The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First

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		The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First
		The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First

Why is common sense so uncommon when it comes to managing people? How is it that so many seemingly intelligent organizations implement harmful management practices and ideas? In his provocative new book, The Human Equation, bestselling author Jeffrey Pfeffer examines why much of the current conventional wisdom is wrong and asks us to re-think the way managers link people with organizational performance. Pfeffer masterfully builds a powerful business case for managing people effectively—not just because it makes for good corporate policy, but because it results in outstanding performance and profits. Challenging current thinking and practice, Pfeffer: reveals the costs of downsizing and provides alternatives; identifies troubling trends in compensation, and suggests better practices; explains why even the smartest managers sometimes manage people unwisely; demonstrates how market-based forces can fail to create good people management practices, creating a need for positive public policy; and provides practical guidelines for implementing high-performance management practices. Filled with information and ideas, The Human Equation provides much-needed guidance for managing people more wisely and more profitably.

作者简介

Jeffrey Pfeffer is the Thomas D. Dee Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is the author of eight books, including Managing with Power and Competitive Advantage through People, both from HBS Press. He has consulted extensively for companies, universities, and industry associations in the U.S. as well as in 20 other countries.

网友对The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First的评论

The Human Equation (1998) is an exceptional book. In the first chapter Pfeffer shows that conventional wisdom about the sources of organization success are not correct. In particular he disproves the ideas:
- that it is essential to work in the right sector,
- that the size of the organization is crucial,
- that it is necessary to have an international precense,
- that downsizing is indispensible, and
- that it is necessary to have a technological lead.
Then the author clearly and impressively presents the enormous amount of evidence of the last decade showing the strong association between how organization treat people and how they score on financial and operational performance indicators. Pfeffer describes the following seven HR practices that demonstrable correlate with organization success. He names these practices High Performance Work Practices. They are:
1. Employment security
2. Selective hiring of new personnel
3. Self-managed teams and decentralization of decision making as the basic principles of organization design
4. Comparatively high compensation contingent on organizational performance
5. Extensive training
6. Reduces status distinctions and barriers, including dress, languag, office arrangements, and wage differences across levels
7. Extensive sharing of financial and performance information throughout the organization
This list contains some elements that may seem counterintuitive to some. For instance: how can it be that high wages contribute to financial performance? Don't they just keep the profits low? And how can you afford to be selective in this hard labour market? And how can companies afford to invest much in training of personnel? Aren't employees so mobile and disloyal that you run the risk of training them for your competitor? Speaking about this, how can you in this time of employability of employment security? And it is wise to have an open information policy? If you'd do that, wouldn't you weaken your position by feeding your competitor with valuable information?
If you read this book you will find crystal-clear answers to these questions. The conclusion is that the seven practices do indeed work.

This book is very dry. The author has a large vocabulary, so have a dictionary nearby when you read it. Examples were very interesting, but getting through the book was painful.

This sequel should have been first. The prof's book: Competitive Advantage through People gave tactical initiatives to create a motivated and productive workforce. But like so many people in industry who want to implement the type of intiatives discussed in that book, I found myself needing substantive validation on why should our firm engage in these behaviors. THIS BOOK SAYS WHY!! We all know instinctively that many of the tactics outlined in Competive Advantage are the right things to do, yet we are all faced with needing tangible explanations for why we should engage in these behaviors. The Human Equation can help develop the business case for that explanation.
Thanks Dr. Pfeffer

Summary:
This book highlights the importance of respecting employees in an organization. By treating employees as a strategic asset, a firm can make lucrative profits. The book can be divided into the following parts.
¡P Wrong sources of organizational success that firms
commonly use
¡P Seven practices of successful organizations
¡P Reasons why smart organizations sometimes do dumb
things and the suggested solutions
¡P How conventional wisdom about employment contract,
compensation method, and union  s is wrong
¡P The role of public policy in making profits through
people
Comment:
- Good points:
1. Good insights provided:
The author provides his opinions about why and how putting people first can bring great returns to organizations with different detailed examples such as Lincoln Electric. This can make me understand the importance of employees to organizations.
2. Lots of evidence provided:
This book explains why putting people first can help companies make great profits by providing lots of examples, which include companies in different industries. Some examples are explained in a more detailed way such as Albert Dunlap.
3. Clear illustration of the concepts:
The main message of each chapter is clearly delivered.
Also, as the main theme of this book is about ¡§building profits by putting people first¡¨, the author has provided a diagram called ¡§Downward Performance Spiral¡¨ to illustrate the relationship between organization¡|s poor treatment of its¡| employees and its¡| corresponding performance. Besides, he provided a diagram about how ¡§People-based strategy¡¨ can make sustained profits to organizations. All these diagrams can increase my understanding about these concepts.
4. Comprehensive information provided:
The author not only states what are the wrong sources of organizational success that firms commonly use, he also provides what and how organizations can do to make lucrative profits.
- Bad points:
1. Not interesting enough:
The author has repeated the main theme of this book ¡V ¡§building profits by putting people first¡¨ many times in different chapters. Although this can remind readers about the main theme of this book, readers may feel too bored.

Putting people first is more often said than done. From extensive research and over ten years of firsthand experience I can honestly say that this is rarely put into practice, particularly in larger organizations.

The very title conveys a powerful message "... Building Profits by Putting People First." Since the dawn of the Industrial Age, people were considered costs and therefore something to be minimized or eliminated as much as possible.

However, this attitude is of little relevance in the Information Age of today. While larger organizations struggle to adapt to actually valuing people for what they are - highly valued assets, a golden opportunity exists for Entrepreneurs who, in forming the companies of tomorrow, seek to maximize profits by putting people first.

Based on his research, Pfeffer offers several HR practices that are common in effective organizations. His book is divided into two main sections:

Part I - People-Centered Management And Organizational Success

Part II - Barriers to Implementing Performance Knowledge: How Conventional Wisdom Is Wrong

For a quick assessment of the power of this book, I recommend you read chapter 10 first - "People, Profits, and Perspective" and be sure to review figure 10-1 "WHAT A PEOPLE-BASED STRATEGY DOES" on page 301.

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Michael Davis - Editor, Byvation

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