Book Description
The Corporate University Workbook gives you everything you need to create effective, systematic, learning infrastructure within your organization. As a result, you will develop employees who are capable of adapting to rapid changes and who deliver the results your business needs! This resource offers a dynamic combination of practical methodology, best practices, and step-by-step guidance. The Workbook, along with the CD-ROM, are filled with the tools, templates, and activities you need to develop and implement a corporate university. Build a corporate university in your organization and develop human talent in an effective and measurable manner. The Corporate University Workbook will help create a highly effective corporate university that will
- Identify your organization’s competencies and skills
- Develop the specific development programs with internal or external formal training, experiential learning, and coaching
- Encourage the growth of informal learning communities
- Foster networking and the exchange of learning
- Help you build learning into the work process
- Disseminate and increase knowledge
- Help employees develop strong career choices and skills
- Anticipate the skills, competencies, and abilities your organization will need in the future
Customer Reviews:
Great!.......2007-04-02
I am a Consultant charged with setting up a corporate university for a 100 person company. The workbook provided me with the structure of a university and things to think about in creating a university. I didn't use the CD yet, but did love the book!
A road map for talent development ..........2005-03-13
From strategic visioning through measuring success, this practical workbook provides tools, guidelines and even a dozen templates in the enclosed CD. Mr. Wheeler shares best practices, from years of experience and research. With the lead from product advances shrinking, human talent will become a major competitive differentiator. I highly recommend for anyone challenged to support your organization's success through talent development.
A must have workbook........2005-03-10
If you are involved in setting up or work for a corporate university, run, don't walk to your nearest book seller and purchase this workbook. Long overdue, The Corporate University Workbook, written in plan, easy to understand English, walks the reader through eleven chapters packed with business oriented explanations, strategies, checklists, exercises, case studies and rationales for designing, building and maintaining a world class corporate university. Destined to become a classic in the field, The Corporate University Workbook should be required reading and within arms reach of anyone responsible for establishing or fine tuning their organization's corporate university.
Philip McGee, Ed.D., THRD, Clemson University
A Must Read if You Want to Build a Corporate University.......2005-02-20
Kevin Wheeler makes it clear early on in his book that successful corporate universities must go beyond traditional training. Learning goes far beyond training, incorporating a wide range of informal learning processes and activities. This differentiates this book from much of what has been written in the past about corporate universities--focusing on mostly course-oriented training. Wheeler takes the reality of broad-based learning in organizations into account and provides a very detailed and practical guide for building a successful and flexbible corporate university. The book contains lots of templates and practical lists with questions and issues that must be addressed by someone building a corporate university. Each chapter begins with a review of an unsuccessful and a successful example of corporate universities, making it clear that success is by no means guaranteed. But the probability of success will no doubt be much higher for those who do their homework and not only read this book but complete the numerous exercises that Wheeler has carefully prepared to assist those ready to build a corporate university meant to transform an organization into a 21st century learning organization.
Book Description
Stedman Graham, bestselling author of You Can Make It Happen, teaches that in the 21st century your talent and skills above all else will define your value. In Diversity: Leaders Not Labels, Graham shows you how to break out of the box that keeps you from growing to your full potential, and reveals that success is truly based on results, performance, and excellence.
Diversity is literally changing the face of our nations. Workers of all backgrounds are merging into a global marketplace, while businesses are challenged by a shortage of talent and the need to integrate a wide range of cultures. In this global environment, diversity has become a permanent business characteristic; opportunities will be plentiful for both people and businesses. Graham indicates that we do not have to become a member of anyone else's culture to play a key role, but must maintain and assert our own identities while respecting others' uniqueness in our workforces and communities. He helps us to understand that developing leaders rather than accepting labels is ultimately the best way to preserve culture and create a legacy.
Diversity: Leaders Not Labels studies diversity as no one has before, exploring different cultures and their histories to help you understand that everyone has had challenges and that the transformation process is the same for each of us. Hard work, sacrifice, talent, and self-motivation are the tools you need for the future. By showcasing individuals who have successfully transcended labels to become leaders, Graham helps readers begin to move from their history to carving their own individual pathways to success, based on authenticity as well as the talents and skill they bring to the workforce.
"What is most important is breaking through labels and understanding who you are," says Graham. "Realize that everyone brings uniqueness, talents, and skills that add value to our experiences, work environments, businesses, and communities. When you operate from this perspective, you will emerge in the 21st century as a true leader to yourself, to others, and to society."
Customer Reviews:
Pass This Around!.......2006-09-28
Stedman Graham asks, "What do you do with your twenty-four hours?" I say give this book to everybody you know.
Mr Graham is very well grounded in his thinking and gives a fundamental and practical guideline for not only business people, but for all of us who believe that we can change the world one thought, one person at a time. This should be required reading from high school on into college.
Stedman is a true thought leader.......2006-09-22
Stedman Graham is a master of leadership. His work on diversity is rich with insight. His concept of leaders not labels is brilliantly relevant to not only the US culture but eqally critical to optimize the benefits of this new "flat world" global economy. The richness of our differences is one of the keys to our competiveness and innovation both as organizations and individuals. This is a book every one should read if they want to improve thier quality of life and influence. Buy it, read it and live it.
Book Description
"It's the economy, stupid," is a refrain the United States will never live down, and not without reason. The relentless march of technological development and globalization continues to put pressure on all national economies, providing opportunity for some and marginalization for others. Around the world, nations will need to overcome twin economic shocks: a wave of baby boomers will retire and leave the workforce, while too few young, well-educated people will be available to fill a rising tide of high-skill, technology-related jobs. Ed Gordon marshals vast amounts of data to illustrate how these trends are quickly converging, creating a labor vacuum--with potentially disastrous consequences for economic competitiveness and individual opportunity. In the United States, for example, major studies agree that the majority of the jobs now being created require skills possessed by only 20 percent of the current workforce; meanwhile, a large pool of under-trained workers are seeing their jobs exported to developing countries, automated, or outsourced, while millions of high-paying jobs, in such fields as engineering, computing, and health care are going unfilled. In The 2010 Meltdown, Gordon sounds a wake-up call to business leaders, policymakers, educators, and concerned citizens, employees, and parents--anyone with a stake in our economic future. Beyond the demographic issues, he notes that such cultural factors as Wall Street's obsession with short-term results (which favors cost-cutting over long-term training) and neglect of math and science skills at school are contributing to a fundamental mismatch between labor supply and demand. But the news is not all grim. Gordon highlights innovative initiatives in training, education, and community development in the United States and around the world that can serve as models for positive action, and he outlines a plan for reversing the destructive trends before we reach a crucial crossroad by the year 2010. Ultimately, The 2010 Meltdown is an optimistic book about social change, setting an agenda for reforms in education, policy, and business investment that will promote economic freedom, renewal, and prosperity.
Customer Reviews:
Torn by Two Visions of Ourselves.......2007-10-06
The 2010 Countdown grabbed my attention from the moment I opened it. It is well researched, data based, and yet exciting to read. Ed Gordon masterfully weaves facts, quotes, and anecdotes that engage readers of all learning styles through a history of the past, the reality of the present, and the hope of the future in dealing with the impending job crisis.
While the book brings forth the start reality of labor shortages now and in the future, Gordon leaves the reader with a variety of solutions to consider. He draws conclusions from data that are not self evident but powerfully enrich his message.
This is a book that when you finally put it down and reflect, there is a sense of clarity that urges you to take action in your own way to be part of a hopeful future.
Herb Schumann Was Right On Via Lauding This Masterwork.......2007-09-19
My coworker Herb Schumann righfully implored me to purchase this book. It is compelling, stark and a call to action. Even in the realm of Human Resources, America has a shortage of professionally trained and experienced people to handle human relations. Our educational system still continues to be incorrecly rooted for an outmoded agrarian society. This is a counterproductive disaster and by the year 2010 it will be catostrophic. Dr. Edward Gordon is renowned in educational and training environments. He is reputed to be an oustanding lecturer on these subjects. This book was magnificent and in light of the monumental subject matter, it is imperative for Dr. Gordon to continue writing, updating and illuminating us in reference to the all-important educational/employment crises.
Understanding the Future.......2007-06-25
Ed Gordon focuses on the workforce and the future. In his latest book, The 2010 Meltdown, he clearly outlines the relationship between education and economic development and the future implications across countries and continents. The book is packed with in-depth research and is presented in a crisp, no-nonsense style that is an easy read. There are no clear answers, but the reasoned approach provides food for thought on four-year colleges and the steps that should be taken for employment preparedness tomorrow. This problem is exacerbating despite globalization and a perceived increase in labor supply, and Dr. Gordon proves his understanding of the scope of the situation and potential outcomes we may experience.
Must read.......2007-05-15
This book provides the data that proves we are experiencing a skills crisis in America. Our culture promotes the "need" for a college education, yet only 15% of those who finish high school will ever attain a 2 0r 4 year degree. What about the other 85% of our kids? We need to quit drinking the kool aid being distributed by the colleges and pay attention to the Technical schools. Our young people can earn a great living and have skills that are in high demand by getting technical training. This book tells about that need -- and suggests ways to fix it.
Don't Invite Him To Speak. Just read the book........2007-04-08
the book itself is good. His timing may be off (2010). He's too late.
The problem that academics have is that for the most part, they keep their info among other academics. The content of his book needs to be on talk shows and reviewed by people like Oprah, so that its import can be known by the common man (the ones this is about), not just those who go to lectures at universities.
In person, Doctor Gordon ("Don't call me Ed") yells at his audience to gain attention (poorly done) and "holds court" with an ego that can't be cut by a good knife. The point here is that with his huge ego and poor personal presentation (he wouldn't sign my book prior to the lecture due to not having it purchased at the seminar, i bought it on Amazon)he causes the book's content to get lost in his hubris.
This is an important book (the content is critical) that will probably never reach beyond academia due to the character of the author.
All that said. Read it. His researchers did a great job and the content will have you shaking your head.
Book Description
In Productive Workplaces Revisited, Marvin Weisbord takes the next step in exploring effective strategies for improving workplace productivity through dignity, meaning, and community. Remarkably, in this new edition the author revisits the case studies from the first edition, Productive Workplaces, to show the long-term effects of OD interventions -- twenty-plus years after the fact and provides invaluable insights for practitioner and student alike. In five new chapters, Weisbord reinterprets his systems work in health care and steel-making, describes how “future search,” his method for “getting everybody improving whole systems,” has crossed cultures on five continents, and summarizes his learning from following up cases decades later. This edition also presents in-depth case studies of organizations that have used these techniques to increase output, cut costs, create strategic plans, manage conflict between functions, and more.
Download Description
In Productive Workplaces Revisited, Marvin Weisbord takes the next step in exploring effective strategies for improving workplace productivity through dignity, meaning, and community. Remarkably, in this new edition the author revisits the case studies from the first edition, Productive Workplaces, to show the long-term effects of OD interventions -- twenty-plus years after the fact and provides invaluable insights for practitioner and student alike. In five new chapters, Weisbord reinterprets his systems work in health care and steel-making, describes how “future search,” his method for “getting everybody improving whole systems,” has crossed cultures on five continents, and summarizes his learning from following up cases decades later. This edition also presents in-depth case studies of organizations that have used these techniques to increase output, cut costs, create strategic plans, manage conflict between functions, and more.
Customer Reviews:
OD Companion.......2007-10-03
This is an enlightening and well written book on the evolution and development of organisational development. The book is concise with minimal unnecessary fluff. The author presents a compelling case for improving workplace productivity through dignity, meaning and community. From reading this high quality book, managers should be able to work collaboratively with employees to make the workplace interesting, humane and productive.
This is a fantastic book which is recommended reading for those with an interest in the practical application of organizational development techniques and approaches. It has loads of accessible, relevant and important information that makes it indispensable for those involved in change management and human resources management. It is also necessary reading at the best MBA programs
Great.......2007-01-16
I received my book in a timely fashion, so I'm very pleased with my purchase.
Not Relevant.......2007-01-06
I only read the first 9 chapters. The first one was good. The second 8 were not - a relatively boring version of the history of management. Try reading other sections of the book if you want to get something out of it.
Best in it's class.......2006-08-02
This is my all-time favorite book on the history and philosophy of Organization Development. I recommend it to every person who comes to me for an informational interview and it's required reading for all staff and interns at our consulting firm, Community At Work.
Productive Workplaces Revisited.......2005-11-20
This was one of the first books I've read on Organization Development. After reading a multitude of OD books since it is still the only one that I enjoyed and found useful information in an easy to use format from cover to cover. I still reference it today.
Book Description
With a client list that includes Motorola, Daewoo, AT&T, and Volvo, Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner are considered today’s most knowledgeable, innovative management consultants. In 21 Leaders for the 21st Century, they tap into the wisdom of high-performing leaders from around the globe—from Michael Dell to Richard Branson—who candidly discuss their own views and experiences in analyzing and solving business dilemmas.
More than just a prescriptive list of leadership skills, this invaluable guide uses case studies, examples, charts, tables, and graphs to show today’s business leaders how to:
- Understand—and act upon—the 7 major dilemmas of leadership
- Identify major business dilemmas in the transnational community
- Implement strategies for sustaining emerging entrepreneurship
Download Description
Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner are considered today?s most knowledgeable, innovative management consultants. In 21 Leaders for the 21st Century, they tap into the wisdom of high-performing leaders from around the globe who candidly discuss their own views and experiences in analyzing and solving business dilemmas.
Customer Reviews:
Tom Peters step aside.......2004-05-03
My introduction to formalized leadership came during the Korean War, as I served as an instructor in the U.S. Army Infantry Leadership Course at Ft. Dix, NJ. There it was a pretty cut and dried formula with no opportunity for innovation. In the ensuing years leadership innovations have leaped into the spotlight with ever increasing frequency. Hardly a year goes by without some professor or management guru promulgating the latest leadership theory and its applications.
In my reading of this literature, I find that many, if not most, of them offer little of substance and seem to focus on providing panaceas that seldom seem to be applicable to my or my clients' situations. They enjoy waves of popularity and then like the old soldier just fade away to be replaced by the next new popular leadership theory.
Well, Tom Peters et al can step aside. The dynamic duo of Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner clearly demonstrate what effective managers need to learn to lead their organizations into the digital age. Rather than offering universal applications, these authors examine the nature of effective leadership in some depth. In specific situations they review the dilemmas of management and provide hardcore examples of how to reconcile fundamental issues of leadership.
Utilizing their base data from thousands of surveys of leaders and followers around the world and with their seven dimensions of cultural competence they have interviewed global leaders as they cope with the dilemmas of leadership. Rather than presenting seven or more essential habits, they focus on how these leaders reconcile differences to attain more effective management.
The authors suggest that business cultures are different, and that because business is run differently around the globe, we need different managerial and leadership competencies. What they call transcultural competence is their way of bridging those differences. It is a logic that tends to unify differences and that delineates the manager from the leader and the successful leader from the unsuccessful one. They call for a new way of thinking. Through-Through thinking is beyond either-or and even and- and thinking in that it synthesizes seemingly opposed values into coherence. Thus the main theme throughout this book is that effective leaders reconcile value dilemmas better than those who don't.
In in-depth interviews with 21 business leaders that run the range from Richard Branson of Virgin through the former Russian Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko, to corporate leaders throughout the West, we see the applications of transcultural competence through the use of the authors' seven dimensions: rule-making vs exception finding, that is universalism vs particularism; self-interest and personal fulfillment vs group interest and social concern, that is individualism vs communitarianism; preference for precise, singular, "hard" standards vs preference for pervasive, patterned. "soft: processes, that is specificity vs diffusion; emotions inhibited vs emotions expressed, that is neutral vs affective; status achieved through success and track record vs status ascribed to person's potential such as age, family, education, that is achievement vs ascription; control and effective direction comes from within vs control and effective direction comes from inside, that is inner-directed vs outer-directed; and time is conceived of as a "race" with passing increments vs time is conceived of as a "dance" with circular iterations, that is sequential vs synchronic. While not all of the 21 leaders address all of the above factors in their corporations, we do see that a number of these dimensions occur in varying issues of each organization. They include Kiriyenko working to reconcile dilemmas at the Nizhmy Novorod Oil Company (NORSI) such as that of inner direction (young Russians) vs outer directed (older Russians) or that of cronyism vs new rules or universalism vs particularism. Philippe Bourguignon of Club Med working to reconcile the dilemma of the unique, seamless, personalized vacation vs the reliable, affordable, segmented, standardized holiday with the specific ingredients going into the making of diffuse experiences.
Other examples of the reconciliation of dilemmas appear in such case studies as: creating a hyperculture with Martin Gillo of Advanced Micro Devices; recapturing the true mission with Christian Majgaard of Lego; the balance between market and product with Anders Knutsen of Bang and Olufsen; keeping closer to the customer with David Komansky of Merrill Lynch; and much more. Each of the case studies in the book offers rare insights into how the dilemmas of leadership can be met and how transcultural competence can be applied to leadership in the digital age. To quote the book itself: "The central premise that evolved is that the propensity to reconcile seemingly different contradictory values is the key competence behavior required for a leader to be effective in today's digital world." This is a fascinating spellbinding text blending the intercultural dilemmas of management with the reconciling forces of leadership to create innovative leaders. The examples from 21 business leaders prove again and again that Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner have hit enough nails on the head to build a solid model for the future.
David C. Wigglesworth an interculturalist is a management and organization development consultant and is president of D.C.W. Research Associates International in Kingwood, Texas. He can be reached at 281-359-4234 and dcwigg@earthlink.net
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Understanding dilemmas.......2002-09-26
Charles Hampden-Turner and Fons Trompenaars have been collaborating for many years to develop an understanding of how different cultures approach and resolve problems and the cross-cultural issues that arise from it. In the course of this collaboration they have developed a formidable database of responses from managers around the world, and a 'dilemma methodology' which they use to demonstrate how superior results flow from the way in which dilemmas are managed and resolved.
This book is a direct successor to a series of books by one or both authors, which develop the methodology and its application. This one applies it to the question of effective leadership, and makes a valuable contribution to a generally overcrowded field. In particular, it adds to understanding of the particular skill of an effective leader and also helps to build an operational understanding of what is meant by 'managing a culture'. The book can be read and used without reference to the earlier works, but Building Cross-Cultural Competence is particularly useful in providing an extended statement of the principles and dimensions summarized in the first 2 chapters of 21 Leaders.
The nine opening pages of the Introduction provide a succinct overview of the main thesis, described as a 'metatheory of leadership'. They argue that leaders 'manage culture' by fine-tuning and reconciling dilemmas and that that culture then runs the organization. Outstanding leaders are particularly adept at reconciling dilemmas - they make the necessary distinctions yet integrate them into a viable whole. The authors conceptualise apparently opposed values (eg individualism versus communitarianism) as being the opposite ends of a continuum and the test of successful reconciliation being that both values should emerge stronger from the interaction.
The book and most of the examples are based on issues of cross-cultural in the sense of cross-national values, but the principles apply equally wherever there is a potential clash of values - for example in a merger or a major program of change.
Through expanding their methodology and showing how it applies in a wide range of complex situations the authors seek to help leaders :
"Elicit and become aware of major business dilemmas in cross-cultural environments
See dilemma resolution as a crucial ingredient of strategy
Utilize dilemmas as strategic contexts for action
Learn the art of achieving one value through another in a virtuous circle (a process known as through-through thinking)
Learn how transnational entrepreneurs take their stands (preneur) between (entre) contrasting values."
Much of the book is devoted to case studies of the 21 selected leaders. These are not all the 'usual suspects' of the management literature, but include a former Russian Prime Minister and the heads of companies in a variety of industries and from a range of nations. Each is well-written and argues its particular points in a way that gives depth to the main thesis of the book.
One of the 21 books to read for the 21st century.......2001-06-30
This book should be read by everyone from young adults to senior executives. As a lay person, not only did I understand how to be successful in the business world, but how to improve my own life. The pages provided me with a fresh insight into leadership; one is not born as a leader, rather one must use leadership skills. Although this book provides examples with well known figures, it also points towards lesser known, but amply talented, leaders. However, albeit how successful some of these people are, some stories serve to remind us that even leaders cannot escape their own humanity. I loudly applaud Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner for giving me the tools to make my way through the 21st century!
Book Description
The first in a series of IHRIM books, 21 Tomorrows is a collection of original essays by HRIS thought leaders. The authors address new systems, people and management challenges we will all confront in the 21st century HRIS environments. The chapters provide the short- and long-term predictions that practitioners will need to make sense of what's happening in our industry today - and tomorrow.
Customer Reviews:
21 Tomorrows - A look at the future of HR Systems.......2000-06-27
This books provides a lot to think about in preparing for your companie's future HR Systems. There are 21 different views with very different outcomes predicted. If you are responsible for HR Systems you need to read this book.
Book Description
New and faster technology, redefined values, and shifting customer demands are changing the way businesses operate in the twenty-first century. Human resources and business leaders are faced with the challenge of redefining their strategies on leadership, talent, and diversity, while evaluating their operational effectiveness. This book presents the compelling contributions of thought leaders-such as David Ulrich, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, and Jeffrey Pfeffer-who offer a road map for what these leaders can expect. Renowned HR executives also provide their expert advice and prescriptions for the future. The nature of human resources will continue to evolve as the new century progresses-with this book, HR professionals can change with it.
Marc Effron (Darien, CT) is the Global Practice Leader for Hewitt Associates Leadership Practice. His leadership work centers on helping organizations attract, develop and retain top leadership talent. Robert Gandossy (Redding, CT) heads Hewitt's Global Practice Leaders for Talent and has over twenty years' experience in human resources, leadership, and change management. Marshall Goldsmith (Santa Fe, CA) is a founding Director of The Alliance for Strategic Leadership, a consulting organization.
Customer Reviews:
Balancing HR? Reality v Fantasy, Emotional v Economic,.......2004-06-03
My recent attendence at the HRO conference in New York only substantiated my growing belief that in the absence of strong HR leadership, the United States economy will soon feel the harsh reality of a population isolated and devalued by agressive competition, and incapable of finding the required trust to consolidate and unify to grow security of life in the future.
Above economic value, lies the rewards of emotional value(EQ) being trust in relationship, unconditional love, emotional strength, social esteem, trust in ability, self esteem, social security, creative value, balanced health, and every core competence that a true HR leader should represent.
In choosing to write on HR in the 21st Century, any realistic leader who fails to identify the behavioural implications of an insecure population incapable of identifying a secure future is only seeking recognition for the insecurity they embody. To outsource an individual's cultural life purpose identifies appalling leadership judgements who for an immediate comparitive monetary advantage effectively destroys all hope of realising future growth by growing mistrust and emotional weakness having deserted the real value the workforce creates in the community. In devaluing an employee to a third world equivalent, does the leader realise the employee whose job has disappeared is now incapable of emotionally contributing a purposeful contribution to the community? The same community our children require the freedom to experiment, fantasise and discover essential adult skills while developing physiological security, and after finding personal security, the community adolescents rely on to emotionally rehearse to develop social esteem and value independence, the community selected out of all other communties because of the mutual bond felt with other like minded members who collectively share in the hope of securing a better quality of life in the future.
Civilisations were built on a common premise to share in the rewards of social connection and to develop a secure future. Value was defined by creatively interacting to diversify skills to express specialist value above primary value. Life begins and ends in the community, where happiness is defined in relativity to others, where we emotionally share in identifying with life meaning, and where organisations appeal to community needs to develop flourishing, viable communities to secure customer allegiences and future growth.
Economic value holds no meaning if it fails to add meaning or enhance life in the community. Organisations who have outsourced their workforce to India have effectively committed economic suicide. Agile, socially responsible companies will soon discover the value in appealing to community needs. In realising employees add a distinct character to a community's culture, and encourages value growth in a specialist set of skills and emotional associations. When combined and shared with other specialist skills, the developed value supports community growth and wealth far beyond a productive, materialist value.
Civilisations defined the human ability to emotionally identify and cooperate for social value. If we cannot share in the experience of creating and defining life in the community then we will never realise life rewards. To feel insecure in one's community is to merely exist. A community without purpose feels the stress associated with cultural insecurity and social anxiety. Globalisation has disconnected communities from recognising and developing the security of a purposeful future. Economic Man has fractured and disabled the only means of securing future growth. Without sharing value amongst the community, the value of accumulated wealth is but a mere fantasy in the bank account of the beholder who is effectively hoarding dead value.
Strong leadership needs to show a willingness to cast a realistic view on what the objective purpose of Globalisation is, and what will define the end of the outward flow of jobs. HR's failure to define the significance of cultural purpose on developing human value and the need to actively create security of life is the fundamental cause of every problem in our world today. Cultural insecurity is felt by every person and leader who fails to actively work to secure a meaningful life in the future.
In omitting behavioural value, emotional intelligence and personal development, this book is only fit for the Artifically Intelligent transactional HR type who typically disrupt the development of strategic value. The independent creative value of transformational HR leadership is the one asset in short supply in a world built on conformist views who cannot express true value.
Human Resources in the 21st Century.......2003-06-11
Just like Coaching for Leadership, Human Resources in the 21st Century is a MUST read and should be an ACTIVE resource for leading edge HR Professionals and Service Providers who want to (positively) impact people and performance and provide value to the business.
Book Description
Built upon a rigorous theoretical base, Stratified Systems Theory, Requisite Organization relates all aspects of leadership, work and human resources in a unified total system.
Customer Reviews:
Read this book. Follow its directives.......2005-01-20
Want to reduce turnover, eliminate micromanaging, improve leadership and staff development, increase productivity, increase employee and managerial satisfaction, achieve organizational goals, and more? Read this book. Follow its directives.
It may take a while to digest the very dense information contained in this book, but for the serious student of organizational effectiveness, it is worth it. Very terse and prescriptive in his style, Jaques' writing may disenchant some. Yet the wisdom in this, his flagship tome, is immense. It took a while to sink in, and I found that reading several of his other books helped clarify the concepts for me. See for example: Executive Leadership, Social Power and the CEO, Human Capability, and Levels of Abstraction in Logic and Human Action. Requisite Organization, however, is the book to which I return for reference and details; it covers all the important concepts in a single volume. [The other books add detail and emphasize various points, so they have particular value too.] Organizational Design by Rowbottom and Billis helped me too, as did the excellent work by both Mark Van Clieaf at MVC Associates and Gillian Stamp at BIOSS.
I didn't, at first, fully understand the importance of the information contained in this book, or the solid research foundation that underlies it. A little known fact is that the concepts included in this book provide the foundation for leadership development, talent management, and compensation processes of organizations such as GE and the US Army. Many other authors and consulting organizations touting talent management, leadership pipelines, succession planning and the like derive their approaches directly or indirectly from Jaques - an interesting story in itself. Most give him little or no credit, though Colin Powell, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. Armed Forces, honored Jaques with the Joint Staff Certificate of Appreciation for "outstanding contributions in the field of military leadership theory and instruction to all of the service departments of the United States". And the American Psychological Association honored him with the Harry Levinson Award of the Consulting Psychology Division for "a distinguished career and impressive accomplishments."
After reading Jaques, all the others seem derivative, shallow, trite, and somewhat off-target. Granted, other authors have something of value to say about organizational structuring, accountability, strategic planning, leadership, selection, mentoring, coaching, compensation, managerial practices, functional alignment, measurement, and the like. But while all the rest are shooting in the dark, Jaques hits center target!
Thought-Provoking.......2004-11-01
Elliott Jaques devised a system for analyzing executive ability based upon an individual's time horizon--the maximum period of time in the future toward which his/her work activities were aimed in their performance. He reached this conclusion during extensive, longitudinal, empirical studies in England (see "The Changing Culture of a Factory" for example). His series of books reflect his elaboration and extension of this finding. He worked, for a time, with Dr. Owen Jacobs of the U.S. Army (and then the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, ICAF). Jaques groundbreaking book, "Requisite Organization" is more pictorial than "Executive Leadership" which followed it or the later "Human Capability". While the present work may be oriented more towards organizational structure, it is useful to practicing executives. True, it may present an ideal which cannot, at present, be achieved, but as the Cheshire Cat said to Alice, if you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there. I wish more bosses would read Jaques' works--and carefully at that. I bought and loaned some of them to my boss. This volume is rather pictorial: the charts provided are engaging and thought-provoking. The more extensive, "Executive Leadership" followed this book in sequence--it is a fine sequel.. These books are most strongly recommended for serious students and practitioners of management as well as human resource professionals. They go far in attempting to move management into management science.
Pounding insight.......2004-09-05
The Requisite Organization is a text explaining how to organize and properly staff a beaurocracy for maximum effectiveness. Sounds painful and dull, but perhaps beaurocrats get such a bad rap because they are operating ineffectively.
Stratified Systems Theory is a hard-core scientificaly derived theory on who has the adequate personal capabilities to be a manager. The key concept is that leaders should be given responsibility based on their ability to think about long term complex problems. All other management competencies (emotional intelligence and other soft skills included) are secondary to this ability. It's a hard concept to handle, but backed with sufficient data.
Many secondary implications are discussed too. How should one promote individual contributors? What's the effective span of control a manager can have? How does one handle organizational conflict? Should one override a subordinate in a staffing decision? All these questions are relevant to today's manager, and it is good to have a theoretical foundation to think about these questions.
There's two downsides to the book. First, whenever there's a book stating, "The whole world is wrong and headed to hell in a bucket!" I tend to greet it with skepticism. Secondly, although Jaques has a tremendous amount of impirical work supporting his positions, it is not clear if the ability to think long term is the driving factor of personal performance in todays world of shifting organizations and personal loyalties.
Even if you disagree with half of what Jaques says, the originality, insight and rigor put into such a soft field makes it well worth the read.
Requisite Organization, The Art of Self-Perpetuating Misery.......2003-03-08
This book presents a complete system for building and managing an organization structure that will endure. The basic idea is to create hierarchies by function. The characteristic distinguishing layer from layer in a hierarchy is the span of time over which planning takes place. Work is accomplished by managing the flow of processes across functional area hierarchies.
This all sounds great. Unfortunately, effectively managing cross-functional workflow in a requisite organization is extremely difficult and time-consuming. Since the attention of most people is on local optimization, and very few managers are up to the task of maintaining a global focus, functional-area hierarchies end up optimizing their local processes at the expense of global performance. Also, since this organization IS so enduring, it is extremely difficult to effect positive changes.
There are some interesting ideas in this book. However, the ultimate product is usually going to be an organization that self-reinforces suboptimal behavior. If you want a self-perpetuating organization rife with finger-pointing, political in-fighting, and deadlocked workflow... implement a requisite organization.
I you want a lean, mean organization in which ownership and accountability are tied directly to business goals and system throughput is emphasized... look elsewhere. Start with "The Goal", "It's Not Luck", or "Critical Chain" by Eliyahu Goldratt. Then delve more deeply into Theory of Constraints, or Constraints Management as its sometimes called. You and your organization will be much better served.
The best in linking complexity and human capability.......2001-09-30
We have many theories on strategy and complexity. But no understadings regards how these links to human capability. Jaques explains and shows how to connect complexity to human work. And his understanding of human work is particular and clarifying - human work has to do with uncertainty. People in a managerial hierarchies has to deal with different degrees of uncertainty and Jaques shows it in a very organized and deep way. I think that there nothing better than this available in all managerial books available. A classic.
Book Description
With temperatures warmer than they have been in decades and major hurricanes and storms occurring with increasing frequency, the fragility of the environment is on everyone's mind these days. For centuries, the Christian religion has preached a dominion of the earth, which has turned into one community's exploitation of the environment in the name of religion. As the sermons in Earth and Word demonstrate, a vast portion of the Christian community does not endorse or condone the destruction of the environment in the name of God. This singular collection gathers the voices of many environmentalists, theologians, preachers, and activists who have spoken in support of saving the planet. Included in this collection are compelling and provocative sermons from such influential figures as Wendell Berry, Thomas Berry, John Cobb, William Slone Coffin, Bill McKibben, Sallie McFague, Joseph Sittler, and Barbara Brown Taylor. In each of these sermons, the authors explore the deep relationship between thinking religiously and thinking ecologically.
Rhoads has performed a great service in drawing together in one place these timeless and classic sermons on a vital topic for today.
Customer Reviews:
Important considerations recommended for any Christian library........2007-09-02
For centuries Christians have preached a domination of the earth, but EARTH AND WORD provides a difference: sermons from the Christian community which do not condone the destruction and conquest of the environment in the name of God. The voices of environmentalists, theologians, and activists such as Wendell Berry, John Cobb, and others explore connections between thinking religiously and thinking ecologically, and make for important considerations recommended for any Christian library.
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Books Index
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General
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The Corporate University Handbook: Designing, Managing, and Growing a Successful Program
Corporate Universities: Lessons in Building a World-Class Work Force, Revised Edition
Developing/Implementing a Corporate University
What CEOs Expect From Corporate Training: Building Workplace Learning and Performance Initiatives That Advance
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