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The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First, Jeffrey Pfeffer, 1998. Harvard Business School Press: Boston, MA. 345 pp. $24.95.
Jeffrey Pfeffer has consistently made timely, comprehensive contributions to our understanding of critical issues in the research and practice of management. In The Human Equation, he comments on the excessive reliance on conventional wisdom, and reinforces the need for continuous assessment of the effects of disparities in multiple conceptual and so-called 'common sense' antecedents in the study of humans in organizations. His analysis provides extensive documentation that much of what we know or assume regarding the individual in terms of the general human equation may be short sighted palliatives that accentuate or create downward spirals in performance. This review presents an overview and some specific examples of the way in which the book complements our knowledge and makes us more informed scholars and managers.
The introduction and early chapters of The Human Equation draw attention to the constant search for a magic elixir that usually results in truncated models with unintended results. In addition, Pfeffer addresses significant questions inherent in developing a comprehensive perspective on humans in organizations using the conceptual spectrum from human motivation to strategic management. His propositions are supported by his extensive record of research, widespread consulting experience, and ability to codify coherent principles. This epoch of management is influenced by international competition; increasing emphasis on the technological dimensions of organizational structure, various industry factors; virtual organizations, people and their skills; and economic imperatives generated by financial markets. Scholars and practitioners of management need an incisively argued and supported treatise which defines the unique role of humans in organizations. Pfeffer presents much of the requisite wisdom in The Human Equation. Pfeffer is direct in making his points in the book and pulls no punches as he identifies the need for organizational leaders to create distinctive capabilities to compete and be successful, rather than mimic the strategies of others or buy capabilities on the market. He also confronts the arguments of those who assert that people constitute labour costs to be reduced or eliminated and similarly goads the defenders of Taylorism with regard to mechanizing human processes. In addition, he strongly challenges the assumption that mutual trust developed by job security, optimal...