Book Description

Verna Allee, whose groundbreaking book 'The Knowledge Evolution' helped usher in the exploding field of knowledge management, has brought her experience-tested insights into an exciting new synthesis, penetrating to the very heart of value creation. 'The Future of Knowledge' strips away traditional business thinking to reveal the new patterns of management thought and practice essential for success in a more complex world.

With a gift for making the complex simple and practical, Allee weaves together diverse threads such as business webs, communities of practice, knowledge technologies, intangibles, network analysis, and biology to show why organizations must be supported as living systems before their natural networked pattern of organization can emerge.

Embodying Allee's visionary approach, 'The Future of Knowledge' brings forward a practical view of new theories, frameworks, tools, and methods offering businesses a guide to managing the increasing levels of complexity within their organizations and in society at large.

'The Future of Knowledge' works on many levels:
* At the strategic level, the new tools are intangible scorecards and understanding value networks
* At the tactical level, the knowledge management tools for exchanging and applying knowledge are knowledge networks and communities of practice
* At the operational level, a wealth of new technologies is supporting the codification, storage and delivery of the knowledge people need to complete their routine tasks.

* Leading expert takes us to the next stage of
value creation in business
* Provides the next step in creating a framework and a tool to manage intangible assets to build high peroformance in the knowledge-based economy
* Author of the bestselling 'The Knowledge Evolution' ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Value Networks: Seeing the unseen value of intangibles
In today's crowded marketplace of business publications, it takes something that bit special to stand out and be noticed. A decade ago, Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipline was widely regarded as one of the seminal business books of the 1990's, introducing to an appreciative and expanding audience the integrated concepts of systems thinking and the "learning organisation". This new book by fellow American author Verna Allee carries the potential to compete for similar accolades in this current decade.

The idea that there should be any enthusiasm about another book on knowledge would normally be questionable, given the number of books published on knowledge management in recent years, and the attendant hype accompanying such new challenges to business thinking. What makes Allee's contribution special is the elegant manner in which she takes a living systems approach to connect knowledge and value in a profound yet pragmatic way.

The focus on value is particularly appropriate for business given that profitability, the lifeblood of any commercial enterprise, depends on the discovery and creation of value. With the new era of the "extended enterprise" model of the organisation, in that any company competes in a supply chain and wider business ecosystem of customers, suppliers, joint venture partners and other stakeholders, the value network approach is a potentially powerful one in helping to identify, investigate and, ultimately exploit key relationships within the network.

Where Allee perhaps scores highest with her approach is in her treatment of intangible deliverables within value networks, and the introduction of a simple, practical set of tools to assist with the mapping of both intangible and tangible relationships. Because value networks take a living systems perspective, it deals with real people - either individuals, small groups or teams, business units, organisations, industry groups, communities or nation states - dealing with value exchanges flowing between participants in the network, linked by arrows showing the transactions and deliverables of value exchanges.

The power of value networks lies in its simplicity and practicality. As well as providing a structured framework for dealing with intangibles, it also raises interesting questions and challenges assumptions about the real nature of networks in action and the value being created (or destroyed) within these networks.

If business leaders aspire to understand the deeper dynamics of value creation in their extended enterprise networks, The Future of Knowledge will provide them with the philosophy, the roadmap and the tools to guide them.

A refreshing new look at established concepts
In this book Allee considers the changing nature, structure and identity of organizations, and the larger patterns of change that are currently unfolding in society. Taking the view that businesses are evolving into 'networked patterns of living systems', Allee observes that we require a different mindset and management tools to respond to these changes. This new mindset includes thinking of organizations as living systems, understanding the principles of networks and how they operate, taking a 'whole-system' view of the organization, understanding how intangibles go to market, and the significance of value networks, people and relationships.

Overall, the book offers a fresh, thought-provoking look at what have become already become well-worn concepts in the knowledge management field. Allee has synthesized a diverse array of ideas and concepts and theories from multiple disciplines to this work.

Part I tends to be a little abstract and theoretical and some of the ideas here about the new knowledge economy and intangible assets will not be new to anyone familiar with knowledge management. However, it does provide a useful context for subsequent chapters. At the end of chapter 5, the checklist of 'where we are now in the learning journey or knowledge continuum' is a useful summary of current thinking. Allee takes an organic view of knowledge networks and communities, such that rather than trying to create them in organizations, it is better to simply find those that already exist and make them visible to themselves and the rest of the organization.
The discussion on how intangibles 'go to market' challenges the notion that we can create value from them in the same way that we do from tangible assets. But perhaps the most interesting section of the book is that which discusses mapping value networks, and the practical examples that are provided. It is here that Allee brings together the concepts discussed in Part I and we begin to see the whole picture that she is building. These chapters will be of particular interest to practitioners who are attempting to grapple with creating value from knowledge in their own, or their client's organizations, and identifying where to focus their attention.
Allee has the capacity to discuss complex issues in a simple and straightforward way without allowing us to feel that we've been shortchanged. Essentially, each chapter offers a simple message. In her discussion of communities of practice, there is a clear message is that knowledge cannot be separated from the human networks that create it, use it and transform it. Similarly, in Chapter 6, she argues that the best technology infrastructure does not guarantee knowledge sharing - organizational intelligence is not a technology question, it is a human question.
At one point, Allee refers to the ancient saying that one cannot step into the same river twice (pp. 143) because the water is never the same water. This is analogous to what Allee has done with in this book - although the concepts, and ideas may seem familiar and have certainly been discussed previously in the plethora of books and articles currently available, she has presented them in a refreshing new way and brought together diverse ideas to challenge our assumptions. It is well worth reading.

Accounting for Intangibles
Verna's work makes it clear that the future belongs to those that can manage traditional assets and intangibles alike.
It is time to expand our accounting to reflect this reality.
Increasingly people choose to patron a company not as much by its numbers but how genuine and pleasant its people are.

A must read!
This book again shows Verna Allee's great gift for making the complex simple and practical. In this book she builds and explores the metaphor of enterprise as a living network, successfully weaving together such diverse threads as value network analysis, communities of practice, social network analysis and biology. She shows us what to focus on now and, as always, provides a glimpse of the future. If you want to know what's coming next in this rapidly evolving field, read this book ... Read more

Book Description

Facing an explosion of workplace complexity, many executives choose a team-supported approach to organizational leadership over more traditional leadership models. Executive Teams provides both CEOs and senior team members themselves with an unprecedented set of insights and strategies they can use to build and maintain teams that live up to their full potential. Team members get ideas for: **Implementing strategy **Leading transformations **Changing organizational culture . . . and much more! " I strongly recommend [this book] to all those in charge of, on, or involved with executive teams."--Paul Allaire, chairman and CEO, Xerox Corporation Real-world case studies at Xerox, Corning, AT&T and other top companies to demonstrate exactly what executive teams are all about and detail the proficiencies CEOs must master to ensure their success. The range and depth of professional experience brought to Executive Teams makes it the most comprehensive, practically conceived work on the subject ever written. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An excellent and insightful collection of essays.
An excellent collection of essays that examines the reasons for and dynamics of executive teams. Explores the organization, chemistry and purposes of the team. Some topics include: the jobs of the CEO and COO; governance, importance of trust, conflict resolution, feedback, developing strategy, and leading strategic change teams. The essays in this work make many important observations. Of added value are effective summary tables. ... Read more

Book Description

The Secrets of Facilitation delivers a clear vision of facilitation excellence and reveals the specific techniques effective facilitators use to produce consistent, repeatable results with groups. Author Michael Wilkinson has trained thousands of managers, analysts, and consultants around the world to apply the power of SMART (Structured Meeting And Relating Techniques) facilitation to achieve amazing results with teams and task forces. He shows how anyone can use these proven group techniques in managing, presenting, teaching, planning, selling, and other professional as well as personal situations. ... Read more

Book Description

Shaping the Market Endgame-the Innovator's Playbook

Innovation's encounter with the market results in a game of both high risk and high stakes. Often its outcome defies common sense: Superior new products flop, unlikely ideas become runaway hits, and-despite rapid technological advances and intense interconnectedness-change happens at a snail's pace. What really happens during this encounter? How can you increase your own odds on this complex game board?

In The Slow Pace of Fast Change, Bhaskar Chakravorti peels back the many factors that govern an innovation's penetration into interconnected markets-and offers a game plan for successfully steering innovations from the lab to the living room. Chakravorti explains the vagaries of market adoption by highlighting a paradox in the widely celebrated concept of network effects: While everyone loves a great idea, individuals will embrace it only if they believe others will too. In markets with strong interconnections among participants, this "equilibrium" slows adoption and protects the status quo-despite the innovation's clear superiority.

To win, innovators must unravel this status quo equilibrium and replace it with one built around their own innovations. The key is to imagine a desired plausible endgame, and work backward to orchestrate the network of individual choices to create conditions that make this outcome happen.

Drawing on Chakravorti's hands-on experience with many of the best-known innovating companies and insights gleaned from his expertise in the practical applications of game theory, this playbook offers go-to-market strategies for:

Book Description

MANAGEMENT: A COMPETENCY-BASED APPROACH presents theory, relevant applications, and innovation. The authors continue to place emphasis on six managerial competencies?self-management, strategic action, planning and administration, global awareness, teamwork, and communication?and have carefully woven examples of each into every chapter. The authors chose these six competencies after surveying hundreds of managers in all types and sizes of businesses. The integrated, interactive Self-Assessment helps learners understand and develop their own management potential. This unique focus on competencies, combined with new theories and fresh examples, will engage the readers while applying the content. This text will set the standard for content that merges the concerns of managers, with the managerial competencies that foster excellence. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

it is truly an excellent book
Teaching from this book is pure pleasure. It is well organized, up-to-date,and has excellent examples.

easy to read; great graphics; competencies are real plus
An excellent basic management book. Total coverage of the field. Great examples of managers from all walks of life and all colors.

great book.
the best management textbook on the market

competency model is tremendous; must fill-out questionnaire
Our students find this easy to read and really liked comparing the scores on the competency questionnaire to those of other students and managers. It was a real eye-opener for most of them.

great examples and up-to-date. competency model is exciting
This book is easy to read and has lots of great examples. Internet exercises at the end of each chapter are a real plus. ... Read more

Book Description

Widely hailed for its contemporary, cutting-edge perspective, this comprehensive, reader-friendly text covers the latest decision support theories and practices used by managers and organizations. Current examples and cases are drawn from actual organizations and firms.Decision Making, Systems, Modeling, and Support. Data Warehousing, Access, Analysis, Mining, and Visualization. Modeling and Analysis. Decision Support System Development. Collaborative Computing Technologies: Group SupportSystems. Enterprise Decision Support Systems. Knowledge Management. Artificial Intelligenceand Expert Systems. Knowledge Acquisition and Validation. Knowledge Representation. Inference Techniques. Intelligent Systems Development. Neural Computing Applications, and Advanced ArtificialIntelligent Systems and Applications. Intelligent Software Agents and Creativity. Implementing and Integrating Management Support Systems. Organizational and Societal Impacts of Management SupportSystems.For managers interested in Decision Support Systems, Computerized Decision Making, and Management Support Systems. ... Read more

Reviews (16)

decision support systems & intelligent systems
There is a need for such a book as its subject elements are eclectic in nature. Some integration effort exist in this edition but is far from being completed. By trying to be up-to date the book takes a form of a poor encyclopedia. It would have been much better to reduce the explosion of concepts to concetrate on few that are generic with well developped examples and illustrations. So at the end the student will say "yes I understand". The conclusion today is by most of my students "too [much money] "

throw it into the trash
Used it for school, found it dry, boring, ugly. I got frustrated every time I picked up the book. Really want to throw it into the trash if not for the resell value.

The worse text book ever
I am currently using this textbook for my undergraduate course. The whole class complains on how the books gives one definition for one thing and then turn around and provide a totally diffent definition. We all find it really difficult to concentrate reading this book, when there is no color or any outlines to go by.

What the heck are you talking about!
Indeed, it is verbose. Many URLs are either out of date or incorrect. I read it as my grad text. Not much help but a lot of confusion. The book is not well organized in offering pertaining information. I expected bullet listing the softwares used for KM, ES shell etc.

Some good content, but hard to get to
Our class recently used this as a textbook for a graduate program. The entire class commented on how difficult the book was to read. With all of the notations within the text and the short stories or sometimes explanations of material it was hard to pick out the content. There were parts of chapter 17 that bordered on un-readable. Someone need to find a better was to layout the book. And why are there questions for review and question for discussion? I didn't see the point in splitting them up. ... Read more

Book Description

The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world. From the preeminent thinkers whose work has defined an entire field to the rising stars who will redefine the way we think about business, here are the leading minds and landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious businesspeople in organizations around the globe.Harvard Business Review on Decision Making will help people at all levels understand the fundamental theories and practices of effective decision making so that they can make better decisions in their personal and professional lives. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Theory and Practice - advice from the leading minds.
There are several books from the Harvard Business Review that follow this simple format - essays on critical topics by the leading minds in the field compiled into a short book of around 200 pages. One of these critical topics is Decision Making. That topic is the focus of this book.

There are hundreds of books on management, strategy, leadership, etc. but not many are purely dedicated to treating the subject of Decision Making from a theoretical and abstract perspective. This book contains 8 short essays presenting different theories by people by Peter Drucker.

The first chapter starts off with an impressive treatment of The Effective Decision. It is impressive because of the wisdom packed into these few pages and the aptness of the title. The author (Peter Drucker) dispels the myths about the most effective decision makers being the ones that can think fast and manipulate a large number of variables in their heads. Instead he explains that the best decision makers are the ones who focus on impact instead of technique. He then systematically explains a simple process to follow to achieve the same results as the highly successful executives.

The book then moves on to topics dealing with how to make trade-offs, humble decision making (which is nothing but accepting that your first impressions may be wrong and be open to changing the direction of your thoughts as more information becomes available), interpersonal barriers, hidden traps, when to trust your gut, and analyzing problems. The essay on interpersonal barriers was very familiar to me as I had experienced the situations described several times in my own career.

The book is simple - it has no pictures, just some tables once in a while and some blank paper at the end of the book to takes notes. The size is small like a novel but very potent! When I first saw this book at a bookstore, I didn't think much of it. But I picked it up because of the Harvard Business Review name on the front cover. I couldn't put it down once I started reading the first chapter and immediately purchased a few books in this series.

These books and especially this one can be described in only one word - potent. They are like text books or Ph.D papers except they are very practical. These are some of my favorite management/business books but they are difficult to digest. Since they are abstract in nature, one has to read them very slowly and read them with total concentration. The authors don't spend time painting a picture in detail and trying to get you excited. They get straight to the point and finish it in less than 20 pages. If you read these books like you would read other books, you are likely to miss the point.

This book in particular is very unique as there aren't that many books dedicated to just Decision Making. Enjoy learning from the masters! Good luck! ... Read more

Book Description

This book illustrates how organizations can make better, faster decisions about their customers, partners, and operations by turning mountains of data into valuable business information that's at the fingertips of decision makers. It describes what's involved in using business intelligence to bring together information, people, and technology to create successful business strategies-and how to execute those strategies with confidence. Real-life case studies show how world leaders in finance, manufacturing, and retail have successfully implemented business intelligence solutions and detail the benefits they have reaped. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Concise, Practical and Inspiring Advice
Techies will enjoy learning from real world examples of business intelligence technologies. Business leaders will appreciate how complex technical and business topics are tackled from various perspectives - what is BI, how BI will help your organization, and the most helpful chapter, how to actually identify, start and implement a BI solution.

Only wish the authors had spent a little more time identifying pitfalls, but that is why you hire experts to help you out. ... Read more

Book Description

You’re not the only one out there who hates conflict. From the corporate bully to thepassive-aggressive employee to the demanding spouse, there are people in our lives who cause us frustration and anger every day. If you’re like the rest of us, you’ll avoid them at all costs.

Success coach Dr. Tim Ursiny shows us that, yes, conflict can be a good thing, and facing up to it can lead to fantastic results! The Coward’s Guide to Conflict gives strength, techniques, motivations and challenges to the people who need it most. With an open, step-by-step approach, it shows you how to prepare, maintain your integrity and work toward resolution.

Interactive exercises and examples from both the workplace and home will coach and motivate you to effectively deal with all types of conflict situations, with results that empower and really work!

--Make conflict less frightening...quickly!
--Avoid the top 10 mistakes made when dealing with upset people
--Build your knowledge, skills and confidence
--Discover the 5 communication styles we all use to face conflict ... Read more

Reviews (18)

Highly Recommend this book!
This book is phenomenal and the best I have read on the subject. Very few people have the experience Tim does, as both a psychologist and successful businessman, so he has great credibility. His system/process makes dealing with conflict a breeze. And I love his humor. I feel connected with him and trust his advice. I highly recommend this book!

Michael Charest
Speaker, Coach
BUSINESS GROWTH SOLUTIONS
and
COACH & GROW R.I.C.H.
(...)
"Grow your business, grow your life!"
(...)

A Must Read
A must read for anyone who tends to avoid conflict for the sake of keeping the peace. Dr. Ursiny meshes practical steps to overcome fear of conflict with engaging stories, while encouraging the reader to be true to self. I have recommended this book to clients and it is being used by small group discussion leaders with great results.

A Great Tool
The Coward's Guide to Conflict is a great tool for every day life in the workplace and at home. Utilizing everyday people and situations Dr. Ursiny explains why we behave in the manner that we do and then gives tools to help change those behaviors to lead to more positive results and a better understanding of ourselves and others. It takes the fear out of conflict. It should be in every household and office.

Right on Point!
Ursiny uses examples to illustrate his points so well - one example looked like it came right out of my work environment - as if he was a fly on the wall! No one likes to face conflict and we are all pretty good at avoidance. This book helps one understand conflict and, most inmportantly, how to face and resolve it in an honest, respectful and EFFECTIVE way. FIVE STARS!!!!!

Complete guide for the non-confrontational
There's nothing Dr. Ursiny has left out of this easy to read and follow book. Since more than 80% of all people are non-confrontational this guide helps everyone understand others and prepares them for any difficult conversation. As a business coach I have used and recommended the book to all of my clients who struggle with getting their point across and being heard in a contentious/confrontational situation.
The book is complete and is a guide deserving to be utilized by everyone.
Great Job!! ... Read more

Book Description

Put your numbers to work

"Best Practices in Planning and Management Reporting is a must-read for anyone contemplating finance transformation. David Axson provides an insider’s view into the successful techniques and transformational strategies of The Hackett Group and their parent company, Answerthink."
–Michael Geltzeiler
CFO, Reader’s Digest

"In this new era of corporate governance, where the need for more and better information is a heightened priority, David Axson’s book provides timely insight and instruction for companies looking to leverage technology to enable best practices. When combined with process and organizational changes, companies can achieve significant efficiencies and dramatic improvements in information transparency, business planning, and performance management."
–Renee Lorton
Senior Vice President and General Manager
Financial Management Solutions
PeopleSoft, Inc.

"David Axson’s insights into the practical application of best practices combined with The Hackett Group’s benchmarks provide a valuable guide to implementing effective planning and management reporting processes. Organizational learning and improvement in this area is crucial to manage effectively in today’s volatile business world."
–Richard B. Kelson
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Alcoa Inc. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

illuminating insights
An entertaining, insightful book - I found it useful in describing how benchmarking can be used to good effect in practise - in real situations - from someone who has definitely been there and done it. Our organization can certainly use the advice here - big time - and save ourselves a bunch of consultancy fees into the bargain!

Practical & easy to read
Axson's book offers a practical and easy to read review of best practices in one of the most maligned areas of management. Combining useful benchmark data and implementation guidance this book provides a useful companion for anyone attempting to navigate through a tough change process

Rehash...
This is another consultant's attempt at what I learned in my business practice. The book does not rise above the obvious, but is, for the most part, a survey of ideas. The best practices discussed have little depth or meat to them. If you are an executive with planning experience or have read other books on the subject, the read adds very little. ... Read more

Book Description

In the authors' random poll of 1,000 working people, 80 percent said that a single coworker contributed significant stress to their workday. Everyone has worked with someone "difficult" - someone who could always be trusted to blow up or say or do something provoking or inappropriate. Psychologists Alan Cavaiola and Neil Lavender have studied this much-discussed but rarely addressed area. Their research showed that the conventional wisdom that some problem workers are "just nuts" was right: a sizeable number of such employees do in fact have full-fledged personality disorders. In Toxic Coworkers, they pinpoint a variety of personality traits and disorders, showing how they come about and offering effective strategies for coping with them. The authors cover the range of familiar types, from hyperactives, histrionics, and sociopaths to narcissists and obsessive-compulsives and provide concrete techniques for surviving them. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

BULLIES - FAMILY / WORKPLACE / SCHOOL / NEIGHBORHOOD
I strongly recommend this book for anyone seeking to find help with frequent feelings of loneliness or emptiness, mood disorders, any type of addiction, identity issues, self-esteem issues, reoccurring unresolved anger, troubling relationship, boundary and trust issues.

Excellent compliments to this book are: The Angry Heart: Overcoming Borderline and Addictive Disorders by Joseph Santoro and Ronald Cohen; Emotional Blackmail: When People in Your Life Use Fear, Obligation and Guilt to Manipulate You by Susan Forward and Donna Frazier; Why Is It Always About You?: The Seven Deadly Sins of Narcissism by Sandy Hotchkiss and James Masterson; The Narcissistic Family: Diagnosis and Treatment by Stephanie Donaldson-Pressman and Robert Pressman; Understanding the Borderline Mother: Helping Her Children Transcend the Intense, Unpredictable and Volatile Relationship by Christine Ann Lawson; Living with the Passive-Aggressive Man by Scott Wetzler; Malignant Self Love: Narcissism Revisited by Sam Vaknin and Lidija Rangelovska (Editor); Children of the Self-Absorbed: A Grown-Up's Guide to Getting Over Narcissistic Parents by Nina Brown; Treating Attachment Disorders: From Theory to Therapy by Karl Heinz Brisch and Kenneth Kronenberg; Secrets, Lies, Betrayals: The Body/Mind Connection by Maggie Scarf; Toxic Coworkers: How to Deal with Dysfunctional People on the Job by Alan Cavaiola and Neil Lavender; Bully in Sight: How to Predict, Resist, Challenge and Combat Workplace Bullies by Tim Field.

And if you want to pursue the subject even further, you may be interested in reading The Narcissistic / Borderline Couple: A Psychoanalytic Perspective On Marital Treatment; Charred Souls: A Story of Recreational Child Abuse by Trena Cole; Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood by Julie Gregory and Marc Feldman; Parenting with Love and Logic: Teaching Children Responsibility by Jim Fay and Foster Cline.

toxic workplaces
This book is a mix of material lifted from the DSM IV (or whatever it's called today) and some anecdotal stories from the authors' own experiences, with some recommendations for 'dealing with type X' as a manager, employee, or coworker.

I'm reminded that the field of psychology would diagnose the majority of us with some form of disorder at some point in our lives, and the authors have extended this to the corporate world in a way that would label nearly everyone I've worked with in my career as suffering from one or more personality disorders. I can only think of a couple who really caused problems. The authors are overly-broad in their categorizations. For example, if your employees think your requests are unreasonable, then they must be passive agressive whiners. But you are narcisisstic or obsessive compulsive for making these requests.

One disappointment is that 'toxic workplaces' aren't mentioned until the second to the last page. Maybe some of the behavior that they describe as disorders are actually reasonable reactions for people in a toxic workplace. The authors describe large corporations, the government, and the military as being a good place for people of this or that disorder. Maybe working for the government makes you that way, not the other way around!

I didn't find much here that would be of help in dealing with bosses or coworkers. I think the various 'dilbert' books would be more genuinely useful, as well as more amusing. I think that most people just want to do their jobs with a minimum of corporate nonsense so that they can enjoy their lives outside of work with their remaining free time, which is why those of us who are not blessed with great wealth are enduring what for most of us are toxic workplaces.

have problems with fellow coworkers?
This book explains why Rob in accounting can be such a jerk at times. In other words, it assesses and explains personality disorders in the context of the workplace. I highly recommend it for people with problems at work, or anyone interested in personality disorders.

have problems with people at work?
Then you should read this book. This book examines personality disorders in the context of the workplace. It explains why that jerk in accounting is a jerk. It also tells you what to do when confronting these type of people. It's a interesting, well written book, for anyone with problems with people at work or anyone interested in personality disorders.

must have if you have annoying workers!
WORKING IN AN OFFICE YOU CAN BE DEALING WITH ALL TYPES OF PEOPLE.SOME THAT CAN GET YOU ON YOUR NERVES AND SOME THAT HAVE REAL PERSONALITY DISOREDERS. READING THIS BOOK WILL HELP YOU HOW TO DEAL WITH ANY TYPE OF DISORDER. IT CAN BE YOUR BOSS, EMPLOYEE OR COWORKER. AFTER READING THIS BOOK AND APPLYING ALL THE INFORMATION THAT YOU LEARNED YOU WILL SEEE YOU'LL HAVE A MUCH EASIER TIME DEALING WITH THEM. ... Read more

Book Description

"Most studies of decision-making treat humans like rats in a laboratory. But Dr. Klein, a cognitive psychologist, spent a decade watching fire commanders, fighter pilots, paramedics, and others making split-second decisions on the job, and this book is a clear and engaging account of his findings." -- Thomas Petzinger, Jr., Wall Street Journal

Anyone who watches the television news has seen images of firefighters rescuing people from burning buildings and paramedics treating bombing victims. How do these individuals make the split-second decisions that save lives? Most studies of decision making, based on artificial tasks assigned in laboratory settings, view people as biased and unskilled. Gary Klein is one of the developers of the naturalistic decision-making approach, which views people as inherently skilled and experienced.

Since 1985 Klein has conducted fieldwork to find out how people tackle challenges in difficult, nonroutine situations. Sources of Power is based on observations of humans acting under such real-life constraints as time pressure, high stakes, personal responsibility, and shifting conditions. In addition to providing information that can be used by professionals in management, psychology, engineering, and other fields, the book presents an overview of the research approach of naturalistic decision making and expands our knowledge of the strengths people bring to difficult tasks. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

A very readable book that talks to the reader
Although I am not a professional in this area, I have had many experiences that required me to learn how people make decisions. This book goes a long way toward explaining these processes and provides plenty of examples to learn from. Not only does Gary Klein present his results, he covers how the data were obtained, its analysis, his assumptions, and how the conclusions were reached. It provides great insight into one's own thinking and decision making process. I was truly amazed at how readable this book was and how thoroughly real life examples were analyzed. I would recommend it to anyone in any field.

Truly thinking out-of-the-box, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
This is an excellent book on decision making. I borrowed a copy at my library. Once I started reading it, I realized that this actually belonged to an serious business reader's bookshelf. I went out and bought a copy. There are several features that make this book a must-have: 1. The author's tlk about decision making under high pressure 2. Time, as in real life, is at premium 3. There is often little opportunity to do detailed analysis as our graduate school textbooks showed us. 4. There is a lot more to decisions than rational choice models.

This book takes all this into account. The authors present a coherent argument. The book's logical organization makes thier points easy to grasp. This book will be of value to both managers and researchers. Unlike many other books on decison making, this one is based on rigirous research spannig many years---not one guy's opinions. Buy it, highlight it, dog-ear it, and absorb it. Sources of Power is truly an excellent source of power about a new, integrative way of thinking. EXCELLENT READ.

Highly recommended
This book represents a whole new approach to decision making. It is a must-read for managers and decision makers. Klein breaks outside the box of the traditional decision making process and presents a fresh look at how to make decisions that are timely, accurate, and effective.

One of the best things about the book is straightforward manner in which Klein writes. You don't feel like you're in another yawner of a business class. You feel like you're listening to a colleague who has come up with a new way of doing something, a way that he has obviously been successful with himself.

This book is just another in the list of great Klein business books. If you manage a business or are in a position to make decisions that affect a business, you need to read this and Klein's other masterful books.

Amazing
Far exceeded my expectations in terms of supplying useable information about how to make better decisions. Reading this book has made me a better person. The numbers of books that I can say that about are fewer than the number of fingers on one hand.

RESEARCH ON INFORMATON SYSTEMS
traditional decision making techniques AND MODERAN DECISION MAKING TECHNIQUES AND CONCLUSION ... Read more

Book Description

Successful management depends on the ability to quickly and effectively manage conflicts. Conflict Resolution includes hands-on information for effectively communicating with employees, disciplining and even terminating employees, understanding and using organizational politics, and more. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Conflict Resolution
Successful management depends on the ability to quickly and effectively manage conflicts. Conflict Resolution includes hands-on information for effectively communicating with employees, disciplining and even terminating employees, understanding and using organizational politics, and more.
Successful management depends on the ability to manage conflicts, quickly and effectively. This book provides hands-on information for communicating with employees, disciplining and even terminating employees.
1. What's a Conflict? 2. So What if There's a Conflict? 3. How to Resolve Any Conflict. 4. How to Resolve a Conflict Between Others. 5. How to Resolve a Conflict Between Yourself and Another. 6. How to Resolve Team Conflict. 7. How to Mediate All the Time to Prevent Conflicts. 8. Strategic Management of Organizational Conflict.

Handy book for resolving conflicts.
This book gives the main points in simple language that anyone can understand. Further all the points and key terms a mediator needs to remember are hightlighted and enclosed in boxes on the relevant pages.

All points are explained with examples and simple cases.

I recommend this book for all who prepare for examination. This is a good book for quick reference.

Usable information
I found this book to be of tremendous value. Conflict Resolution is an easy to read resource that is full of practical information that can be applied immediately on the job. It is not only a must-have for managers and supervisors, but also an essential resource for anyone who would like to have more effective relationships and live a conflict free life. Daniel Dana writes with a friendly and often humorus style and it is clear that he has a vast knowledge of this topic. He has a great ability to take a complex subject and make it simple and easy to use with specific "how-to" steps, and that really makes this book valuable to me. I have now successfully used the resolution approaches outlined in this book both in my profession as a consultant and trainer, and in a family conflict situation that was causing a lot of pain. Additionally, the ideas in this book have worked for me in both one-on-one conflicts and group conflicts. The bottom line - this works.

Don Blue
I found it a as must have for managers, especially new managers. It give a simple easy to use method of dealing with conflict. Can be used in your job, community, and hope. ... Read more

Book Description

Without careful planning, organizations often do not survive major interruptions in the operation of their business. The Disaster Recovery Handbook gives readers proven processes and techniques to develop a disaster recovery plan and protect their organizations in the face of extraordinary circumstances.

Featuring a CD-ROM with templates for process and skill matrices, contact databases, risk-assessment score sheets, and more, the book gives detailed instructions for:

* Assembling a recovery team* Building an interim plan* Setting up an emergency operations center* Recovering vital records* And more.

Filled with practical solutions and immediately usable tools, The Disaster Recovery Handbook gives readers everything they need to keep their businesses running as smoothly as possible after a disaster. ... Read more

Book Description

Concepts, Principles, and Practical Techniques for Improving Small-Group Performance

The authors of the phenomenal bestseller, The Wisdom of Teams, are back. This time Jon Katzenbach and Doug Smith focus on the issues of small group discipline and performance and the challenges presented by revolutionary technologies that enable the creation of virtual teams and global teams.

The Discipline of Teams helps small groups implement the disciplines, frameworks, tools, and techniques that enable performance. With detailed guidance and dozens of indispensable exercises, they present a regimen proven to improve performance and help groups adhere to the Six Basic Principles of Team Discipline:

• Keep team membership small

• Ensure that members have complementary skills

• Develop a common purpose

• Set common goals

• Establish a commonly agreed upon working approach

• Integrate mutual and individual accountability

The Discipline of Teams is an indispensable resource for any small group in any organization that wants to raise the bar by setting and achieving more ambitious performance goals again and again.

Katzenbach and Smith’s work on teams over the past decade has been called "essential", "path breaking", and "the best ever" by Business Week, Harvard Business Review, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Leader to Leader, Fast Company, the Financial Times, and other publications around the world. Tens of thousands of teams, from the executive suite to the front lines, have applied the Katzenbach and Smith disciplines to increase the performance of their organizations and themselves. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Discipline of Teams
As the sequel to The Wisdom of Teams, John Katzenbach and Douglas Smith return to uncover the tools, techniques, frameworks and disciplines required to unlock the performance potential that lie within today's teams and virtual teams.

Performance potential is not guaranteed, and you need to become an expert at the two disciplines - team and single leader and, you must be able to implement the right discipline to suit the performance need of your team.

Katzenbach & Smith identify and discuss the Six Basic Principles of Team Discipline: 1) keep team numbers to a minimum, 2) ensure that team members possess skills that compliment one another, 3) identify a clear performance purpose, 4) agree on outcome based goals, 5) provide clear roles and responsibilities and, 6) ensure mutual and individual accountability.

As a follow-up to their insights and strategies, Katzenbach and Smith provide practical exercises at the conclusion of each chapter for both team members and leaders to get them on the road to optimal performance.

The Discipline of Teams is easy to read and will provide the reader with tools, techniques and strategies to assist in becoming top performers within today's organizations. On a personal note, The Discipline of Teams provided me with some new techniques to help develop and maintain effective teams for today and in the future.

When and How to Use Teams Versus Single Leaders
The Discipline of Teams updates and extends the best-seller, The Wisdom of Teams. "The most important characteristic of teams is discipline; not bonding, togetherness, or empowerment." You are encouraged to be sure that you use teams only when they make sense as a performance unit, rather than having a single-leader approach. Using sophisticated Marine units as models, you begin to appreciate that some tasks are better suited to individuals and some tasks need to combine team and individual elements. In fact, complex tasks may require many teams focusing on subtasks. The book also looks at virtual teams and the impact of electronic communications on teams (concluding that nothing really changes -- you just have more ways to communicate and face-to-face is still important).

A team makes sense when you need to accomplish something more than what individual performances will give you. A good example comes in new product development. Each specialist can do a good job, and the project can easily be a bust. By thinking together, potential failure can become success by tweaking each perspective in new ways. The authors also point out that many times goals are set that sound like individual performance, but better goals would set directions requiring a team.

An effective team needs to have:

(1) an understandable charter

(2) communicate and coordinate effectively

(3) have clear roles and responsibilities for individuals

(4) use time-efficient processes and

(5) have a sense of accountability.

"Whenever a small group can deliver performance through the combined sum of individual contributions, then the single-leader discipline is the most effective choice."

The book provides many ways to make both teams and single-leader groups work better. In fact, it focuses on those areas that are most likely to cause problems, like poorly defined goals, keeping the size of the group as small as possible, not having the skills needed, time pressures, and using the wrong leadership discipline). I also liked the fact that the book looked at the question of when you should fold a team.

The authors clearly understand a great deal about making teams more effective, and anyone can learn from this book. I think those who liked The Wisdom of Teams will find it to be a useful refresher with some valuable new material.

The book contains many exercises and workbook questions that I happily endorse. They make the book much more practical and useful. If you just did the exercises and the workbook questions, this would be a five star book. The explanations are just icing on the cake.

After you have finished this book, I also suggest you think about whether you have set the right priorities in your organization. Realizing that you can only do a few things at once, what should they be? Be sure to give yourself a chance to pick tasks that will benefit from teams.

Find ways to make human cooperation more beneficial . . . for that's our strength!

... Read more

Amazon.com

Data warehouses store millions of records, allowing managers to ask the big-picture questions about their businesses. The authors of Data Warehouse Design Solutions share their expertise in designing successful data warehouses and concentrate on understanding business processes within a variety of industries.

First, the authors outline the promise--and potential hurdles--of data warehousing. They thoroughly explain the idea of dimensional data, which is used to represent the quantities or attributes that can be queried in a data warehouse. The authors argue that data warehouses need to adapt to changing business conditions and often must be more flexible than planned. They advise building the Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) as a series of interlocking data marts (which contain different dimensions). Developers can build part of a solution and add new data marts later. The result is a more adaptable approach to warehousing data.

The heart of Data Warehouse Design Solutions is the descriptions of data warehouses tailored to specific industries--sales, marketing, fulfillment, production, inventory, and capacity--using real-world businesses. The authors offer business models, sample dimensions, database schema, and sample reports for each business area.

Later chapters discuss more advanced areas for data warehousing, including budget tracking, financial reporting (and managerial accounting), and even how to look at profitability and intellectual capital. The authors round out their nuts-and-bolts tour of today's businesses with a summary of the various measures that fit each type of organization. Finally, the authors come back to theory, with some ideas on building effective systems that are fast and that generate easy-to-read reports. The last chapter argues convincingly that their incremental approach to building data warehousing has some distinct advantages. --Richard Dragan ... Read more

Reviews (8)

A very good complement to Ralph Kimball books
I highly recommend this book and I think that it's a very good complement to Ralph Kimball books. It's based on the same principles and theory, and expands the number of practical examples based on real industry implementation, so if you are lucky you can find many tips and data models that can be immediately applied in your projects.
You need to read the Kimball books first in order to fully understand this one, and of course some of the example are based on US companies, but most of the material can be immediately applied to other markets and Countries as well (like Italy where I work).
I think that the last chapters (13/14/15) which deal with topics like presenting information and the process to build a DW are a little less interesting, but they still contain some useful tips.

A very good complement to Kimball's books
I highly recommend this book and I think that it's a very good complement to Ralph Kimball books. It's based on the same principles and theory, and expands the number of practical examples based on real industry implementation, so if you are lucky you can find many tips and data models that can be immediately applied in your projects.
You need to read the Kimball books first in order to fully understand this one, and of course some of the example are based on US companies, but most of the material can be immediately applied to other markets and Countries as well (like Italy where I work).
I think that the last chapters (13/14/15) which deal with topics like presenting information and the process to build a DW are a little less interesting, but they still contain some useful tips.

A good handbook on dimensional modeling
If you do not have 'The Data Warehouse Toolkit' by Ralph Kimball yet, you may want to buy this book. The techniques and approaches discussed in these two books are almost the same. The way this book is structured is very much alike that of the Kimball's book. But I liked the fact that the chapters are dedicated to particular business areas, not particular industries. In the chapter about marketing you will find examples for three industries. I liked Chapter 13, 'Presenting Infomation' which is full of tips on effective reporting. I liked also the chapter on financial reporting which gives a technical reader basic ideas of what finance is about. You will learn about balance sheets, income statments, cost allocation from the point of view of a data modeler. Of course, the book has all the terms and techniques one has to know to successfully build dimensional models. I did not like though the last two chapters which deal with methodology questions. You will only get a slight idea about how to integrate dimensional modeling into your data warehousing project. You will have to buy one of those books on methodologies to get a better insight into the question. In general, the book is very interesting. I gave it four stars for minor flaws - no one is perfect!

Excellent Real World models....
This book provides down-to-earth models for star schemas. And with each example, the authors examines different approaches for designing the stars and later gives the pros/cons of each approach. A very good book. A must for anyone who designs data warehouse databases.

No-Nonsense
This book from 1st page onwards talks about Data Modeling issues for Datawarehouse in a mature way. Also covers an important issue of integration of datamarts. ... Read more