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Rating: 
Summary: Well referenced, pragmatic, advice for business managers
Review: At last an author who doesn't claim to have a silver bullet for management. But then again maybe he does. This book covers the complete range of management topics but manages to tie it all together in a systematic way. Cobb's practical advice is to apply the best of the management techniques available to appropriate situations in your business rather than trying to home in on the current management fad. This is the first book I've read that recommends taking a systems approach to management. It capitalizes on techniques used for years in the mature field of engineering and applies them to the management discipline. He teaches one to build a management system much the way you would engineer a physical system. Concepts are explained with lots of drawings and tables that make them easy to understand. This book has practical advice, real life examples, and is a svelte 250 pages including appendicies, endnotes and the index. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: This Ain't Your Daddy's Quality System
Review: Step out of your typical "Quality" box and read a state-of-the-art book that will get you thinking differently! In this book Cobb pushes the envelope about quality systems thinking and argues that it's time quality professionals coalesce the many programs and international specifications offered in industry. By doing so, Cobb suggests that this integrated systems approach will be more effective and produce business results that are long lasting.
Indeed, today's quality industry has reached a quagmire of program-du-jours - Six Sigma, ISO 9001:2000, maturity tables, to name just a few - that may leave some people wondering how they all fit together to drive results. Cobb's vision, in adopting "systems thinking", says that it's ok - YES! IT'S OK!! - to not limit your company to one approach; but to pick and choose the best management tool for each situation and integrate them! His book has a number of helpful visuals such as systems roadmaps, process models, alignment of business metrics, and a lifecycle model for complex improvement initiatives. His fourth chapter "Designing Integrated Management Systems," drives home the point through examples and that our changing industry "...requires greater alignment among technology, systems, people, and organizational units."
Cobb thoroughly and efficiently describes typical programs and their linkages, and surprises the reader by addressing other enablers such as cultural and behavioral factors, knowledge management, and the strong use of cross-functional integration of metrics to drive customer value. His book does fall short, however, in citing a process for translating ever-changing incoming customer requirements into the company's integrated quality systems.
Overall, this is an excellent book to drive innovative thinking and paradigm shifts about quality and implementing change. This definitely is not your "daddy's quality system" anymore!
Rating:
Summary: Managers who want to make a REAL difference!
Review: This book is for "enlightened" managers who want to make a REAL operational difference within their company.
All material has been used in real life situations. If management wants to take their company to an internal business excellence that will generate outstanding profitability, customer satisfaction, employee commitment and inherent continuous improvement, they need only two things... 1) ACTIVE commitment/participation from senior management and,
2) the tools in this book.
Rating:
Summary: An important addition to every managers bookcase
Review: This is the first book I have read that gives real guidance to business owners and managers on the application of quality
standards and practices to genuinely improve their business operation and results. It does not concentrate on any one approach, but gives good, unbiased, advice on how to select and implement the most suitable quality management techniques that really add value. The author has done a good job researching his subject and has included some excellent case studies from well
known companies to support his argument. His conclusions are well thought out and his overall message clear.
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