Work, Management, and the Business of Living

In the modern economic paradigm characterized by a multitude of business management theories aimed at maximizing profits, there is a danger of formalizing management techniques to the extent of dehumanizing individuals or reducing them to humanoids. This book deals with familiar concepts in the management literature, but always in light of the model of the human person. It sheds light on organizing processes in individuals, small groups, and organizations and other large social systems by covering empirical research on three central topics — modes of influence, intrapersonal communication, and change — through which the social context is constantly shifting.

Concepts from other fields are also introduced by the author into the field of management, such as philosophy, biology, sociology, semantics, and mythology, to name a few. As a protest against behaviorism, materialism, objectivism, determinism, elitism, and many other “-ism's” that degrade the human person, this book provides food for thought to students of management and organizational behavior, psychologists and sociologists, as well as political scientists and leaders of business and nonbusiness institutions.

Contents:

• History of Ideas:

  • You Cannot Not Manage
  • First Encounter with Managers
  • Psychologist in Business School!
  • From Academia to Wall Street
  • Singapore Adopts the Seminar
  • Learning is a Two-Way Process

• The Human Person:

  • Don't Think, Just Look!
  • Model Parameters
  • Synthesis
  • Practical Implications

• Membership and Role Acquisition:

  • A State of Belonging
  • Membership: A Historical Process
  • Role Acquisition

• Leading and Managing:

  • Leader/Manager Controversy
  • Review of Case Studies
  • Leadership, Fellowship and Follower-Ship
  • Central Thesis: Mechanisms of Influence
  • A Journey with a Donkey

• Social Structures:

  • The Human Person as a Universe
  • Dyadic Structures
  • Triadic Structures
  • Small Groups

• Work, Play and Leisure:

  • Semantic Introduction
  • Work versus Labor
  • Play
  • Leisure
  • Aristotle's View
  • Energy Management
  • Final Conclusion

• Philosophical Foundations in Quotes:

  • References
  • Appendix
  • Index

Readership: Managers, psychologists, political scientists, sociologists, graduate students and researchers in social science.