In Search of Excellence

There is an Art of American Management — and it works!

To discover the secrets of our "native art", Thomas Peters, an alumnus of the management consulting firm of McKinsey & Company who runs his own consulting firm, and Robert Waterman, now a director of McKinsey, studied forty-three successful American companies. Some of these organizations, such as Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble, specialize in consumer goods; some like IBM and Hewlett-Packard, are in high technology; some, such as Delta Airlines and McDonald's, are in services. Shared by all of them are eight basic principles of management — action-stimulating, people-oriented, profit-maximizing practices — that are readily transferable. Here they are, amply illustrated with anecdotes and examples from the experiences of these best-run companies to make them accessible and practical for you to use.

• Part I: The Saving Remnant
1. Successful American Companies
• Part II: Toward New Theory
2. The Rational Model
3. Man Waiting for Motivation
• Part III: Back to Basics
4. Managing Ambiguity and Paradox
5. A Bias for Action
6. Close to the Customer
7. Autonomy and Entreprenurship
8. Productivity Through People
9. Hands-On, Value-Driven
10. Stick to the Knitting
11. Simple Form, Lean Staff
12. Simultaneous Loose-Tight Properties

Historically interesting, otherwise, skip it.