Feature Summary

• An applications-oriented framework that helps tie together topics covered throughout the book and underscores the core perspective-that effective behavioral management requires a contingency approach.

• Examples and anecdotes from managers and companies in a wide variety of service, manufacturing, and e-commerce contexts.

• Offers an informal, but no-nonsense approach that's not only designed to challenge and engage MBA students, but also strives to strip away hype, shatter pretense, and challenge "sacred cows."

• A comprehensive "tool package," or pedagogy, which include:

• Skills Assessment. A self-administered questionnaire or self-assessment exercise is included at the end of each chapter that ties into the topics covered.
• Experiencing Management. The end of each chapter also contains an exercise, applied project, or other experiential activity that's directly connected to the topics covered.
• Opening and Closing Cases. Each chapter begins with a case section (Searching For Management Solutions) that describes a behavioral problem facing managers in a particular company. And the companies profiled run the gamut from big, household names (e.g., Wal-Mart) to smaller firms (e.g., Vita Needle). Students are challenged to use chapter material to help them develop a solution and action plan. At the end of each chapter, students encounter a closing section on the case (Will it Work?) that summarizes what management actually did to attack the problem described in the opening section. The closing section also raises new questions. Specifically, students are asked predict whether the chosen solution will work long-term, what implementation difficulties might be encountered, or whether alternative solutions would be superior.
• Harvard Cases.

Each chapter will include:

• Executive Summary. Each chapter opens with a synopsis of that chapter's main points. This stage-setting device pushes students to start thinking about the issues to be raised in the chapter and helps frame the opening case that follows next.
• Culture Clash. This boxed-out section highlights a cross-cultural issue that is germane to each chapter's content. Every chapter has a section examining the implications of these issues for behavior management. These boxed-out sections are designed to illustrate: a) the types of international and cross-cultural problems that can arise; b) the limited applicability of American theories and management techniques; and c) how culturally synergistic solutions to these problems can be developed and implemented.
• Fads & Fixes. This boxed-out section profiles companies that ran into trouble because they took questionable short-cuts, blindly adopted management "fads," or went for the "quick fix" in response to a behavioral issue. The specific issues profiled fit the material presented in that chapter.
• Succeeding Outside The Lines. Also appearing in each chapter, this boxed-out section is designed to elicit "I don't believe it!" or "That would never work here!" reactions. How? By profiling companies and managers who have done extraordinary and often highly unusual things to successfully manage behavior.
• Behavior and the Bottom Line. Pulls together the implications of the chapter for corporate success (or failure) as well as the specific techniques and strategies that managers can use to manage behavior effectively.