The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack, Bo Burlingham (With)

Product Details

Synopsis

In the early 1980s, Springfield Remanufacturing  Corporation (SRC) in Springfield, Missouri, was a  near bankrupt division of International Harvester.  That's when a green young manager, Jack Stack,  took over and turned it around. He didn't know how to  "manage" a company, but he did know about the  principal, of athletic competition and democracy:  keeping score, having fun, playing fair, providing  choice, and having a voice. With these principals  he created his own style of management --  open-book management. The key is to let everyone in on  financial decisions. At SRC, everyone learns how to  read a P&L -- even those without a high school  education know how much the toilet paper they use  cuts into profits. SRC people have a piece of the  action and a vote in company matters. Imagine  having a vote on your bonus and on what businesses the  company should be in. SRC restored the dignity of  economic freedom to its people. Stack's  "open-book management" is the key -- a system  which, as he describes it here, is literally  a game, and one so simple anyone can use  it. As part of the Currency paperback line, the  book includes a "User's Guide" -- an  introduction and discussion guide created for the  paperback by the author -- to help readers make  practical use of the book's ideas. Jack Stack is the  president and CEO of the Springfield Remanufacturing  Corporation, in Springfield, Missouri. The recipient  of the 1993 Business Enterprise Trust Award, Jack  speaks throughout the country on The  Great Game Of Business and Open  Book Management.

Annotation

Now available in paperback--the book that has, since 1992, become the primer for open-book management, a new method based on the concept of democracy, the spirit of sports, and the reality of numbers. Includes a "user's guide" and a discussion guide created especially for this edition.

Library Journal

Stack and Burlingame offer an exploration of one of today's hottest management strategies: The Game. Making business into a game with goals, scoring, and chances to win greatly improved Stack's company, Springfield Manufacturing Corporation (SMC). Additionally, SMC adopted an open-book management policy, wherein employees were told exactly how the company was performing financially, while SMC managers added employee bonuses when targets were achieved. The authors demonstrate how involving employees in business planning and giving them a financial stake in the outcome of their work can reap amazing benefits. Some costs are undoubtedly associated with this strategy and there may be other problems related to "laying out the books" for all to see. Yet Stack, who also serves as reader, offers many useful ideas that can benefit people in management. Recommended for business collections.-Mark Guyer, Stark Cty. Dist. Lib., Canton, Ohio

Biography

JACK STACK is President and CEO of SRC Holding Corporation, an employee-owned company that supplies remanufactured engines to the transportation industries. He is also the author of A Stake in the Outcome. He lives in Springfield, Missouri.