Practice Management Books

"In 2004, Linkage, Inc. completed a study of the most pressing global workforce needs among over 60 of the world's best practice organizations...This handbook addresses these global workforce features through 14 practical case studies from organizations that have developed and implemented successful global workforce initiatives. It can be used as a guide for organizations looking to achieve results in managing and sustaining a global workforce (from Introduction)."

Louis Carter et al. write that each of 14 practical case studies in this book includes the following features: a business strategy for the global workforce system, a strong customer and employee focus, program design and implementation to fit the needs of the organization, feedback and analysis from participants of the global workforce program, and performance results of the initiative.

In this context, they define a six-phase approach for developing a successful global workforce management system, which may be seen in most of the case studies in this book. The phases and case studies are listed below:

I- PHASES:

(1). Global Business Strategy, (2). Customer and Employee Focus, (3). Designing the Global Process, (4). Implementation, (5). Continuous Feedback and Analysis, (6). Evaluation.

II- CASES:

(1). Agilent Technologies - Test and Measurement with 20,000+ full-time employees. (2). The Boppy Company - Manufacturing with 1,000 full-time employees. (3). Colgate-Palmolive - Consumer Products with 20,000+ full-time employees. (4). Dow Chemicals - Manufacturing with 20,000+ full-time employees. (5). Intercontinental Hotels Group - Lodging with 20,000+ full-time employees. (6). Johnson and Johnson - Pharmaceutical with 20,000+ full-time employees. (7). McDonald's - Food Service with 20,000+ full-time employees. (8). Motorola - Manufacturing with 20,000+ full-time employees. (9). Pfizer - Pharmaceutical with 20,000+ full-time employees. (10). Tower Automotive - Manufacturing with 10,000-20,000 full-time employees. (11). UNICEF - Children's Agency with 5,000-10,000 full-time employees. (12). Verizon Dominicana - Communications with 1,000-5,000 full-time employees. (13). Volvo - Manufacturing with 20,000+ full-time employees. (14). Wyeth - Pharmaceutical with 20,000+ full-time employees.

Finally, as Louis Carter et al. say, "because this book contains actual forms, guides, training and competency models, and methodologies for implementing a Global Workforce Management program, you can immediately apply many of its parts directly to your job and company initiatives. Many of the evaluation and assessment forms, models, surveys, and training exercises can be easily implemented and customized to fit your specific organizational needs."

I highly recommend this handbook to all leaders who want to achieve positive results in managing and sustaining a global workforce.

Renowned historian Will Durant writes that "Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance." The more we know, generally, the more we realize there is for us to know. Thus, we become life long learner as we seek another good idea, another best practice.

However, since school principals are practitioners they always seek practical ideas, and easy to implement best practices when they read...that is what I did at least. Out of many books that I have read over the years on school leadership one particular book offered the most practical ideas and best practices. That is "Best Practices of Award Winning Principals" by Sandra Harris.

The book is about 215 pages which you would want to underline each one of them. Sandra Harris asked 34 principals whose schools earned the blue ribbon award to share their best practices and compiled them in her book. She categorized such best practices and guidance under various categories such as leadership, culture, communication, curriculum and instruction, school improvements plan, and individualizing learning for all. The book also gives a list of resources at the end of each section for those who want to pursue further reading on each subtopic.

Below I wanted to bring some of these best practices and guidance from the award winning principals in the book to your attention with the hope that you would implement some of them in your schools if you are not already doing so:

LEADERSHIP:

Organize and train office staff so they are part of the school mission and vision, serving the teachers and parents as major links in the communication process
Train your secretary to manage your snail mail, e-mail, calendar, and appointments
Know your teachers like you expect them to know their students
Know the school's performance data inside and out
Know the curriculum well, attend national conferences, and read, read, read so that you are viewed as knowledgeable about change, trends, and innovations
Instill respect by having a caring attitude by doing some of the below
Learn the names of staff members' children
Go the extra mile to assist a staff member in need of something
Organize a group of kids to sweep snow off staff members' cars so they will not have to
Dress professionally ever day and groom yourself to appear neat and clean
Smile frequently
Keep your head up and walk with a sense of purpose
Foster an environment that encourages sharing opinions and trying new things
Ask stakeholders their opinion. A wise principal will publicly credit others for contributing to the final decision that is made
Make sure your faith, family, and friends are stable and strong
Establish traditions in your school
Enhance your leadership capabilities by working with a mentor, stay abreast of leadership research, and sharpen your individual skills
Take risk and do not afraid of failure in implementing new ideas
Promote teamwork and create team time for grade level teachers by redesigning the schedule
Have your staff read and study books like "The Wisdom of Teams" by Katzenbach and Smith and "The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork"
Empower students such as student council involving in all school decisions and the council consists of representatives from each class
Organize principal essay contest and reward students and this will also give you a chance
Find a mentor and work with him/her
Balance your life as a leader with yourself, your family, and work

SHAPING CAMPUS CULTURE

Find the right staff; a school will be as good as the people you allow to walk through the door
Build a culture of ongoing professional development
Never spend lots of time talking about negatives; never stop talking about positives
"We monitor what we value" and "management by walking around" are very important
Put people first
Award staff members and put their pictures on a wall
Send a weekly message to staff and students as "Catch of the week" a short two paragraph message from the principal
Set up a "Pulse Committee" composed of one representative from each facet of the school to keep informed of what is going on in the school
Establish a "5 to 10" rule; if you are 5 feet away from someone, greet them verbally, if you are 10 feet away from someone acknowledge nonverbally. Make this a part of your culture
Have your staff read Ruby Payne's work dealing with children in poverty
Develop a goal for each year and make it your mantra for that year such as "it is all about commitment", "The Power of Pride", Make a Connection-Build a bridge", Respect-celebrate the gift"
Set up a Principal's Ambassadors program with students that are invited to serve as advisors to the principal
Establish at least a week long training and call it institute for your staff over the summer
Make the month of February a month to keep teacher happy because this is the month that morale declines. Such as Jeans Friday, a masseuse on hand for 10 minute massages, an ice cream party scooped by the administrators, soup of the week, a raffle, and so forth
Establish an idea of the month program and reward individuals who come up with the best idea

COMMUNICATING FOR COLLABORATION

Give recognition in walk-throughs and formal observation if you see a teacher that cares
In faculty meeting make a rule that I talk; see me after
Include your staff in graduations ceremonies with color; let the graduates walk pass them and salute them as they approach the platform
Build relationships
Establish a teacher advisory board
Based on the idea that a community's health has something to do with its appearance and image give frequent surveys to your parents and students to tell you what they love about the school and what drives them crazy
Establish and outside advisory groups to help you with the image of the school in the community and meet with them regularly
Send communication sheets home on a weekly basis such as "Tuesday Sheets"
Make sure your front office and staff are inviting to parents, guests, and community
Communicate your expectations frequently via different communication tools

CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTIONS

Encourage excellence throughout the school
Share best practices with your faculty
Recognize and celebrate academic excellence
Encourage your students for post secondary options to create a college culture
Create alternative school calendar so students do not miss same classes
Have open enrollment AP classes
Map your curriculum
Establish freshmen induction program
Have your teachers loop
Give your students summer reading lists and follow up with them
Establish "lunch and learn" program for your teachers on various professional development topics
Late Monday start could be an option for professional development
Provide technology training for your staff
Establish a media/lab center to provide an opportunity for research, resources, reading materials, and additional instructional support for your students. You can employ higher grade students in the lab if you have a high school
"Homework Heroes" is a program that celebrates students who turn in 100% of their homework in a semester. You can celebrate it with their parents at the end of each semester
Honor roll parent dinner or stickers
Celebrate math and science related programs such a Pi Day.
Fitness as after school detention
Buffet lunch for students who did well on the state tests
Require your students to read a novel of their own selection each month
Make a bulletin board about your students who are involved in post secondary and exhibit what classes they take and from what college
Set up peer tutoring during lunch and order special lunch for tutor as incentives
Look at the grades of your students regularly and meet with those who do not perform well
Develop programs for your students to improve study and social skills
Establish a strong pull-out and weekend academic intervention programs
Principal's book club to promote reading in your school
Set up a character education committee that includes the school counselor
Establish a mentoring program and compensate the mentors
Determine low performance students in your school and through your counselor teach them study skills, note taking skills, and organizational skills
Create ESL content classes such as ESL History, ESL Science
Read Charlotte Danielson's Enhancing Professional Practice; A framework for Teaching and observe in our school the 22 components of good teaching that she describes in her book
Make sure your building especially bathroom are very clean. It send a message to your community
Find a trusted confidant with whom you can discuss difficult issues straightforwardly
Have your staff read Ruby Payne's A Framework for Understanding Poverty so they learn how to deal with people whose values are different than their own

PERSONALIZING THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR ALL

Learn your students' names and something about them
Find a way to put older successful students with unsuccessful younger students
Almost every student problem that you see is due to a lack of love somewhere. If you are brave enough you can help them most of the time
Start a bulleting board and ask for their pictures and showcase them
Set up a committee that meets with underperforming students to motivate them
Create programs like "Tuesday Extra" when library, counseling office, and other programs open until 8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays.
Institute summer camps for math and science for students who need extra help in such subjects
Senior retreat for your seniors before the school starts and include their parents as well
One principal starter his daily announcements as "Make it a great day or not; the choice is yours"


The book includes a chapter of wise word that I liked a lot. I want to conclude this summary as saying that "Make use of these ideas and practices in the book or not; the choice is yours."

You can't eliminate the difficult people from your life, especially at work. You can render them harmless. Engage your empathic gland. Nobody is difficult for no reason. Once you understand why people do what they do, your ability to neutralize what is bothering you increases exponentially.

This booklet has the feel of a "fat" brochure. But it is not particularly costly and it does a nice job of explaining how leaders can appraise, promote and fire their subordinates. The booklet is divided into the following five chapters:

1. One-on-one performance management
2. Promoting employees
3. Dealing with underperformance
4. Evaluating team performance
5. Implementing performance management

I particularly liked the 6-page summary at the end of the booklet that was called "Off-and-Running." I probably would have liked the booklet better if the summary had been situated at the front of the book instead of at the end.

The booklet is packed with wonderful checklists and lists making it very easy for the reader to use the book to evaluate employee performance without having to read and study a long book on the subject. For example, one list included was entitled "Progressive Discipline Steps" and read as follows:

Informal Feedback
Performance Reviews
Oral Reprimands
Written Reprimands
Probation
Termination

All in all, this was a wonderful little booklet. 5 stars!

This book is about the software quality methods and initiatives that have evolved in Europe. It's a collection of presentations that were given at three years of ISCN (International Software Collaborative Network)conferences.

Dr Richard Messnarz, the editor, did an excellent job of ensuring that the material is not only uniformly written, which in itself is no small task considering that there are over 30 contributors from 11 European countries. However, the way this book is organized reflects the real editorial genius. It's divided into three parts covering (1) principles (theory), (2) experience (practical application of the principles), and (3)synthesis and conclusion (what the future holds and how the European approach is different from the U.S. approach).

Chapter 1 is clear roadmap to the book and shows how the subsequent chapters tie together to form an alignment of principles and experience. More importantly, it also shows how technical aspects of the principles link to business issues. This is evident in Part 1 where chapters 2, 5, 6 and 7 address business-enabling topics, while chapters 3 and 4 focus in the underlying processes and methods to achieve them. My favorite chapters from this part of the book were 6-Process and Product Measurement, and 7-Costs and Benefits of Software Process Improvement. In particular, chapter 6 had clearly written guidance on project controls that is a pet interest.

Part 2 is devoted to the experience part that ties to the principles. The ten chapters cover thoroughly how the principles were employed at a variety of European companies. I like the cross-section that the editor includes, which covers big and small companies. This selection of case studies shows that size of the company does not matter as much as commitment to perform, which is the bottom line in any endeavor. This is where theory meets practice, and the case studies clearly show that the two can be aligned.

Part 3 is a single chapter that outlines the differences between the U.S. and European approaches to software quality and processes. It is interesting reading because the challenges are cultural and also hampered by national pride. However, from my perspective, which includes international consulting, the biggest cultural differences are company cultures and not national ones. Still, lessons can be learned from this chapter because you will see the same symptoms when comparing two different companies in, say, Los Angeles, as you will when comparing national cultures.

Overall: every one of the chapters is well written and thought provoking. The processes and methods, drawn from a large number of European initiatives, are true best practices. The case studies are not only illuminating from the perspective of someone who wants to implement mature processes, but they are also inspirational in that they show that it can be done in companies big and small. The biggest value, though, is the masterful way the editor has organized this book. The way principle is linked to experience, experience of large companies compared to that of smaller ones, and the array of approaches and methodologies presented make this book easy to use as a reference. I strongly recommend it and give it 5 stars.

I am a family physician in the US, and I was introduced to this book on a recent visit to Britain. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book during my transatlantic trip. I then shared it with several colleagues and patients after I returned home. Everyone loves it! Professor Dowrick has such great insights based on his professional experiences both as a general practitioner and an academician. The book is extremely creative, interesting, and thought-provoking. Professor Dowrick's new approach to understanding and managing depression has helped me and my patients! I am very thankful for his book and recommend it highly.

This book gets serious about the process of integrating HR into the fabric of the organization and creating a true learning culture. Very easy to process text and yet has tremendous depth of analysis.

Michael Adams has taken a complex medical issue and made it understandable for people with limited medical training. His use of diagrams and graphics is flawless. What was once a mystery is now explained visually in a manner that makes sense.

Being a owner/worker in a cooperative business is already more of a committment then just having a day job. The Hoedads tree-planting cooperative is a business where the workers must camp out on, or near, the job-site miles from civilization during the majority of the 6-8 month planting season. With the combination of labor intensive work in awesome natural settings scarred by logging, and long weeks or months of roughing it in somewhat primitive base camps, the coop members become a family with many stories to share. My rather limited experience of being a member for three years added to my enjoyment of the book. The author includes details about early years when the work done on the slopes was matched or exceeded by the efforts that went into creating the worker owned company. In time Hoedads became an entity that was to command respect among the counter-culture community within which it grew to prosper even in a very depressed economical climate. From adventure and business as well as social viewpoints this book would appeal to anyone with an inkling of pioneer spirit

excellent reading. any one can learn some very basic human rights.
presented in a well written, understandable manner.
Highly recommend it to all Mothers, employers, and the like.