University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
High Performers
Book

High Performers

Recruiting & Retaining Top Employees

Alan J. Dubinsky and Steven J. Skinner
Thomson Texere, 2003
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Editorial Rating

5

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Recommendation

This is a very short book and most of what authors Alan J. Dubinsky and Steven J. Skinner have to say seems like straight, plain common sense. That is so rare in books about human resource management that this seems like a small gem. Most of its content consists of vignettes of high-performing employees who go out of their way to serve customers. But the authors have arranged their material well as they discuss boosting employees who do good work in lower-level management or staff positions. Each chapter covers a trait that motivates top performers and includes succinct tips for managers. The authors also outline, on a matrix, the relationship between performance motivation and managerial initiatives. While you can easily read this book in less than an hour, putting its recommendations into effect will be the work of an organizational lifetime. getAbstract.com believes it will be work well rewarded.

Summary

The Lucky ThirteenInterviews with 200 employees in a variety of professions have led to the discovery of 13 performance drivers. These drivers push employees to go far beyond the call of duty to satisfy customers and serve the organization. Examples of such employees include:The flight attendant who goes out of her way to call for a food delivery on a no-meals flight to take care of a tired, hungry passenger.The customer service rep who gets no overtime pay but who takes hours of his own time to help customers inspect an engine before it is shipped to their plant.The railroad employee who tells his exhausted co-worker to sleep through their shift and does both jobs.Why would anyone do such things? Perhaps in a monastery or a commune you might reasonably expect employees to put themselves out, but why would self-interested economic actors in a capitalist economic system give anything to anybody without demanding something in return? In fact, these 13 factors drive outstanding employee performance:Strong internal motivation — This can be so strong that it becomes a need to achieve.A sense of initiative — To some, taking the initiative simply makes sound sense.Nurture — Many ...

About the Authors

Alan J. Dubinsky is the author of three books and a professor of selling and sales management at Purdue University. Steven J. Skinner is Rosenthal Professor of Marketing at the Gatton College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky. He is the author of Marketing, Second Edition, a college textbook, and the co-author of Management: Quality and Competitiveness, Business for the 21st Century and The New Banker: Developing Leadership in a Dynamic Era.

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