of TimelinessConclusion: Getting the Best out of EngagementCHAPTER 4: TOOLS FOR THINKINGIntroduction: Comparing Perspectives in 1975 and 2009Complexity and ChaosThe Structure of Systems: The Ubiquitous TreeOpen and Closed SystemsModularisation and Loose-Tight LinkagesBasic Game TheoryInsights from Simple Experimental GamesConclusion: Bounded but not RestrictedCHAPTER 5: MAKING SENSE OF THE NUMBERSConcentration and Dispersion of VariablesForms of Representation: Frquency Plots and Box DiagramsUnderstanding OutliersSignificance, Correlation and Causality: What′s Significance Got to Do with It?Type I and Type II ErrorsType III Error: Answering the Wrong QuestionType IV Error: Asking the Wrong QuestionThe Rule of 10 Per CentMediators and ModeratorsTime Series Datasets: Lead and Lag StructuresCasual CausalityConclusion: Half a Stratistical Loaf may Be Beter than the WholeCHAPTER 6: RETURNING TO PRACTICAL WISDOM: THE FRAMEWORKS FOR ANALYSISPractical Wisdom: Reasoned Analysis and Deliberate ActionWatching Out for Boxes, Linear Diagrams and Other Simplifying ToolsIntroducing Dynamics into a Static RepresentationDr Who and the Time DimensionSpecific Representations and Implicit AssumptionsContradictory Common SenseConclusion: Common and Uncommon SenseCHAPTER 7: THE CENTRAL ROLE OF STORIESOrganisational Success and Failure: The Perils of "Learning from the Past"Fads and FashionsRevisiting the Onus of Proof IssueWhen and How Does the Decision Get Made?The Narrative ApproachConclusion: An Effective Role for Analysis in Management PracticeCHAPTER 8: LINKING THE CLASSROOM TO THE WORKPLACELearning from Case StudiesThe Challenge of Simulating and Learning from Management PracticeVideo MaterialExperiential Exercises: Simulations and ProjectsConclusion: Learning through QuestioningCHAPTER 9: AN ONGOING DECISION PROCESS OF QUESTIONING AND DISSONANCEThinking, Seeing and DoingThe Case for Slow Thinking and ProcrastinationThinking Fast, Thinking SlowIn Praise of DissonanceDebates, Dialectics and DissonanceMaking Some Sense of InnovationQuestions and Answers: the Central Role of "Interrogation"CHAPTER 10: PUTTING THE MASTERS BACK INTO MANAGEMENT EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENTAdministration, Management and LeadershipStress Testing and AnalysisInnovation as Hard Work: The 3M Post-it StoryInnovation and EntrepreneurshipUnderstanding Strategic LeadershipUseful Insights from Writings on Military StrategyGood Management Research as a Means to Useful InsightsGetting Beyond the False Rhetoric