Treat People Right!: How Organizations and Individuals Can Propel Each Other into a Virtuous Spiral of Success Paperback / softback - 2003 - 1st Edition

We are entering a new era in the relationship between organizations and their employees.

Treat people right. It sounds simple to do, and it is hard to argue against doing it. Ed Lawler argues it is also a fundamental key to creating effective organizations. But it is much easier said than done. The challenge-- and it is a significant one-- is to identify and implement organization designs and practices that are good for both individuals and organizations. In this book, Lawler-- one of the world's foremost business management experts-- shows how to "treat people right" in a way that actually produces positive long-term payoffs for organizations and the people who work in them. He calls this relationship a "virtuous spiral." As he explains, when organizations reward people for performance, they perform better, which propels the organization to higher levels of performance. The organization is then able to reward them better and attract and retain more talented people-- which in turn spirals the organization toward even better performance.

The author details specific practices designed to satisfy employees while motivating them to continue improving their performance. These techniques include: developing a "brand" as an employer that attracts high achievers, selecting and developing high performers, crafting a leadership style that integrates and promotes performance, rewarding performance, and more. Lawler draws on examples from a wide range of companies including Microsoft, Motorola, IBM, Ford, and Hewlett-Packard to show how these practices work in some of the world's most successful organizations. Full of examples and best practices, Treat People Right! is a must-have resource for everyone who is concerned about building more effective organizations.