The Gower Handbook of Management (4th ed.)

Citation

McDermott, E. (1999), "The Gower Handbook of Management (4th ed.)", Library Management, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 92-94. https://doi.org/10.1108/lm.1999.20.4.92.9

The word “handbook” suggests that the book should be a handy size and easy to handle, if this is the case then this volume is a failure at 1,296 pages. I found it almost too heavy to lift with one hand; a more macho reviewer might find it useful in a muscle‐training regime. However, if a handbook is something that you want to hand because it is an invaluable source of information, then this is a success. As a reviewer, it has provided me with a substantial challenge (it took a week to read through) and one I have thoroughly enjoyed. Most readers would not want to approach it this way, and indeed it is not intended to be read sequentially. It is a reference work consisting of many subjects that working managers might need, and similarly any student of management would find it useful. Almost all of the chapters would serve as an introductory reading to the particular part of the subject.

Space prohibits a detailed review of each of the 72 chapters. Furthermore, my expertise is not as comprehensive as the contents and I would hesitate to pass judgement on some of the chapters. I can confidently say, however, that the combination of management practice and theoretical thinking between and within chapters works very well. Some contributors have chosen to give detailed attention to particular areas of their subject whilst others have provided overviews of whole theories, others provide a historical review of a management movement or trend. Others provide checklists and guidelines for practising managers to put theory into practice.

Considerable reorganisation for this fourth edition has taken place although some of the authors, content and structure remain broadly familiar. There are, indeed, as the blurb says approximately 36 new contributions. The structure of the sections, or parts, remains largely conventional. The biggest change being the operations management part, which now includes and combines chapters from the three sections from the third edition: research, engineering and design and manufacturing management and logistics management. Thus, whilst the number of individual contributions remains roughly the same, there are now fewer parts or sections.

The first section in the book is devoted, as before, to organisational theory and is much larger than the same section in the previous edition. This is clearly recognition of the fact that we need an understanding of theory in order to be able to manage. There are now so many different approaches to management and variations on them that it must have been very difficult to decide what to leave in, what to add and what to leave out. People are bound to complain that their specific interest is not included (you will be able to spot mine later in the review).

Part two, financial management, has been reduced by two chapters to six, with two new contributors and one completely new chapter. The next part, previously called marketing is now called marketing and selling and includes Merlin Stone′s database marketing, which has been completely rewritten and, I am sure very welcome by some readers. Information systems and customer management by the same author has also been added along with three other new contributions.

Part four, as mentioned, is by far the most drastically re‐organised section and becomes a much larger section with two chapters from the research, engineering and design section of the previous edition retained and many brought in from other sections of the previous edition, three of which have been re‐written. It now has 11 chapters. Part five, materials and bought‐out services (previously purchasing and inventory management) is a recognition of the change in management practice and the development of approaches such as total quality management, just‐in‐time and zero inventory. None of the chapters in this part have been carried over from the third to the fourth edition in their entirety; there has been a great deal of re‐writing and the addition of completely new chapters.

Part six, administration, which used to be part eight has undergone less re‐organisation with more than half of the original chapters retained. The human resources management (HRM) is similarly, and rather surprisingly, relatively little changed. While the trend towards flexible working and the increased popularity of coaching and mentoring are recognised other trends in HRM are unrecognised. Knowledge management, a revolutionary trend in HRM, for example, is absent and another subject that seems very popular in the journals but it is not addressed here. I could not find anything significant on performance measurement either. Managing diversity is included in the first part and not in HRM where I would have expected it to be; it is a very perceptive article by Walt Hopkins, by the way. Whilst recognising the difficulties of choosing contributors and contributions I am a little disappointed at the low number of women contributors and the retention of a somewhat sexist approach in some of the chapters (the retention of the male pronoun, for example). No doubt you will have worked out that this is my particular favourite aspect of management theory and practice. The last section, the personal skills of management, has three new chapters and re‐writing and additions to two others.

So, while there are considerable additions and re‐writing by many new names to The Gower Handbook of Management, the eight sections retain, somewhere, more than half of the chapters from the third edition. Is it useful to library and information service managers? I would say “Yes”; many of the chapters are useful to any manager and services marketing by Bernard Katz will probably give you food for thought. As with the previous edition, I would not argue that it is, as the blurb tells us a “clear, authoritative, gimmick free and practical guide to the best practice in management”. As far as buying it goes the answer is “It depends”. That it should be available to library and information service managers I have no doubt, but the price might be a barrier to some. It is an essential item for all collections purporting to be in any way authoritative on management and should be on the shelf for reference. If your budget can stand it, ensure that the library has a copy and to which you can refer.