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The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action
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Jeffrey Pfeffer, Robert I. Sutton
List Price: $32.50
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Product Details
- Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer, Robert I. Sutton
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- Binding: Hardcover
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- Dewey Decimal Number: 658.4038
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- EAN: 9781578511242
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- ISBN: 1578511240
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- Label: Harvard Business School Press
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- Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
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- Number of Items: 1
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- Number of Pages: 314
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- Product Group: Book
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- Publication Date: 2000-01-15
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- Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
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- Studio: Harvard Business School Press
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- Title: The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action
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Avg Customer Rating: 
Product Description: Every year, companies spend billions of dollars on training programs and management consultants, searching for ways to improve. But it's mostly all talk and no action, according to Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton, authors of The Knowing-Doing Gap. "Did you ever wonder why so much education and training, management consultation, organizational research and so many books and articles produce so few changes in actual management practice?" ask Stanford University professors Pfeffer and Sutton. "We wondered, too, and so we embarked on a quest to explore one of the great mysteries in organizational management: why knowledge of what needs to be done frequently fails to result in action or behavior consistent with that knowledge." The authors describe the most common obstacles to action---such as fear and inertia---and profile successful companies that overcome them. Among the companies that Pfeffer and Sutton say do it right: General Electric, the Men's Wearhouse, SAS Institute, Southwest Airlines, Toyota, and British Petroleum. The book, based on four years of research, is broken into chapters with titles such as "When Talk Substitutes for Action," "When Fear Prevents Acting on Knowledge," "When Internal Competition Turns Friends into Enemies," and "Turning Knowledge into Action." Each chapter contains tips on what to do and what to avoid, and provides examples of how a lethargic company culture can be transformed. The Knowing-Doing Gap is a useful how-to guide for managers looking to make changes. Yet, as Pfeffer and Sutton point out, it takes more than reading their book or discussing their recommendations. It takes action. --Dan Ring
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Customer Reviews
Still the Best Book on Execution and Implementation
There have been a lot of books published on what it takes to "execute" strategy or to "implement" organizational change since Pfeffer & Sutton first published this book in 1999. I still think it is the best, as it shows why gaps between knowledge and organizational happen, and offers detailed suggestions about how to overcome problems like the smart-talk trap, dysfunctional competition, and overly complex measurement systems.
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The book has a knowing-doing gap
I bought the book with much expectation, as the idea (knowing-doing gap) was quite fascinating. The book does a good job of sensitizing readers to the issue of the knowing-doing gap which is a pervasive problem in a variety of walks of life. However, in the end, the authors suffer from the same problem that they are describing - they do a good job of "knowing what the problem is", but fail to provide concrete guidance on how to close this gap.
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This book Is The Best of The Best!
This book hits the nail on the head. It's straight forward, easy to read format makes it a must read for every business leader who wants to get out from under knowing what to do and move to DOING the things that need to be done to move their organization forward!
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Effectiveness, honesty, simplicity
Certainly in modern hi-tech work people need to be skilled, and know how to do their work well. But with all that knowledge, and people and systems concerned with knowledge management (and management in general), one may wonder at times why more work doesn't get done sooner. The authors of The Knowing-Doing Gap address this question. If you see parts of yourself or your work environment in these examples, it may be time to discuss it with others so you can get more work done with what you know already.
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Overcoming Inertia - Uniting New Knowledge with Action
Two stellar professors use their experience and research to address the problem of organizational inertia in spite of our wide-spread and prevailing knowledge.
The premise is that a gap exists between our knowledge and the application of that knowledge in business... and that it can be closed. It cites that every year 1,700 business books are published, 60 billion dollars spent on training, 443 billion dollars spent on consulting and 80,000 new MBAs hit the business landscape... and still businesses are failing to apply the latest well-known and most viable principles and practices.
The authors break down the causes of this gap into five main reasons. After backing-up each reason with facts and examples, direct solutions are given to its remedy. Eight guidelines for action are then presented to fix this problem in your company. Case studies of business that have made huge turn-arounds using this appoach really amplify the authors' message.
This book is a great guide and loaded with ideas to getting the ball rolling in your business, non-profit organization... and dare I stretch to say your personal affairs. Knowing what to do, by itself is not enough... in businesses, churches or homes.
Application of this book's guidelines will make all of your other books, training, consulting, and manpower pay off. The tendency to just 'intellectualize' this information will be offset by your exposure to the real reasons knowledge hasn't lead to action in your experience. At least, that is the goal!
Five Stars
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