PROFIT BEYOND MEASURE
STEPS TO MANAGING BY MEANS
H Thomas Johnson & Anders Bröms
Introduction by Peter Senge
"We stand at the outset of building a modern knowledge base of management by means. Profit Beyond Measure points us in a direction and offers invaluable insight in getting started."
Peter Senge
Profit Beyond Measure gives a bold alternative to conventional management thinking and practice.
When managers use mechanistic principles of measurement to run living business organizations, they generate myriad disfunctions: shortened life spans for the average company, demoralized workers, turbulent communities, and a decaying ecosystem.
The answer lies in business leaders instilling throughout their companies the principles which guide the operation of living systems. To do so requires disciplined practices, sustained attention to how work is done, and nurturing every step of the work at every moment.
Managers must focus, as does nature, on minute particulars. Their job is to cultivate and nurture conditions that bond company talents and customer needs in a profitable union, not to drive work with counter-productive financial targets. Instead of the destructive pursuit of 'management by results', managing by means, as this book shows, can enable a company to profit beyond measure in a sustainable way.
Profit Beyond Measure draws on the application of new knowledge to business, made possible by observing companies which emulate the way natural systems work, such as Toyota and Scania.
There are fascinating and useful lessons and steps for top executives and senior managers working in many different areas: marketing, design, production, logistics, human relations, finance, and information technology. The book's message is also vital for executives and managers in non-business organizations, in government and in education and will interest anyone involved in organizational learning.
H. Thomas Johnson is the author or co-author of six books including the bestselling Relevance Lost: The Rise and Fall of Management Accounting, and many articles and reviews on accounting, economic history, and management. He has received many honours for his publications, including Harvard Business School¼s Newcomen Award in Business History.
Anders Bröms is the co-founder and managing partner of SAM Samarbetande Konsulter AB, based in Sweden.