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As proposed by Kiyoshi Suzaki, a "mini-company" is a new kind of internal structure within a larger business, managed like an individual but interconnected corporation and designed for both personal and organizational advancement. Suzaki, a worldwide manufacturing consultant and author of several previous books, fully defines the concept in Results from the Heart and shows how it can have positive impacts on employees and ultimately contribute to their success and their company's. The purpose, as he sees it, is to "go beyond just doing our work routinely. We need a fresh and lively new paradigm to continuously find purpose in what we do." This is achieved with his model, Suzaki argues, because it allows workers on all levels to make meaningful contributions in the areas over which they have responsibility. He explains how those in any department can create and operate one of these entities, from developing its mission and orchestrating its implementation to summarizing its progress and acknowledging its contributions. The idea may not appeal to everyone, but Suzaki contends it has already proven effective and he provides enough detail here for anyone interested in giving it a try. --Howard Rothman
Book Description
Results from the Heart introduces a new and helpful approach to improving job performance, improving job satisfaction, and helping organizations better respond to the rapid changes that are an inherent part of today's business environment. Mr. Suzaki recognizes that a motivated and engaged workforce should be part of any strategy to obtain and maintain competitive advantage.
--Carl Stern, CEO,
The Boston Consulting Group
Since the publication of Frederick Taylor's The Principles of Scientific Management, managers have relied on logic to compel action. Now Kiyoshi Suzaki, one of the world's leading experts on enlarging the talents, self-esteem, and growth of the individual employee, argues that logic alone cannot move people to act. Productivity problems are inextricably linked to self-esteem, he argues, and worst of all to a prodigious waste of individual talent. But each solution is personal, Suzaki concludes, and found only within ourselves.
"To find meaning and purpose at work we must use our brain," Suzaki says, "but listen to our heart." In Zenlike fashion he proposes that each of us ask ourselves a series of questions to determine the degree to which our brain is engaged with our heart. The framework around which this selfquestioning takes place is a groundbreaking concept that Suzaki calls "the mini-company." The author demonstrates how, within the larger workplace, each job is endowed with an almost spiritual meaning when each person -- at every level -- becomes president of his or her own area of responsibility. With simple diagrams, Suzaki shows how your boss becomes your banker or venture capitalist and your peers become your immediate suppliers or customers. The results are nothing short of astonishing. In Results from the Heart, Suzaki describes thousands of mini-companies he has "founded" during his worldwide consulting assignments. In most cases in which unhappy employees had previously "followed instructions like robots," there have been spectacular increases in both morale and productivity. If it is true that work is a journey, this manifesto for a more humane definition of the way we work is the roadmap.
Customer Reviews:
Total Productive Maintenance Small Groups Taken to the Next Level.......2007-05-21
I was exposed to Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) throughout the late nineties, therefore the concept of small groups (inherent to the way TPM works) was familiar to me. In "Results from the Heart", Kiyoshi Suzaki, an author of many titles on the famous Japanese manufacturing framework, introduces the concept of Mini-Companies as an extension of the concept of Small Groups.
The tools and components he presents for the internal functioning of Mini-Companies and their interaction with other Mini-Companies across the organization give new life to the concept. This is the true value of the book.
As for the connection of the TPM concepts to finding meaning and purpose at work, the book seems a bit of a stretch, barely touching on the topic. If you really want to read about this, I recommend you try Z.B.A.: Zen of Business Administration - How Zen Practice Can Transform Your Work And Your Life.
Dalai Lama's foreword .......2004-10-24
Taken from the Dalai Lama's foreword:
"I believe we have both the ability and the means to solve our problems and improve our world. Perhaps, the most important factors that inhibit us are short-sightedness, narrow-mindedness, and selfishness. Yet, to look after yourself is not wrong. Without a strong sense of self, we cannot develop self-confidence, determination, and will power.
But we must be careful, for there is also a narrow minded selfishness that can lead to self-destruction. To counter that we have to realize that in reality our own interest is closely linked to the interests of others and the benefit, happiness, and interests of others are our own."
The idea of mini-company is as simple as that! But there may be a deep gap between spirituality and business... I wonder.
Book Description
Evaluation with Power becomes more important in the social sector every day. Donors no longer reward good intentions, they reward results. This book can help social sector leaders manage for the mission and measure results.
?Frances Hesselbein, president and CEO, Peter F. Drucker Foundation
Evaluation with Power transforms evaluation into a powerful tool nonprofits can use to help their organizations progress and change in ways that lead to greater achievement of mission. Building on THE INDEPENDENT SECTOR'S ongoing research on evaluation, it is a practical, comprehensive handbook for turning program, process, and organizational evaluation into a positive learning experience that connects performance to mission. The book focuses on the needs of the nonprofit and reveals the sort of evaluation that is most appropriate to and helpful for nonprofits.
Leading experts from a wide range of show how to use evaluation in key organizational areas, including program design, human resource management, information systems, volunteers, and more.
Customer Reviews:
Powerful and practical for the visionary........2006-11-10
If you believe evaluation is a tool for effective leadership, this book could be a good source for reaffirmation of your belief.
Book Description
Learn skills for working in groups
Throughout Life, everyone has opportunity to belong to groups, starting with families, schools, community orgainzations, recreation groups, sports organizations and, finally, in business.
A must-have book to help you become a more effective group member and stimulate your meetings with energy needed for achieving your goals.
You'll learn the skills for participating in groups as an individual member, make groups as a whole more effective, and make group meetings more enjoyable through tapping the synergy available in groups.
Discusses the essence of what makes groups work, then applies the principle of Zen to helping them function better.
The toolkit includes techniques and exercises on generating ideas, defining priorities, creative thinking, expressing feelings, energizing the group, team-building, conflict-resolution, plus, beginning and ending a group.
Customer Reviews:
Facilitation - Working with People.......2003-09-26
This group puts together a wonderful message of how to manage group meetings with heart. They give clear examples of activities that can be used to defuse conflict, enhance team effectiveness, and methods to monitor yourself and your team for leaving your baggage behind and achieving group synergy. If yours is a consensus-oriented organization, or you'd like to begin using consensus-based decision making, this is a great book. See also their book specifically for meeting facilitation, "The Art of Facilitation".
A hand book for mastering the dynamics of groups........2000-04-03
The Zen of Groups is a handbook for effective group participation. It achieves this through distinguishing the elements of group dynamics.
The Zen of Groups is written in simple language and makes complex and subtile issues clear and easy to understand. This gives both the beginner and advanced facilitator or group participant alike access to understanding and making a useful difference in the dynamics of any group.
The Zen of Groups also has a section of tools and processes which can be applied to assist groups which are stuck or not acheveing their purpose to move forward.
I highly recomend this book to anyone wanting to develop a greater understanding of the the dynamics of groups. I use it all the time as a resource in my practice as a professional facilitator.
Average customer rating:
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Research Companion to Working Time And Work Addiction (New Horizons in Management)
Manufacturer: Edward Elgar Publishing
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ASIN: 1845424085 |
Book Description
`Ronald Burke has put together a collection of state-of-the-art research and writing about work hours and work addiction from around the world. This book is essential reading for academics, managers, human resource professionals and anyone else interested in identifying types of work addiction, learning about antecedents and consequences of workaholism, as well as how to help people achieve work-life balance. The contributions from top notch researchers and academics in the field provide a rounded view of how the interplay between career aspirations, work motivation and working conditions contribute to health outcomes and effectiveness at work.' - Astrid M. Richardsen, Norwegian School of Management, Norway
`The Research Companion to Working Time and Work Addiction captures the essence and intricacies of an important and fascinating topic. It explores the body of writing on work-hours that until this book existed quite separately from literature on work addiction. As can be expected from the breadth of his knowledge and the consistent quality of his work, Ronald J Burke has done a terrific job of editing a book that presents work addiction and working time in a way that is both scientifically sound and engaging. The twenty four contributors have done an excellent job of extending and refining our understanding of work addiction and working time in this collection of excellent conceptual and empirical chapters. This book is a must for all scholars and practitioners who are interested in this fascinating aspect of work life.' - Ayala Malach-Pines, Ben-Gurion University, Israel
`This is an excellent and unique book which not only addresses the detrimental effects of long working hours and work addiction, but also investigates the causes and treatment of workaholism. An outstanding volume which includes both conceptual and empirical chapters from distinguished academics and practitioners from several countries. This is essential reading for all those interested in health and well-being in the workplace and the establishment of satisfactory home and work-life balances. The editor should be congratulated for this groundbreaking book.' - Marilyn J. Davidson, University of Manchester, UK
`This book is overdue. Someone, somewhere, a long time ago, should have put this book together, because its value is incalculable. The pace of change in the workplace has vastly increased, and workers see their jobs as more complex and fragmented. What is the prognosis? Where is it all going? What can be done about it? If anything? This book is more a "handbook" than a research companion, on all those aspects of the workplace that touch on or represent change, pace, workload, work addiction, work-life balance, job satisfaction, job involvement, stress, conflict, values, Type A behaviour and other personality disorders. What's more, it delves into some of the more unknown elements of these aspects of work, in different countries. Read it. You'll not be disappointed.' - Janice Langan-Fox, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
`This is a timely and needed book for all professionals who have concerns about issues related to quality of life and well-being. This book is an original piece prepared by a team of international experts, written in an informative and scholarly manner, and presents in an effective form the accumulated wealth of knowledge on the theme. This is a solid book that can satisfy both the academic readership and the professional community. I truly and sincerely recommend it. It is a must for people who are interested in this subject.' - Simon Dolan, ESADE Business School, Spain
This Research Companion examines the effects of work hours on individual and family well-being and questions why people work hard and whether some can work too hard. It integrates contributions from two areas of research - work hours and work addiction - that have historically been pursued separately.
Ronald Burke argues that while work hours have decreased for blue-collar workers, they have increased for professionals and managers, particularly in developed countries. He reveals that some employees need to work long hours while others do so willingly: people work long hours to meet individual needs and due to societal incentives such as materialism and consumerism. The book concludes that working long hours is only part of the story; why one works long hours and how one works these long hours emerge as powerful factors in determining the link between hours worked and well-being. The volume also includes recommendations for addressing a long hours culture at individual, family, organizational, community and societal levels.
Academics, students, researchers and policymakers with an interest in human resource management, work hours and work addiction and their effects will find this highly original Companion to be a fascinating read
Book Description
"A terrific book!" âDavid A. Nadler, chairman, Delta Consulting Group
Tackle the organizational issues related to implementing teams. Learn new designs to support the knowledge work components of organizations. Drawing on over fifteen years of research and consulting with such companies as Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard, Pacific Bell, General Mills, Pratt and Whitney, Pfizer, and Texas Instruments, the authors shows you how to create new organization designs that empower teams so that they make a real difference.
You'll discover how to:
- Design new work teams
- Identify new roles and responsibilities
- Manage team performance
- Create an empowering team environment
Over 50 tables, figures, and exhibits reinforce the practical text. Even if teams already exist at your organization, you'll use this well-researched guide to push your teams to higher levels of performance!
Book Description
New strategies for business success based on shifting the focus from information to knowledge
-- Fifty percent of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. can be described as "knowledge companies" -- those that employ highly skilled, highly educated people who sell their knowledge rather than products
-- Provides tools for measuring intangible assets such as competent and creative employees, patents, brand names, and company reputation
-- Some archetypal knowledge companies are consultancy firms, advertising agencies, software companies, and architecture firms
Few of today's companies improve performance through knowledge or learning. This is because few managers understand how to make a business of knowledge. They focus on explicit knowledge -- information -- instead of implicit human knowledge. Investing in information technology instead of in people, they only know how to measure performance in money.
This ground-breaking book offers practical advice and rules of thumb for designing a business strategy that focuses on knowledge as an intangible asset. It begins by outlining the differences between information-focused strategies (such as adding chips to a manufacturer's product line) and knowledge-focused strategies (such as seeking returns in long term customer relationships, ideas and learning, and research and development). Measuring the knowledge-based assets of a company explains why, for example, Microsoft is valued at 40 times its worth on paper.
In eight chapters, Sveiby assembles a veritable toolbox of knowledge-based management techniques to enable managers to meet the new business challenges of the coming century.
Customer Reviews:
A Knowledge Management Classic.......2004-12-17
This was probably the first book on knowledge management that really paid any attention to the bottom line, or what km can do for it. While the concepts might be abstract without a brief primer on organization development the overall message is not beyond the reach of the average reader. I will say that it may be time for an update as the author was seemingly taken with "boom" economics and used said examples to emphasise his points. What is clear is that while his examples are powerful in the context of the time frame in which they were written they can still be applied to the economic environment now faced by many organizations. Overall I would recommend this book to someone looking to familiarize themselves with some of the underpinnings of KM or in the earliest stages of the development of a km practice.
The Practicality of Knowledge.......2002-02-17
Book Review - Joe Pulichino, Doctoral Student, Pepperdine University; President, Athena Learning Group
The New Organization Wealth - Managing and Measuring Knowledge-Based Assets is quite a practical book for managers seeking to get theirs arms around those intangible corporate assets that cannot be easily measured. It's also valuable for those in the fields of knowledge management and corporate education who are wrestling with ways to facilitate the development and productivity of their organization's human competencies.
Although Sveiby's argument that intangible assets can account for the difference between a company's market capitalization and its net book value may not seem so persuasive since the dot.com collapse, his categorization of those assets as "employee competence", "internal structure", and "external structure" is useful as a way of thinking about the character and value of knowledge in an organization. Much more so than the vague catch-all asset of "good-will", knowledge, though also intangible, is an asset that can be created, managed, and measured, and can serve as the focal point for developing a strategic business model. Sveiby demonstrates this through a wide range of case studies.
Especially useful is his "radical notion" that "information is meaningless and of low value". When we consider how much money and human resources are expended on technologies that collect, store, and retrieve information, this will be an uncomfortable notion for many. However, Sveiby, supported by Michael Polanyi's theory of tacit knowledge (The Tacit Dimension, 1967), makes clear that information does play a role in knowledge creation and transfer. As a means of broadcasting articulated knowledge, information provides raw material, the stuff out of which people create knowledge through their interaction with it and with each other. Knowledge thus created is called competency by Sveiby and is defined as the "capacity to act".
Sveiby then introduces the subject of managing intangible assets by making useful distinctions between the roles of professionals and mangers in the "knowledge organization". He discusses how their competencies are best managed and transferred so that the flow of knowledge through the organization (its internal structure) leads to greater efficiency and effectiveness in managing the flow of knowledge in customer and supplier relationships (its external structure). His model leaves business managers with a choice between a knowledge-focused strategy, which "earns increasing returns primarily from intangible assets", and an information-focused strategy, which "earns increasing returns from adapting to information technology".
To account for it all, Sveiby lays out a non-financial system for measuring intangible assets. While providing some thoughtful perspectives on how one might do this, it is not clear that in the end these forms of measurement have the same utility and precision that financial measurements do. It is fair to say, however, that these types of measures, which include surveys, indices, ratios, and rates of changes, do offer indicators that can help to monitor actions that will develop, maintain, and grow these assets.
In the final paragraph of the book, Sveiby admits, "I do not believe that the information in a book such as this can really change anything", and in saying so remains true to his thesis: "The only valuable knowledge is that which equips us for action and that kind of knowledge is learned the hard way - by doing." He invites his readers to experiment with the information in his book and by doing so turn it into knowledge. The practicality of The New Organization Wealth - Managing and Measuring Knowledge-Based Assets is therefore dependent on what the reader does with the information it contains.
Insightful!.......2001-06-01
Business is business, they say, but the knowledge management business is something else entirely. Author Karl Erik Sveiby earned his doctorate with a thesis that draws an interesting distinction between information and knowledge. This book owes a great deal to the research in that thesis, although some of the subtleties were probably lost in the translation after it was presented at Stockholm University. Dr. Sveiby offers managers a plausible structure for stratifying their employees. He provides a solid rationale to justify rationing resources and information. We [...] recommend this book to knowledge managers. Professionals who feel they are not receiving adequate support, information, or compensation from managers also will find succor in these theories.
Putting the knowledge economy on a sound business foundation.......2000-11-14
To this day, Sveiby's "New Organizational Wealth" stands apart in that the book remains one of the few to make a serious attempt to place the benefits of the somewhat nebulous concept of the knowledge economy on a sound economic and business foundation. (Paul Strassman takes a similar approach, but more towards the macroeconomic level, in his articles in Knowledge Management magazine.)
Readers of the "New Organizational Wealth" will likely want to visit Sveiby's web site to get access to some of the tools he has since developed to help implement systems to measure and improve upon a company's intangible assets.
Knowledge as Wealth.......2000-04-05
There is a thirst for understanding how to manage the "new" companies that are knowledge based rather than founded on product manufacturing. Here is a book to help with that quest. Sveiby explains that, as an example, the public was willing to pay, in 1995, an average price of $70 for Microsoft when their book value was about $7. In other words, the shareholders saw about $9 of additional value for every $1 of tangible assets on Microsoft's books. There is no entry on Microsoft's balance sheet for that $9, and it represents a major trend in our "post industrial" economy. How do we manage such an illusive asset? Sveiby steps us through (1) understanding the era of knowledge Organizations, (2) managing intangible assets, and (3) measuring intangible assets. There are practical examples of measuring systems, how to organize a company to maintain and transfer knowledge, and keys to developing professional competence. Sveiby defines, for the purpose of this book, knowledge as "a capacity to act." "One's capacity to act is created continuously by a process-of-knowing. In other words, it is contextual. Knowledge cannot be separated from its context. The notion also implies teleological purpose. I believe that the human process-of-knowing is designed by nature to help us survive in an often hostile environment." I learned about the professional's three life cycles - the super star, the statesman, and the normal professional. I learned about the classic problem of organic growth in our knowledge organizations. And I re-learned that "it takes time, experience, and mental effort to turn information into useful knowledge. And since recipients cannot know until afterward whether it was worth spending that time, information that turns out to be worthless is really worth less than nothing." For those trying to understand the new business model, this book is well worth the time and effort. It will help you move your company into the modern age.
Book Description
When change is underway, pay can be a powerful communicator of values and directions. And in today's challenging business environment, the need to use pay strategically is more important than ever as organizations and their leaders look for ways to improve outcomes, performance, productivity, and teamwork. Linking rewards to business goals and competencies is essential to gain competitive advantage through people.
Based on extensive research with Fortune 100 companies and on their own consulting work with companies in various industries worldwide, Jay R. Schuster and Patricia K. Zingheim offer a powerful strategy for making pay a positive force for organizational excellence. This pioneering work includes the first "best practices" study to show the impact of pay practices on organizational performance. With numerous sample pay strategies and examples of pay tools that can be adapted to a wide range of situations, the authors provide how-to guidance to executives, managers, and human resource and compensation specialists--anyone responsible for developing base pay, incentive, and benefit plans.
Where traditional models of compensation and reward no longer serve the best interests of organizations and the employees who must make companies succeed, The New Pay provides the critical tools for creating a total compensation strategy and pay programs that add value and support organizational success.
Customer Reviews:
A pioneering study on the new pay !!!.......1999-09-12
As written by Schuster and Zingheim "understanding what pay and benefits can do to help organizations succeed is essential and best learned early in a career. Edward Lawler's Strategic Pay and this book were the first books to address pay outside of the context of traditional pay grounded in the 1940's, when challenges and opportunities were remarkably different from what are today."
Within the context of comparison between the new pay and traditional pay approaches Schuster and Zingheim discuss some crucial concepts such as :
* base pay (market-based pay/skill-based pay, job-based pay)
* variable pay (group performance, individual performance)
* indirect pay (obtained results, employee's tenure)
* job evaluation (external/market based equity, internal/point factor based equity)
I higly recommend this pioneering study to HR professionals.
See also :
*J. Schuster and P. Zingmeim-Pay People Right,
*T. Wilson-Rewards That Drive High Performance,
*H. Risher-Aligning Pay and Results,
*J. Belcher-How to Design and Implement A Results-Oriented Variable Pay System
Book Description
This volume views important social and political issues through the eyes of economists. Pioneered by Gary Becker, this approach asserts that all actions, whether working, playing, dating, or mating, have economic motivations and consequences, and can be analyzed using economic reasoning. Intended as an introduction to the current state of the field, the essays are informal and nontechnical, while still using up-to-date economic reasoning to illuminate such topics as crime, marriage, discrimination, immigration, fads and fashions.
Customer Reviews:
A Great Demonstration of the Power of Economics.......1998-03-06
This tribute to the work of Gary Becker by his students is a great example of how economics can be used to explain areas of social and human behavior outside the traditional purview of substantive economics. I use this book in my introductory political economy class, and although the chapters are sometimes difficult to read, this has become one of my students favorite books.
Book Description
Discover the important roles cultural and national origin plays in the relationship between an organization and its employees. This pioneering study presents new theories and cutting-edge perspectives on topics including intercultural communication, work motivation, multinational teams, and organizational justice across cultures. A timely work for all HR professionals in this era of marketplace globalization and the increasingly multi-ethnic character of the American workforce.
Customer Reviews:
An academic resource.......2000-09-19
This book encompasses the work of some of the most actively publishing academic scholars in the field. All text is is properly cited and referenced. The content is an indepth organization and presentation of some of the newest research trends and findings written by the people who brought some of these theories and findings to academic attention. An international business researcher's must have.
Book Description
Imagine if every employee does what it takes to help his or her organization reach its goals, a place where everyone is a leader.
If chaos and confusion come to mind, think again! Spreading leadership and decision-making responsibilities liberates, inspires, and motivates everyone to achieve more and contribute the maximum-making a positive impact on both productivity and business results.
Step in, CLIMB(TM) up.
Based on a landmark study that involved 2,000 people across 450 organizations, Everyone A Leader explores the critical moments when employees at all levels step forward into leadership roles. The findings are summarized in five key strategies the authors call the CLIMB model of leadership effectiveness:
* Create a compelling future.
* Let the customer drive the organization.
* Involve every mind.
* Manage work horizontally.
* Build personal credibility.
Each chapter in this breakthrough book brings the CLIMB strategies to life with powerful first person stories and anecdotes that effectively highlight the small, often-overlooked turning points in an organization's daily life. Turning points made possible by grassroots leaders.
The CLIMB model's step-by-step tools for grassroots leaders build competencies such as presenting thoughts and ideas, listening proactively, giving recognition, managing priorities, turning conflict into collaboration, identifying and meeting unspoken customer needs, and many, many more.
No other book offers such compelling proof that-equipped with proper tools and support-everyone has the potential to be a leader and to make a difference. To remain agile and responsive in today's dynamic global marketplace, successful organizations recognize the critical need for greater flexibility, knowledge, and adaptability across the entire organization. To do so means everyone must learn to be a leader.
"Everyone A Leader explodes the myth that only people with official titles, big salaries, and high profiles mobilize others to get extraordinary things done. It makes the compelling case-backed by research and inviting anecdotes-that leaders emerge from all levels in all types of organizations. . . . You will learn how to make more of a difference once you've read and applied Everyone A Leader. This stellar book is not only a significant contribution to the field, it's also a rallying cry for all of us to leave a more lasting legacy." -Jim Kouzes, coauthor, The Leadership Challenge and Chairman, Tom Peters Group/Learning Systems.
"This work skillfully distills hundreds of observed experiences into a five-part strategic model, highlighting those behaviors most likely to produce successful leadership results. Both emerging and experienced leaders . . . can learn from Everyone A Leader. It offers a pragmatic roadmap for success!" -Major General Garry L. Parks, U.S. Marine Corps.
"Everyone A Leader is cause for rejoicing. The authors understand the key reality shaping today's organizations: leaders can emerge from anywhere. Their book is an invaluable tool . . . full of wise observations and practical advice." -Sally Helgesen, author, The Web of Inclusion.
"Everyone A Leader is a wonderfully actionable guide for creating a broad, take charge, leadership culture." -Ron Zemke, author, the Knock Your Socks Off Service series.
"If you want co-workers who are productive, satisfied, and willing to shoulder the responsibility of making your organization stronger, this timely and inspiring nuts-and-bolts account of democratic leadership is for you." -Meena Surie Wilson, PhD, Global Initiatives Group, Center for Creative Leadership.
"Finally, a leadership book for today's flat, dynamic, team-based organizations . . . This is the model." -Todd W. Arnold, Vice President, Customer Services, Cinergy Corp.
Customer Reviews:
A Sound Exposition of the Latest Models of Leadership.......2000-08-01
This book catches the crest of the post-empowerment, post-New-Leadership wave and is highly recommneded reading for anyone who wants to know about modern management ideas and practices. It has perhaps the best available description of the role of leadership in new, team-based, flat-org-chart work environments.
Among its virtues are terseness, practical aids, and reference to empircially based research. While its use of acronym-style models may not appeal to everyone, the authors mercifully do not push this aspect excessively. Page for page, its ideas are sound, clear and made relevant and applicable.
The book thus quite lives up to its intention of providing a mental model and practical support for "grassroots leadership". Even so, one can expect further advances in such thought, as well as even more popularization capable of absorption by actually "everyone".
A good mix of research and practical improvement steps.......1999-06-12
Everyone a Leader explores the value of grassroots leadership. The authors contend that today's workplace presents the opportunity-and the need-for every employee to demonstrate leadership. Their premise: Organizations today cannot survive if leadership is limited to the CEOs, executives and managers.
This book offers compelling proof that, equipped with proper tools and support, everyone has the potential to be a leader and make a difference. Everyone a Leader is based on a recent study in which 2,000 managers and non-managers from 450 organizations were asked to recall stories and anecdotes about small, often-overlooked turning points in an organization's daily life. These "critical incidents" illustrate the limitless opportunities for any person in an organization to demonstrate good leadership-or poor leadership.
Sixty-eight percent of the incidents described the actions of a manager or supervisor; the rest described non-managers and non-supervisors. The incidents were examined and found to encompass 17 common attributes of leadership. These competencies then were related to five key strategies the authors call the CLIMB model of leader effectiveness:
Create a compelling future. Let the customer drive the organization. Involve every mind. Manage work horizontally. Build personal credibility.
More than a research report A surprisingly large number of the critical incidents described poor leadership. These seemed to indicate that many formal leaders either don't have the needed skills, or aren't aware of the opportunities to "seize the moment." On the other hand, many incidents of "good leadership behavior" came from what the authors call Grassroots Leaders-people in the frontline or in support positions who emerge during critical moments to act as leaders.
Everyone a Leader goes beyond merely reporting the research findings. The book is chock-full of practical how-to's and personal strategies for achieving each of the CLIMB components. Powerful examples from the research underscore each point.
Half the critical incidents were related to the Involve Every Mind strategy described in Chapter Four. And half of these incidents were negative-leaders who minimized individual and team effort, withheld information or missed opportunities to share it, and either sidestepped decisions that could have solved problems or arrived at decisions in a way that made things worse. Most disturbingly, the negative behaviors made a strong and even indelible impression on the respondents but were quickly forgotten by the people who performed them. These leaders were unconsciously poisoning the organization they were supposed to maintain and improve.
Vivid examples of poor leadership described behaviors ranging from thoughtless to rude and even vulgar. The authors show how easily these situations could be turned around using basic people skills: listen, share information, coach, praise, have patience and be persistent. Stressing the importance of gaining active commitment of the entire workforce, this chapter provides in-depth advice on how to win that all-important commitment from peers, subordinates and supervisors.
Even more detail is provided in a "tools" section at the end of the book. The "tools" are step-by-step learning modules that walk the reader through self-improvement activities in the areas addressed in each chapter.
The explore the "emotional labor" required every time someone must make an effort to call up a smile or positive response, or resist the temptation to step in and tell somebody what to do.
The authors provide practical insights into how this works, as well as guidelines for maximizing areas of greatest strength and preparing to assume greater leadership responsibilities.
Grassroots Leadership: tying it all together
Everyone a Leader explores what it means to be a leader in today's organizations-where more and more decisions are getting "pushed down;" where executives, managers, and supervisors are doing more "coaching" and less "directing;" and where employees at every level are taking on broader responsibilities. This book provides theoretical discussion of new directions for leadership; however its most significant contribution rests in the practical how-to tools and leadership "stories" or "critical incidents" that tie the theory to practice.
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- Strategic Human Resource Management (with InfoTrac )
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Recommended Books
- History: Fiction or Science
- Abnormal Psychology, 12th Edition
- Spanning Washington: Historic Highway Bridges Of The Evergreen State
- The Mammal in the Mirror: Understanding Our Place in the Animal World
- The Synaptic Organization of the Brain
- American Cinema/American Culture
- Wife of Moon
- Bethlehem Steel
- The Next American Metropolis: Ecology, Community, and the American Dream
- The Natural History of Domesticated Mammals
New Shop Floor Management: Empowering People for Continuous Improvement
New Manufacturing Challenge: Techniques for Continuous Improvement
The Toyota Way Fieldbook
