Book Description
Based on research presented at The Harvard Business School’s first-ever conference on business approaches to poverty alleviation, Business Solutions for the Global Poor brings together perspectives from leading academics and corporate, non-profit and public sector managers. The contributors draw on practical and dynamic how-to insights from leading BOP ventures from more than twenty countries world-wide. This important volume reflects poverty’s multi-faceted nature and a broad range of actors—multinational and local businesses, entrepreneurs, civil society organizations and governments—that play a role in its alleviation.
Customer Reviews:
A collection with a story to tell.......2007-06-29
This work is a seamless compilation of information from the corners of the globe detailing innovative new approaches to the alleviation of global poverty through creative efforts in the private sector. Beyond useful and insightful facts and information, this book goes on to organize and present the knowledge in a framework that serves to effectively establish the context of global poverty and therefore the efforts to alleviate it. Because of this context-building framework, as a reference material, this volume is greater than the sum of its parts.
Amazon.com
This is the David-and-Goliath story of how an American bureaucrat took on the tobacco industry--and helped topple it. David Kessler, head of the Food and Drug Administration for seven years under Presidents Bush and Clinton, earned the nickname "Eliot Knessler" from The Washington Post--a pun meant to evoke the memory of the Prohibition-era gangbuster--because he rejuvenated a moribund agency. The FDA regulated, in Kessler's words, "one quarter of every dollar Americans spent--from the food they eat to the drugs they take to the cosmetics they wear." Yet it lacked the courage to take on the country's most lethal product: cigarettes. So did Kessler, at least initially. He agreed with aides and others that Big Tobacco was too powerful a force in Washington, D.C. "The industry perceived threats everywhere, and responded to them ferociously," he writes. Moreover, challenging the industry would waste important resources that could have a more tangible benefit for consumers if they were spent elsewhere. Even before making the choice to go after cigarettes, Kessler was a figure of controversy, and this only intensified when he became one of the few Republican holdovers in the Clinton administration.
Much of the book deals with the routine business of the FDA: orange-juice seizures, a fight to restrict the sale of body tissues from foreign sources, how he responded to complaints that syringes were found in Pepsi cans, and so on. But the driving force behind Kessler's narrative is how he slowly woke up to the possibility of regulating cigarettes. "It is too easy to be swayed by the argument that tobacco is a legal product and should be treated like any other," he writes. "A product that kills people--when used as intended--is different. No one should be allowed to make a profit from that." His story is a lesson in Washington power politics--a game he played with naiveté when he started but was expert at by the end of his tenure.
To say Kessler and his team of FDA regulators "defeated" Big Tobacco is an overstatement: they were part of a broader effort that included trial lawyers, consumer groups, and crusading journalists, and the industry hasn't exactly gone away. But they were instrumental in forcing tobacco companies to admit that nicotine is addictive and cigarettes cause cancer, and in bringing about a sea change in the industry's legal and popular standing. Kessler now believes in regulation so tight it will strangle Big Tobacco forever: "If our goal is to halt this manmade epidemic," he writes, "the tobacco industry, as currently configured, needs to be dismantled." A Question of Intent is a well-told muckraker. It unfolds deliberately, like a good detective story. Admirers of Jonathan Harr's A Civil Action, especially those with a taste for public policy, won't be disappointed. --John J. Miller
Book Description
Now in paperback: former FDA commissioner David Kessler's non-fiction legal thriller about his agency's fight with Big Tobacco. Dubbed "Eliot Knessler" by The Washington Post, due to the way he resurrected a moribund government agency, FDA Commissioner David Kessler launched a carefully considered, thorough, and aggressive assault against the previously unassailable tobacco industry. His attempt to regulate tobacco as a drug was met with all of the industry's now notorious practices: legal stonewalling, manipulation of "bought" elected officials, intimidation, and outright lies. Kessler tackled all of these challenges with the vigor of a man perhaps outgunned but not outmaneuvered. At the height the FDA's legal battle, U.S. News and World Report called Kessler "somebody you can tell your children about" and compared him to the protagonists of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and To Kill a Mockingbird. Like those classic American stories, A Question of Intent is about the search for truth, the choices people make, and right and wrong. It is about moral courage.
Customer Reviews:
An Educating and Entertaining Read.......2007-04-25
David Kessler in A Question of Intent: A Great American Battle with a Deadly Industry provides readers with an entertaining and educating read that serves as a guide for organizations while showing an detailed view of bureaucracy, the media, and government organizations. He effectively displays the numerous benefits of affiliation between organizations and their leaders when trying to change the regulation over tobacco. Kessler also does a great job showing the role of a President and the effect he or she can have on organizations when they get to choose the leading personnel. Where Kessler falls short though is in providing a well organized story, free of excess personal narratives, and repetition. Do these errors tend to negate the quality of the book as a whole? No, but it makes me question his editor and the intentions he or she had in the scattered layout and whether included memoir aspects were entirely necessary.
By bringing the reader directly into the Food and Drug Administration's everyday happenings, Kessler is able to display the decision process of a government organization, while adding an element of suspense. His emphasizes the importance of connections and affiliation and teaches readers the scope and impact that lobbyists can have on the outcome of policies. He often describes that "too late" he realized that he had been "sandbagged by...lobbyists" and "overlooked [the] key tactical step" of lining up more support and connections (Kessler, 48). He shows that it was only through the support of his older staff and political connections that he was able to move forward in his fight for tobacco regulation.
The involvement of the reader in the processes Kessler and his team had to go through to get government attention on the regulation of tobacco could easily serve as a guide for other struggling organizations. He shows in detail how they used the media and were careful about their timing when making decisions. For instance, Kessler asked credible journalists to downplay stories to the New York Times to the extent that newspapers wouldn't even write about events such as the American Red Cross' bad blood supply. This manipulation of the media was useful to the organization by downplaying bad press and avoiding un-needed fear and panic. For other organizations who find themselves in the heat of the media, they might want to take notes from Kessler and his experiences
Another positive aspect of Kessler's book was his ability to show the vital role of the President. Most readers, like myself, would be surprised to learn that the President can have such a vital effect on issues such as food labeling. Kessler describes the difficulty and "maneuvering" it took to get amendments on the underage purchases of cigarettes on the Presidents desk (Kessler, 98). Once they got there, he describes how a Congressional hearing was crucial in how the media framed the issue - eventually leading to the impression the American public got on the topic. Overall, his book gives a great overview of what it takes to get an issue to the desk of the President, and how the steps taken after that can shape public opinion and determine the fate or success of a proposed amendment.
In the end, Kessler and his editor could have improved on the organization of the book. The subject of each 3-7 page chapter skips from topic to topic. It gets tedious when the reader has to continually shift his or her focus from tobacco to fresh food labels to the AIDS drug progression then back to tobacco - all with a little autobiographical information thrown into the mix. At the same time, Kessler consistently switches between using character's first and last names. One minute he's calling a successful reporter "Jim," like they're best friends, the next referring to him as "O'Hara" who had a "reputation among reporters for credibility" (Kessler, 92). The inconsistency is unnecessary and confusing.
Another detail that distracted from a smooth read from a trustworthy author, is his insistence on showing he "did not know" what he was doing, or that he "should have realized" that many of his decisions would have negative effects. Readers already understand no person is perfect, there is no reason to keep reminding them up to two or three times a page.
For readers who want an entertaining, yet educational read, Kessler's book provides both. While it does have its minor errors and editorial mishaps, his ability to produce a book that readers like a thriller yet explains the inner-workings of bureaucracy in a simple-to-understand way is uncanny. Lessons can be learned by regular readers seeking more information on a much debated topic - the regulation of tobacco - or big organizations looking to revitalize their strategies to achieve greater success in their goals.
great expose of an evil industry.......2005-10-01
America, for all its faults, is the battlefield on which many of the world's most important health questions are being fought. None of those is more important than the questions this excellent book addresses. Is nicotine a narcotic? Are America's major cigarette companies, collectively known as Big Tobacco, deliberately turning their customers into nicotine addicts?
They were the key questions David Kessler tackled when he was Commissioner of America's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 1990 to 1997. Kessler, who is now Dean of the Yale University Law School, fought a tenacious battle with Big Tobacco and its powerful allies on Capitol Hill during those years. The battle was so tough and Big Tobacco so ruthless that Kessler and his small team were often compared to Elliot Ness and his small band of Untouchables who slugged it out with Al Capone's army of gangsters and corrupt politicians during the Prohibition years.
Certainly, the tenacity of Big Tobacco in the face of overwhelming evidence that damns its product can only remind the reader of Al Capone and America's Organized Crime, whose sole god is ill gotten money. Big Tobacco practiced, for example, the code of Omerta and, if Kessler is to be believed, former employees who gave evidence against them lived in fear of their lives. Big Tobacco had armies of lawyers and US Congressmen in their corporate pockets. All they seemed short of was organizing the gangland-style hits that were Capone's specialty.
Indeed, the specters of Ness and Capone are never too far away. Kessler hired special investigators trained by America's elite combat forces to interrogate witnesses. One member of Kessler's squad trawled all of America's seaports to uncover key evidence that Big Tobacco had illegally imported genetically modified tobacco into the United States. The book is, in many ways, a classic detective story needing only Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Cagney, Tom Hanks or some other celluloid figure to bring it to life. It races along from the very first page to the final denouement.
Big Tobacco's four-pronged counter-strategy against the FDA is also equally fast-paced. Working with military precision, it used, as page 169 tells us, frontal assaults, surgical strikes, allied attacks and air cover to overwhelm the offices and efforts of Kessler and his team. Like Organized Crime, Big Tobacco knew what side its bread was buttered on. Like Organized Crime, Big Tobacco's bosses proved themselves to be ruthless and cynical competitors with pitiless cash registers for hearts. Their proud boast was that they had more money than God.
Their vast war chests poisoned public debate in America for many years just as their product continues to poison the bodies of their fellow Americans. As well as the armies of hired lawyers who were central to their strategy, they employed mercenary academics to rubber-stamp their products with a scientific sheen of respectability. The aura of scientific impartiality these academics bartered away helped Big Tobacco's bosses accumulate their almost limitless wealth, buy their way into Capitol Hill and jam the world's hospital cancer wards full with cigarette smokers. Although Kessler names some of these contemptible researchers, he goes much further. By exposing their mercenary motives, he discredits them and Big Tobacco, which paid them their ultimately puny pieces of silver.
The book, despite its topicality, starts off with a quote from the Odes of Horace, which tells us that "The guilty have a head start, and retribution is always slow of start, but it catches up." Fortunately, the net is finally beginning to close in on Big Tobacco and its tainted allies. Thanks to people like Kessler and his team of Untouchables, the nicotine debate is starting to be aired out into the open.
Sometimes, of course, the cure is worse than the disease. Kessler's comments about nicotine nasal sprays should be enough to make anyone feel pity for the nicotine abuser and disgust at the companies which can conceive, let alone peddle such an obnoxious product.
No sympathy whatsoever can be spared for Kessler's villains. Though bloodied, Big Tobacco is far from bowed. It continues to ensnare American schoolchildren with its product and to export its deadly product to the four ends of the earth. Despite Big Tobacco's enviable revenues, its feet of clay and the tissues of lies it surrounds itself with have both been well exposed by this great book, which President Jimmy Carter and a host of other luminaries endorse. The hope must now be, as Kessler puts it, that Big Tobacco will eventually be drummed out of business altogether. Their demise would not only make the air we breathe cleaner. It would also help clean up the corridors of power, which Big Tobacco so thoroughly infected with its own insatiable addiction to the profit motive.
A Breath of Fresh Air.......2004-03-25
Thank you, Dr. Kessler, for pursuing the tobacco dragon and for writing this book. It should be required reading for every medical and divinity school student.
Civics lesson that reads like a thriller.......2002-08-05
Wow. Who would have thought a book on the history of the FDA's handling of tobacco regulation would read like a spy novel? I grabbed this book off the new books shelf at the library, and picked it up expecting to skim through it. Kessler begins with how he was chosen to head the FDA, and introduces several of his staff including the one who started him toward taking on the tobacco industry. Then we get plenty of background including the history, marketing, and laws concerning tobacco.
With all the press on Big Tobacco, I expected them to be shown as fiendish. I've been a member of Americans for Non-Smokers Rights for 20 years, and I've read all about the Industry's dirty tricks, and I fully expected to read about them again here. What I didn't expect to find was the thoroughness in Big Tobacco attempted to discredit the FDA, and Kessler takes us through the political campaigns and counter-campaigns. He shows how Big Tobacco created fake advocacy groups on several issues, leading to their attempt to muzzle the FDA and cut off all their government funding. If you remember the '94 Contract with America and the movement against Big Government, you'll be surprised to find how Big Tobacco co-opted it to fight the FDA, one of the more admired agencies.
If you weren't already cynical about how the US government operates, this book will get you there, even with its descriptions of some of the good guys continually outmaneuvered by the bad ones. Several congress members are shown to be captives of Big Tobacco, doing their dirty work with scripts written by their lobbyists and lawyers.
And speaking of lawyers, one of the most amazing revelations to me ok is how the tobacco industry became captives of their law firms! Yes, instead of working for their clients, the law firms ended up calling all the shots, and the CEOs would read statements prepared by them. The book covers how this came to be.
If you love looking of source material, you'll be busy. Kessler leaves plenty of footnotes in this meaty book for your review. My only complaint is that the book jumps around in places, as the story moves forward or back depending on the topic being covered. But this is a small beef, as the material is so compelling. Find out not only how cigarette's nicotine content was manipulated but how the industry tried to hide this obvious fact from FDA visitors to their manufacturing facilities. Enjoy the victories and despair over the setbacks; this is a policy-wonk's book as written by a Tom Clancy wanna-be.
A Govenment Policy Thriller.......2002-06-24
This is an excellent book. Kessler's story reads like a thriller, but is non-fiction. In addition to the fascinating narrative, Kessler provides along the way many insights into how Washington REALLY works. The most disheartening thing about the book is the extent to which Kessler documents how our political culture is awash with tobacco money; the tentacles of the tobacco companies seemingly reach everywhere. Kessler reveals that many "think tanks" and other public policy mouthpieces--even senators--have been bought by big tobacco and are literally reading from scripts the companies have provided trying to shift tobacco issues into ideological issues involving freedom and democracy. Unfortunately, the tobacco companies usually win with such strategies. Kessler is quite non-partisan in his approach to his topic, so politicians are judged purely by their stance on tobacco. Clinton comes out as wishy-washy, Gore as rock solid, while Dennis Hastert, Newt Gingrich and assorted others come out as shills for big tobacco. A very enlightening and enjoyable book; it will make you yearn for true campaign finance reform.
Book Description
Robert Jackall's Moral Mazes offers an eye-opening account of how corporate managers think the world works, and how big organizations shape moral consciousness. Based on extensive interviews with managers at every level of two industrial firms and of a large public relations agency, Moral Mazes takes the reader inside the intricate world of the corporation. Jackall reveals a world where hard work does not necessarily lead to success, but where sharp talk, self-promotion, powerful patrons, and sheer luck might. Cheerfully-bland public faces mask intense competition in this world where people hide their intentions, and accountability often depends on the ability to outrun mistakes. In this topsy-turvy world, managers must bring often unforgiving technology and always difficult people together to make money, an uncompromising task demanding continual compromises with conventional truths. Moral questions become merely practical concerns and issues of public relations. Sooner or later, managers find themselves wondering how to act in such a world and still maintain a sense of personal integrity. This brilliant, sometimes disturbing, often wildly funny study of corporate thinking, decision-making, and morality presents compelling real life stories of the men and women charged with running the businesses of America. It will interest anyone concerned with how big organizations actually function, or with the current moral malaise in our public life.
Customer Reviews:
bibliographic data : .......2005-11-06
Author: Jackall, Robert.
Title: Moral mazes : the world of corporate managers / Robert Jackall.
Publisher: New York : Oxford University Press, 1988.
Edition Date: 1988
Language: English
Notes: Includes index.
Physical Details: ix, 249 p. ; 25 cm.
Subjects: Business ethics--United States.
Executives--Professional ethics--United States.
Corporations--Corrupt practices--United States.
Objective, sad, but true.......2002-05-06
"Moral Mazes" is an extensive, award-winning and highly accurate sociological portrait of life in the modern corporation, an academic precursor, so to speak, of the "Dilbert" cartoon strip. Unlike many other writers on this topic, Jackall doesn't resort to Marxist rants, but rather, compares modern corporate culture to the "Protestant" work ethic most Americans are raised into.
Jackall's inquiry, based on in-depth interviews with managers themselves, is broad in scope, and it is hard to generalize. Within about 200 pages, he covers the social circles of the corporation, cronyism, bad decisionmaking and public relations, to name a few. He discovers that corporations, at the upper levels at least, resemble a king's court more than a meritocratic organization. The essential work of a manager is not "management" or "leadership," but constantly making the right friends and adopting the correct posture. Anyone who has worked in such a setting, or knows people in such a field, will be able to relate instantly, although it can be argued that Jackall did not need to spend years of ethnographic research to reach this conclusion.
This book is not for everyone, as Jackall must conclude that "ethics" as practiced by managers is nothing more than "survival" and ambition for one's own "advantage." While such a diagnosis may seem harsh, it is difficult to rationally explain recent events in the marketplace, such as the Enron scandal, without concluding that corporate executives have a moral compass that differs from that of the everyday person.
Contrary to what a layman may think, Jackall makes no moral judgments of his own, although readers most certainly will. The title itself can be misinterpreted by people not familiar with sociology. The "morals" Jackall discusses are not ethics (which he attacks in his intro), but Durkheim's "occupational morality." While he does study corporations, he calls the focus of this study the "bureaucratic ethos" (not "corporate ethos"). Anyone who's read history (or the local newspaper) already knows bureacracy can create its own rules, from governments (i.e., the Nazis and the Holocaust) to religions (i.e., Catholicism and child molesters).
Surprisingly, by portraying executives' lives as frought with anxiety, guilt, "senseless" work and no reliable means to measure their self worth, Jackall may cause an intelligent reader to actually feel sorry for them. Reading though his interviews with executives, there's little question that many executives began to regard him as a "Father Confessor" to admit their deeds.
At the same time, Jackall offers an alternative theory for why the American work ethic has all but vanished: if people are promoted based soley on their manipulative social skills, why would anyone want to subscribe to the old work ethic?
A Cynical Autopsy.......2001-02-23
Robert Jackall strings together a series of worse-case scenarios gleaned from a very limited control group of corporations. He skillfully manipulates language (e.g., calling loyalty to one's boss 'fealty') in order to deliver what he thinks is an indictment of bureaucracy. He does have some interesting things to say about the press, but this occurs near the end and comprises less than a page of material. Save your time. Read something worthwhile like Thomas Sowell's classic "A Conflict of Visions." Jackall's book is not worth the read.
Throughly depressing but an absolute must read.......1998-10-07
This book ought to be required reading for all MBA candidates and would be corporate middle managers as an intro into the sad and dysfunctional but real corporate world. In numerous scenes that will be instantly familiar to anyone who has worked at a Fortune 200 firm the book recounts numerous instances of failed and misdirected management. Depressing because it reveals the underbelly of corporate America and capitalism but readable in its accurate portrayal. Occasionally at times slow (particularly towards the end when he presumably is tired of writing) it does a clinical autopsy on management. Like watching a train wreck you are compelled to keep reading even as you realize the denouement. If you think that ignorance is bliss - give this a miss - on the other hand, if you are a frustrated idealist and need proof that in order for evil to overcome good, good only has to do nothing, it is worth the investment. An excellent primer on why we need ethics courses but more importantly ethical actions.
Book Description
Humanitarian consumers have been outraged to learn of the Gap's sweatshops, the young children who assemble Nike running shoes, and the deplorable demands put on agricultural workers by Starbucks Coffee. This book is a call to action to change business practices that hurt workers, children, animals, and the environment. Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, a phenomenally successful alternative corporation, believes that businesses can be both profitable and ethical. Her 1,700 stores in 47 countries sell environmentally friendly beauty products within a model of personal accountability and social responsibility. Inspiring consumers to think about what they buy and from whom they buy it, this book examines the issues driving globalization and the steps consumers can take to keep destructive elements in check. Contributors include the Dalai Lama, Peter Gabriel, Julia Butterfly Hill, Vandana Shiva, Paul Hawken, and Ralph Nader.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book to buy as a gift.......2005-07-22
There were so many great reviews for this book that echoed exactly how I felt about it, but I would like to add that I think that this book would make a great gift. It is a very simple to understand, straight forward book to buy for a friend or family member to heighten their awareness of all of these very important issues. I was so impressed that I watch it in my wish list and buy used copies for friends several times a year.
Wow.......2004-04-21
The title pretty much sums it up. This book was...superb and it doesn't sugarcoat, either. What shocked me most was the chart on page 70 of this book showing minimum wages in other countries (4 cents an hour in Burma!!!!) versus some figures of the head honchos of the corporate world (Walmart's Walton family, according to this, is worth 67.5 billion). It will definitely make you look at the brand names in a different way. I know for sure I will not buy anything from Victoria's secret anymore, nor will I set foot in Walmart anymore unless I'm absolutely desperate for something I don't think I can get anywhere else. So be smart, pick up this book, learn a thing or two, and fight this corporate crap. You'll be much happier you did.
Excellent info, but it doesn't deliver the "how-to.".......2003-02-01
A fascinating, well-made, beautifully-printed gem of a book! Stuffed with color photos, eye-catching graphics, and the kind of quotes and data that makes you think, "Ooh, I gotta paperclip this page!" I'd like to buy a copy for many other people, if I knew they'd read it.
Unfortunately, the only criticism I have is also fairly severe: the sub-title is "How to make conscious choices to change the world." Sorry to say, but the book never really goes very far into that aspect. There's meticulous detail on the nature and origins of globalization, social injustice, environmental crises, and human rights, but actual guidance to make a difference is fairly slim.
That's too bad, too, because the book excels in its ability to outrage the reader and convert you to the agreement that "this stuff really matters! It's more important than I thought!", and yet I find myself dissatisfied with the few suggested answers against the many overpowering wrongs. It's not "an action guide," but rather a fascinating and invaluable textbook.
We know what we have to do...but help !.......2002-05-30
Wonderful book.I strongly agree with the comments from one of the reader regarding information/media activism. We have to move from thinking and talking to real action. As a young activist, I would love to be coached ( like so many others ). We need a system where we could share, get support and empowerment. We learn by action not by information. Sometimes I feel kind of upset, because I feel that people that have the power, network and interest in global issue are doing this for their own ego. Bono from U2 is doing a good effort but why is he not spending his money to help young leaders ? We should invest in those people that will have a tremendous impact localy and abroad. Why not using technology to create a powerful leverage. A place where people like me could get support, coaching in my project ?
It was a great book to read, but I felt more discouraged than emporwered...
Empowerment Plus.......2002-05-23
Congratulations on your fabulous new book. It is a masterpiece!
I applaud this work, its connectedness and passion.
Most of all I admire its courage to say, so clearly, what needs to be said.
It's truth resonates with me.
I noticed with great interest that mentioned (page 140) was the gap between the military budget and the trickle that goes towards preventing wars.
As you probably know, globally, we spend $780 billion every year on the military.
`Transform the Military' suggest that we convert just 1/3 of that amount each year to fix the following problems.
*Eliminate Starvation and Malnutrition *Provide Shelter
*Provide Health Care and AIDS Control *Stabilise Population
*Prevent Soil Erosion *Eliminate Illiteracy
*Provide CleanWater *Clear Land mines
*Disarm Nuclear Weapons
*Address the Refugee Problem
*Support Democracy *Halt Deforestation
*Address Global Warming
*Prevent Acid Rain
*Ozone *Retire Developing Nations debt.
While ever we direct money towards the military we are saying that conflict resolution can only be achieved by military means and we all know that is not the case.
We wish to write war out of future history and we believe that `Transform the Military' is the way to make it reality. We are asking that capital, personnel and expertise as well as 1/3 of the budget be redirected towards human and environmental needs. Anita I am grateful for what you contribute to the world.
Well Done!!!
Yours in Peace
Faith Charity
Average customer rating:
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Organizational Dimensions of Global Change: No Limits to Cooperation (Human Dimensions of Global Change series)
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Organization Development and Change
ASIN: 076191529X
Release Date: 1999-04-29 |
Book Description
Organizational Dimensions of Global Change is the first book in a new series designed to facilitate, across discipline and national boundaries, an emergent dialogue around the issue of global change and cooperative potential. Written by an interdisciplinary group of leading scholars, the book explores how organizational scholarship and thinking can inform an understanding of global change issues and examines the potential of cooperation as a practice, an organizing accomplishment, and as a value for understanding issues of global change. It opens up conversations and research paths and addresses basic questions such as: What do we mean by global change research? What can organizational scholarship contribute to understanding the human dimensions of global change? If we were to offer a priority agenda for research and inquiry, what questions would we be asking and what kinds of research would have a high probability of making a large contribution to knowledge as well as a timely relevance for action? Topics discussed include global women leaders, corporations as agents of global change, international networking, the development of global environmental regimes, and collaborative knowledge creation. Organizational Dimensions of Global Change is an essential resource for students and scholars in the fields of organization and management science, policy studies, international relations and development studies, earth systems science, as well as the disciplines of sociology, economics, anthropology, political science, and psychology.
Book Description
We live in the age of speed. The world around us moves faster than ever before. We strain to be more efficient, to cram more into each minute, each hour, every day. Since the Industrial Revolution shifted the world into high gear, the cult of speed has taken complete hold and pushed us to breaking point. Consider these facts: Americans spend 40% less time with their children than they did in the 1960s; American on average spends 72 minutes of every day behind the wheel of a car; a typical business executive now loses 68 hours a year to being put on hold; and American adults currently devote on average a meager half hour per week to making love.
Living on the edge of exhaustion, we are constantly reminded by our bodies and minds that the pace of life is spinning out of control. In Praise of Slowness traces the history of our increasingly breathless relationship with time, and tackles the consequences and conundrum of living in this accelerated culture of our own creation. Why are we always in such a rush? What is the cure for time-sickness? Is it possible, or even desirable, to slow down? Realizing the price we pay for unrelenting speed, people all over the world are reclaiming their time and slowing down the pace - and living happier, more productive and healthier lives as a result. A slow revolution is taking place.
But here you will find no Luddite calls to overthrow technology and seek a pre-industrial utopia. This is a modern revolution, championed by cell phone using, emailing lovers of sanity. The slow philosophy can be summed up in a single word—balance. People are discovering energy and efficiency where you may have least expected — in slowing down.
In this engaging and entertaining exploration, award-winning journalist and rehabilitated speedaholic Carl Honoré details our perennial love affair with efficiency and speed in a perfect blend of anecdotal reportage, history and intellectual inquiry. In Praise of Slowness is the first comprehensive look at the worldwide slow movements making their way into the mainstream, in offices, factories, neighborhoods, kitchens, hospitals, concert halls, bedrooms, gyms and schools. Defining a movement whose time has finally come, this spirited manifesto will make you completely rethink your relationship with time.
Customer Reviews:
Great concepts....applicable and inspiring message........2007-10-10
Happened upon this guy's website thanks to a quote from this book off of a blog I frequent. Couldn't help but to buy this book out of curiosity. I am a multi-tasker, time-management freak, so I needed something to help me remember to slow down and take it easy. Great research/statistics in this book draw you in at the get-go. Applicable hints and tips on how to achieve a slower, more enjoyable, lifestyle keep you hooked till the end. The only thing I was weird about was the meditation/new age philosophies, but I looked past that for the parts I did agree with. Bravo.
Great if you want to jump off the treadmill - at least sometimes.......2007-02-17
This is an interesting and inspiring book, offering an alternative view to speed as king and faster, more, harder are always better. The author explores a variety of ways that people all over the world are slowing down and putting the emphasis on quality and savouring the experience - whether that be in terms of food, exercise, sex or work. Personally, I found a lot of the content just confirmed what I already thought and tried to put into practice myself, but it was still good to hear and there were some interesting ideas new to me. The style of writing is part investigative, part historical and part narrative. This makes for entertaining reading but sometimes it feels a little too light-weight. I got the impression that the author was overly concerned not to appear a mad convert to the slow way of life. Overall, though, this is a good book and well worth setting aside the time to relax and read in true slow style... especially if you are stressed out and (think you) don't have the time.
In Praise of Slowness:Challenging theCult of Speed.......2007-01-12
Living in Sweden, this book was given the highest standard of praise in my local newspaper. However, it was not what I had expected when I began to read it in English (my native language). Perhaps the translated version into Swedish was better than the original version. It was o.k., but not as good as the Swedish critic gave it honors for.
An Incredibly Insightful Book.......2006-08-31
I found that virtually EVERY paragraph in this book has something of tremendous value to say to those who seek realistic escape from the frantic, artificial, and so often mindless "fast-forward video" pace of modern life - whether it be a thought-provoking observation, a relevant quote, an incisive suggestion or a mind-expanding analysis of a particular topic - the author's words realistically speak to, and gently correct, the life-destroying freneticness so many of us habitually fall into.
But please, don't just quickly scan through this wonderful volume - slowly consider, absorb and mentally savor it's insights a little at a time, like you would leisurely enjoy a delicious meal. I think you'll find it well worth your time.
Carl Honore has truly written a gem here - one of the best books I've read in years.
Everyone should read this!!!.......2006-03-17
Picked this up at the airport and it hooked me right from the first page. I could not stop reading it. It rocks!!! The author pulls our go-faster culture apart with anecdotes, statistics and some really funny one-liners. I was seeing myself in the bad examples of roadrunner behavior, like eating standing up or trying to do too many things at once. The author does not preach, he just takes you on an invesitagation round the world where there can only be one conclusion: that slowing things down a little would be good for all of us. When I got home I bought copies for all my friends, especially the fastest ones. Everyone should read this book, before its too late. What are you waiting for?!?
Book Description
5L-5, Manning, Susan Schissler, Ethical Leadership in Human Services: A Multi-Dimensional Approach * / This book provides a multidimensional approach to ethical leadership in human services. Practical and theoretical perspectives integrated throughout the book help leaders consider the complexity of moral and ethical quandaries, rather than provide prescriptions or answers.
A framework for decision-making includes the necessary components for an ethical reasoning process. The book then turns to the theoretical and practical implications of building ethical organizations and discusses organizational culture, climate, and structure as concrete entities that can be shaped to enhance the ethical policies and practices of the organization.
For professional leaders, corporate managers, and students who wish to be leaders in human services.
Average customer rating:
|
Reinventing Accountability: Making Democracy Work for Human Development (International Political Economy)
Anne-Marie Goetz , and
Rob Jenkins
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1403906246
Release Date: 2005-03-24 |
Book Description
A deepening crisis in accountability in developing democracies has triggered much debate on accountability and the mechanisms needed for overcoming deficiencies of democracy. This book analyzes a wide variety of contemporary efforts to reform accountability systems in developing countries. It makes an original contribution to the debate by dealing with a variety of novel approaches to accountability and it combines these approaches in both a systematic and analytic fashion. The book also includes case study material on successful accountability initiatives.
Book Description
When Mahatma Gandhi died in 1948 by an assassin's bullet, the most potent legacy he left to the world was the technique of satyagraha (literally, holding on to the Truth). His "experiments with Truth" were far from complete at the time of his death, but he had developed a new technique for effecting social and political change through the constructive conduct of conflict: Gandhian satyagraha had become eminently more than "passive resistance" or "civil disobedience."
By relating what Gandhi said to what he did and by examining instances of satyagraha led by others, this book abstracts from the Indian experiments those essential elements that constitute the Gandhian technique. It explores, in terms familiar to the Western reader, its distinguishing characteristics and its far-reaching implications for social and political philosophy.
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful & moving presentation of Gandhi's philosophy.......2005-01-06
This book reviews and systematizes Gandhi's political philosophy, nevertheless recognizing that Gandhi's own method resists fixed assertions about it. It gives a brief overview of Gandhi's life, a much longer treatment of his political-philosophical beliefs, particularly his method of "satyagraha", and a series of case studies of satyagraha campaigns in India that serve to illustrate the concept.
I first read this 30 years ago while I was in graduate school, having picked it up languishing in a pile of remaindered books, and it has become a fixed star in my intellectual firmament -- that is, a point of view that I take into account when judging other points of view. Bondurant, Habermas, Kohlberg, a few others -- not bad company!
Book Description
Toxic leaders, both political, like Slobodan Milosevic, and corporate, like Enron's Ken Lay, have always been with us, and many books have been written to explain what makes them tick. Here leadership scholar Jean Lipman-Blumen explains what makes the followers tick, exploring why people will tolerate--and remain loyal to--leaders who are destructive to their organizations, their employees, or their nations. Why do we knowingly follow, seldom unseat, frequently prefer, and sometimes even create toxic leaders? Lipman-Blumen argues that these leaders appeal to our deepest needs, playing on our anxieties and fears, on our yearnings for security, high self-esteem, and significance, and on our desire for noble enterprises and immortality. She also explores how followers inadvertently keep themselves in line by a set of insidious control myths that they internalize. For example, the belief that the leader must necessarily be in a position to "know more" than the followers often stills their objections. In addition, outside forces--such as economic depressions, political upheavals, or a crisis in a company--can increase our anxiety and our longing for charismatic leaders. Lipman-Blumen shows how followers can learn critical lessons for the future and survive in the meantime. She discusses how to confront, reform, undermine, blow the whistle on, or oust a toxic leader. And she suggests how we can diminish our need for strong leaders, identify "reluctant leaders" among competent followers, and even nurture the leader within ourselves. Toxic leaders charm, manipulate, mistreat, weaken, and ultimately devastate their followers. The Allure of Toxic Leaders tells us how to recognize these leaders before it's too late.
Customer Reviews:
delves into how and why harmful leaders come to and keep power.......2007-01-03
The central question for Lipman-Blumen, professor of Public Policy and of Organizational Behavior at California Claremont Graduate U., and one of the founders of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Leadership, is "What are the forces that propel followers, again and again, to accept, often favor, and sometime create toxic leaders?" The question has many sides involving sociological, psychological, historical, political and also in varying measures pathological and irrational matters. The author delves into these varied areas with familiarity, depth, analytic abilities, and nimbleness. There is no simple answer to the question. Followers' self-esteem, the delusions of crowds, deceptiveness of a leader, historical circumstances, and the nature of and need for society play into the acceptance, toleration, and support of toxic leaders. There is also often an ambiguity to a leader making it difficult to see if he or she is toxic; and some leaders may become toxic over a period of time. Not all toxic leaders are as evident in their time or even historical hindsight as Hitler or Stalin and the other ogres of history. Lipman-Blumen's purview of toxic leaders extends to Jeffrey Skilling of Enron notoriety and other top corporate executives of recent years whose harmful wrongdoings have been uncovered. While she regularly refers to certifiably toxic or questionable leaders in varied fields as examples, Lipman-Blumen engages only minimally in psychoanalysis of them. Her concentration is on the broader circumstances and patterns of how toxic leaders come to power in the first place and how they are able to stay in power even when their harmful behavior and policies become known. The author also pays much attention to the role of much of respective populations and key supporters in this. But the author also provides answers on how to counter toxic leaders in this timely, needed work.
Another Essential Book on Leadership by Lipman-Blumen.......2006-09-29
Not content with having revolutionized how we think about leadership with "Hot Groups" and "Connective Leadership," Lipman-Blumen has now set her sights on why "toxic leaders" can be so successful and why they can be so hard to remove. Almost all of us can relate to these leaders, ones whose toxicity is unquestioned even as their hold on their followers is intense. Often, their followers can even seem nostalgic when these leaders are finally chased out. Certainly this book is as timely as it is insightful. Read this one and her two other books.
Highly Recommended!.......2005-06-15
This intriguing, intellectual study of disastrous leadership offers a courageous interpretation of corporate scandal and political folly. Amoral leaders are not entirely to blame, Jean Lipman-Blumen argues. Rather, followers enable misguided leaders to rise to power and stay there. Her analysis applies psychological principles to Adolf Hitler's Germany and Jeff Skilling's Enron (not exactly parallel, but you get the idea) and concludes that toxic leaders' followers are willing victims who allowed misguided bosses to appeal to their basest instincts. While Lipman-Blumen's assertions are startling, she makes a compelling case written in dense but readable prose with intriguing detail. We suggest this book to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the relationship between leaders and their followers, particularly given the swath cut by today's toxic leaders.
HOW TOXIC LEADERS GAIN AND KEEP POWER, BUT CAN BE CHECKED........2005-04-19
Toxic leaders leave their followers worse off than they found them. A few of the many other ways toxic leaders act are they: violate basic standards of human rights; feed followers illusions; stifle criticism; maliciously set constituents against one another. The book shows how these leaders win people over by playing on their fears and self-esteem, only to ultimately use their power against their own followers. The book explores, in depth, how people are drawn into accepting, even embracing toxic leaders, and how these leaders retain power. This is an enlightening probe into the psyche of people and how their culture, situation, deepest fears, and dysfunctional personalities, make them vulnerable to toxic leaders. The book also explores ways of dealing with these leaders: counsel them to change; undermine them; join with others to confront or overthrow them. The book closes with a chapter on how to be freed of toxic leaders, by facing up to our anxiety and the accompanying pain, as well as by bringing nontoxic leaders to the fore. The author's insights apply to leaders of all kinds, political and business. This brief review does no justice to the breadth and depth of this work.To read this book is to help become aware of, and armed against, toxic leaders of all types. Required reading for all who yearn and strive to live free of domineering, destructive leaders. Our highest recommendation.
meandering.......2005-02-07
I found this book disappointing. The author meanders telling anecdotes about various nasty leaders, but can't seem to get on with an organised discussion of the book's supposed theme:
why do people follow these crooks?
Books:
- Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media
- Case Studies in Information Technology Ethics (2nd Edition)
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- Contemporary Auditing: Real Issues and Cases
- Eco-Imperialism: Green Power, Black Death
- Ethical Theory and Business, Seventh Edition
- Ethical Theory and Business, Seventh Edition
- Ethics: An Introduction to Philosophy and Practice
- Ethics in Counseling and Psychotherapy: Standards, Research, and Emerging Issues
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