"Understanding Resource Management: How to Deploy Your People, Products, and
Processes for Maximum Productivity" by James A. Constantin and Robert F.
Jusch, co-published by The Planning forum (5500 College Corner Pike, Oxford,
OH 45056) and IRWIN Professional Publishing (1333 Burr Ridge Parkway, Burr
ridge, IL 60521), 1994, 246 pages.
 
A Book Review by Norman C. Frank, PE, CQE, CQA
CER Corporation, Washington, DC
 
"Understanding Resource Management" discusses some "archeologically
innovative" ways of viewing and managing company resources.  Well covered are
both on balance sheet and off balance sheet resources, which both must be
managed.  The book is written for management from a management perspective
and addresses the three core oversights: (1) under-management of the external
environment (government rules and regulations), (2) under-management of off-
balance sheet resources, and (3) under-management of processes.
 
The authors' approach was to learn from the past.  They call themselves
"archeological futurists" because they have taken the lessons from the past
and updated them to better apply to the present.  The premises underlying
resource management are given as:
 
     1.   An organization's resources are packages of tangibles and
          intangibles, with people and ideas at their center.
     2.   The effective management of the environmental resource system calls
          for the management of two sets os resource packages, physical and
          cultural, to serve as a means to the organizaiton's ends.
     3.   Managerial and cultural forces affect resource availability.
     4.   The stato of the wants and the state of the arts drive resource
          management.
     5.   Resource management is management of functions.
     6.   Resource management is management of environments.
     7.   Comparative advantage may lead to competitive disadvantage.
 
Although the authors mention people in several places, they are primarily
treated as resources to be managed to the good of the owners and managers. 
The definition of organization used by the authors is: "An organization is a
managerial resource system designed to integrate activities directed toward
the creation and management of resources to satisfy the wants and needs of
owners and managers."  Nothing in this definition talks about the good of the
employees who make the products.  This attitude carries throughout the book
with only perfunctory lip service to empowerment and workers contributing
good ideas toward making the company better.  The book speaks of "managerial
wisdom" and comes across strongly as managers think and workers are resources
to be used to satisfy the wants and needs of owners and managers.
 
As "archeological futurists" the authors did indeed find concepts in the
past, bring them forward, and try to apply them to the present. 
Unfortunately, they didn't integrate the concepts into the current best
practices within the management or quality professions.
 
This book is not recommended because it does not respond to current needs and
interests of companies and organizations where TQM or continuous improvement
is being implemented.
----------------
Mr. Frank has over 25 years experience in the field of quality, in the areas
of nuclear quality assurance, research and development, and consulting.  He
is currently in Washington, D.C., with CER Corporation out of Las Vegas,
Nevada.