Practice Management Books

I read the book cover to cover within days of receiving it. I have a difficult neighbor and this book really opened my eyes to my rights and responsibilities. This book should be required reading for ALL home owners!

This book examines the topic of network analysis and its application to the study of tourism destinations and organizations. Network analysis is based on a structural view of society that posits that individual or organizational behaviour is determined in part by the network of relationships that surround them. Network analysis has been used in the study of fields such as sociology, management and the natural sciences where it has provided important insights for the knowledge of the structure and the dynamics of many complex systems but is a relatively new approach in tourism. The authors argue that tourism is an ideal area for the application of network analysis as tourism involves the coordination of fragmented and geographically disparate organizations to provide a cohesive tourism product.This book is one of the most useful and interesting books in the field of tourism in the past several years and is recommended reading for tourism academics and advanced students.

There are two things prospective readers need to know about this book: (1) it is focused in IT and software development project management, and (2) it is not a 'how to' book.

This is a collection of papers on advanced project management topics that experienced IT project managers will find enlightening and up-to-date with respect to techniques. The papers are divided into the following six topic areas:(1) Essential Concepts of Project Management, (2) Critical Factors for Project Quality, (3) Managing Business Relationships, (4) Effectively Managing Outsourced Projects, (5) Managing Special Projects and (6) Measuring and Improving Project Management Success.

What I like is that the book does not focus solely on software development projects, but covers areas that will interest project managements in infrastructure, oursourcing management and other IT functions. I also liked the following papers that address concerns of PMs from a larger perspective: "SEI CMM or ISO 9000: Which Is Right for Your Organization? ", "Incorporating Six Sigma Concepts into Systems Analysis" and "Managing Development in the Era of Large Complex Systems". In addition, there are many papers that address concerns common to all IT project managers, regardless of their functional area, including: "Business and IT: Developing Strategic Alliances", "Creating and Implementing a Balanced Measurement Program" and "Ten Ways to Improve Project Performance".

IT project managers will benefit greatly from the information presented in this book. It should be a part of any PMO library, and every consulting firm should have a copy available to its project managers.

Shlian and Patterson have compiled a fascinating array of personal experiences combined with factual background information. The assessments of the industry are timely and informative. The lessons learned by managers and executives range from interesting anecdotes to thougthful career tips. All the contributors have MBA's from UCLA's Anderson School of Management but there's a wide range of experiences and background represented among the contributors and the co-editors themselves.

While Mssrs. Gresham and Oransky have oriented this great book toward helping financial advisors, it is a must read for those who sell services to these advisors. New and experienced wholesalers, alike, should come away with ideas on how to be a better value-added resource to their advisor clients.
Specifically, here is what I liked about this book:
1) Provides a quality review of the managed account industry, especially why it has evolved the way it has and the benefits it provides advisors and their clients.
2) Looks into the future to show some of the important new trends, such as ETF's and alternative investments.
3) Guides advisors on how to be better business and sales people (hint for all wholesalers: become an expert of these chapters and differentiate yourself by helping your advisor clients grow their businesses)
4) Very well organized, with specific and handy tools and guides.
Again, this is a must read for people in our industry.
Michael Sakraida
Sales consultant for advisor-based sales programs

I found this book extremely well conceived and substantively outstanding. It provides a set of essays by philosophers, lawyers, sociologists, doctors, theologians, etc. in which critical ethical and policy issues raised by the new reproductive technologies are addressed. Moreover, it provides descriptions of policies and procedures at four different sorts of egg donation centers in various parts of the country. Finally, it provides recommendations by a board funded by respected foundation grantors and composed of people who would have been appointed to a public board were Congress and the President willing to have one on this controversial subject. It's a must for anyone who wants to know what is going on in this field.

Bowers and Leipziger have assembled and edited one of the most valuable collections of essays now available in which various authors examine what the subtitle correctly suggests are the "hot ideas and best practices from the world of business" during the past two years. The material is carefully organized within ten sections which range from "The Real World: When Theory Meets Practice" to "Visiting Olympus: The Corporate Legends." In the Foreword, Harold J. Leavitt suggests that there are at least three reasons why this volume can be helpful: "These verbal snapshots, taken together, provide a panoramic view of the actual organizational world circa 2000"; "In this era of volatility and impermanence, of mergers and takeovers and of wild markets, these readings remind us of a reality too easily forgotten: that much of organizational management has not changed"; and finally, the various essays "spotlight something far more than this year's managerial beats and beauties, and more than the unchanging, deep heart-beats of organizations. They catch the new, new thing: the speed, turbulence and instability that have sharply and permanently differentiated the new organizational surround from all its predecessors." In effect, what we have here is a "yearbook" which correlates the past with the present while suggesting what an uncertain future could prove to be.

It remains for each reader to determine which of the sections and which of the individual essays (to which David Leonhardt has written crisp and insightful introductions) are of greatest interest and value. I hasten to add that, as a reader's needs and interests change, there will be what Adrian Slywotsky calls a "value migration." Hence the importance of determining which essays are grouped within each section. (I wish the editors had listed them in the "Contents" section.) At the moment, the sections which interest me most are "Moving with the Times: Old Economy Meets New" (#3), "The Talent Squeeze: Recruiting and Retaining Employees" (#6), and "9-1-1: When Things Go Wrong" (#9). I also enjoyed "Visiting Olympus" (#10) which features brief but rigorous discussions of "corporate legends" such as Warren E. Buffett, David Merrick, Tom Landry, Bill Gates, and Peter F. Drucker, followed by a lengthier discussion of Sanford I. Weil. Julie Flaherty provides an appropriate Afterword in which she briefly compares and contrasts certain business principles (and cultural values) in the 19th and 20th centuries. Great stuff.

In the Foreword, Leavitt says this about the material in this volume: "No ribbons and bows here, no airbrushed warts and scars, just sharp, clear pictures of the new whirling managerial world, a world that will surely be whirling even faster by the time new M.B.A.s are ready to jump aboard a year or two from now." As we proceed into a new century, change may well be the only constant and yet....and yet, as various authors represented in this volume suggest, certain "hot ideas and best practices" have been essential to commerce throughout human history. Plus ça change....

Of all the business books I have read within the past year, this is one of the very few which is as entertaining as it is informative. If a higher rating were possible, I would give it.

I wrote Nonprofit Strategic Planning: Leveraging Sarbanes-Oxley Best Practices because many of my clients were genuinely stuggling with how to engage in strategic planning. The root of their discomfort seemed to be a sense of confusion about the nature of strategic planning. As I worked to help them become more in tune with the inner workings of their organizations, they seemed to have a clearer understanding of the nature of strategic planning. Implementing Sarbanes-Oxley best practices not only offers nonprofits a means by which they can assess and improve their internal controls, but establishes a momentum that will help carry the organization through its strategic planning process. This book provides a unique overview of strategic planning and its implications for the life and future success of nonprofits. It is a great companion to Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations, Second Edition] and [[ASIN:0471754196 Sarbanes-Oxley and Nonprofit Management: Skills, Techniques, and MethodsSarbanes-Oxley for Nonprofit Boards: A New Governance Paradigm

We re using the yellow book in class and it is not as good or helpful as this book. I use this book along with the required text and this is far better. Our teacher agrees although he prefers the other book because in answer section it gives you the page number of the info for the question you miss.

Although this book is nearly ten years old at this point, it is still the book that makes the standard guide to parliamentary procedure most accessible. The question and answer format mirrors the way that most people come at the rules to begin with. It doesn't replace the rules; it provides a clear map to them, and a clear explanation as to why they are what they are to begin with. Ericson also helps us to see that the rules are not static, but alive and adaptable to the particular situation. He enables us to USE the rules rather than be used BY them. I recommend this book (along with the standard Rules of Order Newly Revised) for anyone who works within an organization large enough to need rules of order. In his introduction, Ericson says, "Herein lies the premise of Notes and Comments: parliamentary procedure should assist rather than intimidate the members it serves." His book allows parliamentary procedure to do just that.