The Dilbert Principle - Hardcover

Scott Adams

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0752222872 ISBN 13: 9780752222875

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1996

Synopsis

Dilbert and author Scott Adams reveals the secrets of management in every company, including: SWEARING YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS / FAKING QUALITY / BUSINESS PLANS: WORLD'S GREATEST FICTION / TROLLS IN THE ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT / HUMILATION AS A MANAGEMENT TOOL / SELLING BAD PRODUCTS TO STUPID PEOPLE / and much more in the twenty-six provocative, illustrated chapters. For those stuck in their cubicles, Dilbert gives his voice on bosses, meetings, management fads, idiots who are promoted because they have good hair, bonuses that are replaced by novelty items inscribed with the corporate logo, and other workplace afflictions. A very funny book, and sadly some hit home.

About this title

Review:

You loved the comic strip; now read the business advice.

Or should that be anti-business advice? Scott Adams provides the hapless victim of re-engineering, rightsizing and Total Quality Management some strategies for fighting back, er, coping. Forced to work long hours, with no hope of a raise? Adams offers tips on maintaining parity in compensation. Along the way, Adams explains what ISO 9000 really is and assesses the irresistibility of female engineers.

The breath-taking cynicism of the strip should prepare readers for the author's no-holds-barred attack on management fads, large organizations, pointless bureaucracy and sadistic rule-makers who glory in control of office supplies. Readers of the on-line Dilbert Newsletter are familiar with the kind of e-mail Adams receives from his readers -- and may even have sent a few of those missives themselves. Along with illustrative strips, e-mail messages provide excruciating examples of corporate behavior which compel the reader to agree with Adams when he insists that "People are idiots".

The final chapter offers a model for would-be successful businesses to follow: the OA5 model. It's introduced with little fanfare, no outrageous promises and just the right amount of self-deprecation.

About the Author:

Scott Adams is the creator of Dilbert, the comic strip that now appears in 1,550 newspapers worldwide. His first two hardcover business books, The Dilbert Principle and Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook, have sold more than two million copies and have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for a combined total of sixty weeks.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0752222872
• ISBN 13: 9780752222875
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336