Interestingly, I do remember that book being used recently in a high school setting, the surprising relevance:
It was to teach students in a now constantly changing jobs environment that they should be ready to seek new opportunities constantly and to not depend or be static in one job when the truth is that it can change any minute.
I would indeed see it as very awkward to use in a corporation when the intention of management is to calm workers after or during a shake up.
[QUOTE=Noel Prosequi ]
I gather that it is the economics of the management consulting life that drove all this. Management types rely on the principle that management is sufficiently a science that no content knowledge of the task being managed is necessary. That immediately creates resentment from those who have been doing a job for decades.
Next, managers tend to move quite quickly from workplace to workplace, even internal managers.
A consequence of this is that they need to do stuff to justify their existence and “brand” themselves as new ideas people. So they adopt one of a small number of standard strategies. Centralise everything that was decentralised. Decentralise everything that was centralised. Rearrange pay structures so that they look encouraging but result in less actual pay. Move on (before the villagers warm up the torches and pitchforks) so they have a shiny new achievement to put on their CV. Lather, rinse, repeat.
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It’s interesting that most of my coleagues - MBA management consultant types - don’t stay at any one company very long. Every 9-24 months it seems like they move to a new firm.