Outside Reading 1
Why Employees DON’T DO what they’re supposed to do.. and What TO DO about it.
By David F. Alessandro

The book opens up with discussing hidden influences that affect employees. He suggested though out the book that it is primarily a lack of quality management that leads to poor performances. His approach is to utilize 16 predetermined influences and offer examples and solutions to each. The format of the book is very simple and easy to read. The author uses each chapter to address the influence and breaks each one of them down systematically and consistently. The book in itself could almost be used as a quick reference for managers. It does have some quality advice and suggestions on how to deal with the situations. The flaw that I believe the author does not fully address or develop is that he places all of the blame for each suggestion on management. He is not inclusive with management. They to have their own issues and learning opportunities and will need assisted. He does attempt to address this situation in his Q&A at the end of the book, but simply relies on the 16 influences and that everything else is covered in this report or that report. I am to read the book and believe that this is the absolute solution and yet the last stance is if it is not in my suggestions then it is somewhere else and we do not have to deal with it. The Author references “They don’t know why they should do it” in the first chapter. The first issue is that employees frequently get mixed messages and/or infer different themes from information. I know that from personal experience, and it does not matter the size of the group, I can read verbatim from a stand up talk and will get several different summations of what was said. The same reasons he lists are the same things that management deals with on a multi-faceted level. The 16 are not independent, just the opposite. You may only have one, but many times there are going to be multiple issues combined in one situation and there is no cross reference available. If you are dealing with an employee that has been thinking they are way better and has a personal issue, according to him I can only deal with one at a time. Also, I found it profoundly odd the way the author ended the book. The entire thing seemed to make reference to empowerment and accountability and applying validity to each. Yet ends it with a non-chalant “Because I said so” type of comment almost refuting everything he had written. He specifically discusses responsibility vs. activity explaining that what you are responsible for and what you do are two different things. The comment leads me to believe that he was conducting an activity and an opportunity was wasted for direction and reward for nothing – a chapter in the book!