Who's Who in Canadian Business 2002 (Who's Who in Canadian Business)

Book Description

Every year thousands of new mathematics instructors and teaching assistants begin their teaching careers, and , scores of experienced faculty seek ways to explore the new teaching possibilities offered by technological and pedagogical innovations. There is a great need for tools to train college mathematics instructors in both basic teaching skills and innovative methodologies.

Learning to Teach and Teaching to Learn is a self-contained and extensive resource that addresses this need. It describes training and mentoring activities that have been successfully used in a variety of settings. with a wide range of new instructors, including graduate student teaching assistants, undergraduate tutors, graders and lab assistants, as well as postdoctoral, adjunct, part-time and new regular-rank faculty. It addresses a variety of teaching issues including cooperative learning, technology and assessment.

The book provides a broad range of material including:

• the structure and operation of an integrated professional development program.
• a complete description of a pre-semester orientation session for instructors who are either new to teaching or new to a department.
• a guide to visiting and observing classrooms, including samples observations made and the feedback given.
• descriptions of procedures for customizing and developing new training materials.
• an extensive list of references and suggested readings.

This material will be of interest to faculty and instructional staff responsible for training and mentoring adjuncts, new faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate assistants and to those interested in an integrated approach to improving and expanding their teaching skills. Although specifically written as training materials,, each chapter includes an introduction, goals, activities, and an annotated list of suggested readings.

Book Description

In the 1980s and early 1990s, a substantial number of U.S. companies announced major restructuring and downsizing. But we don't know exactly what changes in the U.S. and global economy triggered this phenomenon. Little research has been done on the underlying causes of downsizing. Did companies actually reduce the size of their workforces, or did they simply change the composition of their workforces by firing some kinds of workers and hiring others? Downsizing in America, one of the most comprehensive analyses of the subject to date, confronts all these questions, exploring three main issues: the extent to which firms actually downsized, the factors that triggered changes in firm size, and the consequences of downsizing.

The authors show that much of the conventional wisdom regarding the spate of downsizing in the 1980s and 1990s is inaccurate. Nearly half of the large firms that announced major layoffs subsequently increased their workforce by more than 10 percent within 2 or 3 years. The only arena in which downsizing predominated appears to be the manufacturing sector—less than 20 percent of the U.S. workforce.

Downsizing in America offers a range of compelling hypotheses to account for the adoption of downsizing as an accepted business practice. In the short run, many companies experiencing difficulties due to decreased sales, cash flow problems, or declining securities prices reduced their workforces temporarily, expanding them again when business conditions improved. The most significant trigger leading to long-term downsizing was the rapid change in technology. Companies rid themselves of their least skilled workers and subsequently hired employees who were better prepared to work with new technology, which in some sectors reduced the size of firm at which production is most efficient.

Baumol, Blinder, and Wolff also reveal what they call the dirty little secret of downsizing: it is profitable in part because it holds down wages. Downsizing in America shows that reducing employee rolls increased profits, since downsizing firms spent less money on wages relative to output, but it did not increase productivity. Nor did unions impede downsizing. The authors show that unionized industries were actually more likely to downsize in order to eliminate expensive union labor. In sum, downsizing transferred income from labor to capital—from workers to owners.

Downsizing in America combines an investigation of the underlying realities and causes of workforce reduction with an insightful analysis of the consequent shift in the balance of power between management and labor, to provide us with a deeper understanding of one of the major economic shifts of recent times—one with far-reaching implications for all American workers.

Customer Reviews:

Corporate downsizing: public perception versus reality.......2004-02-22

Headlines in the last decade of the twentieth century contained a steady drumbeat of corporate downsizing announcements. Now three professors of economics have used money from the Russell Sage Foundation to examine the record to see what actually happened to American firms during those stressful years. They wanted to know whether public perceptions matched reality.

The limited funds placed significant constraints on the resources available to the researchers. The value of their work depends heavily on their skill and judgement in using publicly available statistics and discrete private data bases to reveal more than at first sight evident. The result is a model of econometric technique.

The first conclusion is that newspaper media tended to favor the dramatic figures from large, well-known manufacturers. Manufacturing in America has been in long-term decline since 1967 and manufacturers have steadily shed jobs. So far, perception matches reality. However, agriculture and manufacturing only provide employment for 15% of the population, so this segment is not a good proxy for the entire economy.

What happened in the Service Sector that employed the other 85% of the population? Unfortunately, we can only see gross trends, because the government doesn't collect steady, detailed statistics on this segment. The researchers were forced to use some indirect techniques to tease out meaning from what was available.

"Downsizing", it turns out, is corporate-speak for upsizing. Firms laid off one set of workers - disproportionately less-educated, older, female or parents of young children - and hired on another set, by implication younger, male and single. Was the resulting workforce more productive? No, there was no change in employee productivity. Moreover, non-managerial employees bore the brunt of the layoffs, so that claims to be ridding the company of "fat" actually increased the management-to-staff ratio.

Did investors reward companies for their action? Perception says that downsizing is followed by an increase in the stock price. The reality is that stock prices remain steady or decline after downsizing announcements.

So what were the benefits of downsizing? The authors come to a surprising, but authoritative conclusion. Downsizing announcements force down staff wages so that the firm retains more profit. Simple really, isn't it?

"Downsizing in America" contains numerous graphs, tables, and economic formulae. Professors Baumol, Blinder and Wolff have spent the Sage Foundation funds wisely to "foster the development and dissemination of knowledge about the economy's political, social, and economic problems."

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Downsizing in America: Reality, Causes, and Consequences
William J. Baumol & Others
Manufacturer: Russell Sage Foundation Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000VWK9VW

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Downsizing In America: Reality, Causes, and Consequences [A book review from: Journal of Socio-Economics]
T. Bain
Manufacturer: Elsevier
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Elsevier | By Publisher | e-Docs | Formats | Books
ASIN: B000RR6PJQ

Book Description

This digital document is a journal article from Journal of Socio-Economics, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:

Book Description

By increasing productivity, lowering costs and building employee satisfaction, teams have become a powerful vehicle for transforming the workplace. But why do so many teams falter after starting out so promising? Keeping Teams On Track takes an in-depth look at what happens to teams after the launch. Written by acknowledged leaders in organizational consultation and based on extensive research and experience, the book explores the workings of the team culure and how it differs from a standard organization. The authors review common problems that are likely to surface as team members struggle to define themselves and function within the new management paradigm, and they offer practical solutions that will help teams endure over the long term. Keeping Teams on Track examines several organizations' successful transitions to teams. By focusing on the best practices of these organizations, Keeping Teams on Track helps readers understand how to maintain successful teams. This guide discusses key issues all teams face, including: The reasons teams struggle; The challenges facing organizations when implementing teams; Tools and techniques for nurturing maturing teams.

Book Description

In rural England prior to the Industrial Revolution people generally married when they were not busy with work. Parish registers of marriage therefore form an important and innovative source for the study of economic change in this period. Dr Kussmaul employs marriage dates to identify three main patterns of work and risk (arable, pastoral and rural industrial) and more importantly to show the long-term changes in economic activities across 542 English parishes from the beginning of national marriage registration in 1538. No single historical landscape emerges. Instead A General View of the Rural Economy of England, 1538–1840 maps the changes in economic orientation from arable through regional specialization to rural industrialization and explores how these changes had implications for the extent of population growth in the early modern period. Dr Kussmaul’s study presents a view of early modern English economic history from a unique standpoint.

Book Description

In recent years, technological change, unemployment and industrial restructuring have highlighted training and the acquisition of skills as a policy issue. Throughout the industrialized world there is widespread concern that employees are insufficiently skilled. This deficiency can have serious economic consequences, reflected in excessive unemployment, meager growth, impeded competitiveness, excessive wages, insufficient innovation, and deficient product quality. This volume, from the Centre for Economic Policy Research, provides a systematic account of all the major market failures in the area of skills acquisition.

Book Description

The Blackwell Encyclopedic Dictionary of Marketing provides clear, concise, up to the minute, and highly informative definitions and explanations of the key concepts covering the whole of the fast-changing field of contemporary marketing. Bringing together specially commissioned and carefully edited entries, this will become the standard reference for students, researchers, academics, and practitioners.The Dictionary has been carefully designed to give both the expert and the newcomer overviews and succinct presentations of the most important traditional and contemporary issues in marketing. With entries ranging from extended explorations of major topics to short definitions of key terms, this major reference work gives the user:Authoritative and comprehensive coverage of the whole field including the marketing environment, marketing management, consumer behaviour, segmentation, organizational marketing, pricing, communications, retailing and distribution, product management, market research and international marketing.A full index and cross-references for detailed research, as well as relevant bibliographical citations for further study.Definitive entries covering the very latest developments in marketing.This dictionary is part of The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Management, which contains ten further volumes covering each of the key areas of management science, developed under the editorship of Professor Cary L. Cooper from the Manchester School of Management and Professor Chris Argylis of Harvard Business School.

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Individuals are resilient; Relationships are fragile

Life Saving

Absurdly brilliant! Extremely satisfying paradox of a book!

Don't be fooled by the word 'management'

Of the best business books ever

Management of the Absurd
Richard Farson
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Leadership | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Management Science | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Entrepreneurship | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins

Breaking the Code of Change

Hidden Value: How Great Companies Achieve Extraordinary Results with Ordinary People

The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations

Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It, Revised Edition

ASIN: 0684830442

Book Description

An original, contrarian philosophy that challenges today's leaders to look past the quick fix and deal thoughtfully with the real complexities of managing people.

In organizations, as in life, human behavior is often irrational -- and problems do not easily lend themselves to the simplistic answers and gimmickry offered in the myriad business "self-help" books and management training programs available today. In Management of the Absurd, Richard Farson zeros in on the paradoxes of communication, the politics of management, and the dilemmas of change, exploring relationships within organizations and offering a unique perspective on the challenges managers face.

Customer Reviews:

Individuals are resilient; Relationships are fragile.......2007-02-11

For me, the core of Richard Farson's message is that "individuals are resilient and relationships are fragile." On page 91 he writes about the impact of parental rejection, marital strife and problems with bosses; and about the devastating impact of isolation, alienation and erosion of community. What this means for managers and others in the workplace, as I see it, is that although self improvement and individual achievement are vital components of success, cultivating relationships is what matters most. And, you will be interested to read that this is more complicated and easier to accomplish than one might imagine. If my last statement is a little confounding, it will prepare you for even more confounding moments reading Management of the Absurd. One of the things that I love about the book is that you need not read it from front to back. For example, I started from back to front and then skipped about going from one fascinating section title to another. The author cautions in the end, "My advice is don't take my advice." Other examples? Chapter 27, "Morale is Unrelated to Productivity;" and Chapter 12, "Praising People Does not Motivate Them." I recommend this 172 page book of refreshing insights and ideas that are sure to, as (I think) Fritz Perls once said, lead you to "lose your mind and come to your senses." So don't take my word for it. After all, who am I? Instead, look at the credits inside the book cover and you will see that two smart guys from MIT recommend the book. Although I have never heard of them, they probably never heard of me either. But all three of us like this book. So, go get it!

Life Saving.......2006-02-18

Every couple of years I get so fed up with things I want to walk, even though I really enjoy management. Whenever my corporate world starts to resemble "Arrested Development," I read this book again. After almost ten yearts the book is falling apart after a lot of use. I have this book on tape and I keep it in the car. Among all my books on management, and I've a whole shelf full of them, this remains my touchstone. Note, though, the book is NOT by Michael Crichton; Crichton wrote the forward.

Absurdly brilliant! Extremely satisfying paradox of a book!.......2005-09-15

I'm an avid reader of business books. Some of the greatest books out there like "Now Discover Your Strengths", "First, Break All The Rules", "Built To Last" and "Good to Great" make me sit up, listen, take notes, and learn how to apply them in my career.

I rank "Management of the Absurd" right up there with the great books above. This book is so easy to read that I found that if I took notes, I wouldn't catch all the business wisdom imparted by Farson. It's unique in the sense that I "got it" even without taking notes. Don't be fooled - after you "get it" you'll REALLY have to think about your assumptions about managing people, your business, your career, etc. It's literally a business wisdom book! I felt wiser after reading it. This makes the book truly unusual.

Thought provoking, easily digestable short chapters, covering topics such as "The more important a relationship, the less skill matters", "Technology creates the opposite of its intended purpose", "The more we communicate, the less we communicate", and so on, ending with "My advice is don't take my advice"!

Simply put, it's one of the wittiest, most thought provoking, most realistic and yet most relaxing books I've ever read in my entire life. I can't recommend it enough for those of you who want a break from the often prescriptive nature of business books. "Management of the Absurd" makes you think without even trying.

Don't be fooled by the word 'management'.......2005-04-09

This book may be listed under 'management' in the bookstore, but it's just as good for sole-proprieters, teachers, or even parents looking for new ideas on problem-solving. Farson's book is really about being self-aware, about learning how to step outside of a 'formula' mentality and see the deadly irony that sometimes the perfect approach under perfect conditions leads you exactly nowhere. Nonetheless, this same approach may be perfect the next time, so don't give it up. Just, well... just accept that both can be true, that's all.
One example that he gave was technology. Take the washing machine: for many years most people didn't have one, and women would often spend a full day--10 or 12 hours--doing all the wash for one week. Of course, the invention of the automatic washing machine would change all this, cutting down time and making the job and its speed so much faster. In hindsight, it's a technology that today we couldn't imagine living without.
So what happened?
Well, instead of having all this time, all this new convenience, we basically raised our expectations about clean clothes. 50 or 100 years ago people might wear something 4 or 5 times before washing a typical garment. Today, most of us wash something after one use. The new 'convenience' was in essence a gateway to a new standard--and suddenly the 'convenience' had practically disappeared.
The book is riddled with many such examples--how the best way to oversee is to let go, how to lead is not by demonstrating, etc. The book itself lives the same contradiction: it's title is just okay, I'm not a manager, and how can you possibly apply the theory that the opposite of a truth is very often just as true? I guess you can't. And yet, in spite of this, I consider it the best business book I've ever read, one that I will read over and over for many years to come.
Go figure.

Of the best business books ever.......2004-05-16

It's amazing this book isn't handed out to every literate adult in America. In so few pages, it completely challenges linear thinking about everything from running a meeting to raising kids, and you'll find yourself constantly finding real-world examples of what he's talking about after you read it. Though much of what he writes may not be new, as he frequently cites the predecessors he learns from, the ingenuity is how he coherently and concisely pulls it all together.

Superfund standards 'absurd.': An article from: National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management

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Superfund standards 'absurd.': An article from: National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management
Steven Brostoff
Manufacturer: The National Underwriter Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management, published by The National Underwriter Company on April 17, 1995. The length of the article is 651 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.

From the supplier: Sen Bob Smith continues to lobby for Superfund reform. Smith believes that environmental cleanups should be cost-effective and prioritized, thus enabling Superfund to focus on the worst pollution sites. Sen John Chafee also believes that the Superfund program is not efficient. Sen Frank Lautenberg, however, believes that Superfund's first duty is to protect people rather than provide economical clean-ups.

Citation Details
Title: Superfund standards 'absurd.'
Author: Steven Brostoff
Publication: National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 17, 1995
Publisher: The National Underwriter Company
Issue: n16 Page: p4(2)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Customer Reviews:

Great book for business students.......2000-10-17

If you are a business student willing to understand the magic behind the mysterious words like Data Mining, Data Warehousing and Neural Networks, this book is for you. It is practical, and it explains how business can benefit from knowledge it extracts from data. Data sets for the book examples are available on the CD, so a reader can tangibly apply the methods described and get a valuable hands-on experience of data analysis.

For the beginner.......2000-09-29

Pretty basic stuff. If you do not know anything about databases and have never conducted any analysis buy this book. Otherwise do not bother. I was a little disappointed that it did not provide more detail on many of the algorithms - rather it just pointed out different things that data mining can do (though very well explained). While it providing a nice overview, it did not really strike me as anything groundshaking. It does, however, have has a nice listing of vendors. I would refer to the Berry and Linoff book "Mastering Data Mining" for a slightly more thorough treatment.

Beyond sales pitch.......2000-04-22

This book doesn't have the depth of Ian Witten's "Data Mining", yet it is an excellent book on its own. Concrete examples, hands-on training with included software, a primer on Data Warehousing and clear explanations makes it unique among so many other data mining books.

great introduction to data mining.......1999-12-14

I browsed several books on data mining before deciding on this one. If you are looking for an introduction to data mining, this book does an excellent job.

Data Mining: Building Competitive Advantage

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Data Mining: Building Competitive Advantage
Robert Groth
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall PTR
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Data Mining | Databases | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000OILE9Y

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