Human Resource Management (9th Edition): Gary Dessler

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

This highly-readable, #1 best-selling HRM book on the market, provides a comprehensive review of personnel management concepts and practices. It focuses on the high-performance organization—building better, faster, more competitive organizations through HR; while continuing to offer practical applications that help all managers deal with their personnel-related responsibilities. A six-part presentation covers the strategic role of human resources, recruitment and placement, training and development, compensation, labor relations and employee security, and international HRM. For human resource personnel—especially managers.

From the Publisher
This text focuses on HRM as the responsibility of EVERY manager. Gary Dessler’s revision weaves four themes throughout the text: HR and the Responsive Organization (new), Building Employee Commitment, Global HRM, and Small Business Applications. New boxes include Diversity Counts, Information Technology, and HR.
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Order Human Resource Management (9th Edition): Gary Dessler form Amazon.

Martin Luther King, Jr., on Leadership: Inspiration and Wisdom for Challenging Times: Donald T. Phillips

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

Leadership motivational speaker Donald T. Phillips, who has previously drawn organizational lessons for modern businesses from the careers of Abraham Lincoln and the Founding Fathers, turns to civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. as a role model. A discussion of the Montgomery bus boycott, for example, draws out such principles as “Set goals and create a plan of action” and “Involve the people.” More effective as a self-help book for business than as a biography, it does provide a useful introduction to King’s life.

From the author of “Lincoln on Leadership” and “The Founding Fathers on Leadership” comes an insightful guide to how the philosophy of Dr. King can be used to effect positive, long-lasting change in any organization.

Order Martin Luther King, Jr., on Leadership: Inspiration and Wisdom for Challenging Times: Donald T. Phillips form Amazon.

What Would Machiavelli Do? The Ends Justify the Meanness: Stanley Bing

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

Machiavelli would feel at home in industry today. You don’t need a birthright to be a modern prince–just an impulsive ruthlessness such as he described four centuries ago while trying to get back into the good graces of a Medici nobleman. A clever guy like him could really go places. Stanley Bing, a columnist for Fortune, is also a clever guy. In real life he has another name and works for a media company (a very, very clever person could probably patch together the clues he offers and figure out the company, if not the actual person), and as such he’s been our spy behind corporate lines since he first started writing for Esquire back in 1984. In What Would Machiavelli Do? Bing gleefully offers hard-boiled Machiavellian advice about whom to fire in a downsizing (consultants first, secretaries last), how to make employees love you (”Give them perks…. When they’re spending your money, you own them”), and why it’s important that you also kick ass (one of the ways: “cutting them off curtly when they speak”) and take names (so people know you’ll not only hurt them, you’ll also go after their friends). The overriding lesson of this book is always to love yourself, never apologize for anything you do, and when all else fails, recognize that the truth is flexible, and so can be bent any way you want. What makes all this amorality funny is that Bing plays it straight, putting his ruthless advice into an easily digestible how-to format. Sometimes the only way you can tell it’s satire is when he mixes the musings of Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot in with those of modern business figures such as former Sunbeam CEO “Chainsaw” Al Dunlap. Firing people, killing people–same rules, different game. –Lou Schuler
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

What Would Machiavelli Do?

• He would feast on other people’s discord
• He wouldn’t exactly seek the company of ass-kissers and bimbos, but he wouldn’t reject them out of hand, either
• He would realize that loving yourself means never having to say you’re sorry
• He would kill people, but only if he could feel good about himself afterward
• He would establish and maintain a psychotic level of control
• He would use other people’s opinions to sell his book!

Order What Would Machiavelli Do? The Ends Justify the Meanness: Stanley Bing form Amazon.

Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun?: How Reginald Lewis Created a Billion-Dollar Business Empire: Reginald F. Lewis, Blair S. Walker

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
This biography of business magnate Lewis is based on his unfinished autobiography; he died in 1993 at age 50 from brain cancer. Walker, who writes for the “Money” section of USA Today, completed the book after interviewing Lewis’s family, friends, colleagues and employees. Lewis, growing up in an African American family in segregated Baltimore, attended parochial school, worked his way through college and Harvard Law and became a successful attorney and highly visible business executive, capping his career with the leveraged buyout of conglomerate Beatrice International Foods for $985 billion in 1987. His personal fortune was $400 million, we learn in this inspiring bio/business study, which deftly conveys Lewis’s concerns not only about his work but also about his family, race and his own death. Photos not seen by PW. First serial to Black Enterprise.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal
YA?Even as a small child, Lewis’s goal was to become the richest black man in America. When he died of brain cancer at age 50 in 1993, he was worth over $400 million and was considered by Forbes magazine to be one of the 400 wealthiest Americans. Not only was he an extremely successful businessman, but he was also a caring philanthropist. His journey from middle-class Baltimore resident to international citizen makes for fascinating reading. He was in the process of writing his autobiography when he died, and Walker consulted many sources in order to give a full and accurate account of this intense, goal-oriented man’s life. Lewis’s words appear in italics; Walker’s, in Roman typeface, provide additional information. Walker discusses his subject’s private life, but he concentrates more on the business aspects. This is enough. It is inspiring to see how one individual can plan ahead and overcome both racial and financial obstacles to become such a world-wide success.?Pat Royal, Crossland High School, Camp Springs, MD
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Order Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun?: How Reginald Lewis Created a Billion-Dollar Business Empire: Reginald F. Lewis, Blair S. Walker form Amazon.

Beyond Strategic Vision, Effective Corporate Action With Hoshin Planning: Michael Cowley, Ellen Domb

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

Review
¦Success in a highly competitive world requires focus and direction. This book will benefit any organization. It provides a template for process-driven thinking which will create bottom-line results.¦¦Stuart Levine, CEO, Stuart Levine & Associates LLC, coauthor, The Leader in You

¦Hoshin planning has long been recognized as the premier tool in developing a competitive and successful organization. Beyond Strategic Vision develops a hands-on practical approach to this process. The authors have meticulously collected tools they have seen work, tools which are woven into the Hoshin process in a way that hands the implementor the proper instrument at just the right time.¦¦Pete Weber, VP, TQM Implementation, Aerojet General Co.

¦Corporations need vision, but just having a vision is not enough. A vision needs to be translated into action, in a way that produces the desired results. Hoshin Planning is that way. Its message has been artfully and practically put into book-form by Ellen Domb and Michael Cowley. Beyond Strategic Vision represents far more than just knowledge. It is a step-by-step guide, based on the authors’ experiences with some of the best organizations in the world. This is a MUST-READ and MUST-HAVE for those executives¦and their corporate staffs¦who want to make their strategic vision happen.¦¦James F. Kowalick, President, Renaissance Leadership Institute

¦Major organizational change requires constancy of purpose not only from year to year but throughout the organization. The authors present a clear, straight forward description of the Hoshin planning process, which will assist any organization in accomplishing this deployment and alignment requirement.¦¦Joseph W. Martinelli, President (retired), Chevron Pipeline Company

¦If you recognize the value of planning, or even just want to decide if it is worth your time, this book is a must read. In plain and practical language you will learn how to apply some basic and practical techniques that can be implemented in a straight forward manner to any size business.¦¦Bert Frydman, Service Policy and Quality Vice President, Pacific Bell — Review

Developed in Japan in the 1960s, Hoshin is a management system for determining the appropriate course of action for an organization, and effectively accomplishing the relevant actions and results. Having recognized the power of this system, Beyond Strategic Vision tailors the Hoshin system to fit the culture of North American and European organizations. It is a "how-to" guide to the Hoshin method for executives, managers, and any other professionals, who must plan, create, and implement as part of their normal job. The management of an organization, whether it be large or small, has one of its principal responsiblities to set the direction of the organization for the future and to move the entire organization into that future. The most effective way to set the future direction is to develop a shared vision of what the organization will be in the future, contrast it to the way the organization is now, and then create a plan for bridging the gap: the Strategic Plan. Beyond Strategic Vision shows how to do this effectively and efficiently. Beyond Strategic Vision is invaluable reading for anyone charged with a managerial or directorial decision making responsibility for their company or organizational future goals and planning. — Midwest Book Review

Review
¦Success in a highly competitive world requires focus and direction. This book will benefit any organization. It provides a template for process-driven thinking which will create bottom-line results.¦¦Stuart Levine, CEO, Stuart Levine & Associates LLC, coauthor, The Leader in You

¦Hoshin planning has long been recognized as the premier tool in developing a competitive and successful organization. Beyond Strategic Vision develops a hands-on practical approach to this process. The authors have meticulously collected tools they have seen work, tools which are woven into the Hoshin process in a way that hands the implementor the proper instrument at just the right time.¦¦Pete Weber, VP, TQM Implementation, Aerojet General Co.

¦Corporations need vision, but just having a vision is not enough. A vision needs to be translated into action, in a way that produces the desired results. Hoshin Planning is that way. Its message has been artfully and practically put into book-form by Ellen Domb and Michael Cowley. Beyond Strategic Vision represents far more than just knowledge. It is a step-by-step guide, based on the authors’ experiences with some of the best organizations in the world. This is a MUST-READ and MUST-HAVE for those executives¦and their corporate staffs¦who want to make their strategic vision happen.¦¦James F. Kowalick, President, Renaissance Leadership Institute

¦Major organizational change requires constancy of purpose not only from year to year but throughout the organization. The authors present a clear, straight forward description of the Hoshin planning process, which will assist any organization in accomplishing this deployment and alignment requirement.¦¦Joseph W. Martinelli, President (retired), Chevron Pipeline Company

¦If you recognize the value of planning, or even just want to decide if it is worth your time, this book is a must read. In plain and practical language you will learn how to apply some basic and practical techniques that can be implemented in a straight forward manner to any size business.¦¦Bert Frydman, Service Policy and Quality Vice President, Pacific Bell

Order Beyond Strategic Vision, Effective Corporate Action With Hoshin Planning: Michael Cowley, Ellen Domb form Amazon.

Machiavelli on Modern Leadership : Why Machiavelli’s Iron Rules Are As Timely and Important Today As Five Centuries Ago: Michael A. Ledeen

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Michael A. Ledeen sees the same parallels today between human nature, power, and the state of our institutions that venerable Renaissance writer Niccolò Machiavelli established and expounded upon in Italy nearly 500 years earlier. In Machiavelli on Modern Leadership, he examines a variety of political, religious, economic, and even athletic leaders from the last days of the 20th century according to the exceptional tenets originally laid out in classic works such as The Prince and The Discourses.

His purpose now, Ledeen writes, is essentially the same as his subject’s was then: “to present the basic principles of the proper and successful use of power in language that contemporary leaders can understand, the better to advance the common good.” Although somewhat brief at less than 200 pages, this spirited book nonetheless manages to measure successfully the characters of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Ted Turner, Caspar Weinberger, Colin Powell, Yasir Arafat, and many others against the exceedingly rigorous (and often controversial) standards set by one of the most enduring of all leadership theorists. Despite following a string of moral philosophers and political analysts who have previously produced extensive material on both the man and his ideas, Ledeen shows in a fresh way precisely why Machiavelli’s precepts remain as valid as when they were first penned. –Howard Rothman

From Kirkus Reviews
American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Ledeen (Perilous Statecraft: An Insiders Account of the Iran-Contra Affair, 1988, etc.) offers an updated version of the rules for leadership laid down by Machiavelli. Its the nature of humans to do evil, and war is our natural state. Anyone who would wield power in such a setting, writes Ledeen, echoing Machiavelli, “must be prepared to fight at all times.” This is as true in business, sports, and politics as it is on the battlefield. The leader must fight not only enemies but his (and in the rare instance her) own tendency toward indolence and contentment, for these will bring ruin to any endeavor. A leader must be of “manly vigor”; he must be virtuous, possessing the military values of prudent judgment, alertness to changing conditions, bravery, courage, total commitment to mission; only when the leader is virtuous in this way will the people follow him. While there have been strong female leaders, such as Margaret Thatcher, on the whole women cannot achieve virtue for they lack the “physical wherewithal and the passionate desire to achieve” military glory. (Women are also a temptation to men while they are busy trying to lead.) One might then justly call a weak state with a feeble leader “effeminate.” And there is no better example of this, according to the author, than the US under Clinton, whose personal corruption and lack of military virtue endanger us all. The military has become, under Clinton, a place for bizarre social experiments, such as men and women serving together aboard ship. What Ledeen thinks we all need, then, is a sort of virtue Viagra, and this exemplifies his simplistic and decidedly dated answers to the complex problems of politics. This is an analysis of neither Machiavelli nor leadership, but, rather, a partisan broadside for which Machiavelli serves as a useful prop. — Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Order Machiavelli on Modern Leadership : Why Machiavelli’s Iron Rules Are As Timely and Important Today As Five Centuries Ago: Michael A. Ledeen form Amazon.

Transnational Criminal Organizations, Cybercrime, and Money Laundering: A Handbook for Law Enforcement Officers, Auditors, and Financial Investigators: James R. Richards

• Filed under: Recommended

Editorial Reviews

Review
breaks new ground in describing in some detail the techniques used by organized crime groups. This is an excellent reference source that will contribute also to honing investigative skills.

…breaks new ground in describing in some detail the techniques used by organized crime groups. This is an excellent reference source that will contribute also to honing investigative skills.
-Crime & Justice International, July/August 1999

…breaks new ground in describing in some detail the techniques used by organized crime groups. This is an excellent reference source that will contribute also to honing investigative skills.
-Crime & Justice International, July/August 1999

WRITTEN BY A LAW ENFORCEMENT PROFESSIONAL FOR OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL IN THE TRENCHESThis book examines the workings of organized criminals and criminal groups that transcend national boundaries. Discussions include methods used by criminal groups to internationally launder money; law enforcement efforts to counteract such schemes; and new methods and tactics to counteract transnational money laundering.A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO FACETS OF INTERNATIONAL CRIME AND MEASURES TO COMBAT THEMIntended for law enforcement personnel, bank compliance officers, financial investigators, criminal defense attorneys, and anyone interested in learning about the basic concepts of international crime and money laundering, this timely text explains:·money laundering terms and phrases·an overview of relevant federal agencies, transnational criminal organizations, and basic investigatory techniques·the intricacies of wire transfers and cyberbanking·the phenomenon of the “World Wide Web”

Order Transnational Criminal Organizations, Cybercrime, and Money Laundering: A Handbook for Law Enforcement Officers, Auditors, and Financial Investigators: James R. Richards form Amazon.

Chasing Dirty Money: Progress on Anti-Money Laundering: Peter Reuter, Edwin M. Truman

• Filed under: Recommended

Editorial Reviews

Review
“. . . the most comprehensive treatment of money laundering to date.” — Robert E. Litan, Kauffman Foundation

“…the most seminal study ever undertaken of the effectiveness of efforts to deal with the growing threat… of money laundering…” — Stuart E. Eizenstat, former deputy secretary of the US Treasury

Originally developed to reduce drug trafficking, national and international efforts to reduce money laundering have broadened over the years to address other crimes, and most recently, terrorism. These efforts now constitute a formidable regime applied to financial institutions and transactions throughout much of the world. Yet few assessments of either the achievements or consequences of this regime have been made. Reuter and Truman (1) explore what is know about the scale and characteristics of money laundering, (2) describe the current anti–money laundering regime, (3) develop a framework for assessing the effectiveness of the regime, and (4) use that framework to assess how well the current system works and make proposals for its improvement.

Order Chasing Dirty Money: Progress on Anti-Money Laundering: Peter Reuter, Edwin M. Truman form Amazon.

The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, & Power: Daniel Yergin

• Filed under: Recommended

Editorial Reviews

Daniel Yergin’s first prize-winning book, Shattered Peace, was a history of the Cold War. Afterwards the young academic star joined the energy project of the Harvard Business School and wrote the best-seller Energy Future. Following on from there, The Prize, winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, is a comprehensive history of one of the commodities that powers the world–oil. Founded in the 19th century, the oil industry began producing kerosene for lamps and progressed to gasoline. Huge personal fortunes arose from it, and whole nations sprung out of the power politics of the oil wells. Yergin’s fascinating account sweeps from early robber barons like John D. Rockefeller, to the oil crisis of the 1970s, through to the Gulf War.

From Publishers Weekly
Energy consultant Yergin limns oil’s central role in most of the wars and many international crises of the 20th century. “A timely, information-packed, authoritative history of the petroleum industry, tracing its ramifications, national and geopolitical, to the present day,” said PW. Photos. Author tour.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Order The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, & Power: Daniel Yergin form Amazon.

Squandering Aimlessly: On the Road with the Host of Public Radio’s "Marketplace": David Brancaccio

• Filed under: Recommended

Editorial Reviews

David Brancaccio’s Squandering Aimlessly is a rare treat–an insightful look at economic matters that is also a terrific read. Through his award-winning Marketplace radio program, Brancaccio has become a popular commentator with a distinctive take on financial issues. In his first book, he smoothly transfers this perspective to the description of an entertaining literary pilgrimage designed to answer the eternal question “How should one spend an unexpected windfall?” It was, after all, a query Brancaccio felt compelled to explore. “As host of a public radio program about money, I am asked all the time about what to do with it,” he writes. “I needed to answer that question for myself before I could have anything meaningful to say about other people’s money.”

In a journey as personal as it is universal, Brancaccio crisscrosses America to examine possible responses to a monetary bolt from the blue: “spend it on a shopping spree, do good, start a business, gamble with it, give it away, invest it in the markets, buy a house, go back to school, retire early, save it for a rainy day.” Hooking up with an array of savvy individuals who are focused upon these divergent alternatives, he ultimately discovers that true fiscal fulfillment is achieved only when individual needs and wants are really understood and successfully balanced. More to the immediate point, however, he also uncovers a perfect way to judge the expenditure of any honest-to-goodness surplus: the ability to answer yes when asked if the money’s use, whatever it is, will have a lasting, positive impact on your life. –Howard Rothman
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Brancaccio writes like the public radio broadcaster he is (on the show Marketplace), in slow, even tones, savoring every detail of his stories, in firm control of where he is going but in no hurry to get there. This is not a book you attack, but one you surrender to. In fact, so easy is it to read that when you put it down after the last page, you will have no idea if you have painlessly learned anything or have just been entertained. The book consists of 10 travel vignettes arranged around the topic of spending money. Brancaccio wonders what he would do with a sudden windfall: save, spend, invest, retire, give it away or something else. For each answer he travels to various places to experiment and discuss the solution with people he meets. Having secured an advance for this very book, he goes to Minnesota’s Mall of America to shop, to Las Vegas to gamble, to Levittown to investigate buying a house. Each story ends with morals, souvenirs and life resolutions. The author is intensely introspective and easily disoriented, so an ordinary trip to a mall seems psychedelic; Las Vegas, Silicon Valley and Wall Street seem like other galaxies. The only fixed referents in this world are eccentric individuals and attitudes toward money. Brancaccio is deliberately impressionable, and he has a knack of discovering interesting attitudes, empathizing with them completely and then analyzing them. He finds that generosity is common, as are guilt, insecurity, confusion and regret. However, there is very little of either greed or indifference. Perhaps the most important message of the book is that no one seems to have a good answer to the question of what to do with money. Neither professional money managers, professional thinkers nor gamblers have the secret. The people Brancaccio meets who are happy and secure do not worry much about money, but seem to have enough (everyone else has a problem, either financial or emotional or both)–but the cause and effect of this relation is not clear. (Feb.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Order Squandering Aimlessly: On the Road with the Host of Public Radio’s "Marketplace": David Brancaccio form Amazon.