Book Description

Mental Health and Productivity in the Workplace is a comprehensive and practical guide to identifying, understanding, preventing, and resolving individual and organizational mental health problems in the workplace. Originally published as Mental Health in the Workplace (Van Nostrand/Wiley, 1993), this completely revised, updated, and expanded edition represents the most current thinking in the field and contains contributions from an expert panel of organizational and occupational psychiatrists. With fifty percent more chapters, this new edition adds essential material on creating systems and cultures that encourage organizational productivity and employee mental health and on finding cost-effective,quality mental health care. The book focuses on problems that start "at the top" (executive dysfunction) as well as on the effects of organizational structure, office politics, chronic change, downsizing and employment uncertainty, office wide emotional crises, and aspects of organizational development. In addition, this helpful resource includes information about such basic issues as anxiety, stress, burnout, depression, drug and alcohol abuse, violence, and psychosis.

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Reviews (1)

Good Handbook
Mental Health and Productivity in the Workplace: A Handbook for Organizations and Clinicians
by Jeffrey P. Kahn, Alan M. Langlieb (Jossey-Bass) Efficiency and employee well-being are more important than ever to the overall success of organizations. Emotions are key to understanding executive effectiveness, organizational change, and corporate ethics. Stress, burnout, depression, drug abuse, violence, and other mental health problems are costing businesses billions of dollars every year in lost productivity and costs of ineffective treatment.

Mental Health and Productivity in the Workplace is a comprehensive and practical guide to identifying, understanding, preventing, and resolving individual and organizational mental health problems in the workplace. Originally published as Mental Health in the Workplace (Van Nostrand/ Wiley, 1993), this completely revised, updated, and expanded edition represents the most current thinking in the field and contains contributions from an expert panel of organizational and occupational psychiatrists. With 50 percent more chapters, this new edition adds essential material on creating systems and cultures that encourage organizational productivity and employee mental health and on finding cost-effective, quality mental health care. The book focuses on problems that start "at the top" (executive dysfunction), as well as on the effects of organizational structure, office politics, chronic change, downsizing and employment uncertainty, officewide emotional crises, and aspects of organizational development. In addition, this helpful resource includes information about such basic issues as anxiety, stress, burnout, depression, drug and alcohol abuse, violence, and psychosis.

Written for executive management, human resource, benefits, occupational medicine, and mental health professionals, this essential handbook offers an emotionally informed guide to cost-effective implementation of policies for maximum productivity. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Guilty of errors its authors accuses businesses of makingn
The collection of articles from 1991 to 1996 primarily focuses on differently seeing in manufacturing. They have missed a major discontinuity, and used the fatal strategy in a time of change - listening to the HRB customer's needs, the Hardware industries, with no prescience of E-commerce or Web as vehicles for innovation. Harvard B School, like Sears, had missed the change

Great anthology of important ideas in strategy
John Seely Brown has done us a big favor: he weeded through the business literature, picked a few authors that really help us "see differently," found works that describe their ideas in tight little packages, and put it all in one book. JSB's own framing comments are also valuable.

Selected highlights: Brian Arthur on increasing returns, Gary Hamel's Strategy as Revolution, Morris and Ferguson on the power of platforms, Brandenburger and Nalebuff on Game Theory for strategy, sections on competitive advantage and managing innovation.

I'm having my interaction design students read this, to add to their palette of points of view. ... Read more

Book Description

If only they would . . . !
They screwed up, it's their fault!
I have my own goals and numbers to meet!

If you've heard any of these phrases before, exercise great caution-they have the power to undermine and poison your company!

Creating WE, by visionary executive coach Judith E. Glaser, goes to the root of the problem in organizations today, illuminating how "I-centric" work environments cause "unhealthy thinking" to form and doom companies to failure.

Whether your company has recently been acquired, merged, restructured, downsized, or, in the midst of rapid growth and expansion, has lost the sense of unity it once had, this revolutionary new book shows you how to create healthy work environments and become a "WE-centric" company that achieves extraordinary breakthrough success. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

One of the Best in the Field of Creating Positive Cultures
Of the several hundred books I have read over the years related to the business topics of leadership and executive coaching, organizational change, and creating dynamic, positive work cultures, in my estimation, Creating WE, by Judith Glaser, is one of the Top 5 on my personal list of the best 15-20 - a must read for anyone who is serious about doing what every leader should want to do -- "making a positive difference" as a leader.

Judith Glaser is one of a few of the "thought leaders" in this field today that I have taken the time to carefully research and study their work.

In Creating WE, I believe Judith captures and clearly details many of the core essential elements that leaders and organizations need to demonstrate and build into the fabric of their corporate cultures.

Over the past 10+ years, there have been some great works published by respected authors such as Marshall Goldsmith, Ed Gubman, Dan Pink, and Daniel Goleman, just to name a few of the best, who have tried to inspire us and guide us in how to improve leadership capabilities, attract, engage, and retain the best talent possible, and create "workplace or employer of choice" cultures.

In my view, through rich and practical models, actual case studies, and truly unique insights into some of today's emerging "best practices", Creating WE shows us a very clear path to help leaders and organizations get to the next level in the areas of employee engagement, creating "employer of choice" cultures, and true leadership excellence.

Business research today makes a very compelling case that the companies who have successfully "cracked the engagement code" are more the successful and more profitable "market leaders" in their industries.

This is a "must read" for organizations and leaders who truly desire to create and/or sustain high employee engagement,commitment, and loyalty, should read this book CAREFULLY, and figure out how to put into place, workable "WE-Centric" strategies.

Susan Peabody, Mgr Organizational Dev., CTR Systems
As part of two management book club groups; to date, this is by far the most outstanding book on leadership that both groups have decided to read and discuss.

Judith Glaser is brilliant in the way she is able to break down the most complex issues in organizations today and put them into basic Vital Principles.She takes if further by helping us to put a mirror in front of ourselves to see if we are capable of changing to become a new style "WE-centric" leader, working successfully through collaboration, or remaining caught up in the web of the "I-centric" past.

There are so many powerful quotes in the book:

"When we are at the edge, we have a choice.We can turn away from others and try to handle the challenge on our own, or we can turn to others for help.

Old-style leaders and managers believe they should have all the answers and their people expect solutions to come from the top.

New-style leaders and managers don't believe they have all the answers, but they engage people in coming up with them.I call this WE-centric leadership.

WE-centric leaders realize that WE is the power that fuels corporate growth.They know they don't need to know all the answers, and they also know that in the face of unprecedented change, inclusive behaviors radically shift the power dynamics toward partnering and positively influence productivity and quality in a company."

Her lessons are endless.And while we feel like we've heard the same old "to do's" over and over again, Judith provides clear-cut action steps to help us begin changing the way we lead.Here are the key chapters, each with stories, new practices and how to's:

Chapter 1: What Happens When Bosses Are Domineering, Insensitive & Tough?
Chapter 2: What Happens When Bosses Don't Listen & Think They Know it All?
Chapter 3: What Happens When Employees And Management Don't Trust Each Other?
Chapter 4: Reinventing a Challenging Culture!
Chapter 5: The Comfort of Comfort Zones... How to Interrupt Old Patterns!
Chapter 6: How to Open the Space for Growth!
Chapter 7: How to Transform Conversations!
Chapter 8: How to Create Our "WE" Story!
Chapter 9: How to Trigger Corporate Caring!
Chapter 10: Real Success Stories About Living We!
When You Run into Trouble - How to Make UP!

She helps us to realize that up to now, most of us have lived in a world that we know ourselves only from the inside out ~ it's how we see ourselves.She questions whether we have the guts to discover what people really think of us from the outside in ~ how we make others feel about our leadership.

All leaders and managers who are interested in shaping and crafting a successful future should read this book.It will help you develop a clear self-awareness of how you affect others you lead now, and how that impact will affect the future.

A life-altering Read
"Creating WE" is an amazing book. It's about relationships, in business and also in life. At the heart of Creating We is a universal truth:we are all connected, and to grow to our fullest, we need to support one another.

Just reading the Preface you will gain many wonderful insights into why this book's author Judith Glaser has been so successful and impacted so profoundly on the clients with whom she has consulted.Each story is about CEOs and their teams who worked together to create new standards of excellence for their businesses as they faced challenges in a world of moving targets.You will want to read Judith's list of "nine principles" on page 9 of the Preface, detailing how executives and companies can succeed.This list as well as many others in every chapter provides an incredible roadmap for leaders to inspire their organizations to outrageous success.

An uplifting and empowering reading experience for anyone who owns a business or works for one, the book is filled with ideas, suggestions and templates for immediate use, coupled with a plethora of great resources for building strong relationships and having powerful conversations for change.I especially loved this passage, which shows, in one small way, why Creating We is a life-altering read:

"Growth, the very essence of change and transformation, is about pushing back what is -- and making room for what can be. The dynamic tension between what is and what can be pervades the environments in which we work and live every day.Healthy relationships operate from mutual support and concern for others.When we engage with others to remove barriers to growth and development, we miraculously feel more inspired and full of life."

Jan Goldstoff, New York City

The Right Book for The Times
As business learns the limits of the I-focused executive, this book provides the kind of perspective and guidance we all need to help leaders build creative, energized and effectives teams. I recommend this book for every executive who wants to take their organization to the next level of performance.

A Business Book that is Personal
This is the first business book (of many) that I have read that not only makes sound business sense but also engages the reader by intertwining the author's personal life and experience (and her husband's). This makes for a very special book that I am sure others will enjoy. ... Read more

Book Description

"The Coaching Manager provides real-world strategies for developing people in any organization. Hunt and Weintraub bring together a new model of coaching along with a solid understanding of how business works. A must read for leaders at all levels."

--Roger Enrico, former Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo Inc.

"Managers and entrepreneurs alike will find The Coaching Manager to be of immense value in learning to coach as well as creating a coaching-friendly environment. Hunt and Weintraub give us an approach to coaching that managers can start using immediately. This book belongs on every manager's bookshelf."

--Arthur M. Blank, Co-Founder and Retired Co-Chairman, The Home Depot; Chairman, President, and CEO, Atlanta Falcons

"Hunt and Weintraub impart solid insight and advice for developing leadership talent and inspiring performance through an innovative coaching model. The depth of their research and experience with thousands of managers is relevant to any business leader interested in aligning talent with their organization. I have participated in their leadership coach training program and recommend it to all leaders who value, support, and encourage their most precious assets, the employees . . . "

--Patricia A. Hickey, R.N. M.S. M.B.A, Vice President, Cardiovascular and Critical Care Services, Children's Hospital, Boston, Mass.

"A rich, wonderful resource for all managers wanting to develop the potential of their people. In this one volume, you’ll find all the guidance, tools, and examples needed to become a master coach. In a world where the capacity to coach is no longer nice-to-have but a necessity-to-know, this is the book to buy. "

--Jay A. Conger, Professor, London Business School and author of Building Leaders

The Coaching Manager: Developing Top Talent in Business introduces an easy-to-implement developmental coaching model based on the authors' extensive work with thousands of managers, executives, and MBA students. The goal is for managers to help employees learn and be more productive on a day-to-day basis. This model encourages employees to take greater responsibility for their learning and development while forging a helping relationship between manager and employee. Such an approach to management will lighten the emphasis on evaluation and create learning opportunities for all involved.

The book includes twenty real-world cases, self-assessment tools, and action checklists to deepen skills and understanding. The Coaching Manager will benefit managers, leaders, and entrepreneurs in business and not-for-profit organizations; those in MBA programs; students in leadership, organizational development, and human resource management; as well as participants in executive training programs.

Reviews (6)

A solid coaching resource.
The Coaching Manager is not only an excellent reference for managers and supervisors, it also provides a clear look at the issues within an organization for the increasing number of personal coaches who are working with these professionals. Personal coaches who have any number of clients within organizations will see a lot of the people they work with in the pages of this book. Most trained coaches know that the key to great coaching is being "client-centered" as opposed to "coach-centered" or "boss-centered." The authors provide a simple model that follows this principle. The model might be a tough paradigm shift for many managers who are used to years of practicing the "tell-them-what-to-do" bossing approach. One important thing the authors mention is to be aware of the fact that managers may not get a lot of support within an organization to practice the client-centered approach. But if managers have the courage to work on it, their staff will be loyal, and bottom-line results will surely come.

Too academic for my liking
I am a manager of a team of 8 and I am looking to build my coaching skills. To that end given the fact that my company spends very little on management devlopment, I have to read as much as a can. I have bought several books on coaching and have found them either too academic or too life coach orientated with little emphasis on coaching within a business and management context.

The Coaching Manager is certainly business orientated and has some useful examples to highlight the points emphasised although I did get the flavour of "academia" as opposed to real "business experience" coming through. I found it too lengthy in places and some chapters I will have to read again in order to fully grasp the learning from them.

Having said that it will remain on my shelf (along with the others) and I will probably use it occasionally. I am busy manager and would prefer something a bit shorter and more practical.

A Great System
The Coaching Manager: Developing Top Talent in Business is easy to read and has an easy-to-implement coaching method. It teaches managers to help even excellent employees learn and grow, while developing a supportive relationship between manager and employee. Translation from book to practice is easy and immediate. It also shows how to separate observations from hunches. What a great system!

Immediately Useful
I read the last half of this book flying from Boston to Phoenix to coach one of my team members in a presentation. I was able to use the framework in this book immediately.

As a result of reading the book, I told my employee that I would be using a new system for coaching and I asked my employee what he wanted to work on and what I should watch for. This gave me a framework for my observations.

I also used the system they recommended to separate what I saw from my inferences.

The resulting discussion was useful for both of us. I was able to say things like "I saw that the audience was leaning forward and nodding. I took that to mean they were attentive. There was one woman who was leaning back and sort of looking around. I took that to mean she was bored." then the employee said that she had seen the presentation before.

I asked for his feedback at the end about my new coaching approach and he was very enthusiastic!

Excellent system!

A Book on Managerial Coaching That's Worth Buying
I have read or seen most of the books written on coaching employees over the last 10 years. This book presents a practical and interesting approach to the caoching and development of your top performers, a group that usually gets ignored. Most books in this area focus on coaching the difficult or problem employees while in this book there is a definite focus on developing the best.
The Coaching manager is very readable and uses good examples and short cases to make the key points. The authors seem well-versed in business which I found refreshing after reading too many coaching books from former or current sports coaches who may have had one or two winning seasons before fading into oblivion.
I plan on using this book in our company's executive development programs. This book has great value for any manager. ... Read more

Book Description

This book combines management and organizational behavior.It is intended for students to learn how to be effective performers within an organizatoin, both individually and on teams.Because organizational behavior skills are students' dominant need under this assumption, about two-thirds of the book's content is anchored in traditional and emergent OB subjects, while one-third focuses on issues and practices that every manager needs to know. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Not worth it at half the price.
This book is outrageously overpriced.

The major problem is that the authors drone on and on in each chapter about the samestuff.Most of the chapters would have been sufficient at half of their 30page length.After about 15 pages and the third repetition of stuff that'salready been explained, my brain started to wander.I'd have to go backand force myself to pay attention to what was being said.

Another majorproblem is the utter lack of editing performed.The sentence structurethroughout the book is terrible.The syntax and choice of words isconfusing.I'd have to re-read certain sentences several times before Icould understand what the authors were trying to say.The English ingeneral is also bad.Over and over, there were sentences that started with"But...".Then there were times when verbs were used as nouns,which is acceptable, but, because of the terrible sentence structure, itlooked like they were being used as verbs.This made it almost impossibleto read.

The only reason this book didn't get one star was the fact thatsome of the information was actually useful.The majority of the book,however, was just droll, boring repetition of stuff I didn't need to knowin order to grasp the concepts.It also needed to have more concreteexamples of stuff.It started out doing that well, but, by chapter 6 or 7,it just became too abstract.There must be a better book out there on thissubject. ... Read more

Book Description

"Creating Effective Teams takes readers by the hand through the four developmental stages of getting from group creation to highly effective teams. It is packed with strategies for building and supporting well-managed, high-performing teams. The author provides ample checklists and case examples to guide members and leaders through their groups’ developmental states and to help them work through the times when they inevitably get stuck. She does an amazing job of summarizing a vast literature of empirical research on team functioning and development into a comprehensive yet uncomplicated, straightforward guide. She supports detailed explanations of how to start, build, and sustain a team with real-life examples from her many years of consulting experience. This book is a must for anyone whose work requires teamwork." --Andrea Markowitz, University of Baltimore Based on the author’s many years of consulting experience with teams in the public and private sector, the book tells us why teams are important, how they function, and what makes them productive and unproductive. The author clearly illustrates the developmental nature of teams and describes what happens in each stage. Separate chapters are devoted to the responsibilities of team leaders and team members. Problems that occur frequently in groups are highlighted, followed by what-you-can-do sections that offer specific advice. Real-life examples and questionnaires are used throughout the book, giving readers the opportunity for self-evaluation.

Book Description

Drawing on the research of more than 50 influential international scholars, this extensive interdisciplinary survey consolidates and evaluates what is known and not known about organizations, and critically examines how we learn about and study them.

The contributions are grouped under ten headings, representing the most important contemporary perspectives on organizations, including networks, ecology and technology, each of which is covered at three levels of organization: intraorganizational, organizational and interorganizational. For ease of use each chapter is structured around five common elements: review and evaluation of the literature on that topic; contemporary issues and debates; central questions that remain unanswered; new and emerging directions for research; and connections across levels of organizations.

For newcomers to organization studies, this up-to-date resource provides a foundation for navigating the field and an overview of its complexities. For more experienced students and scholars, it offers a rich source of inspiration and ideas, and clear guidance for designing and carrying out exemplary research. ... Read more

Book Description

“Empowerment” can be a mind-numbing topic, but in The 3 Keys to Empowerment, Ken Blanchard and his coauthors use concrete examples, a Q&A format, case histories, and entertaining sidebars to keep the discussion lively. The first “key” is information, which the authors say managers must share liberally with employees to help create a sense of ownership. Next is setting up understandable boundaries that will make employees feel both comfortable and challenged. Finally, managers must develop teams to replace the old hierarchical structure. Armed with this new model of empowerment, companies can navigate the demanding world of global competition. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Explaining the Journey to Empowerment
After reading and being intrigued by the authors' previous book, "Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute," I was curious about this follow-up book. I was pleasantly surprised to find this book was written as a complementary "stand-alone" book with a much different style than its predecessor.

Unlike Blanchard's usual simple, entertaining, and fun-to-read story-telling books, this book was a detailed, practical, common-sense guideline for individuals and organizations on their journeys from hierarchy to empowerment. Besides the credible factual and objective analysis of becoming empowered, this book confirmed for me what I always suspected about Blanchard's usual powerful parables: they are backed up by extensive research, knowledge, and experience.

This book starts with a great, concise overview of "Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute," and then moves on to common, expected questions with practical, executable answers designed to assist people and organizations going through the journey from hierarchy to empowerment. The book concludes with an outstanding detailed empowerment action plan that captures the essence of how the 3 keys to empowerment (share information with everyone, create autonomy through boundaries, and let teams become the hierarchy) can and should be applied simultaneously through the 3 stages of change (starting and orienting the journey, change and discouragement, and adopting and refining empowerment).

Designed as a guidebook, I can easily see the book being used by leaders at all levels who must deal with and implement empowering, or other major changes in their organizations. As is the case with all guidebooks, the information in this book requires the readers' judgment in applying it to the realities of their situations. If viewed as a guaranteed checklist for success by people and organizations that want a quick fix with little thought, this book will likely fall short of expectations. If viewed as a practical, common-sense packed reference, I believe this book will be an invaluable leadership tool for long-term effectiveness and efficiency.

Insightful!
The 3 Keys to Empowerment revisits the three keys discussed in another Blanchard book, Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute. These three keys are: share information with everyone, create autonomy through boundaries and let teams become the hierarchy. They should be applied to each of the three stages of moving toward empowerment. Many of the actions suggested for the initial stage: "Starting and Orienting the Journey," are repeated in the discussions of the other stages, "Change and Discouragement" and "Adopting and Refining Empowerment." The authors say some areas need repeated focus so readers can implement change. Unfortunately, this is repetitive.

The book's most useful feature is the Empowerment Action Plan, a clear, easy to follow list of specific actions leaders can take at each stage of the journey to empowerment. The 3 Keys is written for CEOs and senior executives.

A roadmap to the Land of Empowerment
Ken Blanchard, John Carlos, and I wrote this book as a follow up to our best selling Empowerment Takes More Than A Minute. This book is designed to help any manager or team leader or company president who wants to release the power of people for astonishing results. We know that empowerment is often viewed as a buzzword, but we also know that it works for those who stick with it. We think this book can help team leaders and team members know what to do to keep moving forward. Let us know what you think and ask us any questions you have -- we will respond. ... Read more

Book Description

This book brings together in one place the work of one of our most respected economic theorists on a field in which he has played a large part in originating: the New Institutional Economics. Transaction cost economics, which studies the governance of contractual relations, is the branch of the New Institutional Economics with which Oliver Williamson is especially associated.

Transaction cost economics has had a pervasive influence on current economic thought about how and why institutions function as they do, and it has become a practical framework for research in organizations by representatives of a variety of disciplines. Through a transaction cost analysis, The Mechanisms of Governance shows how and why simple contracts give way to complex contracts and internal organization as the hazards of contracting build up. That complicates the study of economic organization, but a richer and more relevant theory of organization is the result. Many testable implications and lessons for public policy accrue to this framework. Applications of both kinds are numerous and growing.

Written by one of the leading economic theorists of our time, The Mechanisms of Governance is sure to be an important work for years to come. It will be of interest to scholars and students of economics, organization, management, and law. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A boring style
Ok...a well recognized teacher from aleading university...strong content...but...but...such a boring book. Really annoying to read. A lot of words made by the author (to sound more scientific?)....hey O. Williamson, next time you writte a book....use a simple style with understandable sentences like the author of "Iraationnal Exuberrance"! Really, there are lots of other books more interesting on the topic...AVOID!!!

A classic of transaction cost economics
Oliver Williamson is one of the seminal figures of New Institutional Economics. "The Mechanisms of Governance" is the third book in which Williamson has collected his principal writings, while working them into a coherent whole. The earlier volumes, "Markets and Hierarchies" and "The Economic Institutions of Capitalism," are justly regarded as the foundational texts of the transaction costs economics school of institutional economics. "The Mechanisms of Governance" seems certain to join them as essentials for any legally literate economist or economically literate lawyer.

Transaction cost economics focuses on institutions, in contrast to neoclassical economics' focus on individuals, providing simple models that help us understand how institutions function and how they will respond to regulation. We can analogize transaction costs to friction: they are dead weight losses that reduce efficiency. They make transactions more costly and less likely to occur. Among the most important sources of transaction costs is the limited cognitive power of human decisionmakers. Unlike the Chicago School of law and economics, which posits the traditional concept of rational choice, Williamson asserts that rationality is bounded. Put another way, he assumes that economic actors seek to maximize their expected utility, but also that the limitations of human cognition often result in decisions that fail to maximize utility. Decisionmakers inherently have limited memories, computational skills, and other mental tools, which in turn limit their ability to gather and process information. As he demonstrates, this phenomenon, known as bounded rationality, has pervasive implications for understanding how institutions work.

Accordingly, Williamson's approach provides an analytical framework that is useful not only to economists, but also to lawyers and policymakers. Among other subjects, Williamson tackles such subjects as vertical integration, corporate governance, and industrial organization.

In sum, highly recommended. If so, you might ask, of course, why did I subtract one star? Mainly because of Williamson's unfortunate writing style. Although "The Mechanisms of Governance" is largely free of the recreational mathematics that plagues much modern economic writing, which is useful for those of us who flunked Differential Equations, it is very jargon-intensive. Worse yet, much of the jargon is self-created. All of which makes reading Williamson an effort-intensive project. Usually the cost-benefit analysis nevertheless comes out in his favor, but sometimes one puzzles out the jargon to find a rather obvious point that could have been conveyed far more simply. ... Read more

Book Description

A valuable tool for any health care leader dedicated to improving the quality of care and enhancing patient satisfaction. Combining theory and discussion with a practical `action plan' format, Sherman challenges the reader to think about solutions, not just ideas.
--Irwin Press, president, Press, Ganey Associates, Inc.

Whether you're a CEO, a caregiver, or simply someone who cares about the results of service initiatives, you'll find plenty of great ideas in this book.
--Mark C. Clement, president and CEO, Holy Cross Hospital, Winner, 1994 AHA Great Comebacks Award, 1996 International Enterprise Award for Customer Satisfaction, 1998 Global Best Practices Award for Customer Service

Total Customer Satisfaction reports on the breakthrough methods used by awarding winning hospitals and health care organizations to achieve top-rated national status in customer satisfaction. Learn from top experts in the field of how to create and implement total customer satisfaction tactical plan that will boost customer satisfaction ratings in your health care organization.

... Read more

Reviews (1)

An Excellent Book!
An Excellent Book For All The Managers In Every Organisation....... A Must Read ... Read more

Book Description

"This book is full of provocative and positive questions that will develop and enhance your team's performance, yielding faster and better results."
--Julie Meiresonne
Director, Customer Relations
Hunter Douglas Window Fashions Division, Broomfield, CO

Book Description

Leadership Games presents 25 practical, inexpensive experiential activities designed to be used in various leadership training and development programs. This book centers on those areas of primary concern to today's managers-team leadership, risking innovation, fostering collaboration, managing conflict, and using diversity. The exercises are grounded in the management and educational literature, and for each exercise there is a set of explicit directions, cues on strategic considerations, including appropriate timing, indicators of successful application, and a rich sample of proposed questions that point the way to fruitful post-exercise discussions with participants. Author Stephen S. Kaagan has extensive experience both in the academic and consulting worlds, including being a past president of the Outward Bound program in Rockland, Maine. Leadership Games is unique in that it: + Explores both leadership development theory and offers practical suggestions + Provides much more than bare bones instructions on how to facilitate experiential exercises + Shows the link between the exercises and critical organizational challenges This book will be an invaluable tool for professionals and students interested in leadership, organizational studies, management, human resources, communication, gender studies, sociology, psychology, and education. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

A Superb Text About Organizational Theory & Design
Amongst several Organizational Theory textbooks, this book stands unique. It is very comprehensive, profound, and detailed while being simple, exciting, highly organized, and not wordy. The language of the book is conversational and it helps you "digest" the theoritical concept very quickly depending on a wonderful set of examples and real-life profiles. This text was definitely helpful to me in develpoing a very clear understanding of organizational design, stucture and culture through an excellent coverage of up-to-date topics and well-refined treatment of textual presentation. I advise every management reader to enrich his/her personal business library by acquiring this book. It is really awesome!

Very Comprehensive Treatment of Org Theory/Design
I teach an undergraduate class in "Organizations & Technology" at the University of Phoenix (Southern California campuses) and we use the Garth R. Jones book as our textbook. I have found the book to be so comprehensive and well-organized that I am able to link the organization and content of my lectures directly to the textbook. I find that I cannot do this with many textbooks.

I am most anxious to obtain the "instructor's version" of the text and the accompanying videotapes. (These are mentioned in the preface.)

A Good Review of Organizational Theory
Jones' text on organizational theory provides the casual reader with a good review of the main currents of thought on that subject. The layout of the material helps readers identify key points easily.

This reader found the surprising number of grammar errors, particularly split infinitives, distracting.

This is a question!
Does anyone know if this book was co-written with Rob Goffy ... Read more

Book Description

Over the last three decades the average life expectancy of a corporation in North America has dipped well below 20 years.In fact, by 1983 a full third of the 1970 Fortune 500 companies had been acquired, merged, or broken apart. In this landmark book, one of the business world's foremost pioneers, Russell L. Ackoff, delivers this indispensable guide for those hoping to beat these odds--and to better navigate the corporate challenges of the next millennium.

While most business and management schools continue to teach the functions of a corporation separately--production, marketing, finance, personnel--the reality is that for a corporation to endure each division must work with the others to create an effective system.Re-Creating the Corporation is Ackoff's masterful blueprint for understanding and creating these model corporate systems. In four comprehensive sections--Background, Process, Designs, and Change--Ackoff lays out in clear concise prose the five organizational goals of successful corporate systems: plan effectively, learn and adapt rapidly, democratize, introduce internal market economies, and employ a flexible structure that will minimize the need for future restructuring. And through a deft mix of practical and theoretical examples drawn from a wide range of applications in a wide range of firms, this book ultimately guides executives to the system best suited to meet their organizational goals.

Re-Creating the Corporation, which is the culmination of a lifetime of innovative and insightful business thought from one of the business world's premier thinkers, is essential reading for those attempting to navigate the rapidly changing economic environment of the next millennium. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Truly Ackoff's Best
Recreating the Corporation is Ackoff's best work on utilizing the use of systems thinking to understand how to make not only pieces of companies better, but how optimizing the entire company can lead to dramatic improvements. Those who know Ackoff's work will appreciate his freshening of material contained elsewhere and the addition of new concepts to make the framework wholistic.

Organizational Design to Apply The Fifth Discipline
Since Peter Senge eloquently introduced business readers to the importance of systems thinking in The Fifth Discipline, companies have been grappling with how to apply that aspect of the learning organization. In Re-Creating the Corporation, Russell Ackoff has written the most complete description of how such an organization can be created.

A system is any grouping of parts that is influenced by its parts and requires their coordination to create the best result. A car is an example. You can take the best transmission from one type of car, the best engine from another, and the best brakes from a third, and they will not work together. This is a typical quality of systems: If you optimize any part of the system, you reduce the effectiveness of the whole. But most organizations are set up to seek optimization of the part rather than the system, creating disasters like the car example I just used.

Although he makes only limited reference to it, Professor Ackoff is clearly influenced by complexity science. He has created fractals (small versions of the whole that scale up and down) in his organization, and is trying to expose the widest number of people to the widest possible perspectives on the systems issues of an organization.

The book is designed as a series of essays to explain what systems are and how they operate; processes for planning, design, implementation and learning; organizational designs that apply the concepts of democracy, economy and flexibility; and an overview of the weaknesses of management fads and panaceas, and the benefits of working on organizational and transformational leadership instead. His goal is to create an organization that is as stable as possible in order to create an organization that is as flexible as possible. Let me explain. He wants to avoid reorganizations of roles and jobs, but he wants the organization as a system to evolve rapidly and easily in serving stakeholders.

I found the concepts to be quite consistent with the realities of a wired world, by putting a structure and a thought process together that will provide a context for gaining benefits from enhanced communication. Basically, the structure relies on creating a three dimensional organization -- one that relies on input (functional) units like purchasing, finance, and legal that are primarily used internally, output (product or service creating) units such as the manufacturing activities, and market or user defined (customer or geography) units. Most organizations emphasize one of these three dimensions or the other. By keeping them in place in a balanced way, the idea is to avoid needing to make adjustments to create or abolish any of these types of units.

A second major innovation to aid this organizational structure is the idea of using interacting boards to supervise each unit. This creates more participation, more democracy, and more interconnection across the organization.

To this, Ackoff combines a common process for systems solution creation and implementation that all would learn in the organization.

With organization, thinking, and doing processes in place, he then proposes that organizations go for transformational change rather than incremental change.

I found the book to be full of fresh thinking and interesting examples of how this can be applied based on Mr. Ackoff's consulting experiences with his well-known, long-term clients like DuPont and Anheuser-Busch.

For those who want to learn more about systems thinking at the micro level, I suggest reading the sections on that in The Fifth Discipline Field Guide. That will help you understand the concepts much better than the material in this book.

While I agree with the concept of keeping the organization as stable as possible, I found the proposals here to be a pretty ponderous way to accomplish that end. I suspect that simpler versions of this concept could work almost as well in coordinating systems thinking, and might work much more rapidly. For a newer, smaller organization, the structure would be overly complicated.

My own idea is that companies should move beyond organizational design and problem-solving structures as their focus to concentrate instead on creating an overriding mission, vision, strategy, tactics, and means of implementation (with employees and stakeholders who are energized by this diretion) that are all-encompassing in perspective and in providing direction, and perpetual in appropriateness. Then, by focusing on the key points of potential progress, the organization should constantly make large improvements in its business model that are more adaptable to the changing business environment. I think this concept of the organization that I have just described is easier to understand and apply once it is formulated in an organization than the ideas described here from Re-Creating the Corporation.

Even though I disagree with the proposed solutions in this very interesting book, I gave the book five stars for raising most of the right questions. We learn more from good questions than from the first sets of proposed solutions, and I hope that others will take these questions seriously and pursue them as well.

After you have read this book, ask yourself where in your organization you are pursuing optimization of an area or a part of the organization's activities. When will that optimization be harmful? How can you prevent that harm? What means of coordination could create a better combined result for your organization?

"There are no simple solutions to complex problems".
"This book is a product of applying systems thinking to the management and organization of enterprises". Russel L. Ackoff writes, "therefore, an understanding of the nature of systems and systems thinking is essential for understanding what this book is about. Although most people can identify many different systems, few know precisely what a system is. Without such knowledge, one cannot understand them, and without such an understanding, one cannot be aware of their implications for their management and organization and for treatment of the most important problems that currently face them" (p.5).

Thus, he firstly argues that a system is a whole consisting of two or more parts that satisfies the following five conditions:

(1). The whole has one or more defining properties or functions.

(2). Each part in the set can affect the behavior or properties of the whole.

(3). There is a subset of parts that is sufficient in one or more environments for carrying out the defining function of the whole; each of these parts is necessary but insufficient for carrying out this defining function.

(4). The way that each essential part of a system affects its behavior or properties depends on (the behavior or properties of) at least one other essential part of the system.

(5). The effect of any subset of essential parts on the system as a whole depends on the behavior of at least one other such subset.

Hence, Ackoff summarizes his argument that a system is a whole that cannot be divided into independent parts without loss of its essential properties or functions, and additionally argues that when the performances of the parts of a system, considered separately, are improved, the performance of the whole may not be (and usually is not) improved.

Within this general framework, he:

* defines four different types of systems, and shows their effects on organizations and the way they are managed (more detailed discussion see Chapter 2):

(1). 'Deterministic', systems and models in which neither the parts nor the whole are purposeful.

(2). 'Animated', systems and models in which the whole is purposeful but the parts are not.

(3). 'Social', systems and models in which both the parts and the whole are purposeful.

(4). 'Ecological', systems and models in which some parts are purposeful but as a whole have no purposes of their own.

* by considering three primary forms of traditional management and planning (reactive, inactive, and preactive) and their deficiencies, discusses systems-oriented/interactive form of management and planning.

* discusses five aspects of interactive planning in separate chapters as follows:

- preparing the state of the organization or a situational analysis (more detailed discussion see Chapter 4).

- determining ideals, objectives, and goals or ends planning of the organization (more detailed discussion see Chapter 5).

- identifying the gaps between what the organization is and is now doing and where it wants to be and to be doing (more detailed discussion see Chapter 6).

- considering resources such as money, plant and equipment (capital goods), people, consumables (materials, supplies, energy, and services), data, information, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, and asking and answering following questions:

i. How much will be required, where, and when?

ii. How much will be available at the required time and place?

iii. How should each shortage or excess be treated? (more detailed discussion see Chapter 7).

- implementing and controlling with learning and adaptation (more detailed discussion see Chapter 8).

* describes and explaines circular type of organization as a democratic hierarchy.

* discusses internal market economies as substitution of the centrally planned and controlled economies within the organizations.

* discusses the multidimensional design and organization that eliminates the need to restructure when internal or external changes require adaptation, and argues that "the circular organization, the internal market economy, and multidimensional design can all be combined in one organization. The power of each is significantly enhanced by its interactions with the others".

* examines currently popular panaceas such as downsizing, TQM, continuous improvement, benchmarking, and process reengineering and the reasons they fail, and argues that "there are no simple solutions to complex problems. Furthermore, since problems are interdependent, their solutions should be. Interdependent problems constitute messes, systems of problems. Therefore, their solutions must also form a system. A system of solutions is a plan, and plans are complicated, not simple. It is not possible in a few minutes to find behavior that will resolve, solve, or dissolve a set of problems that took years to cultivate".

Strongly recommended.

Highly Readable and Very Articulate
I enjoyed this book very much, particulary the introduction with its synopsis of systems theories and management applications. Recommended for managers in organization redesign roles in business and government ... Read more

Book Description

Over the past twenty years, the study of industrial organization--the analysis of imperfectly competitive markets--has grown from a niche area of microeconomics to a key component of economics and of related disciplines such as finance, strategy, and marketing. This book provides an issue-driven introduction to industrial organization. It includes a vast array of examples, from both within and outside the United States. While formal in its approach, the book is written in a way that requires only basic mathematical training. Supplemental materials posted on the Web make more extensive use of algebra and calculus. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Outstanding.
The layout and content of this book is truly outstanding. Cabral's lucid explanations and balance of theory and examples, make this book a pleasure to read. The text also provides a much needed framework for thinking about the ambiguous term, "strategy." Several of the author's reviewers comment that this text is destined to become the definitive introductory text on the industrial organization and I support that view.

A clearly superior text
Just when you thought there was no need for another Industrial Organization textbook, L. Cabral has written a book so breathtaking lucid that it may stand as the definitive introductory textbook for a generation. The author adeptly combines classic industrial organization theory with the latest advances in research and modern examples. The result is at once current and timeless, and will surely engage the beginning student more than any book currently on the market, or any book likely to be written. A must have for any introductory industrial organization class. ... Read more

Book Description

Discover David Allen's powerful productivity principles and vastly increase your ability to work better, not harder -- every day.

The "guru of personal productivity" -- Fast Company -- asks listeners what's holding them back and shows how all of us can be "ready for anything" -- with a clear mind, a clear deck, and clear intentions.

Ready for Anything offers you ways to immediately:

• Clear your head for creativity
• Focus your attention
• Create structures that work
• Take action to get things moving

With wit, inspiration, and know-how, Ready for Anything shows us how to make things happen with less effort, stress, and ineffectiveness, and lots more energy, creativity, and clarity. This is the perfect audiobook for anyone wanting to work and live at their very best. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Packed with Knowledge!
Author David Allen lists 52 basic principles for productivity, including: write everything down, do the jobs that nag you, focus on the matter at hand and so on. As he notes, the principles are both simple to understand and difficult to implement. The book is essentially a collection of gleanings from the author's previous writings, so it does not present a systematic or unified approach to time and productivity management. However, Allen's straightforward tips are handy, if sometimes duplicative. The number 52 suggests that you might find one helpful tip to use each week in a one-year program of self-improvement and productivity management. In that case, repetition is probably a good thing, since bad habits tend to spring up again like weeds and require the same remedies often. The author is relentlessly upbeat, optimistic and witty, like a motivational speaker. That might be hard to read in a big chunk, but it is easy to digest if you spend a little time every week reading a recommendation and implementing it. We recommend this book to anyone who urgently needs help with time management and productivity.

Tune-up after Getting Things Done
While this is an outstanding book, I highly recommend his first work, Getting Things Done. Since this doesn't have a consistent narrative but is instead broken up into numerous tiny essays, it will be harder to get the maximum benefit from his approach to personal productivity from this alone.

Readers who "got" Getting Things Done don't need my advice on this one...they've already bought it I'm sure.

David Allen is probably the smartest personal productivity coach in print. I would buy Getting Things Done for every employee in my organization, and I would have copies of this one lying around to remind people and elaborate on some of the finer points.

Oh and I would like to add one point. I believe there is one thing missing from Mr. Allen's algorithm. That is finishing. I think his plan is outstanding for getting unstuck: figure out the next action, and do it without hesitation. But I don't find any attention paid to how to decide how many actions are "enough" for a desired outcome of a project.

You can always find some next action, and founder in what software engineers like myself call "permanent beta" or "feature creep." Yet external constraints are best not relied on exclusively for these decisions. It's best to volunteer a ruthless focus on the essence of your project's deliverable, isn't it?

So I would like Mr. Allen to write his next book about finishing projects, if he is able to develop insights into that stage as strong as his insights into the process of the middle stages.

A wonderful book. But why is it hard to read?
Mr. Allen's system is surprisingly simple - the realisation that we are monkeys; that keeping to do lists in our heads causes stress; get the list on paper and the stress goes away; we can do simple physical actions with ease. Use a paper filing system; the instruction to ask of each item in our In-tray 'what is the next physical action;' the instruction to deal with each item right now if it will take less than two minutes.

If Mr. Allen had merely described his system 1) you wouldn't believe it and 2) worse, you wouldn't 'just do it.' And JUST DOING IT does work, amazingly enough.

'Buy a label maker' - a surprisingly important part of Allen's system. That sounds nuts! Does he have shares in a label making company? Unlikely. Then Why? Remember the monkey approach. Simple physical tasks. Create files. Label them. Don't think. Do it. And then you look at the result. You have created it. You have invested in the system. You are that monkey.

And it works! A simple system that works!

As the Scots say, Mr. Allen is a very canny fellow.

I believe that Mr. Allen wrote his book so deliberately. He makes you invest in reading the book as he makes you invest in his system when you sit there printing labels for manila files.

It may be nuts but it is a very clever kind of nuts ;-).

David Allen understands how to get you going
This book made me take a new look at the clutter in my mind and life and helped me to create new goals and execute them. If you are stuck, this book will get you going. Read it and get Optimal Thinking-How to Be Your Best Self to learn how to overcome disturbing emotions without a therapist, bring your best self to every situation and achieve the best results. I can assure you with this combination, you will be ready for anything and optimize everything!

Invaluable! The ultimate book on getting things done
No, it's not one more planner, organizer, PDA or assistant that will rescue you from the chaos of your mind. It's David Allen.

He clearly leads the reader to understand the thinking behind the organizing, the process before the processing, that is required to maximize effectiveness and creativity. Once I grasped the underlying concepts and began to implement them , I got right to work with a clearer head and a more relaxed body. What immediate benefits!

Not only are David Allen's principles and insights invaluable, he writes in a style that demonstrates his love of language. So, two things in one when you buy this book--a good read and all you need to turn up your creativity and effectiveness.

As my company is called Optimize! Life Now, this book will be on my recommended reading list for my audiences and seminar participants. My coaching clients will definitely benefit from my having read this book and David's other, Getting Things Done. ... Read more

Book Description

Evaluate significant cultural patterns within the organization!

Different organizations need different cultures. For a culture requiring change, this powerful diagnostic tool suggests how to effect that change. Developed by renowned training and OD experts, the Instrument will identify the shared values and beliefs that constitute your organization's culture. The Trainer's Package contains all the information, guidance, and support materials you'll need to lead a senior team through each step of the program's advanced, results-oriented design. Use Diagnosing Organizational Culture for team building, organizational development, productivity improvement, human resources development, and much more! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Dennis and Michelle Reina, principals in an organization-development firm, believe more productive and rewarding work environments will emerge if relationships that define them are truly built on trust. The problem they see is years of "downsizing, restructuring, and reengineering or of upsizing, mergers, and growth" that frequently result in minor misreadings of intention along with major breaches of promise--followed all too often by seriously diminished employee performance. The solution they propose in Trust & Betrayal in the Workplace is that leaders must develop a full understanding of the complex dynamics involved, and commit to practices that support building trust with employees. The book addresses the aspects of betrayal and trust, the bulk of it focused on "transactional trust" (which they define as "managing expectations, establishing boundaries, delegating appropriately, encouraging mutually serving intentions, keeping agreements, and being congruent in our behavior") and ways to build it among teams and groups as well as entire organizations. The authors conclude with a section on "transformational trust," the ultimate stage attained when trust within these levels "reaches a critical point and increases exponentially, becoming self-generating and synergistic." This is smart food for thought, supported by tools and techniques that can put it into practice. --Howard Rothman ... Read more

Reviews (16)

A Sensible and Sensitive Approach
In their Preface, the Reinas explain: "This book is about trust: the power when it exists, the problems when it doesn't, and the pain when it is betrayed. Our purpose in writing this book is to help people at all levels of the organization to create, support, and rebuild trust in themselves and within their organizations." Here is how their book is organized:

Part I Understanding Trust and Betrayal

Part II Transactional Trust (Three Types)

Part III Transformative Trust

The material consists of sharply-focused ana