Reseñas proporcionadas por Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Writing for practitioners, as Manzini and Gridley do, requires sure steering of a course between the broad and narrow, abstract and concrete, and conceptual and descriptive. The authors here achieve mixed results. They emphasize a top-to-bottom, long-range-to-immediate system of planning for balancing the demand and supply of human resources, technical/professional more than managerial. Their main schema is presented in chapters treating the human resources information system, strategic planning framework, alternative strategic scenarios, operational scheduling, management-development programs, forecasting availability, and attrition. Strengths of the volume are the authors' forceful and persuasive approach, patent technical expertise in human resources management (from both employment and consulting), and distilling the text into a thorough case example. Weaknesses lie in the dated and oversimplified (but ambitious) strategy-level methodology and, generally, the long-winded, reiterative writing. Overall, this stimulating but specialized volume makes its main points well and early but lacks sufficient substance to warrant the length it takes to complete the treatment-to say nothing of the exceptional price. Not recommended.-J.C. Thompson, University of Connecticut