Organizations Books

It mainly focuses on information systems as a core of living organizations. I liked and I recommend this work to everybody who likes original works on organizations.

"This book brings together", Chun Wei Choo writes, "the insight developed from research in organization theory and information science into a generel framework for understanding the richness and complexity of information use in organizations. Research in organization theory suggests that organizations create and use information in three strategic arenas. First, organizations interpret information about the environment in order to construct meaning about what is happening to the organization and what the organization is doing. Second, they create new knowledge by converting and combining the expertise and know-how of their members in order to learn and innovate. Finally, they process and analyze information in order to select and commit to appropriate courses of action...The book has the following objectives. First, it analyzes and compares the principal modes by which an organization uses information strategically to make sense of its changing environment, create new knowledge for innovation, and make decisions that reflect past learning and ongoing adaptation. Second, it examines the structure and dynamics of information seeking...Third, it proposes a new framework of the knowing organization (from the Preface)."

In this context, Chun Wei Choo divides his book into seven chapters, and he:

* introduces the theories of organizations as sense-making communities, knowledge-creating enterprises, and decision-making systems, and show how the three modes of information as sense making, knowledge creating, and decision making use complement each other by supplying some of the missing pieces necessary for each mode to function.

* identifies and relates the major elements that influence the behavior of the individual when seeking (starting, chaining, browsing, differentiating, monitoring, extracting, verifying, and ending) and using (selection and processing of information) information.

* shows how organizations, as social systems of people, structures, and processes, use information to make sense of the environment, create new knowledge for learning and innovation, and make decisions that enable action.

* examines the theory and process underlying the knowing organization.

* describes the tensions as tensions in sense making, tensions in knowledge creating, and tensions in decision making that are inherent in the knowing processes, and how the dynamics of balancing these tensions enable the knowing organization to be effective in the short term, and adaptive over the long term.

This book is highly recommended for HR and IT professionals.

A highly informative examination of a type of organization that is successful by using information strategically to make sense of its changing environment, creating new knowledge for innovation, and making decisions that reflect past learning and adaptation. Provides a general model for understanding information use and many other models. Filled with references to research and other publications. This is an informative, information-packed book! Excellent.

Un folleto con muchos ideas para compartir y discutir con sus compañeros y compañeras de trabajo y de escuela. Presenta perspectivas que animan a uno estudiar al fondo cuestiones sociales y políticas. Da confianza en nuestra capacidad para entender la historia y organizar para cambiar la socieded.
¿Cual es la relación entre educación y salarios? ¿Porque la educación no se mejora en una sociedad capitalista, aún en una sociedad tan rica como Estados Unidos, a pesar la las muchas pláticas de presidentes y congresistas? ¿Porque hay tantos debates sobre educación pública y escuelas privadas? ¿Cual es la relación entre la crises en educación y el empeoramiento de salarios y condiciones de trabajo?
El autor explica que los ricos necesitan empleados obedientes, no trabajadores con la confianza y capacidad para cuestionar, leer, estudiar y organizar. Toma como ejemplo los ideas de Che Guevara y la revolución cubana, y cita ejemplos de luchas obreras hoy en día. Explica la necesidad de promover la educación como proceso social y con la meta de estudiar y aprender durante toda la vida. "No hay mejor razon para hacer la revolución socialista."

La educación dentro del sistema del dólar todopoderoso no tiene nada que ver con el
aprendizaje ni con la cultura.El sistema de educación existe para regimentar a los jovenes
obreros e inculcar en los jovenes de la clase media y de los superricos de que son
superiores a nosotros los trabajadores. Cuba socialista brinda educación de por vida y una
campaña de televisión llamada ' La Universidad Para Todos.' Tiene esas cosas porque allí
hicieron una revolución. ? Cómo podimos hacer una revolución aqui, en el estomago de la
Bestia Imperial ? ? Cómo podremos cambiarnos nosotros mismos en el proceso ? Estos
son los temas de este folleto excelente.

This pamphlet really opened my eyes. I have been all the way through education to a final degree and teach college. However, this little pamphlet tells more about education, real education, than anything I have read before.

What is called education in this society is fitting you into the slots that this exploitative, oppressive society has for us, not providing us with knowledge, blaming us for our grades and putting some people in 'good' jobs and some people in bad, all to mask a system that exploits us all to benefit the big business rich? I have been to graduate school and have friends with Ph Ds and hung with several Poet Laureates of the US and people saturated with what this society calls education, but I have coworkers at the bus garage smarter than most of them.

This pamphlet explains why this is, and how we can fight for real education. Real education is learning the tools to understand this system, learn to fight, learn to do real things in a real world, real education can come only through mass struggles against this system. Real education can't be separate from work, from life, from struggle.

While Amazon may report this book is unavailable from time to time, it is always available from the Pathfinder Amazon partner z store that you can reach by clicking on new and used at the top of this page/

Au moment où plusieurs de mes amis essaient de payer leurs prêts étudiants gigantesques et que je m'embourbe dans des débats chauds avec mes compagnes de travail pour essayer de les convaincre de cesser de harceler leurs enfants à propos des soi-disant bénéfices de continuer leur éducation, cette petite brochure tombe à point. Écrite de toute évidence par quelqu'un qui aime lire et penser, et qui sait ce que c'est se faire abrutir par un système scolaire qui vise des objectifs tout autres, cet œuvre place la lutte pour une éducation véritable dans le contexte de la lutte pour une société plus humaine. Met fin à toute illusion qu'on puisse séparer les institutions scolaires dans une société inégale des inégalités mêmes. Un plaisir à lire et à y réflêchir.

By HolyAtlanta

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

I have been all the way through education to a final degree and teach college now. Yet, this little pamphlet ells more about education, real education, than anything I have read before. It discusses how we need real education not just the way schools just fit us into the slots that this society wants, blaming our grades for giving people in 'good' jobs and some people into "bad," all to mask a system that exploits us all to benefit the big business rich? This pamphlet explains why this is, and how we can fight for real education. Real education is learning the tools to understand this system, learn to fight, learn to do real things in a real world, and it can't be separate from work, from life, from struggle. Check out Capitalism's World Disorder, the book this is excerpted from.

While this book is not always available on Amazon, it is always available from BooksfromPathfinder, an Amazon Z store that you can get to by clicking on New and Used further up this page!

This is a great book for the professional leader that is looking to understand multiple faceted problems.

This book forms the text for a one week residential training course. The course was a life changing event for me, game me confidence in my abilities and changed my whole attitude to the workplace. Instead of trying to get around conflict in the workplace I now have the tools to tackle it head on. Learn about the skill to critique everything you do in a way that is non-threatening and based on fact and not emotion. Everyone in the workplace should read this book.

Most management texts try to deal with how you as an individual can influence how other people behave so that you come out on top. This book goes under the skin of different personality types to show what it is that motivates them in the way they behave. Instead of showing how to "use" people to get what you want, it shows how to get the best out of everyone, yourself included, to get what is best for the Company / family / business whatever you need to improve. Instead of results driven management being the be-all and end-all it is clear that results are only one side of the equation. To be a good manager you need to bring people along with you, not drive them in front of you. This book forms the text for a management training course that can only be said to be revolutionary. I have three university degrees and I would gladly trade the lot for what I learned in the one week course! Everyone who works for a living should read this book.

Ray Salemi provides concise, step-by-step techniques to assist managers and supervisors deal with the aftermath of running a business or department after a layoff has occured. This book is specific in it's approach to what's helpful and what's not in dealing with issues such as communication, morale, next steps, etc. for the leader responsible for picking up the pieces. A good read, not just for managers and supervisors, but anyone who may be concerned about the effects of layoffs.

Leading After A Layoff is a well-crafted book that will prove particularly useful to company leaders looking to keep their company and staff focused and energized after they have gone through a resizing, rightsizing or even downsizing.

The information is delivered with clarity and from experience. Ray Salemi's background and experiences come through in the book and I suggest this book for anyone anticipating a layoff in their company's future.

Author Ray Salemi's neat little book offers excellent advice on how to get through "the worst of times." Management treads thin ice after layoffs. Everyone is sensitive and even the smallest error in dealing with colleagues can be magnified. When productivity drops, frustration naturally sets in. Salemi points out the most serious land mines managers should avoid. He focuses on the needs of mid-level managers and project team leaders, rather than those higher up the executive food chain. The book's advice, while sometimes basic, will substantially bolster the emotional intelligence quotient of the average manager coping with the awkward post-layoff period. We strongly recommend this book to managers who have avoided the layoff purge and now need to rally the stunned survivors.

Why even go to college when you can get an entire education on leadership by just reading one book? Bill Robinson is a visionary leader focused on carrying-out constructive dialogue about the important issues faced by the leaders of our modern, complex organizations. He brings years of experience to light in this easy-to-read and often entertaining (can a leadership book be entertaining?) book. A great choice for those who are seeking to answer the tough questions that riddle our minds when faced with challenges in our lives as leaders.

Bill Robinsons book on leading from the middle puts into perspective the real spiritual, moral, and ethical attributes of what a good leader is all about. It is refreshing to read a book that blends the Christian faith with everyday life. Really following in the foosteps of Jesus at work and at home is what we all should aspire to do and Bill's book gives a great guideline to follow. This is truly the book of all books that leaders in any walk of life should read to gain the basis for their leadership roles.

As an organizational communication scholar and college president for the past 16 years, Dr. Bill Robinson writes with authority about the serious leadership demands of 21st-century organizations. But he never takes himself too seriously.

This highly readable book is filled with colorful, and often humorous, stories of the author's own rich experience practicing the paradoxical leadership that is necessary to effectively lead today's more federated, adaptive and highly connected organizations.

After an interesting survey of leadership theories and how they relate, or don't relate, to the changes in organizations over the past century, Dr. Robinson zeroes in on the essential traits of 21st-century leaders: paradoxical, secure, inspiring, communicative, virtuous and driven. He ends the book with two helpful chapters on how leaders can successfully change their leadership styles to adopt some of these traits.

The title hints at what sets the book, and Dr. Robinson's vision of leadership, apart: Leaders succeed when they connect with the mission and the people at the heart of their organizations and when they join with those they lead in moving the organization forward rather than insisting on being out front or above.

This is a hot book! I coached a team of manufacturing managers who worked in a large traditional factory. Our job was to study manufacturing operations in companies that had adopted Toyota's productivity methods and policies. While the men and women on the team had read about lean production, they were disquieted and perhaps even disturbed by obviously highly performing plants that were organized and operated according to principles foreign to their beliefs. At each plant we visited their discomfort deepened. Then, somewhere between the second and fourth visit, each manager had an epiphany. There was some kind of logical reorganization of the manufacturing furniture in their minds and they "got it", as they described the event. Others said, "the light came on." They saw the fundamental logic and sense underlying each lean factory even though each facility assembled pieces of Toyota's productivity methods and policies into its own unique manufacturing system. Interestingly, each member of the visit team became a passionate believer of lean manufacturing. The greatest skeptics became the most outspoken advocates. They called it "getting religion."

People who successfully implement lean manufacturing must be strong believers and must have a personal mental model of lean that functions at the level of a craft - a creative skill for assembling productivity methods and policies into powerfully efficient manufacturing machines. As the great Japanese coaches from Toyota teach Westerners, there is no cookbook, lean is a way of thinking.

The literature on lean production is disappointing. Lean manufacturing books tend to be long dreary laundry lists of productivity methods and technical techniques for quality. There is little available that gives insight into how the great master craftsmen and craftswomen put together marvelous lean machines of production - until now.

This book by Richard McCormack finally brings us face to face with the creative processes of great designers of production systems. Imagine yourself as a novice artist sitting down for a conversation with Auguste Renoir, Vincent Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec or Michelangelo. That is what McCormack brings us in this book - chats with the virtuosos of lean production. Forget those paint-by-numbers books. Either go see the real thing or read "Lean Machines".

A lot has been written about lean, but nothing yet compares to what this book has done.... It's the first time anyone has provided straight answers about the true nature of lean. The author asks the right questions and gets surprising responses. Having spent 20 years in the automotive business, I found this book extremely useful.

This is a hot book! I coached a team of manufacturing managers who worked in a large traditional factory. Our job was to study manufacturing operations in companies that had adopted Toyota's productivity methods and policies. While the men and women on the team had read about lean production, they were disquieted and perhaps even disturbed by obviously highly performing plants that were organized and operated according to principles foreign to their beliefs. At each plant we visited their discomfort deepened. Then, somewhere between the second and fourth visit, each manager had an epiphany. There was some kind of logical reorganization of the manufacturing furniture in their minds and they "got it", as they described the event. Others said, "the light came on." They saw the fundamental logic and sense underlying each lean factory even though each facility assembled pieces of Toyota's productivity methods and policies into its own unique manufacturing system. Interestingly, each member of the visit team became a passionate believer of lean manufacturing. The greatest skeptics became the most outspoken advocates. They called it "getting religion."

People who successfully implement lean manufacturing must be strong believers and must have a personal mental model of lean that functions at the level of a craft - a creative skill for assembling productivity methods and policies into powerfully efficient manufacturing machines. As the great Japanese coaches from Toyota teach Westerners, there is no cookbook, lean is a way of thinking.

The literature on lean production is disappointing. Lean manufacturing books tend to be long dreary laundry lists of productivity methods and technical techniques for quality. There is little available that gives insight into how the great master craftsmen and craftswomen put together marvelous lean machines of production - until now.

This book by Richard McCormack finally brings us face to face with the creative processes of great designers of production systems. Imagine yourself as a novice artist sitting down for a conversation with Auguste Renoir, Vincent Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec or Michelangelo. That is what McCormack brings us in this book - chats with the virtuosos of lean production. Forget those paint-by-numbers books. Either go see the real thing or read "Lean Machines".

This is an excellent book for students, parents and especially teachers.
It is a great story written by an amazing woman who REALLY cared about the education of her children. It also provides an extensive reference list for reading material for teachers.
This is proof that one person CAN make a difference. Rock on Ms. Meehan !

You know how people say, "I don't have kids so I'm not really qualified to offer an opinion," Learning Like A Girl makes you feel qualified to start a school, join your condo association or coach your kids' soccer team. That's the big story here. I loved it.

The reason that private girls' schools are important is that girls are important. Yes, "children are our future," but if past is prologue, girls represent a much better future than boys.

Traditionally, boys are taught to win (and, often, win at any cost). You have only to raise your eyes from this screen to see a world powered by such dog-eat-dog ethics, disguised as a concern for "shareholder value". Another generation or two of boys being raised to emulate their fathers, and the greatest Empire of the modern world may crumble in our lifetime.

Girls, in contrast, tend to be collaborators. They look less for the win than the win-win. And when they achieve, they look to share and mentor.

Or so says Diana Meehan, co-founder of the Archer School in Los Angeles, where girls go to class only with girls and are the better for it. You have heard the reasons why elsewhere: As boys and girls hit adolescence, the boys become classroom gods and the girls fall silent. The boys achieve; the girls support. And when it comes to science and math, guess who gets called on first?

Meehan and two friends decided to start a school --- "where the best teachers could do their best teaching and the girls would have the tools, the risks, the chances to fail and to succeed" --- without having any experience launching a business or serving on a school board. Just as well. "New schools are models of chaos theory," Meehan writes.

The story of how Meehan and her view actualized their "dream in a hurry" will be inspiring to anyone who's ever started any enterprise. You'll become an Archer booster early on, and the school's growing pains will make you wince. Granted, Meehan cherry-picked her anecdotes, but the girls you'll meet along the way are inspiring --- they're everything you'd want your own kids to be. And it all works out; although Archer girls don't grind and compete, they do amazingly well on tests and get into any college they want.

How do you know if your town could use a new school? If the private schools turn away two-thirds of their applicants, there's a need. And an opportunity. But even if you read this book without a new school in mind, it's a great resource. There's a terrific appendix of summer programs for girls that, alone, is worth the cost of the book.

There are aspects of this book that make me grimace. The introduction is by Tom Hanks, obviously an Archer parent and, by every account, a terrific human being --- but not likely to be coming to your town to help a struggling girls' school make a fortune at the Spring Benefit. And that's just the start of the specialness. The Archer board is a Who's Who of female Los Angeles. And then there is language that resides primarily on LA's West Side --- like Meehan saying she wrote the book, in part, to "share the journey." Only in LA can anyone say that with a straight face, and even then, it's better coming out of the mouth of a none-too-clever actress on Oscar night.

But in the end, you come back to the girls. "We'd go into a burning building for one another," one says. My eyes misted. I went to great schools, but I didn't have that. I doubt you did. And as I get on in life, I'm starting to think that kind of bonding is the most important lesson a school has to teach.

If you have a daughter with potential --- or know the parents of a girl who could be somebody --- "Learning Like a Girl" just might be more valuable than braces.

Some of the highlights of the book I enjoyed:

-- "Followership means we rely on each other, set aside personal agendas, and collaborate for the good of the organization." Before we can be good leaders, we have to be good followers first.

-- Leadership moments do not require much time.

-- Nkosi Johnson's challenge (very effective).

-- Leadership legacy. Important part of this book as we often times don't realize the impact we have on an organization when we leave.

I read this book last year and knew I was going to blend this into my teaching this year. I teach for Concordia University in their MBA program and Les Wallace and Jim Trinka have given us a gift. I used this text in a Seminar in January on "The Power of Personal Leadership" and the students were as one at the end of the seminar in saying this book was a text they would keep for life. It is now being used in the next core course of "Ethical Leadership and Organizational Behavior".

This book blends in many of the best writers on the topic of leadership and then takes the topic to one higher level. I remain amazed these authors were able to pack so much pertinent information into this text. It is a must read for anyone interested in leading any organization in the 21st Century.

Having served 32 years in the law-enforcement profession both as a Police Chief and an elected Sheriff for two terms, I can assure you this is a book that should be at the top of the list for all law-enforecment agency heads and those who aspire to serve in that capacity.

Good job Les and Jim. When is the next one?

Les Stiles
Legacy Leadership,LLC
Bend, OR

This is a great book. A Legacy of 21st Century Leadership synthesizes much of the most compelling research on how leaders learn to lead and provides many useful insights about the importance of leaving a leadership legacy. Jim Trinka and Les Wallace argue that leaders need to make a conscious decision to lead, learn constantly, model effective leadership for the next generation, and focus on developing others. They also advocate developing leaders at all levels across the organization (rather than focusing on a "favored few") and using varied and challenging assignments as a key leadership development tool.

Trinka and Wallace also suggest 10 high-impact leadership legacies to help readers decide on their personal legacy focus. These include Integrity, Adaptability, Developing Leaders at All Levels, Leveraging Diversity, Commitment to Learning, Thinking Differently, Innovation, Transparency, Balance, and Giving Back.

In training courses, I see many managers nod their heads and say "Yes, yes, I understand this leadership stuff is important." What they often lack, however, is a clear commitment to doing the hard work of becoming a more effective leader. Trinka and Wallace actually included a whole chapter on "Choosing to Lead," and make the point that: "Not one single leadership principle requires permission from anyone other than you. No excuses, you're not a victim. What are you waiting for?"

"Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom: The realities of Online teaching" is a great book for someone who is interested in the possibilities of online education and teaching. Palloff and Pratt offer a lot of great tips and ideas that are very concise and easy to understand. They provide commonsense guidelines in conducting online teaching in a way that is simple to digest, entertaining, and useful to teachers, administrators, or whoever else is interested in the realm of online teaching and education.

I personally liked the way the authors really tried the simplify their views on how to make a successful online teaching experience. Their "Keys to Success" seemed to be very helpful and realistic for many institutions to implement with careful planning.

Another especially helpful idea throughout the book was their tips at the end of some sections. By providing these simple tips it helps readers summarize the section and allows readers to easily review the material after they have read though the book once or twice.

I feel that this book is a "must-have" for people who have some interest in this relatively new and every changing field of online teaching.

Growing numbers of K-12 schools, colleges, universities, and businesses have begun offering online instruction, taking advantage of computer and Internet technologies to deliver instruction once confined to the realm of physical classrooms. Indeed, the Internet, so-to-speak, has become a virtual classroom and community where all kinds of instruction can take place - anytime day or night, anywhere around the world.

Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom offers readers a broad treatment of the issues involved in planning, creating, and carrying out distance education via the Internet. In a concise manner the book introduces the issues, raises many serious questions, and provides many solutions to help meet the educational goals of instructors, their learning institutions, and their students.

The real beauty of the book lies in its effort to motivate instructors and learning institutions to think through the issues for themselves - to evaluate the unique circumstances they face and to encourage them to seek more effective ways of accomplishing their goals. Because each virtual learning experience will be unique, a number of important considerations should be weighed to determine course structure, content, and delivery, such as:

What technologies should be used?
Who will create the course?
Who will own the course material(s)?
How will the course be delivered?
How will assignments, projects, and exams be administered?
How will instructors and students be prepared?
How will student participation be controlled?
How will student behavior be controlled?

Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom does a superb job of fostering community among educators and their students. The authors express the importance of creating learning communities were serious dialogue takes place - dialogue that enhances the learning process and leads to achieving specific educational goals. This book is must reading for online educational course development.

If "the devil is in the details" of online learning, Paloff and Pratt have done an excellent job exploring the promise and pitfalls of distance learning programs. Anyone in the process of designing online courses or programs in higher education should read both this book and their earlier book before they launch a new course or program. Personally, this book helped me avoid several mistakes I otherwise would have made in my first distance learning adventure.

The book looks at both teacher and administrator perpsectives, and understands that both insitutional support and instructor skill are key elements for success. While the authors are genuine advocates for the medium, they understand that interactivity does not equal mouse clicks, and that building learning communities takes skill, practice, and structures. The book is full of very helpful examples, learning constructs, and realistic assessments of distance learning successes and failures.