Organizations Books

I met Annie Barron in connection with a panel discussion she and I participated in back in May. I loved how she presented on the effectiveness of open business environments and just knew I would love her book.

Well I read it and I have to say it is one of the best tutorials on how to create an open environment in one's workplace. Ms. Barron is a master at keeping the reader entertained with intriguing stories and excellent strategies and recommendations that companies of any size can understand, implement and benefit from.

I highly recommend this powerful book for anyone that wants to challenge complacency within their organization and develop a workplace culture that promotes collaboration, innovation and mutual success.

Excellent, excellent read!

Ripple On!

Steve Harper
www.therippleeffectbook.com

Beyond the measurable benefit to any organization that is in the pursuit of world class operations, this book generously offers palpable life lessons to it readers that can be applied in multiple areas of ones life, work and home alike.

This book will facilitate clarity for any organization or individual as they experience the journey of life through the lens of the human experience.

Wow! More! Now! Indeedee! :-)

I really enjoyed reading this book and thinking about the concept of openness and how it relates to my work environment and relationships. The writing is accessible, and the questions at the end of each chapter helped me apply what I had read to my unique situation. I look forward to sharing the book and exercises with my coworkers!

At last, a superb book that not only explains the comprehensive view of organizations that was the lifetime work of Elliott Jaques, but also provides the larger context of his work alongside practical examples of how it can be applied to improve organizational life. Ken Shepard has done a magnificent job of bringing together managers, academics, practitioners and consultants who have hands-on experience of Jaques's work. The chapters provide a feast for the reader interested in improving the performance of organizations by allowing members to realize their individual capabilities while working creatively and harmoniously with each other.

As an academic/consultant myself, my early career seemed filled with mysteries as I tried to understand organizational life. After reading much of the literature, and finding nuggets of truth here and there, I felt that the pieces didn't fit together. By good fortune, I was a member of the School of Social Sciences at Brunel University when Jaques was Head of the School, but I initially dismissed his theories as just too implausible. However, on closer examination, followed by teaching a course, Behaviour in Organisations, with him, it dawned on me that here was a comprehensive theory that brought together and made sense of my experiences in organizations outside the university.

I now teach Jaques's ideas about organizational structure and functioning to my students at the London School of Economics, and use them in my consultancy work. Several years ago I loaned my copy of Requisite Organization to a retired chairman of one of the UK's largest companies, who on returning it to me commented "If I had had this book earlier, the last 25 years of my company life would have been completely different."

This new book should light fires in organizations all around the world, exposing serious dysfunction, but also showing how it can be cured. A landmark achievement in the social sciences: a theory that not only explains and predicts, but also shows how improvements can be made.

Every three to five years a groundbreaking book is published. This inspiring book is one of them. I have been working with teams and organisations during the last 25 years, enabling them to realize there purpose. During this period I experimented with different models and approaches, each having an added value. Nevertheless I still had the feeling that something was missing.

This book builds on the work of Elliot Jaques and is for me one of the missing pieces in how to (re)build trust. It recognises that people and organisations are complex. Understanding how people at different levels deal with this complexity is one of the keys to create effective organisations. This book presents a set of concepts and a model that predict what will and what will not be effective in organisations regarding leadership, systems, staffing and structures. Rather than a set of prefabricated solutions it is a tool that helps understand how you can increase the performance and well-being in an organisation.

I found the book an extremely valuable add for excecutives and everyone who is responsible for organising work. It gave me new insights on how to structure an organisation, how to match and challenge the capabilities of employees, how to provide the appropriate recognition and above all how to develop a value system to make contributions in broader society. The approach takes you beyond the current dominant 'competency' approach and the numerous examples helped me understand how to design, implement and sustain positive changes in an organisation.
Jan De Visch - Managing Partner Bridges for Choice (Belgium)

The sheer magnitude of this book is immense. A sizeable volume with many authors, carefully crafted together through skilful editing and design.

The book undertakes a large task in bringing the frameworks originally developed by Elliott Jaques and Wilfred Brown into the present. Over the decades since their original publications the body of knowledge has widened and many of the ways that we look at companies and organizations has changed.

Unfortunately the speed of change and the needs of academics and consultants to position themselves has led to a "flavour of the month" in publishing. Not unlike the tabloids, where the most important thing is to sell todays issue.

This book brings forward what has very much been a silent and unglamorous movement. Not a word about glitzy strategies or dramatic success stories. It is all about building sound organizational structures and manning them with the right people.

The authors of this anthology are academics, consultants and people from the real world of companies and organizations. The book contains a substantial body of knowledge and experience. No single author could bring together all this.

The book reminds me of the Edison quote "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls, and looks like work". A lot of the organizational stuff that we read in papers, magazines and books is "flash in the pan" and contains the lure of the quick fix. This book is about the resilient way to long term organizational success, and that is a big job.

If you want to live on the hope for a quick fix, then read all the other books. If you truly want to embark on the journey of building a viable and successful organization, then read this book and set it as your starting point.

In "Organisation Design: Fashion or fit?" Mintzberg discusses five distinct organisational configurations namely the simple structure, the machine bureaucracy, the professional bureaucracy, the divisional form and adhocracy. Each configuration is made up of five component parts namely the strategic apex, operating core, technostructure, support staff and the middle line.

The author explains how coordination is achieved in the five organisational configurations. For example, in the simple structure, it is through supervision; in a machine bureaucracy (such as a vehicle assembly line), it is through standardisation of work; in a professional bureaucracy (such as a university), it is through standardisation of skills; in a divisional form, it is through the standardisation of output; and in the most complex organisational structure, the adhocracy, coordination is achieved through mutual adjustment. The author explains the pros and cons of each configuration and where it is most suitable.

According to Mintzberg, these configurations are effective tools for diagnosing the problems of designing organisations.

This is a very enlightening article in organisational design which is a must to read by managers who need to understand how to design their organisations for effective performance. Those studying management, business studies or an MBA will find the article very useful, easy to follow and understand.

Henry Mintzberg is Professor of Management Studies at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and a Professor of Organization at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France. This classic article was published in the January-February 1981 issue of the Harvard Business Review.

In order the discuss and distinguish the five distinct organizational configurations, Mintzberg first discusses the five component parts which make up the whole organization: strategic apex, operating core, technostructure, support staff, and middle line. He then continues with describing how each of these elements cluster into the five configurations. Each of these five configurations (simple structure, machine bureaucracy, divisional form, adhocracy) are discussed in detail, with both their strengths and weaknesses. So how do we need to use these configurations? "... this set of five configurations can serve as an effective tool in diagnosing the porblems of organizational design, especially those of the fit among component parts." Mintzberg uses four basic forms of misfit to show how managers should use it as a diagnostic tool. He emphasizes that especially fit remains an important characteristic. There are excellent graphs, tables, and a great appendix explaining the organizational configurations and component parts. The author concludes that "the point is not really which configuration you have; it is that you achieve configuration."

Yes, this is one of the best articles I have read. It provides a great introduction/framework into organizational structures and design. Mintzberg does not want us to see his introduction as a framework. But I disagree. This article is thorough enough to use as a framework, keeping in mind that larger organizations (can) consist of a mixture of the discussed configurations. For people interested in a further discussion of organizational structures I refer to Henry Mintzberg's 1978-book "The Structuring of Organizations". This article should be compulsory reading for managers and MBA-students. The author uses simple business US-English.

The best book to understand the nature of any organization in business or no business world. Henry Mintzberg give us the elements to detect the sick part in the structure and the way to keep in control every part through parameters.

That's the best tool to use when you want to see your company focused in the structure analysis, to take the actions to align the model. This article is old, but is actual too, then you want to know it.

The textbook was brand new and was wrapped in cellophane. Class began the following week, and the book arrived that week-end which gave me enough time to complete assignments in a timely fashion.

I used this book in my MBA program. This is a very good resource. It is researched based with many articles that are relatively short and to the point.

The editors of the book have included in a single volume the classics. The articles include those authored by Kurt Lewin, Chris Argyris, Edgar Schein, Gareth Jones, C.K. Prahalad & Jeffrey Pfeffer besides many others. The latest edition published in 2000 include 16 new readings. Useful resource material for students of organisational behaviour and organisational change. The strategies described in some of the readings could be usefully applied in a variety of work settings. HR practioners and those in human resources development will find some of the articles valuable in crafting policies and renewal of training strategies. To sum it, in the words of the editors, "The field of organisation development is fun and exciting. We hope this anthology will convey some of that sense of excitement." I have discovered that sense of excitement when I read the articles in the book. I will continue to refer to them from time to time.

An amazing book that held my hand through the entire organization process. It helped alleviate my overwhelming feeling of dealing with my stuff. What a godsend.

This book was published in 1993, but I, at the least, would greatly appreciate and feel there is a need for an updated version with new ideas and suggestions on how to keep up with today's innovations, etc. Thanks.

I would recommend this book to anyone who ever felt lost in a sea of their own stuff. I latched onto the 'box storage system' right away, read it again and picked up some paperwork tips, after the third time I tried the meal planning calendar and my life has been changed forever. Husband loves it. I love it. Go Pam!

I've read MANY books on home organization. I just came across this one and read it all in one day!! It is very clear and covers one end of the house to the other. Plus, you don't have to set up elaborate systems to get your house organized. Get a copy of this one--you'll be glad you did!!

WHERE IS THE SECOND EDITION AVAILABLE FROM?I NEED IT ASAP!!PLEASE HELP ME

The second edition of The Organization of Industry (ISBN 0-87393-414-8) is now available from Dame Publications, Inc., 7800 Bissonnet, Suite 415, Houston, TX 77074. Phone: (713) 995-1000

The Second Edition of THE ORGANIZATION OF INDUSTRY will soon be published by Dame Publications, Inc., of Houston, Texas. How do I know? I'm the author. Please send me your comments

I've been referring myself to this book for several years. I find that reworking its basic rules gets me moving again when I've stalled. Knight's simple explanations of emotionally charged issues (for us packrats) make it possible. Bravo!

Knight's book, Organized to Last, is one of the best resources for those considering becoming a professional organizer. I recommend organizers-in-training watch the DVD and read the book to glean the most realistic glimpse of what the client-organizer relationship is like and how the job is done, professionally.

On the DVD, detailed methods are presented in an uncomplicated way, then important points are summarized.

Best of all, Knight teaches HOW to organize. Whether organizing yourself or organizing professionally for others, this book and DVD are useful tools in one's organizing toolbox.

I am a professional organizer and find Porter Knight's book to be just about the best reference out there amongst the sea of organizing resources and materials. It is beautifully designed so that the reader can gain the maximum from each section. I refer everyone to this book and find it to be invaluable in my life and business!

Smith and Berg have wrouth - written is too modest - a briljant insighful and wise guide tour behind the coulises of our lifes. It is the best guide book I know to the place you live in: the group. You can use it in almost every situation. They show how we are caught in our webs, our own frames of mind, our relational swamp. Such is life and it is getting sucher and sucher all the time.
I recommend this book to every one dealing with groups AND individuals, because there is no better way to start to understand what life ' is'.

This insightful book has accompanied me through grad school, two corporate reorganizations and numerous consulting projects. The authors have written an excellent text on the contradictory forces/movements endemic to group life. Their use of paradoxical thought as a lens for thinking about and successfully navigating the territory of group life is both practical and innovative. If you're looking for the usual book about conflict resolution, please look elsewhere. Smith and Berg advocate reclaiming rather than repressing or eliminating the fears and anxieties that define many aspects of group life. Their explanation of concepts such as group paralysis, oscillation, group-as-whole, splitting and individual ambivalence are clear and highly cogent when integrated into a paradoxical framework.

Paradoxes of Group Life is a masterful explication of the concepts its title announces. This readable volume will serve the newcomer to Group Dynamics as well as the more experienced cognoscenti. People are often fundamentally ambivalent about ourselves and our participation in groups. Smith & Berg explain these (often unconscious) dynamics with great clarity and force. Treat yourself to this compelling analysis. I highly recommend their important work!

This book is great "airplane" reading. Each chapter is self contained --- usually about 10 to 15 pages, and written by world renowned experts in their field. Partnering is the common theme, but the authors cover a lot of territory.

This book is timely and relevant to today's environmnet. I especially like the idea that all the authors (as if these people need the money) are donating the royalities from sales to the victims of September 11, 2001.

Great book! Partnering is the way to do business now and in the future. The book is a fine collection of tools and strategies in leadership and management. It's educational, inspiring and engaging at the same time. A must read for anybody who manages fast pace, competitive businesses

This is a book for people who are concerned for building a better future. As someone who has spent a great deal of time studying leadership, I find the focus on doing it better that is found in this book to be quite refreshing. Here we move beyond evolutionary changes to ideas that are quite revolutionary. This is not a book about maintaining the status quo power structures. This is a book about creating new leadership styles where partnership with knowledgeable workers will be needed to ensure organizational success.

The command and control style of leadership is coming to an end. For a leader to succeed in the future they will have to rely on their ability to pull together the talents of many individuals. This will be a leader who respects others, who helps coach and develop real talent, who shares success, and who continuously reinvents her/himself. The book gives us hope for a future where we can be productive without sacrificing our humanity.

The books 30 essays by 42 thought leaders are works derived from a passion for helping others. The inspiration for this book comes from an awareness for new leadership made more apparent by the events of 9/11. All of the royalties from this book will go to help the victims of that tragic day.

A must have for anyone interested in Bone and Soft Tissue Pathology. I'm not sure when the new edition is coming out, though. You may want to look into that.

Dear Sirs,

I have returned the book "Pathology and genetics of tumors of the soft tissues and bones" because I have already bought by amazon.com in my other account (vencio56@hotmail.com). My mistake.

The book is very good (5 stars).
Sincerely,
Eneida Franco Vencio

This is a great book to review bone and soft tissue tumor.