Last chance to nominate top management books
12 July 2010
UK authors and publishers have just three weeks left to enter books into the inaugural Management Book of the Year competition to be in with a chance to win a £5,000 prize and the coveted title.
The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and the British Library launched the competition back in March after a survey found that just five per cent of employees are turning to management books when they have work issues, suggesting that managers are struggling to find useful, practical texts.
Perhaps surprisingly, when it comes to topic choice, more people would like to read about how to achieve a good work/life balance (40 per cent) than how to get a pay rise (30 per cent). In addition 31 per cent are interested in guidance on how to manage people while just 19 per cent would like tips on securing a promotion.
The Management Book of the Year competition, which closes to nominations on 31 July, aims to uncover the UK’s best books on management – those which will help transform the working practices of managers – and help to raise awareness of how management theories and thinking can be better applied in practice. It will also help to raise the profile of the great management writing being produced by UK authors, bringing it to a wider audience, and demonstrate the relevance and impact of management research on the UK economy.
The competition is the first of its kind to have a category dedicated to digital books. Entries submitted into the ‘Digital Management Book’ category will be judged on how well they use technology to enhance the accessibility of the text and the subject matter covered. Digital entries already submitted include a range of interactive books including The Business Leader’s Health Manual, a guide with body and mind exercises, by Michael and Juliette McGannon, and Meet the Boss, a downloadable book with song recordings which looks at how subliminal messages can help create cynicism towards management, by Philip Whitely.
To date, more than 73 management books have been entered into the competition but with the closing date for entries just a few weeks away, CMI and the British Library is urging any remaining authors and publishers to nominate their work and seize the opportunity to have their writing widely acknowledged by the business community.
Books can be entered across three competition categories, ‘Practical Manager’, ‘Innovation and Entrepreneurship’ and ‘Digital Management Book’. As well as entries from authors and publishers, CMI and the British Library are calling on all UK managers to get in touch – via managementbooks@managers.org.uk – to nominate the books on management and leadership they would like to see in with a chance of winning the £5,000 prize and the Management Book of the Year title.
Hodder Education is entering five management and leadership books into the competition including: Be Your Own Boss by Matt Avery, Run Your Own Business by Kevin Duncan and three books from the Instant Manager series by Bernice Walmsley, Managing Yourself, Managing Change and Getting Results.
Anna Bowen, Hodder Education’s senior marketing executive, said: “Hodder Education is proud to be entering five management and leadership books into the competition. The Management Book of the Year competition is a fantastic way of promoting excellence in management through books that can really inspire learning and innovation. We are very excited about the potential of this award for increased recognition of great management books and their authors.”
When the competition originally launched in March, CMI and the British Library highlighted shocking research which showed that 85 per cent of employees would rather seek help elsewhere than turn to their managers when they need guidance at work. Instead, people are turning to books, the internet, colleagues or friends to avoid looking incompetent in front of their bosses (30 per cent) or, more worryingly, because they don’t believe their managers can help (23 per cent).
Ruth Spellman, CMI chief executive, said: “We are committed to promoting excellence in all aspects of management, and are proud to have partnered with the British Library to deliver a book competition that does just that. We want this competition to encourage UK managers and leaders to commit to reading to aid their professional development. There is a desperate need for enhanced UK management and leadership skills and reading is one way to improve people’s skills, making them more approachable, better managers.”
Simon Bell, Head of Partnerships and Licensing said: “In these tough economic times it is vital Britain’s business leaders stay on top of the management game in order to drive economic recovery. Forming a key part of the British Library’s ongoing support for business and the UK's knowledge economy, the inaugural Management Book of the Year awards seek to showcase some of the best management writing the country has to offer and help practitioners put theory into action.”
For more information or to enter or nominate a management book you would like to see in the competition, please visit www.managementbookoftheyear.org.uk.
Further information:
Donna White/Faith Riding
Telephone: 020 7 612 8847/020 7 612 8865
Email: donna.white@kindredagency.com / faith.riding@kindredagency.com
British Library Press Office
Jacob Lant – Business Science and Technology Press Office
+ 44 (0) 20 7412 7105
jacob.lant@bl.uk
Notes to Editors
- The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) is the only chartered professional body in the UK dedicated to promoting the highest standards of management and leadership excellence. CMI is the founder of the National Occupational Standards for Management and Leadership and sets the standards that others follow
- As a membership organisation, CMI has been providing forward-thinking advice and support to individuals and businesses, for more than 50 years, and continues to give managers and leaders, and the organisations they work in, the tools they need to improve their performance and make an impact
- As the only organisation to offer qualifications from Level 2 (GCSE) to Level 8 (PhD), CMI is committed to equipping individuals with the skills and knowledge to be exceptional managers and leaders. Qualifications and accreditations such as Chartered Manager, combined with products such as CMI’s Continuous Professional Development scheme and the online support resource, ManagementDirect, support the development of management and leadership excellence across the UK
- Through in-depth research and policy surveys of its 90,000 individual and 450 corporate members, CMI maintains its position as the premier authority on key management and leadership issues
- The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world's greatest research libraries. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world's largest and most comprehensive research collection. The Library's collection has developed over 250 years and exceeds 150 million separate items representing every age of written civilisation. It includes: books, journals, manuscripts, maps, stamps, music, patents, photographs, newspapers and sound recordings in all written and spoken languages. www.bl.uk