Book Description
Here's the first information ever published in Japan on the Toyota production system (known as Just-In-Time manufacturing). Here Ohno, who created JIT for Toyota, reveals the origins, daring innovations, and ceaseless evolution of the Toyota system into a full management system. You'll learn how to manage JIT from the man who invented it, and to create a winning JIT environment in your own manufacturing operation.
Customer Reviews:
Everything I expected!.......2007-09-29
I got this as a present for my father for his birthday last weekend. He has already started reading it and making notes. It is everything we hoped it would be and met his expectations. I would recommend it for marketing students, teachers, and anyone interested in that type of thing.
Tell it like it is.......2007-04-10
There are many myths around the Toyota Production System (TPS). Ohno Taiichi merits my deepest respects, considering he was able almost a half century ago to observe and learn from others. Considering the simple target given to him, to "catch up with America" he studied in-depth the work of Ford and recognised the idea of copying the US supermarket system for his operational purpose.
The book describes very well what constraints he was given from the owners when Toyota started to get into the automotive business and what path they followed until the first fully operated TPS plant went operational at the 60s.
Many thinkings of Ohno Taiichi are still actual. He is capable of bringing key problems to the point: efficiency gains are worthless until they really lead to cost reduction. Unfortunatelly we all now the opposite from this wisdom - and many "growth-strategies" of companies today are nothing else than to try to increase business with the same workforce. Furthermore the author gives good examples how Toyota handled different issues, as e.g. the syncronization of production with final assembly.
The reader will not find any operational theory or formulas in this book and if you are looking for books teaching you about designing and sizing Pull-systems you should look for books as "Kanban made simple" or similar. TPS is not about installing software than about eliminating everything which is waste and does mainly not contribute to the succes of your business.
Anyway this book is a must read for any readers interested in first hand information about the basis that made TMC what they are today - a business model developed by smart people many years ago and dearing to ask simple questions, to find sound and robust solutions and to steadily develop the system and its people working in it.
My deepest respect to Ohno Taiichi,
Domo arrigato,
Oliver
Delighting.......2007-03-09
For all the people searching a new way to lead & achieve new innovations, is a good example of attitud & ideas for that purpose. After a war between ownselfes & paradigms a Japanese discovered the importance of loose fear, achieving several succesfuly goals in his Company & in his Country.
Toyota Magic.......2006-05-24
"Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production" is a very enlightening work by the inventor of lean manufacturing, Taiichi Ohno. This small book is packed with insights and ideas on how to efficiently and effectively run a production system. The Toyota Production is also known as lean manufacturing, entails, among other things, minimising waste through continuous improvement and producing only what is sold, as requested by the customer. This unique and innovative system explains why Toyota makes profits even in tough times when other competitor firms are losing money.
The book explains this fascinating subject in a simple and easy to read and understand way that makes it accessible to a wide range of readers. Among the things that I found very interesting was the concept of zero defects, production load-levelling, standardised work and just-in-time delivery.
The book is very enlightening reading for those involved in any production process.
Toyota Production Systerm: Beyond Large-Scale Production.......2006-03-24
Great! Enlightening AND an interesting read. So good I bought an extra copy to give as a gift.
Product Description
Beyond Consequences, Logic, and Control covers in detail the effects of trauma on the body-mind and how trauma alters childrens behavioral responses. The first four chapters help parents and professionals clearly understand the neurological research behind the basic model given in this book, deemed, The Stress Model. While scientifically based in research, it is written in an easy to understand and easy to grasp format for anyone working with or parenting children with severe behaviors. The next seven chapters are individually devoted to seven behaviors typically seen with attachment-challenged children. These include lying, stealing, hoarding and gorging, aggression, defiance, lack of eye contact, and yes, even a chapter that talks candidly about how parents appear hostile and angry when they work to simply maintain their families from reaching complete states of chaos. Each of these chapters talks in depth on these specific behaviors and gives vivid and contrasting examples of how this love-based approach works to foster healing and works to develop relationships, as opposed to the fear-based traditional attachment parenting approaches that are being advocated in todays attachment field. The authors end with a Parenting Bonus Section. True testimonials from parents who have been able to make significant changes in their homes with this model of parenting, giving real-life examples of how they have been able to find the healing, peace, and love that they had been seeking prior to working through the techniques outlined in this book.
Customer Reviews:
A Must Read for Parents and Social Workers!.......2007-10-05
As a mother of two adopted children, one from birth and the other from a Russian orphanage, this book was a REVELATION, and the first of its kind! I can't even number the helpful books I have read on adoption and attachment, but this one truly understands the child from his/her perspective and life experiences. It just makes perfect sense. However, the work does not stop here. The authors encourage us parents of challenging children to look deeper within ourselves. Until we begin to heal of our own past wounds, we can not fully be present in theirs.
This book offers practical ideas for loving our children where they hurt. I see my children differently now, but not only them but everyone I know, including myself. This book is NOT just for attachment-challenged children, but any child with ongoing issues, adopted or biological! And tell me, who doesn't have issues???
This book is a MUST READ for any parent who is raising a child in the 21st Century who pushes our "hot buttons" from time to time, or like me, on a daily basis! And a MUST READ for all child psychologists and social workers!
The authors, however, do not stop at just helping us with their insightful wisdom and knowledge. They invite us to attend an all-day seminar with them for FREE! I can't wait to attend one near where we live and bring all my new questions and have them answered, personally!
Relationship before performance and behavior!.......2007-09-23
This book puts relationship before performance,which in my way of thinking, is unconditional love. Is there anything more important than relationship? We don't want "robot children." We want children who can feel and connect in meaningful ways with others, beginnning with their parents. In a word, this book communicates grace-based technniques.
Beyond Consequences, Logic and Control.......2007-09-03
This is a must read for foster parents and pre/post adoptive parents who have attachment deficit children who have also suffered trauma. The authors have years of experience with such children and have had great success in helping the children and parents facilitate a deeper relationship. Understanding the child and how to effectively do what it takes to help the child heal is everything! Behavior is just a symptom; find out how to help the child move from fear and shame into love.
A MUST READ!.......2007-06-02
I bought this book for a class book review and I couldn't be more thankful. I loved the love-based approach. The book is set up in a very fast, easy, and understandable format. The first part of the book is about the brain and what memory is responsible for our reactions to daily situations. The next part of the book is about different behaviors that children exhibit and how the traditional view approaches the behavior and the love based approach approaches the behavior. This is the best part of the seven chapters. There is a scenario and then two columns of one side tradiotional and the other love-based. There is also a chapter for parents that explains why parents react to the behaviors that their children exhibit. The last part of the book is real-life stories from families that are using the love-based approach. I really have changed since reading this book and have applied it to children that I work with. Although this book is geared toward children with severe attachment disorders I found this to be applicable for all children. Please read this book its worth the twenty dollars.
A great resource for foster parents.......2007-05-17
This book is a great resource for foster parents or any caregiver dealing with very difficult behaviors. The only problem is the text layout makes it a hard read and with no margins to write in, it is a hard text to make notes in for future reads.
Amazon.com
In 1957, the Russians launched Sputnik and the ensuing space race. Three years later, Gene Kranz left his aircraft testing job to join NASA and champion the American cause. What he found was an embryonic department run by whiz kids (such as himself), sharp engineers and technicians who had to create the Mercury mission rules and procedure from the ground up. As he says, "Since there were no books written on the actual methodology of space flight, we had to write them as we went along."
Kranz was part of the mission control team that, in January 1961, launched a chimpanzee into space and successfully retrieved him, and made Alan Shepard the first American in space in May 1961. Just two months later they launched Gus Grissom for a space orbit, John Glenn orbited Earth three times in February 1962, and in May of 1963 Gordon Cooper completed the final Project Mercury launch with 22 Earth orbits. And through them all, and the many Apollo missions that followed, Gene Kranz was one of the integral inside men--one of those who bore the responsibility for the Apollo 1 tragedy, and the leader of the "tiger team" that saved the Apollo 13 astronauts.
Moviegoers know Gene Kranz through Ed Harris's Oscar-nominated portrayal of him in Apollo 13, but Kranz provides a more detailed insider's perspective in his book Failure Is Not an Option. You see NASA through his eyes, from its primitive days when he first joined up, through the 1993 shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, his last mission control project. His memoir, however, is not high literature. Kranz has many accomplishments and honors to his credit, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, but this is his first book, and he's not a polished author. There are, perhaps, more behind-the-scenes details and more paragraphs devoted to what Cape Canaveral looked like than the general public demands. If, however, you have a long-standing fascination with aeronautics, if you watched Apollo 13 and wanted more, Failure Is Not an Option will fill the bill. --Stephanie Gold
Book Description
Gene Kranz was present at the creation of America's manned space program and was a key player in it for three decades. As a flight director in NASA's Mission Control, Kranz witnessed firsthand the making of history. He participated in the space program from the early days of the Mercury program to the last Apollo mission, and beyond. He endured the disastrous first years when rockets blew up and the United States seemed to fall further behind the Soviet Union in the space race. He helped to launch Alan Shepard and John Glenn, then assumed the flight director's role in the Gemini program, which he guided to fruition. With his teammates, he accepted the challenge to carry out President John F. Kennedy's commitment to land a man on the Moon before the end of the 1960s.
Kranz was flight director for both Apollo 11, the mission in which Neil Armstrong fulfilled President Kennedy's pledge, and Apollo 13. He headed the Tiger Team that had to figure out how to bring the three Apollo 13 astronauts safely back to Earth. (In the film Apollo 13, Kranz was played by the actor Ed Harris, who earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance.)
In Failure Is Not an Option, Gene Kranz recounts these thrilling historic events and offers new information about the famous flights. What appeared as nearly flawless missions to the Moon were, in fact, a series of hair-raising near misses. When the space technology failed, as it sometimes did, the controllers' only recourse was to rely on their skills and those of their teammates. Kranz takes us inside Mission Control and introduces us to some of the whiz kids -- still in their twenties, only a few years out of college -- who had to figure it all out as they went along, creating a great and daring enterprise. He reveals behind-the-scenes details to demonstrate the leadership, discipline, trust, and teamwork that made the space program a success.
Finally, Kranz reflects on what has happened to the space program and offers his own bold suggestions about what we ought to be doing in space now.
This is a fascinating firsthand account written by a veteran mission controller of one of America's greatest achievements.
Download Description
Perhaps best known through Ed Harris's Oscar-nominated portrayal in the film Apollo 13, Gene Kranz was a NASA flight controller throughout the entire manned space program. Kranz witnessed everything from Alan Shepard's and John Glenn's early flights in the Mercury program through the triumph of Neil Armstrong's giant leap for mankind in Apollo 11 and the near-disaster of Apollo 13. Kranz headed the "tiger team" that saved the Apollo 13 astronauts, and he provides new details about the urgent and successful improvising that brought the crew safely back to Earth.
Failure Is Not an Option is a thrilling insider's account of Mission Control from the early years of trying to catch the Russians to the end of the manned space program. It is filled with behind-the-scenes stories, including the painful self-examination that took place following the Apollo 1 disaster and the daring decision to schedule an Apollo flight to the moon before NASA had ever launched a manned rocket beyond earth orbit. Kranz's stories about the dedication and resourcefulness of the astronaut corps and Mission Control teams show how an organization dominated by young people only in their twenties could succeed in one of the boldest missions in human history, placing a man on the moon in less than a decade.
Customer Reviews:
Inspiring reading for technical leaders of all kinds.......2007-08-15
While I confess to being a lifelong space buff, this book is the first of many memoirs I have had the pleasure of reading from the actual men and women who participated in one of the greatest adventures in human history. I read it nonstop from the moment I brought it home, and have reread many sections of it numerous times. I believe it is a useful historical record of the golden era of the space program, but also holds many lessons for those who find themselves in formal or de facto positions of technical leadership in all types of organizations - churches, consulting firms, technical contractors, manufacturers, and probably many others with which I am not personally familiar. Thank you Mr. Kranz for all you have shared!
a fist hand report of the early NASA years.......2007-06-30
I highly recommend this book to all the poor men who already believe today that APOLLO is a whole fake
KRANZ tell the truth it is obvious when you read him
The best way to learn about spaceflight is through this book.......2007-05-17
Failure is not an Option
The first time I heard this sentence is when I saw the movie Apollo 13 (Tom Hanks), when I was only 7 years old. I then read the book only when I was 11 years old. Gene Kranz is a great writer as well as a great Flight Director.
The book explains about everything from Mercury, through Gemini, to Apollo in great detail. The book taught me a lot of stuff that I did not know such as that Gemini 7 was before Gemini 6A. The book explains why did it happen and how. It will also explains what they were going to do about it.
The book has 21 pictures and 397 pages of knowledge. I recommend it for everybody
Failure Is Not An Option..........2007-03-15
The book arrived within the scheduled delivery time in excellent condition.
Thank you,
Mark & Francine Keehnel
Not a bad book - not a great one either........2007-01-16
"Failure is Not An Option" is not a bad book, but it is not a great one either. Kranz provides certain insight into the role of NASA Flight Directors and the book is interesting to the extent it serves that function. However, Kranz occasionally gives major events fairly short shrift, while writing at length on an array of banal topics which are of limited interest. The reader is often left wanting greater details about events that shaped the space program and less information on subjects such as Kranz's management style or his trademark vests.
Moreover, Kranz's writing style is a little too compact and terse to make this book a consistently engaging read. Kranz uses the word "crisp" in seemingly every other paragraph. His writing style might be described in the same way. Unfortunately, it can make sections of "Failure Is Not An Option" a bit tedious at times.
Lastly, although a small point, Kranz makes no attempt to hide his political bent. The book is replete with praise for Kennedy and obvious (though unarticulated) disdain for Nixon. Kranz speaks with almost boy-like ardor of Kennedy's far-sightedness and vision for the space program despite the fact that many regard Kennedy's interest in space to have arisen solely out of a political desire to beat the Soviets - not for scientific or human advancement as Kranz would have the reader believe. At times, the political commentary proves irritating and distracting and Kranz's idolatry of Kennedy excessive and simplistic.
That said, this book is worth the read for the information it does impart and to supplement other texts on the space program, but it is not as gripping or engaging as "Lost Moon" or a host of others.
Download Description
The first comprehensive, detailed, step-by-step Six Sigma implementation guide for non-manufacturing organizations. Detailed case studies show how to adapt Six Sigma techniques, tools, and metrics to any non-manufacturing environment. Essential Six Sigma implementation techniques for financial services, healthcare, publishing, supply chain management, R and D, and beyond. Co-authored by Roger W. Hoerl, a leader in implementing Six Sigma quality throughout GE during Jack Welch's era.
Customer Reviews:
Great book........2006-04-09
Highly Recommended. The book is authored by two of the leading practictioners and they do an excellent job of providing their experience and insight on implimenting Six Sigma. You can read articles by them, and a chapter from the book, via www.curiouscat.net/library/hoerl.cfm
Book Description
Participation in Quality Deer Management (QDM) is quickly spreading across the United States. This full-color book thoroughly explores the tenets of QDM, including land development, proper animal harvest, obtaining good doe-to-buck ratios, developing nutritious food sources, and many more principles that lead to healthier deer herds and bigger bucks with larger antlers.
The history and benefits of QDM are thoroughly explained, so landowners can determine if QDM is a feasible option. Landowners will learn how to test soil acidity, manage woodlands, create food plots, and estimate deer populations. Forestry management is reviewed, as well as proper QDM hunting strategies, and how to promote QDM to neighboring landowners.
Charles Alsheimer is an outdoor writer, lecturer, whitetail consultant, and award-winning nature photographer specializing in white-tailed deer.
• Describes quality deer management (QDM) as a tool for building quality deer herds
• Provides land and forestry management tips
• Discusses proper QDM hunting strategies for controlling antlerless herds
Customer Reviews:
best hunting book---EVER!!!!!.......2006-04-14
Alsheimer shows what deer hunting is made of with this book. You'll get top-of-the-line information on planting food plots, managing trees, keeping records on your deer, hunting deer for your setup--everything!! He not only tells you how to manage your property and deer, but also explains how deer live throughout the entire year.
Charlie Alshiemer is a photographer by trade, which is very obvious in this book. His photos of whitetails are nothing short of amazing.
His style is very matter-of-fact and easy to understand, making it that much more enjoyable to read.
This is by far the most informative book I have ever read. Buy it today; you will get your money's worth. I wish there were more books like this one on the market!! I'll give it as many stars as are available!!
Great Book.......2005-09-22
I couldn't put the book down. I grew up in Steuben County in the town of Caton. Iam going to start implementing some of the things I learned in this book this year. I would tell anyone interested in learning how to grow bigger deer (buck or doe) should read this book.
Alsheimer Does it Again.......2003-06-12
Charlie Alsheimer is possibly the best white-tailed deer writer of all time. He is certainly the best deer photographer. His new book Quality Deer Managment the Basics and Beyond, is a prime example of both his talent as a writer and his brilliance as a photographer. I believe it to be his best book ever.
The book is written in Charlie's classic down home, easy to read style with easy to grasp explinations of complicated deer managment issues. He covers virtually every aspect of the QDM scene with common sense and uncommon insight. His treatment of the topic is inspirational and leaves you wanting to get out there and start practicing QDM now!
The photos chosen to illustrate the text are nothing short of spectacular. They bring the entire text to life in brilliant color and give you an up close and personal view of whitetails as only Alsheimer can.
After reading this book I picked up a copy of "Grow 'em Right" the new "how to" habitat and food plot book by Dougherty & Dougherty and am now ready to conquer the world of Quality deer managment. Now white-tailed deer book library is complete without this book
Book Description
This unique and cutting-edge book takes Lean beyond your four walls to the end-to-end supply chain. The authors discuss how to integrate the total value stream — vertically, horizontally, and laterally and achieve success through empowered people and teams, cultural transformation, and an integration of Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, and enabling technologies such as ERP, SCM, APS, CRM, PLM, networks, exchangers, and portals. Using the Lean Extended Enterprise Reference Model (LEERM), the authors demonstrate that by deploying the right methodologies and technologies to the right situation you can achieve huge breakthroughs in performance.
Customer Reviews:
The Lean Extended Enterprise: Moving Beyond the Four Walls t.......2003-09-24
This is an excellent book that I have purchased for key leaders in my organization. It does a great job of linking Value Stream Mapping to Lean Concepts.
the lan extended enterprise.......2003-09-20
Being a "real world" lean practitioner and having gone through the many trappings in "going lean," I found T. Burton and S. Boeder's book, "The Lean Extended Enterprise" to be one of the most practical and usefull text on the market. These authors have blended the best of academics, case histories, lean tools, and industrial science to provide a road map to navigate a lean implimentation. I.e., not only on the shop floor, but across the enterprise. This helps preclude the sub-optimiztion syndrome and lack of work organization and syncronization that many of us have experienced while attempting to go "lean."
Great reference for Enterprise application of lean.......2003-09-20
The book provides a great reference model ("Lean Extended Enterprise Reference Model-LEERM") for understanding the strucure and framework for assisting companies, their customers, and suppliers in transitioning to a total value stream conversion to lean. Unfortuately most books on the subject of lean only address the application of specific lean tools (Kanban, SMED, etc.) and do not provide the strucured methodology necessary for aligning the total organization. The Lean Extended Enterprise Model outlined in the book identifies Panels of Value Stream Integration; (1) Strategic Journey Panel, (2) Best Practices and Principles Panel, (3) Implementation Panel,(4) Methodologies, Tools,and Enabling Technologoes Panel. Additionally the book provides a formal performance measurement tool to support the Lean Extended Enterprise Reference Model. The termed used to define this model by the authors is "Lean Extended Enterprise Assessment Process-LEEAP". Seven major evaluation areas are identified in detail; (1) Leadership, (2) Customer and market focus. (3) Uniform improvement infrastructure, (4) Value stream processes, (5) Extended enterprise integration, (6) organizational learning, and (7) Performance measurement. This book is a must read reference for those companies who are serious about implementing Lean throughout the entire Supply Chain.
Lean Extended Enterprise.......2003-09-20
The book does a good job by meeting its objectives. It provides guidence for the executive that's trying to fit everything into the process from strategic planning to execution.
Too broad a brush..........2003-09-15
What I would thought would bring to me some new concept or ideas to continue to move in the Lean Enterprise direction and conversion, is however a "summary" of all the different available tools, with nothing new about them. Unfortunately not written for those of you who have already started to implement Lean approches in Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Product Development, or else. Good for the ones looking at the different options and trying to see what can be the whole picture...
Average customer rating:
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Advanced Case Management: Outcomes and Beyond
Suzanne K Powell
Manufacturer: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
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Case Management: A Practical Guide to Success in Managed Care
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Nursing Case Management: From Essentials to Advanced Practice Applications (Nursing Case Management: From Essentials to Adv Prac App (Co)
ASIN: 0781722349 |
Book Description
Advanced Case Management: Outcomes and Beyond, is a theoretical, research-oriented, and statistical publication providing comprehensive coverage of advanced case management information. Essential topics presented in this text include outcomes management, disease management, continuous quality improvement (CQI), and complementary medicine practices. Building on Case Management: A Practical Guide to Success in Managed Care, Second Edition, this book explores population-based case management and its components. Part I comprehensively covers disease management concepts and development of a successful disease management program. Part II focuses on the latest trends in outcomes management. Topics covered include how to develop an outcomes management program, the Center for Case Management Accountability (CCMA), benchmarking, and factors affecting case management outcomes. Part III deals with continuous quality improvement (CQI) and proper use of CQI tools. Finally, Part IV, Managing Complementary Health Care--A Vision for the Future, addresses the challenges and the successes of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) practices.
Book Description
The authoritative, practical guide to internal control after COSO (Committee on Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission)
Beyond COSO unravels the complexities of the COSO Report while providing clear-cut guidelines on how to implement the various internal controls it mandates. Just as important, it builds on the COSO framework to provide a more rigorous system that corporate executives and directors can use to transform the internal control function into a valuable strategic tool for leveraging corporate strengths and improving performance.
The first practical guide to complying with COSO Report mandates, Beyond COSO:
- Clearly explains the intricacies of the COSO Report
- Describes proven techniques for complying with COSO requirements
- Provides a detailed account of the internal control oversight process
- Offers expert recommendations on how to carry out internal control responsibilities more efficiently
- Supplies a wealth of ready-to-use internal control documentation
Beyond COSO is an invaluable working resource for internal and external auditors, CFOs, members of audit committees, and corporate directors.
www.wiley.com/accounting
Customer Reviews:
Understand the history and shortcomings of COSO.......2003-08-15
Great overview of its history, and other frameworks for internal control evaluations. Clearly the author has major misgivings with COSO, and describes why the shortcomings reflect the biases of the authors, which is the public accounting firms. Excellent overview of other frameworks, and why they might be superior. With the passage of the Sarbanes Oxley Act, this understanding might seem more important, but likely many organizations will struggle just to do COSO. An important addition to any research on COSO.
Beyond Coso : Internal Control to Enhance Corporate Governan.......2002-03-02
Anyone who read this book when it was first published in 1998 needs to re-read it in the context of the Enron revelations. It is amazing how Steven J. Root's examination and explanation of what internal control is, how it should be implemented and what it can and cannot accomplish is exactly on-point vis-à-vis the break downs in corporate governance at Enron, Global Crossing and others of their ilk. Anyone from business student to congressional overseer, who wants the proper framework for understanding and explaining these crises should carefully study this book.
One of best books on (internal) control.......2000-05-02
Beyond COSO is probably one of the best, complete and most recent books on (internal) control. What interested me a great deal was that Root behind the masks of the committee of sponsoring organisations looks, metaphorically speaking. It helped me a great deal on writing a graduation paper on this topic.
Very Good.......1999-10-12
Excellent coverage of the history of internal control issues. Good analysis of weaknesses/strengths of COSO and the strengths of other control related models. Good explanation of a broader management approach to internal control that the author advocates. Good suggestions for implementing the broader approach in a company and the roles of the Board, Senior Managment and Internal Audit. The author is obviously quite knowledgeable about these issues and the book is easy to read and is very interesting. People interested in developing their knowledge about this subject or concerned about good business and control practices and ways to enhance the likelihood of success for their company will find this book very valuable.
Book Description
Based on the Juran Institute’s breakthrough method, Juran’s
Six Sigma: Breakthrough and Beyond goes beyond certification or implementation processes discussed in most six sigma texts to prepare an organization's managers -- at all levels -- to deal with the practical day-to-day human, structural, and technological issues which arise when initiating and maintaining a Six Sigma effort.
Juran's
Six Sigma: Breakthrough and Beyond allows you to modify your program to suit your individual requirements. With this book, you get everything you need to improve and maintain Six-Sigma breakthrough performance long after the consultants have packed up and gone home.
Customer Reviews:
Breakthrough among Six Sigma books!.......2003-09-29
Six Sigma is all about breakthrough improvement. Without a breakthrough, achieving Six Sigma performance is impossible. Juran and Juran Institute are the most experienced in achieving and managing performance improvement. The Six Sigma: Breakthrough and Beyond book is unique as it is the only book that covers all aspects of achieving dramatic improvement.
Praveen Gupta
Author of Six Sigma Business Scorecard
and Co-author of Six Sigma Deployment
Average customer rating:
- little substance, annoying to read, and laughably dated
- Critique
- The control freak's bible!
- Provocative philosophy from an American behavorist
- Toward Knowledge and Usefulness
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Beyond Freedom & Dignity
B. F. Skinner
Manufacturer: Hackett Publishing Company
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ASIN: 0872206270 |
Book Description
In this profound and profoundly controversial work, a landmark of 20th-century thought originally published in 1971, B. F. Skinner makes his definitive statement about humankind and society.
Insisting that the problems of the world today can be solved only by dealing much more effectively with human behavior, Skinner argues that our traditional concepts of freedom and dignity must be sharply revised. They have played an important historical role in our struggle against many kinds of tyranny, he acknowledges, but they are now responsible for the futile defense of a presumed free and autonomous individual; they are perpetuating our use of punishment and blocking the development of more effective cultural practices. Basing his arguments on the massive results of the experimental analysis of behavior he pioneered, Skinner rejects traditional explanations of behavior in terms of states of mind, feelings, and other mental attributes in favor of explanations to be sought in the interaction between genetic endowment and personal history. He argues that instead of promoting freedom and dignity as personal attributes, we should direct our attention to the physical and social environments in which people live. It is the environment rather than humankind itself that must be changed if the traditional goals of the struggle for freedom and dignity are to be reached.
Beyond Freedom and Dignity urges us to reexamine the ideals we have taken for granted and to consider the possibility of a radically behaviorist approach to human problems-one that has appeared to some incompatible with those ideals, but which envisions the building of a world in which humankind can attain its greatest possible achievements.
Customer Reviews:
little substance, annoying to read, and laughably dated.......2006-08-08
First let me say that aside from any of the ideas presented, this book deserves a low rating just because of how horribly it is written. Skinner has no real style and simply rattles of declarative sentences at such a monotonous pace that I was practically tearing my hair out at the end of the book. And for all the mechanistic nature of his writing, he's suprisingly inept at conveying a point.
But getting to the ideas contained therein. This book combines the very shaky "science" of behaviorism with the silliest doomsday rhetoric that was so typical of the decades following the invention of the atomic bomb. Skinner starts off by talking about how horrible the human race has thus far managed itself, how we are in danger at any second of annihilating ourselves. This kind of alarmism was probably very convincing in the 70s, but it hardly has any force with reasonable people today, who realize that, despite our flaws, we seem to be pretty good at surviving. Skinner then goes into the meat of his book, which is pretty much summed up by saying, "There is no circumstance under which humans are not controlled. It's just a matter of the form the control takes, and there's no such thing as an autonomous agent inside us. We need to accept that and engineer the perfect society by devising ways of control that are better."
If you read those three sentences, you don't really need to read "Beyond Freedom & Dignity," but for those who are curious, I'll say a few more words, mainly criticism. The first criticism is that, of course, Skinner just constantly and tediously repeats that it is an established scientific "fact" it is that we are purely products of the environment (whether personally or through evolution) without justifying it very well. Paradoxically, he admits that the science of human behavior is poorly developed compared to, say, biology and physics, and in fact hasn't progressed much since Aristotle. He is oblivious to this contradiction. On the one hand, he wants it to be certain and unquestioned that a human can be completely explained by his science. On the other, his science is underdeveloped (because people have not accepted that it is true yet). He seems to think that behaviorist science does not need any sophistication or development in order for it's most weighty premise--that humans have no autonomy--to be an accepted fact. Skinner puts the cart before the horse.
The second criticism is that Skinner never really gets down to any even slightly useful details on what his Utopia will look like. His excuse is, again, that behaviorist science is still not developed enough, I guess. But it seems like someone who says, "We must change our culture so that it has the best possible effect on our lives" isn't really saying anything profound. In other words, his dramatic plan for the human race reduces to nothing more than saying, "Let's do things better." In a book of 200 pages, Skinner really doesn't give much information at all. It's worth mentioning that after every chapter he gives a short one-paragraph summary of the ideas in that chapter. He could have simply published those summaries and retained about 90% of the real content of his book.
Thirdly, Skinner is oblivious to the inherent contradictions in his position. If man is just a product of his environment, with no real autonomy, no inherent ability to act in and of himself, then how can we even "plan" anything for the future? If a superior culture does develop, it cannot be considered anything but a happy accident. It can't even be considered "happy," since that term implies some inner agent who is happy. I guess we would just say, "It would be favorable for the participants."
There is something just simply idiotic in saying, "We should design a better culture, because none of us have free will and are just products of our culture." I suppose Skinner only wrote his book due to the stimulus of his environment and thus can't be blamed for the inconsistency... But the point I'm making is that in order to act for positive change, you have to feel like you have some autonomous capacity to change things.
All in all, the book is rather dated. The idea of man as simply a machine that converts stimulus to response, with emotions and thoughts (if they exist at all) as mere side effects is absurd to anyone who does a little introspection instead of, say, studying figures on how incomes and education relate to robbery convictions. And the doomsday scenarios that motivate the work are much less compelling (to reasonable people, at least) than they used to be. I don't recommend this book unless you have some scholarly need to read it. On final reflection, it appears to me as simply an attempt by Skinner to profit off the anxieties of his times rather than an earnest attempt at offering useful knowledge to mankind.
Critique.......2006-05-30
I will admit, I was somewhat skeptical when I began reading Skinner's Beyond Freedom and Dignity. I expected Skinner's writing to be adamant and presumptuous in dealing with human nature as a stimulus-response reaction. Skinner's ideas and views, however, are highly credible and not as "radical" as one would think those of a radical behaviorist might be. I have condensed Skinner's book into a brief synopsis and personal reaction of five sections: technology of behavior, freedom and dignity, punishment and alternatives, evolution and design of culture, and the idea of man.
Skinner begins this book with an overview of behavioral technology. He points out that the physical and biological sciences have solved any problems facing human nature though the utilization of technology. A similar type technology should be applied to behavior though a scientific analysis as opposed to abstract concepts such as states of mind and feelings. At this point, Skinner transits the responsibility from autonomous man to the environment.
One would assume that the goal of any first chapter in a book would be to grasp the reader's attention. This is exactly what this does. I am reminded of Hippocratic doctrine of the four humors when Skinner discusses early biological science. He compares the early physical and biological sciences to modern behavioral science. I am also intrigued, because Skinner begins to discuss potential ways to use behavioral technology to create a utopian society.
The next sections deal with freedom and dignity. Skinner states that the literature on freedom has made the mistake of defining freedom in terms of states of mind or feelings. Skinner defines the struggle for freedom as the avoidance of or escape from aversive features of the environment. Skinner also states that people commonly recognize the concept of dignity as a person's worth when deserving credit for actions. However, when people are the products of their environments, dignity should not be a concern, because ultimately, people are not autonomous.
Again, I found there to be much validity in Skinner's writings. What is interesting is that there are schools of thought built entirely around the concept of freedom (e.g., existentialism), stressing its importance. Skinner claims that no creatures possess free will; this is very bold statement. I also found his views of dignity interesting. He claims that more dignity is given to individuals when the causes of their achievements are less conspicuous. In retrospective, I find this to be mostly true.
Skinner then begins to discuss punishment and alternatives to punishment. He points out that the most commonly used technique for constructing, or manipulating, human behavior is negative reinforcement and punishment. According to Skinner, these punitive techniques can be maladaptive. He then explains that nonpunitive contingencies (e.g., positive reinforcement) are commendable alternatives to negative reinforcement and punishment.
I agree with Skinner's claim that nonpunitive contingencies are not commonly used to mold behavior, because this would somehow be viewed by society as manipulative, which subsequently, would reduce freedom. In turn, punishment is not viewed as "controlling;" people still have the option to choose. He gave much evidence to support this, and these comments, in my opinion, are true. However, I did not particularly like the way that Skinner made the assertion that positive reinforcement could be used to better society. I did not like this, because he said nothing to back up this claim. An entire chapter of this book was devoted to potential alternatives to punishment but never was an alternative created other than the broad category of positive reinforcement. In addition, I do not agree with Skinner's belief that those who defend the literature of freedom and dignity are those who attempt to control, or manipulate, people. I am not even sure why this was stated, and again, there is no evidence to support this statement in his book.
Skinner then focuses on the evolution and design of a culture. He compares the evolution of a culture to the evolution of a species. Basically, both culture and species propagate those traits which lead to better or longer survival. In his design of a culture, he basically applies most of the previous concepts. He states that in his design, different cultures would be separated geographically with no form of authoritarian government and people would be very frugal and economic (i.e., they would produce only what was needed and would only consume small, practical potions of the natural resources).
I particularly enjoyed Skinner's application of evolution to culture. I found his design of a culture to be interesting but not particularly impressive. It is too simplistic, much like the utopian designs that Skinner initially criticizes. I do agree with Skinner's belief that a science of behavior could and should be exercised in creating a culture.
Skinner then focuses the last portion of his book on a question: what is man? He explains that the role of environment does not abolish man. It abolishes the autonomous, inner man. He claims that this understanding is would lead to scientific progress. He also states that man is not a passive product of the environment, because the environment is ultimately of man's own making.
This last section is basically a redundancy of previous concepts. It did serve, however, as an effective closing for his arguments. One thing I might point out is that I did not particularly care for his statement that man is controlled by his/her environment and, at the same time, man is responsible for his/her environment. This seems to me like a very circular explanation (i.e., a is the cause of b, and b is the cause of a) that was just inserted to please some of the more anti-behaviorist readers.
Overall, Skinner's Beyond Freedom and Dignity is a very persuasive book with some very innovative concepts. I can reluctantly, but honestly, admit that I cannot entirely refute any off his proclamations. Skinner does not deny the role of nature or of cognitive processes in his assumptions, which is something that I did not come to expect in reading this book. I have, however, pointed out a few slight weaknesses in his arguments. After finishing this book, I am fully aware as to why this book is deemed a classic in the scientific community.
The control freak's bible! .......2005-06-30
I have given Skinner's book I star, because it was required to write a review. I consider its ideas dangerous - for the simple reason that it represents a frontal assault upon our ideas of freedom and human dignity.
Of course, Skinner doesn't see anything 'sinister' in his ideas. He simply takes it for granted that our notion that we have 'interior selves' and are autonomous (i.e. free agents) - is largely an illusion. In short, Skinner's argument (and it just that, not a statement of fact, as he would have us believe) - is that we are wholly determined in our lives by environmental factors, which is to say - 'conditioned' by forces outside ourselves.
Skinner's argument, then, is that we might as well accept this and make the most of it. Rather than resisting the idea of conditioning, he thinks we should perfect it. In short, if there is nothing more than external conditioning and learned behaviour, then we might as well have social scientists maximising our potential to live with the learned behaviour.
The fallacy of Skinner's argument, is that the notion of human freedom and dignity rests upon scientifically 'unprovable' or 'unverifiable' assertions. When we look, we cannot find a 'ghost in the machine' - and thus, we might as well accept the machine. But it is a facile argument. The fact that we cannot reduce our interior selves to a scientifically quantifiable formula, is the very reason why it remains of vital importance to human life. Its resistence to reductive, strictly empirical formulas, is what makes human nature special. Nobody sensible would deny that childhood experience is highly formative, or that certain genetic determinants are at work, or that empirically speaking, we are conditioned in our external lives. But we have no reason to suppose that these factors are ALL determining.
Needless to say, Skinner's thinking was informed by wholly secular ideas of social and scientific progress - much as if we could get behind everything and 'push.' Paradoxically, Skinner never gave that much thought to who controls the controllers! Skinner wasn't thinking of anything like Soviet style dialectical materialism - but, if we wanted a graphic example of how things go painfully wrong by regimenting human nature and trying to educate people out of the idea that they have 'interior selves' - well, the failures of the Soviet Union (or Communist China) tell us all we need to know.
I don't say this with any illusions that captalism and 'free markets' per se, are intrinsically more respectful of human freedom and dignity. Those values hinge upon something deeper, and without that, there is little to prevent a 'market oriented' society drifting into social controls and abuses of human nature, no less than those which drove the Soviet system.
Ironically, some reviewers have adduced Buddhist teachings(i.e. the doctrine of anatman = no-self) as further confirmation of Skinner's ideas. But Buddhism only denies that there is a permanent self in the skandhas or aggregates - a materialistic self. In fact, the Buddha taught people to take refuge in the 'self' and the Dharma as an inner lamp. Buddhists do have 'interior' lives. Moreover, the Buddha accorded 'dignity' to human nature, or manusya- as the 'most noble of two footed beings.'
It is not anyone else's business to define what we are - in any final or absolute sense. Those who would endeavour to do so are of the same mind as those who would patent the human genome,and plan on engineering an improved version of the human race in their laboratories. The chances are that those who would play 'God' will end up doing the devil (or Mara's) work. As the Rolling Stones song said: - "Hey - you! Get offa maa cloud! "
Provocative philosophy from an American behavorist.......2005-03-16
B.F. Skinner was the leading experimental psychologist in the United States for a large portion of his career, and his reputation within the field is still formidable. Unlike most scientists, Skinner also chose to write books for a popular audience. And, unlike most so-called "popular scientists" like Carl Sagan or Stephen Jay Gould, Skinner cared more that the layman understood the philosophy behind science, rather than how that particular science worked.
"Beyond Freedom and Dignity" is Skinner's most successful - and controversial work. Skinner's brand of psychology is called Behaviorism for a very good reason - it deals only with objective, measurable behaviors and does not speculate about motivations, drives, dreams, etc. Skinner argues that applied Behaviorism has the potential to solve many seemingly unsolvable problems, such as overpopulation, crime, pollution, and the like. To Skinner, our very concepts of Freedom and Dignity are hindrances because they are abstract ideals that cannot be measured or quantified. It is only when we care about behavior that we have a chance of understanding why human beings do the things that we do and have the potential to truly change society.
I strongly recommend this book, although I do not agree with much of Skinner's philosophy. Skinner wrote clearly, cleanly, and directly. Anyone with a high school diploma or GED could read and understand this book, and engage in a dialogue with Skinner's ideas. I've used chapters of this book in a course in the History of Psychology that I teach, and it never fails to engage people, challenge them, and spur them on to debate. To me, this is what a great book should do. Whether you glorify or villify B.F. Skinner, his ideas are worth grappling with.
I would try a copy at my local library first and then purchase this book if you wish to reread it.
Toward Knowledge and Usefulness.......2004-03-10
This is a great book. It argues that:
1) the human race faces great and urgent problems, such as overpopulation and habitat destruction.
2) we don't behave all that well: we're having difficulty addressing the urgent problems.
3) a scientific approach may be able to help.
4) indeed, a "technology of behavior" is being developed and shows promise. This includes Skinner's experimental findings and conclusions, for example, the role of operant conditioning and the limitations of punishment.
5) Using this emerging technology of behavior, individuals can manage themselves better (as Skinner demonstrated with himself). As a race, we should also be able to use this technology to manage ourselves collectively better.
6) We are being managed (i.e. controlled) anyway, often by forces we either aren't aware of or don't grasp the impact of.
7) If we took control of this technology of behavior, applying it as it is and developing it further, we might be able to save ourselves from the urgent problems that confront us.
8) A key obstacle to the application and further development of this technology is our belief that we are somehow ultimately free of external causes. We believe in free will (freedom or autonomy) and consequently we take credit ( feel dignity) for things we really don't have much or any control over.
9) If we look at the explanations we offer on the basis of our freedom and dignity, we may see that they cover up huge areas of ignorance we have as to why we behave as we do. And if we look at our behavior, we see that we don't control it as much as we think we can (consider the problem people have with obesity or addiction) and we take credit for things we aren't responsible for (including what now appear to be genetic endowments).
10) By attributing things to our "free will", we tend to ignore the real events that influence us, and by so doing we fail to learn from them.
11) If we worked together to look at what really is influencing us and at how we do and can influence others, we might be able to shift ourselves toward being more altruistic and more effective, i.e. we might be able to overcome the big problems that we are currently creating.
Better ways of managing ourselves may mean better ways to manipulate others, but it may also mean that people will be better informed so as to counter manipulations and join, where appropriate, in managing themselves better. At least with an open, scientific process, we have a chance of learning and improving the process ourselves, instead of floundering into disasters due to half-baked concepts about ourselves.
It may make no sense to you to chuck your "autonomous person" yet, but there's no need to. The important thing is to take a little time to learn what Skinner and other behaviorists have learned and try to apply it to help yourself ... and others. You may find yourself stepping beyond freedom and dignity toward knowledge and usefulness ... and that may feel like a good thing.
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