Book Description
THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF SUCCESSFUL MANAGEMENT Select * Direct * Evaluate * Reward As management trends and fads swirl around us, it's easy to lose sight of the basics. In fact, a manager's responsibilities always boil down to selecting, directing, evaluating, and rewarding people. Get these not-so-easy pieces right, and management success is virtually guaranteed. That's why this engaging book will be embraced by seasoned managers and novices alike. It provides a structured framework for developing and fine-tuning the only four skills they ultimately need. For each of the elements, Don Marshall reviews the key issues, discusses the pros and cons of various practices, and offers candid advice on what works best. This lucid approach is both time-saving and liberating: The Four Elements of Successful Management shows managers how to focus on the big picture -- where the major gains are made -- rather than the complicating details. For a succinct and timeless "short course" in the fundamentals of management, no other guide even comes close. DON R. MARSHALL (Lincolnshire, IL) is president of The Marshall Group, a human resources consulting firm. He has more than 30 years of experience in operations and HR management.
Download Description
As management trends and fads swirl around us, it's easy to lose sight of the basics. In fact, a manager's responsibilities always boil down to selecting, directing, evaluating, and rewarding people. Get these not-so-easy pieces right, and management success is virtually guaranteed. That's why this engaging book will be embraced by seasoned managers and novices alike. It provides a structured framework for developing and fine-tuning the only four skills they ultimately need.
Customer Reviews:
Lots of good content here.......2006-04-02
This book does a pretty good job of covering issues relevant to operations and human resource management. It is highly structured, very well written for the most part, and full of content. I am very glad I pulled it off the shelf of my public library and read it cover to cover in a few hours. Even though I liked the book very much, I did not feel the title matched the content. I think a more apt title would have been: Strategic Planning and Getting the Most from Your Employees - A Manager's Guide.
Someone who read this book before me had gone through the text with a wooden pencil and underlined a bunch of paragraphs. It actually was not all that obnoxious reading it all marked up because the marks helped break out the points being made. There were quite a few points! I recommend this book to anyone wanting to become a manager. I also recommend it to anyone interested in strategic planning.
The book covers the following six points that managers must be capable of doing:
1. Understand company goals and objectives (DIRECT?) (STRATEGIC PLAN)
2. Identify jobs that will help the company meet those goals and objectives (DIRECT?) (STRATEGIC PLAN)
3. Hire or promote people to fill those jobs (SELECT)
4. Direct or coach employees to do those jobs (DIRECT)
5. Evaluate whether people hired are performing their jobs (EVALUATE)
6. Reward employees that perform and fire employees that don't (REWARD)
The book's title refers to four elements of management: select, direct, evaluate, and reward. When I first read the book's title, I expected the book to talk about (1) how to hire workers, (2) how to direct or coach workers to do their jobs, (3) how to evaluate the performance of workers, and (4) how to reward or terminate workers. Each one of these questions is covered in a separate section in the book. The book is comprised of four sections.
While the author does a great job answering questions 1, 3 and 4, he loses his focus when discussing question 2. Instead of telling us how to direct employees, he gets involved in the topic of strategic planning and how to relate job descriptions, goals and objectives to worker tasks. I think the book would have been better if the author had devoted an entire section (a 5th section) to strategic planning and put it at the front of the book. By doing that he could have better developed his discussion regarding question 2: How to direct or coach workers to do their jobs.
After reading this book I am convinced that the author has years of experience in operations and human resource management, and is very much an expert on the subject matter. Learn from him by reading this book. It'll be a worthwhile investment of your time.
Elementary Wisdom.......2000-01-07
The book's thesis is that four basic elements of management (Select, Direct, Evaluate, and Reward) form the "framework of all people and performance management." Throughout his book, Marshall provides what he calls "incremental lessons in understanding and applying these basic elements." At one point, he suggests that his book is directed primarily to entry-level and mid-level managers.
Perhaps. But in fact, The Four Elements of Successful Management can be of substantial value to anyone who has management responsibilities (regardless of level) or who reports to those who do. Many CEOs and COOs need reminders of what they presumably have already learned but perhaps forgotten or neglected. Moreover, entry-level and mid-level managers are provided with a comprehensive frame of reference within which to understand the interdependence of the four elements. After reading Marshall's book, they will have greater respect for the complicated challenges which their own supervisors must face each day. And perhaps be better prepared to face those and/or other challenges in years to come.
It is Marshall's assertion that "the reason managers spend so much time directing is that they do a poor job on selection." Direction should begin "with a strategic plan or business plan that outlines the principal products and services a business wants to produce for a specified market over a specified period of time."
Throughout The Four Elements of Successful Management, Marshall shares a wealth of information and counsel. To at least some executives, perhaps, his ideas may seem obvious...if not simplistic. Be that as it may, he raises all the right questions and then provides answers which are sensible, practical, and cohesive.
Management primer full of good advice.......1999-12-15
Don R. Marshall is president of the Marshall Group; a consulting firm that helps companies improve their quality and productivity with more than thirty years' experience in operations, HR management and performance planning. This light and enjoyable read presents how-to advice and timesaving tools for fine-tuning anyone's management skills. With an easily absorbed style, sans the usual drone of statistics or graphs, he explodes each of the title elements into distinct and definable lessons on modern reality management. I couldn't put it down. If that seems too early for such a biased endorsement, forgive my enthusiasm. Normally, a book-reviewer would parade their knowledge base against the author in a subtle battle of opinion. Not this time. The first element, "Select", is particularly useful for HR personnel or management within any size organization. Marshall correctly relates that hiring and retaining top performing people is crucial to business success, therefore the level of strategic planning to address that objective is a measure of business potential. He guides the reader in the selection process with a range of practices beginning with expected axioms such as "defining the job before trying to find a candidate" through more elaborate and sadly, less frequently utilized managerial activities like "conducting a job audit." An interesting side benefit of performing a comprehensive job audit is that information gathered during the audit might suggest a better way of accomplishing the job, or, possibly eliminating it entirely. The next two chapters on selection explore deeper dimensions of screening, interviewing and selection of candidates. The second element for successful management presented is "Direct." It is here that Marshall introduces training, both of management and non-management and, the importance of it being a continuous process. He briefly slips into PC speech by attempting to rename training "Strategic Plan Implementation Program", unnecessary and condescending. Just call it training, why cloud the issue. Direction distills the fundamental responsibilities of management as... * Direct employees toward objectives. * Oversee the work effort and address immediate problems. * Report information on the progress of the work to their superiors.
Evaluation is the next element covered and enlists sample forms and outlines for objective evaluation of managers and non-managers. Meetings are included and condensed into three rules for productive evaluation. 1) Don't say anything if there is nothing more to say. 2) Don't say it here if it should have been said somewhere else 3) If there wasn't anywhere else to say it, say it here. Don't leave it unsaid. In other words, deal with performance deficiencies as they surface, not at a performance review meeting. The closing chapters are a examination of rewards, their various types and purposes. He makes clear the distinction between reward and compensation. Compensation, of course, is what people receive for putting in their time, i.e., money. A reward is whatever someone has coming as a result of their performance. Interestingly, he expands the connotation of reward to include something negative like a demotion, a transfer, or termination. He continues the section with subcategorical headings of non-pay rewards, variable rewards, withholding rewards and others. Another break with the norm comes in his insistence that rewards are presented according to results, not simply the effort. The elements again are 1)Selection of employees who have the necessary attitudes, skills and energy to perform the specific job required. 2)Direction of employees through clear, concise and frequent outlining of required activities 3)Evaluation of employees against schedules events and dates that ensure accomplishment of the key objectives 4)Reward of employees that is appropriate to the level of accomplishment, not the effort
Marshall through this book has provided an excellent framework and reference for managers struggling to translate and transfer objectives to subordinates.
Book Description
Landlords' Rights and Duties in Florida is one of our bestselling regional titles. This new edition continues to be a practical, well-organized manual designed to provide landlords with valuable legal information.
Customer Reviews:
The .......2007-10-22
I have been practicing landlord tenant law in Florida for eleven years and this book is the best and most accurate summary of the law that I have seen other than the four volume series by Hauser (@ [...]). It contains all of the forms a do-it-yourself landlord will need. You can also contact the author to get all the forms in the book on CD Rom. If you are a Florida landlord, you must own this book. Note that the law is the same thoughout the state of Florida, but each county has different court holidays. So check with the clerk of your county court for a list of the holidays. I have posted the Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach court holidays on my website, [...], plus a variety of free landlord forms.
Helped out a lot.......2006-12-29
I managed to use this book with a little guidance from the courthouse to evict someone from the start to finish. More of a guide since every county is different in Florida.
to sum up the book, get a attorney.......2006-09-16
I HAVE ABOUT A 6 BOOKS FROM AMAZON ON LANDLORDS ,THIS ONE IS THE WORST. TO SUM UP THE BOOK ,GET A LAWYER. THERE ARE SOME VERY GOOD BOOKS FROM AMAZON WRITTEN BY A COP THAT ARE MUCH BETTER.
Average customer rating:
- An Invaluable Resource for Do-It-Yourself Landlords
- Great Resource
- A great reference guide to do-it-yourself landlords
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Landlords' Rights and Duties in Florida: With Forms (Landlords' Rights & Duties in Florida)
Mark Warda
Manufacturer: Sphinx Publishing Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1572481234 |
Customer Reviews:
An Invaluable Resource for Do-It-Yourself Landlords.......2002-03-08
I was pleasantly surprised by the wealth of information contained in this book. Its written in easy to understand language and covers just about everything you need to know about renting property in Florida. Thoroughly discusses applicable Florida statutes, includes case references and supplies various legal forms. I wouldn't feel comfortable handling my own rentals in Florida without this book.
Great Resource.......2001-10-12
Concise and logically formatted this is a great book for rental property owners in Florida. Complete with case law notes and examples the book is really helpful in accomplishing most actions a landlord will have to undertake. The forms are handy as well and will keep you from having to buy a legal forms program or from having to run to the county clerks office.
A great reference guide to do-it-yourself landlords.......2000-07-07
After purchasing this book by Attorney Mark Warda, I have found his insight into the real estate laws of Florida invaluable. The easy to read format of the book along with the flowcharts and associated legal forms makes owning rental property less stressful. Common legal problems that a landlord encounters are addressed. A "must get" for the do-it-yourself landlord.
Customer Reviews:
The Landlord's "bible" .......2005-11-08
I have been practicing landlord tenant law in Florida for seven years and this book is the best and most accurate summary of landlord-tenant law that I have seen (excepting the four volume series by Hauser, $325.00 from Lexis Publishing). Florida Landlords' Rights and Duties has twelve chapters dealing with the typical sources of lanldord-tenant conflict. The book specifically covers the eviction process from start to finish and contains all of the forms a do-it-yourself landlord will need to perform their own eviction. You can also contact the author to get all the forms in the book on CD Rom. If you are a Florida landlord, you must own this book.
Book Description
"You will perceive by this I am at least in the Confederate service…. Since I have been here I have had a severe sickness but am glad to say at present I am well though I fear my sickness would have incapacitated me for active service…. In all probability our regiment will be stationed here permanently for the winter to guard the bridge across the Watauga River…"—Private John H. Phillips, Company E, 62nd Regiment NC Troops, Camp Carter, Tennessee, October 13, 1862.
As with volume 1 (The Piedmont), this work presents letters and diary entries (and a few other documents) that tell the experiences of soldiers and civilians from the mountain counties of North Carolina during the Civil War. The counties included are Alleghany, Ashe, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cherokee, Clay, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, McDowell, Macon, Madison, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Surry, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey. The book is arranged chronologically, 1861 through 1865. Before each letter or diary entry, background information is provided about the writer.
Customer Reviews:
Mountaineers of the Civil War "trenches".......2006-01-13
The Civil War in North Carolina: Soldiers' and Civilians' Letters and Diaries, 1861-1865 (Volume 2): The Mountains, is the soldier's story. It is an A-to-Z compilation of what the "rank and file soldier" experienced during the American Civil War. The Western North Carolina soldiers express their hearts to their loved ones and friends, thus allowing the reader the most intimate and personal view of the war.
From triumph to tragedy, the "soldiers' letters" express what few authors or writers can achieve--realism.
According to cartographic and demographic studies, the Western North Carolinians were a unique indigenous people; and by isolating these rare letters allows the reader the most detailed insight to their experiences.
The soldier experienced various traumatic stressors; such as witnessing death or dismemberment, handling dead bodies, traumatic loss of comrades, realizing imminent death, killing others and being helpless to prevent others' deaths.
Rare soldiers' letters allow the reader the most detailed insight to their experiences. Intimate and personal; diseases, privation, wounds, loneliness, exhaustion, heartache, and death are all explored.
To understand and fathom the sociopolitical and geopolitical "tone" of western North Carolina and the American Civil War, purchase "The Heart of Confederate Appalachia: Western North Carolina in the Civil War" by John C. Inscoe and Gordon B. McKinney.
Matthew D. Parker
Average customer rating:
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Who's Who in the East, 2004 (WHO'S WHO IN THE EAST)
Marquis
Manufacturer: Marquis Who's Who
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0837906350 |
Average customer rating:
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Who's Who in Lebanon 2003-2004 (Who's Who in Lebanon)
Manufacturer: Gale Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Lebanon
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ASIN: 2903188203 |
Average customer rating:
- Here's why this is a good book
- Food for Thought, anyone?
- Uri Geller and the Easter Bunny: Stranger Than Truth
- A bunch of wierd fun
- Brilliant, challenging; sure to be a classic
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Uri Geller: Magician or Mystic?
Jonathan Margolis
Manufacturer: Welcome Rain
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Binding: Hardcover
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Mind Medicine: The Secret Of Powerful Healing
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Uri Geller's Little Book of Mind-Power: Maximize Your Will to Win
ASIN: 1566490251 |
Customer Reviews:
Here's why this is a good book.......2000-07-10
After reading a few chapters of this book, I can see now why Geller recommends it so much. It is so balanced and goes over a lot of what both skeptics and believers say and answers a lot of questions that people have about him. It is even better than I expected! Let me list the reasons why this is a very good book that I would recommend.
1. First of all, like I said, it presents a balanced objective journalistic view of Geller and presents all the arguments for and against Geller that have been presented in the last 3 decades. Interviews with believers and critics are presented in the book. In fact, about 75 interviews were conducted as part of his research.
2. It is written by a journalist and skeptic who in the past has written articles debunking various paranormal phenomenon including psychics and hauntings. Jonathan Margolis makes it clear to us at the beginning of the book that he is not a paranormalist pretending to be a skeptic by citing articles and investigations he did where he debunked UFO's, fortune tellers, and hauntings. Skeptics, wouldn't you say that a proven skeptic, demonstrated by his past debunking articles, who concludes that there is a good possibility that Geller may have paranormal powers, is a much more remarkable testimony than from someone who is already a paranormalist believer?
3. It goes over what Randi says about Geller and even includes an interview with James Randi. It also discusses what happened on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson back in 1973 and points out something that you guys probably didn't know. When Geller failed the tests on the Carson show, (and Randi never bothered to mention this) there was one incident that was worth noting, which is described on page 262 of the book (UK version). Ricardo Montalban (the guy from the series "Fantasy Island" and who played Khan in Star Trek 2) who was sitting next to Geller on the show, says that the spoon in his hand (Ricardo's) did bend ON ITS OWN while Geller was trying to bend the spoons on the table.
In addition, the book also points out that the same controls that Johnny Carson used on Geller that evening were also used on Geller at the SRI tests, but Geller succeeded there and was able to do his feats despite being under the SAME controls.
Anyway, there are a lot of other interesting things in the book that you Skeptics probably don't know. I would love to share a lot more things I discovered in this book, but there are too many and it would take way too long. Therefore, I would recommend reading this book yourselves.
The book is a real eye opener. It just might make some of you guys rethink your position. A couple of other readers on the amazon.com book review said they started out as hardened skeptics but changed their mind after reading this book. And remember, this book was written by a Skeptic who has debunked paranormal phenomenon in the past, too!
Oh and one final thing. The book also lists some magicians who STILL believe in Geller as of 1998. So the skeptics were wrong when they said that pretty much all magicians who believed in Geller have changed their minds. For example, magicians like David Blaine, who is a celebrity magician and a close friend of Leonardo DiCaprio, still believes in Geller and says that Geller was always his childhood idol.
Anyway, that's all I'll say for now. The author of this book doesn't conclude that Geller is a proven psychic, but merely states that based on his years of investigation and exhaustive interviews, Geller is not the fraud that people like Randi made him out to be, and that there is a good possibility that Geller may have paranormal powers after all.
Thanks, Winston
Food for Thought, anyone?.......2000-06-07
The title alone nearly kept me from picking this out of the freebie book pile at the office but it turned out to be a fun read. The reviews critical of Mr. Margolis for not remaining objective seem off base- it's a bio not a JAMA finding. Indeed, the author gives multiple accounts of Gellers failings, including the Tonight Show debacle. Still, at the conclusion of the book I could not bend kitchen utensils. However after finishing the last chapter, I descended the subway steps and a spoon clanked onto the stairway. The man in front of me on the stairs turned, looked at the spoon, looked at me, shrugged, and walked away. Strange but true coincidince.
Uri Geller and the Easter Bunny: Stranger Than Truth.......2000-04-17
Margolis' book is just the latest example of the decline in objectivity in journalism. Had he prepared himself by researching his subject before meeting Geller and being "dazzled" by claimed "mystical powers" (like, say, reading "The Truth About Uir Geller" by James Randi) he would have found that every illusion that Geller performs has been used by magicians for years. The only difference between Geller and a stage mentalist is that Geller claims supernatural powers -- putting him squarely in league with televangalists and other charlatans. The JREF Foundation has offered Geller $1 million if he will subject his mystical gifts to scientific analysis. Geller has steadfastly refused -- as has every other psychic. When Geller was invited on to the Tonight Show, he failed every single attempt at a paranormal event. Every one! Why? Because James Randi was invited by Carson to ensure that none of the keys, cylinders, or spoons were tampered with prior to Gellers arrival on stage. Why didn't Margolis mention any of this in his book?
A bunch of wierd fun.......2000-03-17
I loved this book. It points out that reality is always a bit, or a lot, beyond our attempts to pin it down. Both the hard-core Skeptics and the True Believers should be baffled by this man. Geller is a trickster for sure, but I don't know if that makes him a fake. That's the beauty of this very readable, almost compulsively page-turning book- it pulls the rug out from our tendency to nail down reality with our beliefs- and I think it has the ability to make the hopelessly rational become a bit more open minded, and the hopelessly magical become a bit more skeptical. A tall order, but this book, like Uri Geller, surfs borders.
Brilliant, challenging; sure to be a classic.......2000-03-10
Our family and I has enjoyed this book. I am Interested in learning more about Jonathan Margolis. He seems to understand Geller's phenomenal powers and has fun way of Inviting the reader to share amazing biography. I reall feel much more aware and knowledgable about paranormal. Eye opener.
Book Description
Written with gritty honesty, Low Down is an extended improvisation on growing up among jazz royalty, a moving tour through the dope and deviance of the late-1960s and early-1970s jazz scene in Hollywood's underbelly and beyond.
Customer Reviews:
A superb and wonderfully grown-up book.......2004-02-17
"Low Down" has plenty of moments that are tragic, horrifying, horrifyingly funny. A lesser person and a lesser writer could've written it in a continuous (and unbearable) whine. Yet, thanks to A. J. Albany's pitch-perfect, mean, clean, uncompromising writing, it's instead an example of how the best art transforms the most sordid reality into something else entirely - something beautiful, pure.
Every time I revisit this book, and I've done so several times, I'm amazed by just how lovely Albany has made her story of wasted talent (the parents) and a ruined childhood (the author's), without letting her text get bogged down by the very natural emotions of self-pity, fury, sorrow. They're there, but they're not all that's there. There's the joy of music played right, the joy of love - however twisted - expressed fully, the joy the author clearly feels at getting it all down, and getting it down right - even righteously.
This book deserves a thousand times more attention than it's gotten.
Raw, Romantic, Tormenting Account of Life with Jazz!!!!.......2003-06-18
Such an amazing story told in such a beautiful way that you truly don't feel 'BAD' after reading the awkward situations this young girl endored!! A completely original writing style adds to the romantic feeling of the entire book, which is a series of short stories about life in a Hardcore Hollywood, most kids couldn't even dream of. With each chapter, you expect to somehow get to the sunshine of her tormented life (ya know, like in the movies!) but, luckily, this book is reality, rather than a predictable movie and it stays true to it's "poetic integerity" throughout! Good luck putting this one down...there's nothing predictable about this book, it's truly BEAUTIFUL, somehow!
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- The Marketplace Annotated Bibliography: A Christian Guide to Books on Work, Business and Vocation
- The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law: 3 volume set
- The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law: 3 volume set
- The Performance Improvement Toolkit: The Guide to Knowledge Based Improvement
- The Perils of Partners: How to Protect Yourself Against Crooked, Conniving, and Incompetent Partners
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