CompleteMartialArts.com - The New Why Teams Don't Work: What Goes Wrong and How to Make It Right
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List Price: $19.95
Our Price: $14.96
Your Save: $ 4.99 ( 25% )
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Manufacturer: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.402
EAN: 9781576751107
ISBN: 1576751104
Label: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Manufacturer: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 271
Publication Date: 2000-01-15
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Studio: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
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Editorial Reviews:
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The move to teams has largely failed, say Harvey Robbins and Michael Finley, mainly because teams themselves are failing to think through the human implications of teaming. The NEW Why Teams Dont Work is a handbook for team members and team leaders to maintain the highest possible level of team intelligencethe skills, attitudes, and emotional flexibility to get the most out of a teams inherent differences. Describing what teams are really like, not how they ought to be, the book teaches people how to work together to make decisions, stay in budget, and achieve team goals. Robbins and Finley show, for instance, how to get hidden agendas on the table, clarify individual roles, learn what team members expect and want from each other, choose the right decision-making process, and much more. Updated throughout, the book includes completely new material on team intelligence, team technology, collaboration vs. teamwork, team balance, teams at the top, the team of one, plus all new and updated examples.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Book!!
Comment: I am working on my Doctorate in Management and have read numerous books on teams and team building. This is one of the best. It tells you the real workings of teams, not just theory. In fact, it will tell you a great number of things you probably don't want to hear. Many of the truths about teams that you have been told are flat wrong! I am sure that these guys are not on the Chirstmas card list of many team building gurus. An easy, fun read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Another Great Communications Read!
Comment: After reading The New WHYTEAMS DON'T WORK by Harvey Robbins and Michael Finley, I thought two things. The first thing that I thought was, what a great book and the second thing that I thought was, what else have these two written.
The book was very easy to read because it was so well written and they succeeded in making it a fun read as well. I am an art lover, so the first thing that caught my mind was the front cover. I thought that the picture was creative, artistic and it sure did fit the topic at hand. The next thing that I really enjoyed about the book was the fact that the chapters were not long and drawn out. The way that I read this book, all of the data was quite educational. The authors did not seem to stretch what they needed to say in order to add fifty or sixty more unneeded pages to this book. Another aspect that caught my attention about this book was the fact that it was written for all people. The language, sentence structures, format and word choice were all used so that readers of all ages and social statuses could read the book. Some authors tend to do everything in their power to speak over the heads of their audiences and I did not see that in the case of this book. The chapters were nicely separated and they stayed on topic. For example, when I started to read chapter two on Team Instinct, I did not feel that the authors took a dozen pages to reiterate what was talked about in chapter one. Again, keeping a nice flow to the book and making my read an easy and enjoyable one.
Finally, I really appreciated the fact that the book gave both sides to the question at hand. WHY DON'T TEAMS WORK? It gave reasons and solutions. I enjoy a book that is not one sided. I like to hear both sides of ever story before I pass judgment or draw opinions.
In closing, I just want to restate my appreciation for having the opportunity to read such a great book. Just like a movie that someone enjoys that they can watch twice on the same day, I see myself picking this book up again in the near future to scroll through the pages, and catch back up on some of the notes that I took and lines that I highlighted. This was a great book and I look forward to reading more from these authors.
Thank You.
Chris K
Customer Rating: 
Summary: A good place to start for teaming basics
Comment: Teams have been touted as efficient, creative and able to innovate quickly for many years now. In this flood of books, articles and teamwork guru's, many organizations have been changing their organizational structure from traditional managerial hierarchies to team-based work. Unfortunately, teams don't always bring the results that management was hoping for. Why not?
Authors Harvey Robbins and Michael Finley say that there are many reasons why teams may not be working, but the principle one is that managers have forgotten that teams are made up of human beings. A team is not a piece of machinery that can be assembled and then turned on. It is a collection of human beings with all their various faults, ambitions, and insecurities, who are attempting to work together. Using teams does not mean that leadership is no longer required. Teams need to be led, motivated and nurtured. The strength of teams is creative, an opportunity to bring the expertise of many different people together to reach a common goal. When teams are used simply as cost-cutting devices to replace middle management, this primary strength of teams is being ignored.
Here is some of the advice the authors have for building and maintaining successful teams:
· Make sure the team members remain focused on the common goal.
· Make sure that the goal is clear to everyone and attainable in small steps.
· Make sure the team knows who their customer is.
· Make sure the roles of different team members are clear, and everyone knows who is responsible who which decisions.
· Listen to the concerns and conflicts of all team members. Take action to address their concerns.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Psycho babble
Comment: I have reviewed all 31 chapters of psycho-babble in the book (and the epilogue too).
A very "nice" read. Indeed entertaining and yes, funny in many ways. They also use doubtfull suggestions - like bringing "doughnuts" because people like them !?
They also "demystify" some "myths" about teamwork. (I do not know where they got those Myths from) - another fragment of their imagination, I suppose.
This "business" book is more of a "romantic novel" about something relating to "teams", full of anecdotal references (very life-like) - but totally unsubstantiated, wanting us to "believe" that indeed, "teams things" are like they describe it.
From an entertaining point of view - very. From an academic point of view - null. For a business person - if you have time to waist, have fun.
It is interesting to note that they got a UK award for their book. (for entertaining I suppose). I guess this is a way of promoting the book. Good marketing technique.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This is not a happy talk book about teams.
Comment: Read Chapter 5 on "misplaced goals, confused objectives," and you'll start getting a good handle on where most team problems lie. How many of us really understand what Demming meant when he stated that a good goal is not a number? The authors do. They know that a good goal is something that brings out passion. A good goal gives people something to respond to, buy into, claim ownership over. This is not a happy talk book about teams. With all the things that can go wrong with teams, and do, it's surprising they work at all. "Teams are trouble." Having this book available on your reference shelf will help you handle and minimize the inevitable missteps the next time you're asked to serve on a team, or lead it.
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