This book provides a full account of Deming's thinking on the primacy of management's role in improving quality and productivity. He demonstrates what managers do wrong and how costs, dependability and quality must be improved. This is not just another manual of techniques; Deming provides a theory of management that gets to the roots of the problems of industrial competitiveness, which face management today.

The aim of this book is to provide guidance for people in management to successfully respond to the myriad changes that shake the world. Transformation into a new style of management is required. The route to take is what Deming calls profound knowledge - knowledge for leadership of transformation. Transformation is not automatic. It must be learned; it must be led..

Quality does not happen accidentally it must be planned" - Juan's definitive guide to a structured approach to company wide quality planning.

Juran clearly presents a step by step guide in how to apply the familiar business concepts of planning, control & improvement to quality leadership.

The most successful organizations of the future will be learning organizations. The organizations that excel will be those that discover how to tap into their people's commitment and capacity to learn at every level in the company.

An extension of the above book concentrating in how to make the above ideas work.

With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes Covey revels a step by step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, honesty and human dignity - principles that give us security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.

How can we have - team spirit - creativity - comfort with change - alignment of staff with organizational goals? - The questions lucidly addressed.

A straight forward guide to understanding data especially in the context of variation. Statistics made easy.

Kaizen means gradual unending improvement, which is the simple basis behind the Japanese manufacturing miracle. A lucid description of Kiazen in action.

The landmark book that encapsulated the X & Y theory concepts of management. He asks all those interested in empowering and motivating the workforce to examine their theoretical assumptions about the most effective way to manage people.

The book compares the more inclusive management style of successful Japanese companies with the dictatorial style of successful American companies.

We are restricted by the way we think, our mindsets, our paradigms. De Bono helps us recognize this impediment to future change and gives us tools to overcome it.

A practical method to tackle any problem - it guides us though the emotion, logic and creativity that needs to be brought into play when addressing complex problems.

Peter Scholtes shows how bad systems, not bad workers cause the vast majority of management problems. He takes controversial stands against performance appraisals and incentive compensation. And he takes you from theory to practice with a wide variety of state of the art activities and exercises to help you immediately begin implementing breakthrough improvements in all work processes.

The basic handbook for Quality Improvement teams

Written as a fast paced thriller this is an easy to read book, which introduces the concept of processes or systems

A vision of what organizations may look like in the future

We all work in a system - the supplier, the organisation and the customer - our future lies in maximising the system for everybody's benefit. If we compete within that system all we are doing is creating the opportunity for waste and conflict.

Our present day culture wishes to control our staff and our children through rewards and punishment - unfortunately this has a detrimental effect on the motivation of our people.

Drawing from hundreds of studies Alfie Khon argues that our struggle to defeat each other - at work, at play and at home - turns us all into losers. Competition contrary to the myths with which we have been raised does not motivate us to do our best, rather it sabotages self-esteem and ruins relationships.

Explains the fundamental operation of the human brain in terms of it's thinking process and explains how to unleash and harness its potential.

This is the inspiring story of a young man who took over his father's ailing company based on hierarchical thinking and transformed it into a company based on trust. A company where true democracy is approached.

A very readable exposition of the Deming Philosophy.

Identifies natural team roles and how as individuals we respond in team situations. The implication of which is that, with thought, we can assemble teams that are likely to be successful.

This book helps us appreciate the origins of our management thinking which is still very much based on the teachings of Fredrick Taylor (1900s) - or worse still the corruption of Taylor's concepts. It expands on the transformation of our thinking that we should address if we are to compete in the modern world.

The book explores how and why corporate mistrust evolves, its inordinate cost, and how it can be eliminated.

In order to solve major problems facing us today, it will be necessary to break out of our existing paradigms or mindsets. This book aids that process.

An opportunity is as real an ingredient in business as raw material, labour or finance - but for the opportunity to bear fruit it has to be defined, evaluated and implemented. This handbook, from the instigator of 'Lateral Thinking' provides a systematic approach to opportunity seeking.

The first generation of management is simply doing it oneself. The second is instructing in detail others to do the work. The third is setting targets and allowing the employees to develop their own methods - it seeks to make employees accountable , this method is susceptible to distortion of the figures. The fourth generation of management is based on leadership understanding, through quality as defined by the customer, scientific method that includes the analysis of variation and team spirit both within and beyond organizations.

A passionate denunciation of the institutions that have brought us down and a demonstration of the underlying systematic nature of our problems.

A book on how we learn. It has major implications, therefore, on how we teach.

The best selling BBC book that teaches us how to learn and how to increase our creative and problem solving capacity.

There is a direct link between mental powers and your ability to recall from your memory all the information that is stored in the subconscious brain. Consideration how we develop our ability to recall from our subconscious.

Quality and initiative is impossible when people are afraid to tell the truth. Fear is debilitating, it will have your staff working on only two of their four cylinders

A history of philosophy written as if it is a novel. A very readable account of the development of our thinking from the time of Socrates right through to modern times

We can learn from the past. The objective of this book is to appreciate the development of management thinking in the context of the prevailing cultural environment. And from this perspective appreciate today's thinking and be able to predict trends into the future.

The book explores how new discoveries in quantum physics, chaos theory and biology contribute to our thinking of how we organise work, people and life.

The recognition that as humans we have the ability to self organise. We therefore need far less supervision and direction than is commonly assumed. It is a book full of hope.

Thomas Harris recognises that we retain a subconscious memory of all our experiences and their associated emotions, and that these memories do have a profound effect on our relationships. He explains how we can understand and control these influences. It is a practical guide to transactional analysis.

Presents in a practical and non-technical language the research into motivation, building on many sources but in particular the work of David McClelland and John Atkinson.

The summarised results of many years of research by the motivation research group in Japan. It concludes that the type of management that is able to motivate employees transcends national boundaries and is the same the world over.

Questions the sufficiency of the analysis, judgement and argument type of thinking that we have inherited from the Greek gang of three Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Considers our thinking should be structures to design solutions - one of which allows all possibilities and delays judgement until the final design phase.

A deep and thoughtful book on the nature of quality - its holistic nature. It challenges the present day tensions in our society through poor perception of quality. The need to clear our mind of extraneous thoughts and give the mind the opportunity to develop new perspectives.

Irrational beliefs and behaviours are virtually universal. Stuart Sutherland analyses the many causes of irrationality and shows that it is universal - the damage done and the possible cures.

The book explains what the mind is, how it evolved and how it allows us to see, think and feel, and pursue callings in the arts, religion and philosophy. The book is based on two powerful ideas: that mental activity is a form of computation, and that the neural computer that gives rise to our human nature was shaped by natural selection.

The greatest gift in life is the ability to think great thoughts and have the strength to take action. Jack Black is Scotland's own 'Positive Thinking' guru.

In this blistering attack on one of the sacred cows of business today, John Seddon shows how the ISO 9000 standards are not only failing to deliver the improved quality they promise, but in most cases are actually damaging the companies that have implemented them.

The book is written in an attempt to deal with two major questions: what are the thinking processes that enable people to invent simple solutions to seemingly complicated situations? And the question of how to use the psychological aspects to assist rather than impair the implementation of those solutions in a mode of an ongoing process.

Oshray weaves a remarkable explanation for the subtle, and largely unseen, ways in which our structures influence our behaviour.

The authors have examined eighteen exceptional and long lasting companies and compared each with one of its closest but less successful competitors, in order to discover just what has given them the edge over its rivals.

The authors describe the process by which companies learn and create competitively valuable knowledge. What is refreshing about this book is that they go beyond the slogans that have characterised much of the previous work on this subject and delve into the specific structures and processes involved in organisational creativity and learning.

This "Philosophy"book - written in 1958 - is a treatise on "Knowledge" itself. The author demonstrates that the scientist's personal participation in his knowledge, in both its discovery and its validation, is an indespensible part of the science itself.

It is wisdom that fills our minds with a range of possibilities. It is wisdom that gives us the ability to see alternatives - and hence have choice. And what we see is derived from our values. Different perceptions may arise from different values. From the range of possibilities and understanding varying values we can design solutions appropriate to the current need.

An inspiring book about how Monty Roberts rebelled against the tradition of "breaking" horses and found a way of communication with horse's in their own body language to the extent that he is able to persuade them to accept himself, and man, as leaders. He gets the horse to accept a saddle and rider after three hours. The traditional "breaking" method takes six weeks..

Monty Roberts abhors violence and coercion and has communicated with horses by learning their language, by persuading them to accept his leadership, by creating trust. People have found his work so inspiring that he now provides advice in the context of bullying within organisations. He has also done extensive work with children.

The book is nothing less than an enquiry into the reasons why Europe and the Near East became the cradles of modern societies. Diamond shows definitively that the origins of this inequality in human fortunes cannot be laid at the door of race or inherent features of the people themselves. He argues that inequality stems instead from the differing natural resources available to the people of each continent.

The findings of the book are the outcomes of 25 year multi-pound effort to identify the most prevalent human strengths. Its theme is that you are much more likely to develop your strengths and it will make you even more effective. Addressing weaknesses is counterproductive. The book gives you access to Gallup's web site where you can identify your own strengths.

A simple parable in the context of change - how open are we to change and progress - takes less than an hour to read. A metaphor that strikes home and remains in your consciousness.

The author is passionate about liberating a student's curiosity and engendering a joy in learning. He had a fundamental belief in the human potential for growth. He calls for a person centered learning environment.

The author's argument in favour of Liberal Democracy based on the twin principles of liberty and equality. How Liberal Democracy has eclipsed other forms of government such as hereditary monarchy, fascism and most recently communism. His view that the ideal of Liberal democracy cannot be improved on hence his claim to be the "end of History" - though naturally we have a long way to go before achieving that ideal.

There are many of Edward de Bono's books in this list - but they are just such a pleasant read - though they are all round very similar themes. In this book he values simplicity and encourages us to actively seek the simpler way. But he also recognises that it is difficult to achieve and takes time and focus. He also recognises the need to fully understand the subject matter. "Simplicity before understanding is worthless. It is simplicity after understanding that has value.