Essentials of Contemporary Management provides the most current, concise account of changes taking place in the world of management and management practices by emphasizing the challenges and opportunities facing today's managers in organizations large and small making the text relevant and interesting to students. Jones/George infuses real managers who seize opportunities, overcome challenges, and effectively manage and lead their organizations allowing students to see real-life management in action. It mirrors the changes taking place in today's management practice by incorporating recent developments in management theory and research. Central to the book's approach, boxed material is seamlessly integrated into the text and an integral part of the learning experience; it is not disembodied from the chapter narrative. PART ONE: Management and Managers
Chapter One: The Management Process Today
Appendix: History of Management Thought
Chapter Two Values, Attitudes, Emotions, and Culture: The Manager as a Person
PART TWO: The Environment of Management
Chapter Three: Managing Ethics and Diversity
Chapter Four: Managing in the Global Environment
PART THREE: Planning, Decision Making, and Competitive Advantage
Chapter Five: Decision Making, Learning, and Creativity
Chapter Six: Planning, Strategy, and Competitive Advantage
PART FOUR: Organizing and Change
Chapter Seven: Designing Organizational Structure
Chapter Eight: Organizational Control and Change
PART FIVE: Leading Individuals and Groups
Chapter Nine: Motivation
Chapter Ten: Leaders and Leadership
Chapter Eleven: Effective Team Management
Chapter Twelve: Building and Managing Human Resources
PART SIX: Controlling Essential Activities and Processes
Chapter Thirteen: Effective Communication
Chapter Fourteen Operations Management: Managing Operations and Processes
Gareth Jones received a B.A. in economics psychology and a Ph.D. in management from the University of Lancaster, United Kingdom. He currently is a professor of management in the Lowry Mays College and Graduate School of Business at Texas A&M University. Dr. Jones pursues research interests in strategic management and organizational theory and is well-known for his research that applies transaction cost analysis to explain many forms of strategic and organizational behavior. He also studies the complex and changing relationships between competitive advantage and information technology in the 2010s. He has published many articles in leading journals and his research has appeared in the Academy of Management Review, the Journal of International Business Studies, and Human Relations. His books are widely recognized for their innovative, contemporary content and for the clarity with which they communicate complex, real-world issues to students.
Jennifer George received a B.A. in psychology and sociology from Wesleyan University, an M.B.A. in finance from New York University, and a Ph.D. in management and organizational behavior from New York University. She is professor of management in the Lowry Mays College and Graduate School of Business at Texas A&M University and also the Mary Gibbs Jones Professor of Management and Professor of Psychology in the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University. Dr. George specializes in organizational behavior and is well known for her research on mood and emotion in the workplace, their determinants, and their effects on various individual and group-level work outcomes. She is a fellow in the Academy of Management, the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and is a member of the Society for Organizational Behavior.
