The Truth about Getting Your Point across … and Nothing but the Truth

Citation

McNeil, N. (2006), "The Truth about Getting Your Point across … and Nothing but the Truth", Management Research News, Vol. 29 No. 12, pp. 838-838. https://doi.org/10.1108/01409170610717844

Good communication, leadership, teamwork, problem solving and critical thinking skills have long been associated with the notion of “good” management. Whilst there is an abundance of academic research and commentary which confirms the importance of such skills in improving performance, educating and training managers, workers and business students in these generic skills has proven to be a challenge. The Truth about Getting Your Point across … and Nothing but the Truth fills an important void in this respect, by cataloguing a variety of concrete suggestions for improving communication within organizations. Drawing on 20 years of experience in managing and advising well‐known companies, Pacelli has penned his thoughts on how individual's can improve their communication skills in a variety of contexts.

The text is divided into 13 sections – each part containing certain “truths” about effective communication in organizations, coupled with practical strategies for improving workplace discourse. The book covers ways of improving exchanges between employees, the effective management of meetings, ways of enhancing presentations, the hallmarks of high‐quality report writing, the importance of providing feedback and strategies for improving cross cultural communication. The book includes specific guidance relating to conduct in job interviews, issues to consider when conducting brainstorming sessions, improving problem‐solving, critical thinking and active listening skills.

The Truth about Getting Your Point across … and Nothing but the Truth is an invaluable resource to a wide variety of readers – from seasoned business professionals and employees to business students. The main strengths of this book are threefold. First, in acknowledging the complexities of organizational life, the author provides the reader with a set of practical and useful principles to guide interactions within the workplace. Second, the book is written in an engaging style and its structure will make it an ideal reference book for any office. Lastly, an undoubted strength of the book lies in the inclusion of real world examples and past experiences, giving the reader a sense of the challenges faced in communicating in organizations, and how the solutions offered address these problems. The appeal of the book is the pragmatic and well grounded advice that it offers to readers, well supported by examples and accounts from Pacelli's own personal experiences.