Management Skills : Assessment and Development

Griffin/VanFleet, MANAGEMENT SKILLS: ASSESSMENT AND DEVELOPMENT, 1E, offers a comprehensive, real world approach to mastering the skills needed for a career in management. Because instructors often express the difficulty of creating an active learning environment, this text offers an active, not passive, way for students to learn management skills by challenging students to be self-reflective and asking them to complete numerous assessments, exercises, cases, and other activities. The authors also address another major concern instructors have about students being visual learners by providing a unique Visualize the Skill section not found in any other text. To better enable students to learn about management, chapters are organized in an easy-to-follow format that contains: Assessing Your Skills (pre-assessment scales); Learning About the Skills (concept portion of the text); Practicing Your Skills (exercises); Using Your Skills (case analysis); Extending Your Skills (group and individual exercises); Visualizing the Skills (video exercises); Your Skills Now (assessing skills after working through the chapter); and Interpretations (scoring keys and comparison data).

About the Author :
Dr. Ricky W. Griffin is Distinguished Professor of Management and the Blocker Chair in Business in Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Houston in 1978, Dr. Griffin joined the faculty at the University of Missouri for three years before moving to Texas A&M in 1981. His research on task design and dysfunctional work behavior has appeared in the leading professional journals, including Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Administrative Science Quarterly and Journal of Management. He has served as editor of the Journal of Management and has been program chair and division chair of the Organizational Behavior Division and Program Chair of the Research Methods Division of the Academy, Program Chair and President of the Southwest Academy of Management, and a member of the Board of the Southern Management Association. He is a fellow of both the Academy of Management and the Southern Management Association. Dr. Griffin has taught organizational behavior, human resource management, international management, and research methods at all levels and has won several teaching awards. He is a frequent speaker to executive audiences and is the author of several widely used textbooks. Dr. Griffin was director of the Center for Human Resource Management at Texas A&M and just returned to the faculty at Mays after 11 years of full-time appointments as Management Department Head, Executive Associate Dean and Interim Dean. His current research interests include workplace culture, managerial skills development and decision making during times of crisis. David D. Van Fleet is a professor Management in the Morrison School of Agribusiness and Resource Management at Arizona State University. He received his Ph.D. in economics and management from the University of Tennessee - Knoxville. He has served as editor of the Journal of Management and the Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management as well as an officer in the Southwest Regional Division of the Academy of Management, the Southern Management Association, and the Management History Division of the Academy of Management. Dr. Van Fleet taught at the University of Tennessee, the University of Akron, and Texas A&M University before moving to Arizona State in 1989. His research interests include workplace violence, management history, and leadership. A well respected author, Dr. Van Fleet has written many successful books, including THE VIOLENCE VOLCANO, WORKPLACE SURVIVAL, CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT, BEHAVIOR IN ORGANIZATIONS, and ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR: A MANAGERIAL VIEWPOINT.

Review :
"I am impressed with your ability to integrate topics in a refreshing new manner. Your selection of self-assessments and exercises is a win-win for the student who gains a deeper understanding of the topic by completing an assessment or exercise about the topic. Your material is presented in a logical and sequential manner that will flow well for the student who is first learning about the areas of management. The exercises are enlightening as well as fun for the learner. Information is presented in a clear, concise manner." "I am particularly impressed with the "action research" orientation of this management skills book. There are very strong links between theory and practice throughout. The skills developed and advocated are hardly "busy work" and rather direct students toward a thorough simulation of many business scenarios they will likely encounter. The writing is extremely clear as the author utilizes user-friendly language without compromising depth or breadth. " "I think it's smartly written, with language accessible by our college students. The activities and assessments are numerous, giving the opportunity to customize the class. I think the material would be easy to use in an online or traditional format." "Sounds like you are on the right track, videos are something the students will relate to." "This is a very interesting offering and seems like a competitive product in the Management Skills offerings."