Winning and the Essential Drucker by Jack Welch - Book Report/Review Example

Book Review of the Essential Drucker and Winning Book Review of the Essential Drucker and Winning Introduction The Essential Drucker and Winning are both management books written by Peter Drucker and Jack Welch respectively. The two books provide a winning formula to success. Peter Drucker is one of the greatest inspirations to management because he has written 39 books and he has won two presidential awards. The writer has been honoured with 25 doctorate degrees and has made immense contributions on several business journals such as The Economist, Wall Street Journal and Harvard Business Review (Drucker, 2008). Jack Welch, on the other hand, is one of the most admired people who have made a mark in the business world. He is an ardent follower of Peter Drucker and he has won several awards such as “Manager of the century”. This paper will analyze the relationship that exists between the two books and the impact that Drucker’s philosophy had on Winning. The Essential Drucker The Essential Drucker is a management book that evaluates the characteristics of business organizations. The text starts by explaining the purpose of business organizations by answering questions such as who are the clients are and what activities should the business carry out. The book also explains the roles of managers in organizations and how they affect the performance of the companies. Marketing is an aspect of every business organization that aims at attracting customers. The book outlines the essentials of marketing, which include the creation of high customer value. The text further explores how organizations should submit themselves to making effectual decisions. Drucker (2008) explains that making sound decisions is a critical skill in every business level. The book describes business organizations as a large community for human beings. According to Drucker (2008), organizations should move from the idea of managing people to being at the fore front leading individuals. Organizations should have objectives that are realistic and can be achieved. The author argues that organizations should draw their objectives from their vision. Organizations, thus, have to balance between efficiency and effectiveness. Drucker (2008) defines efficiency as doing or having things done in the right way while effectiveness is doing what is right. Organizations should aim at recruiting knowledgeable workers who can improve on efficiency and effectiveness. The book explains that communication is essential to every organization because it helps them in making and meeting demands. The book notes that organizations should aim at hearing everything including the unsaid (Drucker, 2008). Winning Winning is a book written by Jack Welch, which gives procedures to follow, rules to adhere to, suppositions to adopt and slip-ups to steer clear of in order to win. The book has eleven clear chapters that offer a guideline to winning. It has four pillars that make up its structure. The four pillars are entitled: underneath it all, your company, your competition and your career (Welch, 2005). Underneath it all discusses the values, goals, mission, truthfulness, differentiation, dignity and voice. Your company involves leadership, managing people, hiring, change and managing crisis. Your Competition involves strategy, mergers, sigma, attainments, growth and budgeting. Your career, on the other hand, highlights information about precise job and promotions. What are we going to do in order to win is an essential question that an efficient mission declaration should ask itself. The book explains that the management should be tasked with creating a mission. Values should then be created, which will act as a guideline to the mission. Welch (2005) explains that values and mission should be reinforcing in order for them to work as a winning scheme. Candor is another winning formula, which enhances speed, reduces cost and gets more people to converse (Welch, 2005). The book clearly explains how organizations are made up of two parts that include the hardware and the software. The software includes the people who work for the organization while hardware is more detailed and depends with the size of the organization. Organizations, thus, should evaluate their employees, rate them on a scale of a hundred percent, and group them accordingly. Jack has come up with eight rules that leaders should abide in for them to be successful. The eight rules promote dignity and help leaders in setting examples in their business organizations. The book further describes the characteristics of winners and how they can be identified in the society. Winning involves getting the people who are effective and efficient and those who can guarantee the success of a business organization. According to Welch (2005), what matters is managing skilful people in a business environment. One can have people who are skilful, effective and efficient, but without the right management, it counts to nothing. The next section in the book explains the problems that may hinder winning. However, the author argues that managing crisis before and after it has happened helps in safe guarding success. The text finally explains how individuals should balance their life and work to avoid living a stressful life. Discussion The two books, The Essential Drucker and Winning, have numerous similarities, which makes them some of the greatest books in the field of management. The two books ride on the theme of effective and efficient management. They deeply explain what it takes for businesses to succeed. They both talk of winning and what individuals and businesses should do in order to perform well. The two books discuss the need to lead employees rather than manage them. Organizations have a large pool of people that they depend on to be successful. Some of the individuals who are hired are skilled and semi-skilled; while others are un-skilled. Organizations, thus, have to lead effectively in order to win or succeed (Welch, 2005). Jack Welch regards Drucker highly because he describes him as a great individual whose contributions are crucial in management. One of Peter’s philosophies in management was the emphasis on the need for having an effective leadership that can make sound decisions (Drucker, 2008). Peter is of the idea that a great leader is like a rock band conductor whose work is to allow people’s ideas and ingenuity to prosper (Drucker, 2008). This philosophy played a positive impact on Jack who wrote Winning in, which he expresses, the same idea of respecting everyone and appreciating their ideas (Welch, 2005). Peter Drucker states that each business or organization should have a purpose which guides it through, a philosophy of management that also inspired Jack Welch in his book Winning. It also helped him to change his strategies and have a mission that is guided by values. In a nutshell, Peter’s philosophies were vital as they played a positive impact on Jack Welch who grew to be an outstanding management writer and manager. Peter Drucker’s theories have been effective in our challenging economy where numerous individuals suffer because of the lack of high living standards. Peter’s main philosophy or theory is “management by objectives”, which guides organizations into success. The theory emphasizes the need to treat employees as assets (Drucker, 2008). He uses an example of an orchestra in, which each musician has an instrument to play under the guidance of a conductor. Peter’s theory “management by objectives” helps organizations learn how to take out the best in their employees (Drucker, 2008). In the harsh economic times, optimal performance is vital, which explains why Peter’s theories are important. Jack Welch, for example, adopted this theory in his management role, which propelled him to be one of the greatest managers. The management theories by Peter Drucker also help organizations in having a management that is effective and that does not control people, but rather leads them (Drucker, 2008). They teach management authorities to take responsibility of the business. This is essential to business organizations because accountability is enhanced. Business organizations that learn how to win, thus, are able to meet goals and gain profit. Drucker’s theories help organizations to maintain success and withstand harsh economic times. When a business organization is guided by a mission, it is be able to withstand the harsh economic times. Organizations are also able to live like a community because individuals within a community look out for each other and stand together. This is why the management theories are significant in the current hard economic times. Conclusion The Essential Drucker and Winning are some of the greatest management books, which have played a positive impact on business organizations. Peter Drucker has greatly contributed to management through his theory of management by objective. The theory argues that managers should plan the objectives that their companies aim at achieving so that workers may work towards achieving these goals. Jack Welch who also followed Peter Drucker’s philosophies contributed to management by describing the formula that helps companies to win. The two books emphasize on the need to be at the lead always and to enact change. Peter says, “Leadership is not about gaining power, it is about gaining responsibilities.” The two books, thus, advise on the need for management authorities to be responsible and be at the fore front. References Drucker, P. (2008). The Essential Drucker: The Best of sixty years of Peter Drucker’s Essential Writings on Management. New York: Harper Business Publishers. Welch, J. (2005). Winning. New York: Harper Business Publishers. Read More