Fun Minute Manager: Create FUNomental Results Now Using Fun at Work! [May 31, 2009] Pike, Bob

Meet Bob Workman. Bob likes his job. Bob likes his employees. Bob considers himself a good manager but senses low morale among his immediate staff members.

In this easy-to-read business fable, a chance encounter transforms Bob s work life as he sets out to discover how fun can revolutionize a worksite and pay big dividends both in morale and return on investment.

Bob discovers that a fun work environment one which lifts people s spirits and reminds them of their value to their managers, their organization, and to each other is a primary need among employees. He sets off on a quest to find ways to create a fun environment and develops a method to produce convincing evidence that creating a fun work environment is worth the time and effort for the company.

Along the way, Bob discovers that fun at work: * reduces stress
* energizes employees and lowers turnover
* improves both employee attitudes and customer satisfaction
* lowers absenteeism and increases productivity
* creates employee loyalty and group cohesiveness

While fun has not been viewed as a traditional responsibility of the manager, managers that care about their employees and their bottom line will find The Fun Minute Manager a great tool for actively engaging their employees and positively transforming their workplace. This book is concise, timely, and a rich resource of practical ideas.

Bob Pike CSP, CPAE Speakers Hall of Fame is chairman and CEO of The Bob Pike Group and has consulted on training and performance improvement since 1969 with organizations like IBM, AT&T, Hallmark Cards, the USMC, the Joint Military Agency, Microsoft and Pfizer. He is author or co-author of 29 books, including the best-selling Creative Training Techniques Handbook and Dealing with Difficult Participants. More than 125,000 trainers on five continents have attended his multi-day train-the-trainer workshops.

Robert C. Ford, Ph.D., is a professor of management at the University of Central Florida. His widely used text, Managing the Guest Experience in Hospitality, is a pioneering resource for enabling organizations to adapt Disney-based practices to create a fun and satisfying guest experience. Along with his coauthors (including John Newstrom), he conducted a major research study on fun at work for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and has published numerous articles and papers on the subject.

John W. Newstrom, Ph.D., is a professor emeritus of management at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and a self-styled funologist. He is coauthor of more than a dozen books including the popular Games Trainers Play<i/>. He coauthored numerous articles on fun work environments, including Making Workplace Fun More Functional and Making Work Fun: An Important Role for Managers. He and Bob Ford published the popular book Leading With A Laugh: 101 Funny Stories with 300 Serious Lessons for Managers, Trainers, and Speakers.