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This fascinating book sheds new light on all workplace interactions, from the dance of office politics to client relationships. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent book
This book is fabulous.Extremely readable, well thought-out, good advice.A must read for those in the work force!

If you need to work, you need to read this book.
The examples in this book are so true to life that I instantly recognized characters and conflicts in every chapter.Once I started reading (and it's extremely readable), I began to notice "anxious dynamics" everywhere, just as the author describes them -- in meetings, in office relationships, even in myself.And I've already seen more than once how his suggestions for breaking the anxiety chain can turn an ugly situation around.I recommend this book for everyone who works and especially for those in the ever-so-anxious business of advertising. ... Read more

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Completely revised and updated!

Develop the skills that are key for becoming a successful team leader! Now in its second edition, How to Lead Work Teams shows you step by step, how to develop the powerful facilitaion skills that will help make you an outstanding leader, coach, motivator and facilitator. Includes great tools and techniques to help you put these skills into action today!

Using Rees's innovative L.E.A.D. model you can become a team leader who:

Book Description

Just like the companies in which they function, teams are going global. In every corner of the world, organizations are calling upon people to communicate and cooperate across different cultures, to manage widely dispersed work groups and corporate subsidiaries, and to hurdle multiple time zones. From Singapore to Zurich, Sao Paulo to Detroit, Michael Marquardt and Lisa Horvath have culled the best practices and lessons learned from such global leaders as Glaxo-Wellcome, General Motors University, Marriott, and Colgate-Palmolive to show how any organization can create and sustain teams that will work well across the boundaries and barriers of diversity and distance.

Marquardt and Horvath bring together detailed case studies, many written by global team members themselves, and Marquardt's 30 years of frontline experience to examine the foundation of global teams--culture and technology--and to present practical advice on how to build trust, develop effective leaders, and motivate team members, develop and maintain a sense of team, build teams with common vision and purpose while encouraging diversity of thinking and action, and tap the power of informational and learning technologies to maximize support of global teams.

With worksheets, checklists, sample agendas, and a 12-step strategic guide, GLOBAL TEAMS offers the essential tools organizations need to convert the richness created by cultural diversity into innovative thinking and action. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

A Solid Read!
Some of the challenges of managing global teams are obvious. For example, team members will probably speak different languages and come from different cultures. So how do you function in the Tower of Babel? Authors Michael J. Marquardt and Lisa Horvath recommend designating a common language, usually English for American companies. On the other hand, some of the challenges global team managers confront are not so obvious. For instance, what reward system do you use when everyone values different things? Can you just give everyone a pat on the back and a bonus, or must you individualize feedback mechanisms? What etiquette do you follow if everyone has a different sense of what is polite? If these issues haven't occurred to you already, you need this book. If they have, well, We still suggests this rundown on the very basics. As you may have guessed, all the issues you have already confronted with international employees get magnified with global teams.

A Solid Effort!
Some of the challenges of managing global teams are obvious. For example, team members will probably speak different languages and come from different cultures. So how do you function in the Tower of Babel? Authors Michael J. Marquardt and Lisa Horvath recommend designating a common language, usually English for American companies. On the other hand, some of the challenges global team managers confront are not so obvious. For instance, what reward system do you use when everyone values different things? Can you just give everyone a pat on the back and a bonus, or must you individualize feedback mechanisms? What etiquette do you follow if everyone has a different sense of what is polite? If these issues haven't occurred to you already, you need this book. If they have, well, We still suggests this rundown on the very basics. As you may have guessed, all the issues you have already confronted with international employees get magnified with global teams.

First book to show the real power of global teams!
Presents the key challenges facing global teams with specific recommendations and case studies on how to overcome those challenges.

Wonderful Treatment of What's Known
Marquardt and Horvath have done a very competent job bringing together good practices for people and organizations working in different places and cultures. Examples from Pfizer and other global corporations make the clear, simply written prose real to the reader, whether a newcomer to this interesting and pertinent field or someone who, like me, has seen a lot of the literature and done a lot of this work already. For my taste, I would have preferred to see more about technology, but the coverage was good and comprehensive enough to whet the appetite or confirm in business language what the practitioner would need to say to a business leader or a manager who was having trouble or starting out. The layout of the book is pleasant. What did worry me about the work, which I still rate highly, is suspicion that the research and scholarship were not up to a high standard, e.g., the consistently incorrect citation of the 1994 classic in the field "Globalwork" by Mary O'Hara-Devereaux and Robert Johansen, from which many of the authors' points are drawn, and an index that was generally wrong in its pagination. ... Read more

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DECENT EXPOSE OF KNOWLEDGE CHARACTERISTICS
Suited to deeper thinking operations managers and KM
practitioners. Geared to globalised players who have
the resources.

Until we can grasp the nature of knowledge we are foolish
to think we can setup systems to leverage it. The McKinsey
book is one of the very few in KM to specialise in
identifying and measuring the knowledge characteristics
in companies('...the six characteristics that distinguish
it from other assets..'p.21). It is the only one to my
extensive knowledge that provides scientific results from
their survey ('We found a strong correlation between a
company's knowledge index and ...'P.19). Both are worthy
contributions to the literature.

Example of typical chapter :
Chapter 4 is about
'Subjectivity: Reading From The Same Page.'

Breakdown:
Six sub-sections of Strategies to minimise(!)subjectivity.
- major issue.

Sub-Section 1. Build Common Experiences -
-identifiable issues,
-case1-'An automotive company.. (1 page)
-summary
Sub-Section 2. Generate an Open Knowledge Flow Across
Hierachies -
-identifiable issues,
-case2- 'A European capital goods..(3/4ths page)
-case3- '..an automotive supplier..(1/2 page)
-summary
Sub-Section 3. Break the Status Barrier
-identifiable issues,
-case4- 'One global automotive..' (1/2 page)
-case5- 'At Oticon, a Danish...' (1/2 page)
-case6- Full study on Oticon (1 1/2 pages)
-summary
Sub-Section 4. Get the Experts Together
-identifiable issues,
-case7- 'One US investment goods...' (1/2 page)
-case8- 'To expand the Oticon example..'(1/3 page)
-strategies explanations (2pages)
-survey findings/summary
Sub-Section 5. Synchronize High-Level Goals
-identifiable issues
-case9- '..an international conglomerate..' (3/4 page)
-strategies explanations (1/4page)
-case10- 'At an international telecoms equipment..' (1/2page)
Sub-Section 6. Chapter summary (1 page)
Survey Results Pertaining to Subjectivity.
In addition, a chapter explaining First Steps...
preliminary KM questionnaire.

Formatting & Writing Style: No diagrams but survey bar graphs.
Page font and spacing- generous and readable.Almost no bullet
points in the entire book, making it difficult to isolate key
points ! Nice sub-headings, good analogies, illustrations and
loads of mini-case studies spread out with a dozen lengthier
case studies.

Conclusion : Holistic, deeper thinkers will see this as a
valuable resource to develop a company KM framework.

Spiro Raftopoulos

A practical and illustrative guide to operationalising KM
While knowledge has always been an important factor of production (in addition to land, labour and capital), it is becoming a key differentiator as the other three factors are becoming abundant and accessible. 'While the importance of knowledge is, at the very least, widely acknowledged, we are still missing a comprehensive approach to managing knowledge in order to maximize returns,' according to consultants Jurgen Kluge, Wolfram Stein and Thomas Licht.

'Understanding how knowledge works throughout your organization therefore allows you to reap the highest rewards from KM: the ability to adapt successfully through constant reinvention and optimization, to tap into new market opportunities, to jump on the latest trend earlier and more decisively than others, and to innovate,' the authors begin.

The material is based on a two-year survey conduced by the consultancy, encompassing 40 manufacturing companies in the US, Europe and Japan. At least eight interviews were conducted in each of these companies, to assess their deployment of upto 139 KM techniques culled from KM literature. Techniques included incentive schemes and use of IT infrastructure; the degree of application of these techniques was rated on a scale of 1 to 5. Companies were also classified on a performance spectrum (based on financial and process indicators) and divided into categories like less successful and more successful companies. This combination of scores provides a very powerful framework for assessing the differentiating 'knowledge contribution' or 'KM index' of a company, which is one of the very useful contributions of this book.

The authors define knowledge as the 'understanding of relations and causalities' and management as 'conscious and systematic decision making.' Though knowledge can be slippery and nebulous as a subject, it is important not to get distracted by imperfect definitions. Dedicated techniques need to be designed, applied, coordinated and aligned to ensure a successful KM practice.

There are six key attributes of knowledge which must be factored into KM practices:

1. Subjectivity (context and individual background shape the interpretation of knowledge)
2. Transferability (knowledge can be extracted and transferred to other contexts)
3. Embeddedness (knowledge is often in a static and buried form that makes it difficult to extract or reformulate)
4. Self-reinforcement (the value of knowledge increases and not decreases when shared)
5. Perishability (knowledge can become outdated)
6. Spontaneity (knowledge can develop unpredictably in a process)

More successful companies deal with the challenges of subjectivity by ensuring agreement on general rules and values, cross-functional collaboration in product development and order generation, and increased face-to-face communication. For instance, Danish hearing aid manufacturer Oticon ensures that team membership is constantly shifting, as experts shuttle between teams.

Transferability of knowledge can be facilitated by internal and external benchmarking, market research, external alliances, and competitor analysis. Lateral thinking is needed to bring knowledge into entirely new contexts and even from entirely new industries. Japanese auto component company Aisin AW draws lessons actively from the consumer electronics industry mecca Akihibara. A European engine company actively participates in a variety of public research projects where it partners with universities and even competitors.

Best-practice KM techniques for dealing with embedded knowledge include knowledge databases, corporate yellow pages, job rotation, teamwork with suppliers, and co-location of product development staff. Finnish metal group Outokumpu has a solid IT infrastructure to make it easier to find knowledge among its staff. Apprenticeships and collocation with suppliers can help in the automotive sector.

Self-reinforcement knowledge networking practices for jump-starting the knowledge value chain include online training, formal networks with retailers, joint problem-solving, alignment with partner IT systems, and easy access for service data. Amazon.com links book purchases with past customer book preferences; an international conglomerate gets all its employees to write year-end reports containing their successes and outlook for the next year. SAP opened SAP University in 1999; it offers blended e-learning courses, and employees can set up their own sites and present a skill set.

Coping with perishability of knowledge involves continuous training related to standards and design rules, development optimization, FAQs, and clear division of responsibilities. Intel speeds chip development via a 'Copy EXACTLY!' initiative to avoid overdoing customization and ensure that best practices can be precisely replicated across its global chip plants; chip-turnaround time has been cut from 7 years to 2 years. It is important to balance standards with creativity, of course.

Based on the analysis of more successful companies along these six knowledge parameters, the authors have devised a six-dimensional 'KM scanner' audit metric, and have come up with several recommendations for successful KM.

Be precise in your KM objectives and link them to business targets. Leverage push as well as pull factors to holistically grow and share knowledge. Create the right cultural context which nurtures reciprocal trust, openness and cooperation. Employees must be enthused with a desire for world-class performance and lust for knowledge, from within and outside the company. Financial and non-financial incentives should be devised. Avoid micro-management and encourage self-steering mechanisms.

'You must instill in your company a sense of caring for knowledge so that it becomes part of everyday life, rather than something that ebbs and flows as the mood suits. Soon, every worker will become a knowledge worker,' according to the authors.

'Working with knowledge is much more creative, gives a higher sense of doing value-added work and, simply put, is much more fun. Just as no company will probably survive without taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the Internet, soon no worker will survive without actively using knowledge as a tool of their trade, whatever trade that is, and no company will succeed without tapping into the great potential of their employees' knowledge,' the authors conclude.

>>>>>>>>>>

Madanmohan Rao is the author of 'The Asia Pacific Internet Handbookï... ... Read more

Book Description

How to Manage Conflict is a practical guide offering advice and suggestions for successfully handling all types of discord. Each chapter provides directions to conquer rough terrain and builds upon five strategies: understanding the critical ingredients for collaborative thinking, aligning responsibilities to the needs of others, building into daily interactions the practices necessary for support, developing conflict resolution skills and negotiation skills to resolve various types of challenges, and developing personal tools and systems for dealing with tensions and pressures. In a short amount of time, users will immediately learn how to apply these strategies favorably and effectively. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Insightful!
To learn how to cure conflicts or head them off before they become major conflagrations, spend a little time with author Peg Pickering. Her brief but compelling guide to conflict resolution is a must read for every employee from the mailroom gang to the CEO. She offers practical, usable methods for understanding, diffusing and resolving conflicts ranging from minor annoyances to major blow-outs. Strongly and honestly written, the book is devoid of fluff and goes right to the point without pages and pages of psychobabble. We at getAbstract recommend this book to everyone who has to deal with anyone else. ... Read more

Book Description

This text may be used in a required or elective quantitative analysis course at the Junior level or first year MBA. It also may be used for an elective course in Modeling and Analysis, Decision Sciences or Management Science. A major new feature of the book is the use of the Excel speadsheet throughout. It is a very spreadsheet friendly text. Model building, Mathematical Programming (using Excel Solver), Simulation, and other spreadsheet applications are included.As indicated, the book was revised in a modular format for custom publishing options. Chapters are self contained. Sections of the book, or individual chapters from other books using Irwin/McGraw Hill custom publishing options. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An excellent textbook
The authors apply mathematical theories to build business models in very simple statements. In this way, we understand how to make decisions based on the models described in this book. The authors also reveal how to useMicrosoft Excel to solve business models. I think this is very crucialskill for the managers. ... Read more

Book Description

Strategies for making differences in work teams an asset, not a liability are provided in this practical guide. Team members are helped to understand and make the most of their differences and to overcome barriers to achievement that are sometimes the result of diversity. More than 50worksheets provide teams, team leaders, trainers, and consultants with processes, guidance, and tools to learn how to diversify groups while building relationships. An appendix provides an annotated list of resources, including books, training activities, and videos that are helpful in developing group members and training team leaders. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A must read for business leaders
I found this book to be enlightening and helpful pertaining to group decision making. Almost everyday I deal with tough and complex decisions where I need to capture the knowledge and expertise of my staff. I have discovered Dr. Forman and Ms. Selly's "Decisions by Objective" a good read in helping me understand how using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) as a powerful methodology to assist in my company's success.

An excellent read on decision making for the layman
The below reviewer is mean and obviously has an axe to grind.The reviewer overlooks a key element of this book that makes it compelling: it takes decision-making best practices out of the hands of "decision scientists" and puts it back where it belongs - in the hands of the business user.Decision by Objectives takes complex concepts and makes them accessible to both novice and experienced decision makers.The book describes a proven and well-known methodology - the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) - supported by easy to use collaborative decision-making software - Expert Choice - to show how decision makers can make difficult decisions easier with a simple process.Through proper structuring of the objectives or criteria, simple pairwise comparison measurement, and synthesis of quantitative data with qualitative judgment, business decision makers can improve the quality of their decisions, create buy-in among stakeholders, and improve the justifiability of their results.The book also outlines many different applications where the AHP methodology has been successfully used, including capital budgeting, portfolio management, vendor selection, strategic planning, risk assessment and forecasting.It is a good read and one that dovetails nicely with Decision Making for Leaders by Dr. Thomas L. Saaty.

Selly & Forman have no original thoughts on the subject
Most of these concepts are common knowledge in the group communication and decision science spaces and have been covered by many authors.Although their writings are grounded on AHP, they confuse those familiar with the process by changing the names of key terms that have been associated with the group theory for decades.By combining basic group techniques (i.e. brainstorming and pro/con diagrams) and decision theory, and changing the jargon, it seems they are trying to put their own brand on concepts that are in the public domain.Lack of exposure might explain the author's utopian views of group decision making in corporate environments. ... Read more

Book Description

Full of valuable tips, techniques, illustrative real-world examples, exhibits, and best practices, this handy and concise paperback will help you stay up to date on the newest thinking, strategies, developments, and technologies in strategic project management.

"Some books never leave your bookshelf; this one will never leave your desk! In Essentials of Strategic Project Management, Callahan and Brooks have distilled modern project management theory into a concise volume of useful information that is as accessible to the executive and manager as it is to the junior project team member.Buy two copies–the first will be dog-eared and worn out within a year."
–Trey Hickman, CEO, Nextology, Inc.

"We have pretty much figured out how to control technology, yet the project management issue continues to drag down vital and strategic projects.Essentials of Strategic Project Management addresses these challenges by holding up a mirror and letting the reader see where project weaknesses might lie.Through actionable templates and checklists, it provides all managers, not just project managers, with ways to identify project-related problems before they’re confronted with them."
–Rajiv Kohli, Assistant Professor, Mendoza College of Business
University of Notre Dame

"If your company is planning to create a project management office (PMO), then you need to read this book. If you manage, will soon be managing, or work in a PMO, you need to read this book. You will get a clear picture of the key concepts of project management, and you will see how to implement project management so it is tailored to fit your company’s specific needs."
–Michael Hugos, CIO, Network Services Company ... Read more

Book Description

Choices, Values, and Frames presents an empirical and theoretical challenge to classical utility theory, offering prospect theory as an alternative framework. Extensions and applications to diverse economic phenomena and to studies of consumer behavior are discussed.The book also elaborates on framing effects and other demonstrations that preferences are constructed in context, and it develops new approaches to the standard view of choice-based utility.As with the classic 1982 volume, Judgment Under Uncertainty, this volume is comprised of papers published in diverse academic journals.The editors have written several new chapters and a preface to provide a context for the work. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

SIGNIFICANT ADVANCES IN ECONOMICS THAT LED TO NOBEL PRIZE
Kahneman and Tversky's compilation of articles in this book is an outstanding exposition of recent advances in cognitive psychology, especially advances associated with prospect theory. The work presented in this volume is largely responsible for the authors being awarded the Nobel Prize (Tversky died before receiving it).

The text is somewhat dense at parts, being aimed at economists and psychologists with some mathematical familiarity. However, the portions of the book that require much mathematics can safely be bypassed without losing much of the substance of the text. This text is the most credible presentation of an alternative theory to the rational actor theory usually assumed in economics. For example, some of the articles help explain the magnitude of the equity return premium, or help show how people make choices differently in similar situations based simply on the way the situation is presented.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in decision making theory, especially as it relates to consumer behavior. It is a brilliant volume that includes the most important articles by the leading mind in the field.

Choices, Values and Frames
A definitive text. Choices, Values and Frames is no casual read but is a first class exposition of the basics in this area of cognitive psychology. I read it from the perspective of a healthcare practitioner trying to understand more about why 'risk' judgements seem so variable and subjective. The insights gained from Choices, Values and Frames have already modified my behaviour.

The only weakness of the text is that it assumes that the reader has reasonable literacy in manipulating abstract mathematical concepts. More exposition would have been appreciated here. However, even if one does not understand the more 'mathematical' sections the book as a whole is still an engaging exposition of how humans process decisions under risk and uncertainty.

A 'must read' for anybody seriously interested in, but unfamiliar with, this area of cognitive psychology

The Cutting Edge of Behavioral Decision Theory
Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky have spent their whole lives developing an alternative to the "rational actor" model of human decision-making, the standard of traditional economic theory and the decision sciences. Their ideas were received rather well from the start, but in recent years, their alternative, which we can fairly call "behavioral economics" has virtually displaced traditional decision theory as an active research area.

People often think of the Kahneman-Tversky behaviorists as "bomb-throwers" in the sense that they appear to love to destroy traditional concepts of rationality rather that put constructive models in their place. This collection, which consists of 42 very high quality essays by the leading lights of the field, shows clearly that this is not the case. Prospect theory, loss aversion, framing effets, status quo effect, and the like are carefully modeled in this book. I came away quite impressed.

It is a shame that Amos Tversky never lived to see the light of day of this fine volume. It is certainly a vigorous vindication of his lifetime research agenda.

Foundation Work on the Subject
This collection of articles is very good. I found it somewhat redundant in some respects. One might find it useful to read the first chapter and skip to the center chapters that attempt to discuss applications of the different theories, thus learning them 'in the process', rather that individualy before moving forward. The articles form the foundation of this discipline and thus provide an excellent begining for the study of the topic.

Excellent collection of papers
In a more advanced volume than "Heuristics and Biases," Tverskey et. al. provide another excellent collection of papers that any student/professor/researcher in Behavioral Decision Theory should own. ... Read more