Organizations Books

We Presbyterians needed a book which conveys our tradition and guides us in prayer. This book is wonderful! I can see the hand of providence (how Presbyterian of me!). Its major sources are The Book of Common Prayer, The Book of Common Order, Ecumenical Prayer Books, and "New" material. The book has given order to my prayer life and infused my devotions with meaning.

I have committed myself to the spiritual discipline of writing meaningful letters to friends; yet, I just could not give up the daily practice of intentional, guided, prayer. In the past five or six months I read a devotional reflection, scripture, and prayers, both written and private. I then used these prayers and scripture as a type of mantra to reflect on a theme for the day. After this has concluded I would clear my mind and wait for God to speak. There is a specific small leather covered book I have used to recite guided prayers and Scriptures. The Book of Common Worship: Daily Prayer has been an invaluable tool in my discipline of daily prayer. The Book of Common Worship: Daily Prayer has a number of beneficial tools for a daily prayer practice. The book has provided an outline for Morning and Evening Prayer time, with alternative texts for special seasons and festivals within the church year. The book even provides a section for prayers at mealtime. The book breaks down the Psalms into those shared at Corporate Worship and then ones that can be used in private reflection. Prayer Litanies are provided on a number of subjects of need. The Book of Common Worship: Daily Prayer concludes with a helpful listing of the daily lectionary for the church year. I have enjoyed the process of learning the Psalms in an ongoing spiritual process. I have explained on numerous occasions the difference between reading Scripture, and using Scripture as a communal discipline of prayer. Reading a psalm and then saying the same verse over and over until I know it by heart allows me to internalize the message. Then I allow the passage float between my conscious and unconscious mind in silence. Once in a while a spark of divine recognition takes place in the directed silent communion with God through prayer. This book is a stepping off place in your daily prayer life. I recommend this book for the holidays because of it's a gift of prayer. The leather cover, with gold trim, is elegant while remaining affordable. How many Christmas gifts have the potential to change lives. If you decide you want the Book of Common Worship: Daily Prayer for yourself or someone else, give the church office a call and Jane can give you the number for Cokesbury publishing, so you can order in time for Christmas or find it on the web at www.amazon.com. Let me know how this resource influences your daily prayer life. Rev. Scott Paczkowski, First Presbyterian Church, Merrillville, IN

Anyone wanting to have a structured prayer life I highly recommend Book of Common Prayer. It is a beautiful book and praying the psalms helps deepen one^s spiritual life. The Lectionary gives you the daily readings of the church. It is an ecumenical book with many beautiful and inspiring prayers. This is a book that will give you much thought for meditation. I highly recommend it. The book is for morning and evening prayer.

Anyone wanting to have a structured prayer life I highly recommend Book of Common Prayer. It is a beautiful book and praying the psalms helps deepen one^s spiritual life. The Lectionary gives you the daily readings of the church. It is an ecumenical book with many beautiful and inspiring prayers. This is a book that will give you much thought for meditation. I highly recommend it. The book is for morning and evening prayer.

Anyone wanting to have a structured prayer life I highly recommend Book of Common Prayer. It is a beautiful book and praying the psalms helps deepen one^s spiritual life. The Lectionary gives you the daily readings of the church. It is an ecumenical book with many beautiful and inspiring prayers. This is a book that will give you much thought for meditation. I highly recommend it. The book is for morning and evening prayer.

This is a forward-looking discussion of the paradigm shift from traditional pyramidal organizations to organic, dynamic enterprises that feature permeable boundaries. The book is a triumphant crusade against fiefdoms and boundaries of all types, and for freedom in inter- and intra-organizational life. It demonstrates how "boundaryless" organizations can increase the ability to respond quickly, creatively, flexibly, and in an integrated fashion to market demands. Case studies of change efforts bring the main points alive. Adding to the value of this work are self-diagnostic instruments, charts, and tables. This book is a rich source of insights about organization plus savvy guidelines for taking action. I highly recommend it.

Checklist can be used to help a manager transition an organization to overcome institutional barriers

The title is a misnomer: Although the authors do indeed suggest how to "break through the chains of organizational structure", they provide an enlightening explanation of four different types of boundaries (vertical, horizontal, external, and geographic) which give definition to any organization. They do not advocate the total elimination of these boundaries (which is impossible, anyway); rather, they suggest how to rearrange them so that an organization can thrive. For the authors, there is what they call "A New World Order":

"In living organisms, membranes exist to give the organization shape and definition. They have sufficient structural strength to prevent the organism from dissolving into an amorphous mess....Like a living organism, the boundaryless organization also evolves and grows, and the placement of boundaries may shift....Because the boundaryless organization is a living continuum, not a fixed state, the ongoing management challenge is to find the right balance of boundaryless behavior, to determine how permeable to make boundaries, and where to place them."

This brief excerpt from the first chapter correctly suggests the purpose of this remarkable book: To explain HOW to meet that challenge.

The material is presented within four parts plus a conclusion. The first explains how to achieve "free movement up and down" by crossing vertical boundaries; the second explains how to achieve "free movement side to side" by crossing horizontal boundaries; the third explains how to achieve "free movement along the value chain" by crossing external boundaries; and in the fourth part, they explain how to achieve "free global movement" by crossing geographic boundaries." Then in the Conclusion, the authors discuss "Making It Happen: Leading Toward the Boundaryless Organization."

The authors also include a series of six questionnaires. By completing each in sequence, the reader is able to determine (a) where her or his organization is now located relative to "the boundaryless paradigm", and (b), what is needed to eliminate the "gap" between where it is now and where it should be. Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to read The Boundaryless Organization Field Guide. It contains a a hands-on set of diagnostic instruments as well as exercises and tools, and a disk with presentation slides in Powerpoint format.

I agree with the authors: The most restrictive organizational boundaries are in the minds of those within an organization. Organizational as well as personal wounds are usually self-inflicted.

"Like Marko Polo discovering a new world of trade, organizations today are exploring vast new markets throughout the globe. The process is nothing less than a revolution, breaking down once sacrosanct boundaries of space, time, and nationality...In today's world, there is no longer a dichotomy between domestic and foreign. Global boundaries between companies, markets, and people have become irrevocably blurred...For companies such as Unilever, ABB, and SmithKline Beecham, globalization has become a natural part of their business, an integral part of their culture. For most companies, however, the goal to become truly global in mindset, staff, and market seems a stretch. Although the oportunities are tempting, the effort, knowledge, and skill required are much greater than for running a domestic operation, and the risks-once you probe beneath the surface-are equally enormous"(pp.261-262).

In this context, the authors, in Chapter 8, first put forward the following ten reasons why organizations might want to become more global: competitive survival, cost spreading, trailblazing, rule of three, domino effect, evolutionary forces, technological revolution, search for innovation, ripple effect, and benchmarking against other companies. Then, they discuss seven challenges companies face in making the global leap: (1)Establishing a workable global structure, (2)Hiring global supermanagers, (3)Managing people for a global environment, (4)Learning to love cultural differences, (5)Avoiding parochialism and arrogance, (6)Designing unifying mechanisms and a global mindset, (7)Overcoming complexity.

In Chapter 9, to overcome these challenges, they show action plans, and suggest ways of moving forward, from learner to launcher and from launcher to leader into the global arena as summarized as below:

I- From Global Learner to Global Launcher

1. Human Resources Practices

* Supply language/cultural sensitivity training.

* Standardize forms and procedures.

* Set up an overseas presence via joint venture, modest acquisition, or establishment of a headquarters.

* Engage in extensive cross-border relationship building.

2. Organizational Structures

* Arrange short-term visits and international assignments.

* Staff for more diversity in management and board of directors.

* Use e-mail and videoconferencing to maintain day-to-day contact.

3. Organizational Processes and Systems

* Establish worldwide shared values, language, and operating principles.

* Conduct fact-finding missions.

* Design ad hoc transnational teams.

* Hold global town meetings and best-practice exchanges of information.

II- From Global Launcher to Global Leader

1. Human Resources Practices

* Seek complete liquidity of human resources: recruit outside the domestic base; place foreign recruits within the domestic base; promote the best people to global assignments; rotate people internationally; use twinning.

* Aim for a global structure.

* Map global processes.

2. Organizational Structure

* Provide continuing global leadership trining and regular transnational training to reinforce the global mindset.

* Remove/minimize country managers and replace with global managers and focus on global customers.

* Routinize real-time global communications.

3. Organizational Processes and Systems

* Use global reward systems.

* Multiply ongoing transnational project teams.

* Work for global integration (for example, total global sourcing, global design, global engineering, and global purchasing).

Finally, they write that "Many tools are available to organizations, and we have described a good number of them here (as summarized above). But senior management must have the skill and foresight to use the right tools in the right way, at the right time, and in the right sequence...Each stage requires structures that enable the crossing of boundaries, systems and procedures that drive global behavior, and people who can learn to extend their thinking beyond their present outlook."

Highly recommended.

This is a forward-looking discussion of the paradigm shift from traditional pyramidal organizations to organic, dynamic enterprises that feature permeable boundaries. The book is a triumphant crusade against fiefdoms and for freedom in inter- and intra-organizational life. It demonstrates how "boundaryless" organizations can increase the ability to respond quickly, creatively, flexibly, and in an integrated fashion to market demands. Case studies of change efforts bring the main points alive. Adding to the value of this work are self-diagnostic instruments, charts, and tables. This book is a rich source of insights about organization plus savvy guidelines for taking action. We highly recommend it.

Great book! The exercises really force you to think and clarify the who, what, why and how of yourself and the group you are creating or trying to improve. I highly recomend this one.

With great insight and honesty Michael Jacoby Brown has drawn on his extensive experience to produce a practical and inspiring resource. This book is a must for anyone wishing to organize a group to work for social change or anyone who is part of a community organization which needs to rejuvenate or rediscover its purpose. It is beautiful in its simplicity, addressing its issues in a way everyone can understand, and broad in its scope, addressing every aspect involved in successful community organizing. "Building Powerful Community Organizations" demands engagement by the reader. It contains exercises and the reader gains best value from the book by engaging in the exercises at the point they are presented.

This book should be required reading for hospitals, foundations, public health agencies and people working on any form of community improvement. Michael has documented his learnings with stories and tools that can equip those willing to learn to build powerful community organization, as the title says. There are lots of various community organizing guides but this one mixes stories and tools in an easy to read, nicely laid out style. His wisdom comes from years of community organizing and translates here into practical, easy to access advice. This is the best handbook I have seen in a long time! The author makes himself available with info on how to reach him as well as a website with blog that makes him more than a distant author; he is approachable and willing to extend his teachings beyond the pages of his book. Not may authors do this.

Written by Michael Jacoby Brown, who has more than thirty years' experience in building community organizations, Building Powerful Community Organizations: A Personal Guide to Creating Groups that Can Solve Problems and Change the World is a handy step-by-step guide to creating, strengthening, and revitalizing grass-roots organizations for bringing about social change to solve problems in the community or workplace. From how to effectively recruit (learning to "listen not sell", when short or long visits are appropriate, and how to turn success into momentum) to how to mobilize resources and raise money to the steps for setting change into motion and more, Building Powerful Community Organizations walks the reader through the necessary skills and processes while warning against common obstacles and pitfalls. Enthusiastically recommended for anyone looking to harness communal effort and make a lasting difference.

Author Michael Jacoby Brown has created a book with very detailed information on how to organize, create, and lead a community organization. In it he clearly explains all the steps necessary to create an effective organization that can resolve problems. The various areas discussed include the theory of how a group should work, the chemistry involved, the seven basic steps for building an organization, developing a mission statement, goals, and objectives, designing the organization to last, recruiting others, mobilizing, raising money and taking action. Throughout the book are case studies and exercises to help you not only understand how it all works but also to help you work through developing your organization correctly. If you want to change the world and know you need help to do it then you will appreciate this book. Building Powerful Community Organizations is easily the best book on the market today on this subject.

I really enjoyed reading about Dr. Pellicer's quest for leadership. I was inspired by his witty stories and reflective questions. Through this journey I realized that leadership is who we are.

Leonard Pellicer's Caring Enough to Lead contains many interesting and thoughtful reflections to become a successful leader. He uses reflections at the end of each chapter to let the reader think about how they lead or how they can become a good leader. The reflections were very useful to me to see what kind of a leader I hope to become.

I particularly enjoyed his anecdotes about various happenings in his life. They give the book the feeling of someone who actually cares about what he is righting about rather than just someone who is writing just to get a paycheck. He stresses that caring is the most important thing to becoming a successful leader and it shows in the book.

However, if you are looking for a book that tells you exactly how to become a good and moral leader, this may not be the book for you. This book gives you the tools you will need to find out what kind of a leader you are and at the same time steers the reader in the direction he or she would need to go to become a good leader.

I am currently studying to be a teacher and I feel that this book is a good resource for any future or current teacher or administrator. It gives the reader a chance to critically look at how he or she leads and can become a better leader by making the right questions are being asked. By asking yourself a few key questions and knowing what those answers mean to being a good leader can help the reader become a much better and more caring leader.

Pellicer's personal experiences are what make this book work. His extensive experience in the education field shows that he knows what it takes to be a caring leader. I that Pellicer's reflective thought process will help me to become a better leader in the education field and ultimately make me a better teacher in the long run.

This book provides the reader with anecdotes, stories, and reflections on the qualities and traits of effective leadership. Rather than boring the reader with staid theories and lectures, Mr. Pellicer provides an interesting insight through entertaining stories and thought-provoking questions. This book will definitely inspire you!

Dr. Pellicer's book compels the reader to reflect on his or her practice in a format that is easy to read and enjoyable. The stories will make the reader laugh and cry and, most important, examine her own behavior and motivations at school. The author's expertise in education is obvious, but his message is not dogmatic. He encourages the reader to think through the use of his education-based stories and gently prods the teacher or administrator to think about his/her own strengths and weaknesses. Some of the stories will stay with an educator for a long time, and I fully believe that this was the author's intended purpose.

I am not writing this review to seek favors or to boost the book sales of one of my colleagues. I just happen to be blessed with the profound honor and pleasure of having worked under the author's guiding hand for the past two years. I can tell you from firsthand experience that Leonard Pellicer "walks his talk". He is a touching, masterful, giving, caring person, and far and away the most wonderful leader with whom I have ever had the pleasure of learning from. He has created an academic workplace completely committed to the full realization of its vision statement. The result is that I work with the most caring and loving group of people imaginable. It just doesn't get any better than this.

"Caring Enough to Lead" is a fantastic book. I love how he illustrates the path of the heart with simple yet profound personal life examples. Such a technique can easily go sideways with self-absorption, but not in this case. One of the most delightful features of the book is my certainty that the chapters which speak the loudest to me today (among them: "some of the questions", "what I believe about people", "water buffalo", "to be a teacher", "successful schools", "sharing power", and "professional educator") will no doubt change along with my need to respond to a given difficulty or circumstance in the future. To wit, some of its struck me as a gem that I need to realize at this time, and other sections will no doubt simmer for a while and then resurface when I most need their wisdom.

Overall, the book rings in my heart very much the way "The Holy Man" by Susan Trotter (my favorite book of all time) did. Exactly the opposite of technical and boring, it is a refreshingly delightful and interesting read. I have never before stopped to actually DO the suggested exercises in books, but I found myself actually doing that with this one, because what I gleaned from each chapter was simply too valuable to let pass by without trying to apply its lessons to my life.

This book is a treasure find in a field of tired and rehashed ideas. I realize that it's dangerous to wish for things other than they are, but I believe it would be a much better world if more leaders had Leonard's heartfelt leadership style. Reading this book provides a solid step in that direction.

How do you begin to look at your business "on the horizon"? The company's management team must create a "map" which will lead the organization to it's objectives. Eric will ask you "by the way, do you know what your objectives are?" He really helps you clarify and organize. As Yogi Berra once said "If you don't know where you're going, you're probably going to get there"!

This book is extremely useful for general managers. It has had a profound impact on the way I think about organizations. As authors, Flamholtz and Randle are clear, logical, and practical. As professors, their years of experience as successful strategy consultants translated into one of the best classes I have taken during my MBA years. I highly recommend this book, and will buy it for my friends who are passionate about management.

It is one of the best books that I never read in my life. Well structured, clear, direct to the point. It is the perfect book if you are looking for frames in order to analyze your business. I strongly suggest to all the MBAs.

"In its broadest sense, a game involves procedures or strategies for gaining certain ends. The game of business is to use resources (people, money, ideas, equipment, and tools) to gain certain ends desired by the organization. For a corporation, the objectives of the game are to increase profitability and shareholder value...Whether it is recognized or not, all organizations operate under a 'game plan'. The 'organizational game plan' consists of the basic concept of the game being played as well as the fundamental strategy for playing the game...No matter what game an organization chooses to play or how it chooses to play it, there are certain periods in an organization's life when 'the game' (either the game itself or how it is played) needs to be changed. This occurs when there have been major changes in the economic environment, or some kind of revolution in technology or the nature of competition. It can also happen simply as the result of significant, rapid organizational growth...As used in this book, the phrase, 'changing the game' has a dual meaning. First, it refers to changes in the game being played by an organization. This involves changes in the business an organization is actually in. In addition, the phrase also refers to changes in the way the game is being played (i.e., how a firm operates). Both are major aspects of a business and both can require major transformations, either at different points or even at the same time. These transformations are the focus of this book and define what we mean by 'changing the game'...During the past few years, there has been increasing use of the terms 'transformation' and 'change' in business literature. Some people unfortunatelly use these terms synonymously. That is not the way we will use these terms in this book...Our focus in Changing the Game is on transformation rather than merely incremental changes" (pp.4-9).

In this context, Eric G. Flamholtz and Yvonne Randle:

* describe 'pure' types of transformations, including what they have termed Transformations of the First, Second, and Third Kinds:

1. Entrepreneurial transformations to professional management including the special case of family business transformations - First Kind (more detailed discussion and examples of this kind see Chapter 3).

2. Revitalization transformations of established companies - Second Kind (more detailed discussion and examples of this kind see Chapter 4).

3. Business vision transformations - Third Kind (more detailed discussion and examples of this kind see Chapters 5-6).

and note that actual organizations sometimes engage in compound transformations, consisting of more than one type of transformation simultaneously.

* present a framework that managers can use to understand and plan what must be done to build an organization with a high probability of long-term success, and examine four critical factors that influence the design of a successful business enterprise:

1. The 'business concept' that defines the business a company is in.

2. Six key 'building blocks' of organizational success.

3. The 'size' of the enterprise.

4. The 'environment' (markets, competition, and trends) in which the enterprise will exist.

* focus on the strategic transformational planning process in order to provide a tool for assisting in the process of managing transformations.

* examine how to design an organizational structure that will support a firm's transformation.

* examine the issues involved in transforming an organization's structure after a strategic transformational plan has been developed, and show that the choice of the form of organization to help implement a transformational plan is a strategic issue in itself.

* focus on the behavioral aspects of organizational transformations, and describe the important role leadership plays in not only helping to transform the behavior of individuals within an organization, but in changing the overall game that the organization is playing.

* discuss two additional, powerful tools -performance management systems and corporate culture management- that can be used to transform the behavior of all employees within an organization.

* present ten key lessons for Managing Transformations and Changing the Game.

Finally, they argue that "unlike chess and the NCAA basketball tournament, business is a game without an end. There is no national championship tournament for business. The game goes on and on. In a sense, a basketball program is like a business. A given team may win a championship one year, but there is always the next year and the next and the next, just as in business. As soon as one profitable year is completed, the next emerges. There is, however, one constant in the business game year after year: the need to understand the process of managing organizational transformations. Accordingly, the final lesson is: adapt and increase the probability of future success; or remain fixed in the existing paradigm and risk failure. The game is there for the taking".

I highly recommend.

Not only is this book written in a clear and crisp manner, but the tools described in the book are practical to use and the results easy to interpret.

As a teacher, and one who is sensitive and well aware of Native American lives and cultures, all I can say is BUY THIS BOOK!

A good survey of native kids' lives, activities that emphasizes their ongoing cultural contributions to life in the multicultural climate of today's America. Great color photos, text at about third grade level, this ought to shatter stereotypes right and left. Glossary, resource guide included.

As a teacher I have always been interested in exploring the diverse history of Native Americans with my students but have been unable to locate a book that is both educational and fun...until now. Children of Native America today is a book that engages young people while showing them how Native American children are as diverse and heterogeneous as any other group. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in teaching young students about Native Americans.

The collaborative effort of Yvonne Wakim Dennis and Arlene Hirschfelder, Children Of Native America Today introduces young readers to the lives and cultures of Native Americans all across the nation. Ranging from the Ojibway and Cherokee peoples, to the Pueblo and native Hawaiians, Children Of Native America Today is enhanced with color photographs illustrating an outstanding survey which broadly touches upon a variety of different Native American tribes and cultures -- rather than going for an in-depth on any particular one. Careful attention to what life is really like, and emphasizing the importance of not allowing stereotypes to cloud one's judgement, make Children Of Native America Today a highly recommended addition to school and community library Native American Studies collections for young readers.

As the authors explain in their preface, the goal of this book is to break stereotypes about Native Americans -- and it does this very well. All too often we think of Native Americans only in terms of powwows and costumes, and then only the "war bonnets" or beaded buckskin dresses of the Plains tribes. Some of the children in this book are wearing native dress (in many different styles) for traditional occasions, but they also wear modern clothes for everyday activities like sports, hiking, fun on the playground, etc.

In the Forward by folksinger Buffy St. Marie (whose music first raised my awareness of Native issues back in the 1970s), she correctly points out that every child belongs to at least one culture, but that children are not ONLY their cultures. "Even kids from the most traditional Native backgrounds have much in common with other children," she writes. "They have families, they grow and change every day, they love and work and play."

There are over 500 Native tribes in the United States, each of which has its own language and customs. This book covers 25 tribes representative of the various geographical areas, from Maine to Hawaii, with a map showing their locations. There's also a section on urban communities. (Which city has the largest Native population? New York!)

The authors describe their photo essay as "a book of few words and many pictures." The bright, colorful photos are indeed fabulous, and the "few words" are well-chosen. Each tribe gets a two-page spread, with child-friendly facts about history and daily activities that range from sports (Lacrosse is originally a Native game) to harvesting clams, making maple syrup, riding horses or carving totem poles. Sidebars give the total population of each group, its geogrphical location(s), and names of some famous people. Throught the bookj, the focus is always on things that children do, with lessons about about diversity, respect, tolerance, ecology, and other issues gently woven in and not at all preachy. I myself learned a lot myself from reading this book, and the photo on page 11 finally cleared up the mystery about an odd old tool I found on my hobby farm -- it's a "comb" for harvesting cranberries!

There is also a teacher's activity and resource guide (sold separately) that goes with this book. The Guide has biographies of contemporary members of various Native groups, with suggested investigative activities focusing on that person's accomplishments and/or expertise. For example, the page on Lori Aviso Alvord, the first Navajo woman surgeon, has a discussion of traditional forms of holistic healing, and suggestions for investigating different healing approaches used in the world today. Taken together, the activities in the Guide cover the whole gamut of contributions that Native Americans have made in all areas of society and life.

The authors are currently working on another diversity book about children's ceremonies around the world. (In fact, that's how I learned about this book. Author Yvonne Dennis queried me for details about a traditional hair-cutting ceremony for Hasidic boys. I was very impressed that she actively sought to include Jewish children, because so many diversity projects do not see Jews as a culture.) The goal of their new book will be to help children relate to each other through learning about the ways that children are special in each culture. I look forward to reading it when it comes out.

Though I am no longer a part of an Anglican jurisdiction, the 1979 Book of Common Prayer is a part of the modern liturgical landscape of the Western Church, and as a result, happening across this book necessitated a purchase.

While the "Oxford Commentary on the American Prayer Book" (published for the 1928 BCP) is a far superior work, this book is a worthy addition to that volume on the bookshelf of any liturgist.

Hatchett clues into the history of the entire Christian Church, the Latin Church before the reformation, the vast expanse that is Anglicanisim, and even into the modern liturgical movement - using each section of history to show the sources and aims of the 1979 BCP.

Whatever your opinion of the 79 Prayer Book, Hatchett's volume will provide you with a worthy source of information on the liturgy and practice of the 79 Edition of the BCP, and will serve any serious liturgist well.

Many people who study the Bible are familiar with the ways that commentaries work - some are line by line, some are passage by passage; some commentaries focus on particular elements (historical, linguistic, etc.) and others try to be general in approach. Marion Hatchett's book, 'Commentary on the American Prayer Book', is a general commentary that will seem at home to such readers as are familiar with biblical commentaries, only the subject is in this case the 1979 Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church USA.

There are several Books of Common Prayer, around the world, and through history. They all trace their development back to the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England, whose formation began with the break with Rome during Henry VIII's reign, and continued until being more or less solidified in the 1662 version of the Book of Common Prayer. The American church, as with many provinces within and outside of the British Empire, found need to develop its own liturgies, owing much and holding true in many respects to the founding liturgy (which itself hearkens back to liturgies of the ancient and medieval church). Some of this history will be found in Hatchett's commentary, in the introduction, as well as scattered throughout the text and introduced as appropriate for the matter at hand.

This is a commentary on the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, the most recent full-scale revision of the BCP; however, it does not ignore its predecessors, and particularly highlights the 1928 BCP, both in terms of convergence and difference liturgically and theologically. There is a still a faithful core of Anglicans in America who use the 1928 BCP; this commentary is not specifically helpful for that text, but can give general guidance in some respects.

This commentary goes page by page and passage by passage. Nothing is too small or trivial - the commentary includes discussion of the title page, the certificate page, the table of contents, even the overall design format of the book. The most interesting sections will naturally be those commentaries on the liturgies most commonly performed - Eucharistic liturgies, Baptism, and various pastoral offices.

Hatchett's commentary on the section of the Psalter is a bit disappointing. He doesn't address the actual psalms at all - granted, this is not a theological or biblical commentary on the psalms, and such a book could fill volumes on its own. Still, it was disappointing to find this large section of the BCP addressed with only a few general pages of commentary.

Most sections are introduced with background information, historical/developmental in nature, prior to the actual commentaries. The commentary gives appropriate page numbers for the 1979 BCP. The overall structure of this text follows the table of contents of the 1979 BCP. For comparison/contrast purposes with other books from other provinces or times, the page numbers will not be useful, but the section headings will be sufficient to find the similar sections in other prayer books.

Hatchett does plead the case for some exclusions and decisions based on sheer length and size of the volume - weighing in at almost 700 pages as it is, it is already a formidable text. To prevent the need for it expanding to two volumes (and thus becoming prohibitive in cost), certain decisions were made, such as not including the text of the actual BCP. One assumes that the typical reader of this commentary will have her or his own BCP, just as the typical writer of a biblical commentary will assume the reader has a Bible. However, not all readers will have both the 1928 and 1979 books; I think there is a place in the church's publishing realm for a two-volume (or multi-volume) format of this text with the BCP texts integrated within the same pages.

While this text is a commentary on the Episcopal (official American version of Anglican) Book of Common Prayer, given the shared history of liturgical development shared by churches in the English-speaking world, worshipers of other denominations will find interesting and useful information contained herein also.

Anglicans rarely tire of discussing the liturgy, be they high, low, or broad church types. This book can sustain many a conversation, settling some questions, and raising others.

For American Episcopalians and others seriously interested in the 1976 Book of Common Prayer this work serves excellently as a reference handbook for looking up any part of the liturgy and its history. In addition the book reads eminently well. Any dedicated student of the Episcopal liturgy should find the book both a delight and indispensible.

Since, after serving many years in Roman Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran Church of America congregations, I have just taken a position in an Episcopalian congregation, I was casting about for a meaty but accessible reference about worship. Hatchett has done a great job. Any serious church worker or congregant needs this book at hand for constant, lucid and easy reference. At almost 700 pages one will certainly not want to read it in one sitting but the style and importance of the book will invite periodic forays into the text and ideas it contains.

I can't really add too much to the previous review. Just suffice it to say that this is a treasure of a book for those who want to know the history of, and the whys and wherefores of the BCP of the Episcopal Church USA. Without reservation this is a 5-star book!

Effective execution takes coordinated effort. Why is this seemingly obvious fact so difficult to experience? The authors do an excellent job of illustrating how effective listening provides the starting point for a level of interaction that allows disparate views to be heard and valued.

This book allows me to be more aware of and intentional about, creating converations that search for a meaningful launching pad for strategic and tactical execution.


Jim Canfield
President/COO
Renaissance Executive Forums
San Diego, CA

I was introduced to this book by a colleague at a former employer. If you feel like you are building consensus, driving decisions or winning arguments - only to learn later that nothing is sticking "because of the other guy" - then you owe it to yourself to read this book.

The authors do an excellent job covering the theory of creating an authentic dialog where truth is spoken, beliefs are shared, perspectives understood and alignment and consensus are built. One of the key points is that communicating at this level is not always easy or comfortable, but it is essential to constructive communication.

In terms of format, the authors combine theory with a running fictitious story that is more colorful and detailed than a typical case study. Some may think the story is hokey, but I found it useful and entertaining. It also makes the book a hybrid between the cutesy (and somewhat useless - IMHO) parable format that is raging across business publishing, and pure theory, which can become dry and pedantic.

This is a very helpful book if you need to facilitate meetings to produce business results. It has helped me immensely.

The authors have offered a refreshing and effective model for communicating. The search for an intersection of facts, views, and intent makes incredible sense. I am using this model in all of my work and making progress in creating more value and less waste. I love their vocabulary. Buy this book if you want to make a positive and significant difference in the manner in which you communicate to those you want to influence, inspire and transform.

Connolly and Rianoshek take the view that any issue, no matter how seemingly intractable, can be resolved through effective communication. The ideas and tools in this book back up that view. The writing is clear and the organization will make it available to a variety of learning styles. Excellent book!

This is an excellent book that gives a way for individuals to take difficult problems/situations involving people and use communication to resolve the problem. It is well written with good illustrations.

This book goes beyond a must read to a must do. It provides clear, compelling guidance for growing stronger, better performing companies from within. It challenges organizations that compete in the knowledge economy to move beyond "people are our only assets" to "We, the people". But it is not mere smarmy and naive trash that extols empowerment without responsibility. If people are to seize the moment and become companies of citizens -- become contemporary equivalents of "Athenians" -- then they must take responsibility individually and together. They must risk their futures on learning from the distant past so well described in this excellent book.

Whether you are looking for a model of a democratic yet decisive organization or for an example of the timeless lessons of ancient history, you will love A Company of Citizens. The authors, a businessman and a classics professor, deserve a victory wreath for this short, sparkling, and inspiring guide that takes us from the Acropolis to the organization of the future.

History was never my favorite subject so I was a little leery of how much I might appreciate from a book about ancient Athens. How wonderful to find refreshing insights and practical teachings page after page! The authors use Athens as more of an illuminating example or clever case-study than a mantra for what modern managers should do now. They address both historical challenges and modern day dilemmas to get at the heart of how to build community while supporting individuality at the same time. Through stories that could almost seem ripped from today's headlines, they show refreshing ways of working together, learning from one another, and networking for the good of a geographic or business community. I was especially impressed with chapter 5, Practicing Citizenship, because it offered a series of Athenian practices that (as the authors said) "embody the combination of 'doing' and 'learning'--things that modern managers still tend to keep in separate jars." In my work, helping people and organizations discovery alternative ways to learn and work together, I'm sure to surprise people with some fresh approaches that are anything but new.

A Company of Citizens is concerned with two themes. First, "workers in today's Knowledge Age," mindful of their contributions and responsibilities, increasingly expect to become full citizens of their organizations with rights to self-govern and to develop practices of cooperation. Secondly, the Greek city-state of Athens in the fourth and fifth century B.C. is presented as the most significant example of a large organization/society that operated as a thoroughgoing democracy, and, as such, is suggested by the authors as the best practical model for modern firms desirous of a transformation to democracy. But the connection between the democracy of Athens which existed primarily at the level of the state and participatory democracy in modern, private enterprises is hardly straightforward. The authors contend that reality for today's employees is one of being forced to "check their values and sense of purpose" at the door to their firms, much to the detriment of the firms.

A large portion of the book consists of a discussion and breakdown of what the authors term the core elements of the Athenian democratic system: "democratic values, governance structures, and participatory practices." The basis of the widespread participation by Athenian citizens in the affairs of state was an unprecedented freedom and equality. There was not a layer of elites that trumped the various citizen assemblies, and any leaders chosen remained accountable to those assemblies. There was frequent rotation of citizens among the various bodies performing legislative, executive, and judicial functions. The art and responsibility of governing was widely distributed among Athenian citizens.

The authors focus on the Athenian concerns for defense and the domination of neighboring city-states as evidence of the positive workings of the Athenian democracy. But the authors make little mention of the economy of Athens, which is surprising since this book attempts to address the relevance of the Athens model to modern private enterprises. They make the claim that redistribution of private assets was not part of Athenian policies. But the redistribution of power or economic goods in the name of fairness and the wellbeing of communities is invariably part of democracies. That is a fundamental principle of modern social-democratic states, and, one guesses, of the Athens city-state.

For both communities and organizations, issues of "who can be members" and "the permanency of membership" are primary. An oddity by today's standards, citizenship in the Athens city-state was limited to native-born males. Unfortunately, the authors seem to have been unduly swayed by that restriction by pondering whether levels of membership will need to be established in firms employing workers with varying degrees of importance to their firms' success. However, a caste system is a dubious proposition for a modern democratic community. As a further consideration, in most genuine communities, members are protected by the group and not cast aside in difficult times. Yet the authors see "downsizing" as a possible action by democratic communities, though perhaps distasteful. The damage to an organization's fabric is not discussed.

The oft-repeated, hollow slogan of modern companies, "the people are the company," certainly had validity in Athens. There can be no state without citizens. But modern companies have legal, independent standing and are generally owned by outside shareholders, not workers. The reality is that workers are more like "wage slaves," not citizens of their companies with long-term, essential standing, legal or otherwise. The authors briefly touch on the necessity of redefining and reprioritizing the concept of "stakeholder" in modern companies. Obviously, a company of citizens cannot be trumped by absentee owners and still be a democratic community.

Closely tied to the issue of ownership of a firm is the role of management. The difficulties in transforming a company being operated by a managerial elite backed by a board of directors to one governed by employee-citizens cannot be exaggerated. A company of citizens cannot simply be mandated with power being retained by some overriding authority, no matter how enlightened. The authors point out that a democracy evolves through experimentation and mistakes by citizens. It is difficult to envision a modern CEO permitting his authority to be eliminated, let alone diminished, or allowing himself to be rotated out of the job. In addition, a huge issue is whether modern workers can really embrace and accept the responsibilities of democracy.

The emphasis on the Athens city-state is instructive from the standpoint of describing a "strong" democracy, despite some of its shortcomings. But one could ask whether it is even necessary to turn to ancient history to shed light on employees trying to find empowerment within their workplaces. The labor movement has struggled since the beginnings of industrialization to gain a voice for workers within enterprises. The authors do not present in the main text any examples of companies where employees are full citizens. It would have been interesting for the authors to comment on the well known example of the Saturn Corporation as to its fit as a company of citizens. Or perhaps the works council systems found in Europe could have been mentioned.

The authors repeatedly make the point that a company of citizens must be concerned with a "steep performance challenge," but why the condition? One would think that those advocating for democracy would do so on the fundamental basis of citizens controlling their destiny and not on the existence of some unusual circumstance. The book is thought provoking. But far too much space is devoted to the Athens city-state and the attempt to capture its workings in a set of textbook-like generalizations. There is little in this book that leads one to believe that the U.S. will be establishing companies of citizens any time soon. Nor is the book much in the way of a blueprint of how to do so. In some respects this book can be added to a large list of management books that talk employee empowerment, but don't quite get it.

Ancient Greeks bear gifts to management.
By RICHARD DONKIN.
1,073 words
27 February 2003
Financial Times
16
English
(c) 2003 Financial Times Limited. All Rights Reserved

The authors of a new book argue that the ordered society of Pericles' Athens offers transferable models of organisation for the modern company.

There is a memorable scene in the Monty Python film The Life of Brian, where a group of Jewish resistance fighters asks: "What did the Romans do for us?" before producing an ever-growing list of achievements. It is just as well that the Python team did not include the Greeks or the scene would have run and run.

Ancient Greece has so much to offer that it is perhaps surprising that the management book-publishing industry has taken its time to evaluate the Greek city state for ideas that may be applied in the modern company. It is not as if business publishers have been coy about historical studies. We need only look at the exhaustive examinations of the methods of Sun Tzu, the fourth-century BC Chinese general, and Niccolo` Machiavelli, the Florentine Renaissance politician.

The interest in both is understandable, since they had much to say about the dark arts of manipulation and strategy, perceived for so long to be instructive for bosses who wanted to be sure of their power base.

But what could the city state of ancient Athens with its democratic traditions have to offer the autocratically run company?

The authors of a new book* believe the time has come for greater democracy and citizenship in the workplace. They argue that the ordered society of ancient Athens - what they describe as the world's first "company of citizens" - offers transferable models of organisation for the modern company.

It is tempting to dismiss this collaboration between Josiah Ober, a classics professor at Princeton University, and Brook Manville, a chief learning officer in Saba Software, a human resources and management consultancy, as a flight into faddism. But their comparisons provide an intriguing reflection on the modern company.

They do not, for example, explicitly compare today's companies with another Greek model, Spartan society - but there do seem to be similarities. The Spartans were reared as warriors and trained in military systems from childhood. Society was controlled from the centre. What the authors describe as a "grim and joyless military camp" sounds like the pared-down efficiency expected of lean manufacturing or the no-frills office.

There is a big difference, however, between tightly controlled Spartan society and the various degrees of semi-autonomous decision-making work teams in more progressive manufacturing businesses today. Some companies, flush with the ideas of empowerment, do appear to be heading towards more consensual models of organisation. But they have yet to achieve the devolution enjoyed some 2,400 years ago by the citizens of Athens.

As the authors point out, the decision to build the Parthenon, still one of the world's most potent symbols of democracy, emanated from accountable leaders who proposed it in an open forum and had the work plan approved by a citizens' assembly. "It did not spring from the head of an egotistical tyrant," they write. How many corporate decisions today can boast such participative involvement of employees?

The Parthenon remains, say the authors, "a product of tens of thousands of people working together to create something of lasting value and excellence, a reminder to us that similar excellence can be achieved today."

The achievement of such excellence was founded on a strong emphasis on the involvement of citizens in decision-making, the system of poletia that embodied a sense of civic duty, common purpose, learning, governance and community values. If the same spirit could be replicated in a company's workforce, say the authors, it could produce the same kind of sustained dynamic performance that characterised the success of Athenian society.

But, as they point out, the Athenian poletia was not socially engineered from above. "(It) did not start with a strategy, then devise a structure then finally plug the people into the framework. It began with the people themselves, and let values and structure and design emerge through the aligning practices of citizenship." But it relied on the direct involvement of citizens in the direction of society. "We do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics minds his own business; we say that he has no business here at all," said Pericles, the Athenian statesman.

There is a big difference between this view and that of the typical board-run company. It is one thing to communicate decisions to staff. It is quite another to involve those staff in the decision-making process. As the authors acknowledge, most experiments in workplace democracy to date have taken place in village-sized enterprises, such as the St Luke's advertising agency, the Oticon strategic management group and a jet engine plant run by General Electric in Durham, North Carolina.

They argue, however, that the Athenian model of organisation, consisting of "networks of networks" of citizens based primarily on neighbourhood groups called demes, could be scaled up to cover communities of tens of thousands of people.

The authors are not completely starry-eyed about the Athenian model. Ultimately, after 200 years, it was replaced by hierarchical rule after the city's conquest by Macedon. Athenian citizenship was never inclusive. It did not grant citizenship to women and it exploited the practice of slavery, although a small minority of slaves did manage to prosper and some even won their freedom.

But there is no doubting the power of involved citizens in democracy or that of involved employees in a genuinely democratic enterprise. Even so, can we really expect the chief executives of traditional businesses to become more accountable to employees? Recent developments in corporate governance are forcing boards to become more accountable to shareholders. Moreover, increasing numbers of organisations appear to be acquainting themselves with the stakeholder concept of the organisation. But this has yet to extend to any sophisticated understanding or practice of corporate citizenship.

Greek civilisation emerged in a turbulent world of warring nation states. Athens discovered that the organisational power unleashed by its system of governance endowed it with a real competitive advantage. That alone is enough to justify a more active experimentation in corporate citizenship today.

I teach a class in fundraising and I use this book as my text. Great book, good examples. It's a comprehensive introduction to development for non-profits.

Even though I have not been able to read the Guide in full or use the CD Rom, all the special topics I have checked out thus far have been highly informative. I especially like the detailed charts and exhibits which provide an "at-a-glance" guide.

Having been a management consultant for 15 years, although not in the Arts Funding Area where I now toil as a volunteer, I have a good eye for serious data. And, having read several other books on the subject of nonprofit organizations, I can honestly say this book by Stanley Weinstein provides the kind of nuts and bolts data that is essential to fundraising.

Finally, since I had to pay for this Guide out of pocket, I can honestly say that I feel I got my money's worth even at this early stage of the fundraising process. It's a winner.

Please give me an opportunity in the future to provide another review...after our fledgling group...The Westlake Arts Center in Westlake, OH...implements some of the suggestions.

Weinstein does a good job representing the many facets of fundraising development today. The CD-ROM is a helpful addition. Highly recommended.

I loved this book. It covers so much about nonprofit fundraising in such detail that I'm so glad I came across it a few years back when I was learning about the subject. I was working as an associate capital campaign consultant and found it kind of hard to find fundraising books that covered much of anything about capital campaigns. Then I found this book.

Most of the hardcover books I buy and read I don't bother to make notations using a pencil. I used this book so much to learn the basics of nonprofit fundraising that I broke tradition and used a pencil on it quite extensively. As a result, I have a few recommendations as to how the next edition could be improved. First, and foremost, I think the chapters should be reordered as follows:

PART 1. Fundraising Basics
1. (1.) The five major fundraising principles
2. (2.) Your organization and the nonprofit world
3. (3.) Managing the resource development function
4. (5.) Managing information
5. (15.) Human resources
6. (6A.) Prospect ID, research, and segmentation
7. (9.) Direct and select mail fundraising
8. (10.) Telephone solicitations
9. (7.) Nurturing relationships
Part II. Major Gift Fundraising
10. (4.) The Case for Support and fundraising materials
11. (6B.) Prospect ID, research, and segmentation
12. (8.) Major gift programs
13. (13.) Planned giving
14. (14.) Capital and endowment campaigns
Part III. Add-on ways to generate funds
15. (11.) Special event fundraisers
16. (12.) Grantsmanship
Part IV. An appendix
17. (16.) Evaluation

The numbers above in parenthesis are the actual chapter numbers. I would have liked the book much more if Chapter 6 had been split into two chapters. As far as I know, prospect identification differs significantly when working an annual campaign and soliciting funds using direct mail and the telephone. This topic could and should have had its own chapter. There is also the prospect identification, research and segmentation I am initimately used to that relates to major gift solicitation and capital campaigns. That topic should have had its own chapter (maybe even two chapters?).

I would have liked the book better if the content at pages 247 and 248 were reworked. I would reword the text as follows:

"Resource development professionals who have had years of capital and endowment campaign experience have come to recognize FIVE fundamental prerequisites indicating institutional readiness:

1. Does the nonprofit have a sound Case for Support?
2. Is there a good database of donor prospects with many high in CCCC, i.e., capacity, capability, connection, & commitment?
3. Are there sufficient volunteers who can provide strong leadership?
4. Is now a good time to initiate a campaign considering the current obligations of the nonprofit, the attitude and composition of its Board, and fundraising activities in the community from other nonprofits that share this nonprofit's constituents?
5. Can the nonprofit pay for and orchestrate the campaign effort?"

I would have liked to see some coverage of the Internet, Web sites, and email. There didn't have to be lots of this subject - just enough so the reader would know these topics are important to the fundraisers.

I loved the last chapter of the book. I thought it did a wonderful job of providing the reader with a checklist to effectively evalutate a fundraising department at a nonprofit. 5 stars!

I'm new to the fundraising/development field. I found this book very readable and informative. The subject is presented in a style that is intelligent and no-nonsense, unlike a lot of the "XXX for Dummies" and "Idiots Guide to XXX" series.

There is a nice little CD-ROM in the back with sample Word doc files on it. I wish there had been a few Excel spreadsheets too. I come from a sales background and found some of the advice for what to say to potential donors to be a bit ham-handed.

But, overall a great intro to fundraising with a lot of good advice that nonprofits should follow.