Publisher's Synopsis
Book & CD. To improve on an award-winning book poses a major challenge to its authors. The authors of this book took the challenge head-on by conducting a major research study to determine what exactly the outcomes are that managers at different levels must deliver in contemporary organisations in South Africa, and the rest of Africa. The findings of this study, which dealt with current and near-future management issues, as well as classical and contemporary thinking about management, were used as the blueprint for the updating of this book. After placing management in context, the authors deal with the knowledge, skills and dispositions required of managers to perform the management functions of planning, organising, leading and controlling in a volatile business world. Examples of how the functions are applied in practice are cited throughout the book. These examples refer mainly to South African organisations and situations that managers in South Africa, and Africa, have to deal with to create and sustain a competitive advantage for their organisations. The book endeavours to break down the silo effect of seeing the management functions as separate activities. This is done by continuously placing the management function at hand in a bigger context. This enables learners of management to assess the implications of management decisions on different people, processes, systems and so on that make up the organisation.
