Organizations Books

This is a very readable and credible work. Chapter six on visual process indicators is my favorite. It was an a-ha moment for me!!

Michael Greif has written a book on lean principles long before the MIT study resulted in "The Machine the Changed the World".

The foundation of lean is generally agreed to be the 5Ss, kaizen, and visual communication. This book, while focused on VC, does adequately cover the others. Consider this... the book was written in the late 80's, when Lean Manufacturing as a term had not yet been coined.

And now, the review... this is an excellent study on visual communication. Although limited in scope (most practical examples were of western European factories), it is a study that should not be limited to factories; rather, one that has application in many aspects of daily life.

Practical examples, diagrams, drawings, and checklists abound. Definitely user-friendly, and as the subject matter demands, visually communicative.

I think this easy to read book is a must for all the industry sectors. It illustrates visual management (or visual communication; VC) as a very important issue to boosting the factorys' or companys' productivity through increasing the effectiveness of the employees' from head management to the shop floor workers by the effective sharing of information and by encouraging the workers to participate in developing these information. In addition; VC helps in building a sense of belonging to the factory or company within the workers themselves which will work in the factory (company) best interest.

The book introduces guide lines for applying the VC. I think that the real cases covered along with the many different graphs and pictures really helped in clearing out many points.

Four months ago I started volunteering at a fairly new Catholic Worker house in Akron, OH. I knew virtually nothing about The Worker; of course, I'd heard of Dorothy Day and even stayed in a Worker house on a weekend retreat but never thought to inquire into its history and philosophies. A good friend asked me to help her out at the Casa de la Paz (the Akron House), to get me out of the full-time work/college grind. I agreed and fell in love with the folks I came in contact with. Quickly I sank deeper and deeper into the house's struggles and joys (mostly joys) and picked up on the philosophies behind the movement. Aine, one of the house coordinaters, loaned me her copy of Voices from the Catholic Worker to read. An avid reader herself, she pointed out a couple in the book and directed my attention to a hand-written script in the first pages. "To Mary and Pat {Murray}, True Catholic Worker "lifers" and an inspiration to me. Love, Rosalie" I delved into the book and learned of a truly blessed movement through the mouths and lives of the people that helped withstain it. Folks like the Murrays, the Zarrellas, and other common people whose lives were transformed forever. Troester weaves the memories of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin and other prominent figures into a cohesive history that reads like a campfire conversation. Strangely intimate and familiar, one feels a friendship with the storytellers that delves the reader into the book and arrests his/her interest in the present. (My teapot screamed for minutes before I shook myself out of my reverie and answered its wail.) One of the best books I've read this year, it's a necessary read for those searching for a more intimate recount of the Catholic Worker history.

It's the small human touches that make connections that make a difference. Riegle has done an inspiring job of recording them in a book that's encouraging to read especially at a time when success is measured in mergers and Web billions.

Troester is only the editor of this book. The actual text is taken from interviews of Catholic Workers all over N America. Because of this, it's an all-encompassing book...with voices who are Catholic, Jewish, Athiest, Buddhist, and in-between...people who practice hospitality in different ways, running Shelters, Soup Kitchens, Farms, and also homes for kids...people with all sorts of different opinions and ages...and stories of all different sorts. No one person could possibly have written such an excellent book. Also, if you're hesitating about reading this book because you think it may be too Catholic, or too political, or too do-gooder, too conservative or too radical or what have you...then I suggest that there are so many voices in this book that this need not be a concern. Somewhere in this book there is a story of profound value for everyone.

This book and the other three in the series will give you a new appreciation for hymns that you probably learned a few years ago. Besides background on the hymn, the authors have also supplied a CD with a nice choral arrangement of each song. The art work, print quality, and music is all excellent.

I am listening to my copy of the CD as I order three more copies of this fabulous book and CD to give away. What a deal! Easter is only a week away and the hymns in it are most appropriate to express our joy at Christ's redeeming work on the Cross and His glorious resurrection. Today's modern "worship" music can NEVER compare to rich and beautiful hymns of better days.

I heard about this series of three books with their accompanying CDs from from a radio interview with Joni. She was expressing concern over how Christian music is losing its depth of meaning and its doctrinal reinforcement.

Joni has succeeded in selecting and rendering some of Christendoms most relevant hymns to encourage and edify the Church and the Lord jesus Christ. The reader/listener will find him or herself elevated and singing along with these classic hymns (words and music are included in the book). If you have never been moved to tears over a hymn, these renditions may do it!

"What Wondrous Love Is This" captures in a very powerful and moving way what Christ has done for mankind.

Vocals range from solos to choral music accompanied by the humble piano or full orchestra. The tone is not loud or brash. Joni's humble character comes through in the way the book was designed and the way the music is performed.

I highly recommend adding all three books in the series to your library. I give copies away to encourage others spiritually.

Looking for a way to make your prices irrelevant? This book opened my eyes to why companies like Disney don't have to cut their prices because of the economy.
Don't bother doing the research on how to improve your customer service, DiJulius has already done it all and included all the key points in his latest book. Even how to hire the right service minded people-priceless insight! What's the Secret? gives you everything you need to know to create, improve, and maintain great customer service. This book should be a mandatory read for anyone dealing with internal and external customers.
His writing style makes it an easy read that you can't put down! DiJuius is real and genuine, he uses experience as a speaker and consultant from his work with top service companies (Ritz Carlton, Nordstrom, Starbucks, Lexus and more) to provide the reader with actual conditions and systems. Whether business to business or business to consumer, any company -of any size- can indulge their customer with world-class service by following his easy to understand 10 commandment structure. And as an added plus--DiJulius gives you the web address to take his service aptitude test online "FREE" to see how you rank. Brilliant follow up to his first book, Secret Service-which I highly recommend you purchase with this one if you haven't read it already.

An incredible book! A wealth of information. Just an exceptional book for anyone who deals with customers, or people in general, in any form of business. Great follow up to Secret Service!

This book is even better than DiJulius' first book. If you care at all about customer service, and we all should, then you should do like me and buy one for your whole team. Great book.

Class collection of data and analysis regarding the (very limited) utility of lecturing for achieving educational objectives beyond information transfer. Do you want to change attitudes, or teach skills, or impart enthusiasm or curiosity? Don't lecture.

When this book was first published in 1971, the first edition sold out in ten weeks. Long regarded as a classic on the topic of lecturing, this book is an indispensable manual for anyone who aspires to be a skilled lecturer and teacher. It examines the nature of teaching and learning in a classroom lecture-describing how students learn, how much knowledge they retain, and how to enhance their attention and motivation.

Bligh offers a wealth of practical suggestions for making lectures more engaging and effective. Topics include taking notes, using handouts, practising different formats and styles, obtaining feedback, overcoming difficulties, evaluating the lecture, and testing alternative methods when lecturing is not adequate.

Written in an accessible and helpful style, this very readable book is a source of great insight for people who lecture-experienced or not. Teachers at every level will find straightforward and detailed practical advice to help improve their lectures. However, the author reminds us that, like musical composition and performance, lecturing is an art. Skill is acquired by practice rather than by reading books. Yet just as the budding composer may wish to study forms of composition known to have been successful, but later disregard them, so new lecturers may wish it worthwhile to consider the findings of research into lecturing before developing their own style.

Donald A. Bligh was a pioneer in university staff development when he joined London University's Teaching Methods Unit in 1970. He was the first professor and director of continuing education at the University of Dundee (1985-1989) and is now honorary research fellow in computer science at Exeter University.

BOOK REVIEW: What's the Use of Lectures? by Donald Bligh. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000.
The following review is from from "Teaching Concerns" by Dustin Kidd

First, some disappointing news for those of us who lecture: lectures are ineffective, as compared to other teaching methods, for teaching values, inspiring interest, developing personalities, or instilling behavioral skills. So why lecture? That's the central question in Donald Bligh's What's the Use of Lectures? The answer seems simple enough: "Use lectures to teach information. Do not rely on them to promote thought, change attitudes, or develop behavioral skills if you can help it" (20). The logical question to ask next is "How can a lecture best teach information?"

Bligh offers eight principles to follow for using lectures to teach information.

Make the lecture meaningful to the students. Lectures are easier to comprehend when they connect with students' everyday realities.
Use "whole learning" to teach understanding and "part learning" to teach specific information. In my course on American society and popular culture, I open each lecture by asking students to think sociologically about the topic at hand and to identify important sociological research questions ("whole learning"). I then move to "part learning" as I teach the specific findings of research that has been conducted in particular areas.
Organize the subject. Summaries, overviews, and concept maps (a technique you can learn more about at the TRC) can provide an overarching narrative for each lecture. The syllabus and the construction of exams, papers, and assignments provide a similar narrative for the entire semester. This level of organization aids student learning by connecting the specific components of the course together into a comprehensible whole.
Put new information to use swiftly. Quizzes, short papers, discussions, and assignments provide an opportunity for students to put new knowledge to work, thus improving their retention.
Use repetition within lectures. State the key points at the beginning and at the end. Repeat the definitions of concepts and important conclusions often.
Frequently provide feedback on learning. Students learn better when they know how to evaluate their own progress. Testing knowledge early and often improves student learning.
Keep students alert. (Poor posture indicates low student attention.) Mix up visual and auditory stimulation. Provide an element of novelty in each lecture. Interject your lecture with "change-ups" that will energize your students' attention spans (see "The `Change-Up': A Good Pitch to Have in Your Teaching Repertoire." http://trc.virginia.edu/tc/1997/ChangeUp.htm)
Connect new concepts to previous lectures. By drawing on previous knowledge to teach new information, you reinforce the earlier concept while making the new information easier to learn.
What's the Use of Lectures? supports these claims with a wide array of research from the classroom. The book also provides extensive suggestions for addressing these areas in very specific ways-from methods for teaching note-taking to your students, to tips on effective use of handouts. Whatever your academic field, this book is a gold mine of resources for achieving our goal as lecturers to teach knowledge and understanding

My son graduated college in May and I was able to find great homes for everything he didn't want for his new apartment. Outgrown clothes, room decorations, even his old sports trophies! And I'm now able to transform his old room into my very own exercise retreat!

My grandmother died and mom and I had to deal with all her stuff. A lot of it we couldn't use and didn't want to throw away. WHO NEEDS IT helped us find good homes for grandma's things.

My mom bought this book and used it to clean out our house. I gave away a bunch of old clothes and toys. We gave our stuff to different charities that needed it to do good work. My dad was real happy because he saved some money on taxes. We bought two copies and gave one to our church. This is a real good book.

I love books that help me understand "how to . . ." and the practical explanations and examples provided in this book do exactly that. It gives details and examples that make the concepts very easy to appreciate. The 8-step coaching model is a great, very practical, roadmap for effective coaching.

This is a great follow up to their first book, "Coach: Creating Partnerships for a Competitive Edge".

Great book! It reads easy and keeps you captivated with the side notes, pics, drawings and quotes that add to the content of the book. This kept me interacted with the book.

I would recommend it for people who are looking to greatly improve their management and communication skills. It was good enough that I requested my entire staff team to read through it.

I don't think you can go wrong.

Tim

Note the sub-title; "Be on the Leading Edge with Synergistic Coaching" and you know what is in it for you to read this book. It is a beautiful handbook for leaders, coaches, mentors and learning organizations.

The synergistic approach to coaching is based on core values of: ME = I am, secure, an optimist, a teacher, just. YOU = are valuable, principled, trustworthy, safe. WE = are allies, vulnerable, learners, reliable. If our needs and success are interdependent, then your success (win) is my success (win).

The authors then go on to outline their research based 8-step coaching process that focuses on gaining cooperation, commitment, synergy and success and back it up with success stories.

Very easy to read and very valuable.

Work and Rewards is chock full of useful information. Crandall and Wallace write mainly for organizations that resemble their clients -- corporations that manufacture goods for profit. But I think this book is even of value for non-profits. While obviously helpful for human resource people, this book would be beneficial reading for CEOs, top organizational leaders, and even frontline supervisors.

"The job is dead," the authors declare. "Job" is part of the "old deal" marked by cradle-to-grave security. "The New Deal will require us to act as adults, not children." Employees will be increasingly responsible for acquiring the skills needed by their employers. Narrow job descriptions are already giving way to broader, more flexible skill sets. The authors claim this shift will help organizations run more effectively and will increase worker satisfaction.

Don't be mistaken; Work and Rewards is not a pie-in-the-sky futurists dream. It is based on the real life experiences the authors have had with dozens of clients, including Sony, Corning, and others. Work and Rewards is packed with practical models, steps, outlines, case studies, plans, and formulas. These tools can help organizations evaluate the cost of going virtual, determine what key drivers the organization wants to reward, and how to manage the transition.

I highly recommend Work and Rewards.

Chapters include:

1. Forging a New Compact Between People and Technology
2. Working in the Virtual Workplace
3. Exploring the Virtual Workplace
4. Work Design
5. Skills and Competencies
6. Rewards in the Virtual Workplace
7. The Blended Workforce
8. The Economics of the Virtual Workplace
9. Getting to the New Deal in the Virtual Workplace

"Economic and technological forces have converged in this last decade of the twentieth century to create an entirely new form of business competition. The New Competition", N. Fredric Crandall and Marc J. Wallace, JR. write, "encompasses a global economy and is driven by information rather than product and by time rather than space, creating a revolution in the way we do business...The New Competition has emerged in three parallel developments: (1). Former competitors forming alliances to command the market, (2). New marriages of technology, markets, and opportunity, and (3). The creation of new business entities that replace traditional ones, defining the entire length of a value chain-a form of organization that has been characterized as the virtual organization...The virtual organization requires a virtual workplace. The virtual workplace is a work environment where goods and services are created and delivered joining employees beyond the traditional bounds of time and place. Technology is a foundation for the virtual workplace, creating the means for innovations in working relationship such as teams of people who work together via teleconferencing or transfer work in progress from one venue to the next across time zones to keep work going on a continuous basis."

In this context, in Chapter Six, they examine how the role of rewards and compensation changes when an organization evolves from a traditional to a virtual workplace. Firstly, they define job in a traditional organization and argue: "The job concept served traditional organizations well. Work has been organized in a command-and-conrol bureaucracy characterized by functional specifications and hierarchy. It is a paradigm shaped by early twentieth-century thinking of Max Weber and Frederick W. Taylor, implemented by Henry Ford, and cast in the legislation of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal of the 1930s. Unfortunatelly the paradigm no longer serves us because the job has died. Globalization of production and technological revolution have forced us into a post-industrial model for producing goods and services. The work designs of the virtual workplace have forced companies to tear down hierarchy do away with functional specialization, and organize all activities according to entire business processes that cut across traditional departments and occupations."

Hence, they compare traditional and virtual base pay models, and argue that in the new workplace people are paid not for the job they hold but for the role they are expected to play.

I. Base Pay Model in the Traditional Workplace:

1. Unit of analysis: Job

2. Basis for determining value: Job evaluation

3. What pay is for: Work performed

4. Base pay progression: (a). Modest movement within grades to mid-point. Pay is controlled to mid-point. (b). Promotion required for significant advancement.

5. Base pay structure: Many narrow grades, hierarchically arranged.

II. Base Pay Model in the Virtual / New Paradigm Workplace:

1. Unit of analysis: Personal role

2. Basis for determining value: Personal evaluation

3. What is pay for: Capacity to perform

4. Base pay progression: Significant movement from entry rate to target rate based on capacity acquisition.

5. Base pay structure: Few, broad bands

Finally, they define this new paradigm as skill-or-competency-based pay, and argue: " the base pay progression policy that best serves the virtual workplace is skill-or competency-based pay.

I highly recommend.

Like the industrial revolution before it, the Information Age is giving rise to new types of organizations, new ways of working, and new approaches to human resource management. This technology-driven economy, with its virtual realities, is profoundly reshaping the nature of relationships between organizations, as well as between the organization and the individual.

On a macro level, the authors aim to show how a new social contract (New Deal) is developing between individuals and organizations, replacing the traditional employer-employee relationship. Through this virtual revolution, the conflict, as many see and experience it today, between people and technology will be overcome. And free market dynamics make it inevitable that virtual organizations will and must continue emerging.

Moving from the macro to the micro, the authors explore some of the pivotal changes taking place today; changes in the nature of the workplace, the design of work, the use of competencies, the characteristics of reward systems, learning, career opportunities, and staffing. Numerous tables and diagrams, as well as illustrations from company experiences, highlight key points and make the distinctions between traditional and virtual workplaces vivid. There is a lot to be gained from each chapter. Guidelines are presented to help practitioners address their needs for taking action. The authors are also helpful in laying bare serious problems that companies have faced in applying such concepts as skill- or competency-based pay and broad bands which I, as a consultant in organization and compensation, welcome seeing in print. Additionally, the authors present a model to demonstrate the economic value of the virtual workplace. This is an excellent book, impressive in scope and rich in substance.

... and needing 'education' ?
So-called education under the market system of the Almighty Dollar has nothing to do with learning or culture.Its goals are to teach working-class youth to be regimented and obedient to 'superiors' and regurgitate what bosses, big and small want to hear and want to believeýand teach children of the middle class ( degreed professionals ) and of the supperich that they are somewhat better and a lot better than us workers, respectively. Socialist Cuba has lifetime education and a current TV campaign called the University For All.To do this they had to make a revolution. What will it
take for us to unite and fight back as the New Depression begins ? Is it possible for 'regular average everyday working people to take power in the belly of the Imperial Beast ( America ) ? Will we have to change ourselves in this process ?
These are the themes of this excellent pamphlet.

This pamphlet really opened my eyes. I have been all the way through education to a final degree and teach college. However, this little pamphlet tells more about education, real education, than anything I have read before. What is called education in this society is fitting you into the slots that this exploitative, oppressive society has for us, not providing us with knowledge, blaming us for our grades and putting some people in 'good' jobs and some people in bad, all to mask a system that exploits us all to benefit the big business rich? I have been to graduate school and have friends with Ph Ds and hung with several Poet Laureates of the US and people saturated with what this society calls education, but I have coworkers at the bus garage smarter than most of them. This pamphlet explains why this is, and how we can fight for real education. Real education is learning the tools to understand this system, learn to fight, learn to do real things in a real world, real education can come only through mass struggles against this system. Real education can't be separate from work, from life, from struggle. Check out Capitlism's World Disorder, the book this is excerpted from, also sold by Amazon

While these books may not be directly available from Amazon at times, they are available from the booksfrompathfinder on Amazon that you can find by clicking on the new and used books on this page.

This booklet was published during the phony debate between Gore and Bush on "education reform" in the 2000 election campaign. It explains why education cannot be "reformed" under capitalism. Barnes talks about how capitalist education from grade school through college socializes us to become docile worker bees and why we have to unlearn a lot of the junk they teach in school in order to become effective fighters for workers' rights today and for a socialist future.

This book is the most comprehensive and thoughtful text on the subject I have read to date, systematically presenting the vision, arguments for and against it, and practical approaches to making progress towards achieving it. While it is not fully up-to-date with the latest developments in international politics, it is surprisingly relevant - a true classic.

If I had to choose a textbook for a course on world federalism, this would be my runaway choice.

Glossop displays a respect for true discussion of the issue. He outlines the most-often heard criticisms of world federation and offers accurate, informed responses which any American would support and appreciate. This is the leading authority on world federation in many years!

As is the case of the "true believers" of any philosophy, many proponents of a world democratic government display an element of Utopianism. Serious thought gives way to sloganeering. Ronald Glossop is an exception. A dedicated World Federalist, Glossop demonstrates his devotion to the cause is the result of thorough analysis of all points of view, which he presents in this book with unusual fairness and accuracy. His work belongs in the library of every student of international relations, regardless of the reader's viewpoint.