Business leaders endorse "back to basics" management as UK drifts into omnishambles

Business leaders last night called for the UK to adopt a ‘back to basics’ approach to management, as they awarded entrepreneur, Richard Newton, top prize at the national final of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Management Book of the Year competition for his book:The Management Book: How to Manage Your Team to Deliver Outstanding Results.

The competition, which is run in association with the British Library and sponsored by Henley Business School, is judged by a panel of business leaders including Sir Anthony Cleaver, former chief executive and chairman of IBM.  He explained why Richard’s book stood out:

“Last year the Oxford University Press chose the word ‘omnishambles’ – a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged – as their word of 2012; suggesting something has gone seriously wrong with the UK’s management skills.

“It is now 43 years since I first became a manager but I can still remember the anxiety of constantly encountering new situations. In this economic environment, managers need to be more skilled than ever before. We can no longer afford the luxury of learning on the job and Richard’s book provides the perfect guide for anyone, regardless of seniority or experience, to consider the essential people management skills required to become a successful leader.

“It is the kind of book that I wish I had had access to when I was starting my career – it would certainly have saved me a lot of time and trouble!”

Commenting on his success, winning author Richard Newton, said: “In my experience, most management failures occur when the basics are not done well. Likewise, even a good strategy is unlikely to be implemented effectively if managers do not have the straightforward skills to lead their team. Trends and fads in management may change, but what remains is the fundamental importance of good management.”

If you only take three tips from my book to get back to management basics, they should be:

• The management role is made, not given. You need to shape it rather than let it shape you.
• If you let your team be successful, you will be successful.
• Being a manager is something to be proud of. Fundamentally every organisation builds from its management.”

Professor Cary Cooper of Lancaster University Management Schooland this year’s Chair of Judges, continued:

“CMI’s recent ‘The Quality of Working Life 2012’ survey found that the predominant management styles last year were bureaucratic, authoritarian and reactive: all styles that have a negative impact on motivation, well-being and productivity levels. There are far too many recent examples that illustrate the ineffectiveness of this approach to management, and if we are to support the UK’s economic recovery, there is a real need for change.

“The Management Bookspeaks directly to this issue, and it is for this reason that we decided to name it CMI’s Management Book of the Year.”

The Management Book– which alsowon the Practical Manager category at the award ceremony held last night at the British Library Conference Centre in London - is accessibly structured in 36 short sections that you can dip into and read as an individual piece of advice. Focusing on the people side of management, it identifies that there are still a great many businesses where managers, even at a senior level, do not know the best way to manage and get the most out of their staff.  It is the eighth book from author Richard Newton, who has over 25 years’ experience in line management and consultancy across a range of sectors.

Ann Francke, chief executive of CMI, who run the competition, said:

“We know what a minefield it can be for managers to choose a management book that will help them in their careers, when there is such an array of choice out there. We created the Management Book of the Year competition to help people identify the very best in management writing from the thousands of books available. It means I can confidently say to managers, if you read nothing else this year, read Richard Newton’s ‘The Management Book’”

Caroline Brazier, Director of Scholarship and Collections at the British Library, who support the competition, said:

“We are proud to work with the CMI Management Book of the Year competition to celebrate the best management writing, and hope that this year’s winning authors will provide much guidance to UK managers in search of inspiration. The British Library is committed to providing information, inspiration and practical support to the management community, through our extensive collections and the digital resources available on our Management and Business Studies Portal (http://www.mbsportal.bl.uk/).“

The Management Book of the Year category winners were announced follows:

• Management & Leadership Textbook category:

Managing Equality and Diversity: Theory and Practice by Savita Kumra and Simonetta Manfredi.

Published by Oxford University Press

•  Innovation & Entrepreneurship category:

Winning at Innovation: The A-F Model by Fernando Trías de Bes and Philip Kotler

Published by Palgrave Macmillan

•  The New Manager category:

The Leadership Skills Handbook: 50 Essential Skills You Need to be a Leader by Jo Owen

Published by Kogan Page

•  The Commuter’s Read category:

The Strategy Book: How to Think and Act Strategically to Deliver OutstandingResults by Max Mckeown

Published by Pearson

-Ends-

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• Penny Jones on 020 7812 0606 / penny@standagency.com / out of hours number 07824 859509

CMI Management Book of the Year Competition, in association with the British Library

• Launched in 2010, the Management Book of the Year competition was created to uncover some of the best books on management and leadership, and help raise the profile of the variety of the great management writing published in the UK. The theme of this year’s competition has been ‘Management Gold’, with the aim of helping people identify the very best in management writing out of the literally thousands of books available to readers. It is a theme that has captured the imagination of CMI’s extensive Twitter following, and has led to a host of management tips being shared on the social networking site – search #ManagementGold to review or add to the debate.
• Professor Cary Cooper of Lancaster University Management School is this year’s winner of the CMI Management Article of the Year.  He was awarded at the ceremony last night – 28thJanuary 2013
• For more information, please visit: www.managementbookoftheyear.org.uk

Chartered Management Institute (CMI)

• CMI is the only chartered professional body dedicated to raising standards of management and leadership across all sectors of UK commerce and industry. CMI is the founder of the National Occupational Standards for Management and Leadership and sets the standards that others follow.
• By setting minimum professional standards – built into our qualifications, membership criteria and learning resources – we recognise individual capability and give employers confidence in their managers’ performance.
• As a membership organisation, CMI has also been providing forward-thinking advice and support to individuals and businesses, for more than 50 years. As the only organisation to offer qualifications from Level 2 (GCSE) to Level 8 (PhD), CMI is committed to equipping individuals with the skills and knowledge to be exceptional managers and leaders.
• Qualifications and accreditations such as Chartered Manager, combined with products such as CMI’s Continuous Professional Development scheme and the online support resource, ManagementDirect, support the development of management and leadership excellence across the UK.
• Through in-depth research and policy surveys of its 90,000 individual and 450 corporate members, CMI maintains its position as the premier authority on key management and leadership issues

The British Library

The national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world's greatest research libraries. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world's largest and most comprehensive research collection. The Library's collection has developed over 250 years and exceeds 150 million separate items representing every age of written civilisation. It includes: books, journals, manuscripts, maps, stamps, music, patents, newspapers and sound recordings in all written and spoken languages. www.bl.uk and follow @britishlibrary

Henley Business School

Henley Business School is one of the oldest business schools in the UK, having been established in 1945. It is one of only 53 business schools in the world to hold triple-accredited status from the leading UK, European and US accrediting bodies – AMBA, EQUIS and AACSB. It is known for empowering individuals to become great professionals and outstanding business leaders who think with clarity and act with confidence and conviction. Its distinctive approach is proven to deliver results for individuals and businesses alike.

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