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Jeffrey Pfeffer
63quotes
Jeffrey Pfeffer: A Renowned Scholar and Author on Business and Leadership
Full Name and Common Aliases
Jeffrey Pfeffer is a well-known American scholar, author, and professor of organizational behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is commonly known for his insightful writings on business, leadership, and management.
Birth and Death Dates
Born in 1946, Jeffrey Pfeffer has had a long and distinguished career spanning over five decades.
Nationality and Profession(s)
American by nationality, Pfeffer's profession is that of an organizational behavior scholar and professor. He has spent most of his career teaching at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and has authored numerous books on business and leadership.
Early Life and Background
Pfeffer grew up in a family with strong academic values. His father was a lawyer, and his mother was a schoolteacher. From an early age, Pfeffer showed a keen interest in learning and academics. He attended Stanford University for both his undergraduate and graduate studies, earning his PhD in Organizational Behavior from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Major Accomplishments
Pfeffer's academic career has been marked by numerous achievements, including:
Authoring influential books: Pfeffer is a prolific author who has written several influential books on business and leadership, such as "The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective" (1978), "Organizational Behavior" (1982), and "Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works" (2014).
Developing the Resource Dependence Theory: Pfeffer's work on resource dependence theory has had a significant impact on our understanding of organizational behavior. This theory posits that organizations rely on external resources to survive and thrive.
Serving as a professor at Stanford: Pfeffer has spent most of his career teaching at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he is currently the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior.
Notable Works or Actions
Some of Pfeffer's notable works include:
"The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective": This book, co-authored with Gerald R. Salancik, introduced the concept of resource dependence theory and had a significant impact on organizational behavior.
"Organizational Behavior": In this book, Pfeffer provided an insightful analysis of organizational behavior and its various aspects.
Impact and Legacy
Pfeffer's work has had a profound impact on our understanding of business, leadership, and management. His research and writings have been widely cited and have influenced many scholars in the field. Some of his most notable contributions include:
Developing new perspectives: Pfeffer's work has provided fresh insights into organizational behavior, challenging traditional views and contributing to the development of new theories.
Improving our understanding of leadership: Through his research and writings, Pfeffer has shed light on the complexities of leadership and its impact on organizations.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
Jeffrey Pfeffer is widely quoted and remembered for several reasons:
Authentic voice on business and leadership: Pfeffer's writings are known for their candor, wit, and insight into the human side of business.
* Influence on management theory: His work has shaped our understanding of organizational behavior and leadership, influencing generations of scholars and practitioners.
Overall, Jeffrey Pfeffer is a renowned scholar and author whose contributions to our understanding of business and leadership have been profound. Through his influential books and academic career, he continues to inspire and inform leaders around the world.
Quotes by Jeffrey Pfeffer
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If doctors practiced medicine the way many companies practice management, there would be far more sick and dead patients, and many more doctors would be in jail.
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Nortel – another troubled networking company that suffered operating problems as a result of botched mergers.
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Deming argued that if there are performance problems and quality defects, one needs to understand how those problems arise almost naturally as a consequence of how a system has been designed – and then fix those design flaws. Put simply, attack the problems by fixing the system, not scapegoating the necessarily fallible human beings working in and operating that system – whether or not they deserved it.
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Believing that the world is fair, people fail to note the various land mines in the environment that can undermine their careers.
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One study of relatively highly paid contractors in Silicon Valley found that free agents didn’t really feel free because of the need to be always searching for their next gig and therefore frequently took less leisure time than regular employees.
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The class focuses intensely on making people more comfortable with doing a wider range of things – such as networking, self-promotion, building their own personal brand, cleverly acquiring resources, getting known – that they may have been less comfortable with before.
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Witness Donald Trump’s current presidential campaign. So first people need to find the white spaces, the unexploited or underexploited niches where there is less competition and more opportunity.
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Thinking is very hard work. And management fashions are a wonderful substitute for thinking.
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Leaders are not modest, and more importantly, the extensive social science research on narcissism, self-promotion, and similar constructs shows that these qualities and behaviors are useful for getting hired, achieving promotions, keeping one’s job, and obtaining a higher salary.
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