Management, by Gomez-Mejia and Balkin, has a distinctive 'people orientation' to the field of management. This approach looks at management through three different perspectives: perspective of a manager, team management, and self- management. The authors focus on managing people because in the 21st century knowledge is the greatest source of competitive advantage and the major basis of valuing firms in the market. Management, 1e, offers a blend of an organizational behavioral approach to management and a functional approach. The authors believe that the traditional functions of management-administering, organizing, controlling, directing, and so on-remain crucial and must be carried out well for a firm to succeed. However, these functions now spread across different levels of the organization and are not the sole responsibility of the firm's managers. Managers, teams, and individual employees must all be intimately involved in these various activities for a firm to succeed in increasingly competitive markets.

"Management 3rd Edition", by Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, and Cardy, is an exciting new take on principles of management. Ask your incoming students what "management" is, and they'll talk about the kind of management they know from their own work experience. Managers assign people their hours, they give raises or promotions, they tell people what job to do-the manager, in other words, is "the boss". In most other work settings, however, management means something far more important and complex. In addition to people, managers also manage performance, processes, relationships, and more increasingly in today's world, deal with the pressure and flux of constant change. This, coupled with the fact that workplaces have steadily become less hierarchical and more team- and group-driven, means the traditional responsibilities of the manager have gradually been dispersed throughout the organization. Students preparing to work in today's business environment may not start in a corner office with an assistant, but they still need to think like managers and understand the strategic goals of the organization.