Few books I have used over 200 years of teaching industrial sociology have earned as much praise, and the decision therefore by McGraw-Hill to neither publish a paperback edition or reprint the first cloth edition is all the more regrettable.
Lieberman helps clarify what most employees know and many struggle to get the rest of America to understand, namely, that unless and until employees make substantial inroads into the making of management decisions "many managements will fail and drag the American economy - meaning all Americans - down with it" (p. 292).
With a combination of comprehensive, clarity, and conviction that employees resonate to, Lieberman lays out the root sources of "management's failure to employ Americans productively and serve their needs" (p. IX).
Better still he explains why management cannot always know best and why the little feedback now accepted from employees is "far inferior to the feedback needed for highly successful, complex living systems" (p.211).
A thoughtful supporter of unionism and authentic employee groups alike, Lieberman urges employees to adopt a new attitude at and toward work: They should approach problems as if they were working for themselves, and stood to gain personally from any improvements that are gained.
Their unions and employee groups, in turn, should help Americans grasp how "thinking out a boss's role" will uniquely tap the immense abilities of employees now going essentially underused or trivialized by quality campaigns.
Persuasive in his insistence that "whoever leads in employee involvement will lead the world economy," Lieberman makes the strongest case possible for assertive and cooperative trade unionism, a case many employees earnestly seek to explore... while there is still time to draw management into a "win-win" course.
Unfit to Manage! How Mismanagement Endangers America and What Working People Can Do About It. by Ernest D. Lieberman. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1988. 301 pp. $17.95 cloth. (Available in autographed copy from the author for $9.95 plus $2.25 shipping and handling; write to E. Lieberman, 143 Sullivan St., Apt. 11, NYC, NY, 10012; 212-228-6572; bulk discounts available).
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