The Real Senior Executive
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Summary
The reason is that many managers still lack an understanding of overall team design, are unclear about their own roles and responsibilities, and do not know how to build and lead teams effectively. In his classic work Senior Leadership Teams, Richard Hackman, a professor of social and organizational psychology at Harvard University, explores the general principles for leading and managing teams in different organizational settings so that they perform effectively.
Drawing on field research on a diverse range of teams—including orchestras, airline flight crews, economic analyst teams, and manufacturing plant teams—Hackman points out plainly that to make teams more effective, managers need not micromanage but should act like gardeners, focusing on creating the conditions that cultivate teams. These conditions include a real team, a compelling team direction, an enabling team structure, a supportive organizational context, and expert coaching.
Whether you are an experienced manager, a corporate consultant, or a newcomer to managing teams, this book will lead you to think deeply about the nature of team effectiveness, offer practical ways to strengthen your leadership and influence, and help you become a true senior leader capable of building and leading high-performing teams.
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Managers who lead teams and newcomers just stepping into management
- Consultants advising organizations on organization and teams
- OD practitioners interested in research on team effectiveness
- Business leaders who need to diagnose collaboration problems in their teams
Not a good fit for
- People looking for quick motivational scripts or team-building games
- Readers who want only concrete operational templates and are unwilling to think through design principles
- Readers unrelated to team management who are interested only in personal productivity
Reading tips
- Read the chapters on the conditions for team effectiveness first, then use them to diagnose your own team point by point.
- Reflect on how your industry's teams differ from the book's cases, and note transferable principles rather than copying practices.
- After finishing, discuss goals and structure with your team once, applying the book's framework to a real retrospective.
About the publisher
Zhejiang Education Publishing House is a professional publisher focusing on educational publishing while also serving general readers and academic accumulation, with publications covering textbooks, educational readers, popular science, and academic works. Judging from the more than 1,000 titles in the database, the press places considerable emphasis on classics and traditional culture for general readers: modern literature includes Lao She's Camel Xiangzi, Lu Xun's Call to Arms and Wandering and Wild Grass, Xiao Hong's The Story of Hulan River, and Zhu Ziqing's Back View; classical poetry includes Three Hundred Tang Poems and selections from the "Good Chinese Poetry" series, such as the Chu Ci and Qing ci anthologies. Related authors include modern writers such as Lao She, Lu Xun, Xiao Hong, and Zhu Ziqing, as well as classical literature selectors and annotators such as Hengtang Tuishi, Jin Xingyao, Jin Kaicheng, and Qian Zhonglian. Common categories in the database also include social novels, classic works, prose and miscellaneous writings, popular science, and inspirational growth, reflecting a publishing orientation that balances educational service with the popularization of public culture.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 各方赞誉
- 译者序 成为真高管，打造真团队
- 前言 重新认识高效团队
- 第一部分 什么是高效团队
- 第1章 团队高效的秘诀
- 第二部分 搭建高效团队的5个条件
- 第2章 条件1，真正的团队
- 第3章 条件2，富有感召力的团队目标
- 第4章 条件3，赋能的团队结构
- 第5章 条件4，支持性组织环境
- 第6章 条件5，专家指导
- 第三部分 探索高效团队的最佳实践
- 第7章 成为高效团队领导者
- 第8章 多视角思考如何让团队更高效
- 致谢
FAQ
Is this book suitable for people with no management experience?
What types of teams are covered in the book's cases?
After reading, will I get a step-by-step checklist for managing a team?
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About the author
J. Richard Hackman (1940–2013) was an American social and organizational psychologist, the Edgar Pierce Professor at Harvard University, and an authoritative scholar in the study of team effectiveness. He taught at Yale University for 20 years before moving to Harvard in 1986. Theoretically, he proposed the conditions model of team effectiveness and, with Oldham, the job characteristics model, which have had a lasting influence on organizational behavior and human resource management research. His writing centers on teamwork, leadership, and organizational design, addresses managers and researchers, and emphasizes translating research findings into actionable practical principles. Three of his works are included in the collection—True Teams, True Executives, and Making Senior Teams More Effective—all in management, reflecting his long-standing focus on how teams function and on the effectiveness of senior leadership teams.
Guan Suzhe is a Chinese author who focuses on issues of organization and team management. Public information about him is limited; what can be confirmed is that he has written two works, Real Teams and Real Executives, both classified under management. Judging from their titles and subject matter, his writing centers on two connected themes: team building and the growth of senior managers. On the one hand, he discusses what makes a team genuinely effective; on the other, he examines the qualities and responsibilities expected of executives. Both titles begin with the word “real,” reflecting his concern with the gap between name and substance in management practice and his attempt to distinguish surface form from true substance. His style leans toward practical analysis rather than theoretical exposition, and his books are aimed at business managers and workplace readers, hoping to help them reflect on their own teams and leadership through conceptual clarification and case-based discussion. Because public information about his life and professional background is lacking, his education, positions, and industry experience cannot be introduced here. Readers may treat his works as introductory reading for thinking about management and consult other sources for reference.
Zhuang Li'ang is a Chinese author whose publicly available personal information is limited. The identity details that can currently be confirmed center mainly on his writing in the field of management. One work by him is held in the collection, his representative book Zhen Gao Guan (True Senior Executive), classified under management. Judging from the title and subject matter, the book focuses on the roles and practical work of senior managers, discussing issues such as their positioning, judgment, and responsibilities within an organization, and is a management title aimed at workplace readers. Because no reliable records have been found regarding his birth and death dates, educational background, or professional career, no inferences or additions are made here. On the basis of the available material, Zhuang Li'ang's writing tends toward observation and distillation of management practice; his specific language style and views should be judged from the original text of Zhen Gao Guan. Readers who wish to learn more about his experience and intellectual development will have to wait for more public materials to emerge.
