Effective and Efficient Organisations?

Effective and Efficient Organisations?
Author: Iris A. Hauswirth
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2007-05-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3790817317

This book develops a conceptual framework for the relationship between organisation and output, and applies it to the analysis of German and British export support services. These findings help to explain why one organisation may be different from another, but equally effective and efficient, and why no panacea for effective and efficient organisation has been found. They also suggest angles from which existing organisations and blueprints of ‘better’ organisations can be examined.

The Effective Executive

The Effective Executive
Author: Peter Drucker
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2018-03-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1136017534

The measure of the executive, Peter Drucker reminds us, is the ability to 'get the right things done'. Usually this involves doing what other people have overlooked, as well as avoiding what is unproductive. He identifies five talents as essential to effectiveness, and these can be learned; in fact, they must be learned just as scales must be mastered by every piano student regardless of his natural gifts. Intelligence, imagination and knowledge may all be wasted in an executive job without the acquired habits of mind that convert these into results. One of the talents is the management of time. Another is choosing what to contribute to the particular organization. A third is knowing where and how to apply your strength to best effect. Fourth is setting up the right priorities. And all of them must be knitted together by effective decision-making. How these can be developed forms the main body of the book. The author ranges widely through the annals of business and government to demonstrate the distinctive skill of the executive. He turns familiar experience upside down to see it in new perspective. The book is full of surprises, with its fresh insights into old and seemingly trite situations.

The Great Mental Models, Volume 1

The Great Mental Models, Volume 1
Author: Shane Parrish
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2024-10-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0593719972

Discover the essential thinking tools you’ve been missing with The Great Mental Models series by Shane Parrish, New York Times bestselling author and the mind behind the acclaimed Farnam Street blog and “The Knowledge Project” podcast. This first book in the series is your guide to learning the crucial thinking tools nobody ever taught you. Time and time again, great thinkers such as Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett have credited their success to mental models–representations of how something works that can scale onto other fields. Mastering a small number of mental models enables you to rapidly grasp new information, identify patterns others miss, and avoid the common mistakes that hold people back. The Great Mental Models: Volume 1, General Thinking Concepts shows you how making a few tiny changes in the way you think can deliver big results. Drawing on examples from history, business, art, and science, this book details nine of the most versatile, all-purpose mental models you can use right away to improve your decision making and productivity. This book will teach you how to: Avoid blind spots when looking at problems. Find non-obvious solutions. Anticipate and achieve desired outcomes. Play to your strengths, avoid your weaknesses, … and more. The Great Mental Models series demystifies once elusive concepts and illuminates rich knowledge that traditional education overlooks. This series is the most comprehensive and accessible guide on using mental models to better understand our world, solve problems, and gain an advantage.

Introduction to Business

Introduction to Business
Author: Lawrence J. Gitman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 1455
Release: 2024-09-16
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Introduction to Business covers the scope and sequence of most introductory business courses. The book provides detailed explanations in the context of core themes such as customer satisfaction, ethics, entrepreneurship, global business, and managing change. Introduction to Business includes hundreds of current business examples from a range of industries and geographic locations, which feature a variety of individuals. The outcome is a balanced approach to the theory and application of business concepts, with attention to the knowledge and skills necessary for student success in this course and beyond. This is an adaptation of Introduction to Business by OpenStax. You can access the textbook as pdf for free at openstax.org. Minor editorial changes were made to ensure a better ebook reading experience. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Teaming

Teaming
Author: Amy C. Edmondson
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2012-03-20
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1118216768

New breakthrough thinking in organizational learning, leadership, and change Continuous improvement, understanding complex systems, and promoting innovation are all part of the landscape of learning challenges today's companies face. Amy Edmondson shows that organizations thrive, or fail to thrive, based on how well the small groups within those organizations work. In most organizations, the work that produces value for customers is carried out by teams, and increasingly, by flexible team-like entities. The pace of change and the fluidity of most work structures means that it's not really about creating effective teams anymore, but instead about leading effective teaming. Teaming shows that organizations learn when the flexible, fluid collaborations they encompass are able to learn. The problem is teams, and other dynamic groups, don't learn naturally. Edmondson outlines the factors that prevent them from doing so, such as interpersonal fear, irrational beliefs about failure, groupthink, problematic power dynamics, and information hoarding. With Teaming, leaders can shape these factors by encouraging reflection, creating psychological safety, and overcoming defensive interpersonal dynamics that inhibit the sharing of ideas. Further, they can use practical management strategies to help organizations realize the benefits inherent in both success and failure. Presents a clear explanation of practical management concepts for increasing learning capability for business results Introduces a framework that clarifies how learning processes must be altered for different kinds of work Explains how Collaborative Learning works, and gives tips for how to do it well Includes case-study research on Intermountain healthcare, Prudential, GM, Toyota, IDEO, the IRS, and both Cincinnati and Minneapolis Children's Hospitals, among others Based on years of research, this book shows how leaders can make organizational learning happen by building teams that learn.

Designing Effective Organizations

Designing Effective Organizations
Author: Michael Goold
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 372
Release: 2002-06-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0787960640

'Goold and Campbell, leading thinkers on corporate-level strategy, have turned their attention to corporate-level organization design. They bring a rigor to this topic that will help managers wrestling with multiple reporting dimensions, decentralization and cross-unit co-ordination.' Professor Gary Hamel, London Business School. Author of Competing for the Future and Leading the Revolution. 'Campbell and Goold are renowned for discovering entirely new and useful dimensions to seemingly familiar business issues. This book is another shining example. It allows executives to replace politics and personality as the rationales for an organizational design with clear, effective logic and experience.' Thomas H. Davenport, Director, Accenture Institute for Strategic Change. Author of Process Innovation and Working Knowledge. 'A "must read" for managers and consultants. Redesigning the organization is the most powerful and fastest means for aligning decisions and behavior with strategic objectives. Goold and Campbell provide the best and most comprehensive framework for developing and testing the validity of an organizational structure I have seen in recent years. Based on years of research and experience they offer clear principles and a process to guide managers in the many design decisions and trade-offs involved in developing a more effective organization.' Professor Michael Beer, Harvard Business School. Author of The Critical Path to Corporate Renewal. 'Books on organization design tend to fall into one of two categories: those that provide interesting concepts but not help on how to implement them and those that are full of check lists on implementation, based on sterile and over-simplified ideas. Michael Goold and Andrew Campbell have written perhaps the finest example of an exception I have ever seen - a very practical book, with detailed guidelines on implementation, yet based on a rich and sophisticated understanding of the real challenges of organization design. It will be of immense use to all careful readers.' Professor Sumantra Ghoshal, London Business School. Author of The Individualized Corporation and Managing Across Borders. 'As companies search for all sources of competitive advantage, many are discovering that the ability to organize and execute complex strategies is an important one. Campbell and Goold have again provided us with a good process through which leaders can give organizing its deserved focus.' Professor Jay Galbraith, author of Designing the Global Corporation. 'Campbell and Goold bring much needed clarity and precision to the language of organizational design and show how this can help managers avoid the misunderstandings and differing interpretations that frequently undermine new organization structures.' Paul Coombes, Director, Organization Practice Area, McKinsey & Company. 'Organization change is close to the top of many companies' agendas. Goold and Campbell's book equips you with ideas and frameworks to take on the journey. The real-world examples help make it both pragmatic and readable.' Steve Russell, Chief Executive, The Boots Company plc. 'An impressive work. The taxonomy of organizational units and organigram symbols will be especially useful to managers working on structures.' Philip Sadler, Patron, The Centre for Tomorrow's Company. Author of The Seamless Organization. 'Incredibly relevant in helping to pull together a complicated structure based around the dimensions of channels, products, customers and geography - immensely clear and valuable.' David Roberts, Chief Executive, Personal Financial Services, Barclays plc. 'A welcome breakthrough in designing more effective corporate organization structures. The nine design tests of Goold and Campbell are a valuable addition to an otherwise sparse toolkit.' Jim Haymaker, Vice President, Strategy & Business Development, Cargill Inc. ...

Multinational Business Service Firms

Multinational Business Service Firms
Author: Joanne Roberts
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2018-10-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 042983456X

First published in 1998, this influential volume entered the debate on Foreign Direct Investment in the UK and focuses on the role of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) in the service rather than manufacturing and primary sectors. While the significance of the service industry had been recognised (exceeding 60% of total GDP in some countries at the time of original publication), the role of FDIs has not. Joanne Roberts thus contributed to a woefully under researched field, covering areas including international trade, the organisational theory of the firm and the UK business sector.

Efficient Organization

Efficient Organization
Author: Mikko Ketokivi
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2023-01-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0197610315

An enlightening examination of the economic fundamentals of efficient organizing, focusing on governance and avoiding organizational waste in all forms. If there are two alternative ways to perform a task, why not choose the one that generates less waste? In Efficient Organization, Mikko Ketokivi and Joseph T. Mahoney take a practical and decision-oriented approach to organization design and governance. They first examine contracting and relationships within and across organizations in addition to special topics such as non-profits, public organizations, and stakeholder analysis. They then identity and discuss the main organization design and governance decisions and challenges relevant at the founding of the organization, during its expansion, and at maturity. Ketokivi and Mahoney maintain that the focus of efficient governance is about establishing the credibility of the organization in the eyes of its most important stakeholders. Establishing and maintaining credibility sustain viability of the organization. Highlighting the importance of securing cooperation across individuals and organizations for mutual value creation, this book provides tools that decision-makers can use in their own organizations.