Accountability: Freedom and Responsibility Without Control.

AuthorMarshall, Jeffrey
PositionBrief Article - Book Review

By Rob Lebow and Randy Spitzer. Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc., 258 pages. $17.95.

Picture five strangers traveling on a train from Denver to Los Angeles during a snowstorm. They strike up extended conversations not about the weather, but about workplace initiatives. Unlikely? Of course, but this is the scenario for Accountability, which, like some popular business books, presents ideas in the form of narratives or even parables.

Authors Rob Lebow, a consultant, and Randy Spitzer, a corporate training specialist, are co-chairman and executive vice president, respectively, of a group called Tomorrow's Workplace. They are evidently passionate believers in throwing off the traditional order of corporate control, which they say takes the form of things like employee incentive programs or recognition programs.

In fact, they add a few more "bad" ideas and create a list of 10 notions "that destroy accountability and hinder organizational effectiveness," including such corporate standbys as performance reviews, internal competition, personal...

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