Book Description
Created by bestselling author and MIT senior lecturer Peter Senge and a team of educators and organizational change leaders, this new addition to the
Fifth Discipline Resource Book series offers practical advice for educators, administrators, and parents on how to strengthen and rebuild our schools.
Few would argue that schools today are in trouble. The problems are sparking a national debate as educators, school boards, administrators, and parents search for ways to strengthen our school system at all levels, more effectively respond to the rapidly changing world around us, and better educate our children.
Bestselling author Peter Senge and his Fifth Discipline team have written
Schools That Learn because educatorsâwho have made up a sizable percentage of the audience for the popular Fifth Discipline booksâhave asked for a book that focuses specifically on schools and education, to help reclaim schools even in economically depressed or turbulent districts. One of the great strengths of
Schools That Learn is its description of practices that are meeting success across the country and around the world, as schools attempt to learn, grow, and reinvent themselves using the principles of organizational learning. Featuring articles, case studies, and anecdotes from prominent educators such as Howard Gardner, Jay Forrester, and 1999 U.S. Superintendent of the Year Gerry House, as well as from impassioned teachers, administrators, parents, and students, the book offers a wealth of practical tools, anecdotes, and advice that people can use to help schools (and the classrooms in them and communities around them) learn to learn.
You'll read about schools, for instance, where principals introduce themselves to parents new to the school as "entering a nine-year conversation" about their children's education; where teachers use computer modeling to galvanize student insight into everything from Romeo and Juliet to the extinction of the mammoths; and where teachers' training is not just bureaucratic ritual but an opportunity to recharge and rethink the classroom.
In a fast-changing world where school violence is a growing concern, where standardized tests are applied as simplistic "quick fixes," where rapid advances in science and technology threaten to outpace schools' effectiveness, where the average tenure of a school district superintendent is less than three years, and where students, parents, and teachers feel weighed down by increasing pressures,
Schools That Learn offers much-needed material for the dialogue about the educating of children in the twenty-first century.
Customer Reviews:
Schools should all be learning organizations.......2004-08-07
Senge became famous for his book on learning organizations. In this book, he and his co-authors apply those concepts and ideas specifically to educational institutions. While much of their focus is on K12, the ideas and process are applicable to higher education as well. So many management books are really fads with superficial value, but Senge's books are very practical and valuable. This book in particular demonstrates a great deal of passion on the part of the author's for their topic.
Length appeared overwhelming--but well worth it.......2004-03-14
Having been given the instructions to select a book of vision for a reading group in a graduate class, I didn't expect to choose one of over 500 pages. The length, however, is indicative of the power this book has for changing minds about schools and the way to structure them for learning. I found myself often reading passages aloud to other educators and anyone who would listen. Instead of stifling my curiosity, the book inspired me to dig deeper on the five disciplines. A great book for creating a vision of education that includes schools where students are learning. I may purchase another one to loan out!
A great resource book for educators.......2001-08-31
This is an essential book for anyone interested in education. Its comprehensive coverage gives much background, even at the risk of being distracting when you want to follow-up on the leads to so many interesting source-books and links. Though you are told to dip in anywhere, you must read the first section, esp. "The Industrial Age System of Education" by Senge and "A Primer to the Five Disciplines" (Personal Mastery, Mental Models, Shared Vision, Team Learning and Systems Thinking) (pp. 27-93).
The authors consider this book a "prequel" to their other books about learning organizations (p.7). That's true. Though this is the most recent book, you can start with this one and go on to the others for further depth. Some repetitions may only serve well for mastery.
The whole book is very readable and informative. Concepts are clearly explained. It follows the same excellent editing format as The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook and The Dance of Change.
When you get too enthused by so many ideas and success stories of innovations, heed the advice for "The Strategy of Organizational Change". "Focus on one or two new priorities for change, not twelve. Most school systems are already overwhelmed with change. They don't need a new initiative; they need an approach that consolidates existing initiatives, eliminates "turf battles," and makes it easier for people to work together toward common ends." (p.25)
There are just too many passages that you wish to quote. The book is a treasure mine. However, for those (esp. busy administrators) who find the volume too daunting or verbose (592 pages!) and still want to get a handle on launching into transforming their schools into learning organisations, I would recommend, "Ten Steps to a Learning Organization" and start with the simple questionnaire given there.
Well Researched Current Education for all Student's Success.......2001-03-13
If you are an educator, parent or administrator, this handbook will enable you to obtain the crucial, leading edge knowledge in learning styles, multiple intelligences, personal neuro-physiology that enables one to "know thyself." Self-esteem and self-awareness, cognitive learning, including the necessary skills to make one prepared for "life at 21 years old," are also main considerations when teaching students to capitalize on their individual strenghts and wisdom.
Schools that Learn also emphasizes the importance of mastery, synergizing curricula presented, and authentic assessment vs. basing students knowledge purely on standardized test-taking.
This helpful manual is extremely important for educators, administrators, and parents, to read as it combines the aforementioned information and applies it to "building strengths that will be useful in career decision making."
Finally,Schools that Learn emphasizes the importance of keeping a "spirit-filled" outlook while learning, the extreme helpfulness of a mastermind group, accelerated and lifelong education, and of course giving back what you have learned to the community. This "cause and effect" is often forgotten in busy professtional lives, but truly ensures success for those who "get it."
Helps Design the School of the Future.......2000-11-03
SCHOOLS THAT LEARN is both a visionary and practical guide for how schools must evolve to meet the needs of students in the next 20 years. The use of multiple authors and perspectives mirrors some of the changes our schools must make to meet the needs of a new age. As Professional Development Director at a diverse Jesuit high school in San Francisco, I recommend this book to any educator, K-college. Senge's work will help prepare students for an era requiring a strong traditional academic foundation coupled with the need for creativity, and the social, emotional, and intellectual skills to work in high performing teams needed to rebuild our world.
Book Description
Evolutionary algorithms are relatively new, but very powerful techniques used to find solutions to many real-world search and optimization problems. Many of these problems have multiple objectives, which leads to the need to obtain a set of optimal solutions, known as effective solutions. It has been found that using evolutionary algorithms is a highly effective way of finding multiple effective solutions in a single simulation run.
· Comprehensive coverage of this growing area of research
· Carefully introduces each algorithm with examples and in-depth discussion
· Includes many applications to real-world problems, including engineering design and scheduling
· Includes discussion of advanced topics and future research
· Can be used as a course text or for self-study
· Accessible to those with limited knowledge of classical multi-objective optimization and evolutionary algorithms
The integrated presentation of theory, algorithms and examples will benefit those working and researching in the areas of optimization, optimal design and evolutionary computing. This text provides an excellent introduction to the use of evolutionary algorithms in multi-objective optimization, allowing use as a graduate course text or for self-study.
Customer Reviews:
Great Book.......2007-02-26
I highly recommend this book, it covers all the important subjects. A great acquisition!
Great book; a must for engineers and scientists alike.......2001-09-28
Kalyanmoy Deb has put together a great summary of the state of affairs in multiobjective genetic algorithms. Should you be an engineer or a scientist involved in the optimization of any design of sizeable complexity, you should read this book and become familiar with the techniques that have evolved over the last decade into powerful methods of optimization. This book is in many many ways bridging the gap from Michalewicz's and Fogel's book ("How to solve it") to the more modern era of this field (eg late nineties up to now...). So whereas those two authors never really considered multiobjective genetic algorithms, Deb plows through with the great expertize of a (perhaps even "the") leading researcher in that domain. This is a great book of _receipes_ with the level of details necessary to make use of them. It's a "how to" book; this is the one you have cracked open on your desk while you're hard coding it all up. However, it's not very well written with the prose being very terse and basically quite unengaging. But so what! In some sense yes perhaps, but Michalewicz and Fogel made a point that one can write technical litterature that one can also read. Perhaps they went overboard... in any case, Deb's book is about algorithms so who cares about whether the book puts you to sleep and it can do that, unfortunately. Apart from the unengaging style and the paucity of depth in the examples scope, the real problem with the book is not with the book itself, it's with the field of multiobjective optimization based on evolutionary methods. It's fairly evident that there is not much of any sort of fundamental understanding available at this time in support of why evolutionary techniques do work well, and they do, sometimes... If this understanding is available, you won't find it in Deb's book. If you are like me though, you won't care all that much really so long as the techniques are efficient and presented in a way that make them useable, and that's done right... But on the whole, it's a little unsatisfying because one's left with a panoply of various techniques and ways to define operators and representations but there is no insight given on which one might be best or how to craft them to particular situations. There is a lot of so-'n-so in reference this and that did it like this and it seems to work well there, however... The reason for this state of affairs is, of course, that nobody has a real clue, yet... But that is _not_ Deb's fault and this is not why, as a user, I'm not rating his book a full 5 stars. In some sense it could be rated as high as that but I thought the presentation was rather unengaging and not with all the breath and depth it could have had. So it's a 4.5 stars perhaps... let's say... but Amazon does not let me select 4.5 stars so it's 4, this edition at least...
The Reference in Evolutionary Multiobjective Optimization.......2001-07-23
This is the first complete and updated text on Multi-objective Evolutionary Algorithms (MOEAs), covering all major areas clearly, thoughtfully and thoroughly. Thanks to the development of evolutionary computation MOEAs are now a well established technique for multi-objective optimization that finds multiple effective solutions in a single run. The widely interdisciplinary interest of engineers, scientists and mathematicians towards MOEAs has been evident during the first international conference on this topic (EMO2001,Zurich). The book is extremely useful for researchers working on multi-objective optimization in all branches of engineering and sciences, that will find a complete description of all available methodologies, starting from a detailed description and criticism of classical methods, towards a deep treating of the most advanced evolutionary techniques. Moreover several analytical test cases are given, covering all difficulties a MOEA encounters when converging towards the Pareto Optimal front. This set of test problems, together with several performance measurement parameters are essential when testing a new strategy before its application to a real-world problem. Despite the detail in advanced topics, Deb's book may be also used as a reference-book for a post-graduate course thanks to the scholarly coverage of basic arguments. As a final remark I strongly suggest everyone working on evolutionary computation and optimization to keep this book on the desk.
Customer Reviews:
Straight forward and easy to read.......2006-03-13
This is a good read for anyone thinking about employing metrics for software projects. I have read several books and articles on metrics, software and program managment, in the last 6 months and this one of the few which was worth reading. Text is easy to read and the message and methods are presented in a straight forward manner. No, you will not find any amazing breakthoughs in software project managment in this book. What you will find is a good foundation for adding metrics which add value to software program management.
The Standard for Software Measurement Programs.......2002-05-27
I would rate this book ****** if it were possible. If you are looking for material on how to start a "software metrics program", look no further. This is the ultimate reference on software measurement initiatives. The PSM method is compatible with the CMMI (Measurement & Analysis Process Area) and the foundation for the ISO/IEC 15939 standard. All of the authors are recognized authorities in software measurement and process improvement. Dr. Barry Boehm (COCOMO author) has written the foreword. The PSM process is sponsored by the DoD and the U.S. Army. The book itself is comprehensive, well-written, and easy to read. It provides ready-to-use templates such as "Measurement Construct Template", "Project Measurement Plan Outline", and "Data Verification Checklist". Chapter outline:
1 - Measurement: Key Concepts and Practices
2 - Measurement Information Model
3 - Plan Measurement
4 - Perform Measurement
5 - Analysis Techniques
6 - Evaluate Measurement
7 - Establish and Sustain Commitment
8 - Measure for Success
Appendix A - Measurement Construct Examples
Appendix B - Information System Case Study
Appendix C - Synergy Integrated Copier Case Study
Note: Appendix A provides 14 detailed, complete examples of measurement constructs ("metrics"). Appendixes B and C provide 2 comprehensive case studies (approximately 60 pages).
It would require at least a 2-day workshop to address all the information provided by this book (probably at 10 times its price). You can't afford to miss it if you are more than casually interested in software measurement. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Off-the-shelf processes for CMMM level 3 and above orgs.......2002-03-21
There is a wealth of material available from the PSM site, including the PSM Insight application and PSM Guidebook. However this book is not redundant because it is structured as a clearly written introduction to practical software measurement, that includes excellent guidance for implementing it into your organization. In addition, the 304 pages that comprise this book manages to convey the information contained in the existing PSM documentation, and does so much more succinctly.
I found the most valuable parts of this book to be the clearly described measurement model, and the way the authors distinguish between data that is useful to projects and organizational data collection and analysis. This material places PSM in context and is a sound starting point for an organizational SQA initiative.
The case studies reinforces the mechanics of PSM, and also contain advice and pointers for implementing enterprise-wide measurement. Although I've been following the PSM initiative almost since its inception and have read all of the copious materials available, I still gained much from this book. If you're establishing an SQA function or striving for CMM level 4 or above you'll find this book invaluable. The URLs provided will lead to even more material, including a free Windows-based software tool that fully supports the practical software measurement process.
Book Description
* Shorter, more concise chapters provide flexible coverage of the subject.
* Expanded coverage includes: uncertainty and randomness, prior distributions, predictivism, estimation, analysis of variance, and classification and imaging.
* Includes topics not covered in other books, such as the de Finetti Transform.
* Author S. James Press is the modern guru of Bayesian statistics.
Book Description
Every company has a personality. Does yours help or hinder your results? Does it make you fit for growth? Find out by taking the quiz that’s helped 50,000 people better understand their organizations at OrgDNA.com and to learn more about Organizational DNA.
Just as you can understand an individual’s personality, so too can you understand a company’s type—what makes it tick, what’s good and bad about it. Results explains why some organizations bob and weave and roll with the punches to consistently deliver on commitments and produce great results, while others can’t leave their corner of the ring without tripping on their own shoelaces. Gary Neilson and Bruce Pasternack help you identify which of the seven company types you work for—and how to keep what’s good and fix what’s wrong. You’ll feel the shock of recognition (“That’s me, that’s my company”) as you find out whether your organization is:
• Passive-Aggressive (“everyone agrees, smiles, and nods, but nothing changes”): entrenched underground resistance makes getting anything done like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall
• Fits-and-Starts (“let 1,000 flowers bloom”): filled with smart people pulling in different directions
• Outgrown (“the good old days meet a brave new world”): reacts slowly to market developments, since it’s too hard to run new ideas up the flagpole
• Overmanaged (“we’re from corporate and we’re here to help”): more reporting than working, as managers check on their subordinates’ work so they can in turn report to their bosses
• Just-in-Time (“succeeding, but by the skin of our teeth”): can turn on a dime and create real breakthroughs but also tends to burn out its best and brightest
• Military Precision (“flying in formation”): executes brilliant strategies but usually does not deal well with events not in the playbook
• Resilient (“as good as it gets”): flexible, forward-looking, and fun; bounces back when it hits a bump in the road and never, ever rests on its laurels
For anyone who’s ever said, “Wow, that’s a great idea, but it’ll never happen here” or “Whew, we pulled it off again, but I’m tired of all this sprinting,” Results provides robust, practical ideas for becoming and remaining a resilient business.
Also available as an eBook
Customer Reviews:
Results: Keep what's good, fix what is wrong, and unlock great performance.......2007-05-14
A very reader friendly, handy and excellent reference book. A must have for future middle level managers and leaders
Well-Done!.......2006-03-18
Obviously, all human effort produces results, including no change of the status quo. What Neilson and Pasternack are talking about are efforts which sustain what is both effective and efficient, repair or eliminate what isn't, and thereby result in ("unlock") great performance. They identify four separate but interdependent "building blocks" (decision rights, information, motivators, and structure) on which to establish a program to achieve whatever the desirable results may be. Perhaps to manage growth. Perhaps to rightsize. Perhaps to introduce a new product or service and/or to penetrate a new market.
In Chapters One through Nine, they examine several different types of organizations:
Passive-Aggressive: "Everyone Agrees But Nothing Changes"
Fits-and-Starts: "Let 1,000 Flowers Bloom"
Outgrown: "The Good Old Days Meet a Brave New World"
Overmanaged: "We're from Corporate and We're Here to Help"
Just-in-Time: "Succeeding by the Skin of Our Teeth"
Military Precision: "Flying in Formation"
Each of the first six types has specific characteristics, most (if not all) of which are perversions of what would otherwise be desirable. For example, most executives would agree that an organization's operations should be disciplined, consistent, and lean; also, that there should be a well-defined chain of command. However, in a Military Precision organization, there can be serious problems which result from "command and control" management which discourages (if not punishes) principled dissent and individual initiative. Almost everyone involved awaits "orders" to be followed without question or hesitation. As I read Chapter Eight in which Neilson and Pasternack discuss the Military Precision organization, it struck me that it could run off independent thinkers and develop within those who remain a passive-aggressive attitude which results in subversive behavior. However, there are at least some organizations on which the appropriate emphasis should be on everyone knowing his or her role and implements it diligently, producing fluid and consistent execution of its policies and procedures.
As Neilson and Pasternack suggest, "7-Eleven exemplifies the Military Precision organization because it is top-down with a twist. It takes its direction from above, but its intelligence lies in the field...and it recognizes that. it's an organization bent on providing a consistent, quality customer experience to the thousands, often millions, that pass through its doors every day."
As for the Resilient organization, which Neilson and Pasternack describe as the "healthiest" of all, it also has several organizational traits which include entertaining the inconceivable ("seeing" what isn't yet...but could be); building a culture of commitment and accountability; "moving the goal post...every three years" at least; at all times and in every way demonstrating the "courage of its convictions"; recovering from adversity and then moving on; thinking horizontally (i.e. rather than in terms of hierarchies); Self-correcting (i.e. having mechanisms which identify small problems before they become major crises; listening to complainers to identify patterns and trends of dissatisfaction enterprise-wide; linking motivators to what is most important; and realizing any "success" is transient ("a little paranoia is good for you"). I presume to add one point: Today's Resilient organization can very quickly become one of the other seven. That is to say, each of the ten positive traits which Neilson and Pasternack identify, if taken to an extreme, defining characteristics of an "unhealthy" organization.
According to Neilson and Pasternack, the symptoms of a Passive Aggressive organization include smiles which conceal dissent, "shopping for decisions" (i.e. seeking until finding decisions preferable to those of one's supervisors); hoarding of resources which creates a "Bermuda Triangle" of information flow; "mixed message motivators" which create confusion and dissonance; and widespread use of the CYO strategy in anticipation of unfavorable consequences. These symptoms obviously suggest often deeply submerged feelings of dissatisfaction and perhaps even hostility.
What makes this volume so informative, indeed valuable is the fact that Neilson and Pasternack identify all manner of causes of dysfunctional organizations, suggest how those causes can be avoided or eliminated, and then explain what a "healthy" organization is but also how to establish and then sustain one. It occurs to me that most organizations proceed through phases during any one of which they exemplify one of the seven types. Therefore, some of the attributes of one type (e.g. Passive-Aggressive) should be replaced by some of those of another (e.g. Military Precision). It remains for decision-makers to understand which of the seven types best describes their organization and then, guided and informed by what Neilson and Pasternack provide in this volume, make whatever corrective or preventive adjustments may be necessary.
To Neilson and Pasternack, I now offer "Well-done!"
Finally, a diagnostic tool for the rest of us.......2006-02-27
The authors present extensive research on companies that consistently deliver results and those that do not. Their proposal is that the differentiator is a proper meshing of the following four building blocks:
* Decision rights: underlying rules about why and by whom decisions are truly made
* Motivators: incentives, career alternatives, corporate culture and values, and other elements that drive peoples' behavior.
* Information: performance metrics, and processes to coordinate activities and transfer knowledge.
* Structure: overall organization model, including, but not limited to, the "lines and boxes" of the organization chart.
The authors proceeded to investigate, in a very large number of companies, how the above four building blocks fit together, or fail to. Looking at their research results, the authors found out that the data tended to gather around seven organizational "syndromes" four unhealthy, two healthy, and one ideal, as follows:
The Passive-Aggressive Organization: Building consensus in such companies is easy, but execution is next to impossible. That's because people agree to things, but as soon as the meeting is over, begin to sabotage the implementation. Passive-aggressive companies are full of people looking like they support some initiative but in reality are - actively or passively - doing their best to guarantee it never gets done. The authors confess that this is the most difficult type of organization to fix. People are unable to take decisive action, because what looks like acquiescence is actually resistance in disguise. And when decisions are made they're almost certain to be vetoed or ignored. The solution begins when decision rights are placed with those best able and positioned to effect positive outcomes. But you can't stop there: a solution must make sure those people who are going to make the decisions 1) have timely access to good information and 2) are accountable, appraised and rewarded for making decisions that lead to successful execution. Finally senior management must streamline the decision process, removing obstacles and naming process owners to shepherd execution.
The Fits and Starts Organization: These attract intellect, initiative, and entrepreneurship, and these very special people, if they're highly self-motivated, will make great things happen, provided there's 1) a solid value system among the troops, and 2) senior management provides essential direction and redirects potential collisions/redundancies. Otherwise, the marketplace receives conflicting messages from their spasmodic behavior, and as result consistently undervalues these companies. What's going on? A Fits and Starts organization clearly shines in the Talents department, but lacks the management skills to effectively harness all this creative energy. Under pressure, they just work harder, thus bringing out even more their coordination shortcomings. Too many people are empowered to make decisions, often with little or no information beyond the data generated by that decision maker's immediate group. You can guess the rest: compensation schemes vary all over the place. Weak performance appraisals invariably lead to rewards largely unrelated to the company's strategic direction (if in fact there is one). Soon, people start updating their résumés. The best quit first. And the Fits and Starts company loses its chief competitive advantage: its people.
The Outgrown Organization: Outgrown organizations are exactly that - they're bursting at the seams because their management model was designed for a much smaller company. It may now be too large and complex to be run effectively by a small team of executives at headquarters. It reacts slowly to market developments. When it does, it's reactive and/or too late. Information pertinent to decision-making is placed as far as possible from those invested with the power of deciding, ie, it languishes in those units closest to the customer. People talk wistfully about the "good old days" when all one had to do before making a decision was shout across the hall or make a couple of quick phone calls. People close to the customer design intricate ways to circumnavigate headquarters. Ultimately, there are more exceptions than rules. Solutions must retain the benefits of scale while pushing decision-making out towards the client. Identify those who make a difference and reward them accordingly, keeping in mind that the best have probably already left. Because these companies have warm, powerful cultures, recharging people's batteries may be just a matter of broadcasting that the changes they've yearned for have finally come to pass.
The Over-managed Organization: These illustrate all the bad traits of the traditional Command and Control organization. Because the higher-ups spend most of their time checking on the information they receive, action is slow, misdirected, or non-existent. Over-managed organizations share a top-down decision system with Outgrown organizations, but their midsections are much fatter. In fact, wading through the middle ranks to get anything done can be a major task. Meetings generally take place in auditoriums because conference rooms are never big enough to contain all those involved. There, those who make presentations prepare much bigger backup presentations ("just in case they ask") that never get presented. The authors report that those inside Over-managed companies have the bleakest outlook and the most negative attitudes of all people surveyed. No wonder: there is no consistency to rewards and promotions, ownership and accountability are unclear, and the people with initiative have no permission to exert it. Senior management has no reliable information, and line managers have no idea how their division, let alone the total company, is doing. Summarily lopping off middle management is hardly ever a solution, because all those lines and boxes are a symptom rather than the cause. Rather, over-managed companies must single out key processes, find out who needs to make what decisions and when, design a new organization around them, make sure the proper information reaches them in time, and finally design and implement a new reward system that clearly reflects the new priorities.
The Just-in-Time Organization: These have a strong sense of mission, contain significant numbers of very talented people, and are able to change direction quickly in response to market trends, although seldom as a result of proactive measures to anticipate such changes. They are excellent places to learn, and foster an atmosphere of discovery, even of breakthrough. But, unless tight structures and consistent processes are in place, they can often be one-hit players rather than a reliable source of competitive advantage. These are companies that deliver results, but just barely. They may not be very good at nurturing long-term relationships with key clients. Also, they're seldom scalable. Their internal "heroes" are always people who snatched success from the jaws of defeat, just seconds before the Game Over bell rang. Yet right after one more such celebration they wonder how many times it was done in the past, and why nobody back then bothered to document that earlier victory so all this adrenalin would not be wasted again. Outsiders always get the impression that people are moving a little faster than they should be. But the human body is not designed to sprint a marathon, so Just in Time organizations are famous sources of management burnout. The solution is complicated by the fact that people in such organizations abhor greater emphasis on process and structure as initiatives that will render it "boring". All solutions must therefore slowly but deliberately take apart the "cowboy who shoots from the hip" mentality. Unfortunately, it may only come about after some high-profile executive burns out.
The Military-Precision Organization: Like flying in formation, everyone knows his/her role in a Military-Precision organization. It is disciplined and enormously coordinated. It is hierarchical and can process large volumes of similar transactions. They are run like good sports teams, drilling standard plays over and over until they become instinctual. While it brilliantly executes all activities that were carefully planned for, the same cannot be said for its ability to deal with the unexpected. Because future leaders must be groomed, not just drilled, their biggest challenge is finding and preparing the next generation of leadership. They can also get so wrapped up with continuous improvement of their internal processes that they fail to read - y compris between the lines - the information that flows into headquarters from the front lines. And because they typically don't deal well with the unexpected, this mistake can keep them ignorant of major but subtle changes in the marketplace until it's too late.
The Resilient Organization: Resilient organizations seem to have it all - their results are brilliant, their brands are respected, and they attract the best people. Everyone knows his/her priorities, and that the reward systems in place are closely tied to those priorities. Thus, if someone works 50% harder than his peer next door, he knows he's going to get paid a 50% bigger bonus. Yet Resilient companies hate media exposure, never rest on their laurels, are constantly scanning the horizon for change, and are ready to reinvent themselves every Monday morning. Resilience is not an end state, but rather a continuous journey. All Resilient companies have a "Secret Sauce", that changes from one company to the next, but that consistently includes the following four ingredients 1) an effective BS filter that separates fads from actual trends, 2) strong links to clients and customers (witness FedEx's Customer Summit), 3) a self-correcting mechanism that soaks up information about those market trends and turns them into effective internal redesign, and 4) an attitude of sincerity and frankness, sometimes brutally so, with all constituencies. On this last point, survey respondents mention the ability of top management to bring bad news across to employees, and take corrective measures swiftly. They know that complacency retains the mediocre and drives away the truly talented.
There is a website also http://www.orgdna.com where, by answering a simple questionnaire (19 questions, estimated total time 5 minutes) in one of 12 languages, you can submit your own organization to a test and find out which type it is. Some of you will gain some real insights about why some things are not working in your companies, and hopefully have the power or the influence to do something about it.
Most people will not be surprised to learn that 54% of questionnaire respondents work for unhealthy organizations (either Passive-Aggressive, Fits and Starts, Outgrown, or Overmanaged). Passive-Aggressive alone answers for 27% of questionnaires! Those 17% who work for Resilient organizations report that the experience is "fulfilling", and that returns are "higher than" their peers in the industry. The two other healthy profiles (Military Precision and Just in Time) account for another 14% of respondents. The 15% balance of survey respondents was judged "inconclusive" by the authors. Finally, the authors ranked responses by company annual sales, and, not surprisingly, find that very large companies (above US$ 10 billion in annual sales) can be extremely unhealthy, and are very difficult to run in a results-oriented fashion.
Succumbing to the instant gratification of being able to read the book a couple of minutes after buying it on amazon.com, I chose the e-book alternative, and, after some fiddling with the Adobe settings and my own sitting position, found that it was a very convenient way to read.
Results is not the silver bullet that the title suggests, but is a simple (sometimes too simple) diagnostic tool for ailing organizations. The cases and examples (and quite often the actual company name is mentioned) are excellent, and inserted at the right moment. I particularly liked the one about 7-Eleven, originally a Fits and Starts, Outgrew that model, filed for bankruptcy protection, reorganized as Military Precision, and is today on its way to becoming Resilient. The irony is that this last step has involved collapsing eleven management layers into seven, and that includes the CEO and the store managers!
All seven "syndromes" are beautifully described, although I would have preferred to see a more thorough treatment of Passive-Aggressive, exactly the one the authors contend is the most difficult of them all. The Resilient is beautifully covered, which is excellent, as it gives the rest of us - who don't work for a Resilient company - something to strive for.
If you're an executive and like to keep a dozen management books in the office that you can reference quickly, this should definitely be one of them. Also, this is an excellent book for coaches to recommend to clients who are at a loss for a diagnostic tool for their organizations' inability to consistently deliver results. Finally, those who, having read Execution (Gary Bossidy and Ram Charam), and afterwards felt that there was something missing, may find that something in this book.
Excellent reading.......2006-01-20
I found this book very interesting, full of practical examples and in general very illustrative
Anatomy of Change for High-Performance Organizations.......2006-01-06
I wasn't going to review this book, because I have a connection to it. I am the editor-in-chief of strategy+business (http://www.strategy-business.com), where an adaptation of part of Results appeared. But the first review, while complimentary, seems to have its own axe to grind, and someone should put Results in perspective.
This is a book about leverage for changing organizations into a high-performance, employee-energizing, model. There are a lot of books on that subject, but Results is distinguished by three things. First, it's theoretically rich. Drawing on both economic organizational theory and the authors' own extensive global surveys (still going on at www.orgdna.com), it has a coherent theory of the "building blocks" that leaders can either design effectively or not. These levers include decision rights, information flows, incentives, and other practices that are usually tackled piecemeal. Results shows how to put them together.
Second, Results is distinguished by the way it labels organizations. The link between the combinations of "building blocks" and the perceived personalities (resilient, passive-aggressive, military, and so on) is remarkably consistent, and it helps people see the nature of the organizations they work for - and the reasons why they got that way.
Third, Results is distinguished by its writing style. It's accessible, but not glib. The examples are substantial, and worthy of attention, like Caterpillar, whose story represents one of the most genuine transformation stories I know of -- from a company on the point of stagnation to an extremely successful high-performance global enterprise.
I spend a lot of time trying to make sense of the entity called "organizations," which are so influential - and so difficult to influence. I find myself continually returning in my mind to the stories and the building blocks of Results. It's a very pragmatic book, targeted directly at people who want to make useful change in organzations and not waste their time. It's deceptively simple on that level, but it's not superficial at all. It's not the only book a change-oriented manager might read -- there's a lot of organizational learning material that would represent a good complement to it -- but it has at its heart one of the critical things that an organizational leader needs to know: The way the tangible policies and practices of a company or enterprise shape the human culture of that company or enterprise, and the aspirations and sensibilities of the people inside it.
Book Description
The Big Picture is an integrated framework designed to help marketing students analyze and solve the myriad marketing problems that they will face during their careers. It emphasizes the dynamic nature of marketing by presenting key topics as a set of interrelated modules as opposed to separate chapters representing independent topics. Beginning with the high level strategic topic of business objective, it identifies areas where a person must prioritize and make dey decisions, then highlights how those decisions affect other elements of the framework. The continuous referencing of the framework and numerous illustrations of key concepts using the case analysis format encourages students to actively utilize the framework for solving marketing problems. In doing so, they internalize the approach to efficiently assess cases. The text consists of thirteen modules that move from higher level strategic topics such as business objective and marketing objective, through STP, and finally to the issue of how to integrate executional elements of product, price, distribution, and promotion with strategy.
Customer Reviews:
Big Picture - Big Impact.......2007-09-21
After 25 years in the marketing profession as both a practioner and educator, I have completely changed my view of how marketing is done because of the Big Picture. The Big Picture framework will challenge the traditional Kotler school of marketing management and become the dominant approach to marketing. We use it now as our standard framework across all of our various marketing teams.
What makes the Big Picture so appealing? The framework makes you determine strategy much earlier in the marketing planning process than traditional approaches. It links strategy better to core competencies, and it links strategy better to the tactical four P's of marketing than traditional approaches.
On the surface, the Big Picture looks like other marketing management processes that you find in any marketing text. It has the familiar concepts: segmentation, targeting, and positiong; the 4P's, branding, customer lifetime value...it's all there. It's not until you dig deeply into the book that you begin to appreciate the richness of how things are put together. You begin to realize that "something is different here" as you begin using the framework and seeing marketing opportunities in a new light. I have used the Big Picture model in working with the most experienced, "blue chip" marketers as well as brand new marketers. The framework creates a common language between marketers and helps get alignment quicker on where to make marketing investments. Even our engineers want to learn the Big Picture to help them create new products more effectively.
Once you've used the Big Picture, it's hard to go back to traditional approaches. I recommend it to business schools and corporate marketing departments as a way to unify teams and strengthen the marketing mindset.
A book for people with a marketing problem to solve..........2007-01-14
Nordhielm has captured a real world solution to the elusive marketing 'problem' - written in a direct and easy to read style, she has created a systematic and effective approach to helping the reader understand and navigate the often misunderstood science of marketing. This was a pleasure to read and in the end it is making a significant difference in my business. At the risk of giving away the ending - she does get the big picture. I highly recommend this book.
Review.......2006-03-26
Book came a bit late but just in time for school. I ordered early so i guess it was a good decision on my part. I would have given 5 stars but I have found out that my purchase price for this book is only $5 dollars cheaper than in my school's bookstore:(
Refreshing, Useful, Revolutionary.......2005-11-23
Nordhielm's book stands in stark contrast to the many other Marketing Management books out there. Although many of them are quite good, and have been successively refined over many editions, they all share one shortcoming: the emphasis is on broad acquantance via definition. They are more like encyclopedias than gripping novels. That's where The Big Picture shines, by contrast. Although the book manages to convey all the same core information as other texts, it does so through osmosis, with everything in context, viewed as part of a huge landscape or all-encompassing system. If this sounds grandiose, it's not; if it sounds abstract, it isn't. Rather, it is the most enthralling, user-oriented text I've come across in my years in business school and management career. The writing is a model of clarity, tight, jaunty, engaging and ultimately inspiring. HIGHLY recommended.
Good for Beginning Marketing Class.......2005-01-31
Had to go through this book in the Univ of Michigan, Business School as a introductory marketing course. Gave a solid framework of marketing that I will never forget throughout my career and a good background covering all aspects and interlinks in Marketing.
Book Description
Goals provide a sense of purpose as well as a reason to strive for meaningful results. This book helps you define goals and set measurable objectives to achieve them, whether the goal is one you have set for yourself or one that is assigned to you. Discover how to handle obstacles that may stand in your way and how visualizing your goals can turn your mind into your biggest motivational tool.
Customer Reviews:
Gives an introduction to goal setting for employees.......1998-10-18
This book gives an introduction to goal setting for employees who wish to improve their effectiveness and efficiency.
Book Description
This book advocates for schools to empower people to be creators of their preferred future. Learning is more focused and compelling for students of all ages when it is oriented toward future requirements. Anticipate the World You Want sets out a framework for bringing a future focus to education.
Book Description
Making the Peace is written to help high school students break away from violence, develop self-esteem, and regain a sense of community. It provides photographs, illustrations, exercises, role-plays, in-class handouts, homework sheets, and discussion guidelines to explore issues such as dating violence, gangs, interracial tension, suicide, sexual harassment, and the social roots of violence.
Customer Reviews:
Lots of promises, but few answers. Shockingly simplistic........2007-10-23
If you want a science fiction writer's imaginary view of business, buy this book. If you are already in Scientology, and want to drive up the sales numbers, buy this book. If you want puffed up pronouncements with little substance, buy this book.
Like every Scientology book, this book contains more hype than reality. Even though the publishers claim it's "The boldest and most direct principles on management ever written", it's simplistic.
Illustrated? Are the illustrations filler, or do you really need illustrations in a management book?
Why all the extremely complimentary reviews? I did a Google of one enthusiastic reviewer (Homeschoolmum) and discovered there 1,050 pages relating to Scientology or Hubbard. Check for yourself. Book sellers claim church members are forced to buy books to drive up sales numbers. Could they be writing online book reviews for the same reason?
Either way, "Speaking from Experience" is pretty flimsy.
Essential to business.......2007-08-16
I found the basic business concepts in this book to be very valuable in understanding how a well organized business would run. I was able to select a couple of the tools described in the book and put them into application in my business, and they did work to improve the situations I was trying to change.
Great Book, Management Principles that Really Work.......2007-03-14
I've been using the principles I learned in this book and found that they are easy to get my staff to grasp and they really have made a difference in my operation. It's really a seminar in a book, very well illustrated in color throughout and can be easily digested at one sitting.
It begins with an approach to working out goals, and policy and doing strategic planning which you break down into simple steps for delegation and execution. You also align these things with the end results you are expecting and working out statistics to measure your progress. That's only the beginning - there are lots of really valuable tips. I highly recommend it and bought extra copies to give to my clients.
Sensible management techniques.......2003-10-14
My husband uses the management techniques in his business. They make a lot of sense and help him to put order into his daily work.
With lots of illustrations, the ideas presented in the book are easy to understand.
Highly workable system of business management.......2001-02-23
The information in this book is incrediable. It is very clearly written, and introduces you to a system of management that anyone can understand and apply. I have been able to take a one-person home-based business to a very successful 20-person business. The principles in this book enabled me to effectively organize my business so that I can get the maximum amount of production out of the minimum amount of resources. There are a lot of books and tapes avaialble on business know-how and management skills. A lot of it is interesting and it is easy to get lost in. What I liked about this book is that it introduces you to a system of administration and management that is nothing if not simple, immediately applicable, and soundly based on logic, common sense and evidently natural law. I highly recommend it to anyone.
Books:
- Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth
- Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis (with CD-ROM and Microsoft Project 2003 120 day version)
- Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis (with CD-ROM and Microsoft Project 2003 120 day version)
- Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis (with CD-ROM and Microsoft Project 2003 120 day version)
- Statistics for Business: Data Analysis and Modeling (Duxbury Series in Business Statistics and Decision Sciences)
- Statistics for Management and Economics (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac )
- Ten Best Teaching Practices: How Brain Research, Learning Styles, and Standards Define Teaching Competencies
- The Anger Workbook: A 13-Step Interactive Plan to Help You... (Minirth-Meier Clinic Series)
- The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm
- The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and The Public Should Expect
Books Index
Books Home
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- The Power of Impossible Thinking: Transform the Business of Your Life and the Life of Your Business
- Psilocybin Mushroom Handbook: Easy Indoor and Outdoor Cultivation
- Driving Value Using Activity-Based Budgeting
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- Raymond Chandler: Collected Stories
General
| Education
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization
The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook
Leading in a Culture of Change
The Dance of Change: The Challenges to Sustaining Momentum in Learning Organizations
Leadership & Sustainability: System Thinkers in Action
