Facilities and Workplace Design: An Illustrated Guide (Engineers in Business Series, 3)

Customer Reviews:

This is not the usual book written by a consultant.......2001-07-19

Usually the book written by consultants keep some of the most important aspect of the technique on which they are writing or do not give all the infomation so that you have to call them to do the job. This is not the case with this book. Mr. Lee just put everything he knows about facilities design in this book in a way that can be easily followed by any one interested in doing facilities and workplace design. Areas for improvement in the book are related to the quality of some of the charts that I found a little difficult to read because of the small font size used. Nevertheless, this is a fault of the publisher and not of the author. If you are looking for a "how to do it" in a simple and straightforward way, without any unnecessary material, you this is the book.

Book Description

"An excellent resource for principals—especially new principals. It will definitely help them establish their vision for technology in their schools. I read the book in one sitting."
Kim Leblanc, Region V Technology Resource Specialist
Calcasieu Parish Public Schools, Louisiana

"An invaluable resource to practicing school leaders, students in school leader preparation programs, and professors of school leadership."
Neil J. Shipman, Clinical Associate Professor
University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill

"Illustrates that technology leadership is not about bells and whistles, but about curriculum and instructional leadership."
John Artis, Assistant Superintendent
Upper Arlington City Schools, Ohio

"Creighton does a wonderful job exploring the complexities of technology in schools."
Vicki Barnett, Course Instructor
ITT Technical Institute, Florida

Lead your school to greater technological achievement!

The larger picture in educational technology is not hardware or software, but curriculum, achievement, and technology’s overall role in education. In an engaging style, the author, also founder of the Idaho Administrative Technology Leadership Center, explores the complexities of change and implementation of technology in schools. The Principal as Technology Leader looks at current research while providing guidelines to development and planning, and includes sample technology plans that are easy to follow and use.

In addition, the book highlights:

Instructional leadership and curriculum
The digital divide between needs and availability
Needs assessment
Strategic planning
Staff technophobia
TSSA standards
Constructivism and Engaged Learning
Community support

In an age of data-driven decision making and accountability, Creighton advances the argument for staff development and technology implementation that will enhance student achievement, rather than relying on outdated methods of drill and practice.

Technology-Based Learning: A Handbook for Principals and Technology Leaders

Average customer rating:

Technology-Based Learning: A Handbook for Principals and Technology Leaders
Tweed Wallis Ross , and Gerald D. Bailey
Manufacturer: Scholastic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

Clear navigation through confusing standards.......2001-03-13

This book cuts through the fog and confusion surrounding the three of the four main approaches to software quality (the fourth is Software Process Capability Determination, a.k.a. SPICE).

My goals in reading this book were to find the best framework with which to apply to service delivery, and to integrate this framework into application delivery. Since these terms are ambiguous in the software industry here are my definitions: service delivery encompasses the maintenance, operation and support of applications after they have been released into production. Application delivery is the analysis, design, construction and testing of applications prior to release to production.

This book compared and contrasted each quality approach and provided some surprising facts. For example, until I carefully read this book I was under the impression that the SEI CMM was the most process-oriented approach. As it turns out ISO 9000 (specifically, ISO 9000-3, which addresses software and services) is more heavily oriented towards process. Another surprise was discovering that the SEI CMM places more emphasis on leadership than the Malcolm Baldridge approach. Each of these facts were easy to discover because the author did an excellent job of correlating criteria of each of the approaches and displaying results in graphs and charts.

Prior to reading the book I was confused and frustrated by the competing standards and frameworks. This was exacerbated by the fact that there is a large body of knowledge devoted to each and these bodies comprise thousands of pages of dry material. After reading this book I felt as though I had a grasp of the focus of each approach, and their relative strengths and weaknesses. More importantly, I was able to determine which of the three is best suited to service delivery and its integration with application delivery (the Baldridge approach appears to be the best choice).

I appreciated the author's efforts in clearly outlining the what's and why's behind each approach, and the succinct manner in which each was compared, contrasted and correlated. This is an extremely valuable book for individuals and companies trying to sort through the buzzwords and assumptions on quality frameworks to select one that is most appropriate for their goals and objectives. I strongly recommend this book for software engineering managers, including members of program management offices (PMOs) and software engineering process groups (SEPGs), as well as service delivery professionals (production services, tier 1 and 2 support, etc.).

Interesting reading.......2000-05-06

Good reading for those who are interested in the field of quality. And would like to learn more.

Comparing Iso 9000 Malcolm Baldrige and the Sei Cmm for Software

Average customer rating:

Comparing Iso 9000 Malcolm Baldrige and the Sei Cmm for Software
Michael O. Tingey
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000L863RA

Book Description

This effort constitutes the most comprehensive and authoritative work to date on the history of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or the World Bank. Author-editors John Lewis, Richard Webb, and Devesh Kapur chronicle the evolution of this institution and offer insights into its successes, failures, and prospects for the future. The result of their intense labors is an invaluable resource for other researchers and a fascinating study in its own right.

The work is divided into two volumes. The first is organized thematically and examines the critical events and policy issues in the World Bank's development over the last fifty years. Chapter topics include poverty alleviation, structural adjustment lending, environmental programs, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the International Development Association (IDA), and the evolution of the Bank as an institution. The second volume contains case studies written by experts with experience in the various regions in which the Bank operates. There are chapters on the Bank's activities in Korea, Mexico, Africa, South Asia, and Eastern Europe. Volume 2 also contains essays on the World Bank's relationship with the United States, Japan, and Western Europe, and its partnership with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

By special arrangement, the authors have had wide-ranging access to confidential documents at the World Bank, making this work a unique source of information on the internal workings of this critical institution. They have also drawn on extensive interviews with current and past Bank officials. Moreover, publication could not be more timely, coming as it does when many in the development community and in the U.S. Congress are questioning the Bank's track record and even its reason for existence. The World Bank: Its First Half Century will be of great interest not only to development practitioners but also to students of international relations, development economics, and global finance.

Customer Reviews:

An Imposing Study of a Bretton Woods Institution.......2006-04-30

This massive history of the World Bank's first fifty years of existence is governed by two main themes. The first is the seemingly intractable conflict between the Bank's avowed mission of promoting economic development in general and the Bank's need to keep its shareholders' interests in mind and to satisfy the capital markets. The interplay between the World Bank's project lending initiatives--loans to fund projects aimed at promoting social development--and the Bank's ambition to influence the course of economic policy in borrower countries constitutes the second theme.

The authors were granted access to many internal Bank documents, oral history archives, memoranda, and even private memoirs. Through these various lenses, the picture that emerges shows a Bank struggling with its various roles: financier, borrower, technical advisor, proponent of economic progress, and ultimately instrument of foreign policy.

While the book chronicles various events in the Bank's first fifty years and details the impact of various individuals on Bank policies, the authors do not hesitate to pass judgment on what they deem to be the Bank's failings. Kapur et al. also dwell at length on a tortured search for a sense of identity on the part of the Bank--a multilateral financial institution tasked to help rebuild countries devastated by the war, the Bank did not take lightly to the idea of it being 'transformed', albeit gradually, into a development agency. Readers may be appalled to learn that the very concept of poverty occupied but a small portion of the endeavors of the Bank during its initial years. Only after a sea change in economic thinking did the Bank reluctantly embrace poverty alleviation as a central tenet of its existence.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Siempre!, published by Edicional Siempre on July 31, 1997. The length of the article is 1487 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Reabren el caso Aguas Blanca. (masacre de campesinos en Guerrero, México)(TT: They've reopened the Aguas Blancas case) (TA: the peasant massacre in Guerrero, Mexico)
Author: Manuel Nava
Publication: Siempre! (Refereed)
Date: July 31, 1997
Publisher: Edicional Siempre
Volume: v44 Issue: n2302 Page: p32(2)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Average customer rating:

academic drivel; shame on McGraw-Hill

So-so

inaccessible thesis-style writing...

inaccessible thesis-style writing...

Expert advice, unfortunately not for beginners

The Focus Group: A Strategic Guide to Organizing, Conducting and Analyzing the Focus Group Interview
Jane Farley Templeton
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Advertising | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Marketing | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Research | Marketing | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Mental Health | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Qualitative Methods for Marketplace Research

How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market

Focus Group Research Handbook

Focus Groups as Qualitative Research (Qualitative Research Methods)

Data Mining: A Tutorial Based Primer

ASIN: 1557385300

Book Description

The Focus Group provides a complete and clear framework for staging effective interview sessions, accurately interpreting their results and using them in successful marketing strategies. Topics include: the ``second coming'' of focus groups in marketing and market research; ethics in using focus groups; effective use of focus groups; conflict resolution in focus groups; using focus group resources.

Customer Reviews:

academic drivel; shame on McGraw-Hill.......2005-11-27

Why didn't I listen to the other reviewers before buying this book? The critiques offered were spot on, and if anything too mild.

I bought this book with the idea of learning about how to use focus groups in launching a new business. I will have to look elsewhere. But since the book was so deliciously bad, I am going to enjoy trashing it here. Or, as the author (who by the way has a PHd in Psychology) would probably say: it is highly cathartic to vent dissonence, substantiating real and or percieved loss of value through providing feedback in a forum of peers".

1) Other reviewers already mentioned this book reads like a doctoral thesis. Much too generous. I would say it reads like the "Duke University Post-Graduate Journal of Letters of the Deptartment of Deconstructing Marketing Psychology".

2) The book is chock full of self-promotion. If the author needs to establish credentials, the introduction is the place to do it. To insert your resume into the text of the book is just annoying.

3) The chapters titles often provide no clue as to what the chapter is supposed to be about. This is particularly damning, since reading the chapters themselves doesn't always solve the riddle. I defy you to guess the subject of these chapters:
"The Technical Revolution" - Chapter 3
"The Technical Revolution II: The Second Coming" - Chapter 4
"The Theoretical Concept" - Chapter 5
"The Soul of the Focus Group" - Chapter 6
The titles of sub-chapters were equally inane. A few random examples: "What Am I Bid?"; "People Boxes"; "Shifting Gears".

4) Much of the book is simply off topic. I understood this to be a guide to planning and implementing focus groups. If only. Two chapters are historical digressions into the roots of focus groups. Another chapter surveys the psychology of consumerism. Some chapters I still don't know what they were supposed to be about. Elsewhere the book plumbs such issues as the gripes of quantitative researchers towards the qualitative researchers, the authors stream of consiousness as she prepares herself for writing reports, the role of advertising in society, etc.

5) The book does not tackle the very pertinent question of what types of marketing problems are best solved with focus groups, and what types are best solved with surveys. Given the amount of academic soul-searching the author engages in, this is inexusable.

This book was not a complete waste. I did get some useful information from reading it. However, page for page, it was the most narcissistic book I have ever bought.

So-so.......2003-02-27

I would not recommend buying this book. The information covered in it is also covered in other books, but this one is exceptionally long-winded. On top of that, there is a plethora of typographical errors (which drive me absolutely nuts in a published, hardcopy book).

inaccessible thesis-style writing..........2000-10-31

i'm annoyed with myself for buying it because this is totally not what i was hoping for. i needed a book that matches this book's byline "A Strategic Guide to Organizing..." and in my mind it doesn't live up to that. This book definitely needs to have a "warning: experts only" or "warning: academics only" the way that computer books do. then i could have bought the introductory book that i needed instead of this piece of work that reads like something aimed at a college professor instead of a working professional.

the frustrating part here is that there *is* good information in here, it just takes 4 times longer to extract it and digest it than you can with a book that's utilizes plain lanuguage, better typesetting and layout, and some degree of user-friendliness. to make an analogy: i needed the "Mac" version of this information and what i bought was the commandline unix version.

inaccessible thesis-style writing..........2000-10-31

Expert advice, unfortunately not for beginners.......2000-06-12

Faley Templeton seems to know a lot about focus groups but i think she could have spent more time on structuring her book. She talks a lot about her daily experience and her personal opinion on testing aspects. As a novice to this subject I expected a kick-start on how to conduct focus groups - with more facts and basics. This seems to be a book for experts who want to get some additional insight from another expert.

Book Description

Are you a post-graduate student in Engineering, Science or Technology who needs to know how to:

Prepare abstracts, theses and journal papers
Present your work orally
Present a progress report to your funding body

Would you like some guidance aimed specifically at your subject area? ... This is the book for you; a practical guide to all aspects of post-graduate documentation for Engineering, Science and Technology students, which will prove indispensable to readers.

Writing for Science and Engineering will prove invaluable in all areas of research and writing due its clear, concise style. The practical advice contained within the pages alongside numerous examples to aid learning will make the preparation of documentation much easier for all students.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent source of information .......2007-01-03

An excellent book that teaches the proper way to write technical engineering documents. I recommend it to anybody who is serious about publishing or generating technical engineering papers.

Writing for Science and Engineering: Papers, Presentations and Reports

Average customer rating:

Writing for Science and Engineering: Papers, Presentations and Reports
Heather Silyn-Roberts
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MUFKQW

Book Description

Waves of Change examines how information technology has influenced the competitive nature of industries and the strategies, structures, and systems that have resulted. McKenney provides in-depth research on two information systems that radically changed industries: the Bank of America's ERMA (Electronic Recording Machine Accounting) check sorting system and American Airlines SABRE reservation system. Based on these studies, the author argues that managing an IT strategy is an evolutionary process that requires collaboration among the firm's CEO, IT manager, and a technical team. Together these leaders move their organizations through a series of developmental phases to bring about an IT solution which enables the organization's structure and drives its strategy.

Customer Reviews:

The most inciteful book I've read in the last ten years.......1997-07-06

Analyzes first movements of establishing the dominant design in banking, airlines, and 3 modern stories of USAA insurance (all online), Frito Lay, which integrates to the store, and American Hospital Supply/ Baxter Travenol, which links to all their customers. These designs allowed the companies to dominate their market niche. Great read!

Waves of Change: Business Evolution Through Information Technology

Average customer rating:

Waves of Change: Business Evolution Through Information Technology
Harvard Business School Press
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0071036008

Book Description

Information technology (IT) has revolutionized many industries over the past several decades. In Waves of Change, the author examines-with the benefit of hindsight-two important cases in which IT has facilitated radical change, tracing the development of Bank of America's ERMA check-sorting systems and American Airlines' SABRE reservation system from their inception to the present. From these and other companies' experiences, the author develops a framework for an IT-based strategy to help managers in all industries improve competitive strength in their own organizations.

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