Book Description
This book is well suited to a variety of students, including undergraduate and master’s degree students studying compensation. Martocchio provides a framework for understanding strategic compensation that can be used by all business professionals and business majors.
Customer Reviews:
Great book for compensation managers.......2007-09-20
I bought this book as part of a course, am reading it. The text is good for ppl new to this field of compensation and one easily gets the hang of things. The book was much cheaper than if I bought it from the regular store, and it was in great shape, no highlights, no lines, as promised by the seller.
Book Description
This book is an entertaining and practical guide for every trainer and performance improvement professional as it tackles the three universal and persistent questions of the profession--how do learners learn, why do learners learn, and how do you ensure that learning sticks. This interactive book with it fun and breezy style illustrate the authors' point of view that learning should be active and enjoyable. Playful illustrations demonstrate the solid research that back up the authors' contentions and help readers separate learning myth from fact to dispel beliefs and practices that often harm the instructional process.
Customer Reviews:
Well Done.......2007-08-15
Reading this book was well worth my time. The authors present academic concepts in plain english. They did a great job of shifting my training mindset from a focus on content to a focus on learning. They gave me many practical strategies for improving my trainings.
Best purchase for training EVER............2007-04-05
There are so many "how to train" products out there and most are so academic so as not to be practical. This book is easily understandable, fun and most of all, practical. I have already incorporated most of what I've read and have seen dramatic improvement in our new employees' performance. Reading this book was as comfortable as talking with a friend over coffee, very informal and very fun! Thank you!
Must Have!.......2007-01-23
This book is a perfect blend of theory and practical application in a compact package. Small enough to slide in a purse or briefcase, so you can take it with you when you need to brush up. Love it!!!
Telling Ain't Training - great tool for trainers.......2007-01-18
This book is a great tool for trainers. Not only does the book explain the dynamics of adult learning and training approaches, it provides 25 learning activities to help keep your programs interesting, fun, and productive. This met all of my expectations.
I've never read a more interactive book!.......2006-02-25
I have read a lot of books recently to increase my work knowledge, and I have to say that this book was the easiest and most fun to read. The writers have done an excellent job getting the reader involved, which increases the amount of information one is able to remember. This book is a real pionner in how to write educative books. Oh, yea, and the content was outstanding!
Average customer rating:
- THE ADULT LEARNER, SIXTH EDITION
- A classic, but it does not use its own advice.
- Andragogy for the 21st century
- Unreadable
- very comprehensive look at adult learning theory
|
The Adult Learner, Sixth Edition: The Definitive Classic in Adult Education and Human Resource Development
Ph.D., Malcolm S. Knowles ,
III, Ed.D., Elwood F. Holton , and
Ph.D., Richard A. Swanson
Manufacturer: Butterworth-Heinemann
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ASIN: 0750678372 |
Book Description
This much acclaimed text has been fully updated to incorporate the latest advances in the field. As leading authorities on adult education and training, Elwood Holton and Dick Swanson have revised this edition building on the work of the late Malcolm Knolwes.
Keeping to the practical format of the last edition, this book is divided into three parts. The first part contains the classic chapters that describe the roots and principles of andragogy, including a new chapter, which presents Knowles program planning model. The second part focuses on the advancements in adult learning with each chapter fully revised updated, incorporating a major expansion of Androgogy in Practice. The last part of the book will contain an updated selection of topical readings that advance the theory and will include the HRD style inventory developed by Dr. Knowles.
This new edition is essential reading for adult learning practitioners and students and HRD professionals. It provides a theoretical framework for understanding the adult learning issues both in the teaching and workplace environments.
* Provides a theoretical framework for understanding adult learning issues both in teaching and workplace environments
* Essential reading for a wide audience of practitioners and students in the field of adult learning and human resource development
* Incorporates Knowles'classic theories on adult learning alongside the latest advances in the field
Customer Reviews:
THE ADULT LEARNER, SIXTH EDITION.......2006-02-25
This book was in excellent shape. I received it sooner than I expected.
A classic, but it does not use its own advice........2005-07-03
Malcolm S. Knowles is the founder of the theory of Andragogy (Adult Education), and I agree with him on many of the points he makes.
The problem is that the book seems to have been written for academics to accept Malcolm's theories, and not written for students who wanted to learn to be better teachers in Adult Education.
Unless you have to use this book for a textbook for a class, I would not buy it as your first introduction to Adult Education. I'm not sure which book I would buy, but someone must have written a better one to actually learn the subject!
Andragogy for the 21st century.......2005-03-02
Since the term "andragogy" was first coined, several theoretical schools have developed around the topic of adult learning. This book provides a context for Knowles' ideas about andragogy and demonstrates the relevance of his ideas in the 21st century.
Unreadable.......2004-02-08
This book was the text for an adult learning course, and all 300+ students judged the book to be incomprehensible. So many complaints were received that the instructor apologized, saying it was the only book the school could find. There is good information in this book, but you need dynamite to unearth it. I have a better than average vocabulary, but I had to keep a dictionary by my side as I read, and even then I found words from the text for which I could find no definition. Some chapters had to be read 4 times before I understood the authors' message. Reading this book was a guarantee for a nap or a headache. Please, somebody stop this book before it kills again!
very comprehensive look at adult learning theory.......2001-05-11
This book is like a one-stop shopping guide to Adult education. It is so comprehensive that I doubt it leaves out one development in the history of adult education. My only warning is that the opening chapters which basically trace many theories of learning (both adult and traditional) are hard to get through -- it reads more like a research paper that summarizes every major educational theory since the beginning of time. But, if you don't want to know that much, you can simply skip these chapters and get right to the meat of the adult learning theories which are more appropos. For those who need a quick primer on learning theories, you'll love the first few chapters for their abundance of quick summary information. A useful guide to adult education.
Book Description
The classic bestseller on performance management is updated to reflect changes in today's working environment. When an employer needs to know how to gain maximum performance from employees, renowned behavioral psychologist--Aubrey Daniels is the man to consult. What has made Daniels the man with the answers? His ability to apply scientifically based behavioral stimuli to the workplace while making it fun at the same time.
Now Daniels updates his ground-breaking book with the latest and best motivational methods, perfected at such companies as Xerox, 3M, and Kodak. All-new material shows how to: create effective recognition and rewards systems in line with today's employees want; Stimulate innovations and creativity in new and exciting ways; overcome problems associated with poorly educated workers; motivate young employees from the minute they join the workforce.
Download Description
Bringing Out the Best in People, New & Updated Edition, provides the latest and best motivational methods currently in use at such major companies as Xerox, 3M, and Kodak.
Customer Reviews:
Science of positive reinforcement.......2007-08-01
Aubrey Daniels offers an insightful look at the behavioral school of management, and its key tools: positive, and negative reinforcement. The book covers how to link rewards to behaviors you want to reinforce, when to deliver them, and how to design systems to support them. While not without its flaws, the book is well written and offers plenty of practical advice - if you're an aspiring manager, or a seasoned veteran, 'Bringing Out the Best in People' is a solid investment of your time.
Clarity, results, contribution.......2007-07-04
This is an essential text for anyone who manages people. Daniels is clearly 'for' creating a workplace that taps the innate desire to contribute and against one run by fear. I've seen nearly 35 years of organizational life, as employee, manager and consultant. That's a lot of fads, slogans and philosophies. This book is the real deal.
When people are managed using these clear, rigorous, objective principles, stress and interpersonal barriers decrease, work exceeds expectations. I also recommend Dr. Marshall Rosenberg's "Nonviolent Communication".
Based on a flawed worldview.......2007-04-02
I started reading the book as a part of my personal development with the company that I work for. The book is founded in behaviorism, and does not stray from the concepts associated with this worldview. My issue with it is that I believe that people are more than a reaction to the things that happen to us. We have unique personalities, and they consist of more than the conditioning that they are subjected to. This psychology takes away the idea of free-will and choice, and eliminates personal responsibility. When it comes to managing people, I believe that these are important elements to tap into. This behaviorist approach to management may look good on the surface, and make logical sense, but is flawed by its nature, and cannot have any long lasting impact.
Good book but not as good as her other book.......2006-03-02
This book is a fine book if you are looking for the typical book written for lazy minds. The material is good, the presentation is great. However, there is a lack of references and detail that someone really interested in the material will desire. If you like pop-culture books get this one. If you want a terrific book that appeals to your brain then get the authors other book, "Performance Management." It is exceptional.
Must Have Book for all Managers, Parents & Pet Owners.......2006-01-14
I have used Bringing Out the Best in People throughout Latin America and here in the States for several years. When I have control of a client project, this book is required reading. I get groans at first from supervisors and managers, but it is amazing what happens after they read it. They come back and immediately start talking about NICs, PICs, etc. It is fun but keeps me on my toes from that point forward as they watch my every move!
Although Daniels talks of motivating and brining out top performance from individuals within organizations, the concepts definitely applies and should be used in personal/family relationships as well. The concepts even hold true as I train my dog and two macaws as uncertain/certain, future consequences do not work for them! The beauty is that this book makes you stop and think.
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.
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:
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.
Buy It and Live by It.......2007-02-09
Let me begin with full disclosure. I've known the author, Dr. Smart, for many years. I know his methodology inside and out. Here's how much I respect the Topgrading concepts and his own professional expertise: My publishing company, PRITCHETT, LP, selected his hardback--above all others on interviewing and the selection process--to take into our popular short handbook format. We could have approached any author, chosen any other book. PRITCHETT targeted Topgrading because we want to publish the very best content we can find on a given topic. Brad Smart is THE thought leader on this subject. I know exactly what a Topgrading interview looks like in progress, how it hits the job candidate, and how powerfully Topgrading can improve an organization's performance. Is the process rigorous? Yes. Will the weaker candidates find it penetrating and a bit stressful. More than likely...but they'll feel that way about any truly scrutinizing approach. Topgrading is a big book, with big ideas, and very big payoff for the person who puts it into practice.
Price Pritchett, Ph.D., Chairman
Customer Reviews:
Why some companies seem to have a devoted customer base..........2007-06-20
There's a difference when you fly Southwest vs. United. You feel different shopping at Costco than you feel shopping at Wal-mart. Why? That question is explored and answered in the book Firms of Endearment: How World-Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose by Raj Sisodia, Jag Sheth, and David B. Wolfe. This is one of those books that will cause you to think about why you feel as you do towards certain companies, and how those feelings translate into real profits.
Contents: A Whole New World; It's Not Share of Wallet Anymore - It's Share of Heart; New Age, New Rules, New Capitalism; The Chaotic Interregnum; Employees - The Decline and Fall of Human Resources; Customers - The Power of Love; Investors - Reaping What FoEs Sow; Partners - Elegant Harmonies; Society - The Ultimate Stakeholder; Culture - The Secret Ingredient; Lessons Learned; Crossing Over to the Other Side; Acknowledgements
On Wall Street, companies are usually judged on their profit. Squeeze as much out of your business as you can, cut costs wherever possible, and make sure you meet your numbers. To be sure, plenty of companies are successful under those rules (such as Wal-mart). But when you look at their performance over the last few years on the stock market, returns have been stagnant or have trailed the field. The alternative way to run a business is as a "firm of endearment" (FoE). These companies have a passion for what they do/sell, they have a strongly defined purpose for what they want to accomplish, and they look to contribute to society in more ways than just the quarterly dividend to shareholders. These FoEs, like Costco, Whole Foods, Harley-Davidson, and others, include stakeholders to mean all parts of society that they touch... shareholders, employees, the community, etc. The focus isn't on pure profit, but instead on contributing to the well-being of all the stakeholders. That's why a company like Costco can afford to pay their employees a living wage, have low turnover, and *still* turn a substantial profit. They have captured the hearts of their customer base, and that base will go out of their way to shop at Costco whenever possible. That's also why a company like Ikea can propose a new location and have nearly universal acceptance in the community, while a new Wal-mart location brings out protesters in force. There's obviously a lot more that differentiates FoEs from their counterparts in the marketplace, but once you recognize an FoE, you'll understand why they are successful by *not* following the same formula as everyone else.
It's tempting to think that all the FoEs covered in this book can do no wrong. That's not the case. JetBlue was/is an FoE that badly damaged their reputation during the winter when storms caused massive cancellations. It even led to the resignation of the CEO. Like other business books of this genre (In Search Of Excellence, From Good To Great), only time will tell how these companies will fare over the long term. It may well be that a decade from now, the stars of this book will have all fallen to the wayside. But I would venture to guess that the companies covered here will have a much larger margin of forgiveness than would other companies that are just focused on the next quarter...
This is a book that is highly recommended for anyone running a business. It should cause you to rethink the factors of success for your company, as well as point you in directions that could lead you to become an FoE in your niche.
Why "endearing companies tend to be enduring companies".......2007-05-16
In the Prologue, when discussing The Age of Transcendence through which the contemporary business world is now proceeding, the co-authors (Rajendra S. Sisodia, David B. Wolfe, and Jagdish N. Sheth) suggest that it is "a cultural movement in which physical (materialistic) influences that dominated culture in the twentieth-century are ebbing while metaphysical (experiential) influences become stronger. This is helping to drive a shift in the foundations of culture from an objective base to a subjective base: People are increasingly relying on their own counsel to decide what the truth is...That shift acknowledges a long-suppressed idea in a world largely guided by Newtonian certainty that chemistry Nobel laureate Ilya Prigogine says is scattering to the winds: Ultimately, everything is personal."
Thus do the authors establish a frame-of-reference for the thesis of their book: That each stakeholder in an organization tends to thrive best when all stakeholders thrive. That is, no stakeholder group is more important than any other. "It is disciplined dedication to the well-being of all stakeholders that separates firms of endearment from their competition." Stakeholder relationship management (SRM), the authors suggest, can achieve and then sustain superior business performance that, in turn, will create n a decisive competitive advantage. They are convinced that SRM business models will increasingly be seen "as the most efficacious way to achieve sustained superior business performance in years to come" but only if (huge "if") the interests of all stakeholder groups are brought into strategic alignment.
Two Questions: Are all stakeholder groups of equal importance and do they have the same interests? Also, are all members of a stakeholder group (e.g. shareholders) of equal importance and do they have the same interests? These questions occurred to me as I read the first chapter, especially the brief discussion of the "distinctive" core values, policies, and attributes that firms of endearment (FoEs) share in common. Eventually, Sisodia, Wolfe, and Sheth provide answers to these questions, answers best revealed within the narrative.
If indeed "endearing companies tend to be enduring companies," how do the 28 FoEs that "made the final cut" for this book compare with the 11 companies praised by Jim Collins in Good to Great? "Over a 10-year horizon, FoEs outperformed the Good to Great companies by 1,026 percent to 331 percent (a 3.1-to-1 ratio). Over five years, FoEs outperformed the Good to Great companies by 128 percent to 77 percent (a 1.7-to-1 ratio). Over three years, FoEs performed on par the Good to Great companies: 73 percent to 75 percent." (FYI, there are no duplicates on the two lists.) As with the exemplary companies discussed by Thomas J. Peters in Robert H. Waterman, Jr. in In Search of Excellence, not all companies on any such list continue to meet the criteria that were the basis of their initial selection.
For me, some of the most interesting material is presented in Chapter 11, "Crossing Over to the Other Side." At one point, the authors cite Oliver Wendell Holmes's observation "I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity." They then quote one of my favorite passages in James O'Toole's The Executive's Compass:
"To move beyond the confusion of complexity, executives must abandon their constant search for the immediately practice and, paradoxically, seek to understand the underlying ideas and values that have shaped the world they work in. Managers who clamor for how-to instruction are, by definition, stuck on the near side of complexity."
According to Sisodia, Wolfe, and Sheth, the big challenge of the times is to transcend the zero-sum mindset because, given the profusion of new opportunities, absolutes (by nature limiting) are found everywhere on the near side of complexity. "They emerge from people's perennial quest for pat solutions, or `silver bullets,' as they are sometimes described. This is a key point because, as Sisodia, Wolfe, and Sheth explain, a zero sum mindset leads to the conclusion that one stakeholder group can only benefit at the expense of the other stakeholder groups...However, opportunities increase by an order of magnitude when the mind breaks free of zero-sum thinking."
There are specific reasons why endearing companies tend to be enduring companies and one of the most important is their having "the ability to transcend ruthless competition and embrace the fruits of cooperation [which is] the essence of evolved humanness."
Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Bill George's Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value and his later book, True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership, co-authored with Peter Sims. Also Michael Ray's The Highest Goal, Adrian J. Slywotzky's The Upside: The 7 Strategies for Turning Big Threats into Growth Breakthroughs, Enterprise Architecture As Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson as well as Ram Charan's Know-How: The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don't, Lynda Gratton's Hot Spots: Why Some Teams, Workplaces, and Organizations Buzz with Energy - And Others Don't, Robert J. Herbold's Seduced by Success: How the Best Companies Survive the 9 Traps of Winning, Jack Alexander's Performance Dashboards and Analysis for Value Creation, and Michael Useem's The Go Point: When It's Time to Decide--Knowing What to Do and When to Do It.
Excellent description of a service oriented business model.......2007-05-16
This book identifies a batch of companies that have oriented their business model to providing a superior feeling in the minds of their customers. In many cases I absolutely agree with them.
Wegman's supermarkets for instance presents an excellent shopping experience. I particularly love their cheese department where knowledge people stand ready to discuss their magnificant array of choices and even to giving you samples to taste seemingly without end or sales pressure. In turn I buy far more cheeses than I would otherwise. We both win.
But then they turn to Wal-Mart and repeat a litany of alleged problems with employees, suppliers, and communities. My own experience with Wal-Mart is limited to one store in the small town where I live. But my experience doesn't match the alleged problems. I go there, the people, from the greeter at the door to the most junor sales clerk are friendly and willing to walk halfway across the store to help me find something. I talk to people who work there (away from the store) and they universally say that it is the best job they've ever had. Does the Wal-Mart experience depend on the store? Are the alledged problems just that, allegations? And for that matter, does every Wegman's have such an excellent cheese department? And what about Microsoft? Everyone (nearly) uses their products and most people hate the company. What does this say about their future? I guess we'll just have to watch and see.
This is a book that describes one way of doing business that has worked for a lot of companies. It provides a good insight into what these companies do.
Impressive Examples of Serving the Full Gamut of Stakeholders.......2007-05-08
What is a Firm of Endearment? The authors argue that their example companies share a common set of core values, policies, and operating attributes which include:
1. aligning the interests of all stakeholder groups (customers, employees, partners, investors, and society) rather than seeking profit optimization
2. below-average executive compensation
3. open-door policies
4. employee compensation and benefits are above average for their industry
5. above-average employee training
6. empower employees to satisfy customers
7. hire employees who are passionate about the company's purpose
8. humanize customer and employee experiences
9. enjoy below-average marketing costs
10. honor the spirit as well as the letter of laws
11. focus on corporate culture as a competitive advantage
12. are often innovative in their industries
Companies identified include extensive examples drawn from Commerce Bank, Container Store, Costco, Harley-Davidson, Honda, IDEO, IKEA, jetBlue, Johnson & Johnson, Jordan's Furniture, New Balance, Patagonia, Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, Timberland, Toyota, Trader Joe's, UPS, Wegmans, and Whole Foods.
These companies are often contrasted with Wal-Mart and the Good to Great Companies identified by Jim Collins in 2001 in terms of stock price growth.
The authors argue that there is a new level of consciousness emerging that rewards those who do good while doing well. The implication is that all firms should shift to stakeholder optimization and the cultural values identified in the example companies.
While they don't make this argument, it's clear that the authors have identified many of the mindsets that lead a company to seek optimizing results for all stakeholders.
Before you assume total cause and effect, I would like to raise some issues not fully addressed in the book:
1. This is an after-the-fact evaluation. As such, (like Good to Great), we may mostly be seeing what the leaders are proud of . . . rather than what caused their success. For example, Southwest's success is focused on their corporate culture. But the company also has a better business model than almost any other airline (Ryanair's is better) and does a better job of fuel cost hedging than any other U.S. airline. Those factors aren't mentioned.
2. These companies are almost all in consumer products or services. A class of socially conscious consumers has sprung up who look hard for such firms. It's not clear that OEM and industrial buyers have evolved their preferences nearly to the same extent. So many of the lessons may only apply consumer goods and services (except for those validated by Gallup for having a motivated and effective group of people working for you).
3. Almost all of these firms are highly effective business model innovators who have gained enormous advantages over competitors who seldom innovate their business models. As a result, they can afford practices that may or may not pay off in profit without incurring any negative reaction. The next business model innovation will pay for the cost.
I was surprised that this book didn't look at the study I made from 1992-2001 that identified continuing business model innovation as the single best factor for explaining high levels of corporate performance (see The Ultimate Competitive Advantage). The books share some examples in common (including Jordan's Furniture and Timberland), but many of FoE's examples are also superior business model innovators (Amazon, BMW, CarMax, Caterpillar, Container Store, Costco, eBay, Google, Harley-Davidson, IDEO, IKEA, jetBlue, Patagonia, Starbucks, Trader Joe's, UPS, Wegmans, and Whole Food).
4. It often pays better to serve stakeholder interests than to ignore them. Why? Because ignoring stakeholders often burdens both the company and the stakeholder with costs and experiences that neither want. This economic case for stakeholder focus isn't fully developed outside of the customer arena.
5. The book emphasizes sustainability, but much of that argument is built around companies disappearing from the Fortune 500 (something that happens whenever a merger happens . . . which doesn't mean that the organization goes away, just the corporate headquarters in most cases). In the research of my students on environmental sustainability (see Hiroshi Fukushi's work, A Strategic Approach to the Environmentally Sustainable Business, for example), it's apparent that making the environment cleaner than when you touched it is economically advantaged in most situations. The idea of sustainability is based on the outmoded notion of not doing too much damage rather than finding profits in making the world better than you found it.
But it's a good book that creates more questions than it answers. This one will probably stimulate some more careful thinking in the area of where seeking to be more considerate of others is going to create better results as well as better sleep.
Sharp, New Millennium Look at Emotional Intelligence as a Quantifiable Value in Corporate America.......2007-04-16
With the tidal wave of publicity for Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" and the spotlight it has given to the green movement, it seems like a ripe time to take stock of companies who are incorporating more social responsibility into their charters. Co-authors Raj Sisodia, Jag Sheth, and David B. Wolfe make a compelling case for how such thinking is not only a much-needed injection of humanism into private enterprise in this country but also the impetus for long-term success at a time when people are seeking greater meaning in their lives. Wolfe, the only non-academic of the three, ventures the furthest in delineating what he considers the art of empathy and the power of bringing soulfulness to the workplace. Such seeming intangibles have been repeatedly dismissed by those unwilling to recognize the human equation at the base of such operations.
Wolfe's bottom line is that soft skills translate into hard numbers, and he feels the days of well-known autocratic CEOs like Disney's Michael Eisner and Hewlett-Packard's Carly Fiorina are numbered if not over. The book's coy title actually refers to the model firms - Whole Foods, Harley-Davidson, Trader Joe's, Costco, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, Patagonia, IKEA and New Balance among them - who have aligned principles of emotional intelligence with shareholder value in ways that induce more loyalty among the most valued employees. The data gathered by the co-authors suggests that firms which encourage emotional intelligence are more likely to have workers who benefit from feedback and achieve more for themselves and their companies over time. Emotional intelligence manifests itself in several ways, whether it is more modest executive salaries, open-door policies, better employee benefits, better training or a stronger focus on the customer experience. Moreover, the co-authors place high value on environmentally friendly practices and social consciousness as part of a company's vision.
The emphasis on emotional intelligence represents a major paradigm shift and one that has been working in tandem with globalization in recent years. It has given birth to the stakeholder relationship management business model (SRM), which supersedes the well-established customer relationship model with its primary focus on products and profits. Reflecting a much broader vision, the SRM is more dependent on coordinating systems which help keep healthy the company's economic ecosystem, which is the basis of its growth, development and economic health. The ensuing loyalty among employees gives rise to what the co-authors term "share of heart". It's an elusive concept but one mastered by a new breed of CEOs who manage to inspire with their idealism even when short-term profitability looks bleak. Sisodia, Sheth and Wolfe provide intriguing portraits of these leaders and the unique cultures they have managed to develop over time while still delivering on their bottom lines. If anything, this eminently readable book is a testament that Machiavellian tenets need not guide companies at the expense of the people who maintain them.
Book Description
This best-selling survey of contemporary human resource management offers a balance of practical and applied material as well as underlying Human Resource Management theory.
It reflects the latest information, including the impact of global competition and rapid technological advances that have accelerated trends such as shared service centers, outsourcing, and just-in-time training. A wealth of actual company examples demonstrates how concepts are being used in today's leading-edge organizations.
For all Human Resources personnel and managers.
Customer Reviews:
Now this is a good textbook.......2003-09-01
This was a simply stated book that gave common sense examples.
The chapters were easy to understand without having to have your professor explain everything.
There are a couple of chapters that seem like they should be reorganized, and a couple of chapters that should be put in a different order. Overall though, this is a very good book to help you understand Human Resource Management.
Creative multimedia tie-ins, but getting dated?.......2001-02-23
I suspect that a new edition will be out shortly. Some of the Internet links sprinkled throughout this book are broken, and the text frequently refers to conditions as they were, "as of mid-1997." Hopefully, the authors will employ a proofreader/style editor, as the sytnax is awkward in a few places. That said, this is a good introductory book. The creative integration of Internet links and video case studies ("On Location at Showtime," and ABC News reports on business trends and issues) add to the value of the text. An Internet site allows instructors to develop an on-line syllabus for students to view and download. Key terms are set on the margins in blue print, repeating their definitions from the text. Summaries at the end of each chapter do the same, and include questions designed to verify reader knowledge of major concepts. The book dwells at length on diversity issues, which is appropriate, given the plethora of Exceutive Orders, Supreme Court decisions, and legislation mandating various EEO/affirmative action practices in the HR field. The chapters on recruitment, selection, and training are the strongest in the book, and cover the topics in a fair amount of depth. The chapter on labor unions reveals a pro-union bias; otherwise, the book is ideology-free. Overall, this is a more than adequate treatment of the subject, and is quite serviceable.
Book Description
Master the basics of human resource development with HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT! Providing you with a clear understanding of the concepts, processes, and practices that form the basis of success, this management text shows you how concepts and theory can be put into practice in a variety of organizations. Coverage includes strategic issues in HRD, employee behavior, implementing HRD programs, training, research and statistics, and team-based coverage.
Customer Reviews:
HR Development.......2007-09-15
This textbook has some good information, but it is wordy and redundant in spots. Some topics have more detail than what is needed in the real world. Chapters are too long. Make these edits, enlarge the print, and the textbook would be a better product.
HRD.......2007-04-04
I didn't expect this series of books to be laid out the way they are. I am disappointed that the "notes" are simply a glorified glossary arranged by chapter rather than alphabetical. Key points from the book are not bulleted or organized based on content presentation, rather key terms are defined and that is all.
Books:
- Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach
- Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation
- StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup's Now, Discover Your Strengths
- Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets: A Comprehensive Guide to Trading Methods and Applications (New York Institute of Finance)
- The 7 Laws of the Golf Swing
- The Attractor Factor: 5 Easy Steps for Creating Wealth (or Anything Else) from the Inside Out
- The Complete Guide to Buying and Selling Apartment Buildings
- The Complete Guide to Sales Force Incentive Compensation: How to Design And Implement Plans That Work
- The Econometrics of Financial Markets
- The Emotional Intelligence Activity Book: 50 Activities for Promoting Eq at Work
Books Index
Books Home
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