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Werken van Traci Cumbay

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Cumbay, Traci
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The ...for Dummies series has, historically, been fairly useful - good, clear information presented in an easy-to-read format, with plenty of visual interest. Managing All-in-One for Dummies somehow missed that mark completely.

For a book as hefty - I had the paperback version - as this one, including its claims that it's "10 books in 1", you would imagine that there would be some useful information tucked away between its pages, but what little there was managed to be overshadowed by the rest of it. The problem with these books is that they try to attack every angle at once, when there are variances between companies, processes, and management itself. The book, unlike others, manages to side closer with middle management than upper management, which is refreshing and for once almost useful, but the problem is that the book can't decide who it's talking to beyond that: is it a manager of 2 or 3 people, or 50? Is it a sales office or a government office?

I originally picked this book, along with others, up for some self-improvement. Having been unceremoniously thrust into a supervisory position with little to no training, I found myself floundering. For the most part, I feel that I've done fairly well for myself, with only a few missteps, but I thought a little self-improvement in the form of research could not go amiss. I knew from the start that my position in academia was different than most of what these books were going to be talking about, but it is so different as to be almost useless - and I strongly suspect that almost any supervisor of any trade would feel similarly. Without focusing on a private company/federal/academic, etc., the book tries to serve too many masters, and thus fails at serving any.

Additionally, the book had very few case studies or real world situations. One chapter mentioned the various conflicts that a manager may be called upon to deal with: quarreling coworkers, an unhappy customer, etc. My interest was piqued. This is what I needed! This is what I was looking for! One need hardly imagine my disappointment when it gave vague advice about active listening and other abstract, pseudo-motivational theory instead of some concrete examples of what to say and do in those scenarios. Its chummy, "we know what it's like, eh?" tone failed to be helpful when they managed to talk almost entirely in generalities. I've had plenty of professional development given at work filled with those nice, trendy abstract theory that sidesteps reality so neatly that one would almost think these conflicts existed only within the realm of hypothetical.

Finally, the presentation of the book itself was disappointing. Anyone who has picked up any book within the ...for Dummies series is familiar with its visual set-up: large, eye-catching icons for important information and discrete boxes to delineate ideas of special importance. This book was a solid wall of text, with the occasional icon thrown in seemingly at random. Their meaning was defined early on, but rarely felt like it matched up for when it was usually used - and often it was hard to differentiate between said wall of text and what the icon was referring to. The book is not meant to be read, it states, but rather used as a reference - but anyone looking for quick information would quickly be discouraged by its format. Reference books have short, clearly defined information; this would be like referring to The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire as a reference book to the Roman empire. Close, but no cigar.

Overall, disappointing. There was some good advice sprinkled about, but it was generally difficult to find, not very specific, and none of it novel.
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kittyjay | Jan 2, 2016 |

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Werken
2
Leden
33
Populariteit
#421,955
Waardering
2.0
Besprekingen
1
ISBNs
7