Amazon.com
The key to building a superior company, an increasing number of observers now agree, is the ongoing ability to recruit and retain superior personnel. In Topgrading, industrial psychologist and global consultant Bradford Smart expands upon this idea by examining in great detail exactly how today's premier organizations have assembled such top-level employees, and then showing precisely how others can do it, too. "Simply put, topgrading is the practice of packing the team with A players and clearing out the C players," Smart writes. "'A players' is defined as the top 10 percent of talent available at all salary levels--best of class. With this radical definition, you are not a topgrader until your team consists of all A players. Period." Essentially a best-practices manual for developing this outstanding personnel pool, the book is based on more than 4,000 interviews and case studies conducted by Smart at major corporations like General Electric as well as fast-growing high-tech companies and small family-owned firms. He further bolsters its effectiveness by including his extensive "Chronological In-Depth Structured Interview Guide," along with other assessment tools and hands-on strategies for assembling an ideal work team. --Howard Rothman
Book Description
Great companies don't just depend on strategies—they depend on people. The more great people on your team, the more successful your organization will be. But that's easier said than done. Statistically, half of all employment decisions result in a mishire: The wrong person winds up in the wrong job. But companies that have followed Bradford Smart's advice in Topgrading have boosted their successful hiring rate to 90 percent or better, giving them an unbeatable competitive advantage.
Now Smart has fully revised his 1999 management classic to reintroduce the topgrading concept, which works for companies large and small in any industry. The author spells out his practical approach to finding and managing A-level talent—as well as coaching B players to turn them into A players. He provides intriguing case studies drawn from more than four thousand in-depth interviews.
As Smart writes in his introduction, “All organizations, all businesses live or die mostly on their talent, and any manager who fails to topgrade is nuts, or a C player. . . . Those who, way deep down, would sooner see an organization die than nudge an incompetent person out of a job should not read this book... Topgrading is for A players and all those aspiring to be A players.”
Customer Reviews:
disappointed.......2007-10-17
I was under the impression that this was a paperback version of the book but instead it was a summary of the book. It gave a lot of generalities but was not specific at all. If you are looking for a "Cliff's Notes" version then this book will probably serve the purpose. If you want specifics, then you need to buy the hard cover book.
Stop looking for magic bullets.......2007-06-08
While Brad Smart offers some good advice for the hiring manager, we must keep in mind that the purpose of TogGrading is to make money for, uh, Brad Smart. It is every hiring manager's responsibility to select the best candidate for a position. Some instinctively do a good job at this, while others are simply clueless. Dr. Smart presents his methodology with a zen-like religious furvor. He insists that if everyone in the organization adopts his methodology and becomes a zealot, the organization will become wildly successful. Isn't pretty to think so. My company jumped on the TogGrading bandwagon three years ago, because we had high turnover in a two departments. Now our hiring process is adruous, time-consuming and expensive. The results? Those managers who had low turnover rates still have low turnover rates. Those who had high turnover rates still have high turnover rates. The bottom line: TopGrading doesn't work any better than any other of the various magic bullet methods hawked to managers over the years. There is no one-size-fits-all methodology for selecting top performers. If your company is failing at attracting and retaining "A players" you'd do better to carefully examine your corporate culture than to jump on the latest fad method. If one manager excels at hiring and retaining good employees, allow him to mentor the managers who don't. This is cheaper and far more effective than turning your HR process upside down and hoping for a miracle cure.
Be objective with your experiences.......2007-03-15
I have been through interview processes with multi-billion dollar firms that were surprisingly casual and not as "hard-hitting" as I would expect. From observing others and recognizing my own experiences and shortcomings, you can tell who are "C" and "A" players. This does not make the "C" player a bad person. Michael Jordan was a "C" in minor league baseball.
Just because someone is a CEO of a Fortune 500 company does not make that same person infalliable. Sometimes CEOs do things that make us scratch our heads, and subsequent events prove us right. (William McCormack at CMS Energy being one.)
Other CEOs bring great growth and enhanced shareholder value. They are worth the big bucks. How much would you pay to someone who increased your company's value by $1 billion?
I was so impressed with this book that I have begun to implement these principles into my suppliers for our company's procurement chain. I'm constructing my own "CIDS" interview, and will seek to have "A" suppliers, removing the "C"s.
The anecdote in the book says it best. A firm will invest a lot of time, effort and energy in buying a $500,000 piece of equipment. But hiring an employee whose impact on the firm can be millions of dollars? "Ah, he interviewed well, so we'll hire him."
Kick the tires during the interview phase. Talk to others for "scuttlebutt". Invest the time up front for big pay-offs later.
Read This Book Today.......2007-03-15
There are many books on the market focused on interviewing techniques and talent selection. Topgrading is the best in this category and I have read many of them. The reason why it is the best is that it takes the reader past "what to do" and teaches them "how to do it". If you are someone like me, looking for a way to hire and coach A players right now, this is the book for you.
It really works!!!.......2007-03-06
Not only have I read both releases of this book, but my colleagues and I have been practicing Topgrading at my company for some time now. By using Dr. Smart's process, we have had significant success in hiring A players and have reaped the rewards of having these high powered recruits on our staff. This is a "must read" for those leaders that want to significantly improve the quality of their workforce.
Book Description
A Leadership Network Publication
In Leading the Team-Based Church, George Cladis issues a clarion call for ministry teams to embrace a fresh leadership model that is not based on hierarchy, but on a process of collaboration that mirrors the relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He reminds us that today's cultural environment--where authority has basis in trust, innovation reaps rewards, and spirituality takes root in life and work--has matured past the need for the hierarchy of traditional church leadership where the pastor had the final say. Through down-to-earth stories from his own experience and those of clergy in both mainline and evangelical churches, Cladis offers an exciting alternative to the traditional forms of church leadership, enabling pastors, congregational leaders, and staff to breathe new life into their ministries and unleash the full potential of the entire ministry team.
Cladis, pastor of a fast-growing mainline congregation, demonstrates how cultural changes affecting all our institutions--not just the church--are making it easier to adopt this new model of leadership. Cladis's practical advice will enable ministry teams to work together in ways that both embody the Christian message and call forth the full creativity and love of the entire team.
"Just when it seems that all that can be said has been said on the subject of 'teams', just when one has tired of the gumming of the label 'team' on everything in sight, along comes perhaps the most significant religious book on teams yet published. Cladis juxtaposes the theological and cultural context for team-based ministry in a model presentation of what a conversation between Bible, theology, and culture should look like."--Leonard Sweet, dean, The Theological School and vice president, Drew University
Customer Reviews:
A beneficial model for church leadership in postmodernism .......2005-04-24
In Leading the Team-Based Church, George Cladis weaved together principles from theology, ecclesiology, sociology, and business to create a rubric for applying a team-based model for doing ministry in the church. Cladis's thesis is that the historic hierarchical organizational model of top-down, leader-directed ministry is inconsistent with the nature of God, the New Testament pattern of church ministry, and the needs of a postmodern culture. The cornerstone of Cladis's paradigm is his premise that the persons of the Trinity exist in perichoresis, that is, as a team comprising perfect unity, fellowship, harmony, love, and purpose. The perichoretic Trinity thus becomes the exemplar for team-based ministry in the church. Part 1 explored the theological underpinnings of God as perichoresis and outlined nine characteristics of postmodern society. The seven chapters of part 2 examined the seven forms of leadership reflected in the attributes of God's perichoretic nature in juxtaposition with the characteristics of post-modernism and how these lend credence to team-based ministry in the church.
Review and Reaction
Cladis's interpretation of the Trinity as perichoresis forged the basis of his understanding of team-based ministry in the local church. While not appearing in the New Testament, perichoresis is a compound Greek word literally meaning "circle of dance" (4). To Cladis the Trinity is a perfect team. For him, the perichoretic image of the triune Godhead provides a helpful way of viewing the church and its organizational structure. Specifically, the church should work in perfect harmony, equality, and purpose, thus reflecting the image of God.
Cladis further asserted that the perichoretic model of the Godhead most accurately reflects the demands of a postmodern society for flatten hierarchical organizational structures that value individual giftedness, equality, and collaborative efforts. Cladis suggested that modernism promotes rugged individualism to the exclusion of community. Church structures that reflect a modernistic mindset are less inviting to postmodern people who value participation in decision making, inclusiveness in action, and personal fulfillment. Perichoretic team-based ministry, therefore, provides a more appealing model for postmodern people.
Cladis overreaches his thesis by insisting that team-based ministries are "the most theologically and culturally appropriate method for church leadership today" (17). His premise is specious at best and arrogant at worst. Such an assertion casts immediate aspersions upon centuries of church history. If one accepts Cladis at this point, then any form of church organization not based on teams is not just inefficient, but incongruent with the very nature of God.
One can make the point that scripture does not provide a definitive model for church organization. Allusions to church organizational patterns in scripture are more descriptive than prescriptive. Even the language of church leadership varies within the New Testament--pastor versus elder versus overseer. First century Christians initially adopted the Jewish synagogue model because it was the one most familiar to them, but later developed organizational models that more adequately met their evolving needs. The early church organized its ministry efforts around the needs of its constituency (such as the addition of an incipient deacon ministry in Acts 6:1-6). Their efforts were more pragmatic than theologically informed. They simply acted to meet the needs of the day.
Cladis makes a better point that a team-based ministry more effectively meets the needs of contemporary postmodern believers. The seven team attributes of covenanting, visioning, culture creating, collaborating, trusting, empowering, and learning, detailed in part 2, forms the book's core strengths. Cladis discussed each attribute biblically and then related each to his perichoretic model. Occasionally, he provided insights from the business world and fictionalized church settings to illustrate the efficacy of a particular attribute. Cladis's frequent references to his perichoresis model and to Rublev's icon of the Holy Trinity were distracting and thoroughly unhelpful. One draws the impression that Cladis is attempting to baptize the business model of teams into the language of the church--an unnecessary effort to spiritualize the secular to make it more appealing to the sacred. If a team-based model for ministry works, and does not violate scripture, then employ the best of what the business world has to offer for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.
Application
Cladis's seven characteristics of team-based ministry can fit well into today's church. Many are intuitively self-evident. The church exists in covenant with God and with one another. This covenant identity does not cease in staff meetings or in church council meetings. What healthy church does not want to have a unifying vision from God that creates a sense of purpose and provides meaning to its efforts? By in large, churches want to develop a cultural ethos reflecting it uniqueness as the people of God. Maturing church members want to contribute their gifts and talents toward a collaborative, trusting, empowering, and spiritually fulfilling mission. Many of Cladis's seven characteristics have an ethereal quality to them. They are better identified by the effect they achieve than the effort needed to achieve them. Nonetheless, they represent biblical ideals church leaders should strive to achieve in their ministry settings.
This reviewer has sought to apply these characteristics to a new preschool ministry team. The team of four mothers of preschool-aged children organized themselves around the mission to create a safe, secure, and satisfying nursery and preschool experience for children from birth through age three. The members have complementary skills and are highly motivated. The initial organizational meeting was unfocused because the members did not know how to work as a team. This pastor introduced the members to Cladis's seven characterizes for healthy teams. Some of the characteristics will take time to formulate, however the team was excited about the characteristics of vision, collaboration, empowerment, trust, and learning. The members embraced their vision of creating a top-notch preschool environment. They made a mutual commitment to work together to fulfill this vision. Only time will tell how well this new team can develop Cladis's characteristics.
Conclusion
Leading the Team-Based Church does what it needs to do. It provides a beneficial contemporary model for ministry leadership in a postmodern world. The old-style hierarchical pyramidal leadership model served the church well for more than one hundred years because it was how people were used to the world operating. It was sociologically consistent, fitting the prevailing worldview. The Medieval monarchical bishopric model worked a thousand years ago for the same reason--it reflected how people related to one another in a feudal society. Through the Renaissance, Reformation, and the Industrial Revolution, the way people viewed leadership changed. Each time this happened the church accommodated these sociological shifts and found the necessary theological support. Cladis does no differently. Sociological shifts notwithstanding, Cladis's seven attributes of team-based leadership are worthy characteristics for any church.
A Great, Practical, How_To Guide!.......2000-08-08
What a breath of fresh air to see one with such an innovative, entrepreneurial spirit coming from a traditional mainline denomination. This book does more than just exhort you to form teams, it tells you how to create a culture of teams that will make your church more effective for the Kingdom of God. This one has definitely made my top-ten list!
The Best I Have Found on Team-Building in the Church.......2000-08-07
George Cladis has written a great book--the best I have found on team-building in the church. It is an easy read, very practical, filled with a lot of good ideas. I found his chapters on team covenants and on creating a visionary culture particularly helpful.
Cladis has learned a lot in his pastorates about teamwork--and teaches those principles well. He motivates me to want to build a strong team--not be a lone ranger in the pastorate. And he gives lots of ideas on how to do so.
Great combo of the Trinity and world class business thinking.......1999-05-21
This book was surprisely quick and easy to read yet very thorough. Any church or small business would benefit from reading this book. It's model is similiar to great world class companies, but is unique with it's theological links. It also recognizes the problems that happen in any small company...even churches....! It recognizes too everyone's desire to work in a place and do things we are passionate about!...Worthwhile for the entire staff to read!
Book Description
Of all the skill sets that support the shift from a traditional management role to a more collaborative approach, none is more relevant than that of the role of the facilitator. The beliefs, behaviors, and practices of facilitation are precisely what all leaders need to acquire and put into action. In Facilitating to Lead! renowned facilitation expert Ingrid Bens applies her proven concepts of facilitation to the leadership role and demonstrates that facilitation is an effective work style, not merely a meeting technique. Throughout the book, Bens outlines the organizational and personal benefits of facilitative leadership and includes useful checklists to help leaders determine the situations when facilitative leadership is most appropriate to apply. Because empowerment is a core issue in the implementation of facilitative leadership, the book presents a four-level model that reframes empowerment from a vague concept to a concrete structuring tool.
Customer Reviews:
Tools & Activities For Facilitative Leadership.......2007-10-15
Facilitating to Lead is a unique book filled with detailed and practical steps for leaders who want to increase the level of employee engagement and commitment to organizational goals. The book includes activities and tools, that many other leadership texts lack, necessary for leaders who want to bring out the best in their employees through a culture of empowerment and collaboration.
Book Description
With this innovative book, readers will discover how to effectively implement change initiatives by gaining a better understanding of both the behavioral and operational aspects of an organization. The new second edition continues to show them how, through Action-Learning Teams, they can accomplish tangible business objectives while creating superior workforce development within their organizations. New material integrated throughout the book will help them facilitate these teams in a virtual environment. It also clearly shows them how to design and deploy significant organizational initiatives and change processes.
Customer Reviews:
Putting the Crowbar Where it Counts.......2006-08-07
This book is great! The authors did a fantastic job. I'm going to be buying a few more...
There have been a lot of books published concerning teams and how to form them over the past decade, but this book, Leading Organizations from the Inside Out, goes a few steps further by providing specific tools and processes on how to create and utilize Action-Learning Teams (ALTs). These ALTs (as the book calls them) are teams formed to address important persistent problems or organizational challenges that a company may face. ALTs are based on "learning characterized by reflection in action"; or simply stated, they are internal teams chartered to focus and hone down a specific problem or process gap and then fix it. ALTs can do what most of us rarely do in our day-to-day efforts at work. They can helicopter above the canopy of the company's forest and get a clear picture by looking from the outside in as to what's wrong and what corrective actions will work. Whereas management may have a hunch as to the problem, the ALT deftly puts a finger on it. In our, quick time-to-market, immediate gratification world the ALT capability is a potent tool.
The book starts off slow so you have to be patient, but once you get past Chapter One, this book contains a great nest of resources. It has several effective tools (with some bonus tools in the Supplement) which any manager or team leader can use, and it connects the reader to further research and information. It has the right amount of effective information to create and run an Action-Learning Team. And good news! The Clue Train Manifesto stopped here since later chapters include how to execute an ALT from cyberspace and how to further knowledge worker development.
From my 19 years of personal experience in the corporate world participating on ALT-like teams, sponsoring ALT-like teams, and just being in the company population receiving the benefits of an ALT-like team, I can tell you that they are by far the fastest and most effective way to achieving a "break through" on difficult, persistent problems which a company may face. Especially in a marketplace where world competition is becoming exceedingly tough........ Action-Learning Teams might just make a difference between success and failure.
Real World Application.......2006-03-17
My name is Chris Gibbs (Chairman/CEO) of Diversified Investments & Development, LLC. of Knoxville, Tennessee. I consider myself a lifelong learner, as I am currently finishing a dissertation in relation to requirements for a Doctorate in Leadership from the University of Phoenix. I hold degrees in Finance, Masters of Business Administration, Masters in Banking, and Doctoral work in Economics from Lincoln Memorial University, East Tennessee State University, Louisiana State University, and Middle Tennessee State University, respectively.
My organization is involved in the food, lodging, and land development businesses. We had certain re-structuring goals to limit our involvement in day to day operations in the food and lodging businesses by using outside management and increase our land development inventory. Within only months of completing training with Bruce LaRue (one of the books Authors) and Richard Schuttler (Executive Coach and Consultant www.orgtroubleshooter.org) certain key organizational goals were reached early. With the material from this book and organizational training programs, my organization is thriving at a new profitability level, as well as employee and organizational value added systems continue to improve for all stakeholders.
Specific book comments:
1. How did you find out about the book? Through research in the area of Leading Organizations, I was attracted to this books content. Bruce LaRue, PhD is a colleague of Richard Schuttler, PhD, which is a professional Executive Coach that has consulted with me over the past couple of years. When I mentioned the book to Rich, he immediately reached out to Bruce and we entered into an agreement to utilize this book along with extensive works of Rich to transform my organization into a model of success that utilized its existing team and strengths. I will never forget the comment Rich made to me one day about the well known "corporate box," if you are thinking about thinking outside the box, you are still in the box. Therefore this book and training programs like Rich and Bruce present will allow the "Leader of the Future" to not confine their thought process to any box or obstacle."
2. The initial reading of the book presents the four basics to ALT (Action Learning Teams) and allows one to understand in the early reading of where their organization is today and what it will take to advance to a higher level of effectiveness and performance in the future.
3. A great suggestion is for the leader to play the role as coach and not BOSS. This is where Rich and Bruce developed the BUCKET concept that allowed everyone to assume responsibilities and each other member know who is responsible for what task within the organization. This supports the concept in the book on encouraging team members to focus on self improvement as they are accountable to the other team members in making sure their individual bucket is managed properly to benefit the overall organization. "This is like an old fire line where everyone is passing the buckets of water to put out a fire. If one person drops their bucket the fire can spread out of control. Therefore, proper management of the individual buckets maintains proper fire management without a fire ever arising, "Proactive Management." ALT's will make a difference if you understand how to make them work effectively.
4. An organizational leader and ALT "Coach" must truly commit to the Belief Model presented within the book. The advantage I had from the book material was the actual training program developed by Rich and Bruce, where I had to commit to making this reality before I could ever expect positive results. If the Coach cannot commit to taking a Belief to Potential to Action to Results than I question this leader's ability to be the Coach required for an effective ALT. I actually included all internal and external affiliate team leaders in the training process to make sure all areas and entities that affect my businesses were well informed of my organizations strategic plan and goals.
5. The PIP was completed at the end of the training and we found by our proactive implementation of this text material and consulting program that we were well on our way to achieving an organizational structure and performance level 1 year ahead of schedule.
6. Chapter 4 on Deployment should be arranged on a Cork Board in the Coaches office to read each morning, as a "Daily Devotional." Coaches/Leaders to often forget that by keeping there own skills focused and sharp, spill over to the actions and result of the ALT members.
7. The "Value Network" concept truly supported my personal philosophy of not deleting the most important life source of all organizations "PROFIT." An excellent Coach/Leader will be more effective with ALT teams and the process of strategic planning by honestly admitting we must make a profit, therefore their actions that support the material within this text will be more reality driven and not viewed as corporate fluff to keep morale at a moderate level of acceptance. Honesty is the first step in leading a successful organization.
8. Closing Comments: As we know and the book points out in Table format, today's business "Demands" are different from years past. This book is an excellent training tool for organizations at various levels including infancy, transitional businesses experiencing sales growth that could lead to dysfunctional performance without proper planning, and successful businesses that need to maintain and deal with everyday tumultuous situations. "A must read book for the true lifelong learner and concerned leader of the future." Also, follow-up with training to really experience the change and improvements you can experience through ALT implementation.
A little slow in coming but Great condition........2005-10-03
It must have been a hard book to find. Once I finally received it it was in great condtion. I have no complaints. I took off one star because it took so long.
A guidebook for team leaders.......2005-08-07
LaRue, Childs, and Larson provide an easy to read, less than 200 page book, that skillfully weaves Action Learning Teams (ALT) into knowledge management, creating knowledge based action learning teams. This is truly a hands-on guidebook with real world examples that clearly describe the stages and processes of implementing organizational change using ALTs. ALTs can shorten the time needed to effectively implement change initiatives in an organization by helping the practitioner understand both the behavioral and operational aspects of organizational change. ALTs will help ensure that the knowledge of the team is translated into action that makes a real difference for an organization.
The forward by Marshall Goldsmith prepares the reader for what is in store by asking the question; "Who are knowledge workers", and how does one tell them what to do when they may know more than their manager does. The process of Action Learning Teams taps into that knowledge to take the organization to the next level. This book has been adopted as part of the curriculum at the University of Phoenix in their Doctorate of Management second year leadership class. Don't let that concern you though if you don't think that is the level you are looking for, as the book is easy to read and follow. Major General Robert Ivany, recently retired President of the U.S. Army War College also provides a chapter that describes how Action Learning Teams played a vital role in fundamentally transforming the U.S. Army. Experiences from other organizations provide real world examples that can be immediately put to use.
The book integrates both behavioral and operational dimensions of team development within four key phases of the change process: Awareness, Design, Deployment, and Integration. I have already used many of these concepts in my work on a Change Management team government organization. I even gave a copy of the book to my boss.
Book Description
Proven-to-work tools for building or fine-tuning teams
The authors of Designing Team-Based Organizations present hands-on guidance for establishing or refining teams in organizations where they carry out the core work process.
Though teams are fast becoming the basic foundation of businesses and other organizations, surprisingly few resources are available to help managers, leaders, and design teams organize an entire business or business unit around teams. In response to requests from their consulting clients, including Texas Instruments and Honeywell, the Mohrmans developed these step-by-step materials to accomplish just that.
The workbook is a practical guide that combines basic concepts with dozens of valuable worksheets that team organizers can use to create a viable design plan. Attractively designed with clear graphics, sidebars, to-do lists, and diagnostic aids, the workbook details planning, design, goals, decision-making, communications, leadership roles, performance management, and more. The facilitator's guide outlines how to use the workbook with groups so that unit managers, project managers, design professionals, and human resource staffs can work efficiently with their management teams to transform their groups into teams.
Book Description
Proven-to-work tools for building or fine-tuning teams
The authors of Designing Team-Based Organizations present hands-on guidance for establishing or refining teams in organizations where they carry out the core work process.
Though teams are fast becoming the basic foundation of businesses and other organizations, surprisingly few resources are available to help managers, leaders, and design teams organize an entire business or business unit around teams. In response to requests from their consulting clients, including Texas Instruments and Honeywell, the Mohrmans developed these step-by-step materials to accomplish just that.
The workbook is a practical guide that combines basic concepts with dozens of valuable worksheets that team organizers can use to create a viable design plan. Attractively designed with clear graphics, sidebars, to-do lists, and diagnostic aids, the workbook details planning, design, goals, decision-making, communications, leadership roles, performance management, and more. The facilitator's guide outlines how to use the workbook with groups so that unit managers, project managers, design professionals, and human resource staffs can work efficiently with their management teams to transform their groups into teams.
Book Description
The Crisp Training Essentials Learning Track includes the best self-directed study books at a significant cost savings. To help you learn the essentials of training, this bundle combines the best Fifty-Minute Series books and additional Crisp publications to provide in-depth knowledge of the subject matter. Relevant case studies, self-evaluations, and practical examples help to reinforce key concepts. Instead of ordering one book at a time, simply order the bundle and start your library today.
Customer Reviews:
An Excellent Source of Information.......2003-04-07
I felt this book was a valuable source of information. I needed a brief account on the necessary components on being a successful and effective team leader. This book led me from step to step on how to go about learning how to be a successful team manager. It included the basic know-how of team leadership, like being prepared and posing crucial questions to the team. However, it also went in-depth into the necessary skills needed in order to manage a goal-oriented group. I felt that this book not only acknowledged how to plan for a discussion, but it also looked at the real truth that can come up in group discussion. It analyzed the ins and outs of a group dynamic and even suggested ways of combating difficulties that arise in the process. The authors, Donald Hackett and Charles L. Martin, have a style of writing that is efficient, easy to grasp, and sensible. They were able to provide a step by step analysis on what it takes to be a valuable facilitator, but also the things that come up that leaders need to deal with carefully. Their topic ranges from the basic start of what a facilitator is to what skills a team leader needs. Then they consistently maintain this vision of how an effective leader can lead the group to a successful completion of the task. I enjoyed reading this book, because it not only opened my eyes to how I see leaders perform in groups I have been involved in, but I also know now how to be a successful facilitator in groups that I may choose to lead in the future. I can know use these suggestions and techniques to really drive a team into successful task completion. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has thought about leading a team in group discussion. The authors' simple, to the point style of writing, including examples and suggestions, made for a delightful read. I enjoyed reading this book as much I enjoyed learning from it as well.
Team Facilitation-Not a Mystery Anymore.......2001-03-31
A wonderful book for a person whose new to facilitating teams. The writing is in language that's very easy to understand, and the concepts are presented clearly. The book takes the reader on a step by step progression of the processes and tools required to help meetings be productive and efficient. Cudos to the authors, who created a wonderful and effective tool.
Team Facilitation-Not a Mystery Anymore.......2001-03-31
A wonderful book for a person whose new to facilitating teams. The writing is in language that's very easy to understand, and the concepts are presented clearly. The book takes the reader on a step by step progression of the processes and tools required to help meetings be productive and efficient. Cudos to the authors, who created a wonderful and effective tool.
Team Facilitation-Not a Mystery Anymore.......2001-03-31
A wonderful book for a person whose new to facilitating teams. The writing is in language that's very easy to understand, and the concepts are presented clearly. The book takes the reader on a step by step progression of the processes and tools required to help meetings be productive and efficient. Cudos to the authors, who created a wonderful and effective tool.
Essential reading for all involved in helping groups work.......2000-08-17
This excellent book provides a simple overview of the skills and tools needed when getting a group to work on a problem. Nothing is covered in depth, however I did not think that was the purpose. This books starts a learning process which people can take further if needed. The sytle is light and it has been written to maintain the readers interest. It adequately covers concepts, communication (questioning, body language, etc) and some simple tools with easy to understand examples. Most impressive was the straight forward treatment of writing a process map to identify and deal with problems.
Average customer rating:
- "Two Fundamental Choices of Organizational Design"
- A Seminal Work on Leadership!
- Insights into self-managed organizations abound in this book
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The Self-Managing Organization : How Leading Companies Are Transforming the Work of Teams for Real Impact
Steven Cabana , and
Ronald E. Purser
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Leading Self-Directed Work Teams
ASIN: 068483734X |
Amazon.com
Business consultants Ronald Purser and Steven Cabana argue that it's time for democracy to replace bureaucracy at work. In The Self-Managing Organization, they warn that high-tech, knowledge-based businesses perform best with the flexibility, creativity, and information sharing that come with more freedom on the job. "We need the real medicine now: democracy at work," write the authors, consultants to such companies as Motorola and Procter & Gamble.
Building on research by social scientists at the Tavistock Institute in London in the 1950s, Purser and Cabana explain the theory and provide examples of two self-managing techniques for improving work: Participative Design and the Search Conference. The Participative Design method asks workers themselves to determine what's wrong at the company and suggest solutions. And the Search Conference method has workers develop new business strategies to help the company succeed. The Self-Managing Organization thus offers provocative ideas to business managers and students. --Dan Ring
Book Description
The disappointing results achieved by reengineering, total quality management, and team-based empowerment programs dictate that a quantum change is needed in the way organizations are designed and managed. This groundbreaking book by organizational change experts Ronald Purser and Steven Cabana reveals how innovative companies are unleashing huge productivity gains by transforming the work of teams, designing them into a fully self-managing organization. Purser and Cabana show how authorizing employees to design, control, and coordinate their own work and workplace has enabled some firms to reduce manufacturing cycle times by 50 percent, cut costs in half, and most important, share knowledge more widely in the organization.
The authors demonstrate through in-depth case studies how democratic decision-making works today in such pioneering companies as Microsoft, Motorola, Lockheed Martin, American Express, Charles Schwab, Sequa Chemicals, Syncrude Canada, and Celgard. They provide detailed instruction in the core principles and methods of self-management, showing why employee participation is key to strategy creation and corporate redesign, and how relocating the responsibility for value-added work into the hands of the people who actually touch the product or provide the service eradicates the need for external supervision and costly bureaucratic overhead.
Self-management is the wave of the future not only because it improves economic performance, but also because it puts dignity, care, and meaning back into work. A step-by-step blueprint for designing and developing a self-managing organization, Purser and Cabana's findings are required reading for every forward-thinking manager.
Customer Reviews:
"Two Fundamental Choices of Organizational Design".......2001-04-22
"We soon realized that many companies which adopted such methods were caught in the middle between two competing organizational paradigms: the bureaucratic and democratic. In our analysis, these methods failed to transform the DNA, or fundamental design principle, that informs how organizations are structured and managed...When we understood that these two diamectrically opposed traditions for designing and managing organizations were competng for dominance, it became clear to us why managrs and employees were often being bombarded by mixed messages and a confusing mishmash of structures, management styles, and techniques. The bureaucratic and democratic design principles are based on different logics; each constitutes a distinct class with a specific genetic order...When these logics are mixed together in efforts to shore up the failings of bureaucracy, empowerment and reengineering efforts often fizzle because the basic tenets of a traditional hierarchy have not been uprooted...This book describes the principles and methods for designing the self-managing organization. We show how companies in any industry can change and evolve to become fully self-managing organizations"(from the Preface).
In this context, Ronald E. Purser and Steven Cabana, in Chapter 8, outline fundamental choices of two competing organizational design paradigms as following:
I- Bureaucratic Structure: Coordination and control of work tasks is done by supervisor.
1. Mind Set...*People have specialized skills and are easily replaced. *The work (technical system) is designed first. The people (social system) must adopt and fit in. *Workers are cogs in the machine of the enterprise, a commodity. *Total specialization of everything. *Within a complex organization, simple jobs are created. *Tthe building block of the organization is one person- one task. *Competitive structures, processes and reward systems are the best way to produce high performance.
2. People Act As If...*The environment our enterprise exists in is stable and unchanging. *There is little to learn at work; success comes from reacting resourcefully to problems. *Procedures are sufficient to guide behavior. Change interferes with productivity and can often be postponed. *Responsibility, and blame can be shifted to others; we are separate and therefore I can win at your expense. *We don't need to coordinate work closely with other functions. Their problems are their problems. *Unspoken assumptions need not to be explored. Simple solutions to problems are adequate.
II- Democratic Structure: Coordination and control of work is done by those doing the work.
1. Mind Set...*People possess many skill sets and can do many jobs/functions. *The needs of the work (technical system) are balanced with the needs of the doers of the work (social system). *People are learners. Machines and information systems can extend the skill set of employees to many functions. *As little as possible is specified, leaving the rest to the skill and discreation of the workers. *Complex jobs are created within a simple organizational structure. *The building block of organization is the self-managed work team. *Cooperative structures and reward systems are the best way to produce high performance.
2. People Act As If...*The environment our enterprise exists in is constantly changing. *Skepticism and doubt are valuable and enable continuous learning. *Outcomes are best reached with flexibility built into the approach. *I am fully responsible for any work I agree to perform. *Every task is part of some larger whole. I can't win at your expense. *Everyone's ideas are taken seriously. Cooperation is essential for our mutual survival. *Making our assumptions explicit and exploring them is worth the temporary discomfort.
Hence, in order to transform an entire enterprise to self-management, they discuss these choices within the context of Participative Design method. And they argue that "Dmocratic business organizations won't solve all the world's problems, but they will be places where people can find meaning in their work. Work becomes meaningful when people have attained real membership status, when work is restored to its rightful place, which adds value to both the customer and to the worker, and when people are shapers and creators of the organization's future."
Highly recommended.
A Seminal Work on Leadership!.......1999-10-01
If you are struggling with questions related to your business strategy, how work is designed, and the way your organization ought to be managed - READ THIS BOOK. "The Self Managing Organization" (by Ronald E. Purser and Steven Cabana) explains why we have been on a merry-go-round of quick fixes and false promises, and what to do about it. The concepts and real applications in this book move everyone back to ground zero. By the time you finish reading, your thinking will have changed about what it takes to produce effective change, and how self-organization can be facilitated.
It will take a while to read the book. Take the time. The first half analyzes the key management methods of the recent past and dissects what went wrong. You'll understand the principles which facilitate organizational learning, put in place a team-based system of shared responsibility, and re-energize the workforce and management at all levels of the business. You'll also understand why we continue to make costly mistakes when we go about changing organizations and what it takes to be successful right now.
In the second half of the book, Purser and Cabana describe the "how" of moving from today's inadequate practices, to a lean, non-bureaucratic, and powerful future. You'll learn how to develop an urgency for change, get the right people involved, develop common, tangible goals and accelerate their implementation. One benefit of the approaches described is a results-oriented future built from a shared understanding of the business environment. Another is an energized leadership with a shared vision, and a workforce whose local knowledge is translated into effective work designs. Swift deployment throughout the organization occurs.
You might see alignment of the practical concepts in "The Self Managing Organization" with those of John P. Kotter. The alignment is, in fact, perfect with Kotter's Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major Change, as written in his "Leading Change" book. Kotter beautifully frames the steps that EVERY successful organization goes through when making fundamental change. What Purser and Cabana do is describe HOW to rapidly and effectively move your organization through those major changes. There are only two books on my recommended list. "The Self Managing Organization" pushed Kotter's book out of the number one slot. If you need permanent, pervasive change in your business, don't miss it!
Rob McClusky, Baldrige Manager, Picker International, Cleveland, Ohio
Insights into self-managed organizations abound in this book.......1999-02-03
This book contains a number practical nuggets for executives and middle managers who are seeking to move from a command and control management style to a style that systematically enlists the participation of employees at every level of the organization. Purser and Cabana provide insightful analyses of how some of the world's most successful organizations have initiated efforts toward higher employee participation that have resulted in superior organizational performance.
This is an easy to read book that blends practical theory with best practices. This book will satisfy the interests of bottom-line focused executives, human resource professionals, and academics who are looking for actual implementations of sound theory about self-managing organizations.
The book introduces a set of organizing principles that are valid across a variety of industries. These principles are introduced in the context of case studies of distinctly different companies such as Motorola, Microsoft, and Charles Schwab. The authors shed light on age-old management dilemmas such as, "How can I give people more autonomy, but still ensure that we have order and productivity in the organization?" and "How can I accelerate people's learning that I know will be critical to our future, but still have them accomplish their business tasks that need to be finished today?" The authors present solid self-management principles that I have seen work in small and large-sized firms, and for industries as diverse as professional services and hi tech manufacturing. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in improving organizational performance by creating opportunities for higher employee participation.
-- Tom Devane (tdevane@iex.net)
Average customer rating:
- Want to dramatically change the culture of your school?
|
Leading the Cooperative School
David W. Johnson , and
Roger T. Johnson
Manufacturer: Interaction Book Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Education
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Special Education
| Education
| Nonfiction
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| Books
Decision Making & Problem Solving
| Education Theory
| Education
| Nonfiction
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School Management
| Education Theory
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| Nonfiction
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ASIN: 0939603209 |
Customer Reviews:
Want to dramatically change the culture of your school?.......1999-04-15
Read this extraordinary handbook by David and Roger Johnson! As you move your school from one that reflects the factory model to one that values professional community and collaboration, this book will guide you around the pitfalls and across the abyss of failure and lead you by encouraging the heart.
The book is extremely reader friendly, and yet it is filled with substance. It proved to be a valuable tool for me as a first time administrator seeking to build an organizational structure within my school that would encourage collegial groups and schoolwide task forces.
I found this one little book had everything that I would ever want to know! It still continues to be extremely helpful in working with school staffs that are desiring to be more than just a "loosely coupled organization." This work is about people for people who want to make significant changes in the way they do business.
Book Description
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