Book Description

Toyota's world-renowned success proves that with kanban, theJust-In-Time production system (JIT) makes most other manufacturingpractices obsolete. This simple but powerful classic is based onseminars given by JIT creator Taiichi Ohno to introduce Toyota's ownsupplier companies to JIT. It shows how to implement the world's mostefficient production system. A clear and complete introduction. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Where is KANBAN
Lack of information, I didn't find what I was looking, how to calculate KANBAN.

An absolute farce of a review on Toyota
This book failed to capture the essence behind the workings of Toyota. Whether it was through poor research or a simple lack of understanding this book should be avoided at all costs. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Fine Combination of Information and How To
As interested in diversity management as I am, I find much of the written material a bit dry and academic. Perhaps writers compensate for the strong feelings that this work brings up by trying to create some sense of distance. In any case, there is a real lack of simple, down to earth texts that are both effective and easy to assimilate. "Voices of Diversity" is the exception to all of this. As the subtitle indicates, the material in the book is based on the content of interviews and discussions with many individuals, and the vitality of their expression permeates the entire work.

The book starts out with some generic introductory material and then starts to go through the interview findings in a straightforward, group by group fashion. There are seperate chapters on African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Latinos, recent immigrants, workers with disabilities, younger and older workers, gays and lesbians, women, and white men. Two groups that were left out, which I feel should have been included are Jewish and Arab-American which are often, mistakenly lumped together with white male. Nor is much attention paid to religious or socio-economic diversity.

The chapters themselves start out with general discussion. They then go on to introduce the statements made by interviewees and discuss the stories behind them. Then several scenarios of workplace situations are introduced. After each scenario sections discuss what went wrong and what might have been done differently. I found this material very useful. Getting some insight into how the affected people felt and what they thought is tremendously useful in getting to the source of the real problem. The material on what should have been done provides good examples of simple, considerate and respectful behavior which could be the basis for finding common ground and resolving issues.

The book dates from 1994, but is still quite timely in 2001. Renee Blank and Sandra Slipp have a crisp, clear writing style that makes for easy reading. Not only is the book good reference material, but it would be a fine teaching tool for a discussion group. I would recommend "Voices of Diversity" for everyone's diversity reading list.

Down-to-earth Manual.. Extremely well written
I am reading this book for a leadership program and have found a jewel. I am thoroughly enjoying the real-life examples of discrimination experienced by the various demographic groups. The book is written in layman's language, and without being blunt, its examples and how-to instructions are clear to the reader. I strongly suggest this to managers or staff members willing to learn more about diversity and how it fits into the workplace. ... Read more

Book Description

Winner of the 2004 George R. Terry Book Award!

Teams have more talent and experience, more diverse resources, and greater operating flexibility than individual performers. So why do so many teams either struggle unpleasantly toward an unsatisfactory conclusion-or, worse, crash and burn shortly after launch?

J. Richard Hackman, one of the world's leading experts on group and organizational behavior, argues that the answer to this puzzle is rooted in flawed thinking about team leadership. It is not a leader's management style that determines how well a team performs, but how well a leader designs and supports a team so that members can manage themselves.

According to Hackman, cookie-cutter formulas and prescribed leadership styles often backfire because they place far too much emphasis on the leader as the primary cause of team behavior. In Leading Teams, he identifies the key conditions that any leader can put in place to increase the likelihood of team success-regardless of his or her personality or preferred style of operating.

Through extensive research and compelling examples ranging from orchestras to economic analysts to airline cockpit crews, Hackman identifies five conditions that set the stage for great performances: a real team, a compelling direction, an enabling team structure, a supportive organizational context, and the availability of competent coaching.

Leading Teams outlines what leaders can do to structure, support, and guide teams in a way that

· enhances the social processes essential to collective work;

· builds shared commitment, skills, and task-appropriate coordination strategies;

· helps members troubleshoot problems and spot emerging opportunities; and

· captures experiences and translates them into shared knowledge.

Out of these conditions, Hackman argues, the very best teams emerge-teams that exceed client expectations, grow in capability over time, and contribute to the learning and personal fulfillment of individual members.

Authoritative, practical, and astutely realistic, Leading Teams offers a new and provocative way of thinking about and leading work teams in any organizational setting. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Engaging, practical, well-structured: a superb book on teams
Teamwork is more popular as a buzzword than as a practice when it comes to the actual experiences of team members in many organizations. In this engaging, well-structured, and practical book, Richard Hackman addresses this puzzling gap between theory and practice. Teams should have a richer pool of talent and experience, greater resources, and more flexibility than an individual. Yet a painfully large proportion of teams function poorly, often underperforming the same work done by individuals. Drawing on years of research and observation of teams ranging from music ensembles to airline crews to hockey teams, Hackman illuminates the dark corners of teamwork. Anyone working in a team or leading a team will benefit from reading his book. The author's engaging style comes as a significant bonus.

Teams go awry because leaders have focused on the wrong things (such as leadership style) when designing, managing, and supporting teams. Hackman explains why team effectiveness is best measured by the three criteria of a team product acceptable to clients, growth in team capability, and a group experience that is meaningful and satisfying for its members. Team members and leaders alike will benefit from fully appreciating the five conditions that Hackman has found to foster work team effectiveness: having a real team, a compelling direction, an enabling team structure, a supportive organizational context, and expert team coaching - the first three of which are the core conditions.

Contrary to "cause-effect" models of team leadership in which all the emphasis is placed on leadership behaviors and styles, in Hackman's view the central role of leaders is to create and maintain these five conditions. Leaders should not attempt to continually manage a team to *push* it to perform well. They will do better to establish a clear purpose and then make small adjustments at the right times. Consistent with this approach, Hackman warns against the pervasive tendency to assign credit or blame to specific individuals. Taking that perspective blinds those trying to "fix" or improve team performance to dynamics only evident at a group level of analysis.

Commendably, Hackman does *not* present his findings as a *universal* model for teams. His Authority Matrix (p.52) sets out four levels of team self-management. He does not address "manager-led teams" which have the lowest level of self-management since they are invariably disastrous for well-understood reasons. Nor does he look in depth at self-governing groups which take on all four levels of setting overall direction, designing the team and its organizational context, monitoring and managing work process and progress, and executing the team task. Hackman's model revolves around the most heavily populated middle categories of self-managing and self-designing teams.

Don't mistake this group level of analysis for any kind of fuzziness. You will find the book outstanding in the author's ability to combine compelling narrative with a finely-carved explanatory structure. The first condition of having a "real team" may appear fuzzy, but only until you read chapter 2 in which Hackman analyzes real work teams into four components, each with its own subtleties. As you read the examples and reflect on your own experiences participating in or observing teams, you will see how commonly teams fail to have a real team task (rather than being merely a "co-acting group"), to suffer from being "underbounded" or "overbounded", or to lack clearly delimited authority or inadequate stability over time. On the last element of real teams, Hackman strongly disputes the notion that long-lasting teams tend to deteriorate in performance. The only except appears to be research and development teams who becoming uniquely stale after about three years of stable membership.

Despite pushing back against over-managing teams, Hackman finds a crucial role for leadership in setting a compelling direction - the second core element of effective teams. Even here, direction must be carefully limited to ends rather than means. In the very worst teams, a leader sets highly specific means but leaves the purpose completely unspecified. Hackman's example of such a team at a bank will make some of us wince in painful remembrance. This understates the subtleties of Hackman's account, which unfolds in his discussion of the trade-offs involved in setting direction for a team.

If this were an infomercial rather than a review, I would say "And there's more! Much more!" The last section of the book examines imperatives for leaders, including 7 execution skills of team leaders, and how to think differently about teams - the obstacles to improving teams, what it takes, and what it costs those who would attempt the task. If you prefer to test drive some of Hackman's ideas, you might first read his articles "The Five Keys to Successful Teams" (which covers some of the material in the last two chapters), and "New Rules for Team Building". You may want to abandon such caution however. Unlike so many books where 80 percent of the text acts as filler, adding little if anything to the initial points, every one of Hackman's chapters will yield an excellent returning on your reading investment.

The Nighthawks and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
An author who proposes a common lens through which to understand the dynamics of the Nighthawks hockey team and the conductor-less Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is pretty audacious, but Richard Hackman carries if off in this book. Solidly researched and very well written, the book presents an apparently wide range of work groups, including airline crews, musical ensembles and hockey teams, and unifies them by illustrating how they are effective (or not) as teams. What do they have in common? "Their work requires members to generate performances 'live' and in real time, often without the chance to go back and try again if things don't go well." The examples are compellingly interesting, e.g., a reader will never fly a 737 again without noticing the specific roles and choreography of the flight crew. It's a good read, far more entertaining than one would expect from a publication of Harvard Business School Press. ... Read more

Book Description

If your workplace feels like a battle zone and colleagues sometimes act like adversaries, you ore not alone. Today four generations glare at one another across the conference table, and the potential for conflict and confusion has never been greater.

• Traditionalist employees with their "heads down, onward and upward" attitude live out a work ethic shaped during the Great Depression.
• Eighty million Baby Boomers vacillate between their overwhelming need to succeed and their growing desire to slow down and enjoy life.
• Generation Xers try to prove themselves constantly yet dislike the image of being overly ambitious, disrespectful, and irreverent.
• Millennials, new to the workforce, mix savvy with social conscience and promise to further change the business landscape.

This insightful book provides hands-on methods to close the generation gaps. With effective tools to recruit, retain, motivate, and manage each generation, you can now create teamwork, not war, in today's highperformance workplace . . . where at any age, productivity is what counts.

Reviews (13)

A Must-Read Regardless of Employment Situation
When a friend recommended this book, I was skeptical. After all, I do freelance work and am not concerned with most workplace issues. However, I found it to be a real page-turner. It is well-written, informative, and amusing. When Generations Collide contains insights that are helpful in all aspects of life from relating to older family members to hiring the right child care provider. You would be doing yourself a disservice by not reading this book.

When Generations Collide
For the first time in the U.S. history, we have four separate generations working side-by-side. They are the Traditionalists, Baby boomers, Gen Xers and Gen Y. While there is really no magic birth date that makes one a member of a specific generation, one's experience and sharing of history helps shape a 'generational personality' during their formative years. This is a must-read book as 'one-size' does not fit each generation's needs in terms of benefits, working hours, places of employment, methods of training/motivation and retention.

With four generations in the work system, misunderstandings happen. Additionally, progressive organizations are realizing they need to develop new recruiting procedures, create new compensation,benefit and retention strategies to attract and retain the best of the four diverse groups in the work system. When generational collisions occur, it results in reduced profitability, presents hiring challenges, increased turnover rates, and decreased morale. Understanding the various generational identities will help in building bridges in the work environment. The book authors, Lancaster and Stillman, describe for the reader the four generational personalities and provide suggestions regarding rewards/retention/motivatational techniques that appeal to each generation. Briefly, the four generations are defined:

Traditionalists were born between the turn of the last century and the end of World War II (1900-1945) and they number about 5M in population. The Traditionalists were impacted by two World Wars and the Great Depression. They learned to do without and the management style they learned came from the military - a top-down, boot-camp method. They were cautious, obedient. and spoke when spoken to. They would have never called their boss by 'his' first name. For years they had career security of life-long employment opportunities so all the downsizing of the 80s/90s initially took them by shock. They have their own preference regarding rewards and respond to different recruiting messages.

Baby Boomers: (Born from 1946-1964) represents the largest population ever born in the U.S. Their large number of about 80M created a competitive nature among them for jobs/opportunities. For the most part, they grew up in suburbs, had educational opportunities above their parents, saw lots of consumer products hit the marketplace (calculators, appliances). The television had a significant impact on their views of the world regarding equal opportunity and other human rights. They represent a great recruiting target as they 'retool' for new career opportunities for those recruiters who have the knowledge on how to attract them.

Generation X: Many members of the Generation X emerged into the workplace during the 1990s expansion and this is the smallest generation in terms of numbers (46M- due to birth control and working moms). They had a distinct competitive advantage in choice jobs 'they wanted.' The technological revolution exacerbated their successes as they are techno savvy unlike their Boomer competitors. Rather than 'paying their dues for a number of years' as previous generations did, they were able to demand that organizations adapt to their ways of doing things creating disbelief from the Traditionalist/Boomers. (Actually, the Gen Xers have made the work place a better system for all of us by demanding flex hours, telecommuting, etc). Gen Xers grew up a skeptical group due to fractured family systems, violence in the news, AIDS, drugs, child molsters and downsizings. Generation Xers are dash board diners and being latchkey kids taught them independence. They detest micro-management in the work environment and want constant feedback on how they are performing. Recruiters and HR personnel need specifics to attract, motivate and retain Gen Xers.

Gen Y/ Millennial Generation: This 75M techno-savvy, multi-tasking generation has had access to cell phones, personal pagers, and computers most of their life. They have, for the most part, led privileged lives traveling more than previous generations to world wide areas, growing up in 'fun' day care programs/activities, owning the best in technology and being included in family collaborations that involve major issues ranging from where to live, the decorations in their bedroom to vacation trips. Their parents/teachers have coached them to build extensive portfolios (for college), therefore, they will most likely be portfolio conscious and looking for career expansion opportunities. Futurists predict they will change jobs 7-10 times and even change careers 2 or 3 times. They were also taught to question parents/teachers and the status quo. They have served in school peer-court systems having a say in major decisions and this will impact how they will respond and adapt within workplace system. The authors provide some specific recruiting/retention strategies to attract this generation.
Looking at the workplace as a system, these generational variances present recruiting, rewarding and retention challenges. Employee turnover eats up management hours and dollars spent advertising and conducting searches for, interviewing, hiring and training new recruits. Its takes up remaining employees' time covering open positions. It frustrates customers who often receive substandard or inconsistent service.

Interesting observations.
"When Generations Collide" is a book that describes the clashes of the four generations with practical solutions. The book is separated into five sections:
Section I: Descriptions of the Generations
The book first describes the four generations (birth years): The Traditionalists (1900-1945), Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Generation Xers (1965-1980) and Millennial (1981-1999). The book also mentions the "Cusper" generation, whom are born five years into or at the end of a generation. The Cuspers are the bridge builders.

Section II: Putting the generations to work
In this section, the authors describe the generations' focus on career. In summary, Traditionalists build a legacy, Baby boomers build a stellar career, Gen X build a portable career and Millennial build parallel careers. The book describes the generation careers with explicit detail including how to reward the generations without offending the "generational culture". This section is interesting since it gives examples from companies that have built various career paths and reward programs for the four generations.

Section III: Hiring generations
In this section, the authors describe in detail how to hire generations. Since the values of the generations are different, company value propositions need to be just as various. These values are established with the help of the specific generations. The proposition should be put into action and modified as time passes. If the values do not represent the various generations then the company would have issues to retain talent.

Section IV: Retaining and managing the generations
Once you have hired the individuals the book describes, in great detail, how to manage and retain your talent using different methods of involvement. Retaining the talent needed is not easy. The book describes that it is not only up to your company but companies should learn to use their talent to keep talent. Example, part-time alumni traditionalist are helping Xers understand the longer term growth of the firm which in turn the firm will be rewarded by Xers not leaving in 6 months. As the book notes it, job changing for Traditionalist is a stigma, for Boomers is getting behind, for Xers is necessary and for Millennials is a way of life.

Section V: What's next?
This section was a six page book conclusion.

If you are thinking of issues that we deal with our bosses, parents, co-workers and others take into consideration their generation before taking action.

Have fun reading.

Not Profound but Provocative
Review of When Generations Collide

The Book's Thesis: If you work with people from other generations, you need to understand that conflicting perspectives between the generations can generate workplace conflict.

Obviously, this is an old theme. There are plenty of quotable inter-generational digs and barbs recorded in the earliest writings of antiquity.

More recently, during my youth in the tumultuous late 1960s and early '70s, we spoke openly and frequently about the "generation gap."

This perennial topic has been treated seriously by credible writers in other business books over the past decade. (I have penned a few articles on it in recent years as well.)

Of the books on this now familiar theme, this one takes a less statistical and analytical approach in favor of a more anecdotal slant on the topic.

Lancaster, a Baby Boomer, and Stillman, a Gen Xer, are business partners who write in a chatty style. They lace their broad observations about generations with illustrations derived from their own personal lives. Often, they make their point by telling stories about the conflicts between the two of them---which they blame on their age difference.

And they never miss an opportunity to remind you that they speak and give seminars on this topic. While those frequent reminders border on annoying, the authors do not seem to be indulging in crass commercialism---search all you want and you won't find information in the book about contacting the author-consultants to purchase their services.

Instead, speechmaking (and speech coaching to the likes of pop business pontificator Harvey Mackay, who penned the book's anemic Foreword) seems to define the authors' rather limited frame of reference in the business world.

As other reviewers have noted, the authors' attention to detail, facts, and rigorous analysis have taken a back seat to their breezy narrative.

In an attempt to provide statistical data on generational differences, the authors point to results from an online survey they conducted. You don't have to be a career researcher or social scientist to recognize that such surveys are comprised of small, non-random, non-representative and therefore invalid samples. That is especially true when extrapolating tiny slivers of data to reach conclusions about an entire generation representing *tens of millions* of people!

Still, these flaws notwithstanding, this engaging, readable book makes some worthwhile observations about the rather amorphous and extremely broad topic of generational strife. Despite my reservations, I found myself highlighting pithy passages and dog-earring quite a few pages.

If you can look past the authors' indulgent style and occasional gaffs and lapses, "When Generations Collide" serves as an approachable and palatable overview of potential generational friction in the workplace---and wherever people of varying ages interact.

Great, with reservation about millennialists
This is one of those cant-put-it-down-until-finished books for two reasons: (1) lots of stimulating ideas how the different generations view the world of work and (2) it reads very smoothly.

My main reservation is that is premature to characterize the newest generation: the so-called millennialists. They are still in their formative stage, so we dont know how they'll view the world yet. On one hand they've seen the best-of-the-best: two decades of economic boom and relative peace. But that changed with the millennium (and after this book was written). There was Columbine, 9-11, and a particuarly nasty economic recession. So this generation is both spoiled and scarred. It will interesting to see how that plays out in the future. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent, realistic work methods that are easily applicable
Joiner Associates Inc. have really come up with a clear structured methodology to make developing and working in teams fun and productive. Scholtes presents the material in a "how to" format which not only is easy to read but very applicable. I have used this methodology when I was working in the USA in 1990 and have been very compfortable in applying it in my home country ( Jordan )since 1991. The beauty of the approach is that it is transcultural and does not emphasize an aspect which is more easily applicable in one place over the other. the methodology is clear, well presented and is a no nonsense direct view of what many other people could have easily made very compicated. I have also been a strong follower of the Deming methodology and to see both team building details and the Deming ideas meshed together is a dream come true. A five star rating is more than well deserved. ... Read more

Book Description

Total diversity training from ASTD--in full-day, half-day, or one-hour sessions! A complete training kit developed by diversity expert Tina Rasmussen, The ASTD Trainer's Sourcebook: Diversityhelps you firmly establish diversity's advantages for your company in fast, easy, flexible sessions. It helps you address such diversity basics as stereotyping--how we form perception--behavior fundamentals--managing diversity vs. traditional management--teams guidelines and communications--setting the tone for valuing diversity--and much more. Plus, you get everything you need to position diversity for maiximum impact and provide effective, high-interest training: background information; games and activities; facilitator notes; instruments; training designs; assessments; participant handouts; overheads and flipcharts. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Valuable resource for people involved in diversity training
The Sourcebook is an excellent resource for people new to diversity training as well as those who want to add new information and tools to existing trainings. The book provides innovative curriculum, handout and overhead suggestions to create or enhance diversity trainings. I have found the information and tools to be very valuable ... Read more

Book Description

Games to Jumpstart workplace creativity. Dr. Robert Epstein's Creativity Games for Trainers arms you with 30 innovative, entertaining games guaranteed to enhance creativity in any organizational setting. Use them to develop creativity workshops or to breathe life into any training sessions. Each ready-to-use activity comes complete with lists of required and optional materials, time recommendations, reproducible handouts, follow-up discussion questions, and other essential information. You'll also find simple instructions for customizing exercises to different settings. . .data collection forms to help measure and track success. . .special ``challenge exercises'' that help participants develop their own games. . .and unique ``application exercises'' to assist users in promoting creativity on their own. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Excellent
I've used Epstein's book together with Michalko's "Thinkertoys," in my creative thinking seminars with great success. You can't fail with these two books.

A different approach
This book focuses on the stimuli (inputs/old ideas) and effective capaturing of responses (outputs/creative ideas) vs most other books about creativity focus on the thinking process, like mindmapping, six hats, thinking toys, etc. Thus, it directs to a total different path of how we build an environment to boost creativity. My analogy is no matter what thinking process you introduce, a group of housewives cannot invent a racket to reach the moon (don't get me wrong, I highly respect housewives for their contribution to families). It's the relevancy and variety of the inputs that matters.

I guess the author is a behaviourist who see thinking process as black box, i.e. non-observable and non-measurable. Thus, he only concentrates on the observable and measurable stimuli and responses.

I am a trainer for creativity for my company. I find this book very useful. The only complaint is that not all the games are up to my personal standard: able to demonstrate the theory AND able to energize the participants.

All in all, I highly recommand this book. You will see creativity in a different angle.

Realy Improving
Creativity Games for Trainers was realy useful for me because it its change my life and i realy feel of the creativity on me. I approached my job with new inspiration after I started taking time-outs with myself. I highly recommend this book. ... Read more

Book Description

How to structure, facilitate, and implement the process.

Strategic planning is a critical part of running a business, but when you get a team of people together to plan, it can often become a confused exercise in grand visions without a clear process for establishing workable goals. This book is unique in providing both guidance for the actual content of strategic plans and techniques for how to plan in a team context. Readers will discover how to:

• structure the process so it custom fits their company needs

• effectively facilitate the process (keep meetings on track, train others in planning skills, document decisions made at meetings, present and communicate the plan)

• use teams and teamwork smoothly and productively to create a far-reaching plan—and then to implement it

Features detailed guidelines for each step, dozens of flowcharts, and three self-contained "facilitator’s guides" to follow. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Key messages get lost
...

There is a whole industry surrounding strategic planning, and the language of this industry is laden with jargon, that is words devoid of any real meaning. Hence, "structure," "facilitate," and "implement" have become an empty mantra with no power. The tendency to ascribe power and authority to organizations rather to the people who work within business, government, and industry undermines many such approaches, and though this book acknowledges that the power is with the people, that message gets lost in the language.

Moreover, it's just not that helpful to read that "The outside world can be hostile, difficult to understand, and sometimes impossible to influence." Too often, I find the advice and observations do not seem like what those working in the trenches need.

Though many folks swear by illustrations laden with arrows, boxes, shading, ALL CAPS, and such, I'm unable to process these sorts of graphics, focusing instead on the disparate elements and wishing I could have worked hand-in-hand with the publisher, author, anyone to suggest friendlier, more understandable designs.

A Must for all Strategic Planning
This book has become my bible for developing strategic plans and marketing plans. It offers a great outline for strategic plans, as well as a detailed plan on how to facilitate the information gathering process. This book, however, is appropriate for not only team-based strategic planning, but also for those working on projects alone. I have recommended this book to several of my associates. ... Read more

Book Description

Workplace violence may snatch the daily headlines, but outside the spotlight, the pain and degradation of corporate bullying shatters lives nationwide. A landmark book blazing light on one of the business world's dirtiest secrets, The Bully at Work exposes the destructive, silent epidemic that devastates the lives, careers and families of millions.Those being bullied at work feel more than merely overworked and underappreciated. The fear, shame, humiliation and loss of dignity that originate at work can creep into every other aspect of their lives. Bullying is about Work Trauma! At last, there is a way to stop the hurtand stop the bully.Gary and Ruth Namie, pioneers of the Campaign Against Workplace Bullying (bullybusters.org), teach you personal strategies to identify allies, build your confidence, and stand up to your tormentor--or decide when to walk away with your sanity and dignity intact.The Namies' expertise on workplace bullying has been featured in such media outlets as CNN, PBS, NPR, USA Today and The Washington Post. ... Read more

Reviews (31)

Thank You SO MUCH, Drs. Namies!!!
I admit I did not buy this book from Amazon.com. I actually bought mine in a book store. But what a buy this was!!! I was subjected to bully-tactics as well while working at "a famous name brand," and I thought it was all my fault. After I found this book and read it thoroughly, I knew it was not my fault but was the work of a bully. I was his Target, and it nearly cost me my marriage and sanity! It did help lead me to a new company and a better job, so not much for me to complain about there. But as this book repeatedly says, there is no reason, NO REASON WHAT SO EVER, for any person to go through bullying at work. If you are in a tough situation at your job (where ever it is and what ever you are doing), you may want to look this book over. I am not saying that this book will point out EVERY ONE's problem, but it may help to answer some questions about what is happening to you and your career. If you do buy it and it does not apply to you, keep it 'cause I bet you will have a friend/spouse/co-worker who will need this book..................

[company] employees need this book
God bless the Namies for writing this book. It gave a name to the evil I was subjected to at [job], and it helped me get out of the role of victim. Naming an evil goes a long way towards defeating it. This book will help you do that. I no longer beat myself up. Best of all, I am prepared if I ever find myself in a bully's crosshairs again. The Namies book taught me how to keep bullies from getting inside my head. It is like an innoculation against workplace abuse. As I write this, the country is still coming out of a recession. Companies don't like to pay severance packages or unemployment packages when they let people go, and they will do anything to keep from doing it, no matter how wrong it is. If they have to turn sociopaths loose on innocent employees to run them off without collecting a package, then that's what they will do. That's what [job] did to me after 14 years of (undeserved) loyalty. Believe me; this book helps heal the psychiatric injuries bullies inflict, and it will "bully-proof" you against future attacks. Get this book! It's well worth the price.

Informative as well as therapeutic!
For those of us who have suffered the consequences in our career, our pocket books, our health, our marriages and personal lives at the hands and mind games of a Bully at Work, this book is an important "must read". This book helps to clarify the chaos and lead the reader to understand the perpetrator, those that support and nurture the perpetrator, and most importantly the innocent victim, the Target. I am a 55 year old professional, a physician, with years of education. I fell victim to a real "Bully", and suffered the consequences. I realized the Bully was rude and obnoxious, and taking a toll on my life, and my patients. I did not understand the pyschology and sociology until it was too late. Now I am using the information to relieve the pain, and yes, to finally take some action! Help yourself, and those who you love, and who love you. This book is the easiest to read, to understand, and to help you to recover and to take action. The price is right. Get it, and get on with it!

Excellent, Relevant and Recent
This book, last published in 2003 as of this writing, is excellent for anyone who is the target of a workplace bully, whether that bully is a boss or a coworker. The authors describe what workplace bullying is and the avenues that can be taken to deal with the bully. If confrontation is desired, the risks are detailed as well as what one may expect along the way. The bully's weaknesses and core character flaws are described as well as how to use those to your advantage. Current laws and bills are discussed. Advice is given regarding documentation. Possible legal avenues are discussed.

I highly recommend this book and see it as a useful resource for targets of bullies, attorneys, and psychologists, as well as a must-have addition to every HR director's library.

BULLIES - FAMILY / WORKPLACE / SCHOOL / NEIGHBORHOOD
Excellent compliments to this book are: 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 Angry Heart: Overcoming Borderline and Addictive Disorders by Joseph Santoro and Ronald Cohen; 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; 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; Parenting with Love and Logic: Teaching Children Responsibility by Jim Fay and Foster Cline. ... Read more

Book Description

Praise for the First Edition of Virtual Teams

"If you want to see where organizational communications are going in the future, heed what these pioneers have written today." —Howard Rheingold, author, The Virtual Community, and founder, Electric Mind

"Lipnack and Stamps have written an important book for the twenty-first-century corporation." —Regis McKenna, The McKenna Group, author, Relationship Marketing

"This book provides a long overdue perspective on how to apply the discipline of real teams in the fast-moving, increasingly dispersed information age of the future." —Jon R. Katzenbach, author, The Wisdom of Teams

"For those who want to lead the movement, catch up with it, or simply know where it is going, this book is packed with useful information and interesting stories." —Dee W. Hock, founder and chairman emeritus, VISA

"Virtual Teams provides valuable insights into global teamwork and management through network technologies now available to all companies, large or small." —Jim Lynch, director, corporate quality, Sun Microsystems, Inc. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Useful, but some fluff
I purchased this book because I was intrigued. In much of the work I do I am a member of "virtual" teams. That is, I often am some distance apart from the people I am working with.

I found the book to be a slow read, with nuggets of information separated by deserts of fluff. The first half of the book is filled with vague ramblings about how the information age has changed the way that teams work and with case studies that illustrate how the forming of virtual teams has helped various companies solve difficult problems.

In the second half, the book begins to pick up. In a chapter entitled "Teaming with People" the authors discuss team dynamics, including essential roles with a team, how teams form and which aspects of team dynamics are especially subject to the stresses of distance communication.

The authors suggest that the beginning and closing phases of most projects are the most stressful on team members and that extra effort be exerted at the beginning phase of the project to bring the core project team members together, even if they are geographically separated. This, say the authors, will help build interpersonal relationships that can hold the team together in times of stress.

There are several optimum team sizes. 3 to 5 is the size of a core team, 5 to 25 the size of a "team family" and 25 to 200 the size of a "team camp". In the authors' opinion, any team larger than 5 people will naturally divide into sub-teams.

The authors also point out the value of rewarding teams. Making teams compete, or making them completely independent of one another has little value for the company. Cooperative goals can encourage and motivate all of the teams, while competition can demoralize them.

Finally, the authors talk about starting up teams and provide a checklist of some elements such as a customer and a management sponsor which are essential to any team's success.

Overall, I found the book to have some good information on forming and maintaining teams, and what to do when those teams are not located in the same physical location. There is some fluff, I feel, and the book could easily be half its current length without sacrificing much.

Aphoristic
I spent many hours with Lipnack & Stamps' Virtual Teams. Lipnack and Stamps are team consultants, and this book is one of their business cards. It's strong on axioms, moderate on bibliographic references, filled with trenchant observations derived from their consulting experiences, and written in a hurried style that reads like a draft or a condensed version of a larger book, despite its 300 pages. The authors provide dozens of taxonomies, some of which are useful and thought provoking, but most not deriving from research data. I obtained one item referenced in the bibliography, a middling-quality correlational study, but noticed the authors were quite creative in their interpretation of its results. Once you get past the aphoristic writing style ("Connected, linked, matrixed. We are the future now. . . Before we know it, 10-year-olds will be running the world. Perhaps they already are. . . The new virtual organizations are at once very old and very new, very small and very large . . . ") you'll find yourself reading many interesting nuggets of information combined with useful advice on how to build and manage a virtual team. I appreciated the fact that Lipnack and Stamps avoided treating the virtual team as a panacea or as a solution to team problems. Their cool approach to the formidable problems faced by distributed groups adroitly avoids the hype in which other authors engage. I also appreciated their extended discussions in the areas where virtual teams suffer the most, including trust and communication across time zones. Leadership got slight treatment, but perhaps for good reason-the DNA of effective leadership in general has yet to be cracked, and is a largely unexplored phenomenon in virtual teams.

Highly Recommended!
Globalization can create as many problems as opportunities. One big problem is figuring out how to unite people worldwide to work on projects for your company. In an age that lacked a worldwide communications net, the answer would probably be quite depressing. However, as authors Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps make clear, the modern Internet makes it quite possible for workers all over the world to collaborate. The physical location of your firm’s various experts is no longer a barrier to effective team building, be they in Dublin, Bangalore, Las Vegas or Bangkok. In fact, the authors claim that companies that fail to create effective teams across cyberspace will be left in history’s dustbin. This might be overstating the case, but we [...] recommend this book for its candor about exactly how challenging it is to create virtual teams. Still interested? If so, this book serves as an excellent primer of both theory and practice.

"Teamwork" Re-defined for New Realities
The authors are convinced that, eventually, "virtual teams will become the natural way to work, nothing special. Virtual teams and networks -- effective, value-based, swiftly reconfiguring, cost-sensitive, and decentralized -- will profoundly reshape our shared world. As members of many virtual groups, we will contribute to these ephemeral webs of relationships that together weave our future." That day is already here for many people and I agree that virtual working relationships will soon be the rule rather than the exception. The authors correctly note that technology extends capabilities "but organizing to do things together is only human. The most profound change of the new millennium is in the way we're organized." Moreover, as more people connect online, "we increase our capacity for both independence and interdependence. Competition and cooperation both thrive in our new culture." However, there are perils to avoid because whatever goes wrong with in-the-same place teams can also go wrong with virtual teams -- only worse and, worse yet, faster and at a much greater cost.

The authors organize their excellent material within 14 chapters whose individual titles indicate each chapter's perspective on virtual teams: Why, Networks, Teams, Trust, Place, Time, Purpose, people, Links, Launch, Navigate, Theory, Think, and Future. I agree that a virtual team "is a group of people who work interdependently with a shared purpose across space, time, and organization boundaries." Nonetheless, I still have some quibbles about the authors' sequence of subject matter (not with the content itself) and am still convinced that cooperation between and among members of virtual teams is even more difficult than it is between and among those within physical boundaries. Moreover, my own rather extensive experience with all manner of corporate clients suggests that the most formidable barriers are between two ears. If you have some serious human barriers in your own organization, I urge you to check out O'Dell and Grayson's immensely thoughtful and practical book, If Only We Knew What We Know.

But please keep in mind that even if O'Dell, Grayson, Lipnack, and Stamps were retained to create virtual teams for your organization, unless and until everyone else involved buys into the enterprise, the results would be abysmal. Hence the importance of several points which Lipnack and Stamps make in the final chapter, notably the absolutely essential need for trust. "A presumption of trust enables a successful strategy of collaboration [enables everyone involved] to be better innovators, competitors, and survivors....If purpose is the glue, trust is the grease." I agree.

Of course, no single volume such as this can provide all the right answers but Lipnack and Stamps raise most (if not all) of the most important questions. Their answers seem sensible and practical. Of course, decision-makers must decide what the nature, extent, and duration of a virtual relationship should be in their organization at any given time. The authors do provide an excellent source of information and insight which can help virtually (pun intended) any organization increase cooperation and collaboration across boundaries through the effective use of various technologies. Especially, in this age of accelerating globalization, most organizations need all the help they can get.

Practical Ideas for Boundary-Crossing Teams
The very nature of teams has changed in most organizations. This change is not rooted in the use of technology but rather in organizational changes that require teams that cross all kinds of boundaries: organizational, temporal, geographic, functional, cultural. Virtual Teams focuses on the fundamental issues that challenge members, leaders, and stakeholders in these boundary-crossing teams rather than simply on the technology that connects them. A major strength of the book is the wealth of stories about how key ideas have been applied in both public and private sector organizations. This book offers practical ideas you can apply to any team - whether it is co-located or spread across the world. - Lisa Kimball, Executive Producer, Group Jazz ... 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

Book Description

This practical and provocative guide provides the strategies and tactics used by organizations committed to implementing diversity from the top down. Focusing on the necessity for a strategic change initiative, Loden discusses: how to position diversity initiatives for maximum buy-in and support; proven strategies for managing resistance to this important change; the 18 classic mistakes made when implementing diversity initiatives--and how to avoid them. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

After Reading Many Diversity Books I Didn't Expect Much New
After reading so many diversity books, I wasn't expecting to get much more from this one. But I was pleasantly surprised. This book takes a more pragmatic approach to the topic than others. It is less esoteric and more of a how-to book with a very strong conceptual framework borrowed from the change management field. I actually liked reading it and have found it to be very helpful in my work as a diversity council chairperson.

Come on!
Lets begin by analyzing the concept that this book is based upon: " Implementing Diversity". Who cares about diversity? Business is about getting the best people to perform. There is no color. No diversity. Nothing but performance! No performance, no business! It's books like this that give reading a bad name. My only question is how publishers can publish this garbage?

A Great Addition to My Loden Library!
Every five years it seems Marilynn Loden has a new book with something original and important to say in it. I loved Feminine Leadership (book #1) and am amazed at how relevant it remains today. Work Force America (#2) was also ahead of its time. And now Implementing Diversity (#3). This is a no b.s. guide for consultants and change agents who want to build inclusive, cooperative workplaces without a mountain of backlash. The ideas and models really work. I hope this author keeps them coming!

Must Read Framework For Getting Started
I am co-leading an internal regional diversity effort for Hewitt Associates (a human resources consulting firm). Our team includes about 10+ members and this book was handed out after our first meeting together last November. It gets an enthusiastic thumbs up from all team members and we are including as part of our "new member kit". The book does an incredible job walking you through the basics and is very practical in it's application. It's not paint by numbers, but provides a great conceptual framework for understanding what's involved, the issues/acceptance you'll encounter in going out with a program, and proves very helpful in developing a strategy and action plan to make your efforts successful. This book was recommended to our team by an outside consultant we are using. We have had much success to date in working with leadership and rolling out our efforts among all associates in the region. This book has provided great conceptual framing for all our efforts. We will also likely order copies for our senior leadership group to start them on their journey!

A Valuable Change Management Perspective!
How many organizations have attempted to promote employee diversity - only to discover that their actions and programs have lead to confusion, polarization and greater resistance? Having worked in two companies where diversity was a "corporate value," I've seen the negative results of well-intentioned but poorly conceived diversity training. I"ve listened to white males talk about the "D-word" and how alienated they feel. I've also watched women and minorities fight and compete with each other for the crumbs that fall from the corporate table. All very discouraging... Leaving me feeling that there had to be a better way! Implementing Diversity is the first diversity book I've read that acknowledges the problems inherent in many diversity programs and provides tested solutions to build support for change - not resistance to it. I wish I'd discovered this book five years ago. I'm glad I found it now! ... Read more

Book Description

"The author’s analysis is very up-to-date, for he includes chapters on very recent analyses of teams, such as questions of diversity and teams-communicating-via-computers…. The book’s key strength is its aim to help students and professionals better understand the groups to which they belong by reviewing key concepts in the area of groups."

--Donelson R. Forsyth, Virginia Commonweath University

Group Dynamics for Teams provides a clear and concise overview of group dynamics as it relates to work teams. The book is designed to be a bridge between psychological research on how groups operate and the applied study of the use of teams at work, with the ultimate goal of teaching people how to work effectively in teams. The book begins with an overview of how teams are being used at work and the factors that relate to team success. The second section of the book examines basic group dynamics topics, such as goals, norms, cooperation, and communication. The third section reviews the main challenges that teams face, including conflict, decision-making, problem solving, creativity, and valuing diversity. The final section analyzes the use of teams in the workplace, including the impact of organizational culture, technological support for teams, differences among types of work teams, and team building. Each chapter contains learning objectives, summaries, and activities intended to help understand how teams operate. The book has an applied focus that is designed to help students and professionals improve their abilities to work in teams.

Reviews (3)

Practical and Useful
I'm the Training Coordinator at a manufacturing facility with 200 hourly employees whom we are trying to get more involved in a team-based work system. This book has given me so much PRACTICAL information on the how's and why's of doing this! I'm actually able to relate this information to our employees in a way that it clearly shows the benefits TO THEM of working in teams. Too many of these so-called "Team Building" books are filled with silly exercises that do nothing in the long run. If you want something practical and useful, I recomment this book!

The best practical manual on team building
I have easily paid 8x more for other 'manuals', and have none with a more ugly cover, yet this is the anchor of my team building library. It is short on philosophy and long on the day-to-day requirements of goal-setting, consensus building, procedures, and strategies. This is THE book of practical advice to guide a team and its' leader, regardless of prior experience.

Good basic handbook
Harrington-Mackin creates a good overview of teambuilding in the workplace. She also provides very practical suggestions that can help team leaders, team members, or the leader of an organization. ... Read more

Book Description

This readable, research-based book contains a somewhat psychological approach that is balanced by engaging business and management features. Clearly presented theory is backed up by real-world cases, discussion questions, and experiential exercises.Comprehensive coverage includes organizational behaviour and management; personality and learning; perception, attribution, and judgment of others; values, attitudes, and work behaviour; theories of work motivation; motivation in practice; groups and teamwork; social influence, socialization, and culture; leadership; communication; decision making; power, politics, and ethics; conflict and stress; organizational structure; environment, strategy, and technology; organizational change, development, and innovation.For organizations' individuals who want to be successful and happy in the workplace. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Ironically, this books needs some ORGANIZATION
Maybe, it is just me but I personally think that the book is poorly written and structured. I dislike the style that the author uses writing this book by constantly mentioning the names of scientists who developed some of the theories. This made it extremely difficult to follow due to the overflow of people's names. An example of my own "I wrote this review because John made an experient with Dave Smith that shows Amazon.com Customers will read it and not purchase the book. Dave Smith with Mark Davidson and Howard James conclude that reviews are good and reviews have become a part of good books". This sentence clearly did not have any great purpose, all it did was take up 'word counts'.

Other bad layouts include: Bad paragraph strucuturing (some paragraphs are so badly strucutured that it takes up the entire page), lack of highlights, bad definitions meant that you would actually have to look in the dictionary to get a better explaination. Another example of mine BAD: "Java is comprised of Legend 1422 and Cobra122, using H111 as a base running-engine symmetric to C1223". ALOT of useless nonsense, instead of simple saying "Java is a computer-friendly high level programming language....."

Maybe, I'm wrong or biased but I have definitely seen and used better books. Please write a review on what you think and maybe correct me on some areas if i'm wrong ... Read more

Book Description

As the war for talent rages on, organizations are seeking proven methods for leveraging diversity as a resource. Creating the Multicultural Organization challenges today's organizations to stop "counting heads for the government" and begin creating effective strategies for a more positive approach to managing diversity. Using a model outlined in his earlie rworks, Taylor Cox Jr.--an associate professor at the University of Michigan Business School and president of his own consulting firm--shows readers the many practical and innovative ways that top organizations such as Alcoa effectively address diversity issues to secure and develop the talent that they need in order to succeed.

A University of Michigan Business School Series Book

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Reviews (1)

"E pluribus unum"...and Vice Versa
This is one of the volumes which comprise the University of Michigan Business School Management Series. According to Paul H. O'Neill in the Foreword, this book "captures the leading-edge theory and practice on how to leverage diversity for the benefit of individuals and the organizations in which they work." It does indeed. Cox organizes his excellent material within seven chapters:

1. The Challenge of Managing Diversity

2. for Meeting the Challenge

3. leadership: The First Requirement of Change

4. Leverage Research, Develop Measurement Plans

5. Create Effective Education

6. Align Organizational Systems and Practices

7. Follow Up for Sustainable Results A Strategy

As you can see, Cox presents the material within a logical sequence inorder to achieve several specific objectives: to offer a systematic, comprehensive model for change as well as to provide data on the results of using that method; to include detailed examples to illustrate all of his main ideas; to include, also, an integrated case study on managing diversity efforts in one of the world's largest companies Alcoa, Inc.); meanwhile, to integrate relevant research with chapter endnotes; and finally, to raise questions in each chapter for discussion and further learning. He fully achieves all of these objectives.

Cox defines diversity as "the variation of social and cultural identities among people existing together in a defined employment or market setting." Many of the largest organizations have operations located throughout the world. They are by nature "multicultural." Other, probably smaller organizations are now involved in globalization initiatives and have become (or will soon become) "multicultural." Still other organizations, perhaps even smaller, may not be (according to Cox's definition) "multicultural" but they do business with organizations which are; it is in their best interests to have a strategy (or combination of strategies) to capture, manage, and then sustain what Cox calls "the power of diversity." I strongly urge decision-makers in all of these organizations to read Cox's book because all of the subjects, covered so well in logical sequence, can also serve as agenda items during the strategic planning process.

One of the book's greatest value-added benefits consists of various "Tables" and clusters of bullet points which Cox includes within a fast-paced but comprehensive narrative. For example, Table 3.1 (in Chapter 1) which provides seven examples of strong leadership behavior or Table 6.1 (in Chapter 6) which lists "primary climate factors" to be aligned with diversity. Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out the other volumes in the series. With regard to other relevant resources which readers may need for additional study of this important subject, Cox includes a number of excellent recommendations within the "Notes" section. ... Read more