Organizations Books

With software and engineering management, problem *formulation* is often harder than problem *resolution*. In my experience, the problem isn't answering the questions, it's knowing what questions to ask.

The genius of this book is that it offers a bunch of really good questions to help you frame the problems, large and small, in your own organization. Himelstein also offers solid advice to help you find answers that work in your particular environment. It's a real distillation of thoughtful experience, presented in a very accessible way.

I became an instant fan of this book. I recommend it to any software manager trying to improve their organization, whether tuning up a good operation, or fixing a badly broken one.

The book provides a well ordered how-to-do list for senior software executives. From managing technology, to managing personnel, 100 questions has the answers.

When Mark asked me to read his manuscript, I had no
idea that I would end up credited as its editor. In
the interests of full disclosure, I shall tell you
that Mark is an old friend of mine, and it was for
that reason that I agreed to help him. But as I
read through that very first draft of _100 Questions to
Ask Your Software Organization_, I realized that this was
about more than just helping out an old friend.

Having spent more than 25 years working in Silicon
Valley, I've seen whole companies hobbled by
the inadvertent bad management of people, processes,
and products. This deficiency costs everyone, from a
company's investors to its customers. It is
particularly hard on its employees, who are any
company's principal asset. Worse, the problems that
plague development organizations are never binary.
Managing even a small group of smart people is
inherently complex and challenging. There's a lot
to know, and a lot to do. And that's part of what
makes this book important.

So what's it about? First and foremost, it is
exactly what it says it is: 100 questions which, while you're
figuring out how to fix or improve a software
engineering organization, you can ask of that
organization to help ascertain the shape it's in.
These are the questions you ask to gather the data
needed to form a plan, and they are organized in a
systematic and methodical way. Grouped by topic
into chapters, examples of some of the chapter headers
include: Communications, Roles and Responsibilities,
Strategy, Resources, Schedule, and Execution.
Grounded in his many years of successfully managing
engineering groups at major companies like Apple
and Sun Microsystems, Mark discusses some of the
answers you might get, how to interpret them, and
what, if anything, to do about them.

But this book is far from the run-of-the-mill, overly
analytical management tract. My two favorite chapters
are those he entitles Humanity and Final Words. Here,
the level of discourse rises, from sharing lessons
learned in hard experience to reflections on that
experience that smack of true wisdom. It's easy to
repeat the bromide that all business relationships
are human relationships, but Mark is able to articulate
the implications of this truth in a way that is
tangible and actionable. Do as he suggests, and all
in your environment will benefit.

Almost as important as the questions and the
discussion that accompanies them is the material Mark
includes in the appendices. In this concluding
section, he breaks down a hypothetical, large
engineering project into its components, and
provides examples of presentation templates and others tools
that will help the reader to manage a similar project.

I endorse this book without reservation. I know
personally that Mark's methods work, and that his
thinking has helped me run my own organization.

I personally use this book as a reference guide many times in my day-to-day business and I find the examples particularly helpful Hermann Jakob, Launch Planning & Training Manager, Ford Europ

For years, all the books available on organization design were written at too high a level of abstraction for practicing managers or were so enmeshed in detail that they simultaneously confused and bored the reader. At last, with The 20% Solution, John Cotter has provided a readable and practical guide to designing organizations for todayÍs business environments. This book is a real treasure chest of ideas. A must read! - Leonard A. Schlesinger, George F. Baker Jr., Professor of Business Administration, Ha

Very well written with suberb examples. A good plain-language introduction to sociotechnical systems design - Harvey Kolodny, Professor, Faculty of Management, University of Toront

This book should be read by everyone from young adults to senior executives. As a lay person, not only did I understand how to be successful in the business world, but how to improve my own life. The pages provided me with a fresh insight into leadership; one is not born as a leader, rather one must use leadership skills. Although this book provides examples with well known figures, it also points towards lesser known, but amply talented, leaders. However, albeit how successful some of these people are, some stories serve to remind us that even leaders cannot escape their own humanity. I loudly applaud Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner for giving me the tools to make my way through the 21st century!

My introduction to formalized leadership came during the Korean War, as I served as an instructor in the U.S. Army Infantry Leadership Course at Ft. Dix, NJ. There it was a pretty cut and dried formula with no opportunity for innovation. In the ensuing years leadership innovations have leaped into the spotlight with ever increasing frequency. Hardly a year goes by without some professor or management guru promulgating the latest leadership theory and its applications.

In my reading of this literature, I find that many, if not most, of them offer little of substance and seem to focus on providing panaceas that seldom seem to be applicable to my or my clients' situations. They enjoy waves of popularity and then like the old soldier just fade away to be replaced by the next new popular leadership theory.

Well, Tom Peters et al can step aside. The dynamic duo of Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner clearly demonstrate what effective managers need to learn to lead their organizations into the digital age. Rather than offering universal applications, these authors examine the nature of effective leadership in some depth. In specific situations they review the dilemmas of management and provide hardcore examples of how to reconcile fundamental issues of leadership.

Utilizing their base data from thousands of surveys of leaders and followers around the world and with their seven dimensions of cultural competence they have interviewed global leaders as they cope with the dilemmas of leadership. Rather than presenting seven or more essential habits, they focus on how these leaders reconcile differences to attain more effective management.

The authors suggest that business cultures are different, and that because business is run differently around the globe, we need different managerial and leadership competencies. What they call transcultural competence is their way of bridging those differences. It is a logic that tends to unify differences and that delineates the manager from the leader and the successful leader from the unsuccessful one. They call for a new way of thinking. Through-Through thinking is beyond either-or and even and- and thinking in that it synthesizes seemingly opposed values into coherence. Thus the main theme throughout this book is that effective leaders reconcile value dilemmas better than those who don't.

In in-depth interviews with 21 business leaders that run the range from Richard Branson of Virgin through the former Russian Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko, to corporate leaders throughout the West, we see the applications of transcultural competence through the use of the authors' seven dimensions: rule-making vs exception finding, that is universalism vs particularism; self-interest and personal fulfillment vs group interest and social concern, that is individualism vs communitarianism; preference for precise, singular, "hard" standards vs preference for pervasive, patterned. "soft: processes, that is specificity vs diffusion; emotions inhibited vs emotions expressed, that is neutral vs affective; status achieved through success and track record vs status ascribed to person's potential such as age, family, education, that is achievement vs ascription; control and effective direction comes from within vs control and effective direction comes from inside, that is inner-directed vs outer-directed; and time is conceived of as a "race" with passing increments vs time is conceived of as a "dance" with circular iterations, that is sequential vs synchronic. While not all of the 21 leaders address all of the above factors in their corporations, we do see that a number of these dimensions occur in varying issues of each organization. They include Kiriyenko working to reconcile dilemmas at the Nizhmy Novorod Oil Company (NORSI) such as that of inner direction (young Russians) vs outer directed (older Russians) or that of cronyism vs new rules or universalism vs particularism. Philippe Bourguignon of Club Med working to reconcile the dilemma of the unique, seamless, personalized vacation vs the reliable, affordable, segmented, standardized holiday with the specific ingredients going into the making of diffuse experiences.

Other examples of the reconciliation of dilemmas appear in such case studies as: creating a hyperculture with Martin Gillo of Advanced Micro Devices; recapturing the true mission with Christian Majgaard of Lego; the balance between market and product with Anders Knutsen of Bang and Olufsen; keeping closer to the customer with David Komansky of Merrill Lynch; and much more. Each of the case studies in the book offers rare insights into how the dilemmas of leadership can be met and how transcultural competence can be applied to leadership in the digital age. To quote the book itself: "The central premise that evolved is that the propensity to reconcile seemingly different contradictory values is the key competence behavior required for a leader to be effective in today's digital world." This is a fascinating spellbinding text blending the intercultural dilemmas of management with the reconciling forces of leadership to create innovative leaders. The examples from 21 business leaders prove again and again that Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner have hit enough nails on the head to build a solid model for the future.

David C. Wigglesworth an interculturalist is a management and organization development consultant and is president of D.C.W. Research Associates International in Kingwood, Texas. He can be reached at 281-359-4234 and dcwigg@earthlink.net
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Charles Hampden-Turner and Fons Trompenaars have been collaborating for many years to develop an understanding of how different cultures approach and resolve problems and the cross-cultural issues that arise from it. In the course of this collaboration they have developed a formidable database of responses from managers around the world, and a 'dilemma methodology' which they use to demonstrate how superior results flow from the way in which dilemmas are managed and resolved.

This book is a direct successor to a series of books by one or both authors, which develop the methodology and its application. This one applies it to the question of effective leadership, and makes a valuable contribution to a generally overcrowded field. In particular, it adds to understanding of the particular skill of an effective leader and also helps to build an operational understanding of what is meant by 'managing a culture'. The book can be read and used without reference to the earlier works, but Building Cross-Cultural Competence is particularly useful in providing an extended statement of the principles and dimensions summarized in the first 2 chapters of 21 Leaders.

The nine opening pages of the Introduction provide a succinct overview of the main thesis, described as a 'metatheory of leadership'. They argue that leaders 'manage culture' by fine-tuning and reconciling dilemmas and that that culture then runs the organization. Outstanding leaders are particularly adept at reconciling dilemmas - they make the necessary distinctions yet integrate them into a viable whole. The authors conceptualise apparently opposed values (eg individualism versus communitarianism) as being the opposite ends of a continuum and the test of successful reconciliation being that both values should emerge stronger from the interaction.

The book and most of the examples are based on issues of cross-cultural in the sense of cross-national values, but the principles apply equally wherever there is a potential clash of values - for example in a merger or a major program of change.

Through expanding their methodology and showing how it applies in a wide range of complex situations the authors seek to help leaders :

"Elicit and become aware of major business dilemmas in cross-cultural environments
See dilemma resolution as a crucial ingredient of strategy
Utilize dilemmas as strategic contexts for action
Learn the art of achieving one value through another in a virtuous circle (a process known as through-through thinking)
Learn how transnational entrepreneurs take their stands (preneur) between (entre) contrasting values."

Much of the book is devoted to case studies of the 21 selected leaders. These are not all the 'usual suspects' of the management literature, but include a former Russian Prime Minister and the heads of companies in a variety of industries and from a range of nations. Each is well-written and argues its particular points in a way that gives depth to the main thesis of the book.

Though I didn't read the whole thing, this is a good book. It doesn't merely complain about the problems that we women (sadly) still face. It actually provides us with solutions on how to remedy problems ranging from threats to reproductive freedom to pay inequities to racism against women of color, among other things. The book also provides a list of websites, books, and organizations that readers can contact for additional help. At a time when we as women are still facing injustices because of our sex, this book gives us what we need to fight the good fight and achieve justice, dignity, respect, and freedom for us and our sisters.

50 Ways To Improve Women's Lives: The Essential Women's Guide To Achieving Equality, Health, And Success by the National Council of Women's Organizations (a nonpartisan coalition of 200 women's groups representing more than 10 million woman across the United States) addresses a diversity of subjects of particular interest to women including pay equity, reproductive health, child care, racism, education, social responsibilities, political leadership, and more. Very highly recommended and accessible reading, 50 Ways To Improve Women's Lives provides practical advice that will enable the reader to become actively involved in advancing the quality and independence of her life, and to more effectively pursue her personal and professional agendas.

This book gives a great overview of issues that most effect women by sharing stories and facts to illustrate important areas where change needs to occur, from childcare and family issues to equal pay, and women in sports and science.

I found it quick and easy to read--and I have very little time as a working mom!--with practical and doable actions if I so chose. For example, I was appalled to hear about the state of (very little or misleading!) sex education for high school students. Since I have kids about to enter their teens, this issue spoke to me. And it gave several ways for me to get active: by not supporting funding for harmful abstinence programs; asking my elected officials to fund honest and comprehensive sex ed; and then how to make sure my kids develop their own decision-making and critical thinking skills related to sex (and how to talk to them about it!) And this is just one of the 50 Ways... in the book.

I highly recommend this for people who want to get involved but are not sure how--and who don't have time to read huge volumes of books on politics and public policy.

This text was a relatively quick read and it confirmed what I had learned in my teacher prepatory classes; however, it is the kind of belief system that some districts have steered away from in attempts to be more in touch with the emotional needs of students (this is not to say that meeting the emotional needs of the students isn't important, however, effort *can* equal achievement! It was in excellent condition; as well.

As other reviewers have noted, Jeanne Chall was passionately opinionated but also extremely well informed from her own decades of experience and research of educational methods. The evidence she presents in this book is wide-ranging, both historically and in subject matter. And her arguments as always are both rock-solid factual and heart-tuggingly persuasive. This is an excellent book that I would encourage as an appropriate and thoughtful gift for any educator.

Parents who are concerned with getting the best education for their children should also read this book. Chall's language is less esoteric here than in her scholarly articles (although this is a scholarly book and her conclusions are consistent with those papers). She demonstrates here that educational methods and research are not too obscure for the general reader.

In fact, her review of 100 years of research and experimentation shows that the common-sense notions held by the layman are correct -- that real teaching (instruction, direction, leadership, not just "guidance") works best to educate children. Chall explains why this is so, and shows the dire consequences of ignoring the facts.

This is an important book because Chall endeavors to provide a historical and social context for understanding the debates about how best to teach the majority of children in schools. Chall invites educators, publishers, parents, and policy makers to look beyond the politics and trends in education, and to focus on the research evidence on what methods get results. She also calls for teacher training programs to empower teachers with the knowledge to examine and question the research they base their practice on. She advocates for using the past constructively to inform choices made in the future. She often said that doctors would never dream of prescribing a brand new treatment without researching past cures and treatments... and yet educators, she said, seemed to reinvent the same ideas over and over without considerating research evidence already gathered. It made her hopping mad.

What is interesting to about this book is the story of it's evolution. Originally Chall drafted a very candid and straight forward manuscript based on the questions and opinions she had developed over 50 years as an educator. The book was going to be quite different from her well known scholarly publications. But then she kept rediscovering bits of newspaper and scraps from nagazines which she had piled away in vast personal collection of snippets -- all of which confirmed her thinking on what was going on in education. She became so excited about each interesting piece of evidence that including them became irresistable for her. But with each new snippet she then felt a need to address alternative viewpoints in order to try and offer a well rounded approach. Having been attacked in the past for her poignant views, I think she found it difficult (or maybe just stupid) to set herself for obvious criticisms. So what would originally have been a very personal argument based on her depth of experience in the field eventually evolved into a scholarly review of the historical evidence. This book -- completed during the last month's of her impressive life -- may not be her best work. But it is certainly her most personal. You just have to read between the lines.

James Popham's book "America's 'Failing' Schools: How Parents and Teachers Can Cope With No Child Left Behind" is an up front and simply written piece that argues why the No Child Left Behind Act is actually hurting our students and schools instead of helping them. Popham explains how school report cards are not an accurate portrayal of a school's credibility, just as standardized tests are not a fair judgment of a student's abilities. He goes on to challenge both parents and teachers alike to speak up against this unfair assessment and demand better tests and more indicators to determine the educational health of our nation's students and schools. Popham's book clarified all questions I had regarding the No Child Left Behind Act as well as broadened my outlook on the negative effects standardized testing has on our country. Although his book contains some bias, he supports his claims and (as a teacher himself) has the credibility to speak his mind.

W. James Popham has written the authoritative guide to understanding the controversial No Child Left Behind Act. He subtitles the book "How Parents and Teachers Can Cope With No Child Left Behind," but he goes beyond his mission by shining a sorely needed spotlight into the esoteric world of assessment in terms lay readers can grasp. In so doing, he explodes the myths surrounding the accountability movement that is affecting all stakeholders in public schools.

It's hard to imagine a more timely volume, given the far-reaching implications of NCLB and the media's inability to pierce the self-serving rhetoric from vested interests of all parties. Popham's impressive background in assessment makes this book a badly needed corrective.

Walt Gardner taught for 28 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District. He writes frequently on education.

America's "Failing" Schools: How Parents And Teachers Can Cope With No Child Left Behind by education testing expert W. James Popham focuses upon providing parents and classroom teachers with clear, precise explanations of the Bush administration's "No Child Left Behind" doctrine and the implications this policy has for standardized testing, as well as what it means for a school to be declared "failing", and concrete suggestions for what can be done in response to such a school (and school district) condition. America's "Failing" Schools is timely and welcome reading which is especially commended to the attention of concerned parents, classroom teachers, school administrators, citizen groups like the PTA, and governmental policy makers on the state and federal level in the field of K-12 public education.

The railroads, the first national industry, the industry on which giant battles were waged not just between the workers and the employers, but a major factor in farmers fight for land, and their continued fight for their fair share of the profits from their labor. This book talks about the railroad's real history in American capitalism, a history of class struggle, class war. This book also talks about how at a much earlier easier stage of the crisis of capitalism, the railroads themselves
were torn apart by economic crisis, thousands of employees lost their jobs, and the economy of this country was thrown amuck.
Read this now,
because the crisis of the railroads at they were when this book was written in the 1970s is nothing compared to the growing crisis. Read this now because it is written not as nostalgic lying history, or armchair economics, but as a contribution to the need for all working people, not just railroad workers, to know what is coming, know how our predecessors have shown the way to fight, know how to win!

Read this now because a crisis in the airline industry of exactly the same character with questions of nationalization is going on now. Here in Miami where the airlines are a major employer many of my friends and neighbors are afraid that their jobs will be lost. Read this book for them as well!

The labor movement today encounters calls for patriotic sacrifice as well as threats of employer bankruptcy and government attack. We need to be educated on these issues. For example, the Railway Labor Act has recently been used to deny airline workers the right to strike. This book by Dick Roberts tells you how this package of laws was first used against labor in the 1920s, to satisfy the needs of big business. Roberts tells the story of the rail barons' greed and the bailouts they got from bought-and-paid-for politicians. He also tells the story of the great struggles by rail workers. Throughout, the government has backed the railroad companies and called on rail workers to sacrifice in the name of patriotism, just as airline workers are today being pressured in the name of Homeland Security to abandon their right to strike and continue down the slippery slope of take-backs.

A short, lively study of labor and capital in one of the key industries in modern society. The railroads have been one of the biggest money-makers for their wealthy owners from the mid-1800s on, and also one of the scenes of fierce strike battles as bosses brutally resisted workers' demands for better wages, job security and safer working conditions.
I found Robert's detailed look at stock ownership of the railroads in the 1970s very helpful in figuring out how modern capitalism works, and an example that could be applied to other major industries. His discussion of why essential industries such as transportation cannot be left to the mercy of the profit needs of private capital is really relevant for anyone grappling with the economic crises of the 21st century.
Roberts also presents a lively history of capital-labor struggles over the past 150 years. I'd suggest reading it along with the more detailed books on working class leadership in the United States by Farrell Dobbs, especially his two-volume series Revolutionary Continuity.

With so little time spent on caring in the workplace, Giovagnoli shows us all that there are practical, powerful things we can all do daily to make a difference in our workplaces. The book was so well laid out and the stories brought me to tears as well as laughter. Great Angel Advice Corners at the end of each section really help bring the strategies she offers to life. I put the Action Strategies page up in my lunch room as Giovagnoli suggests and last week alone three people brought food treats for my department. For the first time in a long time, this Christmas at the office feels like there are people who care about each other. It's even getting to the point that I look forward to going to work to see what new idea someone has come up with--all from the strategies Giovagnoli recommends.

Angels in the Workplace is by far the best book to come along in years! Workers and employers all over America will improve their attitude and working environment by reading this book. In a time where the knowledged-based workplace is imminent, employers and employees alike are looking for ways to enhance their work life. This is the way! Using Giovagnoli's action steps, your workplace will become a more spiritual and fulfilled place to spend your 40 hours a week.

This is the perfect gift for family, friends, colleagues. I even gave a copy to my boss. I like the way each belief--faith,hope, charity, courage, truth, trust and love have not only stories, but strategies to make them work in your work place. I turn to the book once a day to get ideas and inspiration.

This book is a quintessential guide for hiring a new director and, if methodically followed, results in strengthening your organization in the process. Each chapter opens with its own synopsis. The responsibilities of the search committee are thoroughly outlined & fully enumerated in subsequent chapters. This comprehensive tutorial is followed by appended chapters that reinforce the process with Checklist/Reminders. This book is just about the best "How To: book I have encountered.

This well written and informative book is a godsend to those involved in the difficult job of hiring and keeping top people in the nonprofit world; my many years of doing executive search would have been made much easier had I had this book; Gilvar is great on both concept and details- -a much needed guide for a critical task . Mary K. Eliot

As a current non-profit board chair and veteran of two executive searches, I can attest to the value of Ms. Gilvar's book. Written in a clean, crisp, highly organized style and encompassing both big picture ideas as well as the mechanics of the search process (as well the preparation stage and post(transition) stage), this book provides invaluable guidance to anyone responsible for or interested in a non-profit executive search.

This book by Marc A. Pitman should be read by everyone who is involved in any way with fundraising. It provides a step by step method to ask for funds that is not only effective, but also removes much of the fear that is attributed to fundraising. I enjoyed Marc's perspective and personal stories to make his points. I also learned important techniques from it. Especially in the area of potential donor research. It is easy to read and implement. "Ask Without Fear" is on my must read list.

Since I first met Marc in 1998, I have witnessed a constant champion for the entire fundraising community. Able to relate his experiences in practical ways to inspire others, he's a tremendous asset to the industry.

Bringing his web and consulting presence to your bookshelf, Marc has provided a great resource for beginning volunteers and seasoned professionals in "Ask Without Fear." I plan to purchase several copies for my office to loan out to others. (I won't be surprised when they aren't returned.)

From reminders of what makes you passionate about your organization to helpful ideas that draw others to your cause, Marc's succinct wisdom captured here is worthy for all - trustees, volunteers, staff.

I've been reading and recommending Marc Pitman' s "Ask Without Fear" blog to fellow fundraisers and clients for years, and now I'm doing the same for his new book. It's an excellent, pithy, common sense guide to asking for money. I like how Marc breaks it down to a series of practical steps that anyone can understand and implement. And how he includes practical examples of strategy and language. Most of all, I like his writing style -- he models the kind of enthusiasm that I think is at the heart of effective fundraising. He makes it seem not only doable, but fun!
- Mitch Teplitsky, fundraising filmmaker and consultant (http://www.soyandina.com)