Organizations Books

Bro. Bob Cooper is a good friend and an excellant writer. There is not to many people more knolegable on the history of Freemasony than Bob Cooper. This is an great book if you want the provable REAL history of the lodge.Sam Matthews Past Master Pryor Creek Lodge #100

One word to sum up this book. Excellent!!! Freemasons, buy this book! You will not be disappointed. Scottish Freemason, Brother Cooper, offers an easily read education on Freemasonry from a very unique Scottish perspective. It is so darn good and you can sense the author's love and passion for the Craft within it's pages is genuine. Brother Cooper talks about the first Freemasons; the transition from Operative to Speculative Masonry; the differences between Scottish, English, Irish and American Freemasonry; a little known major impact of Scottish Masonry on American Masonry; the future of Freemasonry; Neoplatonism and Freemasonry; the Art of memory and Freemasonry; Greek and Roman influences within Freemasonry; the symbolism of Freemasonry; ETC..., but perhaps the most important is; THE OLDEST RITUAL OF FREEMASONRY IN THE WORLD TODAY! No matter your level of knowledge or time in the Craft, this book is for you and you will find Brother Cooper's Masonic scholarship is a match for your own! Buy it and read it. Now!!! By doing so you will stay one step ahead of the game regarding Anti-masons and be able to SHARE REAL KNOWLEDGE with your less informed brethren. Bravo to Brother Cooper for a book that is such a Masonic Treasure. Most highly recommended.

This book synthesizes 200 interviews into a description of school culture as it exists today. Well done. We need to know what it is before we can change it. This is not a reflection of the carefully crafted press releases of school culture by district offices. A must read for school administrators seeking change instead of drowning in minutiae,

I have worked in this business for over 30 years as a teacher, mentor, and principal. As a practicing middle school principal, I highly recommend this book to any school teacher, principal, assistant principal whi is committed to facilitating positive change at their school. this is not just another "how to" book on education, but rather a thoughtful, incitful, and revolutionary thought provoking way of looking at the world of school culture.

Now in an updated and expanded second edition, Creating An Inclusive School is the collaborative editorial effort of education specialist Richard A. Villa and special education credential and masters programs coordinator Jacqueline S. Thousand (College of Education, California State University, San Marcos). Inclusive education, loosely defined as a process by which schools strive to give an education to all students with disabilities in such a manner that the differently abled students are not excluded from the general student body or separately schooled as little as possible, is described and presented as more than a series of strategies; it is a belief system that promotes and optimum educational environment for all. Individual essays by a diverse assortment of experts discuss such issues as the rationales for creating and maintaining inclusive schools, promising practices that foster inclusive education, practical advice concerning inclusive education, "voices of inclusion" individual and community testimonies. An excellent overview and resource guide especially recommended for teachers, principals, and other educational professionals.

This book provides all the answers for people who think inclusion can't work--that it's too expensive, that parents of typically-developing kids will reject it, that severely disabled kids won't get anything from it.

While I appreciated all the "how-to's" and a clear description of the philosophy behind true inclusion, I found most inspiring the true stories of how children with very involved disabilities grew, learned and became friends with their classmates through an effective inclusion model.

This is a must-read for both parents and educators.

This book is a the result of a remarkable research effort. The authors defy many absent and possibly destroyed official school records and memorabilia to piece together primary sources such as interviews, newspapers, and old school performance programs. The outcome provides insight into the positive aspects of a valued segregated school in Northwestern Alabama.

The book provides tangible evidence of an educational system which employed ingredients for success that may benefit today's underachieving schools.

This book gives a passionate description of the impact of segregation/desegregation in the lives of African American children. It tugs at your heart strings as it provides critical information about the past (that many people can identify with as a part of their own educational experience) and compelling recommendations for the present and future to ensure that caring and nurturing educational environments are provided not only for African American children but for ALL children as well. Great resource for educators, administrators, and parents.

CREATING GREAT VISITOR EXPERIENCES is an easy-to-use handbook, providing structured steps for making museums (and like institutions) more welcoming and rewarding for all. Packed with inspiring examples and useful ideas, Stephanie Weaver's book is a must-read for staff and volunteers.

This book will be a real eye-opener to any business owner, not just museums, parks, zoos, etc. The customer is in your control, as the author aptly points out, from the time he gets out of his car in the parking lot and sees the first signs for your business until he leaves. Does he notice trash outside the door? Is the restroom clean...and, more importantly, is the restroom pleasing? Are your employees helpful, pleasant and not over-bearing? Can he easily use your signs to find his way around? Everything affects your customers' "experience" and the greater the experience, the more repeat business you will have. An entertaining read for anyone in business!

This books contains it all: who, why, what and how to make effective, efficient, creative and committed change. Changes that last and last. Very practical, down to earth, yet based on a powerful and imaginative model. Don't read it, use it!

were afraid to know. McWinney shows in this "fieldbook" how any change process can be tackled. He convinced me how working with myself, the groups and the resources at hand can create better and longer lasting solutions. Not only to problems but also to the issues of problems that were very hard to solve. The book is a practicle guide to his "Paths of change" and should belong to every bookshelf that contains literature on change and social issues. One warning: this book is not about quick fixes and will only work for you when you are not afraid to venture where you thought you wouldn't dare to go.

Samuel's thesis is that an accountable organization is one in which "people at all levels of [it] can be counted on to keep their commitments and agreements." That is to say, an accountable organization is a human community in which each member demonstrates a high level of personal accountability. Samuel wrote this book for leaders and change agents at any level within any organization "who are ready to move to the next level of excellence and success." First, in Part One, he focuses on the need to break away from what he characterizes as "old leadership paradigms." Specifically, he explains why individual ability can be unleashed only through personal accountability, how to create an accountable culture by vigorously confronting the real issues, how to avoid or escape from what he calls "thre three traps of ineffective leadership," what the formula is to schieve breakthroughs, and how specific leadership roles produce breakthrough results/


Then in Part Two, he suggests six specific strategies for leading with authority, devoting a separate chapter to each strategy. They range from completing a transition from empty platitudes to clear direction (Chapter 6) to communicating effectively with "nonbelievers" to obtain their involvement and, more importantly, their commitment (Chapter 11). In the final chapter, Manuel offers a six-step process to achieve breakthrough results, concluding with this observation: "Whatever problems are solved by being more accountable, you will create new problems in their place. They will be `higher level' problems, and when those are resolved as you become more accountable, you will have even `high level' problems to resolve. The good news is that as you develop higher levels of accountability, you will be able to solve all of those problems and more - resulting in greater strength and much greater success."

The book provides an effective framework to move an organization from a culture of 'entitlement' to one of team accountability. The book provides enough specifics that one can quickly apply the approach to their organization but also is general enough that the book can be applied in a number of organizational situations.

Articulating organizational focus and the fact that that focus will change as the organization matures is an important fact. This book nicely shows that changing the focus of the team's roles and responsibilities may be appropriate and not just because the boss decided to have the 'leadership iniatitive for this year'.

Recommended for leaders who are seeking an approach to turning around poor performing organizations or those who beleive that they can raise the level of their team's performance to a higher level.

Man's worst mortal fear is the fear of facing an unknown future. As the world is changing at a maddening pace, teachers may feel themselves particularly vulnerable. Chartered with the honourable yet onerous task of preparing the future lawyers, doctors, architects or economic pillars in their communities, teachers cannot escape the duty to try to create the "future schools" campatible with the new mode of living in a global village. From the very first pages, I was made a captive reader. Through the eye's of the five-year old Angelica, I saw graphically how the evolving scenes would require the rude awakening of many education workers to build a new vision for education. Fortunately, the author Hedley Beare was quite forthcoming about definitive approaches that teachers could adopt. Unlike authors who dodge the real issues and couch their recommendations in a nest of "ifs", the author overtook the gloomy preamble to paint a plausible frame for action. In summary, this book is highly recommended for educators whose crystal ball is cloudy as they are plunged into the unknown known as the knowledged base society.

"Creating the future school"- Hedley Beare

While many parents, teachers and students revel in the static conservatism of education as we have come to know it, Hedley Beare sounds the clarion trumpet blast of a paradigm shift. Beare's creative analysis of future trends is not new but his contribution is that he makes great sense in translating those trends to school operations.

The story of Angelica, the future's child, personalizes the changes that will affect the children of this Century and it reiterates the coming globalisation that will be a reality to this next generation.

The section on teachers as knowledge workers emphasises what has long been ignored by writers in the business management sector. If we are to become a learning society then we need to re-examine the role of teachers and schools in our society. Beare reminds us that with all teachers (in Australia) holding four year degrees from universities, teaching is moving from a craft to a profession.

The book is well worth a place in school administrators' professional reading lists. And, the theses Beare proposes will help principals get their heads around the big picture and the new world of opportunities.

I've been in hospital middle-management for more than 20 years. Very early in this book, Sherman states that the reason why hospitals fail is because of bad management. Not the government, not the insurance companies, not the high cost of technology. He offers a terrific approach and identifies the need to totally change how hospitals are run, based on seven Key Result Areas. His principles are quite similar to those of Jack Welch - the importance of great people, integrity, and "the customer is king". This should be required reading for every CEO and department head in every American hospital.

V. Clayton Sherman has written a wonderful dissertation about how the hospital system in this country is run. He also gives a wonderful blueprint of how to correct one of the most mismanaged businesses in the country. The hospital system today is struggling under HEAVY regulatory and monetary restrictions. But if these regulations had been in place from the beginning, like the banking industry, the participants wouldn't be running around like "chickens with their heads cut off" to fulfill "minimum standards" of Joint Commission and other like entites. What the industry desperately needs is a complete overhaul. Mr. Sherman gives the plan to follow in redoing the management of this industry, by throwing out the antiquated notions of management, and starting from the ground up to rebuild on a customer satisfaction driven premise. He sites Wal-Mart and how Sam Walton's idea of keeping the customer number one would work well in the hospital too....but this would require some different rules and some very different thinking. I strongly feel this should be REQUIRED reading for ALL hospital management!

For me the words 'resilient organization' conjured up the image of an organization that would be able to absorb shocks without permanent injury, and able to adapt to a rapidly changing external environment in a quick and efficient manner. In today's world, resiliency well might be the key to survival as we know that each year a wild card - a low probability event which nevertheless occurs - will probably hit us from behind. We know that even if we have the best planners helping us, it is just not practical to budget for anything but the highest probability wild cards. In which case we need to be resilient like a boxer weaving in and out seeking the weaknesses in the opposition and ready to slam home a winning blow the moment he drops his guard. If indeed that is what the author meant by creating the resilient organization I would certainly like my organization to be resilient.

The fly sheet of the book had some complimentary remarks by well-known writers such as "We must abandon our outdated management systems, style and beliefs. But How? ..." and "The social contract between corporation and worker has unraveled. Loyalty has disappeared. How do you motivate employees who are little more than mercenaries?" and "In the future, there will be two types of organizations: those that are agile and responsive and those that will be swallowed up in an avalanche of change." and "'Creating the Resilient Organization' provides practical tools and proven methods for creating the agile, flexible enterprises necessary to survive and prosper." These comments made me feel that this book could have considerable value for my organization.

Pointing out that the latest management fads such as TQM have failed because they do not address the core processes involved in transforming yesterday's bureaucratic organization into tomorrows responsive enterprise, Deevy makes the case for radical transformation by answering three questions:
- What is it about traditional work organizations that limits their ability to be competitive in a fast-paced business environment?
- What cultural or systemic changes must be made in order to regain competitiveness?
- How can we most effectively transform older bureaucracies into responsive high-performing enterprises?

The first three chapters deal with the first question while the remaining 14 chapters deal with the three secrets of treating employees; creating the resilient organization; leadership and middle management; the "Blitz" strategy for change; building support for change; promoting innovation and strategy; and unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit.

Having taken to heart Covey's advice to "Start with the end in mind", I turned to chapter 7 with the subtitle "Begin with a vision for the future" with its opening remark from a hard-nosed business man: "This vision stuff is not going to add to the bottom line" and the author's comment "Ask any business leader what his or her vision is for the future of the company and you are likely to get a quick summary of the strategic plan." Yet a clear, practical, motivating vision that is clearly communicated is the first requirement for building a high-performance organization. Unfortunately George Bush with his comment about the "vision thing" gave the impression that vision is wishful thinking rather than business reality. Properly handled, vision drives performance, motivates, formulates practical guidelines, sets direction - in fact vision is the foundation for rapid-response management and is the first step in the process of building a high-performance enterprise.

The second step is deciding where to position the organization in the market place and then and only then can you introduce RapidResponse management. We have only to reflect on Churchill's leadership in WW II and many business success stories since then to accept that leadership is the core requirement. CEOs like Lee Iacocca and Jack Welch are respected for their "slash and burn" approach to management, although most such executives perceive themselves as practitioners of participatory management. However, many fail to distinguish between management (doing things right) and leadership (doing the right things). Most organizations have abundant management but little leadership. The author warns us that changing a mature company into a RapidResponse enterprise requires leadership attributes that are in scarce supply. One of the first steps is to let go of Theory X stereotypes that label workers as intrinsically lazy and unmotivated and start to recognize the potential of staff at all levels. Creativity can be found at every level, irrespective of academic credentials or job title. Pat Riley transformed a mediocre professional basketball team into world class competitors simply by helping them realize their potential.

With so many books in the market place and with so many advisors claiming to have a magic wand, it is difficult to know where to turn and who to trust. Moreover, your problem may be different from my problem and the book that is good for you may not be the book that is good for me. I go back to the book jacket. "Analysts predict that as many as 6 million businesses will perish in the next five years for failure to adapt to the sweeping changes that affect how they do business. The businesses that will survive will be those that successfully transform themselves into "RapidResponse" organizations - companies that recognize and act on potential dangers and opportunities more quickly than their competitors.' Success today has the seeds of failure tomorrow if it instills complacency - in fact we have to plan to make ourselves redundant as soon as possible. If we don't then certainly the competition will. So I find it difficult to believe that anyone could not profit from studying this book; for some it may even mean survival.

When I read this common sense approach in what it would take to turn an establish company around. I thought, that their was finally someone who understood the human side of organizations. That all the intellectual knowledge, was not sufficient in dealing with real people in real jobs. A very practical real life insight in dealing with companies who have a long history of mistrust of management. That the 3 stages to this process, was so simple, yet offen not seen by top management. I think perhaps that it is painfully for them to really listen to what their workers are saying. That a lot of managers are more committed in keeping their power than risk empowering their work force, for the fear of losing control. Which very act suppress the creative juices and brain power of their organizations.