Organizations Books

Benedict developed his methods of leading during the time Rome was falling apart around 450 A.D.

His approach reflects a structured system of what worked within a community/business. It is a simple, honest, easy to understand method for leading an organization. It is also an easy read.

It is thought that over 40,000 organizations have used this approach over the last 1500 years. It has passed the test of time.

Don't mistake this for a religious book. The monks were more independent entrepreneurial businessmen than elements of the church. It is clearly a book about leadership that provides the essense of what it takes to be successful.

The method can be used as a model and is as applicable today as it was 1500 years ago.

Fantastic little book on Leadership. Examines the world's oldest management system, and why it has been so successful. Great applications to the modern corporation. Perfect book for those tired of military analogies for business, or "tough-guy" leadership. Neat ideas on corporate rituals, ethical foundations, employee formation, and how to build a cohesive work group. If more modern corporations followed these "rules", we would have fewer scandals and higher profits. An easy read.

The subjects of this book are GREAT mentors for the aspiring school leaders... those who TRULY seek to create leaders for our future! This is a very well written book that should be a standard text for Educational Leadership and Administration students.

Best Leadership Practices for High-Poverty SchoolsGreat job in getting this book to me in time for my class.

I ordered this book for a class I was taking. Amazon had a wonderful first-time buyers discount through the Visa card and it seemed like a perfect way to get my book. The listing for the postage said I had two hours to order for the book to reach me next day. The book did not arrive until four days later! In addition, I directed it to go to a different mailing address but it went to my home address. I didn't get the book until a week later! Another student in the class had the exact same experience with the same book, but hers never arrived!

The book itself is good. It gives ideas for lesson planning for phonics and vocabulary which have been pretty easy to follow and implement. It is an easy read.

Dr. Gambrell has done a thorough work in "Best Practices...." and the research is impeccable. I will be using this as my guide to literacy instruction for a long time.

"This book describes a process through which corporate leaders can create a high-performance organization capable of sustaining a lasting competitive advantage. It is an approach that takes into consideration all of the factors that affect organizational performance. By examining the whole organization, and by aligning its systems, structure, and culture to enable all employees to excell and execute the company's chosen strategy, corporate leaders can successfully transform their organization...Although targeted at corporate leaders, this book will benefit anyone interested or involved in any aspect of organizational change. By understanding the components of organizational change, frontline employees and middle-level managers alike can more effectively participate in and guide the change effort in their part of the organization. A successful organizational transformation is never the sole accomplishment of a leader and his or her senior team. Rather, the transformation is achieved through the hard work and commitment of all types of leaders througout the entire organization" (from the Preface).

In this context, Christopher W. Head:

* by asking/answering some critical questions such as What is going wrong? Why are so many change efforts failing? What is an organizational transformation? defines organizational transformation and indicates key factors to a successful transformation.

* by both asking/answering the following questions: What characteristics do transformational leaders possess? What must these leaders do in order to prepare their organizations for all of the difficult challenges that lie ahead? and comparing transformational leaders and traditional/transactional leaders, discusses the leadership factor for a successful corporate transformation.

* explains how leaders can lead effective change by creating an environment that fosters participation and ownership, and presents a detailed change management plan (more detailed discussion of this plan see Chapter 3).

* by asking/answering the following questions: How can leaders create a work environment that fosters high-levels of involvement from all of their employees? What are the elements that truly empower and involve all employees? How do organizations benefit from having an empowered workforce after the transformation process has been completed? discusses the steps needed to establish a high level of employee involvement within organization.

* by asking/answering the following questions: What is the best way of getting employees committed to leading the change effort? What are the transition teams? Why should they be used? Who should be on these teams and how should team members be selected? What are their core responsibilities? What kind of assistance do these teams need from top management and internal or external consultants? How should transition teams involve customers and suppliers in their work? examines the role of employees and employee teams (transition teams) during the transformation process.

* by asking/answering the following questions: What is core process redesign? What steps should organizations follow to redesign and align their core processes? What are the roles and responsibilities of the steering committee and transition teams during this stage? What other groups need to be involved? discusses how transition teams can successfully redesign and align core processes.

* by asking/answering the following questions: What can organizations do to make sure they create 'good' jobs for all employees? What elements are needed to make 'natural' work teams successful? examines the terms 'good' and 'natural' and their importance to realize drastic performance improvement.

* explains the changing role of middle management and the additional structural changes that an organization must make to support the newly established work teams.

* argues that "traditional measurement systems, solely focused on functional outcomes and overall financial performance, fail to provide the natural work teams with the necessary feedback they need to improve their performance", and hence presents an alternative performance measurement system.

* in addition to new performance measurement system, presents a new performance-based compensation system that rewards and motivates.

* argues that "an organizational transformation is never truly complete. Rather, it is series of large-scale changes - to the culture, processes, structure, and so on - over the course of a given time period, approximately one to three years, followed by continuous learning and ongoing improvement by all employees. Eventually, despite such improvement efforts, industry conditions and/or technological developments will necessitate another transformation in the years ahead", and describes how innovative companies are creating continuous improvement by 'learning organizations'.

Finally, C. W. Head suggests that "organizational transformation is not easy. The path to a successful transformation is often met with many obstacles. You will be confronted with people who doubt your plans and resist your every move. Do not fight your resistors. Rather, help educate those who do not yet understand the value of transforming the workplace, who have yet to tap into the potential of all employees. Be patient, stay focused, and do not lose hope. Your perseverance and dedication will pay off as your organization succeeds".

Highly recommended.

Beyond Corporate Transformation provides a refreshing view about organization change. While many consultants get caught up in their terminology, the author, Chris Head, seems to be genuinely concerned that the reader gain something useful from his book. This book is great for anyone who doesn't have an understanding of whole system design or who would like a process for implementation. The author's key point that the future organization cannot succeed without tapping into each employee's potential should be heeded by all organizations.

This is a wonderful book and a must have for anyone looking to strengthen their organization. It is full of clear, logical instructions on how to make everyone come together. This book was worth the money and time!

"Beyond Teams" is an excellent reference for anyone interested in charting or changing results in their collaborative networks. From the standpoint of anyone involved in Organizational Behavior/Organizational Development, from manager, practitioner, academic, consultant or team member, this book provides many useful insights and has the feel of actual fieldwork used in its writing. The book is laid out in such a manner that it can be applied in any given situation. The ten guiding principles are structured and repeated in various collaborative work settings consistently. This allows the reader to apply the principles in their unique setting. The ten guiding principles are then explained for each general situation with a short description given for when the principles are not working and, more importantly, when they are working. Too often in this field books are written from a purely academic viewpoint or "this is how you fix it" approach. This book is different in that you can sense the fieldwork in the research and you see how things are supposed to work as well as when they are not working. This gives the reader the option of working on a group's deficiencies while complementing their achievements. This book is a "must have" for anyone interested in improving team communications.

Those seriously interested in eliminating racism and making our society representative of it's famous constitutional creed, must read Beth Roy's "Bitters in the Honey." Roy interviews several adults, black and white, who were students at Central High School-Little Rock, Ark. during the school desegration of 1957-58. Roy clearly points out how the priviledged white students perceived the move towards equality as infringing on their rights, thus making them victims. While the nine black students-the true victims-, the martyrs for positive change, had to withstand constant harassment and acts of violence by angry white students. Even more pathetic, Roy describes how the white students blame the monumental court decision for them not reaching their expected goals in life. Blame, responsibility, guilt, denial are common themes expressed by the white adults, who unknowingly had the power to affect change that would in turn, empower everyone. This book should be on the Oprah Book List, because until serious discussion about race relations is undertaken between people, there will continue to be two victims: the hater and the hated. And this society will continue to weaken from divisiveness.

In this excellent book, Beth Roy examines the lives of whites and blacks who attended Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1958 - the tumultuous year of Central High's desegregation. Drawing on life histories with former high school students, Roy paints a complicated and layered picture of understanding, and more importantly, misunderstanding between whites and blacks across time - the interviews were done 30 years later - and across racial difference. I use this book in course I teach on the history of affirmative action in 20th Century America - and my undergraduate students respond strongly to this book. Some are quite surprised by the white students misperceptions about the black students who came to Central High and their seeming indifference to the experiences of black students. Others are upset, even angry by this indifference. And, still others are embarassed as they read their own feelings into the life histories of the participants. It is also terrific for teaching about the dilemma of memory in reconstructing life histories. Roy demonstrates how the people she interviewed often unwittingly reconstruct their stories of the past to fit present day narratives and understandings or race, race relations, and "white victimization." Rather than dismiss their accounts as "untrue," however, she uses these examples to understand why her interviewees tell stories that diverge from actual accounts written at the time of desegregation. In all, this is a terrific book and a terrific read. I highly recommend it.

I highly recommend Black Students and School Failure (BSASF) to all serious educators and parents of black students. I also highly recommend re-reading it to anyone who has read this book some time ago. Simply put, this book makes the reader think.

I first read BSASF in 1991. Over the years, I have re-read sections of the book a number of times. For me, the vital and brilliantly communicated points of BSASF are these:

1. [Contrary to "Bell Curve" thinking,]Black children's capacity and potential for learning is equal to that of other ethnic groups.

2. Black children's learning potential is systematically not being realized in America's school systems. Reasons or this include but are not limited to: low expectations and self-fulfilling prophecies; lack of cultural synchronization; lack of national, strategic focus on effectively educating poor, minority children.

In other words, black student failure in school does not point to an inherent inability to learn. Rather, it points to clearly ineffective - perhaps even racist - policies and practices on a classroom, school, school system, and national level.

3. The problem of black student school failure is significantly correlated with the problem of black poverty - and the salient issues of drug abuse, violence, teen pregnancy, etc. These problems persist and will continue to persist until there is an active commitment address them with not just short-lived interventions, but long-term strategic focus on improving educational outcomes for black students.

Being a first-year teacher of math at a 90+% black high school in South Florida, I am an everyday witness of low teacher expectations and self-fulfilling prophecies for black students. This book convinces me that there would be significantly less black poverty if significantly more teachers had high expectations for their black students. Moreover, it makes me wonder if perhaps there would even be a cure for cancer!

Patrick Harper

Coconut Creek, Florida
April 20, 2003

That book is difficult, but I made my way through it, because it’s the truth. And it is good stuff. And it’s worth it. She tells the truth. She explains why black children and students have such problems with Western education. Her answer is that Western education was designed and made by whites. This may be OK for Asians, who are closer to whites, but it can’t work for Africans, our race is too different, the “racial distance”(and the culture that stems from each race) is too big. I don’t mean to be racist, man, but that’s how it is, we are no whites, and whites are no blacks, and that’s fine. Seems to come close to a book I haven’t read, The White Architects of Black Education: Ideology and Power. AND, even worst, she proves, reveals that the aim of this white education that is imposed unto blacks is enslave them by conditioning them to respect white authority, to be docile, subordinate and dependent on white, and by predestinating them to the inferior lowest jobs whites need for their free-market economy. Put it clearly, man : it is still white slavery and exploitation of Africans, but it is hidden. And worst, because you don’t see it and you won’t revolt and shake off the white yoke. It’s deception. And I would had that this white schooling hurts terribly, breaks our African soul, identity , and that’s why many of us fail, our African soul can’t work out with a white identity that is unnatural to us and that enslaves us. But she has the (obvious) solution: we need our own separate schools, but not just so before the segregation, not compulsory, and above all not designed by whites for white children, but designed by Africans for black children. That’s it. The whole point is about designing black school. It should be done by Africans who have rediscovered their roots, I mean their own African cultures, religions, races and languages. Here in South Africa we got a seminal book, P. C. Luthuli’s The Philosophical foundations of Black education in South Africa. Luthuli saw that “While throughout their history Black people have borrowed quite generously in order to construct their school curriculum, the time has come for this to be done within the dictates of their basic needs” and that our schools “must be governed by the fundamental collective philosophy of life”, that is by our own African soul, not the thinking, the soul of the white race, which is alien to us. Irvine, working with the African diaspora in America has come exactly to the same conclusion. What a good book, man, that’s real black studies, black university, and it’s not baloney like some of those white racists say who would like to abolish black studies. Quite the contrary, read her book, she proves we need our own “Afrocentric independent schools”.

If you are looking for a book to explain how to plan and implement a special event, this is the book for you. This book explains what to do and what not to do, so that your organization can get the most money out of your event. You can read it straight through or just go to certain chapters to get the information that you want. Also, don't let the celebrity/high society examples turn you off. What is in this book works even if you don't have access to a celebrity or society connections. I used what is in this book to raise money for my local Lions Club. Don't get any other book for special events--Black Tie Optional is the guide for special events.

At last! This book answers all the difficult "how to" questions for the fund-raiser for a non-profit organization. Every possible problem is anticipated and discussed, and reasons for doing and not doing are offered. Most organizations spend more money raising funds than they collect, and Harry Freedman explains where the hidden costs are and how to avoid them. Freedman seems to know what you are thinking and he will tell you why what someone else does may not be the right event for you. There is something in this book for the veteran fund-raiser or the eager new volunteer.
--Andrew Kevorkian
Public Relations Consultant

You can read it in one sitting but should read it again and again. It is simple, to the point and tells us the kind of people we could become. Well worth the read.

This book I read in the begining of the school year. It is a great book. Whan I say great I realy mean great. The things that the mother teresa would toatly amaze you. She lives with the poor helped people with sickness and took care of abanden babies. you should read this book and find out more about it infact I would recomend it a lot.(you SHOULD read htiss book)

R. Scott "Scooter" Hall has a grip on the jugernaut that is Citizen-Generated Media. He wraps himself around the enigma and straightens out the curve ball associated with daily static communication to make sense of the nutty, everyday e-comm that bombards us from the buzzer. R. Scott is the man. I eagerly await the brilliant light he eminates upon the shuck and jive of todays bloggers.

James M. "Jacksone" Watry Jr.

The Blog Ahead
I'm not a geek. I don't get the Internet. But I am a reader, a writer and teacher by trade, and a blogger. I have enjoyed the advantages of the easy, open communication of the Internet. It's not overstating the matter to say the Internet has helped people make and remake themselves.

R. Scott Hall's new book The Blog Ahead (Morgan-James 2006) places the Internet as I experience it--as my private public library and party-line phone system--in the context of a communications revolution that is almost on a par with the Gutenberg printing press.

Instead of top-down communications, we have horizontal communications. Formerly, if I had a story to tell or sell, I had to go through the old-fashioned system of pitching the story to an editor, waiting for consideration and feedback, writing it, submitting it to the editor, and waiting for publication. That could take days. Whether or not my story received air time depended completely on the editor.

Now I'm the boss. I create, publish on a blog or post to some public forum, and reach an audience and receive feedback. The reach and effect of my work depends on the whims of the entire world, which means there's a lot of competition. If my product is garbage, there's a highly literate online community of thinkers who won't hesitate to let me know. If it has appeal, that audience will tell me that too.

This community has integrity by nature, according to Hall, so it's self-correcting. People want solid information up front and presented well. If they bump into something that doesn't meet expectations, prepare to hear about it.

This really brings an end to anonymity. It's not true that we're anonymous when we're online. That's a myth. Stat counters, guestbooks, and other forms of data collection programming track our activity all over the place. Call it an invasion of privacy or call it marketing, but you are never alone when you're online. So, if you enter the online world, be prepared to have something to say, say it well, and sign your name. Hall has no time for anonymity. If you can't accept feedback and you won't sign your name, you jeopardize the integrity of the online community. You won't be tolerated, either.

There is a survival-of-the-fittest element to all of this. We self-sort the good stuff from the junk. We survive based on the quality of our material and our drive to be heard. This is a revolution.

The book reads like a blog in some ways with its links to web sites that are leading the way in this new form of communication. Hall's anecdotes about the effects of blogging on political campaigns and corporate public relations--read, accountability to the public--are fascinating. Better yet are the stories about the role of ordinary people in breaking news stories because, well, they know what's going on.

I recently used some YouTube videos in a college English literature class lesson. I was making the point that even these videos are texts that affect our understanding of the world and therefore how we read and write. Specifically, I used two interviews between a minister and a banker who formerly lived in Lebanon. One student asked, "If this guy knows so much, how come he's not on TV?"

Exactly.

It was a beautiful moment. What about the integrity of your own thoughts based on your own experiences? Why are the less important than the big thoughts of the guy who happened to be walking by the bigger camera? Money still talks in the mind of so many of us. What a big idea, though, that we can talk to each other directly and maybe learn something.

Hall's book is a good read, and it's fun. It's even out-of-date in some places, even if it is a new publication. Its greatest value is in documenting the paradigm shift in communications and predicting trends in future communication. It will be fun to stick around and see if he's right.

R. Scott Hall, a direct marketing strategist and online business expert, is the founder of Online Mavericks and the Citizen Generated Media blog, and is based in New York, NY. Online Mavericks helps entrepreneurs as well as established companies maximize their market presence, product/buyer focus and effectively blend both offline and online efforts.