Organizations Books

I puchased this book for my wife as a birthday present. Ironically I read it once she was done, based on her flowering recomendation. It was fantastic, well written, and inspirational. The pictures of the original texts are beutiful. I will read a page or two when ever I need a quick pick me up. In these times, thats probably going to be often.

This is a condensed version of the Psalms as editted by the Venerable Bede (c. 673-735). It is illustrated by plates of the Latin and translated well by a professor of Classics at the University of Illinois (Urbana). The translation is very readable.

The condensations may be as long 11 or 12 verses or a short as a phrase. Often they trigger a memory of the Psalm from which they come; this would be even more common among those who regularly pray the Psalms. Reading the condensations gives an overview of the Psalms as a whole, that is difficult to observe when reading the entire Psalter. This overview helps place the various psalms in their literary and theological context.

One oddity in Bede's abridgment; Psalm 50 not only prefigures Jesus but refers directly to him! The brief introduction explains this and the single line from Psalm 136 which in no way implies the well-known "By the waters of Babylon".

If you are interested in the early Church in England, liturgy, or a devotional version of the Psalms, this version is well worth exploring.

This book is concise but at the same time very explanatory, clearly breaking down the process of community organizing into its essential elements, at least according to the author's perspective. The book was written a while ago, but the issues are still very relevant. I'm very new to reading about CO, but just reading the book got me very excited about the possibility for real change. I highly recommend it to other interested in entering the field.

Many churches and synagogues, when faced with a needy situation in their neighborhoods, are paralyzed or indecisive. Should they provide for the needy while ignoring the root cause of the distress? Should they urge their members to pursue political correctives through the ballot box? Should the institution involve itself in partisan politics?

None of these approaches is the best way, according to Gregory Pierce. If they are truly to have an impact on their social milieu, congegations must involve themselves in broadly-based community organizations large and powerful enough to confront underlying causes of need. This tried and proven method was developed forty years go by Saul Alinsky and is still employed successfully today.

In order to be effective in community organizations, however, congregations must be willing to work with other groups with different ideologies, and they must understand and be willing to utilize the levers of power. This book is a primer for lay leaders and clergy who want to move their congregations into the arena of activism. It tells them what to do -- and what not to do -- if they want to make a difference in their neighborhoods.

This book is highly readable and has GREAT examples and tips. The author shows examples where organizations succeeded and where they failed. As a novice activist, I found it to be very helpful. The examples are diverse so I think there is a great deal for more experienced activits to learn as well. The only drawback of this book is that it focuses only on domestic issues. For those whose causes are on the international level as well as the domestic level would find that to be the only draw back. Still, this is a useful book with great examples and ideas that any activist could use and relate to their own campaign.

Even if you're not an activist and don't want to be, as long as you have any sort of interest in social change, this book will be well worth reading. Packed with examples of how movements have succeeded and failed, this extremely readable handbook will inspire through its analysis of strategies and tactics that can be used to accomplish what many of us desperately want. Most of us understand already that simply arguing for social justice will fail to achieve it, but -- as Shaw demonstrates -- Herculean efforts, if miscalculated, will just as surely fail. In this book, Shaw describes successful strategies for community organizers, effective relationships with elected officials, the use of coalitions, ballot initiatives, the media, lawyers, and direct action strategies. The most persuasive theme tying each of these discussions together is that the best defense is an effective offense, that a failure to aggressively pursue positive change is a strategy for worsening the status quo.

Although to many, the rate of change in the IT area has slowed down from the frenetic pace of the dot com era, to most that is just as much an illusion as the false profits of the dot com era were. The rate of change is still rapid, and in many areas the extent of the change is hidden. If your task is to make a "small" change to a large program, that single change may be monumental, in approach, execution and consequences. Therefore, when talk turns to being an adaptive enterprise, it must include both the ability to create new products in order to enter new markets and the capability of adapting current products to respond to smaller changes in customer needs. It is not possible to consider one to be microchanges and the other macrochanges, as either one could be large or small depending on the circumstances.
In both cases, it is not possible to be adaptable without adopting the appropriate mindset, which involves emotional and organizational adjustments. Emotionally, one must become tolerant of change and organizationally, it is necessary for information to flow quickly and in both directions along the hierarchy chart. The emphasis in this book is on the organizational adjustments that need to be made, although the emotional adjustments are occasionally mentioned. The organizational adjustments are handled very well, described in enough detail so that there is no ambiguity in understanding what they are and how they are performed.
The emphasis is on reusable components, not all of which are constructed of software. In chapter 2, there are descriptions of the physical components, functional components and interface components. Several different types of organizational patterns are described, what they are, how they are used as well as the consequences of their use. Chapter 3 covers the general categories of transact patterns, publish patterns and collaboration patterns. A transact pattern is any application that writes structured information to a system. Publish patterns deal with data that is presented in a read-only form, although it also includes any summaries and other analysis done on the data. The collaborate patterns deal with the sharing of data between peers. Each pattern covered is then summarized in sections describing the benefits of using it as well as the weaknesses that it exhibits.
In chapter 4, the emphasis is on the creation of adaptive services, which are shared structures that are static and permanent, reusable and have a different lifecycle than the physical infrastructure. As the authors mention, the key to providing adaptive services is to identify those parts that need to change independently, and structure the service so they can be altered without changing the other components.
Chapters 5, 6 and 7 deal with the strategies used to define the business problem(s) to be solved, developing arguments to justify the project and obtain the funding, managing per-project processes as well as periodic processes, communicating with developers and customers, and the management of the people in the process. This section is a summary of the best practices in how to identify and solve problems using methods that will lead to subsequent problems being easier to solve.
After a great deal of ink has been used to explain the failures of software development, the IT crowd has made relatively little progress in solving many of the problems of software development. Some of that ink might as well have been spilled, but not so for the ink used to create this book. Packed with sound advice as to how to build a solid yet flexible developmental infrastructure, this is one book that all managers of large projects should read.

The infrastructure management approach that the authors give in this book incorporates practices from systems (and software) engineering, and is a blueprint for success. The objectives are: (1) end-to-end management with no gaps in ownership, (2)cost efficiencies through reuse and component-based strategies, (3)holistic view that looks at business, operational and technology (instead of the common 'technology only' view), and adaptability (an infrastructure that is managed to long range goals, but can be quickly adapted to emerging and immediate business needs).

How the authors meet these objectives is by identifying physical, functional and interface components that make up the infrastructure and integrating them into a service-oriented framework. This is consistent with component-based software engineering, and it is a remarkably good fit to infrastructure management. Moreover, the authors introduce patterns, also borrowed from software and systems engineering disciplines, to map business requirements to design in an efficient manner that promotes reuse. Another advantage of patterns is this approach captures knowledge (something not directly pointed out in the book). If you're not familiar with process patterns the book I recommend for infrastructure professionals is More Process Patterns by Scott Ambler. This is the second of a two book set and it directly addresses patterns that are related to infrastructure (the first book, Process Patterns, is more focused on software engineering).

The two chapters I liked the most are 4, Developing Adaptive Services, and 5, Services Starter Kit. These chapters tie services to infrastructure and go into fine detail about how to integrate services and the underlying technology. I especially like the way the authors use multiple life cycle management for each layer in the infrastructure. Chapters 6 (Processes and Methods) and 7 (Packaging and People) neatly pull together the preceding chapters into a coherent, process-oriented strategy. The single appendix is also valuable because it gives a comprehensive component catalog. This catalog can be used as the basis of the infrastructure blueprint as well as the foundation of an encompassing asset management initiative.

I bought this book 4 weeks ago and I am still waiting. I just keep receiving emails saying that they are having some delay so in 1-2 week they will dispatche the book.
If you really need this book go and buy it someplace else.

No doubt, one of the best for those interested in graduate level of industrial organization. Readers can learn about major business strategies in industrial markets and its welfare implications. Leading theories, major empirical analyses, and added author's view against too influential Chicago ideas will give@excellent perspective of the progress in the field. The appendix of game theory is written to make the book self-satisfactory.

This worthy handbook explores ways in which language teachers can best be advised and supported in their teaching situations. The authors provide a comprehensive review of literature to support their contention that the goal of training should be to develop independent, autonomous and professionally-minded teachers. Additionally, they demonstrate the central role feedback plays in helping teachers to become self-critical reflectors on their teaching experiences. Throughout, advisors are prompted to think about how they can move teachers on to higher level concerns and there are many good points to emerge especially in the area of talking to teachers (Chapters 6-9). Based on this excellent discussion, I also see a need for advisors themselves to reflect on their own practices especially in contexts where collaborative relationships with teachers and colleagues are not high on 'personal' agendas.

Advising and supporting teachers by Mick Randall and Barbara Thornton (CUP) is a fine addition to the literature on teacher support. It guides teacher educators on how they can give support to teachers in training especially during their teaching practice. This book challenges teacher supervisors to examine their own philosophy of teaching and supervision by having them reflect on various tasks (part 2 of the book) that consist of case studies, observation tasks, role plays, feedback techniques and various other activities. The book begins by setting the scene for teacher supervision and offers a humanistic approach to helping trainee teachers through their teaching practice.
This book is really a must read for any teacher trainer/educator that is involved with teachers on the practicum. It offers many provocative tasks and approaches to teacher supervision and can be utilized pretty much in any context (although it is very much British influenced). Regardless of how much a teacher educator can implement from this book, just one reading of it will remind teacher supervisors just how much they may take for granted when supervising trainee teachers on teaching practice. However, given the workload that many supervisors are burdened with, I wonder how, and when they will get enough time to reflect on the tasks! So the book would be most suitable for trainee supervisors that have more time to discuss these tasks. That said, I recommend this book to all supervisors of teachers as well, so that they can reflect on the complexities of supporting new teachers. This book offers support for these teacher supervisor

Leaders of successful organizations in the next century will need to understand and implement the priciples contained in this outstanding book.

The author sets forth concepts that challenge current thinking about how to lead successful and competitive organizations. But he does much more. What makes this a significant work is clear-cut demonstration of value. Implementation of these concepts will become increasingly important as baby boomers retire in the next few years; organizations that learn how to build workforce affiliation will attract and retain human assets and will be more successful.

Dr. Ron Elsdon has already been awarded the Human Resource Planning Society's Walker Prize for advancing state-of-the-art thinking in human resources. This book clearly advances thinking about how to be successful in leading organizations in the next century.

A friend saw this book, Affiliation in the Workplace, on my desk, and commented to me, "That's not the kind of book I would expect you to be reading." That's true. The title conjures up a variety of visions. However, the book is not an irrelevant academic treatise, it isn't about dating people at work, and it isn't advocating a blind faith proposition that treating employees well will result in wonderful benefits for an organization. The secondary title, Value Creation in the New Organization, comes closer to expressing the focus of the book for me: Thoughtful approaches for strategizing and then maximizing the impact of people. In short, Elsdon makes a business case for the value of developing and retaining people.

The book is targeted to leaders and senior HR strategists. You don't need to go to Chapter Six which is chock full of calculus and models to realize this is something different. Also, there are no overly simplistic answers provided, no silver bullets that any organization can employ. Elsdon clearly points out that many variables determine what solution is best, such as the type of business (people or capital intensive), the life stage of the organization (Early Growth or Maturity), etc. He tells you which approaches may be most appropriate, given the characteristics of your organization and workforce.

Basically, the book suggests that organizations choose wisely when defining the relationship that they want to have with their employees. He points out that in many cases we are paying a large price for the "free agent" mentality that has been fueled by many recent organization practices, such as downsizing. However, we cannot in most cases go back to traditional, paternalistic relationships either. He argues for an energetic, inspiring work environment coupled with employee participation and strong support for focused employee development. This will in turn result in the broad-based creative and intellectual contributions that are required from employees today together with organization commitment and increased employee retention. It will help create what he describes as a "highly efficient internal job market."

This really is an interesting book, and you can "get through it" relatively quickly. I recommend it to anyone charged with making the most of an organization's human resources.

Even as a person who cares about race issues and followed the Michigan cases with great interest, I found this book to be tremendously eye-opening. Mr. Wise examines many of the myths surrounding affirmative action programs and race, and methodically and persuasively "de-bunks" them, in many cases merely by unpacking the statistics that were cited in the Michigan cases themselves. I've already given this book to several friends to read, all of whom found it as absorbing and fascinating as I did. And I've cited it to many other friends, including a number of black friends, to point out the many myths that have heretofore gone unchallenged, even in the black community. I wish I could give a copy of this book to everyone in the United States. I'd love to witness and take part in the dialogue that came out of that reading project. I can't recommend this book highly enough. And do be sure to read White Like Me, Mr. Wise's other recently published book.

Again, as he did in "White Like Me", Wise forces America to look itself in the face and examine the reflection with honesty and integrity. In this book, Wise appeals to common sense, and "scientific minds" for those who need proof for the otherwise obvious, and makes one of the most compelling arguments for affirmative action while rebutting, with countless research, the dubious arguments of those who claim that affirmative action, particulary in college admissions policies, is reverse discrimination and a system of "handouts" to unqualified blacks, who in essence steal the seats from qualified whites. He demonstrates how subscribers to such arguments base their claims almost entirely on the "racial gap" in SAT, ACT, and GRE scores that supposedly "prove" how whites are being discriminated against when blacks with lower test scores take whites' "rightly earned" seats. However, through use of countless research, Wise demonstrates not only how research after research shows that these standardized test neither reflect ability nor determine grades in college. He further shows through research how the tests fail to predict graduation rates for students of any race.

As a deafening blow to the "reverse discrimination" claim, Wise points to the overwhelming evidence pointing not only to blacks' competence once admitted to college (that is often superior to their white counterparts with higher test scores) but to the fact that whites with lower test scores, admitted because of parent alumnus status, take far more seats from "more qualified whites" than all affirmative action admits put together. Yet, those who decry affirmative action on grounds of racial discrimination effectively ignore this fact. Even more bizarre is that it never enters the radar screen for their arguments. For if the argument against affirmative action is that unqualified blacks are admitted over their more qualified white counterparts (based on test scores), by definition, decriers of affirmative action must be infuriated by the overwhelming number of "unqualified" white admits (sons and daugthers of parent alumni) who take the seats of more "qualified" white students. After all, the alum status admits have exceedingly more priority than affirmative action admits, so much so that beneficiaries of affirmative action wouldn't even make the chart for a statistical comparison to the admission rate of children of alums. Yet, opposers of affirmative action condone this "unjust" admission policy, as if saying, as long as the "unqualified" admit is white, he/she belongs there; if he/she is black, certainly a white student should be there in his/her place. This crippling discrepancy alone shows the inherent racism, and dubious foundation, in the reverse discrimination argument itself.

As if these arguments were not compelling enough, Wise goes on to demonstrate how the recent white "reverse discrimination" plaintiffs, based on the schools' admission policies, would not have been admitted to the college of their choice, even if affirmative action were not in place. Furthermore, none of their lawyers even attempted to argue that the black student admits were not fully qualifed to be admitted...because they were, demonstrated both by admission policies that put little weight on test scores in the first place and black student graduation rates after admission.

The underlying premise of all of Wise's arguments is that there has always been a system of "affirmative action" for whites in virtually all areas of life: housing, schooling, and employment; and until this "affirmative action" ceases to be in place, the affirmative action in response to the racism plaguing this society must remain in place, not only for the benefit of blacks, but for the benefit of a just, right-thinking society at large.

Finally, Wise appeals to proponents of affirmative action by advising them to reclaim affirmative action, not through watered-down arguments calling for "campus diversity" (an argument that in itself works to keep white privilege and power structure in place) but through the need for affirmative action in the face of the continuing prevalence of white "affirmative action" that defines this nation's past and present. After all, it was in response to this racist system that affirmative action was put in practice in the first place. Thus it is on this premise, that is backed by scores of research and common sense, that this system of justice must be reclaimed in the face of white privilege.

A credit to Peter Temes's efforts to bring back the dignity and respect that school reform has taken away from great teaching. Against School Reform (And in Praise of Great Teaching) describes and outlines some of the great philosophies that have shaped Americas schools. His genuine admiration for teachers and great teaching is apparent, in his accurate description of our failing educational systems. The connection he makes with what does and does not work in schools is evident of his knowledge of the educational structure. The issues and views of school reform come second to the power of great teaching.

Temes' central thesis is that nothing succeeds with any kind of student, from the most brilliant to the slowest, like devoted and intelligent teachers.

It isn't the curriculum, it isn't how many hours of sex ed they get, it isn't the standardized tests. It's the amount of time and effort the teacher spends working to inspire young minds.

Not surprisingly, a top-down approach "designed by geniuses to be implemented by idiots" is bound to fail. Teachers are idiosyncratic human beings. Each one will have his or her own approach to teaching, and if they are any good they will never teach the same class twice. The subject matter evolves, the teacher keeps learning, and the personalities in each class are different.

Temes' plea is for administrators to see their role as protecting the teachers from bureaucratic intrusion and hiring the best possible teachers. The role of education schools ought to be, as much as anything else, getting smarter people into education. Education majors today are at the bottom of the heap intellectually, about 100 points below the median on SAT scores. It is perverse that teaching is a job from which it is hard to get fired, and from which the only promotion paths lead out of the classroom. Temes quotes many administrators on the reality of the situation: 20% of classroom teachers are total losses, another 60% are capable of being inspired but often aren't, and maybe 20%, in a good system, are truly dedicated.

A short anecdote. I listen to the lunchroom conversation in my stints as a substitute teacher. In private school the conversation is usually about kids and curriculum. In public school it is about benefits and retirement.

this was an excellent read, much better than the film, although the film is still something that should be watched. Coming from an english inner city originally i am aware of the gang culture and the trouble schools in these areas have to put up with having attended an inner city primary school, never mind a secondary. This helps me to admire what marie stubbs done even more than the average person because i know the sort of children she was dealing with at the school. She seems to have a genuine interest in the welfare of the children, a rare thing to see in an English school nowadays. read this, its inspirational to see how 1 woman can make such a difference!

As a teacher you fall into many dark areas of working with troublesome students. This is an inspiring and motivating memoir of a Principal's uphill battle with the media, her staff and the community to make a school with a bad reputation a great school. We need more principals and more teachers that can see the light on a dark day. Every child can achieve at school, but it takes the right person to make them feel important.