"Everyone is doing their best. Why are we having these problems?"

In any enterprise, it is desirable for everyone to put forth their best efforts. However, unless those efforts are directed properly, they will be wasted at best - even, sometimes, counter-productive to the goals of the enterprise. Yet, tragically, every day, the best efforts of countless good people are unwittingly misdirected in organizations everywhere.

The result?

Squandered opportunities for growth and improvement, poor morale, reduced quality of product or service, lost productivity, confusion and resentment, longer working hours, increased expense, institutionalized selfishness, and more. How can we do better?

The first section of The Tragedy of Best Efforts tells a story about good people working on an important project. When the challenges of the project began to wreak havoc on their lives, how did they deal with the situation? What steps did they take? Did they solve their problems? And what can we learn from their experiences?

Following the story is a second section, in which the lessons of the story are revealed and discussed.

The book’s third section offers a collection of invaluable appendices introducing many topics related to the coming together of people in organizations to achieve goals.

Author Richard Alvin White has served as the Director of Learning and Organizational Development for a consulting company of 150 employees; he has taught thousands of students as an instructor for IBM and as a professor of the Humanities; and he has presented at international business conferences on the formation and management of organizations.