Human Side of Organizations, The (9th Edition)

Book Description

"The Human Side of Organizations" delivers complete, up-to-date, practical information on how people behave in organizations presented in a readable, easy to understand form. The vital information can be used to understand managers, peers or workers. If you work, you need this information to thrive and survive. FOCUS BOXES/Reality Checks - Bring the work world as it really is into every chapter./Question of Ethics - Presents ethical questions related to the particular chapters' material./A Global Glance - A look at an international aspect of a chapters' concepts./FYI - A new focus box for the 9e./Presents useful hints readers can apply in their daily lives. Anyone who wishes to better understand managers, peers, or workers can benefit from this book as it covers the vital skills needed to survive and thrive in an organization.

Customer Reviews:

Good Service.......2007-02-24

Received Book in about 2 weeks after purchase. Book was in excellent condition. Good Service.

Exceeded Expectations.......2005-09-30

My textbook came sooner than expected and it was in great condition! The savings were unbelievable and I actually recommended using this seller to everyone in my class.

The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations

Average customer rating:

Seek not stardom, just starfishdom
Peter NYC
Useful introduction, but there's more ...
Starfish is a mind-game
Elusive Nodes

The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations
Ori Brafman , and Rod Beckstrom
Manufacturer: Portfolio Hardcover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Communications | Skills | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Workplace | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Organizational Behavior | Business Management | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder--How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place
Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape
The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More

ASIN: 1591841437

Book Description

Understanding the amazing force that links some of today's most successful companies

If you cut off a spider's leg, it's crippled; if you cut off its head, it dies. But if you cut off a starfish's leg it grows a new one, and the old leg can grow into an entirely new starfish.

What's the hidden power behind the success of Wikipedia, craigslist, and Skype? What do eBay and General Electric have in common with the abolitionist and women's rights movements? What fundamental choice put General Motors and Toyota on vastly different paths? How could winning a Supreme Court case be the biggest mistake MGM could have made?

After five years of ground-breaking research, Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom share some unexpected answers, gripping stories, and a tapestry of unlikely connections. The Starfish and the Spider argues that organizations fall into two categories: traditional “spiders,” which have a rigid hierarchy and top-down leadership, and revolutionary “starfish,” which rely on the power of peer relationships.

The Starfish and the Spider explores what happens when starfish take on spiders (such as the music industry vs. Napster, Kazaa, and the P2P services that followed). It reveals how established companies and institutions, from IBM to Intuit to the US government, are also learning how to incorporate starfish principles to achieve success. The book explores:
* How the Apaches fended off the powerful Spanish army for 200 years
* The power of a simple circle
* The importance of catalysts who have an uncanny ability to bring people together
* How the Internet has become a breeding ground for leaderless organizations
* How Alcoholics Anonymous has reached untold millions with only a shared ideology and without a leader

The Starfish and the Spider is the rare book that will change how you understand the world around you. BACKCOVER: Advance praise for The Starfish and the Spider
“The Starfish and the Spider is a compelling and important book.”
—Pierre Omidyar, CEO, Omidyar Network and Founder and Chairman, eBay Inc.

“The Starfish and the Spider, like Blink, The Tipping Point, and The Wisdom of Crowds before it, showed me a provocative new way to look at the world and at business. It's also fun to read!”
—Robin Wolaner, founder, Parenting Magazine and author, Naked in the Boardroom

“A fantastic read. Constantly weaving stories and connections. You'll never see the world the same way again.”
—Nicholas J. Nicholas Jr., former Co-CEO, Time Warner

“A must-read. Starfish are changing the face of business and society. This page-turner is provocative and compelling.”

—David Martin, CEO, Young Presidents' Organization
“The Starfish and the Spider provides a powerful prism for understanding the patterns and potential of self-organizing systems.”
—Steve Jurvetson, Partner, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
“The Starfish and the Spider lifts the lid on a massive revolution in the making, a revolution certain to reshape every organization on the planet from bridge clubs to global governments. Brafman and Beckstrom elegantly describe what is afoot and offer a wealth of insights that will be invaluable to anyone starting something new—or rescuing something old—amidst this vast shift.”
—Paul Saffo, Director, Institute for the Future

“The Starfish and the Spider is great reading. [It has] not only stimulated my thinking, but as a result of the reading, I proposed ten action points for my own organization."
—Professor Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum

Customer Reviews:

Seek not stardom, just starfishdom.......2007-09-06

Whether or not you care about leaderless, borderless and/or decentralized organizations, labeled as starfish organizations, they probably affect your life in some way or another whether you have downloaded music or avoided it, dealt with PETA, looked up something in Wikipedia, had actions of al-Qaeda affect your life in some way like stricter restrictions at the airports, etc. In that sense, you might as well get to know something about them to make better use of them or be prepared to deal with them effectively when you have to. If you read this book, you will likely not just want to know or know more about them, but get involved to see what they're all about or get more involved.

Written from both an overview and hands-on approach, this book is not only useful as a reference but also as a manual on the issue. The book identified the qualities of starfish organizations and what makes them effective, how anyone and everyone could start, sustain and/or get involved in these organizations, the types of people key to such organizations and how to combat them if you're on the other side. The book also warns about the constant change involved with maintaining starfish organizations and how to deal with them. Guidelines are offered and useful real life examples illustrate them to bring to life what otherwise be just concepts.

I had two small criticisms about the book, but nothing major enough to deter it from getting the five star rating I felt it deserved. First was that a few more real life examples of starfish organizations and/or their actions could have been chosen to illustrate some of the points made. There were plenty of diverse examples, but so many more abound as I read and thought about traits and qualities of starfish organizations that if mentioned, readers would realize even more influence starfish organizations have had in their lives. Second was that it did not address how government could use this book to decentralize since decentralization could be so powerful but yet government is the epitomy of centralization. I work for government, and felt government badly needed this, but had to think it through myself to come up with uses for attracting colleagues to my Starfish and Spider for Lunch (and Learn) voluntary book review session. When I did, though, not only was I excited at the possibilities, but also at the challenge to try to convince senior management of this, although that will take time. I will contact the authors to address this issue in a follow-up companion, perhaps, as they are the experts on this, but if nothing else, my ability to customize an application to government should tell you something about the book's effectiveness as a manual.

Overall, for the excellent writing style, clarity, impact and general application to the masses, five starfish!

Peter NYC.......2007-09-06

This book is great. A must read for those interested in being flexible and evolving. Has important applications across multiple work environments.

Useful introduction, but there's more ... .......2007-08-29

It took me some time to warm to this book. Nothing much happens in the initial 80 pages. The first chapter develops two fairly tortuous case studies - the vicissitudes of fortune in the recording industry in the last decade and the struggle of the Apaches against the Spanish invaders - to introduce the theme of the book. Then follows a discussion of the morphology of decentralised organisations (in terms of power distribution, funding, etc). Chapter 3 illustrates these formal characteristics with a series of examples, ranging from Skype over Wikipedia to Burning Man. There is honestly not a lot of meat to chew on in these first chapters and some patience is required from the reader.

It becomes more interesting in Chapter 4 where Brafman and Beckstrom discuss operational principles behind decentralised organisations (the need for pre-existing networks as a substrate, the role of catalysts and champions to activate leaderless organisation, "circles" as their chief co-ordination mechanism, and "ideology" as the glue holding everything more or less together). The role of the catalyst as a "servant leader" (term, however, not used by the authors) is further elaborated in the fifth chapter.

In chapter 6, the discussion turns to the question "What do you do, as an incumbent, when you are under fire from a starfish?" It transpires that there is not an awful lot to be done: you can try to morph them into a spider by activating internal cancer cells (greed and competition), you can try to dissolve or change the glue, the ideology that keeps the structure together or you can join them and become decentralised too (then it's starfish against starfish).

Brafman and Beckstrom maintain that it is not always necessary to go all the way and radically decentralise. There is such thing as a "hybrid" organisation (Chapter 7), which mixes principles of centralisation and decentralisation. Here the discussion suddenly gets denser and this is a part of the book that warrants repeated reading. A distinction is made between centralised organisations that give customers a voice (eBay with its peer-to-peer feedback is an example), those that put their customers to work (IBM developing open source applications) and those that decentralise parts of their internal structure. Towards the end of the chapter, however, the discussion peters out. "Appreciative Enquiry" is invoked as an approach to bring a whiff of decentralisation into companies who want to hang on to their centralised bureaucracies. It's a dangerous example that may tempt people into crass opportunism (that is, however, bound to backfire on them).

Finally, the authors hypothesise that in a given ecosystem there is no static equilibrium in terms of right mix of centralised/decentralised characteristics ("right" in terms of securing survival and the ability to extract economic rent). The "sweet spot" changes as a function of time, sometimes dramatically so. The desire for anonymity and the free flow of information are forces that push towards the decentralisation end, whilst the desire for security and accountability pull the system back to a more centralised mode of operation.

The book closes with a short epilogue that lists 10 simple guiding principles to make the most out of decentralised organisations or to defend yourself from their attacks.

On the whole, I enjoyed this book. It provides an intelligent and accessible discussion of a complex issue. With respect to the latter, the authors do a laudable job in keeping thing simple, but sometimes it's over the top. Particularly in the first halve of the book, their penchant for telling anecdotes and stories makes them err on the side of the trivial (a discussion on Wikipedia starts with "we all remember doing school reports in the sixth grade. Back then, research meant going to the library and hoping the that the Encyclopaedia Brittanica wasn't checked out ... and so on, and so on.) I was irked more than once by the patronising and befuddling prose of Brafman & Beckstrom. Admittedly, sometimes they hit it right. The title of the book, for example, is a very strong and aptly chosen metaphor for decentralised and centralised organisations, respectively.

Also I believe this book does not exhaust the potential of this fascinating subject matter. I think the discussion would have gained significantly in clarity and power if only a number of well known systems science principles (such as Ashby's Law of Requisity Variety, see Introduction to Cybernetics (University Paperbacks)) had been invoked to give the whole discussion a rock solid footing. I also missed a solid link to the burgeoning literature on the P2P movement. It is clear that the issue of property rights in central in making leaderless organisations work (Brafman discusses this as a way to sabotage starfish only) and people like Lawrence Lessig ("Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity) and Yochai Benkler ("The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom") have a lot to say about these issues.

A small point, but a fairly irritating one, is the use of the word "ideology" in the book. The authors ostensibly use this to refer to any set of beliefs that underpin a decentralised organisation. From my point of view, the word "ideology" refers to a more elaborate and closed system of abstract thought (and as such has a pejorative tinge to it). Many starfish (also amongst those mentioned in the book) thrive on a much more vague and fluid set of beliefs, norms and values. It's worthwhile to be more nuanced about this.

Morally speaking, the book leaves the reader in suspension. From an internal point of view, leaderless organisations are unquestionably superior - morally and aesthetically - to centralised organisations, not only because of their structural simplicity and elegance, but also because they rely so openly on trust (in my opinion THE key word in the book), on the belief that man is fundamentally good and ultimately because they are capable of drawing the best from people and providing them with truthfulness, meaning and purpose in their life. Problem is that not only Alcoholics Anonymous operates as a decentralised organisation, but Al Qaeda does too. So starfish can server all kinds of purposes, some more constructive than others. It all depends which side you're on.

Starfish is a mind-game.......2007-08-07

Have you wondered why decentralized organizations are growing like wildfire? Starfish and Spider will tell you why. I work in a starfish organization and it is not for the faint-hearted or the one focused on structure and procedure.

This book is an excellent story about centralized, decentralized and hybrid organizations. If you want to kill a spider, cut off its head. You cannot cut off the head of a starfish as it does not have one. If cut off the leg of an starfish, it will grow another.......starfish. This shows how decentralized organizations have always been around and take after the way that our brain's function. Once thought to operate in a hierarchy, latest research shows the opposite. Brafman and Beckstrom are great storytellers and weave the Internet with Al Qadea

This book gives examples of the characteristics of decentralized organizations such as flexibility, shared power and ambiguity and how the Internet has spawned a new generation of decentralized organizations. It is a fascinating book.

Some principles of decentralized organizations;
1. when attacked, they become even more open and decentralized.
2. it is easy to mistake starfish for spiders.
3. an open system doesn't have central intelligence, the intelligence is spread throughout the system.
4. open systems can easily mutate.
5. the decentralized organization sneaks up on you.
6. as industries become decentralized, overall profits decrease.

They stand on 5 legs;
1. Circles
2. the Catalyst
3. Ideology
4. the pre-existing network
5. the Champion

If you want to learn more about community, trust and openness in the 21st century, this is a must read. If you are interested in how organizations like Al Qaeda can thrive with many in the world looking for them, read this book.

Elusive Nodes.......2007-07-31

This book offers an excellent discussion of the extremely elusive concept of networked type of organizations which social scientists refer to as organizations where decision making power is distributed and whose structure is flat. Such an organization consists of semi-autonomous nodes or cells linked and given cohesion by one or more factors such as kinship, mutual experiences, ethnic culture, or common ideology. In the 21st Century the Global Telecommunications Network (sic) serves as an enabler to networked type of organizations. The book, "Networks and Netwars" (Rand 2001, Amazon.com) provides a formal explanation of networked type of organizations, but will leave many folks still wondering about the anatomy of a networked type of organization.

The book quit effectively uses examples and the analogy of a starfish to both demonstrate and explain how networked type of organizations actually work in practice. This is very important and helpful because such organizations are becoming increasingly more common, but are very difficult for persons used to hierarchical organizations to understand. The book explains for example how the command and control system for al Qaeda cannot be knocked out because it does not exist. More ominously the book notes that as the U.S. increasingly centralizes its efforts against al Qaeda the harder it will be to cope with terrorist operations and threats.

There are now several first rate books available now on networked type of organizations, but this one is probably the best because of the clarity with which it explains what networked type of organizations are and how they really work. It is a shame that the U.S. Intelligence and National Security Communities appear unable to come to grips with geographically dispersed cell of one or more individuals using distributed decision making, and linked by such tenuous ties as personal relationships and shared ideology. This book offers some suggestions for dealing with networked type of organizations, but one is left with the impression that nobody is listening.

The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations

Average customer rating:

Just in Time
Not as useful as "Leading Change" by Kotter
Addresses an Often Forgotten Part of Management Studies---People!
Just what we needed!
Fundamentals for helping an organization undergo change successfully

The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations
John P. Kotter , and Dan S. Cohen
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Organizational Change | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Leadership | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Motivational | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Entrepreneurship | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Organizational Behavior | Business Management | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Business Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Leading Change
The Heart of Change Field Guide: Tools and Tactics for Leading Change in Your Organization
Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions
Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change
John P. Kotter on What Leaders Really Do (Harvard Business Review Book)

ASIN: 1578512549

Amazon.com

The Heart of Change is the follow-up to John Kotter's enormously popular book Leading Change, in which he outlines a framework for implementing change that sidesteps many of the pitfalls common to organizations looking to turn themselves around. The essence of Kotter's message is this: the reason so many change initiatives fail is that they rely too much on "data gathering, analysis, report writing, and presentations" instead of a more creative approach aimed at grabbing the "feelings that motivate useful action." In The Heart of Change, Kotter, with the help of Dan Cohen, a partner at Deloitte Consulting, shows how his eight-step approach has worked at over 100 organizations. In just about every case, change happened because the players were led to "see" and "feel" the change. In one example, a sales representative underscores a sense of urgency to change a manufacturing process by showing a videotaped interview with an unhappy customer; in another, a purchasing manager makes his point to senior management about corporate waste by displaying on the company's boardroom table the 424 different kinds of gloves that the company had procured through different vendors at vastly different prices. Well written and loaded with real-life examples and practical advice, The Heart of Change towers over other change-management titles. Managers and employees at organizations both big and small will find much to draw from. Highly recommended. --Harry C. Edwards

Book Description

John Kotter's international bestseller Leading Change struck a powerful chord with legions of managers everywhere. It acknowledged the cynicism, pain, and fear they faced in implementing large-scale change-but also armed them with an eight-step plan of action for leaping boldly forward in a turbulent world.

Now, Kotter and coauthor Dan S. Cohen delve deeper into the subject of change to get to the heart of how change actually happens. Through compelling, real-life stories from people in the trenches, in all kinds of organizations, the authors attack the fundamental problem that underlies every major transformation: How do you go beyond simply getting your message across to truly changing people's behavior?

Based on interviews within over 100 organizations in the midst of large-scale change, The Heart of Change delivers the simple yet provocative answer to this question, forever altering the way organizations and individuals approach change. While most companies believe change happens by making people think differently, Kotter and Cohen say the key lies in making them feel differently. They introduce a new dynamic-"see-feel-change"-that fuels action by showing people potent reasons for change that spark their emotions.

Organized around the revolutionary eight-step change process introduced in Leading Change, this story-driven book shows how the best change leaders use not just reports or analysis, but gloves, video cameras, airplanes, office design, and other concrete elements to impel people toward positive action. The authors reveal how this appeal to the heart-over the mind-motivates people to overcome even daunting obstacles to change and produce breathtaking results.

For individuals in every walk of life and companies in every stage of change, this compact, no-nonsense book captures the heart-and the how-of successful change.

John P. Kotter, world-renowned expert on leadership at the Harvard Business School, is the author of many books, including the award-winning, best-selling Leading Change. Dan S. Cohen is a Principal with Deloitte Consulting LLC.

Customer Reviews:

Just in Time.......2007-10-07

I read[[ASIN:0875847471 Leading Change] Change by Kotter first. This follow on is a great compliment to the first book. By using examples of the eight-step process, the authors drive home those principles. My organization is in the midst of a large change process, and I am able to identify those who are the guiding coalition and raise my own visibility by aiding them. I am also able to give useful suggestions and identify the change blockers who endanger the process, and therby, the organization.

Not as useful as "Leading Change" by Kotter.......2007-06-28

Full of anecdotes about how the principles in "Leading Change" were implemented, I found this less helpful than that book in implementing a culture change. None of the scenarios were close enough to our organization to make a meaningful impact on the management team. A good read though, illustrating Kotter's excellent roadmap to change.

Addresses an Often Forgotten Part of Management Studies---People!.......2007-05-07

In this age of data, management is still about people. This book hits that aspect square on the head. It provides a realistic 8 step process for managing change filled with examples that bring the steps to life. The book is primarily written for managers of change, but the concepts can be useful to anyone at any level of an organization that's in a state of change. (And what organizations aren't?) It can be a bit dry at times, but the stories spice it up and make it bearable. Overall excellent content.

Just what we needed!.......2006-07-15

This book hits the "heart" of what many managers miss in planning change initiatives. This helps us remember that change isn't all number and business decisions. It's the people. I was able to immediately apply some of the ideas and resteered a change initiative successfully. Now all of my supervisors are reading and learning.

Fundamentals for helping an organization undergo change successfully.......2006-04-03

This book is the textbook for how an organization can successfully lead with change. I have used the 8-step method with various organizations and successfully 'seen-felt-changed' for the better.

Health Care Management: Organization Design & Behavior (Delmar Series in Health Services Administration)

Average customer rating:

very good text
Practical discussion on a complex organization

Health Care Management: Organization Design & Behavior (Delmar Series in Health Services Administration)
Stephen M. Shortell , and Arnold D. Kaluzny
Manufacturer: Thomson Delmar Learning
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Administration & Policy | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Hospital Administration | Administration & Policy | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Family & General Practice | Specialties | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Nursing | Medicine | New & Used Textbooks | Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Medicine | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Methods in Community-Based Participatory Research for Health
Writing Public Policy: A Practical Guide to Communicating in the Policy-Making Process
Health Policymaking in the United States, Fourth Edition
Strategic Management of Health Care Organizations (5th Edition)
Environmental Health: Third Edition

ASIN: 0766810720

Book Description

Applying state-of-the-art application of management and organizational thinking and research to health care organizations, this book targets those in health professions and health services management. This invaluable resource is grounded in contemporary research and thinking, and offers broad coverage from hospitals to biotech companies. Updated material has been added throughout to reflect the latest changes in healthcare management. This new edition includes nationally prominent authors and co-authors.

Customer Reviews:

very good text.......2005-10-18

This text is very detailed and loaded with examples. It is very easy to read.

Practical discussion on a complex organization.......2000-10-07

The book provides practical concepts for healthcare administrators. The extensive use of charts, tables and diagrams has been very helpful in presenting complex concept. Even though many of the concepts presented are not new, the practical examples cited helps to bring out present application of the concept.

While the book has been written in the US setting, I find it applicable to my work in Thailand. I intend to use the book for the administration residency program which we are conducting at our group of hospitals.

Silos, Politics and Turf Wars: A Leadership Fable About Destroying the Barriers That Turn Colleagues Into Competitors
Average customer rating:

Silos,Poltics and Truf wars

The value of having a common definition of Performance

Another Lencioni classic

Silos, Politics and Turf Wars

Quick Read, Great Message

Silos, Politics and Turf Wars: A Leadership Fable About Destroying the Barriers That Turn Colleagues Into Competitors
Patrick M. Lencioni
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Leadership | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Organizational Behavior | Business Management | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Business Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable...About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide for Leaders, Managers, and Facilitators

The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive: A Leadership Fable

The Five Temptations of a CEO: A Leadership Fable

ASIN: 0787976385

Book Description

As with his other books, Lencioni writes Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars as a fictional—but eerily realistic—story. The story is about Jude Cousins, an eager young management consultant struggling to launch his practice by solving one of the more universal and frustrating problems faced by his clients. Through trial and error, he develops a simple yet ground-breaking approach for helping them transform confusion and infighting into clarity and alignment.

Download Description

In yet another page-turner, New York Times best-selling author and acclaimed management expert Patrick Lencioni addresses the costly and maddening issue of silos, the barriers that create organizational politics. Silos devastate organizations, kill productivity, push good people out the door, and jeopardize the achievement of corporate goals. As with his other books, Lencioni writes Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars as a fictional but eerily realistic story. The story is about Jude Cousins, an eager young management consultant struggling to launch his practice by solving one of the more universal and frustrating problems faced by his clients. Through trial and error, he develops a simple yet ground-breaking approach for helping them transform confusion and infighting into clarity and alignment.

Customer Reviews:

Silos,Poltics and Truf wars.......2007-10-05

Not your average Business book... Put in a story form so the reader is not bored with dry material... You need to look close to get the learning facts... A very good book would recomment to anyone with deparment disagrements...

The value of having a common definition of Performance.......2007-08-22

A short, well written, story about a most common business problem - lack of or differing definitions of performance by the senior leadership team. Using a common complaint heard within most businesses - the performance damage done by "silos" between departments, divisions, units, or whatever you call any internal enterprise - Author and consultant Patrick Lencioni again uses the popular business narrative format to show how the lack of a common definition of performance within the leadership team (even when they like each other and want to be a strong leadership team) will cause the organization to be pulled apart and under perform. He then goes on to solve the problem by getting the team to agree a singular, near-term problem they need to solve (thematic goal) and are willing to unit behind.

Although one can question if this condition can be solved in a two-hour meeting, as the hero of the story does; Lencioni's solution components - the thematic goal, a set of defining objectives, a set of ongoing standard operating objectives, and subsequent metrics - is a concept with practical merit. As with most business narratives, the single theme skips over the many other real-life business issues, making the solution seem more powerful and easier to implement than business reality often allows. The story does, however, identify a very real problem of leadership team members each defining performance from their individual perspectives and provides the beginning of the solution. The book is recommended for leadership teams.

Another Lencioni classic.......2007-08-14

Lencioni has written a very good fable that depicts the typical "silos" or turf wars that take place in any organization. Using several different case scenarios, Lencioni does a great job in describing the subtleties of turf wars and places the blame square at the top of the organization. (The ground troops are simply doing their jobs as described for them by their bosses.)

The answer to the turf war, according to Lencioni, is a thematic goal. This is not to be confuse with a vision statement or a BHAG (big fat hairy goal), as Porras and Collins describe. But it is more than strategic goals and objectives. I must admit, this was a new concept for me and I'm not quite sure of the concept even after reading Lencioni's concept.

Lencioni clearly states that a thematic goal does not exclude the need to develop a good, functioning executive team (cf. Dysfunctions of Teams). Indeed, good executive teams are a priority for Lencioni. But contends that even well functioning teams with good personal relationships will sometimes have organizational/structural weaknesses that allow "silos" or turf wars to develop.

Overall, Lencioni has written a very readable book that clearly describes the problem of politics among divisions in an organization. But the concept of a "thematic goal" (as opposed to organizational vision) is still a bit vague to me -- but it is clearly not to be dismissed.

Silos, Politics and Turf Wars.......2007-07-23

This book was reader friendly, very easy to navigate, and it was interesting and informative.I have used it as an educational tool.

Quick Read, Great Message.......2007-07-22

Told as a "story", this book has tremendous lessons for any company dealing with Silos in their organization

Average customer rating:

Tools for creating a Learning Culture
enlightening concepts about leadership
The Fifth Discipline
A follow up to the legend
A second dose of Inspiration...

The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook
Peter M. Senge , Art Kleiner , Charlotte Roberts , Rick Ross , and Bryan Smith
Manufacturer: Currency
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Workplace | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Human Resources & Personnel Management | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Leadership | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Motivational | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Training | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Organizational Behavior | Business Management | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Business Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization
The Fifth Discipline
The Dance of Change: The Challenges to Sustaining Momentum in Learning Organizations
Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society
Schools That Learn: A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook for Educators, Parents, and Everyone Who Cares About Education

ASIN: 0385472560
Release Date: 1994-06-20

Book Description

Senge's best-selling The Fifth Discipline led Business Week to dub him the "new guru" of the corporate world; here he offers executives a step-by-step guide to building "learning organizations" of their own.

Customer Reviews:

Tools for creating a Learning Culture.......2006-09-11

Peter M Serge, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook

To quote the first few paragraphs at beginning of book:

Among the tribes of northen Natal in South Africa, the most common greeting, equivalent to "hello" in English, is the expression: Sawu bona. It literally means, "I see you." If you are a member of the tribe, you might reply by saying Sikhona, "I am here." The order of the exchange is important: until you see me, I do not exist. It's as if, when you see me bring me into existence.

This meaning, implicit in the language, is part of the spirit of ubuntu, a frame of mind prevalent among native people in Africa below the Sahara. The word ubuntu stems from the folk saying Umuntu ngumuntu nagabantu, which from Zulu, literally translates as: "A person is a person because of other people."

"I bow in honor and reverence that place within you where to the Universe resides, when you are in that place within you, and I am in that place within me, there is One." ~namaste

The five disciplines are at the CORE of a Learning Organization

1) Personal Mastery: expand your personal capacity and ability

2) Mental Models: see how our internal pictures of the world shape action and decision

3) Shared Vision: group commitment

4) Team Learning: group ability is greater than the sum of individual talents

5) System Thinking:

"When we try to bring about change in our societies, we are treated first with indifference, then with ridicule, then with abuse and then with oppression. And finally, the greatest challenge is thrown at us: We are treated with respect. This is the most dangerous stage." --A. T. Ariyaratne (Speech made at International Community Leadership Summit, Winrock, Arkansas, March 1983. This quote paraphrases and expands upon a well-known statement made by Mahatma Gandhi in his book Satyagraha in South Africa, 1982, 1979, Canon, Me.: Greenleaf books)

"An [organization] is not a machine but a living organism." --Ikujiro Nonaka /****
Fundamentals of epistemology: what is knowledge, the nature of knowledge, and what constitutes learning.
understanding is achieved after internalization.
Without experience, we cannot truly understand.
Internalization: transformation from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge, habits and culture that we do not recognize in ourselves.
Innovation is a process to capture, create, leverage, and retain knowledge.
What is your belief? A belief about images of the world - you may call it a mental model - is a very subjective thing

information is the flow of a message, while knowledge is created by accumulating information. Thus, information is a necessary medium or material for eliciting and constructing knowledge.

The second difference is that information is something passive. When we switch on a TV set, information comes regardless of my commitment. But knowledge comes from my belief, so it's more proactive.

And the organizational knowledge or intellectual infrastructure of an organization encourages its individual members to develop new knowledge through new experiences.

This dynamic process is the key to organizational knowledge creation - that is, socialization (from individual tacit knowledge to group tacit knowledge), externalization (from tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge), combination (from separate explicit knowledge to systemic explicit knowledge), and internalization (from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge) [...].

[...]

Three Guiding Ideas

1) The Whole. When you are pointing a finger at the problems, notice how many fingers are pointing back at you. If you fixed the symptoms and ignore the root causes, the problems have not gone away. Another way to look at this is treat the person, not the disease. Of course treat the disease if the patient is dying, but know that the patient will get sick again because the "root causes" are stil there.

2) Community. The self is "a point of view." "The essence of being a person is being in a relationship [with] other people." You will not believe this, but each person before you is there for a reason. The reason this person is there at this moment is for you to learn something about yourself. If you ignore the person, do not ignore or forget the lesson.

3) Language. The map is not the territory. We cannot contain every bit of information that comes to us in the world, so we have to create a "map of the territory" and then refer to the map for our information. By changing a person's map, we change their reality. Language is the map, not the reality.

enlightening concepts about leadership.......2005-10-26

It seems to me that The Fifth Discipline (the previous publication of the series) is more attacting to me. The second book can be more precise and concise in content. Generally speaking I still like these two books as a foreign reader.

The Fifth Discipline.......2003-02-08

This book is a collection of theoretical summaries, reports, analyses, and strategies all quite useful to anyone interested in generating some thinking and action around change. The team of five writers (Peter Senge, Richard Ross, Bryan Smith, Charlotte Roberts, and Art Kleiner) provide some original work, but also serve as editors to a vast quantity of material drawn from practitioners, theorists, and writers in the field of organizational improvement. According to Senge, "great teams are learning organizations - groups of people who, over time, enhance their capacity to create what they truly desire to create." (p.18) This book is really about creating and building great teams. The learning organization develops its ability to reflect on, discuss, question, and change its current and past practices. To do this, people and groups in the organization need to meaningfully pursue the study and practice of the five disciplines - personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, and systems thinking.

The learning organization - Senge's vision for the productive, competitive, and efficient institutions of the future - is in a continuous state of change. Four fundamental questions continuously serve to check and guide a group's learning and improvement (see page 49): (1) Do you continuously test your experiences? ("Are you willing to examine and challenge your sacred cows - not just during crises, but in good times?") (2) Are you producing knowledge? ("Knowledge, in this case, means the capacity for effective action.") (3) Is knowledge shared? ("Is it accessible to all of the organization's members?") (4) Is the learning relevant? ("Is this learning aimed at the organization's core purpose?") If these questions represent the organization's compass, the five disciplines are its map.

Each of the five disciplines is explained, and elaborated in its own lengthy section of the book. In the section on "Systems Thinking" (a set of practices and perspectives, which views all aspects of life as inter-related and playing a role in some larger system), the authors build on the idea of feedback loops (reinforcing and balancing) and introduce five systems archetypes. They are: "fixes that backfire", "limits to growth", "shifting the burden", "tragedy of the commons", and "accidental adversaries". In the section on "Personal Mastery", the authors argue that learning starts with each person. For organizations to learn and improve, people within the organization (perhaps starting with its core leadership) must learn to reflect on and become aware of their own core beliefs and visions. In "Mental Models", the authors argue that learning organizations need to explore the assumptions and attitudes, which guide their institutional directions, practices, and strategies. Articles on scenario planning, the ladder of inference, the left-hand column, and balancing inquiry and advocacy offer practical strategies to investigate our personal mental models as well as those of others in the organization. In "Shared Vision", the authors make the case for the stakeholders of an organization to continually adapt their vision ("an image of a desired future"), values ("how we get to travel to where we want to go"), purpose ("what the organization is here to do"), and goals ("milestones we expect to reach before too long"). The section offers many strategies and perspectives on how to move an organization toward continuous reflection. In "Team Learning", the authors rely mostly on the work of William Isaacs and others, and make a case for educating organization members in the processes and skills of dialogue and skillful discussion.

This book is enlightening and informative. It has already found a place on my shelf for essential reference books.

A follow up to the legend.......2003-01-27

The Fieldbook attempts at making the esoteric concepts of the fifth discipline more down to earth and contains a treasure trove of strategies, tools, methods and explanations on how to make the learning organization into a reality.

Thus people who have read The fifth discipline will gain the most from this book. It's a must read for people who want to make their organizations transition into a 'learning organization'

A second dose of Inspiration..........2002-02-09

Senge's second serving of the Learning Organization is filled with practical tips and real-life examples from companies and organizations that have embraced the teachings of the Learning Organization successfully.

The Book is a collaboration of several writers who do a superb job of unraveling the web that is the learning organization. At times, it may seem to the reader that the book is a labyrinth of disjointed concepts and ideas. However, if you have read `The Fifth Discipline' you will find no problems following the concepts introduced. In fact, you will even understand why the writers have chosen to introduce them in that fashion. If you have not read "The Fifth Discipline', do not despair, it will take a little longer to get `the whole picture'.
The Book is divided into 8 main sections:

1) Getting Started addresses the basic concepts and ideas of the Learning Organization.
2) Systems Thinking (the fifth discipline) - Many people have argued that Senge should have delegated the fifth discipline until the end, however, without Systems Thinking, your vision is disjointed and incomplete.
3) Personal Mastery covers the area of individual development and learning. The chapters here are among the most valuable in the area of self-growth and self-improvement.
4) Mental Models - These are the pictures that you have in your head which represent reality.
5) Shared Vision - You've seen the whole picture, you've developed and you understand how you see the world. Now you need to find a common cause with the rest of the people in your organization, something that you all work for.
6) Team Learning - As you work with other people in teams or groups, you need to pass the stuff that you have learnt and the wisdom you've acquired to others. At this stage, the learning is no longer that of the individual, but the group.
7) Arenas of Practice - (Self explanatory)
8) Frontiers - Where do we go from here.

If you are interested in development, learning, growth, leadership, gaining a competitive edge whether at an organizational or personal level, then this book is for you. In fact, I'd venture to say that this is book is for everyone.

Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations (Student Text)
Average customer rating:

Well Nice bookie

Most helpful and insightful

But this book ONLY if it is required!

Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations (Student Text)
Gregory Moorhead , and Ricky W. Griffin
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Organizational Behavior | Business Management | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Business Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Public Administration: An Action Orientation

Management

Principles of Finance

Business Communication Today (9th Edition) (Business Communication Today)

Psychology and Work Today: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology (8th Edition)

ASIN: 0618305874

Book Description

Organizational Behavior places core concepts of human behavior and industrial psychology in a real-world context. The text's applied approach and succinct coverage of topical issues helps prepare students to meet practical, day-to-day challenges. Strong end-of-chapter exercises, activities, plus an optional case and exercise book make this flexible text suitable for students at the undergraduate level. Likewise, the authors' emphasis on the latest organizational behavior research continues to attract graduate students.

In keeping with the emphasis on current content, the Seventh Edition includes an ongoing case featuring Enron that encourages students to consider how all OB topics tie together and practice applying key concepts by systematically working through the case and answering the accompanying questions. All boxes have been replaced or significantly updated to reflect recent changes in business—including Talking Technology, Mastering Change, The Business of Ethics, Working with Diversity, and World View features. Call-out quotes from managers appear at appropriate points throughout the text to highlight relevant, real-world examples. In addition, each chapter includes one cartoon with a content-based caption that highlights an interesting, and often humorous, aspect of organizational behavior.

New! Building Managerial Skills exercises require students to consider different workplace situations from a manager's standpoint and determine a suitable course of action for each scenario.
New! OB Online exercises, previously known as Developing OB Internet Skills, ask students to gather information from the Web and use it to answer critical-thinking questions.
New! Self-Assessment exercises, previously known as Building OB Skills, give students the opportunity to complete brief self-assessment and diagnostic activities.
Experiencing Organizational Behavior exercises reinforce the real-world application of chapter concepts and ask students to work through the activities together.

Customer Reviews:

Well Nice bookie.......2003-06-09

Nice treatment of management. I learned a lot from this book.

Most helpful and insightful.......2002-09-28

The book is fairly comprehensive in terms of its scope. We are currently using the book at our Organizational Behavior class, and it's proved to be an excellent reference. The way it is structured (for the reader) makes in-depth reading or skimming through it (let's face it: this is the reality for most working MBA students!) equally effective. It has clearly distinguishable definitions on the margins, which can serve as a cue for the topic, along with the summaries at the end of every chapter. The intro and closing "cases" provided around the topic of the chapter are VERY insightful and on every other page or so, there are examples about the matter being discussed, which help with the understanding (I know that I, as an Engineer, appreciate examples to illustrate a point). Finally, the illustrations (graphs and charts) are one of the best things the book has! Remember that phrase that used to say "a picture is worth a thousand words"? Well, the authors epithomize it. The charts in the book do a great job at conveying entire pages of information at a time in a very efficient way. All in all, I like the book a lot, and it's been very helpful in complementing our in-class discussions about cases and topics of Organizational Behavior.

But this book ONLY if it is required!.......2000-12-10

I had to buy this book for a college management class. The material is painfully obvious. However, if you've lived you're entire life living in a dark, dank room eating Cheetos and watching MTV, then this book will be a watershed for you. If, on the otherhand, you are looking for some solid management theory, this book is not for you. If you have to buy this book for a course like I did, remember, you can always sell it to someone who hasn't read it yet.

Lean Thinking : Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation

Average customer rating:

Interesting book but very dull.
Womack and Jones, very engaging.
Worth Every Penny
My husband loved it
Excellent Book with Detailed Lean Conversion Techniques

Lean Thinking : Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation
James P. Womack , and Daniel T. Jones
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Strategy & Competition | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Industrial | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Training | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Communications | Skills | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Organizational Behavior | Business Management | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Toyota Way
The Machine That Changed the World : The Story of Lean Production
Lean Solutions: How Companies and Customers Can Create Value and Wealth Together
The Goal
Learning to See Version 1.3

ASIN: 0684810352

Amazon.com

In the revised and updated edition of Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, authors James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones provide a thoughtful expansion upon their value-based business system based on the Toyota model. Along the way they update their action plan in light of new research and the increasing globalization of manufacturing, and they revisit some of their key case studies (most of which still derive, however, from the automotive, aerospace, and other manufacturing industries).

The core of the lean model remains the same in the new edition. All businesses must define the "value" that they produce as the product that best suits customer needs. The leaders must then identify and clarify the "value stream," the nexus of actions to bring the product through problems solving, information management, and physical transformation tasks. Next, "lean enterprise" lines up suppliers with this value stream. "Flow" traces the product across departments. "Pull" then activates the flow as the business re-orients towards the pull of the customer's needs. Finally, with the company reengineered towards its core value in a flow process, the business re-orients towards "perfection," rooting out all the remaining muda (Japanese for "waste") in the system.

Despite the authors' claims to "actionable principles for creating lasting value in any business during any business conditions," the lean model is not demonstrated with broad applications in the service or retail industries. But those manager's whose needs resonate with those described in the Lean Thinking case studies will find a host of practical guidelines for streamlining their processes and achieving manufacturing efficiencies. --Patrick O'Kelley

Book Description

In their landmark book The Machine That Changed the World, James Womack and Daniel Jones, two of the top industrial analysts in the world, explained how companies can dramatically improve their performance through the "lean production" approach pioneered by Toyota. Lean Thinking extends these ideas to provide a rallying cry for today's corporate leaders.

After a decade of downsizing and reengineering, most companies in North America, Europe, and Japan are still stuck, searching for a formula for sustainable growth and success. The problem, as Womack and Jones explain in Lean Thinking, is that managers have lost sight of value for the customer and how to create it. By focusing on their existing organizations and outdated definitions of value, managers create waste, and the economies of the advanced countries continue to stagnate.

What's needed instead is lean thinking to help managers clearly specify value, to line up all the value-creating activities for a specific product along a value stream, and to make value flow smoothly at the pull of the customer in pursuit of perfection. The first part of the book describes each of these concepts and makes them come alive with striking examples.

As Lean Thinking clearly demonstrates, these simple ideas can breathe new life into any company in any industry, routinely doubling both productivity and sales while stabilizing employment. But most managers will need guidance on how to make the lean leap in their firm. Part II provides a step-by-step action plan, based on in-depth studies of fifty lean companies in a wide range of industries across the world -- including Pratt & Whitney, Porsche, and Toyota.

Even those readers who believe they have embraced lean thinking will discover in Part III that another dramatic leap is possible by creating a lean enterprise for each of their product families that tightly links all value-creating activities from concept to product launch, from order to delivery, and from raw materials into the arms of the consumer. This new concept takes the best features from the American, German, and Japanese industrial traditions and recombines them in a way that can be applied to every economic activity, from long-distance travel to construction to health care.

Lean Thinking does not provide a new management "program" for the one-minute manager. Instead, it offers a new way of thinking, being, and doing for the serious manager -- one that will change the world.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting book but very dull........2007-08-27

I found this book to be interesting, but I hard trouble finishing it because the writing was so boring. Despite the dullness the book did get me thinking of product in a different way.

Womack and Jones, very engaging........2007-08-26

Lean Thinking- A very well written account of a long study of the theory of customer driven value thinking. The elimination of waste in accomplishing customer driven trade is the main goal of this theory. The book has been tuned over a series of revisions, so it is well polished. While I am no expert on the topic, I can at least attest to the fact that the volume is well written and referenced. Their views are spread over a period of many years, giving them the benefit of tracking case study performance over the long term. Companies both large and small have been studied and tracked to determine the benefits of these theories.

Worth Every Penny.......2007-07-30

A most readable book on an important subject of productivity. The comment on outsourcing is insightful and the emphasis on human element is so crucial. Productivity is not all about bigger and better machines but about management and employee been willing to take risks to think out of a box. Mr. Womack has made a significant contribution to the on-going dicussion of productivity in a globalized world.

My husband loved it.......2007-04-10

My husband loved this book so much that this was actually purchased as a gift for another man in his office.

Excellent Book with Detailed Lean Conversion Techniques .......2007-02-01

This book provides many case studies of companies outside of the auto industry that converted to lean production. It details the personnel changes they had to make, changes in factory layout, differences in the supply chain and much more. Where "The Machine that Changed the World" was a primer to lean production, "Lean Thinking" is more of a how-to book. Together, they make a great pair and provide a fairly in-depth view of the subject. As in, "The Machine that Changed the World", there is plenty of hard data to back up the claims that these companies improved after switching to lean thinking.

I am a college student majoring in mechanical engineering and read this book and "The Machine that Changed the World" to get a broad understanding of lean production. The two books did just that and even gave me many ideas on how to convert a student organization I am involved with (SAE) to more of a lean organization. As much as possible anyway.

Modern Industrial Organization (4th Edition) (Addison-Wesley Series in Economics)

Average customer rating:

Great condish but no quick ship
Great book : Easy to follow and practical
Its in my top 2 textbooks for Economics Undergraduate
Modern Industrial Organization
easy book and good guide to understand the industry

Modern Industrial Organization (4th Edition) (Addison-Wesley Series in Economics)
Dennis W. Carlton , and Jeffrey M. Perloff
Manufacturer: Addison Wesley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Industrial | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Organizational Behavior | Business Management | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Business Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Economics of Regulation and Antitrust, 4th Edition
The Theory of Industrial Organization
Industrial Organization: Contemporary Theory and Practice (with Economic Applications)
Modern Labor Economics: Theory and Public Policy (9th Edition)
Structure of American Industry, The (11th Edition)

ASIN: 0321180232

Customer Reviews:

Great condish but no quick ship.......2005-09-30

See above. Took longer to arrive than I would have liked. Maybe 2 weeks.

Great book : Easy to follow and practical.......2005-01-27

I have the 2000 edition, I like it very much. Practical, easy to follow, great use of Theory of Games exemples.
Douglas Gilson, Management professor.Rio de janeiro, Brasil

Its in my top 2 textbooks for Economics Undergraduate.......2004-12-22

I've only used 9 textbooks in my undergraduate carrer in Economics, however, this book would probably fit either as the best or 2nd best... I can't really determine which deserves the "coveted" "best" slot.

To say firstly, this book passes the "I havn't attended class for the last 4 weeks and only have read the book, but still recieved an A- for the midterm" test. I think I can say in full confidence that IO is pretty much a standard course and this pretty much covers all the standard topics that any IO course would cover in one semester.

I used this book for a more "advanced" IO course (there are 2 in my university) and I used the book almost exclusively in preperation for my exams. I can say that the books appendices are excellent, despite th previous comment. It displays the material very concisely and in a very formal manner. The presentation in the appendices is not laconic and is very understandable.... I would have to say it achieves almost maximum effeciency with relevent material per page.

Actaully, for my case, the appendices were very much more useful then the actaul text itself. The level of mathematics does not exceed a standard non-formal multi-variable calculus level and is thus very accesible. With regards to applicability of the material, I found no problems in figuring out how the forumale applied with respect to the theory for the most part... However, I suspect if it is obtuse (for the level of maturity in the class) then the instructor would augment the text with problem sets and excercises.

The book starts off with a brief recap of the relevnt micro concepts and tools in the first chapter or so, then goes on to cover topics such as monopoly, oligopoly, monopolistic competition, games in oligopolies (Bertrand, Stakelberg Cournout-Nash etc.). Then it goes on to less "theoretical" (at least in my opinion) topics such as advertising and its effects, price discrimination (1st degree, 3rd degree, bundling strategies etc.).

Overall there is a good mix of "real world" applications and core theory. I never read the numerous examples and unless the class specifically tests on these, I would think they are not needed for understanding of the material. The exposition found in the chapters (less the examples) are usually superb, although a bit wordy for my taste.

There are some problems asked after the end of each chapter, although very few of these employ much mathematics and hence, does not, in my opinion, work well as a gauge of understanding. It seems because of the length of the book, it lends itself off to the instructor to decide how to taylor his curriculum, I don't believe that any chapters are redundent, but I believe all chapters are essentially self contained (given that the reader had read or is competent in the material up to the 6th chapter).

All in all, I was happy with this book and believe it to be of superior stock, although this is pure conjecture on my part since I've only used this book and have only taken one IO course. With respect to flexibility the book deserves good marks and this is likewise true with respect to the exposition in the text.

Modern Industrial Organization.......2003-05-01

I was hoping to get a more indept explaination with example problems. Formulas were shown, but the author never really showed how to utilize the formulas. I have had to reference other books to try to understand this book.

easy book and good guide to understand the industry.......2000-08-24

For me this book is a very good guide to the people that like to learn more about the way that the industry and the market works and the link to many things that you can see all the time around you and could explain by the economic theory, things that happend not only in United States also in different countries like Chile. Only bad thing about the book is the colors in the graphs, maybe the next time could include more colors. And if is possible try to translate the book to another language like spanish, because about this topic in spanish is very poor the number of books, and the translation could bring the opportunity to more people to read about this.

Work in the 21st Century: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Average customer rating:

Work in the 21st Century: An Introduction to Industrial & Organizational Psychology
21 Century an intro to industrial and organizational psychology

Work in the 21st Century: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Frank J. Landy , and Jeffrey M. Conte
Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Motivational | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Occupational & Organizational | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Research | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Industrial Psychology | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Organizational Behavior | Business Management | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Business Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Health Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Manager's Workshop 3.0 (3rd Edition)
Applied Psychology in Human Resource Management (6th Edition)
Mind on Statistics (w/CDs & ThomsonNOW, iLrn Homework Student Version, InfoTrac 2-Semester, Personal Tutor with SMARTHINKING, Internet Companion for Statistics 2-Sem. PAC)
Fundamental Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences
The Leadership Moment: Nine True Stories of Triumph and Disaster and Their Lessons for Us All

ASIN: 1405144343

Book Description

Work in the 21st Century is the highly regarded, and most current and engaging, text for the industrial and organizational psychology course. Combining leading research, consulting, and teaching expertise, Frank Landy and Jeff Conte provide students with up-to-date examples and cases that link current research and theory to practical issues in the workplace. Students will gain familiarity with I-O psychology concepts and become critical evaluators of contemporary issues and research, allowing their education to carry them well past the conclusion of the course.A number of themes recur throughout the text to underscore the multifaceted nature of work including the increase in cross-cultural and multinational work, the diversification of workforces, the increased importance of teams, and the increased complexity of the technical and organizational aspects of work.Key features:Modular approach: contains self-contained sections within chapters, for maximum teaching flexibilityCutting-edge topics and research coverage: includes the Five Factor Theory of Personality, the Big Eight theory of competencies, emotional intelligence, culture and emotions, genetics and job satisfaction, achieving balance between work and non-work, stress and violence, measuring motivation, integrity testing, entrepreneurship, computer-based assessment, male vs. female leaders, cross-cultural teams, bullying, and moreEmphasis on critical thinking: supplementary critical thinking questions present situations and ask students to apply the principles and concepts they have learned in that sectionCase studies and boxes: cases provide concrete examples of the issues involved in work and behavior in various applied settingsClear, articulate explanations: concise prose and interesting examples make the book accessible to a wide range of studentsAncillaries: these include Instructor 's Manual, Test Bank, Study Guide, PowerPoint slides, and a dedicated website at www.blackwellpublishing.com/landyconte2e

Customer Reviews:

Work in the 21st Century: An Introduction to Industrial & Organizational Psychology.......2007-05-13

Great book. Very informative--at least as part of a class--with interesting side-line items as well.

21 Century an intro to industrial and organizational psychology.......2005-09-26

sent in good amount of time and book in good condition

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books