When first introduced, Contemporary Management, by Jones and George made a huge splash with its innovative voice, content, pedagogy, design, and package. The cutting-edge 4th Edition continues to redefine what principles of management texts should look, sound, and feel like. As an author team Gareth Jones and Jennifer George are uniquely qualified to write about both the strategic and organizational challenges managers face. No Management textbook author team today matches their combined research and text-writing experience. Contemporary Management is a comprehensive text that surveys the theoretical underpinnings of modern management thought and research. Through a variety of real world examples from small, medium, and large companies it shows the reader how those ideas are used by practicing managers. While the organization of this text follows the mainstream functional approach of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling its chapters can be used flexibly and instructors can organize their management course according to the format they are most comfortable with. One of the most popular features of the book has always been its focus on the Manager as a Person, which discusses managers as real people with their own personalities, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and problems. In the 4th Edition, the authors expand on this theme by discussing the importance of management competencies--the specific set of skills, abilities, and experiences that gives one manager the ability to perform at a higher level than another in a specific context. The themes of diversity, ethics, and information technology have also been greatly expanded in the 4th Edition through chapters dedicated to each of these topics as well as in-text examples, photographs, unboxed stories, and the end-of-chapter material - all areas of importance that truly serve to bring to life the workplace realities that today's student will encounter in the course of a career.