Managing People in a Downturn

Citation

Guzak, J. (2012), "Managing People in a Downturn", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 354-355. https://doi.org/10.1108/09534811211214017

Dr Adrian Furnham's new book, Managing People in a Downturn comes from one of the most prolific authors in the area of Industrial/Organizational Psychology. Dr Furnham was recognized as the most productive psychologist in the world from 1980 to 1989, and is the author of over 600 peer reviewed journal articles and over 40 books. In addition he acts as a consultant to the government of Great Britain, British Airways, HBOS and SAP. Dr Furnam is an accomplished scholar by any measure and a recognized authority of business management.

Dr Furnham has chosen an interesting format for this book, which is composed of a series of short chapters whose topics range along a wide variety of business management issues. These chapters might more appropriately be called essays, as they reflect opinion instead of documentation and synthesis of research. For academics this lack of documentation might be uncomfortable, Dr Furnham offers only 12 citations in his book. However, Dr Furnham's summaries and conclusions generally concur with the present author's familiarity of the extant literature in specific areas, so Dr Furhnam's opinions seem to be based closely on research. Regardless, the format of the book suggests his target audience is practitioners rather than academics, to which he offers a perspective that deftly bridges theory with practice.

The most unfortunate aspect of Dr Furnam's latest effort is the title, frankly there are relatively few topics directly related to managing in a downturn. Rather, there is a wealth of information offered that relates to managing every day across all business climates. The reader might be somewhat frustrated at first with chapter topics that are away from the topic of downturn management, but patience is rewarded as the reader will come to realize they are actually getting more than they bargained for, considering both the wide applicability as well as the breadth of topics that Dr Furnham covers.

Dr Furnham packages his effort with pithy observations and adroit British humor, some of which might leave my American colleagues more bewildered than amused. The end result is a pleasant read for most but especially for those familiar with UK expressions and terminology. Nonetheless Americans will appreciate Dr Furnham's brevity and his talent for condensing complicated matters. Instructors of management will also appreciate these same attributes, as individual chapters make for excellent summaries to present to students.