Some principles apply in all businesses across the world

How to Manage in a Flat World
Author: By Susan Bloch and Philip Whiteley
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Price: £17.99
Rating: 3 out of 5

So, this is a book about managing staff across commercial organisations in different time zones, I hear you say. What relevance could any of this possibly have to Scope (my charity)? Well, actually, the answer is plenty. Managing teams in geographically dispersed regions (shops) is an issue that not only affects us, but no doubt impacts on many businesses. As I started reading, I soon found that there were many parallels in my business with what Bloch and Whiteley were talking about. They write convincingly about how different cultures emerge within the same organisation, and how - if people won't change the culture - staff can at least learn to share a similar set of values.

Like many books on HR, the content is more 'advanced common sense' than spectacular revelation. That said, it helped reinforce a number of ideas that I'm currently thinking about - particularly the notion that recruitment must be treated as sacred rather than as an HR process. I do feel that not enough HR professionals use the opportunity that recruitment offers to really create best fit in an organisation. The authors also look at the dilemma of staff wanting both leadership and autonomy, and they describe it in a simple, succinct style that helped clarify my thinking in this very interesting area.

Considering that I'm not a natural HR reader, it was a good book. It gives you bullet-points about what you are about to read, and a summary of the main arguments at the end. It doesn't promise a panacea, but gives you good examples of what worked well in certain sectors, and it achieves all of this in an informal and informative way. It's what I would call a great book to read at night, but it isn't one that would send you to sleep within two minutes. It's definitely aimed at people like me, and I would keep it on my shelf rather than in my drawer. I really didn't think this book would apply to me, but it did, so it was well worth a look.