Nancy Foy : Empowering People at Work, Gower Press, Aldershot

We T-grouped them in the 1960s, OD-ed (organizational development) them in the 1970s, involved them in the 1980s and are now empowering them in the 1990s! It seems that each decade has its own unique phrase to highlight the same old unresolved problem, how to provide working people with a sense of control over their working environments. We must have failed in each decade, because the same issue continues to re-emerge, slightly repackaged and refocused but primarily with the same objectives in mind. In the 1990s, the impetus for this regeneration is the emphasis on total quality management, on creating cultures responsive to customers (internal and external), suppliers and all who interface with "the organization". This book by Nancy Foy, a well-known management consultant, attempts to provide the reader with advice on team building, networking, listening, training and all sorts of techniques that can help create "empowering cultures", environments in which managers and workers alike feel they have some autonomy and control over their jobs and organizations for which they work. The chapters and subheadings have some interesting titles, such as "Me, us and them", the "Hamstrung organization", "Bridging the hypocrisy gap", the "Cynic making machinery", "Blaming creates layers", "Pick-and-mix appraisal script" and many more. It is extremely well written, with an eye to the "intelligent" manager, raising issues about team building, leadership, communications, corporate culture, networking, team briefings and meetings, training, surveys and the like. It also provides good case study examples (e.g. IBM, BT), in an effort to revitalize the overused but underpractised euphuism that "people are our most important resource". The book even starts with a quote from Chairman Mao, who clearly understood not only the significance of the human resource but also how empowermnet should be achieved : "Go to the practical people and learn from them : then synthesise their experience into principles and theories; and then return to the practical people and call on them to put these principles and methods into practice, so as to solve their problems and achieve freedom and happiness". The essence of this book is to provide managers with the foundation stones for putting into practice the substance of Mao's comments, to help create organization cultures which facilitates a sense of worker control and involvement at work. This is the elusive prize since Taylorism, not only for liberal social scientists but also for enlightened managers, the hope that one day we can create work environments that are people-friendly but still make profits. Nancy Foy had done as good a job as, and in many cases a better job than, most at facilitating this process. She should be congratulated and encouraged to continue to pursue this "hidden corporate jewel", another Indiana Jones of the corporate jungle - a good and interesting read. Reviewed by Cary L. Cooper, Manchester School of Management, UMIST, Manchester Review also published in Asia Pacific Journal of Quality Management Order this book from Amazon.com

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