The High Performance Organization

18  ___________________________________

Conclusion

We stand at the edge of the deepest power-shift in human history. In years past, power equated to manpower and horsepower. Today, and more so in the future, knowledge and information are power.

(Toffler, 1991)

It would be easy to dismiss the argument that business success will follow good people management practice as a pipe dream, or aspirational at best. Yet the proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say, and through research and consultancy practice I am seeing evidence that what is often regarded as the ‘soft stuff’ of management is in fact the ‘hard stuff’, which more successful organizations tend to get right.

Throughout this book I have suggested that today's volatile and competitive ...