Management: Meeting and Exceeding Customer Expectations

This book provides practical guidance to the contemporary manager, stressing the critical thinking and problem solving skills required to navigate today's complex business environments. This edition also stresses the role of technology and the dramatic rise and importance of social media and data driven decision making. Framed around the functional areas of management - Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Influencing, and Controlling -- the authors continue to emphasize the need for organizations and their people to be guided by effective leadership and continuous improvement.

Each chapter includes a series of box inserts providing a deeper insight into specialized areas of management. Global Applications features the successful application of one or more of a chapter's concepts from the practice of management in non-U.S. situations. Ethical Management boxes showcase managers facing decisions that contain a variety of issues and consequences for themselves and others. Valuing Diversity and Inclusion boxes depict unique ways in which organizations show appreciation for their diverse employees. Managing Social Media boxes focus on managers' use of technology in various aspects of management, as well as its impact on the manager and the organization.

Gemmy S. Allen holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas at Arlington and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of North Texas. She has also completed all but the dissertation for a doctorate from UNT. Her awards include being named Outstanding Mountain View College Faculty Member andreceiving the Golden Oak Award, Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce; the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) Excellence in Teaching Award; and the award for Mountain View College Innovator of the Year. She has served as a member of Microsoft Mentors, the Microsoft/Compaq College Advisory Council, and the St. Philip's College Model Electronic Commerce Curriculum Advisory Committee. She is the founding teacher of the Virtual College of Texas-"Internet Teachers at Every College." Known for her progressive use of social media in the classroom, Ms. Allen maintains a blog called "Management Minutes" (www.gemmyallen.com), tweets about management on Twitter @MgtMin, and regularly posts to her Facebook page at ww.facebook.com/ManagementText. In addition to Management: Meeting and Exceeding Customer Expectations, she has co-authored several discipline-specifi c, Internet-related books and has developed several online classes. Ms. Allen has made numerous presentations to industry and has led workshops in the United States, Australia, and Mexico.

Warren R. Plunkett is a retired professor of management and Chairman of the Business Department at Wright College, City Colleges of Chicago. He holds a B.B.A. from Notre Dame University and an M.B.A. from Roosevelt University. Since graduating from Notre Dame, Warren has been a high school teacher, a systems analyst, a member of the U.S. Army Reserve, a management consultant, a college professor for 30 years at Wright College, and most recently an entrepreneur. Warren has authored several textbooks, including Supervision: The Direction of People at Work, Business, The Consumer in America, and Management: Meeting and Exceeding Customer Expectations. Warren has made numerous presentations to industry, and has served on numerous committees and led various workshops.