Management Books

1. Are you familiar with self-help books of the genre 'How to Unlock Your Confidence' or 'Don’t Wait For Your Ship to Come In. . . Swim Out to Meet It'? Have you read any? Which were useful to you; which weren't? Did any of the books affect the way you go about your life? If so, in what way? Do you have any recommendations for a book or an author? 

2. Have you read any personal development books for managers? What titles do they typically have? Are they popular amongst managers in your country? Which authors specialise in this genre? Who is a typical self-help book author (both domestic and international)? Do you have any criticisms of this particular genre?

3. Read article here: Management Books Reading

4. Did your criticisms match those of the author of the article?

5. Below are some of the constants that management advice books have, and their actual outcomes (according to the author). Do you recognise any of them? Have you seen any examples of them in your industry?

a) Human behaviour is changeable. (Then why do we spend years receiving therapy?)

b) The manager will bring about change. (Company infrastructure outweighs any individual.)

c) Everybody in the company will benefit from the changes. (Outcomes are different for different workers.)

d) The new technique is universally effective. (Cultural or sectoral differences stop this.)

e) Positive case studies that prove the technique works. (Negative case studies are avoided.)

f) Managers are heroes. (Adoption of folk tales doesn't help.)

6. Why do you think that the market for management self-help books exists? Isn't it in the interests of companies to train their own managers and not rely on managers doing it themselves? Is there something missing from a manager's learning journey (leave university, get an entry-level job, then promotion)?

7. Modern authors sometimes borrow classical works and adapt them to modern business environments - I'm thinking of Lao Tzu's 'Art of War' - to arrive at something like 'Lao Tzu's Art of Accountancy'. What is the appeal of using texts from the past for the basis of a self-help book, do you think?

8. Could common sense replace a lot of the advice given in self-help books, or do you think that they contain real insights?

9. In what situation would you face 'myriad challenges'?

10. Does your language have an equivalent for 'herding cats'?

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Situation

The CEO of AndrewCorp (your teacher) wants to reduce the costs of the employee training programme: most employee training is done in-house by training contractors who teach IT, software programmes, and some foreign languages. His idea is to give each employee a small training budget which they should use for the purchase of books which are relevant to the employee's position in the company. 

You are the head of HR. Make your opinion known on the use of self-help books for employee training - in which areas will it be effective/non-effective? Make recommendations on the types of training you think will be needed.

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Discuss quotes

"Self-help books for women are part of a multibillion-dollar industry, sensitively attuned to our insecurities and our purses."

--- Harriet Lerner

"Self-help books are for the birds. Self-help groups are where it's at."

--- Janice Dickinson

“The conventional definition of management is getting work done through people, but real management is developing people through work.”

— Agha Hasan Abedi

“Make your top managers rich and they will make you rich.”

— Robert H. Johnson

Student Handout PDF: Management Books

Photo: Andrea Piacquadio

Career Advice

 

1. What was the best piece of career advice you were given? Did you follow it? Have you yourself given career advice to someone else? What was it?

2. Have recent economic events caused you to find ways of saving money/diversify your income? What areas of expenditure would you like to reduce?

3. Would you be tempted by a change of career if your new career provided for a lot of the non-fiscal things that you currently need?

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Read article here: Career Advice Reading

4. What is your reaction? Does the author's suggestion of joining the military seem far-fetched? Would it have been considered just as far-fetched if he had written the piece 100 years ago?

5. How attractive would having accommodation, a profession, and disposable income be to a young person today (assuming they could avoid front-line action)?

6. Is your country subject to the same pressures that might make joining the military seem a reasonable idea i.e. a shortage of affordable homes, a mountain of student debt, and personal debt?

7. Do you think that the military's "solutions" to these problems could be replicated in a non-military setting e.g. car pooling/sharing, apprenticeships instead of going to university, more house building? How would people in your country view the above strategies?

8. Are there any other institutions that provide for your immediate/future needs in a similar way to joining the military? Can labour shortages be addressed by offering good global packages to potential employees? Do you know of any examples?

9. If you could modify your current job with only one of the following elements, which would you choose?

a) The use of nearby accommodation

b) Increased non-specialisation training 

c) Subsidised public transport/use of company car

d) A less intense working regime that allowed personal projects

10. Daniel Younan's text contains one or two errors that make certain idioms appear non-idiomatic - can you spot them?

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Situation

You are a careers advice officer for a local college. Give your counterintuitive advice to a student (your teacher) who has yet to decide on his/her future career.

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Discuss quotes

“If the wind will not serve, take to the oars.”

 – Latin Proverb

“Desperation works in job search as well as it does in dating. ”

– Darrell Gurney

“You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do. ”

– Confucius

“Where military service begins, logic ends.”

― Turkish Proverb

"A man who pays his bills on time is soon forgotten."

- Oscar Wilde

"If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments."

- Earl Wilson

Student Handout PDF : Career Advice

Travel Advice

Read infographic here: Travel Advice Reading

1. Have you been to any of the places mentioned in the infographic, or do you know anyone else who has? How did your/their experience match with those described in the infographic? 

2. Are there any other cities/countries that aren't on this list, but should be? 

3. Does your government issue any warnings as to which countries to not visit? What reasons do they give?

4. Describe your country's best/worst cities to travel to in terms of safety.

5. Have you visited the UK? Which areas would you avoid?

6. Are there any destinations that you would like to visit if they were more secure?

7. "If you travel in a group, and avoid activities such as hitch-hiking, or visiting poor areas of the city, you should be able to visit all of the countries/cities on the infographic." Do you agree?

8. What has been your worst holiday experience?

9. Are you ever flashy in your choice of clothes or accessories? What is your flashiest item?

10. Do you ever carry a decoy wallet/purse - would you consider doing so? 

11. In which country can you pass for being a local? How do you do it?

12. Do you keep copies of your passport/travel documents?

13. Have you ever travelled uninsured? When?

14. If you were involved in a mugging (Heaven forbid), would you be a hero, or hand over your valuables?

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Situation

Choose one of the following roles:

A: You are the chief of tourism for one of the 'dangerous' destinations on the infographic. You are holding a press conference to boost the city's tourism sector. Answer questions from an uneasy travel journalist.

B: You are a travel journalist who is attending a press conference intended to relaunch a troubled city's tourism industry. You visited this city several years ago and had an extremely bad experience. Ask lots of questions.

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Discuss quotes

"Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold."

- Helen Keller

"If all difficulties were known at the outset of a long journey, most of us would never start out at all."

- Dan Rather 

"It is better to travel well than arrive."

- Buddha

Student Handout PDF: Travel Advice