Every worthwhile organization strives continuously to improve. What the authors of this groundbreaking book offer is nothing less than a system for achieving peak performance. As a result of their work with more than 2000 teams, in some 40 countries across the globe, the authors identified the 7 factors that distinguish what they call ’dream teams’ and on that basis they developed the structured approach described in the Handbook. Part I sets out the principles that underlie team performance. Part II shows how to train teams to become more creative. Finally, in Part III, the authors demonstrate their ideas in action with real-life examples from a wide variety of organizational settings. They emphasize throughout the role of leadership in stimulating creativity and innovation, and they explain how to inject new dynamism into existing organizational systems and practices. Anyone involved in teamworking would profit from a close study of the Handbook. It will be especially valuable to team leaders and facilitators, to project managers and to HRD practitioners and consultants.
Biography
Tudor Rickards is Professor of Creativity and Organizational Change at Manchester Business School. Following a career in product research and development at Unilever he joined the Business School, where he directs the Creativity Research Unit. He is Alex Osborn Visiting Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo and has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Kiel. His awards include the Partnership Trust Prize for teaching creativity (1985). He has written numerous books and articles, notably Creativity and Problem Solving at Work, also published by Gower. Susan Moger is a Research Fellow at Manchester Business School, working in the area of creative problem solving and innovation management. She has designed and delivered product development and innovation training programmes in the petrochemical, brewing, food, pharmaceutical and airline industries. Her particular current interest is in the management of innovation within supply networks. Both authors have taught and researched extensively around the world on creativity and innovation. They are joint editors of the journal Creativity and Innovation Management.
' ... provides a good grounding in the principles of teamwork.' Management Consultancy 'The text is clear, concise, well referenced, and improved by case studies, quizzes, puzzles and other visual material ... It is recommended to Journal readers already in, or aspiring to similar roles, as part of their personal development.' British Journal of Healthcare Computing 'Practising this system will help teams to recognise potential blocking situations and how to deal with these effectively.' Skills and Enterprise Update 'What the authors of this ground-breaking book offer is nothing less than a system for achieving peak performance ... Anyone involved in teamworking would profit from a close study of the Handbook.' Engineering Designer 'Valuable for all working in teams, as well as other HRD practitioners and consultants.' Long Range Planning, October 1999
