Don't Kill the Bosses! Escaping the Hierarchy Trap

by Culbert, Samuel A.; Ullmen, John B.

• ISBN13: 9781576751619
• ISBN10: 1576751619
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-08-27
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Summary

Don't Kill the Bosses! is not about killing bosses per se; it's about fixing companies by killing the idea of boss-dominated relationships. The book takes you to the core of boss/subordinate relationships to point out what's systematically flawed and needs correcting: Subordinates spin the truth for consumption above while bosses fail to establish the conditions required for subordinates to tell it to them straight. Don't Kill the Bosses! is quick to identify the "culprit" as one-sided accountability, and labels the consequences as institutional corruption and resource wasting. Don't Kill the Bosses! provides an alternative model. It details the system changes required for the type of candid, equal footing relationships that allow hierarchy to work productively.

Author Biography

Samuel A. Culbert is Professor of Management at UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management John Ullmen is the Senior Manager for Organizational Effectiveness at Earthlink

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Acknowledgments	xv
Introduction and Executive Summary: Why Not Kill the Bosses?!	1	(10)
Recognizing the Hierarchy Trap	11	(23)
The Core Problem Is One-Sided Accountability	34	(23)
Transformation 1: You've Got to Use What You Know about Human Nature	57	(15)
Transformation 2: Politics As Usual Won't Get You There	72	(21)
You Need a Two-Sided Accountability Mind-Set	93	(20)
Team Effectiveness Requires It	113	(13)
Top Levels Need to Support It	126	(15)
Changing the Structure to Encourage It	141	(19)
What Don't Kill the Bosses! Can Do for You: Who Benefits and How?	160	(11)
Index	171	(6)
About the Authors	177