Public Personnel Administration: Problems and Prospects (4th Edition): Steven W. Hays, Richard C. Kearney

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

This collection of original manuscripts—representing a cross-section of the timeliest scholarship in public personnel administration—explores the theme of “problems and prospects” in public personnel administration. The contributions are organized into four broad sections: The Setting, The Techniques, The Issues, and Reform and the Future. Section One focuses primarily on the social, political, economic, and legal trends that have served as catalysts in the transformation of public personnel administration. Section Two is composed of selections that summarize developments in the practice of HRM, with special emphasis on emerging personnel techniques and the ways that traditional approaches to the staffing function are being revised. Section Three discusses and suggests responses to some of the most troublesome or pervasive issues in modern personnel management. The final section assesses the probable trends in the field’s future, and analyzes the efficacy of recent reform efforts. For human resource personnel looking to broaden their perspective in the field.

From the Publisher
This collection of original manuscripts — representing a cross-section of the timeliest scholarship in public personnel administration — explores the theme of “problems and prospects” in public personnel administration.
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Understanding and Managing Public Organizations (Jossey-Bass Public Administration Series): Hal G. Rainey

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

Review
“A masterful textbook, as well as an important and original contribution to the public organization theory literature. Rainey’s book is the only one available that is both comprehensive in its treatment of organization theory and decidedly ‘public’ in its perspective…. The book is not simply appropriate for courses on public managemnet and organization theory, it is the best book available.” (Public Administration Review, Praise for the First Edition)

“Comprehensive, coherent, and exceptionally thorough…a masterful work.” (Public Productivity and Management Review)

“Understanding and Managing Public Organizations is the best single source book available for the topics it addresses. I assign it to my Human Resources Management and Organization Theory seminars and I ensure that all of my doctoral students read it for comprehensive exams.” (Patricia W. Ingraham, professor, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University)

“Over the past decade there have been only relatively few books that can be used in graduate courses on public organizations. Rainey’s book is far and away the best of these books.” (Barton Wechsler, professor, Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois)

“A tremAndous contribution to the field. Rainey’s ability to synthesize huge research streams from a variety of fields, such as political science, public administration, public management, public policy, sociology, and others is outstanding.” (Jeffrey L. Brudney, professor and director, Doctor of Public Administration Program, University of Georgia)

Review
Best Book Award, Public and Nonprofit Sectors Division of the Academy of Management

“A masterful textbook, as well as an important and original contribution to the public organization theory literature. Rainey’s book is the only one available that is both comprehensive in its treatment of organization theory and decidedly ‘public’ in its perspective . . . the book is not simply appropriate for courses on public management and organization theory, it is the best book available.”
— Public Administration Review

“Comprehensive, coherent, and exceptionally thorough . . . a masterful work.”
— Public Productivity and Management Review

“This book is outstanding and the best single source book available for the topics it addresses. I assign it to my Human Resources Management and Organization Theory seminars and I ensure that all my doctoral students read it for comprehensive exams.”
— Patricia W. Ingraham, Distinguished Professor of Public Administration, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University

“Over the past decade, there have been only a few books that can be used in graduate courses on public organizations. Rainey’s book is far and away the best of these books. I know of no other book that manages to provide really serious coverage of the scholarly literature, and at the same time provide practical lessons for public managers. It is the best out there.”
— Barton Wechsler, professor and director, Truman School of Public Affairs, The University of Missouri

“A tremendous contribution to the field. Rainey’s ability to synthesize huge research streams from a variety of fields such as political science, public administration, public management, public policy, business administration, management, psychology, sociology, and others is outstanding.”
— Jeffrey L. Brudney, professor of public administration and codirector of the Institute for Nonprofit Organizations, The University of Georgia

–This text refers to the

Hardcover
edition.

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Supervision: Concepts and Practices of Management: Raymond L. Hilgert, Edwin C. Leonard

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

Review
Hilgert & Leonard do well at incorporating the building blocks necessary for a supervision text. A supervision course and text must be designed around the functions of management. Hilgert & Leonard do that, as well as add breadth to such essential topics as motivation, communication, decision making, and conflict resolution. Students like the text’s readability and the real-world context in which it presents topics.

The approach is quite natural and all theories are easily applied to practical situations. Students like this and it helps encourage them to read the text.

Hilgert & Leonard have produced one of the most comprehensive stand-alone, introductory texts on supervision. Their text is extremely well balanced and complete in its presentation of topics relevant to anyone beginning a career in supervisory management.
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

This is a skills-focused introductory textbook on supervisory management. The text and supplements are organized around the learning objectives to create a comprehensive teaching and testing system–an integrated learning system. Also, at the end of each chapter are three skills applications.

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The Entrepreneurial Imperative: How America’s Economic Miracle Will Reshape the World (and Change Your Life): Carl J. Schramm

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

Review
“[E]ssential reading to understand and prepare for our personal lives and the future.” (-Paul Orfalea, founder of Kinko’s and author of Copy This! )

“[The] one book that lays out.why entrepreneurship matters. The Economist didn’t call Schramm the “evangelist of entrepreneurship” for nothing. (-Paul Kedrosky, Infectious Greed )

“As Carl Schramm argues . in The Entrepreneurial Imperative, no country has mastered innovation and entrepreneurship as effectively as America.” (-The Economist )

“Reading The Entrepreneurial Imperative it’s hard not to like Carl J. Schramm. [A]n optimistic cheerleader for American capitalism.” (-Stephen Wolter, Corporate Report Wisconsin )

“[E]ssential reading to understand and prepare for our personal lives and the future.” (-Steve Forbes, CEO and Editor in Chief, Forbes )

“Schramm unlocks the key to growth. . . and roots it in the American spirit inside us all.” (-Scott Cook, founder of Intuit )

In 2004, Carl Schramm, president of the Kauffman Foundation, the world’s leading foundation for entrepreneurship, published a groundbreaking essay with a radical premise: that Americans literally have no conception of the secret that truly underlies our economic success, and that for the United States to survive and continue to lead the world’s economy, it is imperative we learn to understand and employ that secret.

The secret that has led the American economy to become the world’s strongest? Our unparalleled skill as entrepreneurs. As Schramm compellingly shows in this sweeping manifesto, entrepreneurship alone—not anything else—can give America the necessary leverage to remain an economic superpower. Not technology, since everyone now has the same technology, or access to it. Not education—we are years behind other nations in this area. Not basic manufacturing, long since moved overseas from the United States. And not capital markets, now truly global entities.

Drawing on detailed research conducted by the Kauffman Foundation and on his decades of experience as an entrepreneur himself and as a leader and mentor to other entrepreneurs, Schramm persuasively demonstrates in detail what this entrepreneurial imperative means for the way we run universities and foundations, lead companies, make personal job decisions, and even conduct our foreign affairs. The Entrepreneurial Imperative will change not only the way our government, corporations, and nonprofits operate, but also our day-to-day lives as working Americans.

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Boards That Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations (J-B Carver Board Governance Series): John Carver

• Filed under: Recommended

Editorial Reviews

Review
“When I came upon Carver’s book, I threw away everything I had collected on the subject of boards.” (NRB, July/Aug. 2002)

Review
“This book should be in the library of everyone who serves—or aspires to serve—on the governing board of any organization, large or small, nonprofit or corporate. Better than any other available resource, it tells what the roles of board members are and what they must and shouldn’t do. An indispensable guidebook to leadership excellence.” —George Weber, secretary general, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Geneva

“John Carver’s book is important reading for chief executives and directors alike. This book’s sound premises regarding proper role delineation and its practical advice about how to affect due diligence combine to provide an invaluable resource to any board dedicated to efficiency and high-quality performance.” —John R. Seffrin, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, American Cancer Society

“John Carver’s Boards That Make a Difference was required reading for board members of the Calgary Philharmonic Society. It provided a clear and concise road map with which we carried out significant governance restructuring of the society.” —James M. Stanford, president & CEO,, Petro-Canada, and past chairman of the Calgary Philharmonic Society, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

“Boards That Make a Difference should be required…. The book explicates the model, which is simple, powerful and, above all, successful.” —W. H. Hann, executive director, Association of IndepAndent Schools of Western Australia

Order Boards That Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations (J-B Carver Board Governance Series): John Carver form Amazon.

Boards That Make a Difference (J-B Carver Board Governance Series): John Carver

• Filed under: Recommended

Editorial Reviews

Review
“John Carver is a revolutionary of the very best kind. Carver’s Policy Governance model has provided the means for trustees to live out Greenleaf’s challenge to boards to act as both servant and leader.”
–Larry C. Spears, CEO, The Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership; editor, Reflections on Leadership, Insights on Leadership, Servant Leadership, The Power of Servant Leadership; co-editor, Practicing Servant Leadership and Focus on Leadership

“It took an inspired social scientist to record and describe the fundamental principles of [the Policy Governance] model, which provides deep insight into the role of the Board in the modern corporation.”
–Jeremy Booker, vice president corporate governance, British Petroleum, London

“Dr. Carver’s governance model has been the key in empowering the State Bar of California Board of Governors to focus on policy that would help our judicial system.”
–Andrew J. Guilford, 1999-2000 president, State Bar of California

“An indispensable guidebook to leadership excellence.”
–George Weber, executive director, Canadian Dental Association, Ottawa; former secretary general, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Geneva

“Boards That Make a Difference explicates the model, which is simple, powerful and, above all, successful.”
—W. H. Hann, former executive director, Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia

“This book’s sound premises regarding proper role delineation and its practical advice provide an invaluable resource.”
–Dr. John R. Seffrin, CEO, American Cancer Society, Atlanta

“Dr. Carver offers a visionary yet practical approach to governance design.”
–Adalberto Palma Gómez, senior partner, Aperture S.C.; former director, Institute for the Protection of Bank Savings; chairman, Center for Excellence in Corporate Governance, Mexico City

“Policy Governance gives governing bodies and CEOs a clear insight into their mutual relationship and their distinct responsibilities.”
–Jacques Gerards, CEO, Dutch Association of Governors in Health Care, The Netherlands

In this revised and updated third edition, Carver continues to debunk the entrenched beliefs and habits that hobble boards and to replace them with his innovative approach to effective governance. This proven model offers an empowering and fundamental redesign of the board role and emphasizes values, vision, empowerment of both the board and staff, and strategic ability to lead leaders. Policy Governance gives board members and staff a new approach to board job design, board-staff relationships, the role of the chief executive, performance monitoring, and virtually every aspect of the board-management relationship.  This latest edition has been updated and expanded to include explanatory diagrams that have been used by thousands of Carver’s seminar participants. It also contains illustrative examples of Policy Governance model policies that have been created by real-world organizations. In addition, this third edition of Boards That Make a Difference includes a new chapter on model criticisms and the challenges of governance research.

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Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy: Lawrence Lessig

• Filed under: Recommended

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Should anyone besides libertarian hackers or record companies care about copyright in the online world? In this incisive treatise, Stanford law prof and Wired columnist Lessig (Free Culture) argues that we should. He frames the problem as a war between an old read-only culture, in which media megaliths sell copyrighted music and movies to passive consumers, and a dawning digital read-write culture, in which audiovisual products are freely downloaded and manipulated in an explosion of democratized creativity. Both cultures can thrive in a hybrid economy, he contends, pioneered by Web entities like YouTube. Lessig’s critique of draconian copyright laws—highlighted by horror stories of entertainment conglomerates threatening tweens for putting up Harry Potter fan sites—is trenchant. (Why, he asks, should sampling music and movies be illegal when quoting texts is fine?) Lessig worries that too stringent copyright laws could stifle such remix masterpieces as a powerful doctored video showing George Bush and Tony Blair lip-synching the song Endless Love, or making scofflaws of America’s youth by criminalizing their irrepressible downloading. We leave this (copyrighted) book feeling the stakes are pretty low, except for media corporations. (Oct. 20)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The New Yorker
As Lessig, a law professor at Stanford, sees it, if intellectual-property law is left as it is an entire generation will be criminalized. He argues that the ways in which young people break copyright laws help them to become the sort of people we want them to be�creative and collaborative. Kids today are simply not going to give up downloading music and using copyrighted material in YouTube videos: they belong to a culture for which �remix� is �the essential art.� Lessig�s proposals for revising copyright are compelling, because they rethink intellectual-property rights without abandoning them. He argues that hybrids that combine the �commercial and sharing� economies can create value for both sides (as Harry Potter fan sites and Lostpedia have done); indeed, one problem is media companies� appropriating the work of fans without returning the favor. �When both benefit,� Lessig writes, �how do we say who is riding for free?�
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Good Intentions: Nine Hot-Button Issues Viewed Through the Eyes of Faith: Charles M. North, Bob Smietana

• Filed under: Recommended

Editorial Reviews

We often struggle to answer the question: What is the right thing to do here?Good Intentions suggests that it is possible to do good in economic matters if we begin with the right assumptions (and begins to ask the right questions): -Is greed ever good? -How can we give poor kids a million bucks? -How did Ben and Jerry get so rich? -Is capitalism ruining the environment? -Do immigrants take American jobs?Our actions can produce outcomes that reflect what we value.

Book Description
Most of us turn to the Bible for decision making, but since the Bible deals in morality and value, it’s difficult to apply its principles to the economic choices we make each day. However, by measuring the outcome of these choices with the use of economic theory, we can determine long-range implications and more easily evaluate them according to biblical criteria.

Good Intentions suggests that it is possible to do good in economic

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When I’m Sixty-Four: The Plot against Pensions and the Plan to Save Them: Teresa Ghilarducci

• Filed under: Recommended

Review
Passionate…In [Ghilarducci's] plan, the funds would not be managed by Wall Street but sent to Washington, where the federal government would guarantee a minimum return of 3 percent a year…The conception behind Ghilarducci’s dramatic proposals makes sense. If Americans cannot, without heavy sacrifice, save enough themselves to ensure adequate retirement, perhaps government, backed with subsidies should, as she suggests, make them save. — Jeff Madrick New York Review of Books When I’m Sixty-Four is an excellent book … and makes a bold and workable proposal. — Clive Crook Chronicle of Higher Education Teresa Ghilarducci’s When I’m Sixty-Four is quite simply the best thing yet written on the retirement crisis facing baby boomers and the larger fragility of our retirement system. Far from defeatist, she proposes an ingenious national plan that will instantly become the reform against which all others must measure up. In clear prose, Teresa Ghilarducci cuts to the essence of an often bewildering subject that affects every American. — Robert Kuttner American Prospect Teresa Ghilarducci isn’t one for conventional wisdom. In When I’m Sixty-Four [she] argues that a rich nation ought to be able to ensure a secure old age. And she has a radical proposal for making that happen. — Pat Regnier Money Magazine What’s the difference between saving for retirement, on the one hand, and plain old saving, on the other? Teresa Ghilarducci, an economist at the New School, has a provocative book … which forces us to ask that question very seriously. — Felix Salmon Portfolio.com What I like about Ghilarducci’s proposal is its boldness–the idea that it is better to create a new model than to keep retrofitting a system that presents unacceptable risk to so many workers. — Martha M. Hamilton Washington Post

Review
Passionate…In [Ghilarducci's] plan, the funds would not be managed by Wall Street but sent to Washington, where the federal government would guarantee a minimum return of 3 percent a year…The conception behind Ghilarducci’s dramatic proposals makes sense. If Americans cannot, without heavy sacrifice, save enough themselves to ensure adequate retirement, perhaps government, backed with subsidies should, as she suggests, make them save.
(Jeff Madrick New York Review of Books )

When I’m Sixty-Four is an excellent book . . . and makes a bold and workable proposal.
(Clive Crook Chronicle of Higher Education )

Teresa Ghilarducci’s When I’m Sixty-Four is quite simply the best thing yet written on the retirement crisis facing baby boomers and the larger fragility of our retirement system. Far from defeatist, she proposes an ingenious national plan that will instantly become the reform against which all others must measure up. In clear prose, Teresa Ghilarducci cuts to the essence of an often bewildering subject that affects every American.
(Robert Kuttner American Prospect )

Teresa Ghilarducci isn’t one for conventional wisdom. In When I’m Sixty-Four [she] argues that a rich nation ought to be able to ensure a secure old age. And she has a radical proposal for making that happen.
(Pat Regnier Money Magazine )

What’s the difference between saving for retirement, on the one hand, and plain old saving, on the other? Teresa Ghilarducci, an economist at the New School, has a provocative book . . . which forces us to ask that question very seriously.
(Felix Salmon Portfolio.com )

What I like about Ghilarducci’s proposal is its boldness–the idea that it is better to create a new model than to keep retrofitting a system that presents unacceptable risk to so many workers.
(Martha M. Hamilton Washington Post )

This volume provides a welcome curative to the daily news reports on the imminent retirement crisis facing the US because of falling birthrates, lengthening life spans, uncertain national economic performance, deliberate corporate gutting of programs, wage stagnation, and the potential Social Security fund insolvency. Ghilarducci carefully guides the reader through the morass of claims and counterclaims about the prospects for those entering their ‘golden years’ in the US. . . . Ghiladrucci’s timely book addresses an important public policy issue.
(D.J. Conger Choice )

Order When I’m Sixty-Four: The Plot against Pensions and the Plan to Save Them: Teresa Ghilarducci form Amazon.

Boards That Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations (J-B Carver Board Governance Series): John Carver

• Filed under: Recommended

Editorial Reviews

Review
“When I came upon Carver’s book, I threw away everything I had collected on the subject of boards.” (NRB, July/Aug. 2002)

Review
“This book should be in the library of everyone who serves—or aspires to serve—on the governing board of any organization, large or small, nonprofit or corporate. Better than any other available resource, it tells what the roles of board members are and what they must and shouldn’t do. An indispensable guidebook to leadership excellence.” —George Weber, secretary general, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Geneva

“John Carver’s book is important reading for chief executives and directors alike. This book’s sound premises regarding proper role delineation and its practical advice about how to affect due diligence combine to provide an invaluable resource to any board dedicated to efficiency and high-quality performance.” —John R. Seffrin, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, American Cancer Society

“John Carver’s Boards That Make a Difference was required reading for board members of the Calgary Philharmonic Society. It provided a clear and concise road map with which we carried out significant governance restructuring of the society.” —James M. Stanford, president & CEO,, Petro-Canada, and past chairman of the Calgary Philharmonic Society, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

“Boards That Make a Difference should be required…. The book explicates the model, which is simple, powerful and, above all, successful.” —W. H. Hann, executive director, Association of IndepAndent Schools of Western Australia

Order Boards That Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations (J-B Carver Board Governance Series): John Carver form Amazon.