The Distance Manager: A Hands On Guide to Managing Off-Site Employees and Virtual Teams

Book Description

Global business demands and new technologies have created a virtual workplace for many companies, with employees and teams routinely collaborating from distant geographical locations on the road, from home, at client sites—even on the other side of the globe. The Distance Manager provides practical information and tools to help managers bridge the communication gaps created by geographical separation, and get peak performance from employees they rarely see. This handbook is perfect for sales managers, project team leaders, senior managers, and anyone who manages people at more than one location. Key topics include:
• Using e-mail, teleconferencing, and videoconferencing for maximum effectiveness
• Mastering the people skills required to manage from a distance
• Virtual team building, and strategies for managing multiple locations

Download Description

The Distance Manager provides practical information and tools to help managers bridge the communication gaps created by geographical separation, and get peak performance from employees they rarely see.

Customer Reviews:

Highly Recommended!.......2001-09-18

Kimball Fisher and Mareen Duncan Fisher document the special skills needed for the new but increasingly common task of managing far-flung work groups. The approaches that they examine are becoming increasingly essential for all managers. Although they explore relevant technologies carefully, their human relations advice is probably more important. The Fishers emphasize the interpersonal and leadership skills that a manager needs to head a virtual team. If you read this book cover to cover, it can seem repetitive, since many of the rules and tips offered in one area overlap with those in other areas. However, the book is designed to allow you to review specific management challenges and technologies, and to ignore areas that are irrelevant to your situation. We [...] recommend this clear, practical work to anyone who leads virtual teams and to the telecommuters and freelance workers who report to them.

Ideas on Distance Management.......2001-07-18

This book presents a new approach to managing people from distance. It also gives clear examples and cases. This book is a must for managers who control their team from distance, either nationwide or global-wide.

Team Building: Proven Strategies for Improving Team Performance

Average customer rating:

Team Building: Proven Strategies for Improving Team Performance
William G. Dyer , W. Gibb, Jr. Dyer , and Jeffrey H. Dyer
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Workplace | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Teams | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

All Deals | Blowout Books | Stores | Books

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Similar Items:

Consulting to Family Businesses: Contracting, Assessment, and Implementation (Organizational Development)
The Team-Building Workshop
Team Building Tool Kit
Instant Team Building (Instant Success)
The Discipline of Teams: A Mindbook-Workbook for Delivering Small Group Performance

ASIN: 0787988936

Book Description

This book is filled with the concepts, ideas, and practical suggestions that are needed for any manager to have at hand if he or she is a member or creator of a committee, team, task-force, or any other activity involving collaboration among several people. The ideas are proven by several decades of experience and well-supported in the text with numerous examples.

Building a Monitoring Infrastructure with Nagios

Average customer rating:

Not Much More Thorough Than Existing Documentation
Fantastic Book for New Nagios Users
Far and away the best book on Nagios
Enjoyable to read - helpful - great reference
Spot on for a well structured book with many WOW-factors

Building a Monitoring Infrastructure with Nagios
David Josephsen
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall PTR
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Operating Systems | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Pro Nagios 2.0 (Expert's Voice in Open Source)
Nagios: System and Network Monitoring
Backup & Recovery
Essential SNMP, Second Edition
Practice of System and Network Administration, The (2nd Edition)

ASIN: 0132236931

Book Description

Build real-world, end-to-end network monitoring solutions with Nagios

This is the definitive guide to building low-cost, enterprise-strength monitoring infrastructures with Nagios, the world’s leading open source monitoring tool. Network monitoring specialist David Josephsen goes far beyond the basics, demonstrating how to use third-party tools and plug-ins to solve the specific problems in your unique environment. Josephsen introduces Nagios “from the ground up,” showing how to plan for success and leverage today’s most valuable monitoring best practices. Then, using practical examples, real directives, and working code, Josephsen presents detailed monitoring solutions for Windows, Unix, Linux, network equipment, and other platforms and devices. You’ll find thorough discussions of advanced topics, including the use of data visualization to solve complex monitoring problems. This is also the first Nagios book with comprehensive coverage of using Nagios Event Broker to transform and extend Nagios.

Understand how Nagios works, in depth: the host and service paradigm, plug-ins, scheduling, and notification
Configure Nagios successfully: config files, templates, timeperiods, contacts, hosts, services, escalations, dependencies, and more
Streamline deployment with scripting templates, automated discovery, and Nagios GUI tools
Use plug-ins and tools to systematically monitor the devices and platforms you need to monitor, the way you need to monitor them
Establish front-ends, visual dashboards, and management interfaces with MRTG and RRDTool
Build new C-based Nagios Event Broker (NEB) modules, one step at a time
Contains easy-to-understand code listings in Unix shell, C, and Perl

If you’re responsible for systems monitoring infrastructure in any organization, large or small, this book will help you achieve the results you want–right from the start.

David Josephsen is Senior Systems Engineer at DBG, Inc., where he maintains a collection of geographically dispersed server farms. He has more than a decade of hands-on experience with Unix systems, routers, firewalls, and load balancers in support of complex, high-volume networks. Josephsen’s certifications include CISSP, CCNA, CCDA, and MCSE. His co-authored work on Bayesian spam filtering earned a Best Paper award at USENIX LISA 2004. He has been published in both ;login and Sysadmin magazines on topics relating to security, systems monitoring, and spam mitigation.

Introduction
CHAPTER 1 Best Practices
CHAPTER 2 Theory of Operations
CHAPTER 3 Installing Nagios
CHAPTER 4 Configuring Nagios
CHAPTER 5 Bootstrapping the Configs
CHAPTER 6 Watching
CHAPTER 7 Visualization
CHAPTER 8 Nagios Event Broker Interface
APPENDIX A Configure Options
APPENDIX B nagios.cfg and cgi.cfg
APPENDIX C Command-Line Options
Index

Customer Reviews:

Not Much More Thorough Than Existing Documentation.......2007-09-25

It's well written, but it didn't provide much more insights and coverage than reading the existing documentation you can download for free. There are also some glaring gaps in its coverage. There's nothing about passive checks! And I don't think it was written before v3.0 came out.

If you like written docs for stuff you reference often, it will be worth the money. But don't go to it with any significant troubleshooting problem.

Fantastic Book for New Nagios Users.......2007-07-06

This book takes the fairly complicated matter of configuring Nagios for monitoring your network infrastructure and makes it straight forward. Kudos and many things to Mr. Josephsen.

Far and away the best book on Nagios.......2007-05-31

I use Nagios heavily at my company and as a result, I've purchased all of the available texts on the subject. This one is simply the best work on Nagios available right now. It's clear and succinct where even the online docs from the Nagios project can be confusing. It covers things that the No Starch volume barely touches on (WMI Scripting and Nagios) and honestly, the diagrams and code samples are clear and useful in real-world application.

Really, buy this one. If you need another one, I would be surprised.

Enjoyable to read - helpful - great reference.......2007-05-23

The author clearly likes the product on the products own merits. The books is not written by a hack who was filling a void. He writes clearly and methodically explaining in detail why, what, how and when of Nagios. The index is very good and has allowed me to effectively use it as a reference in learning Nagios. I like some humor in my technical books and David does not disappoint me when he explains how to "ssh into his power strip" to do a little environmental monitoring.

Nagios - in my opinion - is a killer-app with such flexibility as to be the "ultimate" monitoring tool. Learning it is a wise investment of anyone's time, and Josephesen's book is invaluable to understanding and exploiting all of Nagios's features... and yes, I am over the age of 13.

Spot on for a well structured book with many WOW-factors.......2007-05-17

--- DISCLAIMER: This is a requested review by PTR, however any opinions expressed within the review are my personal ones. ---

Introduction - 6p
CHAPTER 1 Best Practices - 12p
CHAPTER 2 Theory of Operations - 26p
CHAPTER 3 Installing Nagios - 11p
CHAPTER 4 Configuring Nagios - 23p
CHAPTER 5 Bootstrapping the Configs - 10p
CHAPTER 6 Watching - 46p
CHAPTER 7 Visualization - 42p
CHAPTER 8 Nagios Event Broker Interface - 19p
APPENDIX A Configure Options - 3p
APPENDIX B nagios.cfg and cgi.cfg - 9p
APPENDIX C Command-Line Options - 10p
Index - 14p

The book is with 190 pages (230p. when including appendix and index) very compact. It teaches you Nagios in a way I have never heard / read before. I must assume that the authors clear structured style - which runs through the book like a red line - must be responsible for the excellent outcome.

The book starts in the introduction with the title "Do it right the first time" and that hits it right on the spot. What make out the features of this little portable knowledgebase is the exceptional well thought through contents and its explanations by the author. David is not filling pages by explaining each and every parameter, but rather showing you the big picture, and explaining how to approach new issues or how one technical solution is better over another.

This is the book you should pass to your manager so (s)he understands why and how an open solution like Nagios is the better choice and can be used for achieving surpassing solutions.

The book itself basically is divided in two sections:

Background, setup and configuration - Chapters 1-5
Advanced Topics - Chapters 6-8

I did find any of the chapters to have a nice balance of the amount of information needed but some EXCEPTIONAL good parts of book where:

Chapter 1 Best practices
Chapter 2 - the part about scheduling
Chapters 6-8 as a whole

Chapter 6 has a thorough explanations on monitoring the different OS's (especially the Windows part !!) or other applications.

Chapter 7 for its overall thoroughness of how to visualize your data to reach the next level of a better understanding of the systems / network you are monitoring.

Chapter 8 is describing a filesystem based status interface. The NEB module will write a file with its current status code for each service. I have to admit that some technical details went over my head, but I thought that was pretty cool !!

The featured points above is what I found to be exceptionally good and most likely the strongest sales points for this little portable knowledgebase. That doesnt mean that the other not mentioned parts of the book are weak, mind you.

Funny enough the above mentioned points where EXACTLY the points which I havent seen explained this thorough anywhere before.

So David's book was exactly spot on for me.

Summary:

To sum it all up in very simple words: This is a hell of a book !!

Its the most compact, well structured book on Nagios that I have seen to date. It contains many WOW-factors. While reading each chapter you can virtually "feel" how Davids explanations and tips and tricks already helped you to avoid time consuming pitfalls.

So this book is not about "to buy or not to buy", this is an investment you dont want to miss !!

I was especially impressed by the thoroughness the book is written by from the first page. Also the contents of the first chapter wasnt new to me, the way it was explained already provided many of those A-ha moments.

The main asset of the book is not the description of the tools itself, but rather the tought and considerations the author put into it and the sharing of those thoughts in a way that the reader can actually visualize how and why one solution is better over another, without actually having to go to the "luxury to experience the pitfalls" in a live disaster scenario.

PS: AFTER I finished reading the book I re-read the "Editorial Review" Amazon gave above and found it pretty well describing the actual book and what you should expect.

>> You can find more reviews on Nagios related books including a comparison by deploying my profile. < <

The CCL Handbook of Coaching: A Guide for the Leader Coach (J-B CCL (Center for Creative Leadership))

Average customer rating:

The CCL Handbook of Coaching: A Guide for the Leader Coach (J-B CCL (Center for Creative Leadership))
Sharon Ting , and Peter Scisco
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Human Resources & Personnel Management | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Training | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Skills | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

All Amazon Upgrade | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

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Similar Items:

Coaching for Leadership: Practice of Leadership Coaching from the World's Greatest Coaches
The Art and Practice of Leadership Coaching: 50 Top Executive Coaches Reveal Their Secrets
Becoming a Strategic Leader: Your Role in Your Organization's Enduring Success (JOSSEY-BASS BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT SERIES)
Psychology Of Executive Coaching: Theory and Application
Executive Coaching: Practices and Perspectives

ASIN: 0787976849

Book Description

Coaching is vital to developing talent in organizations, and it is an essential capability of effective leaders. The CCL Handbook of Coaching is based on a philosophy of leadership development that the Center for Creative Leadership has honed over thirty years with rigorous research and with long, rich experience in the practice of leadership coaching. The book uses a coaching framework to give a compass to leaders who are called to coach as a means of building sustainability and boosting performance in their organizations. The book explores the special considerations that leader coaches need to account for when coaching across differences and in special circumstances, describes advanced coaching techniques, and examines the systemic issues that arise when coaching moves from a one-to-one relationship to a developmental culture that embraces entire organizations.

Field Guide to Consulting and Organizational Development: A Collaborative and Systems Approach to Performance, Change and Learning

Average customer rating:

Field Guide to Consulting and Organizational Development: A Collaborative and Systems Approach to Performance, Change and Learning

Manufacturer: Authenticity Consulting, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Organizational Learning | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Consultant's Toolkit: High-Impact Questionnaires, Activities and How-to Guides for Diagnosing and Solving Client Problems
The Consultant's Big Book of Organization Development Tools : 50 Reproducible Intervention Tools to Help Solve Your Clients' Problems
Field Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning and Facilitation

ASIN: 1933719206

Product Description

UNIQUE! This book is unique among books on consulting and leading in businesses and government! There are already many consulting books, mostly about how to market a consulting business -- but marketing is no good to you if you have no specialty to market! What better specialty can there be than to guide organizations to improve their performance? That is the focus of this book! There are already many books that explore numerous philosophies, broad paradigms and complex theories on change and leadership -- but to be successful as a consultant and leader, you must be able to actually work in the trenches." This book guides you to do that! ALL-IN-ONE! This easy-to-reference, 499-page resource explains the most common types of issues found in businesses and government agencies and the recommendations to address each of those issues. Also, the book addresses many of the problems with traditional approaches to consulting and leading! TOOLS! This book provides time-tested, straightforward and highly integrated tools and techniques for consultants and leaders to successfully improve businesses and government agencies. The book combines practical information from the fields of Organization Development and consulting, systems thinking and proven principles for change. Guidelines are organized in a step-by-step, numbered sequence that readers can easily apply. CONTENTS: PART I Foundations for Collaborative Consulting, II Overview of Organizations and Systems, III Performance, Change and Learning, IV Collaborative Consulting Cycle, V Toolbox for Managing Groups, VI Toolbox for Practical Data Collection Methods, and VII Toolbox for Analyzing and Changing Systems. INCLUDES examples of specific recommendations, action plans, performance indicators, and of a consulting proposal and contract. (SPECIFICATIONS: Published 2006, 499 pages, paperback. Includes forms that can be downloaded from the Web, too.)

Construction Site Erosion and Sediment Controls: Planning, Design, and Performance

Average customer rating:

Construction Site Erosion and Sediment Controls: Planning, Design, and Performance
Robert Pitt , Donald Lake , and Shirley Clark
Manufacturer: DEStech Publications, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Buildings & Construction | Home Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Conservation | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

General | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

General & Reference | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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Designing for Effective Sediment and Erosion Control on Construction Sites

ASIN: 193207838X

Book Description

• In-depth design guidance for controlling construction site run-off
• Indispensable for meeting the EPA's stormwater regs
• Erosion data for all regions of US
• Technical and engineering options for many site types and climate conditions
• Heavily illustrated with dozens of original case studies & problems

Attention: Stormwater managers, hydrologists, watershed managers, municipal water authorities, county conservation specialists.

Here is a fully up-to-date book, by three leading experts, containing critical design tools for practical implementation of techniques to control and abate run-off and sediment from construction sites.

With many original illustrations and examples, this text provides the design principles to monitor and to implement mitigating steps that will enable you and your staff to meet regulations by taking steps that fit the development level, soil type, and rainfall amounts of your region.

The information presented here is need-to-know technology for anyone tasked with planning, implementing, or monitoring stormwater in urban, suburban and rural settings.

From the Authors' Preface:

"Construction sites have an erosion rate of 20 to 200 tons per acre per year, a rate that is about 3 to 100 times that of croplands….The present book has been prepared as a toolbox to assist planners, watershed managers, and engineers in meeting the erosion control requirements of the EPA's Stormwater Permit Program. Design examples are given for a variety of basic erosion and sediment controls, including diversion structures, slope mulches, stable channels, detention ponds, and filter fences. The design procedures allow alternative designs corresponding to different design periods, hydraulic failure rates, and pollutant control objectives. The material in this book is unique, in that scientific principles and engineering design have been integrated, allowing the prediction of the performance of erosion controls to be made for specific site and rain conditions."

Team Reconstruction: Building a High Performance Work Group During Change
Average customer rating:

More a pamphlet than a book

Team Reconstruction: Building a High Performance Work Group During Change
Price Pritchett
Manufacturer: Pritchett Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
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Firing Up Commitment During Organizational Change: A Handbook for Managers

A Survival Guide to the Stress of Organizational Change

Teamwork: The Team Member Handbook

Culture Shift: The Employee Handbook for Changing Corporate Culture

High Velocity Culture Change: A Handbook for Managers

ASIN: 0944002102

Book Description

Provides a 14-point strategy for building and leading effective teams in the wake of convulsive organizational change. In an environment where relentless upheavals tend to come one after another, work groups can become locked in a never ending "transition period" where productivity suffers. This handbook provides specific instructions on making quick repairs and mobilizing employees to shorten transitions and protect operating efficiency.

Customer Reviews:

More a pamphlet than a book.......1999-05-24

There are 14 2-page topics. If you know how to do them, then this would be a great reminder. If you don't know how to do them, the guidance is limited. This looks more like one of the handouts for a presentation or short course that the authors' company teaches.

Seriously disappointing.

Essential Oils Integrative Medical Guide: Building Immunity, Increasing Longevity, and Enhancing Mental Performance With Therapeutic-Grade Essential Oils
Average customer rating:

Alternative healing

The BEST essential oil book out there!

The facts and powers of essential oils

Excellent Source for Novice and Expert

Disappointing !

Essential Oils Integrative Medical Guide: Building Immunity, Increasing Longevity, and Enhancing Mental Performance With Therapeutic-Grade Essential Oils
D. Gary Young
Manufacturer: Essential Science Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Aromatherapy | Alternative Medicine | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Alternative Medicine | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Essential Oils Desk Reference (3rd Edition)

Raindrop Technique

Chemistry Of Essential Oils Made Simple

Healing Oils Of The Bible

Essential Oils Pocket Reference 3rd Edition (Spiral Bound 2004, 3rd Edition)

Accessories:

RESPeRATE Blood Pressure Lowering Device

Airborne Effervescent Health Formula, Original Orange, 10 Tablets (Pack of 3)

ASIN: 0943685346

Customer Reviews:

Alternative healing.......2007-08-09

I was impressed with the research that Mr. Young has done, however I was hoping it was different than all the other aromatherphy books that I had bought, but it was just pretty simple. I really am looking for something more comprehensive than this and thought it would be more like a text book. There is allot of sick people out there and we need a book that really goes in depth about healing the patient. I haven't purchased any of the oils that he produces but plan on trying them, I was impressed that he talked about the different levels of distillation, and how much the impact on even just when you harvest the oils and the changes that occur when you do that at different times. Also he talks about the energy of the person involved with the oils and that was impressive when I had just planted flower seeds in my yard and the side of the sidewalk that I did has plenty of flowers but the one my daughter did only has a few and it is quite funny looking but evident of what he was saying about the energy of the person.
Windy

The BEST essential oil book out there!.......2007-01-12

This book is written by the founder of Young Living Essential Oils, Gary Young. However, it is NOT "brand specific" information. It includes scientific information about essential oils, but better yet ... it tells you which oil(s) to use for specific maladies!

For instance, I have a mole on my face and do NOT want to have it surgically removed. I consulted this book, and found the recommendation to use Oregano oil on it. I have been using the oil on it for almost one week, and have started to see a change in the look and feel of the mole. NOTHING I have tried over the years has done this for it!

(as of 10/01/07: I have been using the Oregano oil on my moles for a while now. I have very fair skin, and am allergic/sensitive to many things. This oil is no exception. I CANNOT put the oil on my moles every day. I have to put it on maybe every 3 or 4 days. The skin around the moles becomes red and itchy. Also, the moles tend to ooze clear liquid. Be careful with the oils and USE THEM AS DIRECTED!! So far about 3/4 of my largest mole is GONE. By using the oil approx. 1x per week I have dissolved the moles by a significant amount, and the dark color is either gone or much lighter!)

The book is easy to use, very informative, and I consult it almost daily for advice. I give it 2 thumbs and 2 toes up! Excellent reference!

The facts and powers of essential oils.......2006-10-30

I have learned so much and I still am. I am amazed,in absolute awe on how potent and powerful the healing properties of PURE essential oils are. The frequencies of our bodies have the same frequencies as the blood of the plants so it can be immediately absorbed into our cells! These researched PURE oils have a huge significant impact on our well being and health.
This book is extremely valuable and should be in every home that would like to learn a new and healthier way of living.

Excellent Source for Novice and Expert.......2006-02-26

This is a well written, easily understood resource for anyone interested in essential oils and their uses. I bought this book after reading an article in a magazine by the author. I have since bought a couple of other essential oil books and looked at others at a bookstore and none of them came close to providing the usable information that this book does. If you are interested in this subject, don't waste your money on other books, this one has everything you need to better your health in a safe, natural way.

Disappointing !.......2006-02-01

The majority of the information in this large book is already published in this authors EODR: Essential Oil Desk Reference. Very little new information and thus it should have been printed in a small volume or pamphlet as an addendum to the EODR. Much better to spend your money on the origianl and very valuable reference manual (the EODR) for all those using the Young Living Essential Oils. Only the "true believers" and followers can or will use this current volume.

Building Robust Competencies: Linking Human Resource Systems to Organizational Strategies

Average customer rating:

Linking HR systems to organization's identity
Exceptional linking of behavioral elements in HR System

Building Robust Competencies: Linking Human Resource Systems to Organizational Strategies
Paul C. Green
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Human Resources & Personnel Management | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Entrepreneurship | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Finance | New & Used Textbooks | Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Art and Science of Competency Models: Pinpointing Critical Success Factors in Organizations
Competency-Based Human Resource Management
Competency and the Learning Organization (Crisp Professional Series)
Effective Competency Modeling and Reporting (With CD-ROM)
Competence at Work: Models for Superior Performance

ASIN: 0787946494

Book Description

Competency development is one of the hottest topics in the HR profession. Still there is much confusion among managers about what a competency is and how to use it effectively. Here, author Paul Green draws on twenty-five years of training, consulting, and employee assessment experience to establish a behavioral language that describes, guides, and links actions at work. This is the foundation for developing clearly defined competencies that help executives, managers, and HR professionals communicate performance goals through every step of the HR process--including interviewing, appraisal, coaching, and training-in ways that directly support an organization's mission, vision, and values.

Customer Reviews:

Linking HR systems to organization's identity.......2001-09-11

"This book explains how to use behavioral competencies to link human resource (HR) systems to an organization's purpose. This linkage will help organizations better communicate to associates about how they can effectively guide their own actions...The book is written for human resource professionals, who strive to link their organization's core competencies, capabilities, values, and priorities to its human resource applications...You can expect this book to recognize and reinforce important distinctions between an organization's strategic core competencies and its individual competencies and skills. Although these distinctions are obvious to business strategists, they are a source of confusion for many in human resources who want to use competencies to reflect vision, culture, and values" (from the Preface).

In this context, Paul C. Green divides his book into two main parts:

I. Clarifying Competencies: In this part;

* He argues that "robust competencies help you define what was done, what is being done, and what needs to be done." And hence, he sets the stage for building robust competencies by identifying the ambiguities, challenges, and rewards of using competencies.

* He explores the different meanings of competencies that are used in organizations and research. And he argues that "HR competency system must be job related and should reflect core competencies, capabilities, core values, and priorities."

* He discusses operationalizing performance skills to enable you to use behavioral observation, description, and inference to communicate clearly what a person needs to do to do a job well. Here he says that "a behavior is an action that you can observe, describe, and verify."

* He explores how the identity of an organization can become the target for alignment, and discusses how an organization's identity can be reflected in and reinforced by interviews, appraisal, coaching, and training.

II. Linking Competencies to Human Resource Systems: In this part, after briefly discussing perception-driven, experience-driven, attribute-driven, and behavior-driven approaches, he offers behavioral approach to link interviews, appraisals, coaching, and training to the identity of an organization. It emphasizes a systemic, job-related approach to support the effectiveness and defensibility of an HR system. He argues that "the linkage of HR applications is easier when the organization consistently uses a behavioral approach. Once behavioral language is used in one part of an HR system, it can be expanded to other applications."

Finally, he says that "the best answers to questions about core competencies, capabilities, core values, and priorities come from real experiences in applying them. Today, each answer is just an opinion at one point in time. However, the big question for the future will be: How can I link HR systems to my organization's identity? At present the most useful answers are those that emphasize a behavioral approach, job relatedness, nimbleness, and open mindedness."

Highly recommended.

Exceptional linking of behavioral elements in HR System.......1999-11-01

Dr. Green demonstrates that the job analysis which is the basis of behavioral interviews, is also the cornerstone upon which competencies, PD's, interviews, coaching, performance measurement, and training are all built. Once the use of behavioral thinking is understood by the manager, the development of the tools and methods for selecting, developing, and managing successful people will flow from the analysis of the behaviors needed for success in any specific job.

Dr. Green goes beyond the individual in applying behavioral understandings and tools, taking them to the organizational level as well. He clearly demonstrates the linkage between high performing individuals, and high performing organizations.

A must read for any manager using Behavioral Interviewing, any trainer teaching Behavioral Interviewing, or any manager tired of spending a disproportionate share of their time and energy dealing with poor performance, low productivity, and poor morale.

Book Description

Want to win in your chosen performance event? Looking forward to raising a new puppy that you hope can do just that? Read this book before your puppy comes home.

* Motivate your puppy to enjoy training

* Build drive through goal oriented games

* Tailor your interaction with your puppy to his future performance event.

Customer Reviews:

Extememly Useful.......2005-08-15

Whether you are a new dog owner, just got a new puppy, are training an adult dog or are not new to dog training, this book is filled with lots of valuable training techniques, just like the title. Many techniques you teach and use to build upon later. Lots of diagrams, pictures, illustrtations, and lists. Would be great for a 4-H member training a dog or for the casual pet owner just wanting to learn some basic training stuff up through the professional obedience trainer. I refer back to it throughout the year in all my training. Everyone who has a dog should get this book and use it!!

Building block for performance.......2005-07-20

When I first ordered the book I never received it from the first company I ordered it from. I finally found the phone # for amazon.com and talk to a respresentive who was very helpful and the book arrived 2 days later from amazon.I never did hear from the original company.

A Must-Have Book for Performance Dogs.......2003-11-23

The content of this book was great. The author gives a lot of examples of games you can play with your puppy to make training fun. I found several training errors I have been making with my own dogs in this book and, once I saw it in print, could see how that might affect motivation.

Contrary to what another reviewer previously mentioned, this book is NOT full of harsh corrections. In fact, there is not one instance where the author advocates harsh corrections or hard-handed training methods. When she does discuss corrections, it is with a very fair, gentle approach that seeks to get the dog immediately back to a position of earning praise while not letting a situation get to the point where the dog feels like commands are optional. This ENTIRE book is about FUN with your dog and learning how to make training, learning, and being with you something your dog can't wait to do. It is one of the most positive training books I have ever read.

She has great information about the use of food and toys and tells you how to use them appropriately while still making time with you be your dogs ultimate reward. She also talks about how to structure your puppy's life to make the most of your time together.

The author uses many real examples from working with her own dog or from her students. She also has a very nice chapter or two at the end about how to set goals to help yourself be successful with your dog. There are a lot of pictures and boxes highlighting the main ideas or offering in quick bites some additional ideas of how to utilize the information.

The ONLY complaint I have with this book is in its organization. She mentions having your puppy do a sit or a down all throughout the book but doesn't talk about teaching the sit or down until the 3rd to last chapter. She also gives TONS of examples of how to train your dog through play throughout the book but it can leave you feeling a bit overwhelmed feeling like you should train your dog 5 hours a day! It isn't until one of the very last chapters that she gives some ideas of how much set aside training time should be done each day and also talks about incorporating 30 seconds here or there as you are doing something else with the puppy anyway.

I would definitely consider this book a must-have. I plan to try to read it at least one more time before my next performance puppy arrives.

Devour this book!.......2002-11-06

This is a fabulous guide for starting a puppy to be any kind of competition dog. It shows you how to train your puppy, through day-to-day interaction, for a playful, confident attitude (you can teach precision later). The authors explain how to gradually move your puppy away from treats training and how to use praise effectively. The book describes how to get your puppy's attention and focus, primarily with games, so your puppy will LOVE to train and work with you. Sidebars describe how to work with some special dog personality types. Read this book before you bring your next puppy home!

Outmoded training ideas.......2002-10-16

Although I eagerly hoped for a good book about introducing agility to puppies with positive reinforcement, this book gravely disappointed me. In fact, this book was so filled with punishments ("corrections") of the puppy that I could barely believe that the book had been recently written; it read like dog training books written 20 years ago. It appeared to me that the author had been left behind in the revolution in positive reinforcement dog training. The author's ideas are particularly disturbing because they are applied to puppies.

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