Building Management Skills: An Action First Approach, Instructor's Edition - Softcover

Richard L. Daft, Ph.D., is the Brownlee O. Currey, Jr. Professor of Management and Principal Senior Lecturer in the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, where he specializes in the study of leadership and organization theory. Dr. Daft is a fellow of the Academy of Management and has served on the editorial boards of Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, and Journal of Management Education. He was associate editor-in-chief of Organization Science and associate editor of Administrative Science Quarterly. Dr. Daft has authored or co-authored 13 books, including The Executive and the Elephant, Organization Theory and Design, and Management. He also has authored dozens of scholarly articles, papers, and chapters, and he has published in the Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management; Accounting, Organizations and Society, Management Science, MIS Quarterly, and Organizational Behavior Teaching Review. Dr. Daft has received several government research grants in organization design, organizational innovation and change, strategy implementation, and organizational information processing. An active teacher and respected consultant, Dr. Daft has served as associate dean and helped manage a start-up enterprise. He has been involved in management development and consulting for numerous organizations, including the American Banking Association, AutoZone, Bridgestone, Vulcan Materials, TVA, Pratt & Whitney, Allstate Insurance, State Farm Insurance, the United States Air Force, the U.S. Army, Central Parking System, USAA, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Dorothy Marcic, EdD, MPH, is a professor at Columbia University and a former faculty member at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Marcic is also a former Fulbright Scholar at the University of Economics in Prague and the Czech Management Center, where she taught courses and did research in leadership, organizational behavior, and cross-cultural management. She teaches courses at the Monterrey Institute of International Studies and at the University of Economics in Prague, and she has taught courses and given presentations at the Helsinki School of Economics, Slovenia Management Center, College of Trade in Bulgaria, City University of Slovakia, Landegg Institute in Switzerland, the Swedish Management Association, Technion University in Israel, and the London School of Economics. She has served on the boards of the Organizational Teaching Society, the Health Administration Section of the American Public Health Association, and the Journal of Applied Business Research. Dr. Marcic has authored 12 books, including Organizational Behavior: Experiences and Cases, (South-Western Publishing, 6th Edition, 2001), Management International (West Publishing, 1984), Women and Men in Organizations (George Washington University, 1984), and Managing with the Wisdom of Love: Uncovering the Virtue in People and Organizations (Jossey-Bass, 1997), which was rated one of the top 10 business books of 1997 by Management General. In addition, she has had dozens of articles printed in publications such as Journal of Management Development, International Quarterly of Community Health Education, Psychological Reports, and Executive Development. Professor Marcic has conducted hundreds of seminars on various business topics and consulted for executives at various companies.

"I am really excited to see how the author implements both the "Do first then learn" and "Less is more" philosophies. These two philosophies set the text apart from other offerings that just focus on providing information and then activities related to theory." "I would describe this text as an innovative approach to skills that covers all of the major areas that we are used to addressing. The difference is in the text's ability to "show" students areas of deficiency and thus motivate them to acquire, develop, and practice the relevant skills." "I'm excited about the idea of this text. If the authors effectively implement the do then learn as well as the less is more approach, coupled with fresh, innovative video scenarios, I would strongly consider this text for adoption."

"A novel way to organize/approach the material in a traditional skills/OB course."

"You need to place it [this book] on the market as the most innovative product in the world. And, here is a selling point: in today's destroyed economic times, after witnessing the fall of Wall Street and Ponzi schemes, managers today must be able to be creative, innovative, and be a catalyst for change. It's not the same old routine for today's managers; planning, controlling and organizing. Today, managers are supposed to not only manage people, but turn their employees into a competitive advantage."