Over the past decade, executives have witnessed an explosion of management tools and techniques ranging from TQM to CRM and from Reengineering to Benchmarking. The term "management tool" now encompasses a broad spectrum of approaches to management—from simple planning software to complex organisational designs, to revised business philosophies.

Many of these tools offer conflicting advice. But all of these tools have one thing in common: they promise to make their users more successful. Today beleaguered managers—struggling to demonstrate that they can adapt to rapid change in an increasingly challenging world—are turning to management tools in unprecedented numbers.