When it comes to basic books on management, this one ís in a class for itself. It is a very large (and therefore scary to many people) book. But when you begin reading it, it seems to flow essentially by itself, AND it covers everything you need to knowm, BOTH from a theoretical standpoint and a practical one.

Even after an MBA (or equivalent), this makes good reading, as a refresher and enlightening book, but you don't have to be a current or former MBA student to appreciate that this is what makes a manager!

I can't praise it enough, even if it doesn't deliver any new or groundbreaking research, it summaries the current state of the art in such a good way that it stands in a class of itself!

As an aside, their case study of Barack Obama from 2007 is interesting :-)