The Witch Doctors: Making Sense of the Management Gurus

Management theory is a worldwide growth industry these days. Terrified of falling behind, business executives flock from one management guru to another in search of a competitive edge. Catchwords such as "chaos," "excellence," and "quality" echo in corporate halls and bounce around boardrooms the world over. Which ideas and theories are sound, and which are ultimately useless fads? John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge spent two years answering this question. Their resulting book, The Witch Doctors, separates the management wheat from the chaff. In mercifully jargon-free prose, they look at the promise and problems of what's driving the current management industry explosion. Starting with Peter Drucker and Tom Peters, the authors examine the major ideas and their proponents, focusing not only on corporate implications but on social consequences as well.