Product Description
Only 43% of construction firms are still in business after four years. Make sure your company thrives with essential and very readable guidance from a pro with 25 years success. Find out what it takes to build all aspects of a business that s profitable, enjoyable, and enduring. Includes: Contract Terms & Conditions (to include and to avoid); How to Make Sure You re Paid What You're Owed; Dos and Don'ts of Mechanics Liens; How to Select, Hire, and Keep Golden Employees; How to Choose Accountants, Lawyers & Insurance Agents; How to Target, Check out, Land, & Retain Profitable Customers; Effective Marketing Even the Smallest Contractor Can Afford; Opportunities & Requirements of Retail Construction; and much more ideas that will pay off right away & throughout your career. Whether you re a contractor, a key employee, a subcontractor, a student, or a facility executive, you ll find many ideas you can immediately add to your management and leadership toolbox. Adopting even a single one of them will pay dividends now and throughout your career.
Customer Reviews:
Important Information for New Contractors.......2007-04-11
If you are a person that is just starting out in the Construction industry, this book can help guide you in the right direction. Many mistakes that I have made in the past 10 years are covered in these pages. I wish I would have had this book back then. It would have made our company grow and prosper without the glitches. I highly recommend this book.
A testimony to the principles of this text.......2007-02-14
Upon graduation from Georgia Tech's building construction program in 1982, I went to work for Nick Ganaway. One of the many reasons I selected his company was his obvious knowledge of business. Even more, I appreciated the motivation he placed in us (and himself) to always become better as contractors and as businessmen. We met frequently to "log in" new discoveries, efficiencies, risks, and methods of profitability that he had wisely accumulated for us. As I "ventured out" into the world and developed my own business with very little experience, I quickly noticed that although I was a "great" project manager that running a construction company was an entirely different issue. For example, do you understand the unique requirements of the construction firm owner? Terms in the project owner's construction agreement that can unfairly shift major risk onto your plate and what to do about them? How to ensure that you get paid for change orders? What to do when hard times suddenly strike (and they will)? After 25 years of experience in operating a commercial construction company, Mr. Ganaway explains chapter-by-chapter these and every other risk area you must manage if you are going to survive in construction. I know these explanations well as they ring in my mind from discussions with Mr. Ganaway concerning my very first projects and through calling for help with running my own construction business. You will feel like you're having these same discussions with him as you read this book. Every contractor, project manager, and construction student should read it. Today I use this very text to teach our students at Georgia Tech's building construction program how to run a business, as well as consulting in the same area. His principles work!
An added bonus to this text is the final chapter, where Mr. Ganaway makes the case for specializing in chain store construction. To "outsiders" who have not reviewed this market segment, I think you will be surprised at the benefits. If you are not already specializing in a niche market, this chapter is sure to start you thinking about it.
Great Book!.......2007-02-01
This is the first straightforward, down-to-earth book on how to run a construction business that I have come across. A realistic account of what it takes to start an enterprise and what it's like to be a contractor. Anyone contemplating starting their own construction company should read this before attempting it and every contractor already working at it should study Nick's work to learn how to do it better and to realize that they are not alone when they discover just how challenging and difficult the struggle for success can be. Everyone associated with the construction industry should read this book to gain an understanding of how the business really works.
Thomas, C. Schleifer, Ph.D.
Visiting Eminent Scholar
Del E. Webb School of Construction
Arizona State University
Author, Construction Contractors' Survival Guide
Book Description
This text provides a survey of the most innovative techniques and methods for managing operations in services and manufacturing. It presents all concepts with a real-world perspective based on the extensive global consulting work of the lead author, Dick Schonberger. This text is unique due to its customer-focused approach. Using the authors 15 principles as a framework for organizing the text This text stresses teamwork, quality, and customer service in both manufacturing and services, as well as traditional topics such as product and service design, purchasing, inventory, location and layout, and scheduling are also included. Quantitative coverage is de-emphasized.
Customer Reviews:
The best general undergraduate treatment of operations management-4.5 stars.......2006-01-26
Knod and Schonberger have written the best general text available on production/operations management at the undergraduate level.The text has very good chapters on Capacity Planning(aggregate capacity planning),Scheduling,Design(reliability and serviceability),Quality and process control(especially pp.318-322 on mean and range charts and pp.327-330 on process capability analysis),Inventory control,Timing(waiting lines and queues),and PERT.A minor weakness is that a discussion of the use of the Beta distribution in PERT analysis is omitted from the book.Anyone who covers this book throughly will be very well prepared to take senior level undergraduate courses and graduate level courses in operations management.
Mixed - good survey and quan, weaker on soft subjects.......1999-01-06
Fairly good survey book. Having an undergrad operations background, I found this book mirrored the strengths and weaknesses of a more detailed operations curriculum. Book is best in framework and quantitative model overviews, weaker on softer subjects like staffing, project management, & holistic quality.
Highly over-rated . Full of fluff.......1997-10-22
If your MBA professor offers Schonberger as the answer to 21st Century Operations Management, seek a transfer quick. Obsessed with a touchy-feeling "quality paradigm", there is not enough meat here to frighten off the most zealous vegetarian. The chapters on "managing projects" and "facilities management" are especially shallow.
Book Description
In the modern economy, where most workers are knowledge workers, creativity and innovation are the most easily sustainable competitive advantages. In The Big Book of Creativity Games, Harvard trained psychologist Robert Epstein provides dozens of games and activities designed to stimulate creativity and generate innovation in the workplace.
Dr. Epstein describes the scientific principles of creativity that underlie the games, and how these principles can be applied to tasks like problem solving, new product development, and marketing. Timely and innovative, The Big Book of Creativity Games is the ideal book for managers to turn to whenever they need:
- Games that are easy to lead and fun to play
- Exercises that go far beyond standard brainstorming techniques
- Innovation jump-starters for team meetings and work groups
Customer Reviews:
Creativity from one who knows the source.......2007-02-11
The book is firmly rooted in science, and the exercises are proof: This is not a cookbook. You need to understand the rationale behind the exercises. The book builds up a coherent set of argument, points to further reading, and is a veritable treasure trove of how to be, and help others be, creative. I highly recommend it.
Hare-Brained.......2004-03-26
This book delivers so much less than it promises that I have found it virtually useless in training actual human beings. Maybe it was tested on hares. You would do much better (and be much more creative) coming up your own exercises.
Disappointed Innovator.......2004-03-06
This book was a total disappointment. I have never written a review online before, but if I can stop someone from buying this series I will feel like I've saved someone their hard-earned dollars. The subtitle says "Fun Activities for Jumpstarting Innovation". It should have said "Invent your own games because we don't have any good ones to tell you about". At least half the games were not games at all, but instructions for the participants to CREATE THEIR OWN GAMES!!!!! I COULD HAVE DONE THAT! One after the other are worded as follows: "Participants design and carry out their own exercise to demonstrate the importance of _____ for the creative process" -- (insert chapter topic in the blank). Sorry, that doesn't help me at all. STAY AWAY!
Unleash Your Creativity.......2003-09-07
It is probably no accident that Robert Epstein's _Big Book of Creativity Games: Quick, Fun Activities for Jumpstarting Innovation_ appears at first glance to be a book for children. Its title, colorful cover, and interior design are reminiscent of children's books. While many of the games can be used in classrooms, the primary audience for the book is adults -- people who want to improve the creativity of those in their businesses or other organizations.
The forty-eight games in the book are based on Epstein's Generativity Theory. His ideas about the creative process grew out of his laboratory research. In addition to refuting popular myths about the creative process, Epstein identifies four core competencies that help individuals express their creativity (plus four more competencies to nurture creativity in others):
1. Capturing new ideas
2. Challenging yourself so that new ideas emerge
3. Broadening your base of knowledge and experience
4. Surrounding yourself with an environment -- both physical and social -- that encourages new ideas
Despite the fact that the book is grounded in theory and research, the information it contains is practical and easily accessible. The book is written in lay terms, and the information is as easy to understand as the juvenile format leads you to expect it to be.
The games are categorized by purpose (such as "convincing people that they're creative") and by core competency. It is easy, therefore, to find games to fit a particular need. Epstein devotes about three pages to each game, providing a summary of the game, its objective, the time required (ranging from 5 to 90 minutes), the materials needed (generally readily available), the procedure, and discussion questions. The discussion questions are indeed a key feature of the book, for the games are intended not only to boost creativity but also to demonstrate creativity's basic principles.
Epstein places a high premium on failure. He says that failure causes us to recall past methods of dealing with a problem -- and often discover a new solution. Without failure, creativity is not needed (remember the Apollo 13 mission). Many games involving the second competency, Challenging, deal with managing the frustration and other negative emotions that often accompany failure.
In addition, the book includes an abridged version of Epstein's Creativity Competencies Inventory for Individuals (ECCI-i) along with a self-scorer. These tools are effective for evaluating a person's overall creativity and each of the four competencies. It is easy, then, for a person to see which areas would benefit from development.
CREATIVE PROCESS DEMYSTIFIED.......2000-11-15
Thank you, Robert Epstein, for demythologizing creativity. As a writing teacher I found this book very helpful in several ways. The games are fun and each one makes a strong point. My students respond to the core competencies with excitement and gratitude and most can't wait to develop these concrete skills. I've found nothing better for tackling the problem of "writer's block." I have used this book with students in classroom and workshop situations and recommend it to managers who want to jump start their employees' creativity.
Average customer rating:
- Dealing Tactics
- A Good Primer
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Essential Managers: Managing Meetings (DK Essential Managers)
Robert Heller
Manufacturer: DK ADULT
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Essential Managers: Learning To Lead
ASIN: 0789424479 |
Amazon.com
If all business meetings could happen as concisely and productively as this nifty little book dispenses advice, we wouldn't need a pocket-sized meeting planner like this in the first place. But, because most of us do, be glad that this 72-pager offers what it does--namely, smart secrets and strategies for getting twice as much accomplished in meetings, and in half the time--including how to decide if you need to call a meeting in the first place, and, if so, if you can make it a quick and informal one; prepare a meeting, from the participants and location to the agenda; get the most out of your attendance at a meeting, from making sure that you're seen and heard to practicing "active listening" and taking good minutes; chair a meeting effectively by maintaining pace and order, problem-solving, and evaluating your own skill as a chairperson. On every page, boxed tips, handy checklists, and mini case studies bring all of the advice to life. Granted, if you're looking for very specific or in-depth guidance, you might find this book too cursory and general in its approach. But, if you're looking for a thumbnail guide to the basics, it'll do just fine.
It's worth mentioning that the book is part of the "Essential Managers" series by reference publisher Dorling-Kindersley--a series comprising 20 itty-bitty books on business and career topics that range from communication, leadership, and decision-making to the management of time, budgets, change, meetings, people, projects, and teams. Combining the talent of the "For Dummies" book series for breaking down a lot of information into bite-sized bits and sidebars with Dorling-Kindersley's signature design style of crisp, classy graphics on a gleaming white backdrop, the books don't represent the cutting edge of business thinking or reflect necessarily any unique individual perspective. Instead, it's as if someone had collated the best general thinking on these 20 topics, and rolled them out into 72 brightly designed and easy-to-read pages--studded along the way with boxed tips, color shots of a multiracial cast of "coworkers" animatedly hashing through the workplace issues of the day, and, on the last few pages of each volume, a self-test of one's skills in the topic at hand. Again, they're not for anyone who's looking for more in-depth or focused help on any of the covered subjects, but they're perfect as a quick general-interest reference; and, let's face it, they're so damn cute, and look so smart in a neat little stack or row, that probably you'll want to buy a whole bunch to give as gifts to your entire staff or department. --Timothy Murphy
Customer Reviews:
Dealing Tactics.......2003-12-08
Always so fond of 'Weekly Kids & Parental Meets', what I ever thought after attending meetings in person or groups elsewhere is, that most of the chairpersons and leaders lag somewhere when it came to 'Effective Managing Meetings' for Constructive results. I make a point to gift this book of Tim Hindle to the chiefs with a purpose to enhance their potentialities with better Managing Committees or groups. Most of the places, a meeting begins with a 'Cause', meet, dine and be merry to end up with time running short. This Book is a 'Perfect Gift' as it has detailed power tips to hand real life situations and develop first-class meeting skills to improve efficiency and decisiveness. Right from Defining Meetings whether Formal or Informal, knowing aims, selecting attendees, preparing agenda, site,passing the message, handling problems, checking those pitfalls and lot more reflects how to deal with situations. The book has small tabled 'Things to do' and analysis, charts too handy. I recommend this book for every newbie and existing top persons whether in Business or conducting Groups, Ladies wings, etc. A must read.
A Good Primer.......1999-12-02
This book is fairly basic, and its layout of short chapters, lots of headings, photos, lists, and tables make it a quick and easy book for browsing. This is a good book for those with little experience, or confidence, in handling or attending meetings. It also serves as a quick refresher, because of its format. You will not find anything profound or innovative, and some of it is a little too simplistic or irrelevant. At times it seems a little exploitive in its approach to human relations; it is not long on how to overcome differences or conflicts. Still, I recommended it in the leadership development course which I teach.
Product Description
Inside the Minds provides readers with proven business intelligence from C-Level executives (Chairman, CEO, CFO, CMO, Partner) from the world s most respected companies nationwide, rather than third-party accounts from unknown authors and analysts. Each chapter is comparable to an essay/thought leadership piece and is a future-oriented look at where an industry, profession or topic is headed and the most important issues for the future. Through an exhaustive selection process, each author was hand-picked by the Inside the Minds editorial board to author a chapter for this book.
Product Description
This second edition of Erica Weintraub Austin and Bruce E. Pinkletons popular text, Strategic Public Relations Management, helps readers move from a tactical public relations approach to a strategic management style. Building on the first edition, it demonstrates skillful use of research and planning techniques, providing updated research methods that make use of the Internet and programs aiding data entry and analysis. This version also expands its focus to communication program planning more broadly. Chapters in the book cover such critical topics as: *creating a framework for planning; *identifying the elements of a campaign; *determining research needs and developing the research plan; *gathering useful data for strategic guidance; *making research decisions; and *applying theory to professional practice. This book is valuable as a text in public relations management and communication campaigns courses, while also serving as a reference for practitioners. It introduces readers to the tools necessary for developing and presenting comprehensive, effective, and accountable public relations plans, ensuring they are well prepared for managing and executing communication campaigns.
Book Description
Every real estate professional knows -- time is money! John Mayfield's Five Minutes to a Great Real Estate Sales Meeting: A Desk Reference for Managing Brokers is a treasure chest of ideas for the real estate broker/manager on how to hold successful and motivational sales meetings. This simple, time-saving tool offers creative and proven ideas and includes a CD-ROM packed with resources that allow brokers and brokerage owners to spend more of their time focusing on day-to-day management duties, as well as listing and selling, rather than meeting preparation.
Product Description
Inside the Minds provides readers with proven business intelligence from C-Level executives (Chairman, CEO, CFO, CMO, Partner) from the world s most respected companies nationwide, rather than third-party accounts from unknown authors and analysts. Each chapter is comparable to an essay/thought leadership piece and is a future-oriented look at where an industry, profession or topic is headed and the most important issues for the future. Through an exhaustive selection process, each author was hand-picked by the Inside the Minds editorial board to author a chapter for this book.
Book Description
World?
Book Description
This digital document is an article from National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management, published by The National Underwriter Company on May 26, 1997. The length of the article is 1351 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
From the supplier: A class of the American Assn of Managing General Agents University had few students with employment practices liability for their firms. Many were family owned while others had had lawyers that advised them even to put employment practices in writing. It is important to have this type of coverage because many times employees will attempt to seek revenge against employers.
Citation Details
Title: AAMGA 'class' debates coverage needs.(American Association of Managing General Agents Meeting Report)
Author: Susanne Sclafane
Publication:
National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 26, 1997
Publisher: The National Underwriter Company
Volume: v101
Issue: n21
Page: p15(2)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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