Gung Ho!
by Kenneth Blanchard, Sheldon M. Bowles
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William Morrow: 1997. Hardback: xviii, 189 pages. ISBN-10: 0-688-15428-X Suggested retail price: $20.00 (US) Tags: Business; employee motivation Tactical strength: [4/10] |
Compare prices on Gung Ho! by Kenneth Blanchard at Book Cost
Another book for management that explains that you get a lot more out of employees when you treat them well over when you treat them like slaves. Blanchard and Bowels just happen to throw in trendy Native American spiritualism to make their management style seem like a new age discovery of ancient native wisdom.
Don't get me wrong. Gung Ho presents sound management principles, but do you really need to go to the woods and study "the spirit of the squirrel" to understand that employees need to believe they participate in worthwhile work. Don't forget you need "the way of the beaver" and "the gift of the goose" before you will have a Gung Ho organization. Try presenting these trendy titles to someone and see if they can even come close to extrapolating the principles the authors intended.
Gung Ho has 189 pages of enormous margins and large type. You reach the end of the story line on page 164 and receive an additional 12 pages of summary and another 13 pages of self-congratulations and self-promotion. When you consider that you could fit the cogent points of Gung Ho on a single sheet of paper, you wonder about the $20 price tag. And don't forget to contact the authors' private corporations so you can purchase supplemental Gung Ho posters, supplies, consulting, and motivational speakers.
