Practice Management Books

Office workers participatein a wide range of activeties related to information processing. These activities can be considered in relation to four major categories of office jobs that are open to beginning workers.

On the Death of Childhood and the Destruction of Public Schools should be required reading for everyone, particularly those who decry the fall of public schools, and especially those who place any stock in the 1983 report A Nation at Risk. You would be hard-pressed to find a better-researched book than this one. Gerald Bracey concedes that there are problems in public education, and he addresses the real problems while brilliantly putting a spot light on the imaginary ones. Among the issues he addresses:

Testing scores: are American students lagging behind?
Bracey gives several examples of how American kids do poorly on domestic measures like NAEP, but they stack up very well against the industrialized world. He also shows why those responsible for setting the NAEP achievement levels so high had ulterior, and very political motives.

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB): Blessing or Curse?
Its intentions may have been good, but Bracey shows just how detrimental this law really is. For example, he mentions that NCLB provides the states with $1.4 billion in new money. But if the law continues as scheduled until 2012, it will cost them between $84-148 billion. Children must be offered the option of going to a more successful school, which simply means a school with higher test scores, even if the school is already packed. With current research seeming to suggest that class size does matter, especially for young children, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to predict what will happen when the class sizes at this "successful" school rise dramatically.

Bracey also addresses the issue of vouchers, which are touted as the fix for poor kids. However, most private schools will not accept children who test as low as kids from the lowest scoring nations in the world---just as they will not accept limited English language speakers and special education students.

Another chapter discusses the influence of the large testing companies, (The McGraws of CTB-McGraw-Hill and the Bushes have been vacation-together families for 75 years), and the numerous mistakes they have made in the past. With the heavy consequences and money at stake with NCLB, these are not little mistakes. In 2002, 8,000 students in Minnesota were falsely failed. They not only suffered needless humiliation and stress, many gave up summer jobs to attend summer school they didn't need. What's being done about it? Not much. The testing industry is the largest unregulated business in the nation. And with NCLB, more testing means business is booming.

Do American schools work?
Probably better than you might think. Because of its high test scores, Japan has recently been thought to be a model for American schools to aspire to. Although public schools do have problems, Bracey illustrates what our schools are doing right---and why we shouldn't start modeling our schools after the Japanese system just yet. You'll have to read the book for the specifics.

Should schools be preparing kids for work?
My first thought was, "Why yes! Of course! Why wouldn't they?" This is one of the most interesting questions in the book. Bracey convincingly shows how schools might actually be used to drive down the price of labor. He cites many studies that show that the American worker is the most productive in the world. Meanwhile, jobs are disappearing. At least high-paying jobs are. With his research and well-written essays, Bracey shows that productivity is RISING, while wages are FALLING. He also suggests an alternative to that question above.

The Political Influence
While A Nation at Risk was so quick to blame kids for the economy in the early 80's, no credit was given to kids or education for the booming economy during the next 15-20 years. Did American kids become much better students during this time, or could it be that the report exaggerated the condition of America's schools and their effect on the American economy? Was Risk the truth, or was the truth actually suppressed? Consider this story from the book: A 1990 study called the Sandia report came with 78 pages of graphs and tables and 77 pages of text and concluded that while there are problems in education, there was no nationwide crisis. The Deputy Secretary of Education at the time, former Xerox CEO David Kearns, told the engineers who compiled it after he was briefed about it, "You bury this or I'll bury you." What's more, the engineers were forbidden to leave the state to discuss the report.

When asked about some of the particularly damning statements made in the A Nation at Risk, none of the contributors could say where they had come from. Statistics were carefully selected to paint a grim picture. For example, reading and math scores of 9, 13, and 17-year olds were all either steady or rising. The only trend that was not was science. In fact, of nine trend lines, only one could have been used to allege a crises. Guess which one the report used? Bracey also describes how the education community missed its chance to debunk Risk because of its own self-interest.

Is there such a thing as good news?
Much is made in the media about how stagnant SAT scores are. However, the author shows that test scores for every ethnic group have been going up. The reason total scores are not is because more and more of the test-takers are minority students, whose test scores are improving but not up as high as white students. When an international comparison of math and science appeared to show American students performing poorly, a press conference was called and the story garnered much attention. But when an international comparison of reading scores showed that out of 31 nations, American students were second in the world, and that the best readers in the US outscored all countries, not one media outlet carried the results. Eventually, Education Week discovered the story and carried it, and USA Today then picked it up.

Another example: In 1993, the conservative columnist George Will correctly noted that all of the states with the highest SAT scores were low spenders. New Jersey spent more money per child per year than anyone else and still finished only 39th in SAT scores. Later Robert Novak candidly reminded Californians that their SAT average was lower than Mississippi's. What Will and Novak didn't mention is that in the high-scoring states, hardly anyone takes the SAT. For the top five states, the percentages of seniors who bubbled in SAT answer sheets the year of the study were 5, 6, 6, 4, and 10 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, in New Jersey 76% of the senior class took the SAT. Mississippi beat California because 4% of its seniors took the SAT, while 47% of Californians did. You can bet those few Mississippi students who did take the test were highly motivated, college bound seniors. New Jersey, it turns out, should have been commended for having so many of its seniors take the test to apply to four-year colleges that require it.

Bracey has the studies to back up his points. Some may say, "You can prove anything with a study." I suppose that's true. A study funded by the tobacco industry will probably conclude that tobacco isn't harmful. However, if you read the book, it will be awfully hard for you to debunk Bracey's research. This is especially true considering how Bracey shines a light on how certain politicians manipulated or suppressed research themselves that might paint schools in a more positive light. Regardless of what your political orientation is, this is an important book that should be read and talked about.

This book is an excellent resource for those interested in Online Searching. I am a graduate student in Library Science and have found this book to be a valuable tool for learning to use online databases, such as Dialogue and Lexis-Nexis. Very helpful. I recommend this book for academic librarians and others interested in internet searching.

Although this book has the usual first edition imperfections, it stands out as the best book ever written so far on options and exotic derivatives. It is comprehensive and bears superbly the comparison with the other reference in the field, namely Hull.

This book contains classic leadership and management theories and processes in six parts and 17 chapters including: Part I Introduction: 1. Overview and History of Organizational Behavior, 2. Diversity in Health Care, 3. Attitudes and Perceptions, 4. Workplace Communications, Part II Understanding Individual Behaviors: 5. Current Theories of Motivation, 6. Process Theories of Motivation, Part III Leadership: 7. Power and Influence, 8. Behavioral Theories of Leadership, 9. Contingency Theories of Leadership, 10. Contemporary Leadership Theories, Part IV Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Issues: 11. Stress in the Workplace and Stress Management, 12. Conflict Management, Decision Making, and Negotiation Skills, Part V Groups and Teams: 13 Overview of Group Dynamics, 14. Groups, 15. Teams and Team Building, Part VI Managing Organizational Chance: 16. Organizatiaonal Development, 17. Resistance to Change and Change Management.

Chapters usually have learning objectives, an overview, bolded headings, tables, figures, exhibits including surveys and questionnaires, case studies with discussion questions, summaries, end of chapter discussion questions, exercises, some end of chapter case studies, references, and suggested readings. The narrative has numbered points and bulleted points. The book is well organized, well written and presented in a way that is easy to understand. It is six by nine inches which is easy to hold and read. It is appropriate for teaching leadership and management for any allied health discipline.

An instructor's manual that contains sample syllabi, teaching outlines, PowerPoint presentations, exercises, research projects, and links to journal articles is also available.

A very insightful, well written book. I would recommend this for any organizational communication upper-division college class, as well as anyone who works with (or in) an organization. (Note: this is of course written as a textbook)

A comprehensive overview of organizational learning theory with great company cases!

I have been using this manual for several years with my clients. It is very thorough and quite user-friendly. Olivia does an outstanding job of providing current and timely compliance information in an easy-to-use format. I highly recommend the manual. Linda Harvey, RDH, MS, LHRM

If you want information about OSHA standards as it relates to health care, this is the book for you. It is easy to understand, covers all of the basics and even has chapter tests, (good for employee training). I have used this book to aid in writing a policies & procedures manual for my office. There are contacts at the back of the book for further information from a variety of sources. It covers fire, bloodborne pathogens, hazardous materials, respirators, TB, ergonomics, hazardous waste, radiation, infection control, confined spaces, medical records... It is an invaluable medical practice tool.

Finally a book with practical applications to the reality that is healthcare today. Most of the outcomes materials written to day do not translate to the real pace, resources or personnel that are striving to produce actual measure of clincial outcomes.There has been so much hype,distorted measurements and manipulated statistical techniques applied to outcomes research that most of us almost wince when we hear about a new way/term to measure! This book is written for the novice to the experienced practitioner and offers new ideas and practical insight to both.It should be a text book for anyone intersted in the true measure of the work of healthcare. It is invaluable to understand how to communicate the results of outcomes research- this book provides thoughtful insight into speaking to consumers, payors and others about outcomes. This book will give you a great start if you are new and keep you current and relevant if you are experienced!