Stop Spending, Start Managing: Strategies to Transform Wasteful Habits

Too often, managers spend money to solve problems at work, whether that means hiring outside consultants, investing in new software to fix communication issues, or bribing employees with cash to motivate them. But many managers are surprised when the problem they tried to solve reappears a few months, weeks, or even days later. The money is gone, but the problem is still there. These costs can add up, particularly when you consider the additional loss to your company in wasted time, energy, and resources when you don't solve problems effectively. Tanya Menon and Leigh Thompson, experts in how organizations work, have developed a framework to help you understand why you fall into this trap, and how to escape it. To break these habits, Menon and Thompson show how you can use your smarts as a manager to find solutions. By consciously observing waste and identifying hidden value, widening your mind-set beyond ego, courageously negotiating with others, encouraging meaningful interaction, and transforming people with positive values and relationships rather than cash, you can overcome these psychological barriers and find the value that already exists in your organization and yourself-for free.

About the Author :
Tanya Menon is an associate professor at Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University. She is also an associate editor at Management Science, and her research considers how people in organizations collaborate. Leigh Thompson is the J. Jay Gerber Distinguished Professor of Dispute Resolution & Organizations at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Thompson has authored several books, including Creative Conspiracy and The Truth About Negotiations.

Review :
ADVANCE PRAISE for Stop Spending, Start Managing: Matt Ferguson, CEO, CareerBuilder-- "Stop Spending, Start Managing explores the universal pitfalls managers face and provides practical strategies for enhancing individual and team performance. The ideas in this book are easily transferable to different situations and focus on harnessing the power of multiple perspectives." Gurcharan Das, author, The Difficulty of Being Good; former CEO, Procter & Gamble India-- "This deftly written, highly readable book helps unlock one of the most important issues facing business today: how do you shift unproductive, wasteful behavior inside an organization? It teaches managers to change their mind-sets and thus save time and money and unlock hidden value within their companies." Joanne Segars, Chief Executive, Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association-- "Every manager will recognize something of themselves in the traits Tanya Menon and Leigh Thompson describe in Stop Spending, Start Managing. Their solutions and advice provide helpful routes out of the habits and behaviors we've all fallen into so that we can start to manage smarter and more productively." Joachim Ringer, Co-Head, Investment Banking and Capital Markets, Germany/Austria, Credit Suisse-- "Menon and Thompson propose a host of smart and novel ways to drive performance in your organization without additional spending. Written in a concise and accessible way, this book is essential reading for leaders." Tom Linebarger, Chairman and CEO, Cummins Inc.-- "Using convincing research and logic, Menon and Thompson demonstrate that successful employee teams avoid waste and create value with specific positive behaviors: recognizing unconscious bias, managing conflict as a healthy dynamic, and engaging in constructive feedback. An important read for leaders who know that talented teams, working effectively together, are the reason companies win."