Lee Roy Beach, a noted scholar in both cognitive psychology and organizational behavior, has provided a practical guide for solving the day-to-day employee problems that keep managers awake at night. Organized around six principles—or commitments—that are the hallmarks of good employee management, the book fills the gap between the legal and policy issues that are the mainstay of human resources and supervision courses and the practical needs of managers as they attempt to cope with the human side of their jobs. Special features of The Human Element include:

• An informal, first-person writing style that addresses readers as individuals rather than as a mass audience,

• A simple, clear organization around the six fundamental commitments that good employee managers make in order to succeed,

• Numerous boxes that contain step-by-step guidelines for performing important tasks, such as how to conduct a meeting, how to write a code of conduct, and how to diagnose the cause of performance problems,

• Practical examples drawn from the author’s extensive personal experience as well as his careful observations of good and bad managers.

The Human Element is an ideal companion for courses on HRM and OB. “Lee Beach does it all. The Human Element book is marvelously written and it cuts through all the jargon and technicalities of managing people. It is filled with insights about how to manage in the trenches: providing leadership, shaping the culture, clarifying expectations, setting standards, and solving problems. It is a very good read.”

—TERENCE MITCHELL,
Carlson Professor of Management and Organization and Professor of Psychology,
University of Washington