Book Description
Thoroughly revised and updated, Educational Administration: A Problem-Based Approach shares with readers the very latest thinking in the field and relates it to significant real-life problems of practice.
Reflecting on current changes and thinking in educational administration, this book includes updated expert analysis pieces by noted authorities in every chapter. The book uses a problem-based approach and provides readers with opportunities to analyze and apply their knowledge to authentic situations. . It emphasizes a number of important challenges such as the increasing diversity in our schools and society and the impact of reforms and technology on learning environments.
For those involved in educational administration.
Book Description
Completely Updated and Revised
This revised edition of Peter Senge’s bestselling classic, The Fifth Discipline, is based on fifteen years of experience in putting the book’s ideas into practice. As Senge makes clear, in the long run the only sustainable competitive advantage is your organization’s ability to learn faster than the competition. The leadership stories in the book demonstrate the many ways that the core ideas in The Fifth Discipline, many of which seemed radical when first published in 1990, have become deeply integrated into people’s ways of seeing the world and their managerial practices.
In The Fifth Discipline, Senge describes how companies can rid themselves of the learning “disabilities” that threaten their productivity and success by adopting the strategies of learning organizations—ones in which new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, collective aspiration is set free, and people are continually learning how to create results they truly desire.
The updated and revised Currency edition of this business classic contains over one hundred pages of new material based on interviews with dozens of practitioners at companies like BP, Unilever, Intel, Ford, HP, Saudi Aramco, and organizations like Roca, Oxfam, and The World Bank. It features a new Foreword about the success Peter Senge has achieved with learning organizations since the book’s inception, as well as new chapters on Impetus (getting started), Strategies, Leaders’ New Work, Systems Citizens, and Frontiers for the Future.
Mastering the disciplines Senge outlines in the book will:
• Reignite the spark of genuine learning driven by people focused on what truly matters to them
• Bridge teamwork into macro-creativity
• Free you of confining assumptions and mindsets
• Teach you to see the forest and the trees
• End the struggle between work and personal time
Customer Reviews:
Insightful and Informative Book.......2007-10-20
The Fifth Discipline is a seminal book by the famous author Peter M. Senge. The book teaches the concept of the learning organization namely that the successful organization must continually adapt and learn in order to respond to changes in the environment effectively and therefore to grow and prosper. I have read the book a number of times and keep on referring to it as is filled with a lot useful knowledge and wisdom. System thinking and learning is critical to organisational growth and development in the present highly dynamic operating environment.
According to Peter Senge, "real learning gets to the heart of what it means to be human. Through learning we re-create ourselves. Through learning we become able to do something we never were able to do. Through learning we reperceive the world and our relationship to it. Through learning we extend our capacity to create, to be part of the generative process of life. There is within each of us a deep hunger for this type of learning"--powerful advice indeed from a real learning guru.
This revised and updated edition includes the thoughts and ideas of some successful practitioners, taking into account developments since the first edition was published about 15 years earlier. Do not be intimidated by the length of the book, over 450 pages, as it is very informative, insightful and interesting to read.
I recommend this book for individuals interested in understanding the nature of how organizations develop, how behaviours are formed, and how organizations achieve growth and augment their capabilities. You will learn how to improve the way your organization or department functions, how to review and improve systems and how to develop shared visions, create long term goals among other critical insights.
Fifth discipline.......2007-09-29
I have not read the book yet, but it came to me very fast. I was pleased with the service and I enjoy using Amazon.
Katrius
Must read.......2007-09-17
Any manager who wishes to develop the organization he works for must read this book. It is an excellent introduction to systems thinking within any type of organization.
The World is Knowledge Intensive.......2007-09-06
In addition to being a fan of Peter Senge, I'm also a great fan of the ultimate management guru, Peter Drucker, who got me thinking about "the learning organization" in his book, The Age of Discontinuity, when he said: "The world is becoming not labor intensive, not material intensive, not energy intensive, but knowledge intensive." I believe it, and thus, I was very receptive to Senge's thoughts in this book.
The central premise of my latest book, The Three Pillars of Sustainable Profit & Growth The Three Pillars of Sustainable Profit and Growth is this: the only sustainable advantage any firm can achieve in the future is the quality of the human talent it is able to recruit and retain. The knowledge they bring with them, and continue to acquire, is the key to their company's future growth and success.
Senge put it this way: "The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage."
Bottom line: I believe that managing knowledge in the contemporary business world is just as important as managing money. Successful companies of the future will clearly be seen as learning organizations, which Senge aptly defined as "a group of people who are continually enhancing their capability to create their own future."
Thought Leadership, and Breakthrough ideas.......2007-08-27
I found this book highly simulating but required heavy study to transfer the ideas into the working environment. I found the framework was incomplete especially around the issues of creating a learning environment. Senges' framework for Systems is best described in terms of 'systems dynamics' which leads onto a more developed theory by others on system complexity and emergence.
He describes what might be an end state without detailing how to get there, the later follow up field book on tools and methods now fills this gap neatly. Both books together are perfect.
This book sets out theory very well, it also provides Thought Leadership, Breakthrough ideas and Inspiration. Its well written and enjoyable.
Book Description
Getting Organized is a collection of simple ideas that address at least six major issues that could be generating chaos and disorder in your life. These ideas are presented in a simple format, with specific suggestions on how to put each idea to work, so busy people can find the time to read and try them. Simply stated, Getting Organized will help you improve your ability to focus, organize and prioritize.
Getting Organized includes tips, ideas and recommendations that are being successfully taught by corporate trainers and professional organizers in GO System training sessions all over the country. Even if you've tried unsuccessfully to get organized before, consider reading Getting Organized. You'll find effective solutions to your organizing challenges and will enjoy the benefits for years to come.
Customer Reviews:
Should be on your bookshelf.......2007-10-22
Chris Crouch's "Getting Organized: Improving Focus, Organization and Productivity" is a fine read which accomplishes what all good teachers do best: Imparting with vivid good humor and simplicity the wisdoms of processes taken beyond the classroom. The target audience here, primarily workers in any workplace, calls for a most delicate balancing act: Being thoughtful and succinctly explaining the theory, practice, and results of a disciplined approach to Organization. Mr. Crouch accomplishes this masterfully with anecdotes, explanations, and his "master teacher" persona.
Practical ideas that produce results.......2007-07-13
You won't get rich from simply reading a "How to Get Rich" book and you won't get organized and productive from just reading any book - you have to take action and implement the ideas.
I have used the principles and ideas outlined in "Getting Organized" for several years and found them to be extremely valuable.
Becoming more organized and productive is not a matter of what type of filing system or PDA you use, it involves making a habit of organized and productive behavior.
This book provides concrete tools for forming those habits. Simply outstanding!
a nice, integrated system.......2007-07-03
Crouch has some very solid ideas here, with practical applications. Worth looking at.
More at: Some thoughts from the book "Getting Organized" by Chris Crouch
[...]
Look at the reviews carefully.......2007-05-10
I wish I would have looked at the reviews carefully before buying this piece of fluff! I now took the time to look at more than the gold stars and actually read those reviews, and it seems that 99.9% of them were written by people who have paid to have this author give seminars at their offices. I have a feeling they got a discount for each 5 star review they gave.
When you can't handle email or incoming/outgoing paperwork, no book OR seminar is going to help you ... perhaps your career path should begin with a McJob!
If you are looking for REAL organization books that apply to your home and office space, I suggest "Organizing From The Inside Out" and "Sink Reflections".
Will only be helpful for a few........2007-04-14
The book was NOT what I was expecting based on prior reviews. This is NOT a guide to life organizing and prioritizing but rather the author's idea of handling office incoming mail, a filing reminder system for phone calls to be made and work to be done, keeping things one needs to share with another individual in a central location, and scheduling and consolidating that sharing. For those who don't need a computer to do their job, have a memory like a sieve, or are super disorganized and don't know where to begin to start, this might be helpful, otherwise, save your money. His ideas are only practical in a low volume paperwork environment and with those who have non-technical professions. Some kind of portable, daily planner or calendar or a computer syncing PDA is much more practical.
Book Description
Senge's best-selling The Fifth Discipline led Business Week to dub him the "new guru" of the corporate world; here he offers executives a step-by-step guide to building "learning organizations" of their own.
Customer Reviews:
Tools for creating a Learning Culture.......2006-09-11
Peter M Serge, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook
To quote the first few paragraphs at beginning of book:
Among the tribes of northen Natal in South Africa, the most common greeting, equivalent to "hello" in English, is the expression: Sawu bona. It literally means, "I see you." If you are a member of the tribe, you might reply by saying Sikhona, "I am here." The order of the exchange is important: until you see me, I do not exist. It's as if, when you see me bring me into existence.
This meaning, implicit in the language, is part of the spirit of ubuntu, a frame of mind prevalent among native people in Africa below the Sahara. The word ubuntu stems from the folk saying Umuntu ngumuntu nagabantu, which from Zulu, literally translates as: "A person is a person because of other people."
"I bow in honor and reverence that place within you where to the Universe resides, when you are in that place within you, and I am in that place within me, there is One." ~namaste
The five disciplines are at the CORE of a Learning Organization
1) Personal Mastery: expand your personal capacity and ability
2) Mental Models: see how our internal pictures of the world shape action and decision
3) Shared Vision: group commitment
4) Team Learning: group ability is greater than the sum of individual talents
5) System Thinking:
"When we try to bring about change in our societies, we are treated first with indifference, then with ridicule, then with abuse and then with oppression. And finally, the greatest challenge is thrown at us: We are treated with respect. This is the most dangerous stage." --A. T. Ariyaratne (Speech made at International Community Leadership Summit, Winrock, Arkansas, March 1983. This quote paraphrases and expands upon a well-known statement made by Mahatma Gandhi in his book Satyagraha in South Africa, 1982, 1979, Canon, Me.: Greenleaf books)
"An [organization] is not a machine but a living organism." --Ikujiro Nonaka /****
Fundamentals of epistemology: what is knowledge, the nature of knowledge, and what constitutes learning.
understanding is achieved after internalization.
Without experience, we cannot truly understand.
Internalization: transformation from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge, habits and culture that we do not recognize in ourselves.
Innovation is a process to capture, create, leverage, and retain knowledge.
What is your belief? A belief about images of the world - you may call it a mental model - is a very subjective thing
information is the flow of a message, while knowledge is created by accumulating information. Thus, information is a necessary medium or material for eliciting and constructing knowledge.
The second difference is that information is something passive. When we switch on a TV set, information comes regardless of my commitment. But knowledge comes from my belief, so it's more proactive.
And the organizational knowledge or intellectual infrastructure of an organization encourages its individual members to develop new knowledge through new experiences.
This dynamic process is the key to organizational knowledge creation - that is, socialization (from individual tacit knowledge to group tacit knowledge), externalization (from tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge), combination (from separate explicit knowledge to systemic explicit knowledge), and internalization (from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge) [...].
[...]
Three Guiding Ideas
1) The Whole. When you are pointing a finger at the problems, notice how many fingers are pointing back at you. If you fixed the symptoms and ignore the root causes, the problems have not gone away. Another way to look at this is treat the person, not the disease. Of course treat the disease if the patient is dying, but know that the patient will get sick again because the "root causes" are stil there.
2) Community. The self is "a point of view." "The essence of being a person is being in a relationship [with] other people." You will not believe this, but each person before you is there for a reason. The reason this person is there at this moment is for you to learn something about yourself. If you ignore the person, do not ignore or forget the lesson.
3) Language. The map is not the territory. We cannot contain every bit of information that comes to us in the world, so we have to create a "map of the territory" and then refer to the map for our information. By changing a person's map, we change their reality. Language is the map, not the reality.
enlightening concepts about leadership.......2005-10-26
It seems to me that The Fifth Discipline (the previous publication of the series) is more attacting to me. The second book can be more precise and concise in content. Generally speaking I still like these two books as a foreign reader.
The Fifth Discipline.......2003-02-08
This book is a collection of theoretical summaries, reports, analyses, and strategies all quite useful to anyone interested in generating some thinking and action around change. The team of five writers (Peter Senge, Richard Ross, Bryan Smith, Charlotte Roberts, and Art Kleiner) provide some original work, but also serve as editors to a vast quantity of material drawn from practitioners, theorists, and writers in the field of organizational improvement. According to Senge, "great teams are learning organizations - groups of people who, over time, enhance their capacity to create what they truly desire to create." (p.18) This book is really about creating and building great teams. The learning organization develops its ability to reflect on, discuss, question, and change its current and past practices. To do this, people and groups in the organization need to meaningfully pursue the study and practice of the five disciplines - personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, and systems thinking.
The learning organization - Senge's vision for the productive, competitive, and efficient institutions of the future - is in a continuous state of change. Four fundamental questions continuously serve to check and guide a group's learning and improvement (see page 49): (1) Do you continuously test your experiences? ("Are you willing to examine and challenge your sacred cows - not just during crises, but in good times?") (2) Are you producing knowledge? ("Knowledge, in this case, means the capacity for effective action.") (3) Is knowledge shared? ("Is it accessible to all of the organization's members?") (4) Is the learning relevant? ("Is this learning aimed at the organization's core purpose?") If these questions represent the organization's compass, the five disciplines are its map.
Each of the five disciplines is explained, and elaborated in its own lengthy section of the book. In the section on "Systems Thinking" (a set of practices and perspectives, which views all aspects of life as inter-related and playing a role in some larger system), the authors build on the idea of feedback loops (reinforcing and balancing) and introduce five systems archetypes. They are: "fixes that backfire", "limits to growth", "shifting the burden", "tragedy of the commons", and "accidental adversaries". In the section on "Personal Mastery", the authors argue that learning starts with each person. For organizations to learn and improve, people within the organization (perhaps starting with its core leadership) must learn to reflect on and become aware of their own core beliefs and visions. In "Mental Models", the authors argue that learning organizations need to explore the assumptions and attitudes, which guide their institutional directions, practices, and strategies. Articles on scenario planning, the ladder of inference, the left-hand column, and balancing inquiry and advocacy offer practical strategies to investigate our personal mental models as well as those of others in the organization. In "Shared Vision", the authors make the case for the stakeholders of an organization to continually adapt their vision ("an image of a desired future"), values ("how we get to travel to where we want to go"), purpose ("what the organization is here to do"), and goals ("milestones we expect to reach before too long"). The section offers many strategies and perspectives on how to move an organization toward continuous reflection. In "Team Learning", the authors rely mostly on the work of William Isaacs and others, and make a case for educating organization members in the processes and skills of dialogue and skillful discussion.
This book is enlightening and informative. It has already found a place on my shelf for essential reference books.
A follow up to the legend.......2003-01-27
The Fieldbook attempts at making the esoteric concepts of the fifth discipline more down to earth and contains a treasure trove of strategies, tools, methods and explanations on how to make the learning organization into a reality.
Thus people who have read The fifth discipline will gain the most from this book. It's a must read for people who want to make their organizations transition into a 'learning organization'
A second dose of Inspiration..........2002-02-09
Senge's second serving of the Learning Organization is filled with practical tips and real-life examples from companies and organizations that have embraced the teachings of the Learning Organization successfully.
The Book is a collaboration of several writers who do a superb job of unraveling the web that is the learning organization. At times, it may seem to the reader that the book is a labyrinth of disjointed concepts and ideas. However, if you have read `The Fifth Discipline' you will find no problems following the concepts introduced. In fact, you will even understand why the writers have chosen to introduce them in that fashion. If you have not read "The Fifth Discipline', do not despair, it will take a little longer to get `the whole picture'.
The Book is divided into 8 main sections:
1) Getting Started addresses the basic concepts and ideas of the Learning Organization.
2) Systems Thinking (the fifth discipline) - Many people have argued that Senge should have delegated the fifth discipline until the end, however, without Systems Thinking, your vision is disjointed and incomplete.
3) Personal Mastery covers the area of individual development and learning. The chapters here are among the most valuable in the area of self-growth and self-improvement.
4) Mental Models - These are the pictures that you have in your head which represent reality.
5) Shared Vision - You've seen the whole picture, you've developed and you understand how you see the world. Now you need to find a common cause with the rest of the people in your organization, something that you all work for.
6) Team Learning - As you work with other people in teams or groups, you need to pass the stuff that you have learnt and the wisdom you've acquired to others. At this stage, the learning is no longer that of the individual, but the group.
7) Arenas of Practice - (Self explanatory)
8) Frontiers - Where do we go from here.
If you are interested in development, learning, growth, leadership, gaining a competitive edge whether at an organizational or personal level, then this book is for you. In fact, I'd venture to say that this is book is for everyone.
Customer Reviews:
I want to know what is education reform?.......2004-01-05
I need to know the meaning of education reform.
Amazon.com
Presence can be read as a both a guide and a challenge to leaders in business, education, and government to transform their institutions into powerful agents of change in a world increasingly out of balance. Since business is the most powerful institution in the world today, the authors argue, it must play a key role in solving global societal problems. Yet so many institutions seem to run people rather than the other way around. In this illuminating book, the authors seek to understand why people don't change systems and institutions even when they pose a threat to society, and examine why institutional change is so difficult to attain.
The authors view large institutions such as global corporations as a new species that are affecting nearly all other life forms on the planet. Rather than look at these systems as merely the extension of a few hyper-powerful individuals, they see them as a dynamic organisms with the potential to learn, grow, and evolve--but only if people exert control over them and actively eliminate their destructive aspects. "But until that potential is activated," they write, "industrial age institutions will continue to expand blindly, unaware of their part in a larger whole or of the consequences of their growth." For global institutions to be recreated in positive ways, there must be individual and collective levels of awareness, followed by direct action. Raising this awareness is what Presence seeks to achieve. Drawing on the insights gleaned from interviews with over 150 leading scientists, social leaders, and entrepreneurs, the authors emphasize what they call the "courage to see freshly"--the ability to view familiar problems from a new perspective in order to better understand how parts and wholes are interrelated.
This is not a typical business book. Mainly theoretical, it does not offer specific tips that organizational managers or directors can apply immediately; rather, it offers powerful tools and ideas for changing the mindset of leaders and unlocking the latent potential to "develop awareness commensurate with our impact, wisdom in balance with our power." --Shawn Carkonen
Book Description
Presence is an intimate look at the development of a new theory about change and learning. In wide-ranging conversations held over a year and a half, organizational learning pioneers Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers explored the nature of transformational change—how it arises, and the fresh possibilities it offers a world dangerously out of balance. The book introduces the idea of “presence”—a concept borrowed from the natural world that the whole is entirely present in any of its parts—to the worlds of business, education, government, and leadership. Too often, the authors found, we remain stuck in old patterns of seeing and acting. By encouraging deeper levels of learning, we create an awareness of the larger whole, leading to actions that can help to shape its evolution and our future.
Drawing on the wisdom and experience of 150 scientists, social leaders, and entrepreneurs, including Brian Arthur, Rupert Sheldrake, Buckminster Fuller, Lao Tzu, and Carl Jung, Presence is both revolutionary in its exploration and hopeful in its message. This astonishing and completely original work goes on to define the capabilities that underlie our ability to see, sense, and realize new possibilities—in ourselves, in our institutions and organizations, and in society itself.
Customer Reviews:
Best Book on this topic.......2007-09-09
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It combines important, visionary concepts with clear illustrations and stories for a general readership. The authors present a hopeful way for humans to deal with the challenges of our time.
An important book, perhaps a couple of decades ahead of its time........2007-07-31
This outstanding book has been published in several editions under the same title. It is about how to pursue group endeavors capable of changing organizations, communities and the world for the better. To that end, Senge et al explain the details of the path to be taken which they named as "The U Process". I would say that Presence's concepts pushes the envelop in organizational learning, visionary leadership and strategic thinking. I personally see the "U Process" as a set of guidelines for a "Hero's Journey" to be followed collectively by a group. Most fascinating and enlightening.
From conversations with my colleagues, this "U Process" appears to them as being so novel that it is perhaps way ahead of our times. Yet I would suggest that its far reaching implications are practical, useful and important. In my work in facilitating epic spirit workshops and strategic thinking, this "U Process" helps people get in sync with their overall environment. Furthermore, the U Process allows them to become more conscius of being a part of that same environment thus leading into a higher plateau for individual, organizational and collective learning. It is worthwhile to note that going through a Presencing experience at a personal level might be a prerequisite to fully grasp its power for organizational and or collective learning.
Just as is often the case for many new approaches, Presencing experiences will contribute to enlighten disbelievers. For those of us that are putting this book's concepts to work, the adventure has already started to bring rewards.
Brilliant.......2007-07-01
A new way of thinking and talking about change ... and I hope it will learn us a new "doing" of change ;-) I'm convinced !
Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society.......2007-05-12
I did not find this to be a very useful book for my MBA studies.
A very important book written by people that care deeply about the direction of our future, and a work in progress however..........2007-01-19
I'm not sure that the presentation given in this specific book is for everyone... and this maybe the source of the polarization of views on Amazon
The best piece of advice I could give would be first go to Otto's website (and some of the other associated websites although probably not SOL) and go through the resources there (and there's an extensive list of resources). It will provide a much better overview than I can give you here. From there you can see the model, gain some context on its origin and application. Then decide if you want to read this book, given what I discuss below.
The book is taken from transcripts of conversations the authors had in the first part of this decade. It includes personal conversations, reflections and commentary on the extensive interviews with scientists, leaders (including many spiritual leaders) and entrepreneurs they did which underpin the philosophical basis of the model they've created. It does provide a good context for the model, it's just that it's quite a long book and sometimes reading it is a little frustrating, especially if you're somewhat versed in the areas they talk about. I struggled getting through the last half for this reason. I have no doubt the other reviewer here was frustrated as well. That said, with the internet, availability of books and democratisation of information these days it can be hard going for authors as often their readers have different and sometimes more extensive experience in the field and other perspectives they've not considered. While their model is uniquely their creation, the concepts and ideas and some of the methods (eg. shamanic journey) are not. For people not well versed in these areas then I'm sure they'd pick up a few valuable new perspectives, insights and ideas they could use in their business (although that isn't the intention of this book and I would suggest that's what frustrated other reviewers who were looking in it for a source of ideas and tools).
In the book you'll find lots of references to dialogue, open space type ideas, systems theory and perspectives, natural systems and the new sciences, spirituality, shamanism, personal transformation and the importance of inner work, prototyping, suspending assumptions, storytelling, synchronicity, seeing from the whole and so on. You'll find that many of the ideas discussed have been written about in their prior individual work. Included are many examples of companies and people that illustrate these philosophies and some extracts of conversations with people like Dee Hock.
What's the difference between editions? From their website:
'The differences between the books are minor. The Doubleday/SoL edition has been revised to be slightly shorter (289 pages vs. 304), but the substance of the book is essentially the same. Changes to the jacket design and the subtitle were made by Doubleday to appeal to a wider audience.
The original SoL edition was conceived as a short-run limited edition book. It was intended for distribution only through SoL's website, and through Amazon. The goal was to get the book directly into the hands of people who were already engaged in deep learning work, and our marketing efforts were focused on that group. SoL decided to have Doubleday publish the book with a SoL imprint in order to respond to a need for wider distribution through more traditional channels.'
There's no doubting though the sincerity of the authors, their care for the planet, and their work and their genuine desire to make a difference with what they do. That can be seen through the establishment of the Global Leadership Initiative and is also deeply reflected in the conversations they've had which are included in this book. (From memory they only go up to around year 2002, so I would imagine things have evolved since then).
This is an important book, one written by people who deeply care about the direction the planet is heading in and have made a very good effort to develop a new tool for use in business and leadership. While some people will see this in a cynical way as being just another theory or another tool for the authors to line their pockets, I don't think this is the case. I love how as part of the course Otto teaches, the notes are actually available free on the internet in the MIT Open Courseware initiative whose aim is to make widely available the content of the university's courses. (Unfortunately though I don't that's going to apply to their teaching of this model!) I know others that do this as well where they generously periodically make publicly available their tools and methods, forcing themselves to constantly innovate and evolve their approach and making a contribution to the public good rather than the common separative method of labeling ideas and models (often that are well known in the public domain anyway) as private intellectual property which is then jealously protected.
For most people reading this review though I'd say looking at Otto's website should suffice to give you all the context you need about the model and then reading his new book Theory U - Leading from the Future as it Emerges due out in 2007.
Book Description
The Corporate University Workbook gives you everything you need to create effective, systematic, learning infrastructure within your organization. As a result, you will develop employees who are capable of adapting to rapid changes and who deliver the results your business needs! This resource offers a dynamic combination of practical methodology, best practices, and step-by-step guidance. The Workbook, along with the CD-ROM, are filled with the tools, templates, and activities you need to develop and implement a corporate university. Build a corporate university in your organization and develop human talent in an effective and measurable manner. The Corporate University Workbook will help create a highly effective corporate university that will
- Identify your organization’s competencies and skills
- Develop the specific development programs with internal or external formal training, experiential learning, and coaching
- Encourage the growth of informal learning communities
- Foster networking and the exchange of learning
- Help you build learning into the work process
- Disseminate and increase knowledge
- Help employees develop strong career choices and skills
- Anticipate the skills, competencies, and abilities your organization will need in the future
Customer Reviews:
Great!.......2007-04-02
I am a Consultant charged with setting up a corporate university for a 100 person company. The workbook provided me with the structure of a university and things to think about in creating a university. I didn't use the CD yet, but did love the book!
A road map for talent development ..........2005-03-13
From strategic visioning through measuring success, this practical workbook provides tools, guidelines and even a dozen templates in the enclosed CD. Mr. Wheeler shares best practices, from years of experience and research. With the lead from product advances shrinking, human talent will become a major competitive differentiator. I highly recommend for anyone challenged to support your organization's success through talent development.
A must have workbook........2005-03-10
If you are involved in setting up or work for a corporate university, run, don't walk to your nearest book seller and purchase this workbook. Long overdue, The Corporate University Workbook, written in plan, easy to understand English, walks the reader through eleven chapters packed with business oriented explanations, strategies, checklists, exercises, case studies and rationales for designing, building and maintaining a world class corporate university. Destined to become a classic in the field, The Corporate University Workbook should be required reading and within arms reach of anyone responsible for establishing or fine tuning their organization's corporate university.
Philip McGee, Ed.D., THRD, Clemson University
A Must Read if You Want to Build a Corporate University.......2005-02-20
Kevin Wheeler makes it clear early on in his book that successful corporate universities must go beyond traditional training. Learning goes far beyond training, incorporating a wide range of informal learning processes and activities. This differentiates this book from much of what has been written in the past about corporate universities--focusing on mostly course-oriented training. Wheeler takes the reality of broad-based learning in organizations into account and provides a very detailed and practical guide for building a successful and flexbible corporate university. The book contains lots of templates and practical lists with questions and issues that must be addressed by someone building a corporate university. Each chapter begins with a review of an unsuccessful and a successful example of corporate universities, making it clear that success is by no means guaranteed. But the probability of success will no doubt be much higher for those who do their homework and not only read this book but complete the numerous exercises that Wheeler has carefully prepared to assist those ready to build a corporate university meant to transform an organization into a 21st century learning organization.
Customer Reviews:
Ideas Which Make One Think.......2005-03-08
I was very impressed with the honest questions, the hard to ask questions that Rogers asks about education. In the beginning chapter, he admits that there are disturbing questions worthy of great debate, questions whose answers will form the foundation for students and learners. What will education do to take the edge off of racial tension? How will education help prevent civil and world wars? Back in 1969, Carl Rogers saw some disturbing trends. He talked about the possible student revolts against this conservative and rigid institution which could be very harmful to the entire process. Some of his worst nightmares are taking effect today. School violence in our inner cities is sky rocketing with no end in sight. Child are losing respect for their teachers at a very young age. There seems to be a lot less respect for educators than there was 25 years ago when I was in school. Rogers was also concerned with profit-making corporations getting too much of a hand in education. This is a big concern these days with the society taking on more and more of a corporate feel. If Dr. Rogers saw education at a crisis point in 1969, then where are we now??
In the book, CR also differentiates experiental (self-directed)learning from meaningless rote type learning, where there is no personal context for connection. To have freedom to learn, a person's self-confidence and curiousity grows along with intense curiousity to learn more, to have initial learning build on itself to create something brand new.
This book made me think of the unnecessary regimentation which still plagues much of public education. Students should be encouraged (like in the movie "Dead Poets Society") to do their own dance, to fill their own sails with self-directed discovery.
Rogers' concept of congruence has a lot to do with what he is talking about here. The ability to be real in a relationship is much like the teacher being real in accepting the true needs of the student. It is only with empathic listening, not regimentation, with honestly instead of false airs of playing the education game, with a person-centered approach to education and career related goals, not wishes imposed from the outside.....that, I believe, is what he is getting at. A teacher, he says, "must be a person to his students", not a faceless embodiment of a cirricular requirement nor a sterile tube through which knowledge is passed from one generation to the next."
He sums up his feelings about developing optimal climates for student learning, in a person-centered way:
"If we are to have citizens who can live constructively in this kaleidoscopically changing world, we can only have them if we are willing for them to become self-starting, self-initiating learners. Finally, it has been my purpose to show that this kind of learner develops best, so far as we now know, in a growth- promoting, facilitative, relationship with a person."
This book is garbage........2004-12-10
I am totally disgusted by this book for at least two reasons.
By page 32, the authors have referred to pregnancy as a disease, a "pathology," and "a medical emergency" several times. It is cited as evidence of poor performance of the public schools. First of all, pregnancy is not a disease. It is the way by which we reproduce ourselves. Many consider it to be desired for the continuation of our species. Secondly, of course female sexuality would be blamed for the failures of the state. Whenever the men in power fail us, they have to drag some teenage girl out into the street and shave her head, right? "If my magic did not protect you in battle, it was because my wife was menstruating."
They keep insisting that public schools are necessary for the function of democracy. Because they seem not to want to admit that democracy is not the modus operandi of the United States (remember slavery, the draft, the election of 2000?), the public schools just being another cog in the machine that oppresses working people, they postulate that if only the public schools were reformed, democracy would somehow thrive here. Their interpretation of the evidence that the public schools are prisons at best, sometimes torture chambers, is interpreted to mean that public schools are the balm that will heal the ills of the other "pillars of support" : families, culture, religion, community.
On page 31, the authors give us in support of their theory a story about a public school teacher beating a child with a wooden board. The doors to the classrooms in this school are padlocked, so without a key, they can be opened neither from within or without. Clearly, the children are regarded as slaves, locked in cages, with no concern for their human rights, or even if they survive in the event of a fire. Yet the authors continue to extoll the virtues of our public schools. They are the bedrock of democracy.
A book for all who love teaching.......2000-03-26
I'm writing to you to tell you that the book is not out of print! At least my local bookseller quoted me £23 for it only yesterday!
I rate the book very highly, and the reason I want a copy is so that I can present it to my daughter on her graduation as a teacher. If you confirm to me that it is out of print I shall go back to my bookseller (who may, of course, be wrong!).
Best regards,Paul
humanistic education living and breathing.......1998-04-27
Humanistic education alive and well!! Did John Dewey start this lineage, or does it go back farther still? This book is both an introduction and an advanced course in the heart and soul of relating to students as individuals, not classes. Following Carl Roger's death, H. Jerome Freiberg co-wrote this Third Edition at the invitation of Roger's daughter. Freiberg keeps the best of the old and supplements it with up-to-date research. His touch is so deft and his philosophy so congruent with Roger's that I had trouble telling one author's voice from the other's as they alternated first-person chapters. One chapter is a summary of Aspy and Roebuck's Kid's Don't Learn from People They Don't Like, a hard-to-find out-of-print book that provides some surprising (to me) statistical support for humanistic education. Freiberg also cites Arthur Combs, author of A Personal Approach to Teaching: Beliefs That Make a Difference, another out-of-print book that with Zen-like simplicity cuts through all the debate about teaching technique to reveal that it's how teacher's FEEL about students, not so much what they do, that creates healthy learning places for people to grow. I highly recommend FREEDOM TO LEARN, and it also contains a wealth of resources for teachers wishing to follow this "path with a heart."
Book Description
The definitive resource for anyone developing and launching evaluation programs in organizations.
From new product launches to large-scale training initiatives, organizations need the tools to measure the effectiveness of their programs, processes, and systems. In Evaluation in Organizations, Darlene Russ-Eft and Hallie Preskill integrate the most current research with practical application to provide the definitive resource on organizational evaluation for managers, human resource professionals, and students and teachers alike. From designing surveys and interviews to analyzing data to communicating results, the authors present a systematic and rigorous approach to conducting evaluations and using them to foster learning and enhance performance at all levels.
Customer Reviews:
Evaluation handbook.......2007-01-07
This book was used as the principal text in a graduate management course. It offers a good overview of the evaluation process and a step by step process to either evaluate your organization, or create an evaluation process.
The best book on Program Evaluation.......2005-09-28
This text is a phenomenal resource on evaluating programs. This was a required text for a recent class that I was enrolled in for graduate school. It has all the information you would need regarding the background/context of evaluation, designing evaluations, and utilizing collected data. This book is also clear and concise.
The greatest resource that I will use the most is the information on forming surveys and questionaires. There are a lot of great examples (of everything, not just surveys) throughout the book. It provides many contextual likert scale surverys. This will always be helpful to look back on because of the wordings and phrasings used in surveys. Creating an effective survey is extremely tough; but, with the help of this text, it can be a lot easier to both conduct and understand.
The faculty member at my institution said that she agreed that this was the best book on the market for program evaluation. I tend to agree with her because it has a huge amount of information and it is easily accessible and easily referenced. It has some images and diagrams that are informative and moderately pleasant to look at.
If you are going to be evaluating programs and don't know where to start or you just need some reference materials for creating surveys/questionaires then this book is for you. I could also see this book as a valuable resource for someone who is on the other end (having a program evaluated) simply for the fact that it will help with vocabulary/nomenclature when communicating with the evaluators.
Excellent "how-to" book on corporate evaluation.......2002-05-29
Russ-Eft and Preskill have produced a first class book on evaluation that will be a constantly used reference on the bookshelf of any trainer, performance technologist or change agent who buys it. They begin with the history and theory of evaluation, presented in a very readable manner. Even their statistics section is easy to follow and apply! The section on the design and implementation of evaluations is packed with job aids, easy-to-apply tools and techniques, and guidelines on everything from running focus groups to sampling procedures. As a corporate evaluator I have been waiting for a book with this broad but in-depth coverage for years. Every aspect of the work of the evaluator is covered, and it is clear that the authors are both personally experienced in this field as well as widely read in the evaluation literature. Preskill and Torres' Readiness for Organizational Learning and Evaluation Instrument (ROLE) is generously included with instructions on administration and scoring, as well as an extensive bibliography for those who want to dig deeper into the subject of evaluation. This book is a must for those who are seriously committed to assessing the effectiveness and impact of interventions in organizations.
Cohesive, Comprehensive, and Cost-Effective.......2001-07-10
The subtitle correctly indicates what Russ-Eft and Preskill's primary objective is: To present and explain "a systematic approach to enhancing learning, performance, and change" throughout any organization, regardless of size of nature. They succeed brilliantly. The material is presented as follows:
Part I: Background and Context of Evaluation (Defining Evaluation; The Evolution of Evaluation; Evaluating Learning, Performance, and Change Initiatives; and The Politics and Ethics of Evaluation Practice)
Part II: Designing and Implementing the Evaluation (Focusing the Evaluation; Selecting the Evaluation Design; Choosing Data Collection Methods; Observation and Archival Data; Surveys and Questionnaires; Individual and Focus Group Initiatives; Sampling; and Analyzing Evaluation Data)
Part III: Maximizing Evaluation Use (Communicating and Reporting Evaluation Activities and Findings; Planning, Managing, and Budgeting the Evaluation; Evaluating the Evaluation; and Strategies for Implementing Evaluation in Organizations)
The authors then provide a comprehensive audit mechanism (with specific directions) in an appendix to the three-phase system: "The Readiness for Organizational Learning and Evaluation Instrument (ROLE)" developed by Hallie Preskill and Rosalie T. Torres. For those in need ot supplementary resources, a substantial References section is also provided.
Here is a brief excerpt: "Evaluation can be viewed as a catalyst and opportunity for learning -- learning what works and what doesn't work, learning about ourselves and the organization, and learning how to improve what we do in the workplace. As such, it can provide new understandings and insights into our programs, processes, products, and systems. Furthermore, evaluation can provide us with the confidence with which to make decisions and take actions that ultimately help employees and organizations succeed in meeting their goals." The authors agree with countless others that the future success of organizations will be dependent on their ability to build core competencies within a context of collaboration. They suggest that to develop support for evaluation as a knowledge-creating enterprise, "we must create a market for it. If we think about evaluation as a means for learning and attaining knowledge, then it becomes integrated into every organizational effort --from product development to program design to process reengineering to systemic change." They then suggest seven specific strategies when introducing or expanding evaluation practice. Throughout the book, they also include 60 Figures (e.g. "Guiding Principles for Evaluators") and three Tables (e.g. "Typical sections and contents of comprehensive written evaluation reports").
Who will derive the greatest value from this book? Obviously, decision-makers in organizations in need of "enhancing learning, performance, and change." Presumably that includes all organizations. Also, I highly recommend this book to all consultants now involved with organizations which have the same need. Presumably that includes all of their clients. Finally, I think this book will of immediate interest and eventual benefit to anyone who has only recently embarked on a business career. They will soon realize (if they have not realized it already) that the nature and extent of what they learn, how well they perform, and how effectively they initiate or respond to change will determine the nature and extent of their career success.
With the possible exception of Peter Drucker, no single source can possibly serve all of the needs of any one organization. For that reason, to those who read this book, I presume to recommend a few others: Fitz-enz's The E-Aligned Enterprise and The ROI of Human Capital, Maister's Practice What You Preach, O'Toole's Leading Change, Senge's The Fifth Discipline and The Dance of Change, Katzenbach's Real Change Leaders, O'Dell and Grayson's If We Only Knew What We Know, and just about anything written by Warren Bennis.
Book Description
Authors Rena Palloff and Keith Pratt have written a comprehensive reference for faculty to use to hone their skills as online instructors and for students to use to become more effective online learners. Filled with numerous examples from actual online courses and insights from teachers and students, Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom covers the entire online teaching process. This essential guide offers helpful suggestions for dealing with such critical issues as evaluating effective courseware, working with online classroom dynamics, addressing the needs of the online student, making the transition to online teaching, and promoting the development of the learning community.
Download Description
Authors Rena Palloff and Keith Pratt have written a comprehensive reference for faculty to use to hone their skills as online instructors and for students to use to become more effective online learners. Filled with numerous examples from actual online courses and insights from teachers and students, Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom covers the entire online teaching process. This essential guide offers helpful suggestions for dealing with such critical issues as evaluating effective courseware, working with online classroom dynamics, addressing the needs of the online student, making the transition to online teaching, and promoting the development of the learning community.
Customer Reviews:
Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom.......2005-03-17
"Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom: The realities of Online teaching" is a great book for someone who is interested in the possibilities of online education and teaching. Palloff and Pratt offer a lot of great tips and ideas that are very concise and easy to understand. They provide commonsense guidelines in conducting online teaching in a way that is simple to digest, entertaining, and useful to teachers, administrators, or whoever else is interested in the realm of online teaching and education.
I personally liked the way the authors really tried the simplify their views on how to make a successful online teaching experience. Their "Keys to Success" seemed to be very helpful and realistic for many institutions to implement with careful planning.
Another especially helpful idea throughout the book was their tips at the end of some sections. By providing these simple tips it helps readers summarize the section and allows readers to easily review the material after they have read though the book once or twice.
I feel that this book is a "must-have" for people who have some interest in this relatively new and every changing field of online teaching.
Fosters Community Among Educators And Their Students!.......2002-02-11
Growing numbers of K-12 schools, colleges, universities, and businesses have begun offering online instruction, taking advantage of computer and Internet technologies to deliver instruction once confined to the realm of physical classrooms. Indeed, the Internet, so-to-speak, has become a virtual classroom and community where all kinds of instruction can take place - anytime day or night, anywhere around the world.
Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom offers readers a broad treatment of the issues involved in planning, creating, and carrying out distance education via the Internet. In a concise manner the book introduces the issues, raises many serious questions, and provides many solutions to help meet the educational goals of instructors, their learning institutions, and their students.
The real beauty of the book lies in its effort to motivate instructors and learning institutions to think through the issues for themselves - to evaluate the unique circumstances they face and to encourage them to seek more effective ways of accomplishing their goals. Because each virtual learning experience will be unique, a number of important considerations should be weighed to determine course structure, content, and delivery, such as:
What technologies should be used?
Who will create the course?
Who will own the course material(s)?
How will the course be delivered?
How will assignments, projects, and exams be administered?
How will instructors and students be prepared?
How will student participation be controlled?
How will student behavior be controlled?
Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom does a superb job of fostering community among educators and their students. The authors express the importance of creating learning communities were serious dialogue takes place - dialogue that enhances the learning process and leads to achieving specific educational goals. This book is must reading for online educational course development.
A Reality Check for Distance Learning.......2001-06-21
If "the devil is in the details" of online learning, Paloff and Pratt have done an excellent job exploring the promise and pitfalls of distance learning programs. Anyone in the process of designing online courses or programs in higher education should read both this book and their earlier book before they launch a new course or program. Personally, this book helped me avoid several mistakes I otherwise would have made in my first distance learning adventure.
The book looks at both teacher and administrator perpsectives, and understands that both insitutional support and instructor skill are key elements for success. While the authors are genuine advocates for the medium, they understand that interactivity does not equal mouse clicks, and that building learning communities takes skill, practice, and structures. The book is full of very helpful examples, learning constructs, and realistic assessments of distance learning successes and failures.
Books:
- Effective Phrases for Performance Appraisals: A Guide to Successful Evaluations
- Effective Phrases for Performance Appraisals: A Guide to Successful Evaluations
- Effective Phrases for Performance Appraisals: A Guide to Successful Evaluations
- Employment Law for Business
- Essentials of Macromedia Captivate: Skills and Drills Workbook
- Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
- Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
- Got What It Takes?: Successful People Reveal How They Made It to the Top
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Sea of Trolls
- Masters of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces
- Applied Statistics For Engineers and Scientists Using Microsoft Excel and MINITAB
- Dynamic Nonlinear Econometric Models: Asymptotic Theory
- Free to Choose: A Personal Statement
- How I Became a Pirate
- Essential Business Tactics for the Net, 2nd Edition
- Understanding Global Cultures: Metaphorical Journeys Through 28 Nations, Clusters of Nations, and Co
- Finance in a Nutshell: A no-nonsense companion to the tools and techniques of finance
- Compartments in Algal Cells and Their Interaction
General
| Education
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Case Studies on Educational Administration (5th Edition)
Human Resources Administration in Education: A Management Approach (8th Edition)
School Leadership and Administration: Important Concepts, Case Studies, and Simulations
The Principal's Quick-Reference Guide to School Law: Reducing Liability, Litigation, and Other Potential Legal Tangles
Preparing a Professional Portfolio: A School Administrator's Guide
